by Holly Jacobs
“Cara,” he said, rolling the R slightly. “It’s a lovely name.”
“Thank you,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m sorry you had to come all this way for nothing, Tanner.”
“It’s not for nothing. Parker will be going home with me.”
“She agreed?” Cara asked, looking surprised.
“No,” Shey snapped.
“But she will eventually,” Tanner added. “She’ll see that our marrying makes sense.”
“Do you love her?” Cara asked.
“Pardon?” Tanner replied.
“It’s a simple question, Your High—Tanner. Do you love Parker?”
“Marie Anna, uh, Parker, and I are extremely well-suited. We both grew up knowing we have a duty to our countries. We were friendly when we were younger. I’m sure we’d be compatible.”
“Compatible is nice,” Cara said, taking a step closer, her expression earnest as she continued, “but love is important. Do you love her?”
“I’ll learn to love her.” Even as Tanner said the words, he hoped they were true. He wouldn’t want his child, their future children, growing up in a loveless home.
“I know that there are any number of things you can learn,” Cara said. “Most things, in fact, you can learn with simply a good mind and a good book. But love? You can’t learn to love someone, you can’t just study them hard enough and discover you love them. There has to be a spark, something to build on. You’d know if you and Parker had it. We’d know if you had it. You don’t.”
Tanner had thought he liked Parker’s friend Cara far more than Shey, but as she voiced his hidden fear, he found he much preferred Shey’s cut-to-the-chase comments to Cara’s softer, more insightful ones.
“How dare you walk in and think you can know what I feel?” he asked, assuming his best royal tone, one that was guaranteed to make people think twice before arguing with him.
But Cara didn’t back down. Didn’t even blink. “I dare because Parker is my friend. I dare because I’ve seen what a compatible relationship looks like. I dare because I may not know you, but I do know that having power and money doesn’t make a person happy, love does. You deserve that as much as Parker does.”
“I—”
She cut him off with a small, soft smile. “Good night, Shey. I was ready to lock up next door when the commotion started. Now that it’s over, I’ll be going. I’ll see you in the morning. And it was nice meeting you, Tanner.”
With that, Cara turned and walked back into the dim bookstore.
“Wow,” Shey said. “I wonder what’s got into her?”
“What do you mean?” Tanner asked.
“I mean, that’s the longest string of words that I’ve ever heard Cara utter in front of a stranger. In front of most people she knows well, for that matter.”
“Lucky me,” Tanner grumbled.
He’d like to totally discount everything the woman had said as nonsense, but he couldn’t. She hadn’t said anything he hadn’t thought himself.
“So now what?” he asked his reluctant hostess.
“Now, I’m going to pour you a cup of coffee and close up the shop. Then I’ll take you to your hotel. Tomorrow, if you’re smart, you’ll be on a plane leaving Erie.”
Tanner didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say, but he knew that he wasn’t ready to leave Erie just yet.
Shey brought him the coffee, then bustled around the store turning off coffee machines, cleaning out carafes, then gathering up the sandwiches and snacks from the refrigerated case.
She hefted a tray full of items.
“Here, let me help you,” he said, as he started to rise from his seat.
“I don’t need help,” she snapped. “I’m quite capable of handling this on my own.”
“Fine,” he said, sinking back into the seat as she took the tray and disappeared into the back.
Cara’s words played over again in his mind.
She was right, love was an essential ingredient in a marriage, an ingredient his parents’ marriage had been lacking.
Tanner realized that Shey had been gone more than a few minutes. He got up and walked toward the kitchen, inching the door open slowly to see what she was doing.
He expected her to be cleaning or something, instead, she was standing at the back door, the tray of food now nearly empty.
There were people lined up and she was handing out the sandwiches and cookies.
“Leo,” she said, “did you go to the clinic about that cough?”
An old man wearing tattered clothes, said something softly that Tanner couldn’t make out.
“Good,” Shey said. “If you hadn’t, I’d have dragged you there tomorrow. You’d have had to ride on the back of my bike.”
The man laughed at that, the laughter punctuated by a harsh, rasping cough.
“You be sure you go to the shelter tonight. I don’t care how warm it is. You need to sleep inside and take your medicine.”
The old man nodded, then moved aside, replaced by a younger, yet equally disheveled-looking man.
Slowly, Tanner let the door close and went back to his seat.
He might not have known Shey Carlson long, but he knew she’d resent his witnessing her act of kindness.
Nonetheless it intrigued him.
Shey intrigued him.
No matter what she thought, Tanner wasn’t getting on a plane in the morning.
As a matter of fact, he wasn’t going back to the hotel tonight.
He pulled out his cell phone and keyed in Emil’s number.
“Yeah, boss?”
“You all have the night off,” he told his guard.
“What do you mean, night off?” Emil asked, displeasure in his voice.
“I won’t be coming to the hotel tonight.”
“May I ask where you’ll be spending the night?”
“No, you may not.”
Emil laughed. “Fine, I won’t ask. I’m nothing if not discreet. I’ll let Tonio and Peter hit the town. Peter’s dying to introduce himself to the female residents.”
