The Heiress Queen (Season Series Prequel)

Chapter 27

Isabelle missed dinner that evening, too shaken by Leopold's abrupt arrival and departure to bear the tedium. She had her ladies-in-waiting attend in her stead, too weary to argue when they insisted it would be best for appearances' sake. She knew that Laura and Marjorie had shared what they'd overheard with Alicia, who was all too eager to further spread the gossip. Isabelle didn't have enough fight left in her to attempt to stop them. What did it matter, anyway? Word would get out that the Germanian prince had left Highcastle without his bride-to-be, so what harm would a few more details be?

Lissa answered the door when a gentle knock came later in the evening, Isabelle's dinner tray untouched before her as she stared into the fire. She'd penned a letter to her father, hoping the courier she paid thrice as much as she should have would reach him before Leopold did.

"Are you all right?"

The voice had her jumping, spilling her tea all over the saucer in her haste to set it down.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, shaking her head as Lissa started to close the door. If the prince of Pretania dared call on her after the dinner hour, she'd leave her suite door wide open and ensure that she had Lissa there as a chaperone.

"I heard you had quite the afternoon," Graham said, coming around to seat himself next to her. He set a plate of gooey, baked chocolate squares before her, still warm from the oven, and took one for himself.

"I did, which is why I am in no fit state to sit here and discuss it with you," she said, inching farther from him. He leaned over, snatching up another square to offer it to her.

"But I brought the kitchen's most tempting sweet," he said, his tone just as neutral as his face. For once, he wasn't teasing her when she was upset. Grudgingly, she accepted the chocolate square, nibbling at it halfheartedly.

"You can't bribe me to talk, you know," Isabelle muttered.

"Then don't talk," Graham shrugged, taking another square. "We can sit here in companionable silence for all I care."

He folded his hands behind his head, leaning back on the love seat with a contented sigh. Isabelle glanced sidelong at him, his golden circlet still atop his sandy blond curls as he stretched out in his formalwear.

"You came to check on me," she said finally. He opened an eye to smirk at her before closing it again.

"Perhaps," he said. That familiar, dangerous thrill ran through her at the word.

"Which means you were worried for me," she continued, trying to keep the smile from her face even as she chastised herself. Her betrothed had just stormed out of the city and here she was, flirting with another man, a man she knew better than to allow any closer than an arm's length. Graham opened both his eyes this time, leaning his head over to look at her.

"You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?" he asked, his avoidance of her question as much of an admission as an outright answer would have been.

"You were worried about me," Isabelle affirmed, her stomach twisting pleasantly as her cheeks lost the battle against her grin. She knew she was blushing and some part of her was mortified at her reaction, screaming in protest about Leopold, but she couldn't shake the happy little glow that had ignited inside her as she reached for another chocolate square. Graham sighed, despite the hint of a smile on his own face.

"If you must know, I came to congratulate you," he said. Isabelle paused with the chocolate halfway to her mouth, that little glow dimming.

"Congratulate me?" she repeated, confused.

"Congratulate you for the purported tongue-lashing you gave to bonny prince Leo," he said. "Nothing I've ever said has riled him so badly as to drive him out of the city. Please, I must know what you said so I can repeat it at our next meeting."