Royal Watch

by Stacey Marie Brown

  “I was right on time, Grannie.” He smiled with humored annoyance. Like this was a game they played every time. “And Father thinks I’m doing well in my new role.”

  I was still struggling with what he called her. I could never imagine her ever playing with her grandchildren or baking cookies with them. No warmth emanated from her. Just rules, traditions, and roles. It wasn’t hard to see where Alexander got his no-nonsense personality.

  A small smile cusped her mouth as she took him in. “I heard you were top of your class at the Royal Air Force. Of course, there was no doubt. The son of a king should be at the top.”

  “I was.” Theo brushed off her compliment, angling to me. “I actually wanted to introduce you to someone special.” His hand went to my back, pushing me forward.

  Like walking into a cage with a lion, I watched her attention shift from Theo to me. Her lids lowered as her gaze went from my shoes to the tip of my scalp. Same blue eyes as her son, which were sharp and clear. Studying. Assessing. Appraising me—worthy or not worthy.

  Posh meal or fast-food garbage.

  “Grannie, this is Spencer Sutton.”

  “It is an honor meeting you, Dowager Queen.” I tried to curtsy, but my knees smacked into the coffee table, sloshing liquid out of the martini glass on the table.

  She reached out with a frown, steadying her drink, her icy gaze snapping to me as if being clumsy was a cardinal sin.

  Another great start, Spence. I really was not meant to be let out in public.

  “Sutton.” She said my name like it was a dry cracker on her tongue. “The family name sounds vaguely familiar.”

  “Yes, I—”

  “Are you the Baron Sutton’s daughter of Chatstone Manor?” She steamrolled over me.

  “I am. My father is Andrew Sutton. My uncle is Fredrick.”

  “Oh.” Her lips pursed. One word. A single syllable, and she told me everything I needed to know. Drowning me in all the things she didn’t bother saying, but I could feel her stab at me with invisible knives.

  “We met at Alton College.” Theo grinned like he didn’t notice her clear disappointment. “When I got back from training, I knew I wanted to make it official.”

  “Did you?” It really wasn’t a question, but a challenge, blue ice gliding to me. “So, Spencer, you must sit down with me. I want to get to know the girl who stole my grandson’s heart.”

  Panic batted my lungs. Oh, feck no.

  “She’d love that!” Theo’s smile bounced to me like a puppy.

  Swallowing, I forced a smile on my mouth, dipping down on the lip of the sofa, making sure I crossed my ankles.

  “Theo, my dear boy.” She smiled up at him. “It seems I lost the contents of my drink. Be a gracious host and get me another. It gives me time to get to know Spencer here.”

  Don’t you fucking leave me. Don’t you dare!

  “Sure. I’ll be right back.” He missed the plea in my eyes. “Spence, you want anything?”

  Yes. The entire bottle of vodka.

  “I’m good. Thank you.”

  He squeezed my hand, dissipating into the throng of people toward the bar.

  “Spencer.” A hand came down on mine, jerking my attention back to the dowager queen.

  Fuckityfuck.

  Facing her, fear pulsed against my neck.

  “I have never been one to sugarcoat or tiptoe around something. I find it a waste of time, so I am going to be completely upfront with you.” Unaffected, she spoke with a matter-of-fact tone. “I think the world of my grandson. He’s smart, handsome, and kind, and will make an excellent king one day. However, he is very young. Pliable and innocent to the hardships of the world. Easily swayed by a pretty face, excitable at feelings of first love. I want him to experience all those. However…” She tilted her head, her gaze burrowing into me. “I have been queen. Seen what it takes to be a partner to a man who rules this country. It is their life. They eat, breathe, and sleep their responsibility. Everything else, including their own children, come second to their duty. And whoever is with them must also feel the same—that ruling this country is an honor. And with honor comes substantial sacrifices and consequences.

  “I am sure you are a wonderful girl.” Like she was kicking me down a hill, every word left me bruised with shame and embarrassment. “But I will not pretend I think you have what it takes to be a queen someday. You are a fleeting emotion. A girl he will remember fondly but will not be the one he needs by his side in life.”

