Chapter l462

Chapter 0462

“No,” Julian said: “There’s no way Bridget would start that rumor.‘

I pressed my lips hard together and lowered my head so I wouldn’t have to look him in the eye. I hadn’t talked to him since the morning out in the gardens. He didn’t know all the new things I had heard from Bridget herself.

She had been so entirely indifferent to him and me sleeping together. After she ‘came to my rescue‘ against Nathan, she had literally told me she didn’t care if we had slept together or not. I knew then that those words would hurt Julian, just as I did now. I still didn’t want to tell him.

“It was her,” Veronica said. “I’m sure of it.”

Having suspected Bridget from the start, though hoping I was wrong, I believed Veronica. Bridget and Nicholas were the only two who knew I had been out late that night, other than Brian. But I couldn’t imagine Brian would say a word. And Nicholas wouldn’t lie to himself about this.

It could have only been Bridget from the start.

Julian, however, was having a hard time accepting that. His smile faded, as it so often did when it came to Bridget. Without a word, he turned toward the door. He stopped only to gently pat Elva on the head, then he rushed out into the hallway.

We all watched after him for a moment. Then I looked to Veronica.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It seems as if he’s been dealing with these feelings a long time.”

“He’s usually so observant,” I said. “It’s like he has a blind spot when it comes to her.” “Love can do that,” she said. She glanced at the door again, which was now closed. There was no lingering presence of him in the room. He’d even seemed to forget about the swimsuits.

I turn to Charlotte, who was holding the swimsuits not quite as high as before. “Please pack both of those suits, Charlotte,” I said. “Is there one for Elva as well?”

Charlotte smiled at Elva. “Come on, Elva. Yours are in the closet still. Why don’t I show you? One looks like it has a little tutu, like a ballerina!”

A bright smile burst from Elva, and she skipped toward Charlotte. They entered the closet together, leaving the door opened wide. I would join them in a moment, but first I returned my attention to Veronica.

“Thank you,” I said. “You didn’t have to go to Julian about this. You certainly didn’t have to include me at all.”

“There were a lot of reasons I felt you should join us,” Veronica said. “One of them is that I want you there.‘

“Thank you,” I said again, just in case the first didn’t have enough emphasis. Then I pulled

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Charlotte, who had been cleaning up around Elva’s tea party now that she moved, smiled as she too came to join us.

“Wait one minute,” she said, and sneaked past us and into the closet. She returned with a bag from a name brand clothing store. “I suspected this might come up sooner or later, so I took the liberty of preparing a couple of things.

Charlotte reached into the bag and then procured two different swimsuits, one a nice, conservative one–piece, the other, a more risqué two–piece that would show much of my curves, top and bottom.

“I think you should go with the two–piece,” Julian said. “I’ve seen your…” He glanced at Elva, who was looking at him curiously. “Er… assets.” He immediately censored himself. ” There’s no shame in flaunting what you have.”

“You should wear what you are most comfortable in,” Veronica said.

“Yeah, sure,” Julian said, “But when you took your clothes off and jumped into that lake – ”

“Julian!” I hissed. “This is exactly why people think something happened between us.”

“It doesn’t mean anything to recognize the… figure of a person you are acquainted with,” he said.

“You and I know that, but the rest of the palace doesn’t,” I said. “Those rumors are still floating around. Or should I credit you with starting them.”

His sharp smirk slipped a little. “I wouldn’t do that,” he said.

I went too far, I realized. I knew he wouldn’t. I was just so angry and scared about it. That rumor had driven Nicholas away from me. It had made the other girls look at me differently. It had given the royal family an opportunity to further chastise me, even though, with our fake relationship, they had already suspected we’d been sleeping together for months.

Then I remembered. They weren’t mad about my supposed sleeping with Julian. They were mad that I was caught.

“Actually,” Veronica said. “I’ve been looking into that. I’ye asked everyone and traced back the rumor to its source.‘

“And what’s the source?” Julian asked.

Veronica held his gaze as she said, “Bridget.”

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