The Princess and the Playboy

Twelve

"Do you have nothing to say for yourself?"

Lexi looked up from where her eyes had been focused on her hands; folded neatly in her lap and straight into her father's eyes.

No, she didnt have anything to say but she had to say something in order to get out of this room.

The room in question was the King's private offices and Lexi had been there since she'd woken up that morning in her old room; was dressed by her ladies in waiting and made her way to the offices to speak with her father.

Time was a foreign concept but she had felt like she'd been in here for hours; listening to the moans and complaints and anger had what she had done. Listening to how she had let herself and Aldovia down and what it was going to take for her to fix this.

Nothing had changed; nothing was going to change.

She was right back where she had started although now it was even worse because she knew what she was missing...Andro.

"ANSWER ME!" her father bellowed at her, making Lexi jump.

She turned her eyes to the few people who had been permitted to this meeting; standing in the intimate space. Althea of course, meant to be there for her comfort but providing nothing but steely disappointment from her stance and Massimo; her father's aid and someone - she couldnt be bothered to remember their name - representing the Aldovian government.

"What do you wish me to say?" Lexi said quietly.

She had no more fight left; her very clothes were suffocating her.

What she wouldnt give to be in a pale yellow sundress on the deck of yacht; Andro's arms wrapped around her as they kissed.

Instead she was in a high necked, long sleeved grey cotton dress and sensible matching shoes. Formal pearls adorned her ears and her neck and her hair was up in a tight bun; all traces of her sunswept tresses locked away.

They had put her into her princess uniform as soon as she'd been conscious. She'd woken up on a bed on a private jet, still in a bathrobe. There had been a note, written by who she didnt know, saying she was to get dressed and come out when she was ready. When she had done so, there had been a team of people on board the jet including Althea and Massimo. They had explained that someone had seen her walking in the garden's outside Mrs Gina Monroe's home and later seen her enter it. That person had called the hotline number that had been plastered in the press and media and they had tracked her to that address.

She hadnt understood why they'd referred to the house as GG's but didnt question it because they seemed to know nothing about Andro. They had asked her who he was and why she was with him; but she had gone into princess mode and refused to be questioned outside of her response that he was a friend who had helped her hide and there was nothing else to it. They had not questioned her further but she knew they didnt believe her.

She didnt particularly care.

By the time, they'd got back to Aldovia and dodged the paparazzi it was late in the afternoon. She hadnt been permitted to leave her room and Althea had informed her that the king would speak to her in the morning. She had no problem understanding that her father was trying to make her sweat.

King Alpheus looked at her now and she looked back, waiting for him to answer her question. She had nothing to add to this charade that was her life and she wouldnt help him dig her grave,

"Who was the man you were with?"

God help her, she flinched; worried that her father knew who Andro was. Terrified that he would try and sully the one good thing that had happened to her in a very long time...