Logan thought he was doing a decent job of keeping the smile off his face so far. He glanced at Holly where she stood beside him. “You really do look pretty.”

“Shove it Logan. I can’t breathe in this stupid corset.”

He resisted the urge to smile. She really did look pretty. Though he guessed the fact that Princess Cassandra had forced her into the dress in a bid to make her act like a lady probably chafed more than a little. He watched as Mitchell was forced to dance with yet another young lady and though he smiled Logan could tell he was a bit too stiff and he looked ready to bolt any second.

“This is ridiculous, why do I have to wear this dress? I look like those fools out there.” Holly waved a hand toward the eyelash-batting girls who were staring at Mitchell while he danced.

“Because you demonstrated rather well last evening how unladylike you can behave and the princess is punishing you. And rightly so, Holly.”

“Want me to punch you again?”

“No, we could dance instead.”

“Not on your life.” Mitchell had switched partners and was now dancing with Lady Monica. Holly glowered at the couple. “Fine Logan, let’s dance.”

He was jerked forward when Holly snatched up his hand and hauled him out onto the dance floor. He was rather surprised by the fact that she not only knew how to dance but also accomplished it with a great deal of skill. They twirled around the floor for several minutes before Holly began to complain loudly about how tight her corset was and how she couldn’t breathe properly.

“Logan stand here and don’t move,” she muttered out of the corner of her mouth as she came to an abrupt halt in the center of the dance floor.

“What? Why do I have to stand here?”

“Just stand and don’t move!” She gave a small, rather loud gasp, placed a hand to her forehead and promptly fainted. She hit the floor with a loud thump and lay there unmoving.

Mitchell suddenly appeared, having left Lady Monica rather abruptly. “Holly? Holly, are you all right?” He bent down and patted at her cheeks.

She moaned and her eyes popped open. “I’d be better if someone had caught me!”

Logan blinked down at her. “You told me to stand here and not to move!”

She grumbled something under her breath. “Only because you have a tendency to wander off.”

Mitchell sighed, reached out a hand and offered it to Holly. “Come on then.” He pulled her to her feet.

“Thank you Mitchell, at least there’s one gentleman around here!”

He gave her hand a pat. “Feeling better?”

“No, this stupid corset is unbearably tight and I simply cannot breathe!” She sent him a pout.

Logan blinked and looked between the two. Why was Holly pouting at Mitchell like that? “Um, I can take you back to your room if you want,” he offered.

She ignored him and smiled at Mitchell. Deva suddenly appeared. “Holly, are you okay? Did you hit your head?”

“I don’t think so, but if someone had caught me it wouldn’t have hurt so much!” She sent Logan a glare.

“If someone would let me in on her plans maybe I could have caught her,” he muttered under his breath.

“Mitchell, can you please take me back to my room so I can recover?” Holly was still pouting.

Deva rolled her eyes and looked at Mitchell. “We had better get her back to her room and let the maids get her out of that corset before it cuts off the air to her brain completely.”

Holly fluttered her eyelashes at Mitchell. “That sounds perfect! Thank you Mitchell!”

Logan followed behind them in total confusion. He honestly had no idea what had just taken place. Nor did he understand why Deva wasn’t upset at Holly for making eyes at Mitchell.

When they made it back to Holly’s room and the door was closed, she immediately released Mitchell’s arm and turned to grin at all of them. “Well, that was fun. Someone get me out of this corset before I die!”

Deva chuckled. “I’ll get you out if you get me out!”

“Agreed!”

Deva turned on Mitchell. “Send a maid to get me some clothes from my room!” She and Holly disappeared into the dressing room, while Mitchell found a passing maid and sent her to Deva’s room for her other clothes. He shut the door once he’d given instructions to the maid and smiled at Logan.

“Freedom! At least for a little while. Once my mother notices that we haven’t returned I’m certain she’ll send someone to find me.” He sat down and closed his eyes.

Logan stared at him. “What just happened?”

Mitchell cracked open an eye. “I’m fairly certain Holly just fainted in order to give us an excuse to leave the room.”

