“So are you ready to tackle the project?” she asked, drying her hands on a crisp white towel.
I really wanted to tackle her, but I agreed with her about the work instead. “Of course.”
We both took out our laptops and situated ourselves at on the couch, sitting side by side as we did research. We worked relentlessly, well into the night. There was no conversation of family, nor hobbies, nor anything fun. No, this was all business.
“Okay, I think we've gone as far tonight as we can,” she said as she saved the document and closed her laptop.
“Yes, I agree.”
She leaned back onto the couch and let out a sigh. “I am tired,” she said.
“Me too. Would you like for me to go?” I asked, hoping that she would say no.
She sat up and looked at me with a slightly hurtful look. “No, of course not. Why on earth would you think that?”
I was glad that she wanted me to stay. “Well, you said you were tired, so I didn't want to intrude any longer. I know we were up really late last night, and then you cooked and we've studied for three hours. I just don't want to wear you out,” I explained.
“Drew, you're certainly not going to wear me out just by sitting here and talking. Besides, there is the matter of your friend, Clayton I believe his name is, that we need to discuss.”
Damn! I was hoping she’d let this die, or maybe she’d forgot or considered it wasn’t worth discussing. No such luck it would seem. There was no getting out of it, so I may as well just tell her the truth.
“Eliza, I’d rather protect you and handle Clayton myself. There’s no sense in upsetting you, because I'm afraid that you're not going to like the situation at all.”
I intended to be as gentle as possible but as truthful as I could be as well. I didn't want to hide anything from her. Honesty was the most important aspect of any relationship, and I wanted her to know that was what I believed in if we were going to move forward.
She turned to face me on the couch, bringing her legs up and crossing them in front of her. “I can handle it, Drew. You’re willing to protect me, which is honorable, but from what, I have no idea. I do appreciate your honesty. So please, you have my undivided attention.”
I raked my fingers through my hair and sighed the frustration out in one breath.
“There is no easy way to tell you this, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it.” I cleared my throat and began. “Clayton told me that he doesn't think that I should be seeing you, except for our project.” Good, there was the “what,” now she would want to know the “why” aspect.
“Why?” she asked calmly.
“It's complicated. Clayton believes that you are poor and it would be unbecoming of me, the Prince of England, to be associated with you.” I said as I made air quotes with my fingers.
Tears filled her eyes immediately.
“Oh, God, Eliza I'm so sorry,” I said as I put my hand on her knee. “I didn't mean to hurt you. I am so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Tears fell from her face and hit the cushion between her crossed legs. “I had no idea that was the reason. I should have figured it out, though, based on his actions,” she said, speaking of Clayton.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. I felt like a piece of shit for telling her, but I honestly thought she would laugh it off and tell me that she was from a middle-class family and that would be that.
“Eliza, I am truly sorry,” I added, hoping she would tell me that she was okay.
She shook her head. “You're fine, Drew. It's not your fault. But Clayton is right. I come from a working class family who was poor. We scraped for everything we have. I've already told you about the jobs I worked just to earn enough money to get to Whitby.”
She sniffed and reached for a tissue on the table next to the couch. Wiping her eyes and face, she turned to me and spoke again.
“Drew, if you want to just do the project and not have anything else to do with me, I completely understand. Just let me know up front.”
What the hell?! “Have I given you any reason to believe that is what I want?”
“We-well, no…” She stumbled over the words as the reached for a tissue.
“Because you are in line for the throne, and I am a poor commoner from the wrong side of town. I know how this will all end.”
I took the tissue from her hand and brought it up to gently dry her cheeks.
She knew nothing at all.
“I have no interest in being only your study buddy. I’m interested in you, Eliza. I want to see where things go.”
“Yo-you what?”
“Why do you think I didn't request Haddish pair me with a different partner?”
She shook her head as if she had no idea.
“I wanted to get to know you. From the moment I first laid eyes on you at the café, I’ve felt this unmistakable connection with you. When you showed up in class, Anthropology of all courses, I knew then the gods were shining down upon me. How could I get so lucky to be graced with your presence twice in the same day without it being fate?”
She smiled through the tears, shaking her head as if in shock. “And you’re sure?” she asked.
“Without a doubt,” I reassured her.
“Clayton is right, Drew. I don’t belong in your world.”
“This is no one else's business, except ours.”
“I'm so glad to hear you say that.”
She leaned into me, wrapping her hand around my waist. She felt good against my body, and I didn't want to let go.
“But,” I said as I pulled away momentarily, “there is something very serious that you need to think about.”
“Okay, what?”
“You know who I am. You know how my family and I are followed everywhere we go, and you see how we are scrutinized for every word we say.”
She shook her head in agreement.
“We should try to keep this just between us and as low key as possible. I don't want you dragged into the press any sooner than you have to be.”
“Okay, Drew. I trust whatever you say.”