“I imagine he is,” Tanner said with a hint of laughter. Peter was a ladies’ man.
“I’ll be in all night though, boss,” Emil assured him. “If you have any problems, you call. You know your father would have a fit if he found out you were wandering about a strange city without a bodyguard.”
Shey walked into the room and Tanner smiled, “I think I can handle myself, Emil.”
Emil, more of a friend than a guard, just sighed. “But I’m here if you need me.”
“Thanks.” Tanner shut the phone and put it in his pocket.
“Are you ready to go?” Shey asked.
“I’m ready,” he answered, rising from his seat.
Tanner Ericson was more than ready, but he wasn’t sure Shey Carlson was.
CHAPTER TWO
Fifteen minutes later, Shey punched Parker’s number into the phone as she glared at the man sitting in her recliner, staring out her living-room window.
Shey knew that Parker had caller ID, so she wasn’t surprised when her friend’s salutation was, “Thanks for picking up Tanner.”
“There’s a problem,” Shey told Parker without preamble.
The problem heard her and simply smiled.
“What now?” Parker asked. “Who else could my father send?”
If it were only as simple as dealing with Parker’s father. Shey and Cara had years of experience helping their friend circumvent her father’s dictates.
“Not your father, your prince,” Shey told her.
There was a small sigh of relief before Shey asked, “Okay, so what did Tanner do?”
“It’s what he didn’t do…he didn’t leave.”
“And I’m not going to,” Tanner said softly.
Shey put a hand over the receiver and said, “Listening to other people’s conversations is just rude. I’d have expected better from a prince.”
“I live to shake people’s expectations,” he said with an un
princely grin.
“What do you mean?” Parker asked over the phone.
“I mean, His Royal Painness and his goons—”
“His goons?” Parker asked.
Shey realized she hadn’t had a chance to mention Tanner’s three henchmen, so she explained, “He brought bodyguards, three of them. Anyway, they have rooms at the new hotel on the bayfront, but princy here won’t go. He says he’s staying with me.”
“Why on earth would he want to stay with you?”
“Because he said he figured you’d come rescue me and he’d get to talk to you.”
“Do you need me to rescue you?” Parker asked.
Shey had spent her life taking care of herself, not simply because it was her nature, but because it was necessity. After her father died, her mother worked at least two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. Shey had to learn to be self-sufficient, because if she hadn’t learned to look out for herself, no one else would have.
That all changed when she won an academic scholarship to Mercyhurst College. That’s when she’d learned to count on others—when she found Parker and Cara.
No, she took that back. She hadn’t found them, they’d found her. She’d never quite figured out how or why, but over the years she discovered it didn’t matter. No matter how different they were, they fit. Three pieces that just clicked.
She had people to count on. Her friendship with Parker and Cara had seen to that.
Shey knew if she asked, Parker would come running to help even though the last person she wanted to deal with was her supposed fiancé. Knowing there was someone who would come when you called, no matter what, was a wonderful feeling. And every now and then it hit Shey and she felt a warm glow.
“No,” she said with a chuckle. “I just wanted to see how nice I have to be. He’s your fiancé, after all.”
“No,” Parker corrected, “he’s an old childhood friend, not a fiancé. And you don’t have to be nice at all.”
“Really?” Shey asked, smiling at Tanner who had the good sense to look a bit nervous. He rose and held out his hand for the phone.
“Really,” Parker answered.
“Great.” Shey ignored Tanner’s hand, still raised and waiting for the phone.
“Just don’t do anything that will land either of us in jail,” Parker added. “I could probably get diplomatic immunity, but you’d be sunk.”
“No problem. Hang on, princy wants to talk to you.”
“Parker, it’s imperative we speak,” Tanner insisted.
He was quiet as he listened to whatever Parker responded.
“Parker,” he said, “your father said—”
Parker must have cut him off because he stopped in midsentence.
“Someone else? Who?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “That man from tonight?”
Shey almost felt sorry for Tanner. Parker was a dangerous opponent.
She’d remembered what had happened to poor Hoffman—the last man Parker’s father had sent after her. Parker had fixed up Hoffman with Perry Square’s resident manicurist, Josie. Hoffman swore it was a vicious, horrible act of spite. He’d had to spend so much time evading Josie and her pals, that he hadn’t been able to properly tail the runaway princess. Eventually, he’d told Parker’s father he quit, but by then he’d become accustomed to Josie, that they became one of the Square’s newest, happiest couples.
Maybe she should warn Tanner what he was up against.
Shey glanced at the very disgruntled-looking prince, who refused to leave her home, and quickly decided that maybe she shouldn’t.
“You can’t be serious,” Tanner said.
He waited a moment longer, then hung up the phone.
“So?” Shey asked.
“She’s seeing someone else?” he asked.
Shey knew Parker wasn’t, but she was willing to play along for her friend’s sake. “It never occurred to you that someone as amazing as Parker would be dating?”
“No.”
He looked as if the whole concept of a woman preferring someone other than himself was not only distasteful, but was totally incomprehensible.
“Well, princy, you’re not as bright as you think you are. Men are always after Parker. Chasing her, wooing her. I think it shows an awful lot of conceit to think she’d be just sitting here waiting for you.”
