by Holly Jacobs
“You can joke around all you want, but we both know it’s different.”
“Because Parker’s your friend,” he stated more than asked.
Tanner had learned from the start that loyalty was part of Shey’s makeup. Fierce, staunch loyalty. It was part of what he admired about her. And he was coming to understand that he did indeed admire this woman.
“I stand behind my friends, no matter what,” she said, not really answering the question.
“Ah, you sound a bit disgruntled,” Tanner pressed. “Does that mean you think Parker should come back?”
“Not back to you, but I’ve often thought that maybe she should be a bit more visible with her royalty. I mean, I can see how she could use her position to make some changes for good, not just in her country, but worldwide. Let’s face it, people love royalty.”
“I don’t know about that,” Tanner said. “I don’t think my ex loves royalty at all.”
“Maybe it’s just you she doesn’t like,” Shey said. “And maybe I can understand that.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you can.” Tanner wouldn’t have admitted it, but that one stung. He sped up, getting ahead of Shey.
She grabbed his arm and caught up. “I’m sorry. Trading barbs is one thing, I enjoy that. But I went too far and hurt you. I didn’t mean to.”
She looked so sincere that Tanner couldn’t maintain his annoyance. “I think we’ve both crossed that line today. And you were right. I’m sure Stephana would assure you that she dislikes me as much as she disliked my duties as a prince of the realm.”
“That’s what I mean, your duties, your obligations. They give you a built-in audience, a platform to make a difference, to adopt reform.”
“And that’s what you think Parker could do?”
“No, to be honest, she’s never wanted that type of power. But if I were a royal, that’s what I’d do, use that position to speak about causes I’m passionate about.”
“Like what?” he asked.
Shey didn’t even pause to think. Her face lit up as she said, “Illiteracy, for one. There’s an old saying that you can give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for the rest of his life. I think they should add, if you teach him to read, he can learn not just about fishing, but about anything. Reading can take you anywhere, teach you just about anything.”
He could see the passion in Shey and remembered that first night when he’d caught her feeding sandwiches to people from the back of the shop. “You’d like a platform to talk to people about feeding the person and their mind?”
She suddenly looked cautious. “No. I mean, can you imagine anyone listening to me like that? But Parker could command attention, and you could. You’ve both got the lineage, the whole royal thing to lend weight to your opinion.”
“Being royal doesn’t make someone’s opinion and causes more worthwhile,” he said gently.
“Let’s just say that you have more power behind your opinion than a normal person, like me, would.”
“There are many things I don’t know, but one thing I’m sure of, you, Shey Carlson, are not normal.”
“Nice,” she said, a smile letting him know she hadn’t really taken offense. “Really nice. Insult me after I’ve taken you under my wing. Making sure you were safe in this big, scary country.”
He realized they’d both stopped walking. “Ah, so I don’t need my bodyguards, I just need you?” he asked softly.
“There’s not much I can’t handle.”
“I don’t doubt it.” And he meant it. “Speaking of handling, about the handling that happened earlier….”
Shey started walking again, her gait fast as if she could escape the memory.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.
“Sure you do. That kiss.” Tanner knew no matter how fast either of them walked, no matter what they did, neither of them could run from the subtle change in their relationship that kiss had brought about.
And it was a kiss he’d like to repeat as soon as possible.
Problem was, he still felt guilty, even though his fiancée had told him she wasn’t. And as much as he wanted to kiss Shey again, he knew he had things to work out with Parker first.
“I don’t recall any kissing,” Shey assured him.
“No?” Tanner asked, chuckling.
“No.”
“Want me to remind you?” he asked, even though he knew he wouldn’t—couldn’t. At least not yet.
“No. There will be no more kissing.”
“Suits me,” he said, which earned him a nasty look that made him laugh again.
Even when Shey was annoyed with him, she made him feel a million times lighter than he normally did. Being with her, no matter what her mood, just felt good.
She treated him just as she treated everyone, like a normal man.
They walked for a few minutes in silence. Tanner simply enjoyed her company. He noticed a lot of cars on the road, all heading toward one area near the marina.
“What’s going on down there?” he asked.
“It’s the amphitheater. They have outdoor concerts there all summer.”
“Are they having one tonight?” he asked.
“Looks like it.”
“Want to go check it out?”
“Don’t you have to go stalk Parker?” she asked.
“Ah, sometimes it pays to be a prince. I don’t have to do my own stalking, I have my men doing it for me. They’re staking out her house, yours and Cara’s. They’ll let me know when she shows up.”
“Cheater,” Shey said. “Hiring people to stalk your stalkee isn’t playing fair. But then, I guess a prince doesn’t have to play fair. He doesn’t have to share his toys or take turns or any of that kind of stuff.”
Shey knew she should be miffed that he’d outmaneuvered her by sending his men after Parker, instead, she felt a small spurt of relief.
If Tanner’s men were out chasing Parker then he wouldn’t have to. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she was having a good time with him—in an odd way.
“You certainly are an expert on royalty,” he teased.
