How to Resist Prince Charming(49)

Finally, she slipped it on over the blouse she wore and had to admit the added warmth was nice.

Braxton had never seen so many manicured gardens and statues of naked people in all his life.

But Lenna had a blast taking pictures of every one of them. Then she dragged him to the market, where they bought a bag full of fruit. He found himself eating something called sanguine. Citrus juice dripped down his chin as he strolled from vendor to vendor.

When he caught sight of a quaint gift shop, he suddenly remembered his deal with Thomas Davenport. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve told Lenna of Tom’s request for him to get her a souvenir. That way, she could pick out her own gift.

But there was no way in hell Braxton was going to mention Tom’s name and ruin the rest of their weekend. They had a cheerful, relaxed mood going, and he wasn’t about to jeopardize that.

He sighed.

Sometimes, he wished her father would find out about them already. He couldn’t stand this waiting for the other shoe to drop, was tired of keeping his feelings for her quiet.

What was worse, their relationship couldn’t progress until her father knew about them, and for the first time in his life, Braxton was ready to move things along with a woman.

Possessive like he’d never been before, he wanted to publicly claim her as his—exclusively his—so no other man had the right to touch his woman. If they had to forge their way through Tom’s anger and accusations to get to that point, then damn it, he was ready for that too.

Truth be told, he’d once been tempted to come right out and ask her dad for his permission to take her on a date. He’d even waited until after work one day and followed Davenport to his car.

After calling Tom’s name, he watched Tom turn and send him a questioning look.

He opened his mouth. “I was wondering,” he started hesitantly. “If I could ask—” out your daughter some time. But he hadn’t been able to finish the question.

He looked into Tom’s eyes and realized they were the exact same shade of green as Lenna’s. He might as well have been looking at her and catching her betrayed stare for going against her wishes to reveal their relationship.

Braxton froze. He shook his head and muttered, “Never mind.” Then he waited until a frowning Tom got into his car and drove off before he pressed the palms of his hands into his eye sockets and groaned out his misery.

Now, however, he wished he wouldn’t have chickened out that day. At least they’d be able to move on. Except, Braxton was afraid the “moving on” part would mean she’d move on without him, and he’d lose her.

So, he took all the secrets one step further and decided not to tell Lenna about the gift from her dad.

While she chatted in French with a flower vendor, he ducked into the small shop. He scanned the shelves until he spotted a picture he’d seen Lenna admiring earlier in one of the museums they had toured.

Before second-guessing himself, he tucked the Toulouse-Lautrec print under his arm and hurried to the checkout counter. Having no idea what the salesclerk was jabbering on about, he stuck with the whole smile-and-nod routine and handed over his credit card.

She must’ve asked if he wanted the picture gift wrapped, though, because after he paid for it, she pulled out a blue bow and cream paper.

Hell, lady, he wanted to cry. Hurry it up before I’m caught and have to explain myself. But of course, even if he had said that aloud, she wouldn’t have understood a word of his language.

As soon as she finished and slid the picture into a bag, he snatched the item from her and treated her to a tense, apologetic smile. Then he booked it out of there.

Lenna caught him just as he was exiting the store. He jerked to a surprised halt.

“There you are,” she said, coming toward him and eyeing his bag curiously. She grinned. “I’ve been looking for you. What were you doing in there?”

Braxton wanted to slap a hand over his mouth when he let out a nervous laugh. “I was just...you know.” He buried himself even more by tossing out a careless and completely guilty shrug. “Buying a souvenir for my...for my...sister. Yeah. I told Savannah I’d get her something while I was here.”

“How sweet,” Lenna answered and edged forward, trying to peek inside his bag. “What’d you get her?”

When she reached for the opening, he jerked back. Lenna’s head snapped up. She blinked in stunned confusion and Braxton’s face heated. God, if only he were a better liar.

Wishing he could sink through the ground, he forced a smile. “It’s just a picture,” he said and pulled the wrapped gift from the bag.

Okay, so she’d know where it came from when her dad gave it to her. That was fine, as long as she didn’t know now. If she found out now, she’d grow depressed about how she kept lying to her family, deceiving her father, and adding secret upon secret. Her first trip to Paris would be ruined.

“See,” Braxton said, rattling the frame like a kid would shake his Christmas gift. “You can’t even tell what it is.”

She stared at the cream-colored paper and the bow for what felt like forever. Then she slowly lifted her face. Braxton almost reached for her she looked so hurt.

“Oh,” she said in a small voice and turned away.

His heart stopped for a whole second. He opened his mouth to tell her the truth, but she’d already moved away.