The Royal’s Pretend Wife (13 page)

Her mother seemed to take heart at that.

“Oh, well, you just need a new perspective. Come on, come talk to Jake, and…”

“I thought you said his name was Jack.”

Her mother made a waving motion of utter indifference, and Anastasia had to smile. Regardless of their differences in opinion, her mother really did have her best interests at heart. The only problem was that what they thought was best differed a great deal.

“Either way, he's a catch, dear…”

“And Amy Schillinger just walked off with him.”

Her mother turned towards Anastasia's prospective match and glared. Then she sighed, shaking her head and touching her daughter's hand.

“Well, sweetheart, if you're not having any fun, you're not having any fun. Why don't you take the car home for the evening? Your father and I are going to be heading out to the Hamptons with the Feinbergs tomorrow anyway, and we'll just go home with them tonight.”

Anastasia nodded with relief, squeezing her mom's hand.

“Thanks, Mom, that sounds great.”

“And when we come back on Thursday, I might have the scoop on Jeff Reynolds—you know, the man who designed that car retrieval app? He's supposed to be there.”

Anastasia loved her parents. She truly did. Her mother was old money, and her father was an entrepreneur who made his first billion before thirty. Together they had always sought to give her the perfect life. They wanted to give her everything that they could, and when they couldn't get her the perfect husband as well, they were increasingly confused.

She relaxed in the backseat of the Lincoln, gazing out at the lights of New York. She loved this town, but sometimes it moved too fast for her. It cared about things that she didn't care about, and sometimes it was simply too loud.

Anastasia shook her head. She wouldn't be the first one New York had run into the ground. Her feelings of restlessness weren't new, and if she let them become old, there was a better than average chance that she would find herself bitter and furious sooner rather than later.

Of course, that meant that she had to leave, but where would she go?

The vision that immediately came to mind was a place of clear water, bright sun, and soft breezes. The vision was so strong that she could nearly feel the way the breeze brushed against her skin, the way the sand would shift under her feet.

Well, I've been working for clean water so long, I guess it's time that I actually went and saw some
, she thought ruefully.

Almost as if her thoughts were being answered, her phone beeped. Frowning, expecting a string of questions from her mother about how she felt about phone apps, she picked it up. To her surprise, it wasn't her mother at all. It was Trinity.

She and Trinity had been boarding school friends, and then as they got older, that connection had strengthened into something surprisingly lasting. She had been around for the fallout when Trinity left her father's enormous mansion in San Diego, determined to strike out for Hollywood. She listened to her friend's struggles, and then…Trinity had disappeared for a month. When she came back, it was as the fiancée of Prince Apolo Buros of Greece. After a reality television show that still left Anastasia confused, they had married. She had attended that intimate wedding on a secret Greek beach, and even now, she could remember how blue that water had been.

“Trinity? What's up?'

Trinity laughed, the joyful bell-like tones making Anastasia smile in return.

“Why do you always sound so worried when I call you?” she said. “You always sound like you're waiting for someone to tell you they're dying.”

“Eh, it's been a long night,” said Anastasia. “I had a thing at the Met, and my mother seems intent on setting me up with New York's dullest and least interested in conservation.”

“My poor Ana. Well, believe me—if I had an exciting activist around I thought was worthy of you, I would send him right over. We're going to have to do the next best thing instead. I want you to come sailing with me next week.”

Anastasia had to laugh.

“In Greece?”

“Around it, anyway. A bunch of us are getting together to borrow my brother-in-law's luxury yacht. Seriously, this thing is like a miniature cruise ship, and we're going to do a tour of Greek waters. We're hoping to make it at least a two-week trip, and when I thought about people who I want on a boat with me for two weeks, your name came up.”

Anastasia thought about it for a moment. It would be amazing to get out of New York, and seeing the Mediterranean sounded like a perfect antidote to the gloom of New York’s early winter.

Trinity seemed to take her hesitation as reluctance.

