by Holly Jacobs
Tanner had been trained since birth to remember people and their names, but he was well and truly lost before she said, “And I think that’s it for tonight. Normally Joe and Louisa would be here with their Aaron, but their newest addition, Ella, is a bit too young for outdoor concerts.”
“Nice to meet you all,” he said, sinking onto the blanket Shey had spread out.
“Now, about you and Shey—” the gray-haired woman started.
“Sorry, Pearly, but it looks as if the band’s returning,” Shey said, giving Tanner a look that said, “Don’t say a word.”
“Wait a minute,” Josie blurted. “I recognize his name. Isn’t Parker’s fiancé-wannabe named Tanner?”
“And now he’s dating Shey?” Hoffman asked, shooting Tanner a look that didn’t bode well for his physical well-being.
“No, he’s not Parker’s anything,” Shey assured the big-haired, bubble-blowing manicurist and her boyfriend.
“As to my relationship with Parker, that’s a matter that would require a longer answer than I think we have time for,” Tanner said in his most diplomatic tone. “But suffice to say, I don’t feel that whatever Parker and I have will place any undue strain on my relationship with Shey.”
Pearly gave him a hard look and then uttered a little harrumph. “I once knew a man who thought he could string two women along.”
“What happened to him?” Tanner asked, surprised when the rest of the group groaned.
“Now he’s done it,” Mabel said to no one in particular.
“Done what?” Tanner asked Shey.
“Started her on a story.” She shook her head. “You just couldn’t be quiet, could you?”
“Well,” Pearly continued, unfazed by the groaning and grumbling, “this man, Burkle Martellini, he was married to the banker’s daughter, Ann. He worked in sales and was gone about half the week. Things seemed to go on well enough until we had a big county fair and Burkle took Ann. While they were there they bumped into…his other wife, Selina, from the next town over. Seems he was in sales—this Selina’s father owned a brokerage firm. But the only traveling he did was about twenty-five miles down the road to this Selina’s bed.”
“What happened when the two women met?” Tanner asked.
“They had him arrested for bigamy, split his considerable bankroll and found they liked each other far more than they liked Burkle. Last time I was home they were still livin’ together.” Pearly paused. “And Burkle, he was sent upstate for a year. That’s what happens to men who string women along—they end up in jail with a bunkmate named Bubba.”
“I swear that in my country bigamy is frowned upon. As I said, my relationship—”
Shey elbowed him hard and said, “We don’t have a relationship—with or without Parker in the picture.”
Josie said, “Shh, the band’s starting.”
Tanner sank back on the blanket, ignored the dirty looks Shey kept sending in his direction, and concentrated on the music.
The setting was perfect. A warm breeze rolled off the bay, the sun was dipping behind the peninsula and Shey was sitting next to him.
Of course, she was sitting at the far end of the blanket, one more hitch over and she’d be on the grass. But hey, she was still sharing his blanket, and after the concert they’d be sharing her bike.
Tanner had decided that motorcycles were the premier form of transportation because they forced close proximity. Maybe he should amend that to motorcycles with Shey were the way to travel.
He inched a bit closer to her.
She glared at him.
So he moved even closer.
“Cut that out,” she whispered.
“What?” he asked as innocently as he could manage.
She didn’t reply, just gave him an evil-eyed look and watched the stage.
Just to egg her on, he put his hand over hers, sandwiching it between his palm and the blanket.
She tried to pull it away but he didn’t release it.
“Let me go,” she muttered.
“I’d prefer not to.”
“It doesn’t matter what you prefer. I’m not some serf in your kingdom who has to bow to your every whim and fantasy.”
“Oh, you’ve been wondering about my fantasies, have you?” he asked. “If you like, I can fill you in.”
“I don’t like. You can just keep your fantasies and your hands to yourself.”
Pearly leaned toward them. “You know what they say about love and war…it’s a very thin line that divides the two.”
* * *
An hour later, as the band bade their goodbyes to the audience, Shey made her farewells to everyone and took off at a brisk pace toward her bike.
She didn’t look behind her to see if His Royal Toad was following. She hoped she’d lost him in the crowd, though she doubted she could be that lucky.
“Wait up,” His Royal Painness called.
She didn’t even break her stride.
“Are you mad at me?” Tanner asked, catching up to her.
“You enjoyed that,” she accused.
The rat had liked letting everyone think there was something between them, rather than explain that the only reason she was around him was to save Parker from his attentions.
