“Rosie, I can explain it all,” Olivia began, not really believing it herself. A prickly heat crept onto her cheeks, and she clenched her right fist by her side.

“Can you?” Rosie’s voice was low, controlled. So unlike how it had been this morning when she was lying on top of her, naked. Rosie clutched the counter behind her, as if anchoring herself. “Go on then, explain, Olivia.” She shook as she said the name.

Olivia hung her head. “I guess Amy got here before me,” she said, then cringed when she saw Rosie’s face harden.

“Is that why you came running in here? Was it a race to see who could tell poor, gullible Rosie that the woman she’s fallen for, the woman she slept with last night is actually not who she told her she was?” She was shouting now. “That she’s actually engaged to be married.”

Olivia’s heart stumbled at Rosie’s words. She knew it sounded bad. Mainly because it was bad.

“Rosie, it’s not how it sounds.”

“Isn’t it?” Rosie’s tone was no longer controlled; emotion was seeping from every word. “Tell me how it is then, princess.”

Olivia winced. She hated being called princess.

“Look, I know I lied to you, and I’m sorry. But you have to see it from my point of view. I don’t want this marriage, and I needed some time to think, to process—”

“—to have one last roll in the hay with some unsuspecting mug before you committed to marriage.” Her icy stare sliced through Olivia’s defences.

“It’s not like that,” she replied. “I came down here to get away from the madness that is my life at the moment.”

“Boo hoo, poor little rich girl.”

Okay, she deserved that. “I know I don’t deserve any sympathy, but when I got here, if I’d had turned up and said, hi, I’m Princess Olivia, nobody would have talked to me and the press would have been all over me before I could blink.”

“So, you lied through your teeth and told me you were someone else.”

“It was the only way you would have talked to me!” Olivia took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, but it wasn’t easy. She’d been in war zones she’d felt in more control of. Bombs hadn’t fazed her, but Rosie’s disappointment just might.

She was in danger of unravelling on the spot. “I wanted a bit of normality, so I used my army nickname, Charlie. And it worked. You talked to me, and I liked you. I still really like you. Everything else I told you was the truth — all of it, Rosie, you have to believe me.”

Rosie narrowed her eyes at that, looking at Olivia like she was dirt on the bottom of her shoe. Like she just wanted to get rid of her, scrub her out of her life and never see her again.

“I have to believe you? You’ve got some fucking nerve. You’ve spent the last month lying to me, leading me on, buttering me up, before finally getting me into bed last night.” She was shaking as she spoke, her eyes wild. “Just tell me — was it a bet with your posh friends? Perhaps even with your fiancée, I’ve no idea how your world works—”

“—what do you mean how my world works? It works the same as yours.”

Rosie scoffed. “I think we both know that’s not true.” She stared at her. “Are you honestly telling me this world,” she swept her hand around the kitchen, “is the same as the one you come from? Do you often stand around in kitchens with the commoners?”

Olivia lowered her head, but she knew she’d already lost. Why should Rosie listen to her? She didn’t deserve it.

“Was it a bet? Just answer me that.”

Olivia ground her teeth together. “I don’t know what you mean.” Why did she keep asking about a bet?

“A chance to sow your royal oats? A chance to get someone into bed before the big day? Your last bit of rough before you settle down into aristocracy?”

Olivia gave her a sad, slow shake of the head. “You have to know that’s not true.” Didn’t she? Surely Rosie didn’t doubt everything? “The last few weeks have made me see there’s another life I could lead. I came here to escape — but I never imagined I'd meet someone like you. And if I'd told you the truth, you’d never have treated me as an equal.” She cleared her throat, her heart hammering in her chest. “I’m falling in love with you, Rosie. Every single part of that is real.”

Just at that moment, Gina poked her head around the kitchen door, hesitation painted on her face. “Sorry to interrupt,” she said. “But I need to get in here to do some orders.”

“That’s fine, Olivia was just leaving,” Rosie replied, not responding at all to what Olivia had just said.

“And if you don’t move soon, I might just throw you out,” said another voice. Olivia turned her head to see Hilary standing with her arms crossed at the kitchen doorway, Paige beside her. This family that she’d grown to love, all of them were now looking at her with utter contempt.

She’d fucked this up royally, hadn’t she?

She held both her hands up, palms out, as if Rosie was pointing a gun at her. “I’m going, I know when I’ve outstayed my welcome,” she said. “But think about what I said. This past month, I’ve never been happier. And I know I should have told you who I was, but I couldn’t. But everything I’ve told you, everything we shared, it’s all real.” She held Rosie’s gaze, tears pricking the back of her eyes. “You’ve shown me real life in the past month, and I’ve never been happier. I don’t want to marry Jemima, I want to stay here.”

Rosie’s eye roll was enormous. “And that’s going to happen, is it? You’re going to go home, tell your parents, and then come back and live in Otter Bay?”

Olivia cast her gaze to the floor, not daring to look Rosie in the eye. Alexandra had been right all along. She was living in her own bubble; she saw now it would never work.

“I didn’t think so.” Rosie blew out a long breath, gathering herself. “So, whatever you convinced yourself you were doing, the truth is you’re engaged and you’re a princess — and you can’t run away from that.” She sighed. “Just go home, Olivia. Take your lying arse and leave. Go back to your life and forget we ever met. It’s what I intend to do.”

