The next two days went by in a flash. I’d locked myself in my room at the hotel and researched everything I could about Luke’s home country. I checked out blogs and articles written by women who had visited the country as well. But after a while, all of the words started to blur into incomprehensible blobs.

The articles were helpful, but they didn’t mimic the experience that I was about to embark on with Luke. I was about to visit a palace! I didn’t doubt that I would be stared at, but it wouldn’t be for my clothing. I would be the girlfriend of a prince. There would be those—his parents and family—who wouldn’t be happy with him for choosing a woman like me. And others would be curious about how I captured the eye of a prince.

I thought of Kate Middleton—the only princess I knew of—and how she must have felt to be in my position. Though our situations were totally different, as I was sure she loved her husband, it was probably a strange thing for her and the royal family alike to have someone plucked out of the royal line even to date the prince.

I doubted Luke would entertain the idea of mentioning us getting engaged or married, but I had told him I’d be in for whatever he needed to say or do to keep our ruse going until Sunday. Even if he proposed in the palace, there was no harm in answering yes to get the job done.

He could always make up some excuse later on when we, in fact, didn’t get married.

The idea of being a princess piqued my curiosity. So, instead of losing my eyesight while staring at the computer for long periods of time, I tried to imagine scenarios that might take place while we were there.

His mother was someone that I would probably come into contact with the most. She had the most invested in his romantic future, and she’d probably grill me for information. I wasn’t a stranger to disapproving people when it came to doing my job, but this was different. I had to take the role of Luke’s girlfriend seriously. In a way, she might attack me personally, and I was happy that I’d grown such thick skin over the years to handle it.

At least, I hoped I’d be able to.

* * *

The flight wasn’t scheduled until late Thursday morning, but I had already been up for hours by the time Luke came to the hotel to pick me up.

I wasn’t sure how Mr. Fraser would feel about my hotel room remaining empty for a few days, but Luke assured me that everything was paid for. Even my place in the hotel. That would go over well with my boss.

I still wasn’t used to the casual way that he spent his money, but he was in a different social category than me. I couldn’t even fathom having that much money at my disposal. I supposed it worked in his interest to spend it however he wanted.

I did wonder what his home looked like. He’d briefly mentioned that it had some really nice views of the city. And for him to think that it was a nice view—considering he’d grown up in a palace—it probably was over the top by my standards.

Getting to know more about him, I realized he was over the top in so many ways, yet completely modest about all of it. I didn’t think people like him existed in the top half of the one-percent.

I bet he was one of the few, at least based on what he told me about his family. He did say his little brother Abir was a sweetheart, and we both hoped that Abir would like me enough so that someone in the palace was on our side. Though, I wasn’t sure how much difference it would make.

Luke tended to steer away from any talk about him taking the throne, which was fine with me, so I didn’t push. The time would come later to ask my questions, and I hoped that by helping him out with this, he would be open and honest about all of it.

Luke was quiet on the way over to the airport. I quickly learned that we weren’t about to travel first class on a commercial flight as he veered off the main road nowhere near Heathrow. We headed toward a smaller airstrip.

“Of course, you have a private plane,” I said as we pulled up. The plane was almost the size of the plane that I rode to England on.

“Didn’t I mention that?” he asked with a smirk. “Okay, this is your last chance to back out.”

“What are you talking about?”

The corners of his eyes were tight, something I didn’t notice on the ride over.

A man walked up to the car and stood outside as if waiting for Luke to make the first move.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he said. “I know it’s a strange proposition. My driver will take you back to the hotel if you want.”

“I’m in this with you,” I said.

“You are?”

“Of course. I know how important this is to you.”

“And so is your story.”

I wanted to tell him that it was him who made me want to come, but he was right. Reality came crashing down. I couldn’t disappoint Mr. Fraser or myself.

“You’re stuck with me for four days, Mr. Walters. Whether you like it or not.” I opened my door, and someone outside pulled it the rest of the way.

A blast of cold air found its way down the back of my jacket, and I shivered. I couldn’t wait to get into the heat again. At least I’d be able to somewhat enjoy it over the weekend.

