But that would make him pretty damn pathetic, wouldn’t it?
“Yeah. That’s it.”
“Okay then,” she said. “Goodbye, Griffin.”
She hung up, and Griffin just managed to keep from tossing his phone into the sea.
*
Sunlight filled her gorgeous new kitchen and still Nicole felt as if she was at the bottom of a very black hole.
Griffin’s voice had caught her off guard. She hadn’t been prepared for it. Hadn’t been able to steel herself against the pain that ripped into her like the slash of a knife. Days now, she’d been working at getting over Griffin. She’d concentrated on her work and her son and had almost convinced herself that her life was normal again.
Then he had to call.
She stared at her cell phone and willed the misery she felt into a small, dark corner of her heart. She wouldn’t give in to it, because once she did, she didn’t think she’d be able to stop.
“Griff coming?” Connor’s voice steadied her.
She had to hold it together, if not for her, then for her son’s sake.
“No, sweetie, Griff’s not coming today.”
“Tomorrow?”
Nicole scooped him up into her arms and held him close. Inhaling the soft, sweet scent of him, she heard herself say, “We’ll see…”
Eleven
Life in a palace had its perks.
Solitude wasn’t one of them.
Griffin had never seen so many people. Which worked well enough for him at the moment, but he just couldn’t figure out how Garrett managed to put up with it every day. There were dozens of servants working around the palace.
Maids, chefs, gardeners, footmen…footmen, for God’s sake. He guessed that living in a castle meant you were predisposed to embracing the Middle Ages.
Coming to Cadria to see his twin had been a spur-of-the-moment decision. That’s where being a member of the King family came with its own perks—all he had to do was make a call and suddenly one of the family’s jets was at his disposal. Beat the hell out of security lines and hassles at the airport.
He stepped up and braced one boot on the bottom rung of a pristinely painted white fence and stared out across grounds so tidy it was as if they’d been manicured with scissors. The sun was out and huge white clouds sailed across a sky blue enough to make your eyes ache if you stared at it for too long. Ancient trees stood like soldiers around the perimeter of the fence, dropping shade from twisted, gnarled limbs.
The wind tousled his hair, and behind his dark glasses, Griffin squinted into the distance. The palace grounds were immense and as pretty as a painting. There was a massive stable adjoining the paddock that was as big as Nicole’s neighborhood. Behind him, closer to the palace, was a hedge maze and a rose garden that filled the air with amazing scents.
Despite the fact that Griffin wasn’t a big fan of horses, he felt more comfortable out here than he did inside the castle. There was too much protocol there. Too much formality. Out here, there was too much time to think—but given a choice…
“Since when do you like horses?”
Griffin didn’t even turn around. His arms were crossed on the top bar of the fence as he watched million-dollar horses being put through their paces by their trainers.
“I don’t. They’re big, and they have mean eyes.” He laughed. “They’re okay to watch—from a distance—never could understand riding them.” He finally glanced at his twin. “That’s your thing.”
Garrett had always loved going riding, the one thing as twins that they’d never shared.
“Yeah,” Garrett mused, taking up his brother’s pose at the fence. “Have to admit, it’s great to be able to come out here and ride whenever I want to.”
“So being royal doesn’t suck.”
“Not even a little,” Garrett told him on a half laugh.
“Good for you.” Griffin really was glad his brother was happy. He just wished he himself wasn’t so…hell, he didn’t even know what he was.
“So what’s going on?” Garrett turned his head and stared at Griffin. “Not that I’m not glad to see you any time, but you’ve got a job in L.A. to see to and you were just here a couple months ago.”
Griffin squinted even tighter. Not that he was interested in the view, but it was better than meeting his twin’s too-sharp gaze. Seeing Garrett and his wife, Alexis, so happy together made Griffin almost sorry he’d come to Cadria. Hell, how could Garrett understand where Griffin was coming from when he was locked into his own little fantasy world, here in the palace?
“It’s Nicole, isn’t it?” Garrett stared hard at him until Griffin turned his head to meet his eyes.
“What’re you, psychic?”
“Yeah, like it takes a psychic to figure out what’s eating at you.” Garrett laughed a little and looked back out at the horses.
Well, hell. That’s why he’d come here, wasn’t it? Because no one knew him like his twin did. “Fine. Great. One look at me, and you can see I’m miserable. Nice to know that gives you a lift.”
“I’m only laughing because it wasn’t so long ago that you were giving me the same kind of advice that I’m about to give you.”
“Even better. Secondhand advice. That’ll help.” Disgusted, Griffin scowled at his twin.
“Hey, you’re the one who came to me, remember?”
“Shows you just how bad off I am,” he muttered.
“Yeah, good to see,” Garrett said, slapping his twin on the back.
“Thanks very much,” Griffin muttered.
“I was worried when you started up with Nicole,” Garrett admitted. “She’s not the kind of woman to use and then dump.”
“I didn’t dump her,” Griffin argued. No, he hadn’t. He’d damn well panicked and run for it.
That was still eating at him.
“You didn’t do anything to keep her, either, did you?”
No, he hadn’t, Griffin thought, and wondered if it was possible to kick himself. If not, he was pretty sure Garrett would gladly do it for him.
“So now you’re the expert on women, is that it?” Griffin laughed shortly.
“No,” Garrett admitted with a smile, “but I’m an expert on you.”
He snorted. “Please.”
“Not only are we twins,” Garrett went on as if his brother hadn’t spoken, “but we’re both Kings.”