  “You don’t even know me.” My voice came out low.

  “I don’t need to, my dear.” She patted my arm. “I could see it from across the room. You aren’t meant for this life. You don’t have what it takes.”

  My head jerked as if she slapped me.

  “This is not personal. Again, I am sure you are a great girl, no matter the family you come from, but you are not meant for my grandson.”

  “The family I come from?” My teeth gritted together. I was technically a noble. A baron’s daughter.

  “Just because you have a title does not make you worthy of it.”

  My shoulders pulled back, breathing in at her attack.

  “Grandmother.” Eloise’s posh voice broke in, twisting both our attention to the girl strolling up. Dressed in an exquisite lilac A-line sheath gown belted with pearls, the material so light, it fell down her tiny frame like chocolate, her hair rolled up a loose twist. This girl was worlds away from the bookie in the club.

  “Eloise. Darling.” Anne kissed both her granddaughter’s cheeks. “You look lovely. Though did you have someone tailor that dress? It doesn’t hang on you right.”

  The strain in Eloise’s smile was slight, but I caught it.

  “Yes, Grandmother,” she replied. Grandmother. While Theo called her Grannie. It didn’t take a genius to see who the dowager preferred.

  Eloise’s gaze met mine, understanding in them. “Do you mind if I steal Spencer from you? Countess Stephanie would like to meet her.”

  “Of course.” Anne tried to hide her scowl when I bolted up, already heading for El. “We’ll have to finish our conversation another time, then. It was a pleasure meeting you, Spencer.”

  “It was all mine.” I dipped in respect, Eloise tugging my arm, pulling me away from her grandmother.

  “You’re welcome,” she whispered, both of us swiftly moving across the room.

  “Bloody hell. I need a drink.” I grabbed a glass off a tray.

  “My grandmother is a lot.” Eloise snagged one for herself. “Some might say a bitch.”

  “You guys don’t get along?”

  “No. Never have. Maybe if I came out a boy.” She shook her head. “Theo can do no wrong, where I can do no right. Theo is the only one who gets away with calling her Grannie. Guess she’ll put up with anything from the next in line. Me? Not so much.” She shrugged. “Just makes what I do on the side that much more fun. She thinks she beat me into a perfect mold. The princess of perfection. Oh, Grannie, if you only knew.” She wiggled her eyebrows, a spark of mischievousness showing through.

  “Thank you for saving me.” I took a huge swig of the bubbly liquor. “I was about to drown myself in her martini glass.”

  “Sadly, you are going to run into many who act like her. Snotty, entitled. If you aren’t in the top circle, then you aren’t worthy of being here.” El rolled her eyes. “As if any of them did anything to be here except be born.”

  A laugh sparked out of me. It was refreshing to hear a princess say the very things I had thought.

  “Is this where the cool girls are hanging out?” Hazel stepped up to us, her blonde hair braided over one shoulder, her blue gown making her eyes pop. “I need a bloody drink.”

  “Haz! You made it.” Eloise snatched a flute from a server. “Join us in getting drunk until this party is fun.”

  “Oh, I doubt even the king has enough champagne stocked for that.” Hazel grinned, taking the glass from Eloise and holding it up. “But a mission I’m al
l in for.”

  “Cheers to that.” I nodded, El following, our glasses clinking together.

  Chapter 12

  Exhaustion hit me like a wall. After hours of meeting lords and ladies, Prime Minister Joseph and his husband, Paul, I was done. My feet ached, my false smiles no longer pinning to my lips. Small talk was torture for me. I loathed the awkward conversation social etiquette forced on you so you didn’t come across as rude and when every face blurred and the only thing you wanted was to take your shoes off and go to bed.

  “I’m going to turn in,” I whispered to Theo, who was in full debate with Lord John about a recent footie match. Ben, Charlie, Hazel, and the prime minister’s husband, Paul, were also in on the discussion.

  “Oh no. Stay.” His eyes were slightly glossy from drink. “I promise, just one more hour.”

  I couldn’t stomach the idea of another hour after he already promised me we’d leave two hours earlier.

