“Don’t be. I’ll look out for you.” The prospect was buoying. Max was not looking forward to the wedding. He was thrilled for Marie, and, ultimately, relieved to have the reprieve even though the broken engagement had thrown his plans into disarray. But his parents were still so angry. And his own conundrum aside, there was no way around the fact that Marie’s marrying Leo, a cabdriver from New York, was a bit of a scandal. He’d meant what he said about the Eldovian monarchy not operating on the same celebrity plane as the Brits, but the princess’s choice of groom had still made waves. Max didn’t care about any of that, and he liked Leo, but that didn’t change the fact that there were going to be raised eyebrows. And—back to Max and his conundrum—he frankly wasn’t looking forward to all the whispers about him. Since everyone already thought he was a wanton playboy—the Depraved Duke—he was fairly certain the narrative was going to be that he’d only wanted to marry Marie so he could be prince and was upset to have lost his chance.

Not to mention the fact that Father plus weddings was not a winning mix.

The idea of Dani being there, though, felt like a bit of a reprieve.

The ballet was lovely, if you were into those sorts of things, and Dani and her mother clearly were. Max had always thought of the ballet—and the theater, and the opera—as formal, singular occasions. You might be sitting next to a friend or a relative or a date, but once the lights went down, the experience was, essentially, solitary. You watched the performance, and perhaps you had thoughts about it—even if they were merely “this is boring” thoughts—but you kept those thoughts to yourself.

Not Dani and Val, though. They didn’t make any noise or bother anyone around them, but they kept looking at each other in delight and occasionally leaning over to whisper in each other’s ears. At one point, during the iconic “Waltz of the Flowers,” they clasped hands excitedly.

What must it have been like to enjoy one’s parent so much?

He found himself watching them more than the performance, and when it was over and they broke into happy applause, he let himself be carried along with them. And when Dani turned to him, smiled, and mouthed, “Thank you,” and he whispered, “You’re welcome,” he found he had never meant anything more.

Chapter Four