“Really?” Olivia shook her head, her breathing erratic as she spoke. “Can’t we see if we can make this work? Can’t you give me some time to try to work things out?”

But Rosie was having none of it. “I think we both know that’s not going to happen. The princess and the cafe owner.” She threw back her head. “I haven’t even got a degree, for fuck’s sake.”

“You’ve got a degree in living.”

“And you’ve got one in lying, so I guess that makes us almost equal.”

Olivia felt the blow of her words, before standing up tall and turning to leave. As she took one step towards the door, Rosie cleared her throat.

“You know, I’ve had some dark days in my short life — getting that news about my parents was a particularly harrowing one. But this? This is right up there. So well done. You said you wanted to leave me something to remember you by. You’ve broken my heart and deceived me like nobody else; you’ve achieved your goal.”

Leaving the cafe had been an absolute nightmare, with every single customer clutching their phone to get a shot of Olivia’s stricken face as she’d fled, no longer able to bear any of Rosie’s looks or words. If Rosie had taken a knife to her soul, her words couldn’t have cut her more.

The trouble was, she deserved them all. Yes, her heart had been in the right place, but Olivia knew she was in the wrong. If she was in Rosie’s shoes, she’d probably have acted the same way. None of which made it any easier.

As she’d left Mark & Maude’s, Connie had been standing on her boutique’s doorstep, trying to lure Olivia in. Olivia hadn’t stopped. She ran past the surf shop she’d never gone in to; past Amy’s parents’ cafe-bar; past the butcher’s, then the supermarket. All the places that made up Otter Bay, her temporary home, and one she was no doubt barred from forever. Because in deceiving Rosie and breaking her heart, Olivia knew she’d deceived the whole village.

Her name was dirt here now.

She ran all the way back to the house, as much as to rid herself of all the energy she had circling her body, but also to try to escape this whole nightmare as quickly as she could. Because now the whole village knew, it was only a matter of time before the whole world knew. Olivia’s stomach lurched at the thought.

When she turned into the lane that ran up to the manor’s driveway, there were already cars parked there.

Shit.

As she approached, she could see they were reporters. News had clearly spread faster than she could run.

Two men in jeans and button-down shirts thrust a microphone in her face; she put her hand up, covering her face so they couldn’t get a good shot. She buzzed herself into the estate, clanging the tall black iron gate behind her. She sprinted up the gravel driveway, but stumbled halfway, letting out a cry of pain as she came crashing down on her left knee. When she looked down, there was blood seeping through her jeans. Through the gaps in the gate, she heard the whir of cameras. Oh god, this was going to be all over social media in minutes, wasn’t it? She couldn’t believe it was only this morning she’d woken up with Rosie in her arms. It might as well have been another lifetime.

Tears spilled down her cheeks now, the enormity sinking in. Even though her knee protested all the way, she hauled herself up, not looking back once as she heard the men shouting her name. When she got to the house, Alexandra was waiting for her, a look in her eyes Olivia couldn’t work out.

If her sister shouted at her now, she might collapse. Olivia knew she’d buggered everything up, she didn’t need to be reminded. Her sister was all about duty, and Olivia had neglected it. She braced herself for Alexandra’s inevitable onslaught.

However, instead, her sister pulled her into the hallway, slammed the door shut and silently, took Olivia in her arms.

The action was so compassionate, so unexpected, it caught Olivia off-guard. As Alexandra’s arms wrapped around her and her lips kissed her cheek, she finally gave in and her sobs split the air in the long hallway, echoing off the surfaces all around. As she stood in her sister’s embrace, her heart breaking into a thousand tiny pieces, the past month whizzed through her mind; the beach, karaoke, dinner, the cafe, last night.

All of it involved Rosie. All of it was now gone.

It had all been a lie, hadn’t it? A fantasy she’d wanted to believe. But she knew now her sister was right.

And from the look on Rosie’s face, she’d meant what she said: she wanted to just forget they’d ever met, forget any of it had ever happened.

Could Olivia do that, too?

She took a deep breath as she stepped back, steadying her hands on her sister’s upper arms.

Alexandra’s eyes were glazed with sympathy, and Olivia dredged up a vague memory of a similar situation in her sister’s life. Alexandra’s Rosie had been a man called Dean — was that where this sudden rush of empathy and love had come from? Was Alexandra remembering her lost love, too, before she settled with Miles?

“You don’t do things the easy way, do you?” Alexandra said, her eyes warm.

Olivia gave her an exhausted shake of the head, before sniffing and rubbing her eyes. “Apparently not.”

“I’ve already called the palace press office and they’re going to come up with a damage limitation strategy. But that only stretches to the rest of the world, not within the palace walls.”

Olivia gave her a stoic nod. “I know.” She’d deal with her mother and Jemima when she had to: there was no room in her head at the moment.

Alexandra rubbed her arm and chewed her lip. “You want to get packed so we can get out of here?”

Olivia nodded. After all, there was nothing left to stay for anymore, was there? “Give me half an hour and then let’s go face the music.”