  “You stay.” I patted his arm. “I’m fine. It’s not like my room isn’t right down the hall.” That was still a sore point for me. I had asked Chloe again about finding me a place, but she brushed it off. I really felt being outside these walls would help with the adjustment to all this. A place that was just mine, where I could relax and recharge myself.

  “You sure?” he slurred slightly.

  “Of course.”

  “I can come to your room later,” he rumbled, his eyes lowering on my body. “Make sure you are tucked in.”

  Since I had come here, we had no time to be alone. One night he had come to my room, and after some kissing, we both fell asleep from fatigue. I missed him, the thought of sex always playing in my mind. But doing anything else but sleeping tonight wasn’t going to happen.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.” I went up on my toes and kissed his cheek. Tomorrow was going to be long and stressful. My family would be coming, meeting the king and queen at the polo match and garden party. “Love you.”

  “Love you too.” He kissed me before facing back to the group, picking up right where they left off. Quickly waving goodbye to them, I scurried across the grand room, counting down the seconds until I could rip off my shoes.

  The rooms and hallway were quiet, the press long gone, only a few stewards were attending the doors. The instant I got outside the ballroom, I tugged my heels off with a groan, my toes curling in the soft carpet. “Bloody hell, that feels good.”

  “If men only knew how easy it was to make a woman moan.” A deep voice rumbled behind me, causing me to jump with a startled yelp, circling to face the figure slinking out from the shadows.

  “Holy shite!” I cried, my hand going to my chest. “You scared me.”

  Lennox’s presence this week had been far in the background since I never left the palace. He was a figure in the distance. It had been so pleasant not having him right there, another person displeased by my presence here.

  Tonight he was dressed in a perfectly fitted black suit and dark tie. His hazel eyes popped in the glimmering light of the chandeliers above our head, forcing a hitch of air up my throat.

  “Then I guess I’m doing my job well.” He crossed his arms together in front.

  “What are you doing here?” Irritation bristled over my skin, jutting my chin up.

  “Working.” He eyed me. “Thought being so smart, you would be able to put that together. Don’t let anyone tell you your upper education wasn’t worth it.”

  “You are an arse.” I folded my arms. “Since I’m still technically in the palace, there is no need for you to be protecting me. Hence the reason I’m questioning why you are stalking me.”

  Stepping closer, a smirk twisted his mouth, his huge figure towering over me. “You know the world doesn’t revolve around you, right?”

  His form barely grazed mine, but I couldn’t stop the gulp of air, the need to step back. Danger and hate pulsated off him in violent surges.

  “I don’t sit around watching telly and wanking off.” A blush moved up to my cheeks and down my legs at his blunt speech. “I have a job, my lady. Not that you would understand that.”

  My shock turned to fury in a snap.

  “You know nothing about me.”

  “You are a baroness; growing up with so much privilege you don’t even see the real world. How some of us have to work to feed ourselves. Survive.”

  My jaw locked down, my nose flaring. He had no clue about my life, but at the same time, I couldn’t deny that compared to so many, I had grown up with privilege. He made me feel like a horrible person for circumstances I had no control over. Plus, my family barely held on. We were the lowest on the totem pole.

  “What is your problem?” I folded my arms, pushing back into him. “Look around you. Talk about privileged. You work for the royal family. Why does mine offend you so much? Why do I?”

  “It doesn’t.” He arched an eyebrow. “I was making a point. You are not why I am working tonight. I’m on duty to watch over everything. There are a lot of guests and strangers going in and out. We always have to be ready. For thieves. For people using this as a way to sneak in.” He leaned into me. “For those trying to slice pretty throats like yours.”

  My lids narrowed, anger stirring a beast inside me. I shoved him back, a growl in my throat as I grabbed my heels, storming away. His chuckle followed me down the hall, his footsteps barely audible across the rugs. I craned my neck to look behind me.

  “What are you doing?” I snarled. “Go do your job watching the palace, and leave me alone.”

  “Unfortunately, you are my primary job, and there are a lot of drunk nobles roaming around. Lord William has been known to get quite handsy when drinking. And not drinking. He is someone, as a woman, especially a young one, you avoid at all costs. My duty is to make sure you get back to your room unharmed.”