The momentary look of confusion disappeared and a regal arrogance took its place. “Speaking of waiting, I’m waiting for you to show me to the guest room. I had a long flight, a long day. I need to get some rest.”
“There is no guest room,” Shey said. Even if there had been she wouldn’t have told the prince. Let him tough it out. Maybe he’d give up and leave.
“Where do your guests normally sleep?” he asked.
“I don’t have guests.”
“Family?”
Shey felt a small stab of regret for what she didn’t have, then reminded herself that she was lucky in what she did have.
“Parker and Cara are my only family,” she said, “and they have their own places, so no sleepovers.”
“But surely this little place has more than one bedroom.”
She sighed and said, “Surely the place does have another bedroom, but I converted it into an office since I don’t have guests.”
“Does your office have a couch?” he asked hopefully.
“No,” Shey said with a smile. “It has a desk, it has bookshelves, it even has some file cabinets, but no couch.”
“Then I guess I’ll be sleeping down here.” He frowned at the leather sofa.
Shey would bet a big wad of cash that princy had never slept on a couch in his entire life.
Heck he’d probably never even slept on a twin bed. It was all king-size mattresses for the prince, she was sure.
“No,” she said patiently. “You’ll be going back to your hotel and sleeping there in your nice, spacious penthouse suite.”
She wasn’t sure if the new hotel had a penthouse suite, but if it did, that’s where the prince would be staying.
“Come on,” she urged. “You’ve had your fun, but this plan isn’t going to work. Parker’s going to stay as far away from me as possible, at least until I shake you. So call one of your henchmen to come pick you up, or if you prefer, I can call you a taxi.”
“If Parker is your family, as you claim, then she won’t be able to stay away for very long. She’ll eventually come to your rescue. And when she does, she’ll find me waiting to talk to her.”
“You’re not spending the night,” Shey said with mounting frustration. She felt a totally out-of-character urge to stomp her foot. She caught herself pre-stomp and settled for crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m going to undress now,” the prince said with a smile. “Of course, you’re welcome to stay, if you like.”
“Threatening to undress in front a stranger.” She shook her head and tsked. “And you an engaged man, and all.”
He pulled off his jacket and reached for the buttons on his shirt.
“You wouldn’t,” she said.
“Try me.”
She felt a tug of curiosity and realized that if the man unbuttoning his shirt hadn’t been a prince—a prince who thought he was engaged to her best friend—she’d be very tempted to try him.
Instead of staying for the show, she turned and said, “Fine. I’m leaving.”
“Oh, do you have a pillow and blanket I can use?”
Do you have a pillow and blanket, he asked in the condescending princy tone. As if someone who didn’t have a mansion or a guest room wouldn’t be able to come up with even a pillow and blanket for a guest.
An uninvited guest, but a guest nonetheless.
How on earth had she found herself in this situation?
Truth was, she didn’t have a spare blanket or pillow. She didn’t need them. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she never had guests. But she wouldn’t admit that to princy.
Shey
stomped up the stairs to her room and took the bedspread and one of the three pillows off her own bed, then carried them back downstairs.
He had completely unbuttoned his shirt, but still had it on. Shey was grateful for that.
Yes, the feeling that washed through her was thankfulness, though surprisingly it felt a bit more like disappointment. Who’d have thought those two distinctly different emotions could feel so similar?
“Here,” she said, holding out the bedding.
Tanner bowed at the waist and said, “Thank you,” then took them.
She couldn’t go without one more try to make him see reason. “Being my shadow is a waste of time.”
“Ah, but it’s my time to waste.”
* * *
Tanner lay on the leather couch wrapped in the blanket Shey had brought. His head rested on the pillow.
Both smelled like her. Warm and spicy.
No sweet cloying scent for Shey.
He smiled.
Shey Carlson was an exceptional woman.
Captivating, even.
He chuckled as he thought about her attempts to get rid of him.
She was tough. She protected her friends with a ferocity that he couldn’t help but admire.
Tanner was used to softer women.
Shey was all warrior.
He rolled again, trying to find a comfortable position, but the movement simply intensified Shey’s scent. It was playing on his senses—surrounding him.
Tanner gave up trying to sleep and resigned himself to a sleepless night.
Here he was in a strange city—a strange country—sleeping on a stranger’s couch. And his fiancée was less than enthused by his visit. He’d hoped when he saw her that he’d feel the magic, he’d feel some spark that would reassure him that they could make a go of marriage.
Instead he’d felt…nothing. Nothing but the remnants of a childhood friendship.
No lightning strike of passion.
No small blaze of interest.
Not even the tiniest ember.
After his disastrous relationship with Stephana, he’d seen the wisdom in his father’s arrangements. Tanner felt that he wouldn’t ever truly know if a woman loved him and not his money and titles, so why not marry a woman who had enough of each not to be after his?
In the end, Stephana had decided all the money in the world wasn’t worth the hassles of noblesse oblige, the obligations of nobility. She claimed she hadn’t signed on to be an unpaid workhorse. She wanted to party, to spend Tanner’s money. When she saw that wasn’t what she was signing up for, she left.
