Matched to a Prince

“I had an ulterior motive for inviting you to the party tonight,” Elise confessed. “Your match will be here too. Soon. I thought it would take some pressure off if you met socially.”

Her match. Already.

Juliet had hoped for some time to learn more about him before being thrown at his feet. She touched her pinned-up hair. At least she’d meet her future husband while looking the absolute best she could, a small victory in her mind.

Deep breath. Bernard would want her to be happy, to move on. The memory of her brother’s smile bolstered her.

A disturbance in the crowd caught Juliet’s attention. People craned their necks to peer over each other, whispering and nodding toward the ballroom entrance.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Elise uttered a very unladylike word.

“I was hoping for a little more time to explain. It’s your match.” Elise cleared her throat. “He’s early. I think that’s a good quality in a man. I mean, along with all of his other ones. Don’t you think so?”

Her future husband, assuming everything went according to plan, had just walked into the ballroom.

Juliet’s pulse took off, throbbing below her ears. “Sure. But why does it sound like you’re trying to talk me into it? Does he have two heads or something?”

“I did something a little unorthodox to find your match.” Elise bit her lip and put her hand on Juliet’s arm. “Something I hope you’ll appreciate. It was a test. I figured if the computer didn’t match you, I wouldn’t say anything. I’d never tell you and I’d find someone else for you both.”

“What are you talking about? What did you do?”

Elise smiled weakly as the crowd pressed closer to the entrance, blocking their view of whoever had drawn so much interest. “You talked so much about him. I heard what was still in your heart. I couldn’t call myself a matchmaker if I didn’t give you an opportunity to rediscover why you fell in love in the first place.”

The first wave of unease rolled through Juliet’s stomach. “Talked about whom?”

“Prince Alain. Finn.” Elise nodded toward the crush surrounding the entrance. “He’s your match.”

“Oh, my God. Elise!” Juliet wrapped her arms around her waist but couldn’t stop the flood inside of...everything. Hope. Disbelief. The unquenchable anger at his inability to side with her. “You contacted Finn? And didn’t tell me? Oh, my God.”

Finn was here. In the ballroom.

He was her match.

Not a quiet American businessman who watched football and would save her from the heartache Finn had caused.

“Open mind,” Elise reminded her and grasped Juliet’s hand to propel her forward, parting the crowd easily despite being half a head shorter than everyone else. “Come say hello. Give me ten minutes. Let me explain to you both what I did and then you can blast me for my tactics. Or spend a little while reacquainting yourselves. Maybe give it a chance. It’s your choice.”

Greedily, Juliet’s gaze swept the crowd, searching for a familiar face. And found a solid figure in black tie, flanked by a discreet security team, moving toward her.

Finn. Exactly as her heart remembered him.

Tall, gorgeous, self-assured. Every bit a man who could support the weight of a crown despite the probability that he never would. Hard, defined muscles lay under a tuxedo that did little to disguise the beauty of the man’s body. His short, dark hair that had a tendency to curl when he let it grow was the same. As was the winsome smile.

Until he paused in front of Elise and caught sight of Juliet. The smile slipped a touch as his gaze cut between the two women. “Ms. Arundel. It’s nice to see you again.”

Finn extended his hand and took Elise’s, drawing her forward to buss her cheek as if they were old friends. To Juliet, he simply said, “Ms. Villere. What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t aware you were on this side of the world.”

In spite of the frost in his tone, his voice flipped her stomach, as it always had. More so because it had been so long since she’d heard someone speak with the cadence intrinsic to people from Delamer.

“The surprise is mutual,” she assured him, shocked her throat hadn’t gone the way of her lungs, which seemed to be broken. She couldn’t breathe. The ballroom’s walls contracted, stealing what air remained in the room. “Though I’m reserving judgment on whether it’s pleasant.”

Stupid mouth had gotten away from her again. The laser-sharp eyes of the crowd branded her back and she became aware of exactly how many people were witnessing this public meeting between Prince Alain and a woman they no doubt vaguely recognized. Wouldn’t take long to do an internet search and find videos, pictures and news reports of the scandal. It had garnered a ton of press.

His expression darkened. “Be sure to inform me when you decide. If you’ll excuse me, I have business with Ms. Arundel which is not of your concern.”

Finn was in rare His-Royal-Highness mode. She hated it when he got that way.

“Actually,” Elise corrected with a nervous laugh and held a palm out, “Juliet is your match.”

Two (#ua99c6a2f-3c53-56a6-a53d-40bd8a451e1a)

“What?” Finn zeroed in on Juliet, piercing her with steely blue eyes she remembered all too well. “Is this your idea of a joke? Did you beg Elise to contact me?”

Is that what he thought? Her brother was dead and afterward, Finn had abandoned her when she’d needed him most. Juliet would never forgive him. Why would she extend one small finger to see him again?

“I had nothing to do with this!” Hands on her hips, she waded straight into the rising tension, eyes and ears around them forgotten as the emotions Finn elicited zigzagged through her torso. “I thought you were getting married. What happened to your princess? What are you doing signing on with a matchmaker?”

A muscle ticked in Finn’s forehead. “My father does want me to get married, as soon as I find a bride. That’s what I’m doing here. I was promised the perfect match. Amusing how that worked out.”

Finn wasn’t engaged? There wasn’t even a potential princess on the horizon? She’d left Delamer based on something that wasn’t even true.

“Yeah, hilarious. I was promised the same.”

In tandem, they turned to Elise. She smiled and escorted them both to an unpopulated corner, likely so the coming bloodbath wouldn’t spatter her guests. Finn’s muscled companions followed and melted into the background.

“Do you remember the profile question about love?” Elise tucked her hair behind one ear with a let’s-get-down-to-business swipe. “I asked you both what you’d be willing to give up in order to have it. Juliet, what did you say?”

Arms crossed, Juliet glared at Elise and repeated the answer. “You shouldn’t have to give up anything for love. It should be effortless or else it’s not real love.”

No compromise. Why should she have to completely rearrange her entire belief system to appease one very stubborn man? The right man for her should recognize that she’d tried to upset the status quo only because she’d been forced to.

The right man for her would know he’d been everything to her.

“Finn?” Elise prompted and he sighed.

His gaze softened and he spoke directly to Juliet. “You shouldn’t have to give up anything. Love should be easy and natural, like breathing. No one asks you to give up breathing so your heart can beat.”

He had. He wanted her to forget Bernard had died serving the king’s ego, wearing the same uniform Finn put on every day. She slammed her lids closed and shoved that thought away. It was too much.

“Right. Easy and natural. That part of us wasn’t hard.”

And with the words, the good and amazing and breath-stealing aspects of her relationship with Finn lit up the darkness inside her.

Everything had been effortless between them. If Bernard hadn’t had that accident, she and Finn would probably be married by now and living happily ever after.

“No. Not hard at all.” Finn shook his head, his eyes still on her, searching for something that looked a lot like what she constantly wished for—a way to go back in time.