  “Oh, my knight in shining armor, huh?” I snorted, curving down a hallway to the private residence, my shoes hanging off my fingers.

  “Or the smartest predator here.” His timbre was low and taunting, and a slice of anxiety sank in my chest. Peering at him over my shoulder, his gaze burned into mine, his expression undetectable.

  “Go. I don’t need you. I’m not helpless. I can walk to my damn room myself.”

  “Not sure about that.”

  “Bloody hell, Lennox!” I swung around. “Go away!”

  His jaw twitched, his face trying to hide his real feelings. He clenched his teeth as he bowed, turning away from me, walking back toward the party.

  Exhaling, I tried to push away the thread of guilt weaving in my gut. He deserved it. Complete wanker.

  Stepping through the portrait gallery, my nerves buzzed with energy and aversion.

  “Lady Sutton, right?” A man stepped out from the shadows, frightening me again, my shoes dropping on the wood floor with a clunk.

  “I am so sorry to have startled you.” The man came closer, the dim light highlighting his features.

  Oh, blooming biscuit. Speak of the devil, and he will rise.

  Lord William. Easily in his late sixties, he was tall and thin but had a podgy belly that stuck out of his tux. His white hair had left his head and taken up residence as his eyebrows, nostril hair, and was dying a slow death on his lip. Some say in his day he was a ladies’ man, but those days appeared to be centuries ago, and he had yet to realize he was no longer the catch he once was. Though, with his misogynistic ego, I doubted he ever was. I had been at an event at fifteen where he had greasily hit on my mother and me at the same time.

  He stepped closer, a leer shining in his light brown eyes and lifting his lip.

  “You have grown up quite a bit since I last saw you.”

  “Yes. Kids tend to do that.” I dipped my head, ready to walk around him, but he slid with me, blocking my way, causing alarms to go off in my head.

  “Don’t run away so fast. Please, I would love such a stunning girl as you to keep me company.” He stepped closer to me, his breath smelling of stale whiskey.
“You are a beautiful woman, Spencer. You look so much like your mother.”

  “Thank you,” I replied briskly. “I really need to go. Theo is waiting for me.”

  “Yes, you and the prince.” The hair in his nose wiggled. “Your uncle must be thrilled. How the mighty have fallen. Using you as a life raft. I must say he is tenacious.”

  “I must go.” I tried to move around him again.

  “Wait there, sweetheart.” His fingers wrapped around my arm.

  “Let go.” I sneered at him.

  “I just want to know how much you are worth to them; what is your family willing to take to stay afloat?” He leaned in, his grip tightening. “Because I am a billionaire. I have more money than the king. I could make your family very comfortable again.”

  “What?” I jerked back, disbelief knocking me backward. “What are you talking about?”

  “Please, my dear, you are not an ignorant little girl anymore. You know how much your family is in debt to me, to so many people.”

  His statement punched me in the gut, my mind going numb to his accusations.

  “You are lying to me.” Instinct had me wanting to defend my family, to not let a weasel like Lord William wiggle in with doubt. But I recalled my father’s words, telling me we couldn’t afford my schooling, even if Fredrick let me go. I knew we weren’t doing great, but what the Lord was suggesting seemed way past a few tough months. “I don’t believe you.”

  “I am not a fool, Spencer. Do not treat me as such. I know why you are here, even if no one else does.” His glossy eyes rolled over me hungrily. “Fredrick couldn’t have picked better bait for the prince if he tried. You are delectable, my dear. And I think it would be in your best interest if I got to have you.”

  Bile coated my throat, churning my stomach with disgust. “You are disgusting.” I tried to pull out of his grip. “Does your wife know you proposition teen girls?”

  “She understands a man has desires. Women hit a certain age and can no longer provide for all a man’s needs.” His fingers slid over my bare shoulder, rushing vomit up my esophagus. “To touch skin this soft and tight makes me feel virile and vigorous.” His tongue ran over his dry lip. “You are not a child anymore, Spencer. You are a sexy young woman.”