Hannah took a step back, struggled for composure. She was not that naive eighteen-year-old anymore. ‘Lukas, you’re home. How long has it been? I can’t quite recall.’
He arched a brow. ‘So you are still holding a grudge.’
His voice was low and gravelly, settling deep inside her where butterflies were somersaulting. Hannah’s face got hot. ‘Have you let my parents know that you’re here?’
He looked affronted. ‘Of course, they knew I was coming.’
But she hadn’t. She lived at the palace now in her own tiny apartment, so it wasn’t as if she saw her parents every day, but a feeling of hurt intensified, on top of every other swirling thing. Most dominant of which right now was sheer…dizzy lust. Lukas’s scent was tantalising. Musk and wood with complex undertones of something more exotic.
Had he always been so huge? He seemed taller and broader than she remembered. Feeling exposed, she said, ‘Six years of nothing, no contact, and now you’re just…back.’
His jaw clenched. ‘I have been in touch, with your folks.’
Hannah knew that, but she’d stubbornly refused to ask after him. Lukas had kept in touch with them because he’d lived with them for three years before her brother’s death, due to losing his own family in tragic circumstances.
He’d more than kept in touch with them, he’d supported them.
Then Lukas said, ‘I haven’t been in touch with you because I thought I’d be the last person you wanted to speak to.’
Terrified that he would see how hurt she still was that he’d cut off all contact, Hannah said breezily, ‘It was a long time ago.’
His dark green gaze narrowed on her. ‘You don’t still feel the same way.’
She let out a laugh, hoping it sounded carefree. ‘How pathetic would it be if I still had a crush on my older brother’s best friend?’
Lukas paled at that and Hannah immediately cursed herself. She bit her lip. ‘I didn’t mean to mention…’ She trailed off.
‘Danielo.’
‘Yes.’ The air between them was suddenly thick with memories and grief and all the unspoken things.
‘It’d be strange if we didn’t mention him,’ Lukas said heavily.
Hannah’s heart ached. Twice, she’d stood by this man at a graveside. The first time when his entire family had died in a car crash, and the second, three years later when her brother had died.
She remembered his face at his family’s funeral, white and pinched with shock and grief. His tall, gangly body hunched over as if he wanted to curl into a ball. Only about nine years old, she’d moved to stand beside him, and put her hand in his. He’d looked at her, dark green eyes full of a pain that Hannah had been too young to even fathom. But even then, she’d wanted to do anything she possibly could to alleviate that pain.
Since he’d left Santanger for the first time, not long after Danielo’s funeral, Lukas had become a billionaire tech entrepreneur with a reputation for being enigmatic and elusive. Although, not so elusive that there weren’t pictures of him online with some of the most beautiful women in the world.
Hannah, much to her shame, had pored over any mention of him in the press like a starstruck groupie.
‘Why are you here, Lukas?’ she blurted out, almost angry with him now for showing up again and dredging up a slew of painful memories.
Log in or create an account to read the next chapter of "Royal Maid's Awakening"
Every month we select a new title from one of our authors so that you can discover new stories, locations and genres for free.