Royal Watch

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Slowly with treats, the little guy slunk out for me to pick him up.

  “You are a sweet boy.” He was frozen in my arms, terrified to move or do something that might cause retaliation.

  There was no doubt he had been beaten, which made me want to find whoever did it and do even more than that to them. Snuggling him into my arms, I took him back to the sink, speaking to him in a steady, calm voice, petting and reassuring him with love.

  The group talked around me, Poppy trying to engage me in chat about the royals or how Theo and I met, but I kept quiet, concentrating fully on the dog. Bath time for animals could be extremely stressful, and the little guy under my stream was so scared I had to put all my energy on him. Finishing his bath, I wrapped a towel around him, picking him up. His sweet little face stared up at me, then he licked my cheek, melting my heart into a pool of goo.

  I was in love.

  Click. Click. Click.

  My head snapped up to the noise, my brain not understanding the familiar sound in these surroundings.

  Horror widened my eyes when I took in four or five men with cameras crawling over the fence of the shelter, their long-lens cameras peering through the glass doors, their fingers stabbing at the buttons, filling their memory cards with pictures of me.

  The puppy in my arms sensed the change in me, his form going rigid.

  “Oh my god!” Sarah pointed, startling the dogs.

  The room exploded with panicked barks as the animals reacted, while more and more paparazzi scaled the fence, each wanting their shot of me, like they were catching me doing something seedy.

  The room exploded in pandemonium, some dogs leaping out of the sinks, running for the door, growling and barking as others yipped and ran in circles around our feet. The volunteers tried to round them up, their yells and panic only adding to the chaos. The scared little guy in my hands wiggled out of my arms, running under the sink and cowering in the corner. All the trust we had built… gone.

  Anger and fear bristled up my back.

  “Fucking hell!” Kyle yelled, jerking his hand back from trying to get one of the dogs from the window, blood dripping down his hand.

  “Get help!” Sarah screamed, waving at Poppy to move as she cradled Kyle’s hand with a towel.

  Poppy didn’t even move before the door burst open, a figure filling the doorway, but it wasn’t Debra or any other staff member.

  Feck me.

  Lennox.

  Relief. Guilt. Anger. It flooded me as our eyes connected, his feet slapping the ground as he ran for me.

  “You okay?” he growled, the fury in his voice crackling over every syllable. I nodded, and the dogs howled as police sirens wailed and lights flickered from over the fence, the paps scurrying like cockroaches, leaving a mess behind.

  Debra ran in to the room, other staff behind her.

  “Oh my god.” She went to Kyle, grabbing for his bloody hand.

  “I’m fine.” He hissed in pain.

  “You need stitches.” She pointed at Sarah. “Take him the down the hall; the vet should be able to clean and stitch it up.”

  Sarah nodded, escorting her friend out of the room, flicking me a glare before she veered down the hall.

  “Poppy, Travis, and Ollie.” She pointed at a guy who had come in with her. “Gather the dogs and get them calm.”

  I twisted to peer at the little dude hiding under the sink, making little sounds to coax him out.

  “Spencer.” Debra’s tone had lost all friendliness and awe at who I was. “I’m sorry, but I think it’s best if you leave.”

  It was like she drove a blade down my torso, gutting me like a fish.

  “The animals come first. Their safety. And any unnecessary stress or trauma… I can’t subject them to that. It’s not fair to them or us.”

  Emotion over the whole incident, for my involvement in it, flooded my eyes. Swallowing the tears back, I nodded, understanding her decision. The animals were first. And I was a liability.

  “Of course,” I replied smoothly, but inside I was cracking into tiny pieces. This was supposed to be a good deed, a few hours I could forget everything and just be me. The me who wanted to help animals.

  “I am truly sorry.” Debra’s face softened. “At least for a while, or maybe you could help out at more public events.”

  Meaning donate at their fancy dinners and throw an appearance in at an event to get people there, but stay away from the meaningful work with animals.