Luke escorted me onto the plane, and I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

It looked like someone had carved out the inside of a commercial plane and inserted big, plush couches and mahogany tables. Gold embellishments flourished over the furniture, and there were several big screen televisions just in the main space.

“Holy cow,” I said.

Luke gently grabbed my arm and brought me through into the next area.

“We’re asked to sit here during takeoff and landing,” he said.

There were two sets of four chairs on either side of the plane with a table between. Each was wide enough to fit two of me.

“I think you’ve ruined me for flying commercial,” I said, plopping down on one of the chairs. Smoothing my hand across the fabric, the leather was like butter.

“They recline too,” he said, scooting in front of me to get to the window seat.

There were plenty of chairs, but he chose to sit next to me. I tried not to overthink it.

A flurry of activity took place in the cabin, and I kept to my seat. Flight attendants appeared left and right to fulfill drink and food orders. I knew the flight was long, but I had no idea I would experience two whole meals and as many snacks and appetizers that I wanted.

“Is there a kitchen on this plane?” I asked when the flight attendants left us.

“Of course,” he said.

“Of course,” I muttered.

“No bags of peanuts on this plane,” he said. “You better get used to it by the time we get to the palace. You’ve seen nothing yet. Mother and Father will expect that I’ve been treating you the way a prince should.”

I turned to him. “And how should a prince treat me?”

As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I realized they sounded way more suggestive than I’d intended. The statement held fast to the air between us, and I froze.

His gaze fell to my lips, and I had the urge to close the space between us.

“Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff,” the pilot said from the overhead speaker.

I jumped and sat back in the seat.

Luke cleared his throat. “Try not to be surprised with everything we do. That’s all I was saying.”

“Yeah,” I said, deflated by his comment. I wasn’t some naive child, but he was right. I was far too star-struck to make the king and queen think that I was remotely deserving of their son.

Once we were in the air—after the smoothest takeoff I’d ever experienced—there was no going back. As if Luke realized that, he took off his suit jacket and tossed it over his chair.

Within seconds, a flight attendant grabbed it and whisked it away.

I had the urge to throw something on the floor and see how quickly it got picked up, but I quelled it. My giddiness about this whole experience was bordering on immaturity.

I had two glasses of delicious champagne, much better than the one at the New Year’s party at work. Soon after, we were given a three-course dinner. Probably the best meal of my life.

“How did you get into journalism?” Luke asked after a little while.

He’d been on his phone for most of the time since takeoff, and I didn’t want to disturb him.

“My mom got me a notebook when I was about six. There wasn’t much to do in our small neighborhood, so I started to spy on our neighbors and write down their daily activities.”

“I could see a little Sophia doing that,” he said with a chuckle.

“I did it for a while until Mom found the book and scolded me for prying into other people’s business,” I said.

“I bet that went over well.”

“I did make it my job,” I said, smiling.

“You don’t like when people tell you not to do something,” he said.

“I’m glad you finally appreciate that part of me,” I said with a smirk.

He laughed. “I never said I appreciated it. I understand it, though.”

“To be honest,” I said, feeling the effects of the champagne, “this story would be a big career step for me. I’ve been waiting for one piece that will earn me a promotion.”

Luke nodded. “I understand. And I’ll do anything I can to get you that. After we deal with my parents, of course.”

“Tell me more about them,” I said. “What was it like growing up in a palace?”

In the time we’d spent together, he’d stayed away from revealing much about his past. I couldn’t walk into his parents’ home and not know anything about it. I bet his mother already had a list of questions to ask me about our relationship and how well-suited we were. Other than the typical questions of our meeting, I bet she’d want to know how much I knew about his past.

“Father was always running a kingdom,” he said. “He loved me in his own way, but Mother took care of me most of the time. Even when we had the staff to do that. She was more of an annoyance to my nanny than I was. We were close for most of my childhood.”

“What happened?” I asked.

