The Selected Enola Holmes

Chapter 2

Enola had been drinking in the beautiful man's appearance to the point that she hadn't realized quickly enough that she was staring. Thank god she was in relative darkness because the spreading warmth on her cheeks was probably evident. Clearing her throat and looking anywhere but at him, she cooly composed herself and tried to hide the wince that resulted from her upper arm being in pain. she then hurriedly uttered a

"I'm fine." Or at least I will be, she thought.

The young man wasn't convinced, but he dropped it. Instead, he looked at her with curious eyes and a boyish smirk. At that, she decided that she was going to go on that walk that she desired earlier. As she turned to leave, she had noticed that he intended to do the very same thing. She couldn't just shoo whoever this man was off. not after he was why she was even out here. Enola was many things, but she wasn't rude (on purpose anyway). So what could she do but allow him to fall in step beside her? But wait. She hadn't even asked this stranger his name to properly thank him.

"You're Enola Holmes, right? I remember seeing your picture when the selected were being announced."

She nodded and then proceeded to ask him with a small polite smile,

"So what name should I attach to the face that helped me get out here."

That seemed to shock him momentarily. His expression and silence seemed to weigh whether she was joking or not because he genuinely could not tell. Though she couldn't think why she would be. Was she supposed to know who he was? See, Enola had grown up in the countryside in all fairness and though she did read and get an education, she wasn't as attached to today's famous figures as most of the people her age were (if this man could even be deemed notable, that is). She had still been waiting for a response from him, and when he realized, he scrambled to respond with an "I'm Reese."

That was enough to make her stop walking just as abruptly as he had said it. Did she hear that correctly? She looked at him to see if he was deceiving her, but then it all started to click. She actually took in the crisp suit he was wearing and the slightly loosened tie around his neck. No doubt expensive, and he must have been working late and finally caught a break , she thought. That would have explained his absence at dinner tonight. His hair was slightly disheveled but somehow kempt. Probably from running his hand through it on more than one occasion today. He looked like he could have needed the fresh air as much as she did. Which meant that...he actually was the prince. Shit .

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Pull yourself together, Holmes! she thought to herself. Even if he was the man she had negative preconceived notions about. She still had to keep her guard up and stay in the game. But he didn't seem like a stuck up prick. Not if the way he helped her out just now said anything. She had already embarrassed herself twice that night in front of the prince, no less, and she wasn't going to do it a third time. She could already see the amusement dancing in his kind dark eyes. And she decided then and there that she would have to put distance between herself and yet another man. Especially if they were eliciting notions of kind eyes . Really, what had gotten into her, she had only just met the heir, and she already sounded like she had a crush on him. She tells herself that she doesn't , at least.

"so you're the man all this fuss is for" she hadn't meant to say it, but he seemed to take amusement in the statement and laughed. She'd decided that the sound was...nice. But she'd never let him know that.

"and I believe you signed up to be a part of it, lady Enola and as they say, teamwork makes the dream work," he winked. There was no trace of mean-spiritedness in his remark, and she couldn't help but smile because he did have a point. Even if she was there for entirely different reasons than he probably thought.