“Alright, now please don't take this the wrong way,” I trailed off. I dreaded what I was about to say to her.
She nodded. “Alright.”
“For now, we have to pretend that we are just project partners and nothing more. We can speak in Haddish's class under the guise that it will be for project purposes only. But if we are seen hanging out together in the commons area or having lunch, the paparazzi will make both our lives a living hell. Trust me, they did it to Edward. I don't want that happening for you and I before we even see where this will go. So, for now, let's keep it sacred between us.”
She smiled. “I say, yes, lets. It's more fun that way.”
10
Eliza
Dear Journal,
I can't believe that only three weeks ago, Drew revealed his feelings for me. This is more than a dream come true—it's every girl's fantasy. I'm smiling and swooning over him as I write this. I would never have thought that the Prince would tell someone like me that he's interested in dating them.
If this is a dream, then I hope I don't wake from it. I'm absolutely on top of the world with happiness, and I want to stay this way forever.
P.S. I still haven't told him that I am a virgin because he wants to take things slowly anyway. I'm in agreement for the most part, but when we kiss and he touches my body, I can feel myself at the point of giving in. If it weren't for his seemingly solid willpower, I would have already given myself to him. I think I'm falling in love with the bloody Prince of England!!
I'll be back soon with more details.
In the two months since I'd met Drew, my life had taken an entirely different direction. No longer was I the boring girl who spent every waking moment studying and going to school. Now I was the excited, happy girl who spent almost every waking moment thinking about Drew and what could possibly happen between us.
I looked forward, with anticipatio
n, to his visits at my flat when we worked on our project, although he didn't come nearly as much as I would have liked, but at least he was coming. His rugby practices had started a couple of weeks ago, and he was devoting much of his time to that. But I didn't care because he texted me every chance he got. It was mostly just to say hi and ask how my day was going, but I looked forward to hearing the ding of incoming messages because I knew exactly who it was from.
I tried to keep my mind on my psychology homework, but I found myself drifting away from my studies with thoughts of Drew kissing me.
“Mmmm,” I said aloud, which immediately caused me to snap out of my fantasy. “Come on, Eliza, you have got to stop with this nonsense. You are a grown woman, not a child!”
I tried to continue reading my chapter, but before I knew it I was right back to fantasizing about his arms wrapped around me and how good he always smelled. I wanted him terribly when we were together, but we had agreed that was a road we couldn't travel down just yet.
As I sat at my desk, I picked up my pen and began to doodle our names together on a piece of paper.
It was as if I had been in a dream again and was writing without realizing it. What was I doing writing Prince and Princess? First of all, I was dreaming by thinking that Andrew would ever take me as a wife and secondly, everyone knew that when a Royal married a commoner they didn’t get the title of Princess, only Duchess. But it didn't matter anyway. There was no chance that Andrew would ever ask me to be his wife. I was only daydreaming.
“Back to reality, Eliza. You have a ton of homework to get done.”
After almost three hours of nonstop studying, I decided that it was more than past my bedtime, so I took a shower and put on my pajamas. I was intent on getting some sleep that night because I had been burning the candle at both ends. With a heavy class load, tons of homework, and making time for Drew, I was hardly getting any sleep at all.
My parents were upset that I seemed to just disappear out of their lives, but I tried to explain that university required my full attention. Each time my father called and questioned me as to why I had been absent from our regular Saturday evening dinners, I had to think of yet another fib to tell him. I sure wasn't going to say that I was secretly seeing Prince Andrew Harrington.
No, that would have been like fresh blood being thrown into the shark-infested waters of the tabloid pool where my dad worked. He could never know that I was keeping company with Drew or that I even knew him.
As I lay in bed thinking of my crush, I wondered what exactly it was that he saw in me, a commoner. Andrew had access to any woman he wanted, and yet he seemed to want me. I couldn't understand why, although it hadn't really crossed my mind much until a couple of days before when I saw him talking to Lady Poppy Abingdon in the hall at school. My heart sank when I walked around the corner to find him smiling and laughing with her. I wondered what she was saying that had him feeling so joyful, and I felt a tad jealous. Poppy's father, the Duke of Cheshire, had always been well respected throughout all of England and most other countries. They were a wonderful family of whom I had never heard anything bad being said. Poppy was more the type of girl that Drew would marry, so I found myself wondering once again that day what exactly he was doing with someone like me. Was he slumming it just to see what it felt like to be with someone who was regular? God, I hoped not. That would hurt me to the core of my being.
When I casually asked him about Poppy, he told me that their families had been friends for generations, and there was nothing to worry about. So why was I worried? Because it seemed too good to be true that a Prince could or would actually be interested in me.