“I’ve been Parker’s friend since our freshman year at Mercyhurst.”
“And you’re saying she doesn’t play fair?”
“No, but we’ve already established that she’s not a normal royal.” She realized they’d passed the marina where her motorcycle was parked and were walking toward the amphitheater. “I didn’t say I wanted to go to the concert.”
“But you didn’t say no, either. So I made an executive decision.”
“You’re being awfully heavy-handed,” she informed him, but she smiled as she said it. Tanner was difficult and bossy—she should hate it—but really, she enjoyed it because it gave her a chance to flout his authority.
Shey knew herself well enough to know she’d always been, and would always be a flouter.
“And you’re being awfully difficult,” he said echoing her description of him.
“Yes, it’s a curse. I’ve always been accused of being difficult, although the term might not be all that accurate. It’s just that I have opinions…opinions that are always right. People find that tough to swallow, so they label me difficult.”
He laughed. “And modest.”
“Yeah. Let’s see, there’s also stubborn and outspoken—”
He interrupted her. “I’m well acquainted with those aspects of your nature. But don’t sell yourself short. There’s also fiercely protective, loyal, funny, giving—”
“Okay, enough of that,” she said feeling embarrassed. Those last few descriptions sounded like compliments rather than part of their verbal sparring.
“You don’t like it when people see more than you want them to see,” he said gently.
“I don’t like it when people get the wrong ideas.”
“So why don’t you tell me what the right ideas are.”
More kissing, she thought as she studied the hand
some prince who’d proven he was a good opponent. And the fact that she was thinking about kissing prompted her to say, “The right idea would be to go away and leave Parker alone.”
“Sorry, I can’t go away just yet. Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that we talk, that we settle things between us. So let’s table the go-away conversation and find someplace to sit for the concert.” He scanned the hill. “They don’t have any benches?”
“Princes can’t sit on the grass?” she asked, taunting him.
He didn’t seem overly taunted. In fact, he just shot her one of those princely smiles that said he was used to humoring people and said, “Of course a prince can sit on the grass, but some prefer not to.” He continued surveying the outdoor arena and finally said, “Wait here a moment.”
Shey watched as he approached a couple, pulled out his wallet, handed them something. They handed him a plaid blanket.
“There,” he said as he came back to her side. “Now we’ll be more comfortable.”
“You bought their blanket?”
“They had two,” he said.
“You can’t just buy someone’s blanket.”
“I believe I just did,” he said, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
Every now and then Shey forget that Tanner was a prince.
For a while, it’d been easy to forget that he was different than her. But as he carried the plaid blanket down the hill, their differences were once again at the forefront of her thoughts.
She’d always had to make sacrifices for what she wanted. Put in the hours, kept her focus. The prince simply bought what he wanted. Just opened up his never-ending billfold and paid for it.
“You’re quiet,” he said, as he spread out the blanket. He extended his hand, as if she needed help to sit on the ground.
She ignored his hand and sat. Okay, not elegantly. It was more of a plop. But she was down and she did it on her own.
“You’re annoyed about something.”
“No. Not annoyed.”
“You would have preferred sitting on the ground than on a blanket?”
“No,” she was forced to admit. “It’s that I’m not used to wanting something and then just buying it.”
“And I am?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And that annoys you?” He looked puzzled.
“No,” Shey said, trying to analyze her feelings. “Not really annoys. It’s that it reminds me we’re different.”
“I assure you that I’ve remembered we’re different, and I must confess, those differences are what make the whole man and woman thing work.”
“We’re not a man and woman,” she assured him, not liking where this train of thinking might lead.
“No?” he asked, quirking his eyebrow in a Mr. Spock manner.
“We are different, but not in the way you were referring to.”
“Listen, Shey—”
“Shh. They’re going to start.”
“Hello, Erie,” a woman shouted into the microphone.
The crowd roared as the band jumped right into its first song.
“I love music. I mean anything. From classical at the Philharmonic, to Jimmy Buffet,” Shey told him. “They have a night every summer when a local band plays his songs. Looks like we lucked into it. Of course, I’m sure you spend your time listening to Mozart and Bach.”
“I enjoy classical music on occasion, but I’ve been a Parrothead since college,” Tanner said.
“Pardon?” she asked. Tanner, the Crown Prince of Amar, a Jimmy Buffet fan?
“You keep making assumptions about me,” he said softly. “Assumptions about my life. Maybe it’s time you stopped. You don’t know anything about me.”
“Except that you think you’re here to marry my best friend and take her home.”
“About that…” he started to say.
But Shey didn’t want to hear about his plans for Parker, so she shushed him and concentrated on the music.
It was easy to let the tune carry her away to a place where water, wind and an occasional margarita could solve just about any problem.
She kicked off her shoes and leaned back on her elbows, just enjoying the lake breeze and losing herself in the sounds. But, all too soon the band was taking a break.
The noise of the crowd wasn’t enough to cover the absence of the music.
“This is perfect,” Tanner murmured.
“I don’t know about perfect. It’s been my experience that things can frequently be good, but never perfect.”
