Her Royal Pen Pal

Chapter 10 [Dinner and A Ball Gown]

(Copyright) © 2011 Candle_Ice

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Chapter 10

Elise looked around the dining table at her family. They were more comfortable with Leonidas now than at first in the living room. 

When he arrived earlier, he was introduced to everyone: Erik, her eldest brother, the med student; Zane, the photographer; Helena, the ballerina; Jared, the future footballer/ astronaut; Tatiana, best friend/ un-biological sister; Karin van Hastening, her mother, magazine editor; and finally her father, the lawyer, Randolph van Hastening. 

They all curtsied, but were told to forget he was the Prince, and welcome him as a friend and address him by his name. Her father then surprised her and everyone else, by asking him into his study for a while. 

She had teased him about interrogating Leonidas, but she didn’t think he would have taken her seriously.

They were in there for over twenty minutes, and she was starting to get worried when they finally emerged and shook hands. 

Conversation was a little strained in the beginning, but the awkwardness was broken by Jared's comment of how popular he was now that his sister was dating the prince. That opened a whole long line of teasing from everyone and now they were all laughing like a normal 'meet the family' dinner.

By dessert, they were all relaxed. She was right, her parents did like him. Even her father, who was the most skeptical about this whole meeting, seemed to be a little more relaxed. But then again, Leonidas was great at charming people.

It was only a matter of time before he completely won over her entire family, her father included.

"Elise, can I talk to you for a minute, in private?" Leonidas asked when they were finished with the dinner.

"Sure," she replied.

He was leading her into her father's study, when her mother interrupted. 

"Why don't you show him your room, dear?" 

"There are a lot of rooms in this house, other than the bedrooms. They can go in any one of them if they wish. Why must they go into her bedroom?" Her father asked irritably. 

"Come on Randolph, her bedroom is the only room in the house that reflects her personality. He should see that." Her mother replied and shushed them to the second floor towards Elise's bedroom.

When they reached inside he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her fiercely. That was the third time Elise was kissed by him, and all three times it was unexpected, but not entirely unwelcomed.

"I've wanted to do that all day," he said, after a while, still holding her in his embrace.

She smiled. "You know, you could give a girl some warning next time you plan on kissing her senseless." 

"I'm sorry, but I did not hear you complain before." he teased.

"Well, I'm not really complaining now," she replied, then asked, "What did my father want?"

"He wanted to make sure that I was going to treat his daughter right and not rush her into anything... physical, you know: the usual things a father would tell a guy who’s dating his daughter."

"And what did you reply," she asked, curious to know.

"I promised him we wouldn't rush into anything, but it's hard to keep that promise when his daughter is so hot and full of passion."