“Come on, there's only so much do-gooding you can do before you turn into a withered little husk of bitterness. Come out, take care of yourself, and learn about some of the water you’re trying to save…”

Anastasia found herself grinning at her friend's enthusiasm.

“All right, you sold me on it. I've wanted to get out for a bit, and this sounds perfect. Thank you, Trinity.”

“Don't mention it,” her friend said warmly. “Book a flight as soon as you can. Don't worry about packing too much, and I'll see you soon, okay?”

After she hung up, Anastasia wondered what she was getting into. She had never been a party girl, not like Trinity, who had an actress's love of crowds and attention. While she wouldn't call herself bookish, she wasn't sure what being on a yacht for two weeks might do for her.

Ah, well, it'll be something different, and that's meant to be good for me, right?

* * *

Apolo knew that he was getting closer to his brother because a gorgeous woman in an expensive dress was storming away, her face red with anger. Apolo sighed inwardly and went on to find his younger brother.

He finally located him in the empty library, holding a whiskey on the rocks to his cheek.

“Did she slap you?” Apolo asked.

Augustine looked up with a wry glance. Physically, the two were very similar. They were both tall men with the thick dark hair and olive skin that marked all of their family. Where Apolo was a little more muscled, Augustine was leaner, with a swimmer's build. Where Apolo was accustomed to wearing a rather stern look, Augustine was more inclined to smile.

“She did,” Augustine said with a shrug. “At least she didn't dump her drink on me. I didn't want to have to go upstairs to get another tuxedo.”

Apolo sighed.

“What the hell did you say to her?”

“I simply told her that she was being a little overly friendly for a woman who had gotten married just three months ago.”

“Was that really necessary? She's a duchess.”

“She's a duchess with a strong right arm, I'll tell you that for nothing. She came up, she asked to speak with me, and the moment we were alone, she started making all sorts of ridiculous innuendos about chemistry and quiet enjoyment. What was I supposed to say?”

Apolo sighed, shaking his head. He came to sit on the armchair, watching his brother closely. Though he wasn't going to say anything out loud, he was worried about him.

“Well, if it were me, I would have simply let Trinity handle it. She doesn't care for people who are too forward.”

At the mention of Apolo's wife, Augustine smiled with real pleasure.

“Yes, I've seen her run off some of the more insistent women who want your time. She's a real treasure, brother, and I hope you know it.”

“You didn't always think so,” Apolo pointed out, and Augustine shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

“I'll admit I thought you two got married too quickly. And all for a reality show? It was…a little unsettling. You had never done anything like that before.”

“I was never this happy before,” Apolo pointed out. “And if you did something besides being painfully blunt with everyone, perhaps you could be happy as well.”

Augustine groaned, shaking his head.

“Not this again. Look, now that you’re happily married, don't think that everyone needs to follow your shining example, all right? I'm having a good time, and with you and your lovely wife taking up the limelight, no one cares if I'm just doing as I please.”

“I care,” Apolo reminded him. “You need to connect with someone, and you know, not get slapped for doing so. Come on the cruise with Trinity and me.”

“It’s not enough that I'm supplying the craft?” Augustine asked with a raised eyebrow, and Apolo shook his head.

“No, it would be good for you to come out with us. Trinity’s bringing along some friends of hers, women that you don't know. You can perhaps meet someone new, maybe learn to curb that tongue of yours.”

Augustine laughed, shaking his head.

“Well, I'm not going to 'curb my tongue' as you so delightfully put it, but perhaps I will come with you. Athens is getting to be a bore lately, and I think that I've offended or shut down most of the women who want to get to know me. Maybe it's time to try my luck on the water.”

Apolo sighed. He loved his brother a great deal, but sometimes it was like talking to a brick wall. A stubborn brick wall who insisted on telling people exactly what he thought of them, no matter how harsh that opinion was.

“I have always loved you for your honesty. We are setting sail this week. Trinity has the details.”

As they left the library together, Augustine turned to his brother.