  Turning to look at the guy under the sink, I bit down on my lip. His trembling body faced the corner, but his head was turned to look at me, his deep brown eyes staring at me like I had betrayed him.

  And I felt like I had.

  I didn’t want to leave him, longing to wrap him up in my love and bring him home.

  “Sorry, you can’t adopt him,” Lennox muttered in my ear, his hand wrapping around my bicep, tugging me out of the room.

  “But—”

  “The only dogs the king allows are the ones he keeps outside and uses for hunting.”

  My lips hitched up at the word hunting, another horrendous, cruel, archaic “tradition.”

  Silently, I let Lennox march me out of the shelter to a waiting black SUV, his anger increasing with every step.

  “Get. In.” He yanked the door open, not even looking me, veins popping along his temple. For the first time, I really noticed him. He was dressed in worn dark jeans, a gray henley and jacket, with scruffy boots. He looked rugged. Rough. Sexy as hell. Like he should be on a motorcycle, not opening the door to a glistening SUV. This was him on his downtime. The real him. And it stirred even more rage in me.

  I angrily got into the car, crossing my arms, looking forward, fury flaring my nose.

  “If you ever,” he stressed, “do that again.”

  “What?” I snapped at him. “What will you do?”

  He felt the challenge in my question, the insinuation that he had no power to actually do anything to me.

  He was here to serve me.

  He took a step, his face right at my level, his stillness full of vehemence. “Don’t challenge me, Baroness. You have no idea what I am capable of.” His voice was low and menacing, his lips only a hair away from my cheek. “And just because I work for the king, does not make me beneath you.” His breath hit my cheek, sliding down my neck. “I only do that position when someone is riding my cock.” A sharp intake of air hitched my chest, his words shocking me. Heat pooled in my belly. That word was not one I’d ever heard from Theo’s mouth. I couldn’t imagine him ever being dirty or kinky in any way.

  Theo.

  Think of Theo.

  Guilt rushed into me, twisting the pulse between my thighs to disgusted hate.

  “Which I’m sure, with your charming personality, happens a lot.”

  “More than you can imagine.”

  “Great for you.” I shifted on the seat, images flashing through my head before I could shove them out. “The vet’s right there; you probably should go get a checkup.” I nodded to the vet’s office next door to the shelter. “Ask for a rabies shot just to be safe.”

  There was beat before Lennox scoffed, grabbing for the door.

  “How did you find me, anyway?” I asked before he shut the door. “One of the guards rat on me? Put a tail on me? Track my phone?”

  “We didn’t have to.” He lifted the mobile in his hand. “Found you the same way the paps did.”

  “What?”

  “Top trend right now? Hashtag Spencer Sutton. Took me right to you. Along with any other crazy person wanting to get close to you. I had to bring extra guards, pull them from their real jobs, and have them clear and block this entire area,” he snapped, anger fizzing back to the surface. “But I’m glad you slipped one over on me. Good for you.” He slammed the door, strutting around to the driver’s side, deflating my ire like a leaking balloon.

  My one act had stressed out the already traumatized dogs, got a guy bitten, caused havoc to both the she
lter and to the royal house, which I was sure would get back to King Alexander.

  I thought it had been an act of kindness, but it had been an act of complete selfishness.

  Chapter 17

  Raindrops trailed down the window of the SUV, my attention on watching them move in zigzag motions as the car sped across the city. The rain had started to ebb, and the sun trying to peek through a sliver in the clouds, bucking at my current mood.

  Folding my arms, I stared out the side window, looking much like I was pouting. Maybe I was, but mostly I was trying to hold in the anger and humiliation at myself, willing myself not to cry.

  Lennox and I were silent as he drove back to the palace. He didn’t have to speak, his disappointment and anger at me layered on my own, feeling like shouts in the small space.