“I did exactly that! I’m a genius! I can also take an actual breath now.” A knock sounded on the door and when she opened it, she found the maid Mitchell had sent to fetch Deva’s clothes standing there. “Oh thank you!” She took the clothing and shut the door.

Logan watched her disappear off to give Deva the clothing. “So that was all fake?”

“Yes, you didn’t really believe something as simple as a corset could get the better of Holly did you?”

Logan scowled at Mitchell, though he didn’t see since he’d closed his eyes again. “Nice of someone to let me in on the plan.”

“I didn’t let anyone in on it, it was a spur of the moment thing,” Holly said as she came into the room.

“You expect me to believe Deva and Mitchell just knew what you were about then?”

Mitchell sighed and sat up, opening his eyes and looking at Logan. “Yes of course I figured it out, I mean there would be no reason for Holly to act like a brainless fool and pout at me like that unless she were up to something.”

Holly patted at her hair and grinned. “Thank you Mitchell, I thought I did rather well with the pouting and at least it got you out of the clutches of that Lady Monica.”

“Yes it did and thank you for that Holly,” Deva told her as she emerged, now dressed more to her liking.

Mitchell chuckled. “I don’t see why you don’t like the woman she is actually rather nice.”

Holly grunted and sat down on the sofa. “I just don’t all right.”

Logan sat next to her. “Well even if you don’t, next time some warning about the plan might be nice, thanks.”

She shot him a glance. “Hey if you can’t keep up maybe you should consider a different life path.”

“Meaning what, I shouldn’t be a Ranger? Who got past Will during our silent movement training?”

Holly stuck her tongue out at him. “Whatever, you still had no idea I was sleeping and you were standing right beside me.”

“Enough you two, let’s not have another war, shall we?” Mitchell said wearily.

“He started it,” Holly grumbled.

“I don’t care who started it, you two need to figure out how to get along and how to work together,” Mitchell told them. Holly opened her mouth to reply but Mitchell held up a hand to stop her. “I don’t care Holly, whatever is going on with the two of you then you need to straighten it out before it gets any further out of hand.”

She sank down in her seat. “Fine.”

Logan shrugged. “I have no problems.”

Holly stood and headed for the door. “Besides being an idiot.”

Logan jumped up and followed her out of the room. “Hey I am not an idiot!”

Mitchell glanced at Deva. “They really do like one another don’t they?”

“Yes it’s obvious; I don’t know why they can’t figure it out.

“We didn’t until Holly and Logan intervened. I’m going to go hide somewhere and pray my mother can’t find me. Want to come with?”

Deva followed him out the door with a grin. Thanks to her best friend, she and Mitchell had a day free of his mother’s stupid court and they could spend some time alone. She hoped Holly and Logan put their time to good use instead of arguing.

***

Holly glared at Logan across her room. Why on earth did he have to follow her? “Go away Logan, I’m not in the mood to talk to you at the moment.”

He sat down beside her on her bed. “Holly, come on what is wrong? You can’t be mad at me just because I won’t let you beat up on Lady Monica.”

Despite her best efforts, she smiled. “No I’m not. I just …”

“Just what?”

She threw her body backward with a groan. “It’s Deva’s fault. She kept making these stupid comments, saying that I liked you, you liked me, and she wouldn’t let up. Then when we did the thing with the marriage papers and you kissed me, my brain has been messed up since then.”

He laughed quietly. “Yeah, well …”

She turned her head to look at him. “It’s my fault Logan and I’m sorry, I’ve been acting like a loon because of Deva and her stupid comments. We’re friends and I shouldn’t read anything into that.”

He felt his hopes deflate. He’d been about to tell her it was all right, she didn’t have to worry because he felt the same, now—he simply couldn’t. It was obvious Holly didn’t return his feelings. “Don’t worry about it Holly. I’m going to go, I don’t know find something to do. I’ll see you later.”

Holly didn’t know what to say to him as he seemed to drag out of the room. She wasn’t certain what it was that she’d said wrong, but something she’d said had upset him in some way. She dropped back down onto the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. Why was life so complicated?