He shot her an odd look, then slowly said, “I think you’re wrong. I’ve witnessed perfection on more than one occasion.”
“Such as?”
He didn’t answer. Rather he just smiled and gave her a look that heated her blood.
“Stop that,” she snapped.
“What?” he asked, assuming an air of innocence that didn’t fool Shey for a moment.
His expression was soft and oh-so-kissable. And the smile that played on the edge of his lips only served to remind her of how good they’d felt pressed against hers.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she said.
“You’ll have to be more specific.”
“Oh, why don’t you go call your goon squad? I—”
Shey didn’t get to finish her sentence. A sudden “yoo-hoo,” interrupted her. She looked up and groaned.
“Problem?” Tanner asked.
“Not really, but just brace yourself.”
“Shey, we thought that was you,” two older women said in unison as they approached.
“You’re right, it was,” Shey said, plastering a smile on her face when all she wanted to do was run…run fast for the hills.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your man?” Mabel, Perry Square’s acupuncturist asked.
“Yes, where are your manners?” asked Pearly Gates, whose résumé might say beautician, but who was in actuality the Square’s know-it-all.
When Shey, Parker and Cara located their shops on Perry Square, they thought they’d merely found a quaint spot for their businesses. But in reality, they’d found a caring, tight-knit community—and Pearly Gates was at its heart. She was up on everything that happened on the Square, and what she didn’t know, she found out.
Still, everyone loved Pearly and regularly visited her beauty parlor, across the square from Titles and Monarch’s, for her sage advice and good old-fashioned wisdom. Everyone knew she had their best interests in mind.
“Sorry,” Shey said, although she wasn’t sorry about the lack of introductions, but rather that Mabel and Pearly had found her. “Mabel and Pearly, this is Tanner Ericson.”
“Oh, this is him?” Pearly asked. “Parker’s prince?”
“They know who I am?” Tanner asked Shey.
“They know everything,” she whispered.
“You,” Pearly said, her eyes narrowing. “You came to steal Parker away from us. But it won’t work. You see, you want her to be some hothouse lily, a flower that’s cultivated and placed on show. But our Parker’s a daisy, meant to blossom outdoors and free.”
“I’m sure I don’t see how this is any of your business,” Tanner stated.
“Of course it’s not our business,” Pearly said with a laugh. “That’s what makes getting into it so much fun.”
“Shey, what are you doing out with this would-be thief?” Mabel asked.
“I’m not out with him, I’m watching him. There’s a difference.”
“There’s a difference all right. And the difference is that I saw him watching you as we approached,” Mabel announced.
Pearly nodded her agreement. “He was watching you, all right.”
“What do you mean by that?” Shey asked.
“I mean,” Pearly said slowly, as if Shey wasn’t bright enough to pick it up otherwise, “there’s a look in his eyes when he’s watching you.”
“We’ve all seen that look before,” Mabel added. “Lately there’s been an awful lot of th
at sort of look on the Square.”
“But,” Pearly said, “we’re not sure we want a prince who’s supposed to be looking at Parker the way he’s looking at Shey.”
“Pardon me, ladies. I’m sitting right here,” Tanner said.
“What kind of look?” Shey asked, ignoring him.
“Like maybe he’s thinking about kissing you…or maybe he has kissed you.”
“Madam, I insist you give us our privacy,” Tanner, suddenly all princy, declared.
Mabel laughed. “Oh, I should go back and get Josie and the rest of them…they’d love to hear this.”
“They’d?” Shey asked.
“Oh, there’s my date, Elmer, and Josie’s Hoffman. And Libby and Josh are nearby with the kids, and…” Mabel trailed off a moment and said, “Come join us.”
“No,” Shey replied. “Tanner and I were just leaving.”
“No, we weren’t. And I’d love to meet your friends,” he said. “But,” he told Pearly and Mabel, “I’d prefer you didn’t mention I was a prince.”
“We won’t,” Pearly promised.
“Come on, you two.” Mabel led the way.
Shey looked at the two older ladies, and the Cheshire-smiling Tanner.
She was trapped.
“Fine. But I’m not staying long. I’ve got to get home,” she said, trying to lay down the law.
Not that anyone was listening. Tanner was walking with Mabel on one arm and Pearly on the other. There was nothing for Shey to do but scoop up the blanket and follow them.
She had a growing sense that this was not a good move.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Hi, Shey,” rang out from the small group as they approached.
Tanner glanced at the woman at his side, surprised that she seemed uncomfortable to be the focus of everyone’s attention.
“I found Shey hiding out down the way and brought them along,” Pearly announced. “This is her beau, Tanner.”
“He’s not my—” she started to protest, but Pearly just ramrodded on.
“Tanner, you know Mabel, and that’s her date, Elmer. The one over there popping her gum is Josie and her beau, Hoffman. Let’s see, Libby, Josh and their two rugrats, Meg and J.T. And that’s Mac, Mia and their daughters, Katie and Merry. And—”
Pearly’s introductions continued.
