The Girl Who Loved Two Princes: The Her Before You

2017, June 4th(Caines, Terres Somnia)Another insufferable ball.The excuse for it?It was his birthday.Lord Bartholomew Arden would rather be sitting in his room preparing for midterms. Duke Arden took Bart around the room to meet with the nobles in attendance. Their dealings with the Arden House were drilled into Bart's head. As though Bart weren't already aware of them all. He would have given many things to not have to endure this night.Grievances aside, there was one thing Bart looked forward to about tonight. He might get to see Caroline. Things between their families were still very unstable. Bart hadn't seen CC since the last time she came home from boarding school.Unknown to King Henry, electing to spend the year abroad was step one in shunning his wishes for her. She intended to attend fashion school next year.Bart didn't know if his birthday was a good enough reason to bring her home right before midterms.Relief washed over Bart as his mother approached with a friend i

CC and Bart were trading outright glares now. It seemed she didn’t appreciate his dancing with another woman either. Bart didn’t like how CC was looking at him. Or did he? Maybe he liked it a lot. He wasn’t sure. She was getting into his head and he was having trouble focusing on the woman in his arms.Aria Maine had been slighted once too many times tonight. It was one thing for The Casanova of Casanova to ditch her for her cousin on the dance floor. Being danced with by a man who was gawking at another woman was something else altogether. She was a damn knock out and she bloody well knew it. Feeling somehow like she knew this man, what with Ethan talking about him nonstop, she felt she could do it. So she did. She pulled Bart’s distracted head down to her and kissed his cheek.Even Bartholomew couldn’t not look. Her amber eyes demanded attention as he towered over her. When next he laid eyes on CC, he had to do a double take, they both did.“Wow, you guys are liberal about what happe

Bart gulped as he watched her shirt hit the floor. What was he supposed to do with her shirtless and on top of him, threatening to take off more as she kissed her way down his body? The last two nights he'd managed to get her to fizzle out while spooning her and she'd fallen asleep in his arms. He’d hoped he had deterred her. Instead having caught on, CC only became emboldened. She already had them both half naked. His fingers dancing to the tune of her melody up her back, heading for her bra. Stop. Tell her they needed to talk. He wanted to, he really did, but all his willpower went into not flipping them over and tearing the rest of her clothes off. "I love you," she said, innocent eyes staring down into his. The hot air from her lips mixed with his as he felt the bra he didn't know he had unclasped gave way under his fingers. Fuck. He was going to stop now, wasn't he? Her lips pulled up into a smile as she pulled the zipper of her shorts down. He found himself helping her

2017, June 5thThe drive from the airport to the castle took Bart's breath away. True to its name, Sartis Est was exceptionally beautiful. He took in the hills, mountains, pebble roads, streams, old ruins and knew that coming had been the right choice. "Father, allow me to introduce Lord Bartholomew Arden," said Ethan as they entered the drawing room.The king and queen were just sitting down to tea. "I never met a straighter arrow. I'm sure by the end of his stay you'll wish he was your son instead of me," said Ethan, chipper as ever. Aria gave Bart a concerned look as she went to sit next to her mother, holding onto her shoulders as both women watched the situation unfold with bated breath. Undeterred, Bart stuck his hand out to the king and said, "Thank you for having me, Your Majesty."The king looked at Bart's hand, sizing him up from every angle as he walked circles around Bart, staring him down. "Are you truly the son of a nobleman? You should know better than to offer a ki

She smiled back at him, reaching out to touch his chest. Aria wasn't thinking about Ethan or Diane or their messed up situation. All she wanted was to be wrapped around him. "You should probably talk to him about it yourself."Bart had been getting looks like that for years. He didn't know it of course, because he didn't usually get close enough to women to see it. He'd certainly never stripped down to his underwear for one. The more her hands explored his torso, the less he wanted to talk about Ethan and Diane. Aria had tied her hair up into a bun, presumably for the swim. Having last seen her hair down at his birthday ball, it suddenly seemed very important to him that she had it down and not up.His hand went to her hair and he undid the bun, pulling the scrunchie onto his wrist as he brought her hair down. "You should wear it down more," he whispered. She looked up at him and found his deep blue eyes staring down into her amber eyes. Unguarded tenderness greeted her. Okay fine,