The Prince I Love to Hate: A Steamy Romantic Comedy (The Heir Affair Book 1) by Iris Morland (book club recommendations txt) 📕

Liam harrumphed. Dahlia waved to me and said something in Two-Year-Old that I couldn’t understand but that sounded like, “I peed in the corner,” which I was sure Liam was thrilled to hear.

“We’re working on potty training,” said Liam after he’d hustled the girls back to the living room to watch some TV for a bit. “But Dahlia is stubborn where she isn’t loud.”

“Mmm, she sounds like me.”

Liam laughed. “You were just as stubborn when you were her age. Christ, I was just a dumb kid and had no idea what I was doing, potty-training my little sister. I tried to convince you to just wear diapers for another year, but you’d just take them off and run around arse naked.”

I smiled. “Sounds about right.”

Liam had pretty much raised me. Our da had run out when Mam had been pregnant with me, and then Mam had passed when I’d been two. Liam, seventeen years older than me, had been thrust into the role of father at way too young of an age. Although I’d grown up with my aunt and uncle, since Liam had felt he wasn’t able to take care of me, he’d always been a fatherly figure to me.

Sometimes to the point that he was overprotective. Like right now.

“Back to our conversation,” he said brusquely. “How is everything going there? Are you getting enough sleep? Eating right? You’re not going to pubs every night, are you?”

“If you’re afraid I’m going to get knocked up like Kate, don’t worry. I always use condoms.”

Liam scowled. Kate was Mari’s younger sister, who had a one-night stand in Ireland with Liam’s cousin Lochlann. Kate and Lochlann now lived in Dublin with their daughter. Despite a rocky beginning, things had worked out for them.

“Some things a brother doesn’t need to know,” he said.

“You’re the one being nosy.”

“Not nosy. Concerned. I don’t like you going off on your own like this.” His expression turned serious. “After you come home, what happens? What are you going to do with your life? I’m worried about you. It seems like there’s not much that holds your interest lately.”

I hated how right he was. As a teenager, I’d enjoyed working on cars, but that passion had since faded. Mostly because of the sexism and how I’d been treated too often like a piece of meat around the guys in the workshop. When I’d just wanted to learn how to flush out a transmission, too many of the guys would assume I was too stupid to learn how to do it.

I’d finished college, of course, but the job prospects were scarce. I’d considered staying in New York and living with Rachel and Maddie, but it was way too expensive working a minimum wage job.

So when this whole letter and estate thing had fallen into my lap, I’d jumped at it. It had given me a purpose, something I hadn’t realized I’d been seriously lacking.

“I’m only twenty-two,” I said, shrugging. “Who knows what they want at this age? You didn’t.”

“I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about you.”

I felt all of ten years old at the moment. My brother had a way of making me feel very young and stupid, even unintentionally. Probably because for my entire life, I’d wanted to make him proud, and at times I’d felt like he’d been too distracted with his own life to notice his annoying little sister.

“I’ll figure it out. I always do.” My voice was too cheery. “I just graduated from Harvard, and now I’m abroad. I think I’m doing pretty well, all told.”

Liam looked unconvinced. “And then what? You’ll be thirty, wasting your life at some shite job, alone—”

“What, that’s all a guarantee? Come on, don’t be stupid. Besides, ending up a spinster with thirty cats wouldn’t be that bad.” My voice had an edge to it now.

Liam sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just want you to be happy and fulfilled.”

“Well, yeah. That’s the goal, isn’t it? But not everyone can be as stupidly happy as you and Mari. Not everybody can have the perfect wife, perfect life, perfect job…” I shrugged. “Sometimes you have to take what you can get.”

“My life isn’t perfect,” he groused. When a crash sounded in the background followed by giggles, he added, “Case in point.”

It was right then that I desperately wanted to tell him about how I was searching for our da. That that was what was important to me right now. But I knew that Liam would try to convince me it was a stupid idea. And if he knew I wasn’t even in Ireland but in Paris now with a strange guy, well, he’d probably hop on the next flight and carry me bodily home.

Liam and I were saying our goodbyes when the door to my hotel room opened. To my horror, Olivier came inside—an hour earlier than he’d said he’d be.

“Is someone there?” said Liam, suspicious.

Olivier wandered into the room, but I moved my phone so Liam couldn’t see him. “It’s just housekeeping. I forgot to put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door.”

“Housekeeping?” Olivier sounded offended. “At this hour?”

“Niamh, who is that?” Liam’s voice was rising.

“Um, it’s no one, I’ll talk to you later, bye!” I said the words in a rush and quickly disconnected the call.

I turned to see Olivier, his arms crossed, an amused expression on his face.

“I’m a secret now, am I? How quaint. I have to say, it’s the first time someone has wanted to flout that they know a prince,” he said.

“Oh my God, shut up. It’s not about you. It’s about this whole thing.” I made a vague gesture.

Olivier cocked his head to the side. “Who was that? Your boyfriend?”

I made a gagging sound. “Okay, no. He’s my brother. Ew. No. Not my boyfriend.” I shuddered.

“Ah.” Olivier just watched me put on my shoes. “It’d be immensely awkward, if a lover of yours discovered our agreement.”

I stilled. “I don’t have any lovers. At