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of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be thinking about her comment. “I believe he may have. I overheard part of a conversation with William a few years ago. My father said something about a marriage contract. William said he wasn’t interested in one yet. I didn’t think there was anyone specific in mind, but perhaps there was. He would have been...” She could see the wheels turning in Prince Malachi’s head. “...about twenty, perhaps? He’s mentioned in passing to me that he is in no rush to get married, without mentioning a potential partner.” He put his hand on hers as they took one of the roads leading out of town. “I don’t know that it had anything to do with you in particular. At least that’s always been my feeling. In fact, I didn’t know my father had approached him about the contract until a few weeks ago when he told me he’d negotiated this one. I’m not sure William really knew about it either.”
    That was a small comfort. Perhaps Prince William hadn’t been rejecting her but rather the idea of marriage for now.
    She saw a grin on Malachi’s handsome face. “Since royalty can get married as long as both people are over seventeen, you could have married William two years ago. You wouldn’t have been able to have champagne at your own wedding.” A wink followed.
    Jessabelle turned that over in her head. She’d forgotten royals could marry that young, not that she was much older.
    “At least we’re not in the States. I went to a friend’s wedding there not too long ago. You have to be twenty-one. I’ve only been old enough to have a glass of wine there for a few weeks.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m glad we can have a toast tonight if we want to, though.” She didn’t say anything and he went on. “So we’ve determined you’re a couple years younger than I am, your mother passed a long time ago, you’re not sure what you’d like to be when you grow up, and that your father saved my father’s life. What else should I know about you?”
    What was with the twenty questions? And why did his hand still cover hers? She really wanted to know why she liked it so much. Instead, she just gave him a quick shrug. “I have no idea what else there is to tell.” She really didn’t think there was much.
    “Do you have any questions for me?” At least he offered to turn it around. But Jessabelle simply shook her head. She’d done her research and learned far more about the royal family than she cared to know. “All right. Then why don’t you pull out the tablet and phone? Some of it I’ll have to show you, but you can play around with them while I drive.”
    She reached into her bag to pull out the electronic devices. Prince Malachi walked her through turning them both on and how to set a password. Only the tech security folks could override her personal password, and she wasn’t required to share it with anyone, not even him. Jessabelle thought for a moment before choosing a ten digit code she’d remember.
    Prince Malachi talked her through how to access her palace email account and change the password. He sheepishly admitted to needing to change his far too often when he couldn’t remember what it was. The floor plan for the palace had its own icon on the main screen of the tablet. She pulled it up as he told her it would always have a “you are here” dot. She could either tell it where she wanted to go, and it would plan a route, or she could select a location with a tap so it could do the same.
    “That way, you won’t get lost,” he went on. “And if you’re ever not sure where you are or where on the map our apartment is, you can always click the home button and it’ll take you straight back to our floor.”
    “And the whole floor on that side of the building is ours?” she clarified.
    “Yep. The top two floors on the front of the palace are my parents’. That’s where we all grew up. The top two floors on the opposite side, above the cliff face and