Samantha
Back in the living room, we settled on a sheepskin rug in front of the fireplace, wineglasses, plates of jam tarts, and chocolate dessert beside us.
"This is not how I thought this lunch would end," I murmured.
"Me either," Harry whispered into my hair, "but I can't say I'm disappointed."
"Neither am I," I said, "but I am wondering what comes next."
He wrapped his arm around me. "I'm going to talk to my granny."
I sat up so I could look in his eyes. "While we have gotten to know each other better today—a lot better—I don't think it's time for any big decisions. Can't we just go on like we have been...getting to know each other?"
He frowned. "You're okay with being...?"
I laughed softly. "The other woman? Your mistress? Yeah."
"That sounds so old fashioned," Harry said.
"Well then, how about your girlfriend?"
"That's a bit better. But are you sure? Really?"
"Trust me, it's far easier for me to imagine myself in that role than any other one right now."
Harry laughed. "I hope you get to meet my grandfather someday. I think you two would get along. You're both very...forthright." Cuddling up to me again he said, "You know, he told me this is what I should do."
Lie to your bride-to-be? were the words in my mind, but I managed to say instead, "He told you to get a girlfriend?"
"He told me to find someone who made me happy. And right now, I am very happy."
I was too. So happy, I did not want to think about the swift-approaching time when I knew we would have to go our separate ways, and I wondered if I could, in fact, be happy being the girlfriend of a prince who was engaged to someone else. But right now, I wasn't prepared to go beyond that. Just the thought of standing in front of a battalion of cameras terrified me.
A persistent muted buzz interrupted my thoughts, the sound of a phone set to vibrate.
Harry looked at the clock on the wall and groaned.
I started to scramble to my feet, but he stopped me. "Just a few more minutes, before I have to go back to the real world."
I leaned up against him and closed my eyes.
Again the buzz, seemingly more insistent this time.
"You'd better go," I said.
"I know."
We took a few minutes to put on our public personas. Harry slipped on his watch, and I combed through my hair with my fingers.
"I like the dress," he said. "It's very cute. But then, I like you in the jodhs too. And not in—"
I cut off his comments with a kiss, and he grinned.
"I'll let you go first. Simon should be downstairs waiting with the car to take you back. And thank you again for the polo bag. It's amazing."
"You're amazing," I said, surprising myself with the words as I stepped in the elevator.
He shook off the compliment with a smile. "I'll see you next week. Somehow. Somewhere."