He sighed and placed his napkin on the table. Then he took a sip from his water. “Father started to get on me about running the kingdom, and I was only a teenager at the time, so as teens do, I rebelled. He got Mother on his side, and for a while, there wasn’t much of a relationship. Once I started with the business, Father seemed happy enough to let me be.”

“Until now,” I said.

“Until now,” he repeated.

The curious part of me was screaming to be let out, but a deal was a deal. I promised to keep my reporter side in check while I was fulfilling my side of the bargain.

We stayed on neutral topics for a while until it was time to turn in for the night. I had no idea we were to sleep in different cabins. It turned out there were several cabins, but Luke offered me the biggest.

It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep on the most comfortable bed in the world and dream of becoming an almost-princess for a weekend.

* * *

Sometime later, one of the attendants woke me up to get showered and changed. I couldn’t believe that there were three bathrooms on the plane, two of them equipped with a stand-up shower. While it was smaller than the one I was used to at the hotel, it was much fancier.

One of the outfits that Luke and I had purchased hung on the door. I wondered if he had chosen it for me at some point and had the flight attendant hang it up for me.

The thought was a little creepy, but he did want me to get used to people doing things for me.

I dressed and came out to the dining area where Luke was already seated with orange juice and a plate of food in front of him.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning,” I said, sitting next to him. “What’s for breakfast?” His plate was the traditional English breakfast that I’d shoveled down every morning since coming to the UK.

“Whatever you’d like,” he said. “We’re landing in about a half hour.”

“So soon?” I asked.

“Yep,” he said.

My order came out quicker than I thought possible, and I swallowed it before the flurry of flight attendants returned to get us ready for landing. Our plates, glasses, and silverware were gone in a matter of seconds.

Even though planes didn’t bother me, my breakfast lumped in my stomach like a lead ball. I was about to meet a king and queen of a foreign country. And I had to pretend to be dating their son.

It was a wild situation, and this was only the beginning.

Luke and I watched BBC News on one of the big screens. We discussed some current events that were being covered, avoiding the bigger topic at hand.

When the plane’s wheels finally touched down, Luke’s eyes were laser focused on the window. Glancing over his shoulder, I saw what he was looking at: a car on the tarmac and several people standing next to it. With the movement of the plane, I couldn’t get a good look, but Luke’s shoulders were up to his ears.

Something touched my hand, and I looked down to see Luke gripping it. It wasn’t tight enough to hurt, but it was enough to know that he was as nervous as I was. This was a big deal for him, and whether or not he thought he could do it, I would be there for him.

At that moment, we were one person. I wasn’t sure when the shift happened, but it was strong and true. At least from my perspective, we were no longer in business together. I had to look and play the part. Luke made it so much easier.

I twined my fingers with his and tugged at his hand, turning him my way.

His eyes met mine.

“Take a breath.” It was the mantra that had been my rock before a hard interview or a speech of any kind. While this was different, he needed to relax. “We’re in this together, Luke. You and me. They won’t be convinced if you’re nervous.”

“I suppose not,” he said. “I’m usually annoyed when I come home.”

“How about trying to pretend like you’re happy?” I asked. “You’re with your beautiful girlfriend.”

I meant it as a joke, but he was serious. “I can do that.”

“Good,” I said, turning away so he wouldn’t see my flushed cheeks. “Now, do I need a crowbar to get you out of your seat?”

He laughed heartily. It was the first big laugh I’d heard from him ever. I made a promise to myself to make him do that more often. Though, I doubted it would be in front of his parents.

When the plane slowed to a stop, I tried to take my hand away from Luke, but he held tighter.

I squeezed it and allowed him to get out of his seat while we were still connected at the hands. He felt firm against me as we made our way down the central aisle toward the door.

I drew in several breaths, keeping them slow and even. I had nothing to worry about. As long as I played my part, I would be fine.

We were a few steps from the door before he turned around. I nearly tripped over his foot, but his hands kept me firmly in place.

“Thank you for coming, Sophia,” he said. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

I swallowed as a fluttering overwhelmed my insides. “No problem.” I said.

Him trusting me with this responsibility meant more to me than anything. I only hoped I wouldn’t let him down.