For King and Country by Geneva Lee Page B

despite everything, I didn’t want to say no to him. In fact, I was counting on not saying no to him all day long.
    “Earth to Clara,” Belle called.
    I blinked my eyes, drawing myself out of my daze as she placed a plate piled with food on it in front of me. “I’m going to be too full for sex.”
    “Pish-posh.” She grabbed her own plate and hunkered down next to me. “Think of this as fuel. I expect you to be able to keep up with him.”
    “You do, huh?”
    “And I want to hear all the sordid details.”
    Rolling my eyes, I cut into my egg, spilling yolk across my plate. “Have you met him before?”
    “Sadly no. My family was never a favorite of his parents, especially after daddy…” She trailed away. I knew better than to push it. “We didn’t get invited out to the country or anything. And he was gone for so long after the accident.”
    Thinking about the infamous wreck that had killed Princess Sarah and nearly claimed Alexander’s life made it difficult to eat. “He mentioned that. Going away after the accident, I mean.”
    “Were you in America at the time?”
    I nodded, pushing my food around my plate. “It was all over the news. Although I had other things going on at the time.”
    “It was so sad.” Her voice grew distant as she recalled the incident. “People broke down crying on the street, even my mother. I went to her funeral. Everyone did. There must have been hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets and when her casket passed, there was absolute silence.”
    “She was our age. It’s hard to imagine,” I said. “Were there paparazzi involved?”
    “No one really knows,” Belle said grimly. “The rumor was that they’d been drinking. Alexander was twenty, but she was underage. There was another person in the car, but the press never uncovered who it was.”
    “I still don’t understand why Alexander left,” I admitted. He’d been as much a victim as his sister.
    “Sarah was beloved. I think it was partially because she looked so much like her mother. Her mom died in childbirth with Prince Edward and that was such a shock. The idea that she died tragically as well was too much for most people.” Belle shrugged. “It’s funny how people act like they know famous people.”
    I couldn’t help wondering if Alexander had left to escape recrimination or because he couldn’t handle the loss of both his mother and sister. It felt like too much for one person to endure.
    “You need to eat,” Belle said, changing the subject.
    Despite Belle’s clucking, I couldn’t finish more than half of the breakfast. My stomach was too nervous, churning too quickly for me to stomach the food. It was already ten o’clock, which meant I had an hour to get myself ready—or to back out. Despite my promises to Belle that I wouldn’t run from my chance with Alexander, I remained unconvinced that I could actually go through with our date the closer I got to it. If I could even call it a date.
    I dropped my robe on my bed and picked up the bag of Agent Provocateur lingerie that Belle had brought me, only to discover that she’d bought more than one set. Tucked under the paper that wrapped the set she’d shown me last night were at least five more and a few pairs of stockings. Clearly, she had higher expectations for how today would go than I did.
    I stuck with the set she’d given me last night, especially after checking out the others in the bag, some of which included garters. And one pair with a slit up the already negligible crotch of the thong. She’d been right to give me the silver gray set. It was the prettiest, but it was also the most traditional. Nothing about today was ordinary, so I was glad that at least I wouldn’t feel completely out of my own skin.
    Fastening the bra, I turned to check myself out in the standing mirror in the corner of my room. The delicate lace glistened over my pale skin, creating an almost ethereal affect. The bra pushed together my breasts