  My mobile sat in my lap, taunting me to look, to show me the mess I made with one decision. My mouth pinched as I palmed the device, turning it on. Within seconds, I found myself plastered over the internet. Nowadays, no one waited for magazines, getting to see your fuck-ups live.

  #SpencerSutton was the top trend, along with headlines like “RH going to the dogs.” And my favorite #Duchshund, elevating me to a duchess title to fit a catchy hashtag.

  I scrolled through blurry photos of me through the glass doors, holding on to that sweet, scared dog, but then my finger stopped on one shot not taken through the glass. A grunt slid from my lips when I realized what happened.

  Or who happened.

  The side of a girl’s face, her eyes wide, her mouth in an O-shape, finger pointing behind her… at me. My arms full of the matted puppy when I first brought him out of the room.

  “OMG! Guess who’s volunteering at the shelter with me today?” was written underneath it with the tags to the shelter, me, and her.

  Poppy.

  It went viral within minutes, people and media scouring for my name to pop up. I don’t think she meant to do anything more than get comments from her friends or brag about who she was with, but her need to be popular or cause envy had cost me and the shelter everything.

  Anger stacked up my spine like bricks, rolling my hands into fists.

  Lennox pulled down a road, one I didn’t recognize as being part of the palace. He pulled up to the gate, several guards outside.

  “Hey.” He greeted them, handing them his identification. While a few went around the car with dogs and mirrors, the main guard peered in the car, noticing me.

  “Miss,” he greeted me.

  I smiled thinly.

  Where the hell were we?

  “Okay, you’re good.” The guard nodded to Lennox, handing him back his badge. “Go ahead.”

  “Thanks.” Lennox put the car in gear, driving forward.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, looking out the window at rolling green grass and trees. The royals owned all the parks over the city but only kept a few private for just their use.

  No answer.

  “This where you dump and hide my body?”

  He scoffed, his head wagging back and forth. “Won’t say I didn’t consider it.”

  I snorted, folding my arms up tighter, letting go of trying to get an answer from him.

  He pulled the car to a stop in front of some buildings. Turning the engine off, he sat back in his seat with a heavy sigh.

  My stubbornness won out over my curiosity, and I stayed silent and pubescent in the backseat. One picture. One. And it completely turned the good intention I had into something horrendous.

  “You can only blame yourself.”

  My head shot up, my eyes landing on the rearview mirror, his hazel eyes watching me. Ire stomped like a child up my throat.

  “Excuse me?” I snapped. “I wasn’t the one who put a Bat-Signal in the air with my location!”

  A quick smile hinted on his lips before it vanished.

  “Doesn’t matter.” He shrugged. “You can’t control them. You can only control what you do. And today could have gone a lot worse. It also could have gone a lot better if you had come to me.”

  “You would have let me go?” I challenged. “With that short of notice?”

  “No, but we could have set it up for the next day.”

  “They didn’t need me the next day. They needed help today. I won’t wait to get your permission, not when it comes to volunteering to help animals.”

  His lids tightened around his eyes. In a blink, he was bursting out of the car door, marching around to my side. The metal door squealed as he flung it open. He reached over, unbuckling me.

  “Get out.”

  “No.” I sounded like a brat, but my stubborn nature burrowed in, doubling down. The fire in my blood and my passionate nature flared to life. Fire and ice both at once.

  His fingers wrapped around my wrist, dragging me out, pushing me back into the car, my breath catching, blood rushing up my veins, lighting me in a blaze.

  “You will get my permission.” His voice reverberated with ferocity. “Not because my ego demands it. Or I’m trying to control you. I don’t need to play sadistic games because my male ego is fragile, or I only get off when putting a woman in her place.” He moved in closer, his body looming over mine, sparking fever through me.

  My pulse thumped against my neck, my chest fluttering with the need to breathe. I peered down at his frame, then up to his eyes.

  “Clearly, you do.”

  “Believe me,” he rumbled, a smile twitching the side of his cheek. “My ego’s just fine.”