“I have always been surprised that Trinity seems to like me as much as she does.”

“Well, she was a little taken aback when you told her what you thought about our marriage so quickly after meeting her, but when you didn’t run off in a huff when she told you what she thought about you, I think you earned her respect.”

Augustine laughed. If Apolo were a jealous man, he might be a little defensive of how much his brother seemed to admire his wife. As it was, he was simply relieved that they got on so well after a first meeting that could have been described as disastrous.

“Well, she had a good point, and no one had called me a monstrous moron with entitlement issues before. Trinity does make an impression.”

“Yes,” said Apolo happily. “She does.”

As they made their way back to the party, Apolo could only wish that his brother would find the kind of love that he had. He’d had to go on a reality show to do it, but if he would end up with Trinity in his arms, he would do it again, a million times over.

Someday, he hoped Augustine would know how wonderful that feeling was.

Chapter Two

Anastasia spent most of the first two days on the
Wild Waves
asleep. She remembered how much difficulty she’d had with jet lag from when she had come over for Trinity's wedding, and this time instead of fighting it, she simply decided to give in to it.

Her cabin was a snug berth with plenty of space for the light luggage she had brought along, and her bed was soft and luxurious, the perfect place to sleep out her weariness. It felt so good that she was thinking about sleeping through a third day, but a rapid knocking on her cabin door told her that was somehow not in the cards.

“All right, you've slept long enough,” Trinity called through the door. “It's time for you to come out and start seeing what this little yacht trip has to offer!”

With a sigh, Anastasia gathered the blanket around herself, stumping to the door and her waiting friend. Sometimes she was glad that she wasn't self-conscious about her looks, because Trinity was a bombshell. With an elegant figure ably showcased by a simple black bikini and long platinum blond hair, her friend was every inch a glamorous actress. In her blanket with her hair uncombed, Anastasia was less a bombshell and more a little haystack.

“Does the trip offer more of those eggs Benedict that were sent to my room yesterday?” she asked hopefully. “They were delicious.”

Trinity shot her a quelling look.

“Don't make me cut off your room service,” she threatened. “Right now, I'm half-tempted to roll you out on deck just as you are. Come on, Ana, it's not good for you to be cooped up in here when there's so much fun and sun waiting for you. Have you even been up on deck to see things yet?”

“I was up there when we boarded,” she hazarded, but Trinity shook her head.

“Not good enough,” she said. “You have twenty minutes to make yourself presentable and to head up to find me on deck. On your way up, make sure that you bring up two shrimp cocktails that we can share. I didn't ask you along so that you could spend all your time hiding in your room, all right?”

Anastasia sighed.

“All right, Trinity. I'll be up soon.”

“Twenty minutes! Or I'm dumping all of my plastic wrappers into the water.”

The threat made Anastasia look up in shock.

“That's really not good for—”

Trinity laughed.

“I know. I wouldn't. Just come up. I miss you, and I want to spend time with you.”

Anastasia looked over her clothing choices. She hadn't packed much, as Trinity had directed, and it was almost refreshing not to have the wide variety of outfits open to her the way she would have had at home. If she had been at home, her mother would have wanted her to consider every single option, trying to find the one that would be most suitable for the moment. She would have had to consider the color and design of both the outfit and the venue, the company, and more.

Here, she had what was in her suitcase, and it gave her a moment of delight when she was able to simply pull out a light sea-green sundress with a halter top. It was a new dress, and after snipping off the tags, she threw it on, knotting the halter behind her neck.

She grinned at herself in the mirror. It was about as far from New York socialite as she could get. With her dark hair loose around her shoulders, she felt free and unfettered. It was slightly shocking how long it had been since she had felt like that. She slipped on a pair of sandals, and she was on her way.

She found the kitchen quickly enough, where the smiling crew got her two shrimp cocktails, lovely in tall cocktail glasses, as quick as a wink. The elegant pink shrimp from-scratch cocktail sauce smelled divine, and she went to go find Trinity.