eyelids pricked with tears as something shuddery and optimistic filled her empty soul. She would wallow in her few precious hours with Finn, and maybe it would lead to more. Maybe time and distance had diluted their differences.
Maybe he’d finally understand what his support and strength meant to her. She’d lost so much more than a brother a year ago. She’d also lost the love of her life.
* * *
Finn led Juliet to the dance floor, a minor miracle since his knees had gone numb.
This whole thing was ridiculous. He’d known there was something off about a matchmaker approaching his father, but he never could have predicted Elise’s actual motivation or the result of his trip to Dallas.
What would the king say when he realized what he’d inadvertently done? Finn had been matched with a woman who’d caused his family immeasurable misery and created a scandal that had spawned countless aftereffects.
Yet Finn and Juliet had met again, paired by a supposedly infallible computer program. Everybody he’d talked to raved about EA International’s process. Raved about Elise and how much she truly cared about the people she helped. So yesterday, Finn had walked through Elise’s extensive match profile, answered her questions as honestly as he could and hoped for the best.
Only to have Juliet dropped back into his life with no warning.
The smartest move would have been to turn around and leave without a backward glance. Staying was the surest method to end up insane by the end of the night.
He’d asked Juliet to dance only because manners had been bred into him since birth. This was Elise’s party and they were business associates. It was only polite.
But now he wasn’t so sure that was the only reason.
Seeing Juliet again had kicked up a push-pull of emotions he’d have sworn were buried. Not the least of which was the intense desire to have her head on a platter. After he had her body in his bed.
Fitting Juliet into his arms, they swayed together to the music. It took mere moments to find the rhythm they’d always shared. He stared down into her familiar face, into the green eyes he’d never forgotten, and felt something loosen inside.
It was Juliet, but in capital, sparkling letters with giant exclamation points.
She’d been transformed.
The alterations were external, and he’d liked her exactly the way she’d looked the last time he’d seen her. But what if more than her hair had changed?
Could he really fly back to Delamer without taking a few hours to find out what might be possible that hadn’t been possible before?
Now that he had her in his arms, the anger he’d carried with him for the past year was hard to hang on to.
“You look different,” he blurted out. Smooth. Juliet had never tied up his tongue before. “Amazing. So beautiful. You’re wearing cosmetics.”
She blinked sultry eyes and smiled with lips stained the color of deep sunset. Even her height was different. He glanced down. Sexy heels showcased her delicate feet and straps buckled around her ankles highlighted the shapely curve of her legs. He had the sudden mental image of unbuckling those straps with his teeth.
That was it. Dancing was officially a form of torture.
This was all so surreal. She was still the same girl who’d stabbed him in the back but not the same. Tension coiled in his gut, choking off his air supply.
“Thanks. Elise gave me a few tips on how to be a girl.” Juliet extended a hand to show off long coral-tipped nails. “Don’t expect me to hoist any sails with these babies.”
Finn couldn’t help but grin. If she was going to play it as if everything was cool, he could too. “I’ll do all the hard work. Looking at you is reward enough for my effort.”
Her brows rose as she repositioned her hand at his waist. “Like the new me, do you?”
He could feel those nails through his jacket. How was that possible?
“I liked the old you.” Before she’d skewered his heart on the stake of her stubbornness. “But this you is great too. You’re gorgeous. What prompted all of this?”
Long nails, swept-up hair. A mouthwatering backless dress he easily recognized as high-end. She was double-take worthy and then some.
“It’s part of Elise’s deal. She has a lot of high-powered, influential male clients and they expect a certain refinement in their potential mates. She spends a couple of months enhancing each of us, though admittedly, she spent far more time with me than some of the others. Voila. I am a new creation. Cinderella, at your service.” Juliet glanced at him with a sweeping once-over. “She didn’t tell you how all that worked?”
“Not in those terms. It was more of a general guarantee that the woman she matched me with would be able to handle everything that comes with being a princess.”
Which, in Juliet’s case, had never been a factor. He couldn’t have cared less if she flubbed royal protocol or never picked up mascara. Because he’d loved her, once upon a time.
But that was over with a capital O and in an arranged marriage, he might as well get what he paid for—a demure, non-scandal-inducing woman who could erase the public’s memory of the past year.
“Are you disappointed you got me instead?”
His laugh came out of nowhere. “I honestly don’t know what I am, but disappointed is definitely not it.”
Juliet could have been a great princess. She’d always understood his need to escape from his position occasionally. Finn gave one hundred percent to his job protecting Delamer’s citizens, gladly participated in charity events and didn’t have a moment’s guilt over taking time away from the public eye. A lot of women wouldn’t support that, would insist on being treated to the finer things in life.
Juliet had been perfectly content with a beach date or sailing. Or staying in, his own personal favorite. No, it wasn’t a surprise the computer had matched them.
The surprise lay in how much he still wanted her despite the still-present burn of her betrayal.
“What about you?” he asked. “Has the jury reconvened on whether seeing me again is a pleasant surprise?”
“The jury is busy trying not to trip over your feet while wearing four-inch heels.”
The wry twist of her lips pulled an answering grin out of him.
He relaxed. This was still neutral ground and as long as everyone kept a sense of humor, the night was young.
“Let’s get some champagne. I’m dying to know how you ended up in Dallas in a matchmaker’s computer system.”
As they turned to leave the dance floor, light flashed from the crowd to the left and then again in rapid succession. Photographs. From a professional camera.
Finn sighed. With the time difference, his father’s phone call would come