I spent most of that night flip-flopping back and forth from euphoria over myself and Drew, to angst at the thought of him just using me to see what being with a poor girl felt like. After all, he did mention to me that he and Clayton had discussed my financial situation and the fact that I wasn’t wealthy. It stung me like a thousand bees when he told me what Clayton had said about me. I had to remember that not everyone got to choose their lot in life; that some things were just dealt to them and they had to make the best of a not so great situation. Besides, I was at university so that I could get a good education and live a different kind of life than that in which I had been brought up. I was going to make something of myself, and I was going to earn a living by actually doing something good for the world, not by exploiting others, like my father had done. No, I was going to make a difference with my life's work.
When my alarm went off, I was both excited at the thought of seeing Drew in Professor Haddish's class and irritated that I had to get up and get ready to spend another day in boring classes when I'd rather been in bed, sleeping. I was always like that in the mornings lately. I wasn't resting well due to the fact that all I could seem to think about was the Prince or how I was seeming to fall behind on my studies. It worried me because I knew that if I got bad grades I would definitely lose my scholarships, and that was unthinkable to me. I couldn't fathom not being there at Whitby and not being part of Drew's life.
Looking into the mirror, I realized that I had changed. I wasn’t the same girl who had moved here one month ago with big dreams and big plans to study hard and ace everything.
“Eliza Noble, straighten yourself up!” I said to my reflection. “You must get your mind back in the game. You don't have a trust fund to fall back on. You only have yourself to depend on, and no one else is going to take care of you. Now, young lady, get it together!”
My pep talk served me well that morning, so much so that when we were in Haddish's class, I fully paid attention for the first time in three weeks. I took notes, tried to catch up on things I knew I had missed, and kept my recorder on so that I could replay his lecture. I couldn't say that I didn't look back at Drew a couple of times, because I did. He barely smiled; I figured mostly because of Clayton's constant eye being on us. But the few times we did make contact, it gave me the reassurance I seemed to be needing.
“And with that class,” I heard Professor Haddish say, “I bid you goodbye until next week. Have a good weekend, and don't forget to work on those projects. I don't want anyone coming to me the day before they are due and telling me that they didn't have enough time to complete them.”
I was super happy when he said that we must work on the project because that was the subtle reminder I’d needed to encourage Drew to come over tonight Even though we were “together” secretly, I didn’t want to appear desperate for his time. I smiled as I made my way to him.
“Hey, you,” I said as I looked into his gorgeous eyes.
“Hey, I guess you heard what Haddish said?” he winked as he spoke.
I knew exactly he was getting at, and my heart leaped for joy. I had come to love spending time with him, even if we had to discuss Anthropology.
“Yes, and I'll be waiting for you. Is there anything special you'd like?” I asked him slyly. I was talking about dinner and/or me.
He grinned mischievously as if he’d read my mind. “Yes, actually, there is, but I am trying to be good where you're concerned.”
I giggled a bit. “I will see you at seven then?”
“Of course,” he said before pausing. “God, I wish I could kiss you right here. You look so beautiful today.”
“Go ahead then. There's no one stopping you. I certainly wouldn't dream of it.”
He moved toward, seemingly contemplating the thought, before Clayton's big mouth rang out.
“Drew! My boy,” he said as he slapped Andrew on the back and gave him a fist bump.
“Are we on for rugby practice tonight?”
Drew was hesitant before he answered. “Uh, no. I have to meet with Ms. Noble and work on our project this evening.”
Clayton looked at me with disgust and sneered. It was clear that he didn’t like me. He turned to Drew. “Don't spend too much time on that side of town. I heard it gets really rough over there, and you never know when a photo may turn up in the tabloids.”
/> His disdain for me was apparent, and it hurt, I'd admit. Clayton didn't matter to me because he was a pompous ass whom I would never give the time of day.
Drew was speechless as Clayton walked away. I could see the hurt in his eyes, but I didn't say anything to try to make it better. He needed to see his best friend for who he really was—a snooty rich jerk with no regard for others.
“Hey, I'm sorry about that,” Drew said.
I smiled. “Don't worry about it. You can't help it that he's an ass.”
He laughed as he threw his head back. “You're absolutely right. I'll see you at seven.”
After an hour of studying and getting as far as we could on the project, I put the notebook down and turned toward Drew. He was sitting in his usual spot beside of me on the couch.
“Well, I guess we're finished for the night,” I said with a sly grin.
“I suppose we are.”
“Now what?” I questioned.
Before I realized what was going on, he had taken my face in both of his hands, and his soft lips pressed to mine. I didn't have to wonder anymore what we would do with the rest of the evening. Drew and I had been making out for the last couple of weeks, and I was loving every minute of it. I had feelings throughout my entire body that I didn't know were even possible to have. I was aching in places that I didn't know existed. Plain and simple, I wanted to be with him, to make love to him.
“Oh God, you taste so sweet,” he said as he continued to kiss me.
Hearing those words while our tongues were still intertwined made it even sexier. It was as if he wanted to speak, but he couldn't part from me.
Royally Loved: The Royal Romances Books 1-5 Page 23