  I didn’t doubt that. From what I could make out, it had every right to be.

  Damn.

  A smirk inched the side of his cheek higher, fluttering my chest, my skin acutely aware of every inch he touched. The pulse running down my legs zeroed in on my anger.

  “What you did today was stupid.”

  “I don’t answer to you.” I swallowed, my nostrils flaring. “You answer to me.”

  “Goddammit.” Lennox’s palm hit the side of the car by my head, forcing me to suck in, but I held my ground, actually reveling in stirring passion in this stoic man. “Don’t you get it? You are not the same girl you were just a few months ago. You are no longer the girl who can slip into the background of nonentity or spend time with animals all day.” My neck wrenched up at his statement, my lids tapering. “You made your bed, Duchess. You chose Theo. Being with the prince comes with good and bad. And you can’t have just the good. Not how it works.” He pressed his other hand into the car, trapping me between his arms. “Now you get me… on your arse twenty-four seven. You can’t go anywhere outside the palace without it being planned. You want brunch with your friends? I’m there. You want to volunteer for every shelter in Great Victoria? Fine… but I’m by your side. There is no spontaneous in your vocabulary anymore. There is no ditching me and running out the back of a store like it’s some goddamn movie. Because this is about your life. And if you had already seen and read the things I have, you would be doing everything I said. There a lot of crazy people out there, and my job is to protect you, even when you fight against me.”

  My tongue slipped over my lips, and my head jerked to the side, emotion clogging my throat and eyes. He had flattened my anger into the ground, leaving me a skeleton of vulnerability. I swiped at the single tear that squeezed through.

  “Hey.” His voice went low.

  “What if I’m not made for this?” I croaked out softly, keeping my gaze on the horizon.

  “Anyone not raised in their world would feel overwhelmed. I’m just a bodyguard, and I’ve already been in several magazines, trying to find out who Theo’s extremely hot new bodyguard is.”

  A laugh parted my lips, my fingers brushing my eyes again as I turned to look at him, shaking my head. “Nope, nothing wrong with your ego.”

  He smiled, his gaze meeting mine, causing something to flutter inside me. He cleared his throat, dropping his arms, backing away from me.

  “With every move, every word, every outfit, you are being held up to standards no
one can live up to.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “It’s a lot, but if you love Theo enough, you will make it work.”

  A soft smile lifted my lips, my head bobbing forward.

  “Give me your cell.”

  “Why?” I gripped the device to my chest with a spike of fear.

  “Because…” He held out his palm. “You will constantly look at it, and that is the last thing you should be doing. It will ruin the reason we’re here.”

  “And where are we exactly?”

  He stayed silent, his fingers curling, motioning for my mobile.

  “Fine.” I dropped into his hand. If I continued to look at it, soon I’d be on the ground in a ball.

  “Come on.” He shoved the cell in his jeans and started walking, moving around the car to the building.

  “After all you said, you’re still going to kill me?”

  “Even more now.” He winked back at me, continuing his journey around the first building. Following him, I rounded the structure and came to a halt, my mouth falling open.

  “Oh my…” The rest of the sentence got absorbed by the snort of a horse trotting by.

  Before me, the crest stamped everywhere was of the royal horse stables. There were huge barns, clean and up to date with all the latest equipment. Trainers, keepers, and animals moved around the huge outdoor space.

  “Lennox!” A woman stepped out of a barn wearing khaki breeches, riding boots, and a long white shirt with a black vest. She waved at him, a smile engulfing her face with genuine joy. “So glad you’re back.” She looked to be in her early thirties, petite, and stunning. Not a drop of makeup, her long brown hair swung from her ponytail, showcasing creamy skin, blue eyes, and a cute button nose. I felt a jab of jealousy, an aversion to a woman I had never met, which was not like me. I normally wasn’t a jealous person or immediately disliked a pretty woman.