PRINCE CHARMING: A Secret Baby Stepbrother Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

the grass. I think the altitude messed with my paints.”
    The way she scrunched her face up at it made Quincy smile, and he felt a flutter in his chest. “It is possible, I guess, but then I am not a painter. I am, however, a great procurer of fine wines.”
    “Sure, why not?” she replied and set her brushes down. “I guess… Come in?”
    He grinned as he followed her inside, remembering what happened the last time he was in her rooms. Sadly, all her clothes and undergarments appeared to have been put away. “Are you settled in well enough?” he asked as she took two glasses from the side table and handed them over.
    “I guess so. I still feel like I’m on vacation, though,” she said.
    “In a way you are, aren’t you? The summer is your only time here?”
    She took the glass he offered and stared down into the depths of red wine. “Maybe, maybe not.”
    “You think you might stay?”
    “I don’t know yet. I still have a bit of schooling left to do, but my mom’s going to be here, and I’m not sure how I feel returning to the States as a princess. How would that even work?”
    Quincy sipped his wine as he tried to read her face. She was worried, but there was something else there. Did she have a man back at home waiting for her? He’d thought Melinda said Olivia was single, and the thought of another man near her made his hand clench dangerously tight around the glass.
    “I do not know. I’m certain you’d have your own small guard detail.”
    She choked on her wine. “Seriously?”
    “No. No offense to your future princess status, but we’re not exactly a large country,” he said. “I’m sure half the world doesn’t even know we’re here.”
    “I didn’t either, ‘til mom came home with her news.”
    “And you’re not happy for her?”
    Olivia sipped her wine as she wandered around the room. “I am. Your dad’s great and she’s really happy, but I don’t know what this means for me.” She stared at him for a long moment, and Quincy wondered what she was thinking. “I thought you brought the wine over for your own sake.”
    Now it was his turn to look surprised. “What do you mean? I’m sure you won’t be that bad of a princess.” He laughed but stopped when her eyes fell and her cheeks turned red. “What did I miss?”
    “Nothing… You didn’t miss anything.”
    “Oh no, you don’t get to just say that and then not tell me,” he said as he set down his wine glass. “Olivia, we’re going to be siblings soon. You can tell me anything. Why would I need a bottle of wine?”
    She shifted from one foot to the other as her cheeks turned even redder. “I may have gone into your room, trying to find something embarrassing to make up for the underwear thing,” she confessed quickly.
    Quincy still didn’t follow and laughed. “So? If I wanted people to stay out of my room, I would lock the door more often.”
    “Well, I’m sure you didn’t want me to see the folders.”
    For a second, he wasn’t sure what she meant. “Ah, those folders. Yes, well, it’s not exactly a secret amongst the islanders, so I guess there’s no harm in you knowing it, too. Cheers then, to two weddings this year!” The words were bitter as he swallowed the rest of his wine and poured another glass.
    Olivia reached out a hand, but it fell back to her side before it reached him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
    “No, I’m not upset at you,” he assured her. “I’m going to have to face it sooner or later.”
    Silence fell over them until Olivia moved closer and clinked her glass against his. “Well, at least for now, you have a drinking buddy to get you through.”
    Quincy smiled. “That I do. Come then, future sister of mine, let us drink to our soon-to-be-sibling lives of secrets and rivalry,” he teased, but even as the words left his lips, he felt a slight pang of regret in his chest. What it meant, he had no idea.
     

Chapter 4
     
    Sun streamed in through the