“Of course I did. Anyone in their right mind would enjoy good music in a lovely location, surrounded by fine people.”
“You don’t know any of them well enough to know if they’re fine or not. And you’re not going to be sticking around long enough to know them better. Don’t you have a country to run or something?”
“Why are you so angry? It was nice to meet your friends. They were all delightful.”
She didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say.
The Perry Square crowd was delightful, but she didn’t want Tanner to think that. She just wanted him to leave.
“Come on, so they thought we were a couple,” he said. “It didn’t hurt anyone.”
“This is all some big joke to you, isn’t it? Well, it’s my life we’re talking about. And I don’t enjoy someone coming in mocking it.”
“Mocking it?” he asked, looking truly puzzled.
“Your friends were delightful. I know you were comparing them to the people you associate with. A free concert outside doesn’t begin to compare with the opera or some orchestra.”
Tanner’s puzzlement gave way to indignation. “So, now in addition to everything else, you’re a mind reader and know what I’m thinking?”
Shey didn’t have anything to say to that. If it were anyone else, she’d have apologized, but she should be happy Tanner was ticked off. Maybe he’d leave.
Just in case it might work, she said, “Go away.”
“So tell me, oh Madam Soothsayer,” he said, not going anywhere. “What am I thinking right now?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
“I think you do know, and I think you do care. I think you care more than you want to admit.”
Suddenly, she did know what he was thinking. Nothing psychic about it. She could see it in his eyes.
“Tanner,” she said, hoping his name would sound like a warning, but afraid it was too soft to be taken as such.
Soft wasn’t normally in her nature, but looking at him moving closer, she felt sort of melted, like an ice-cream cone in the afternoon sun.
“I don’t think…” she started to say, but stopped because she couldn’t think of what she didn’t think. All she could seem to focus on was Tanner moving closer, as if in slow motion.
Closer.
Closer.
He paused for half a second before he kissed her.
She could have moved away, could have avoided his lips touching hers, but she didn’t.
For a minute, she simply forgot everything except that he was a man and she was a woman, that this was what they were born to do. They were meant to stand toe to toe, wrap their arms around each other and kiss.
Destiny.
Their lips touched,
a soft introduction. But it didn’t take long for introduction to give way to knowing. Tanner knew what she wanted…no, what she needed.
There was no leader, but they moved as if they were of one mind, perfectly matching each other, move for move. Deepening the kiss. Shey could feel it flood her whole system. A kiss that started on her lips and spread to her toes.
Maybe that’s where the term kissed her socks off came from, she thought.
Thought.
Thinking.
Quickly her brain kicked back into gear and she realized she was standing in a parking lot kissing Tanner, surrounded by people. Strangers. Kissing a prince. Kissing a future king.
Kissing a man who thought he was engaged to her best friend.
She felt sick.
“I have to go,” she sputtered.
“Shey, we need to talk about this.”
“No, you need to call your men and have them give you a ride.”
“You’re going to just leave me here?” he asked.
“Yes. You’re a big boy.”
She got on her motorcycle. She’d never felt so relieved as she did when it roared to life.
“Goodbye, Tanner. I hope you have enough sense to realize there’s nothing for you here in Erie. No fiancée, nothing. Go home.”
* * *
Tanner watched Shey speed out of the parking lot. Her final words stung.
No fiancée.
He’d totally forgotten about Parker—again.
He realized that somewhere along the line he’d finally admitted to himself she was no fiancée, that Parker would never be his fiancée.
After Stephana, he’d assumed that was it for him, the end. As far as looking for love went, women only saw his crown. They fell for his position, his title. None of them, including Stephana, had ever seen him. And if he couldn’t have love, he’d decided to choose a woman logically.
Parker seemed the perfect choice.
But since he’d met Shey—since he’d kissed her—he knew that logic didn’t have a place when it came to desire.
He’d felt as much physical attraction to Parker as a man might feel for a sister. But Shey? She rocked him to his very core.
No, marrying logically, for practical reasons, would never work. At least not for him. And apparently not for Parker. She’d been smart enough to realize that before he had.
Tanner wanted more in a wife than someone who understood the demands of his life and his title. He wanted something more than just a good mother for his future children.
He wanted a woman who didn’t care about his money or his title. A woman who wasn’t intimidated by him and could hold her own in any situation.
He added to his mental list as he walked back toward his hotel.
A woman who had red, spiky hair.
A woman who knew how to laugh, knew how to enjoy life.
A woman who wasn’t afraid of working for what she wanted.
A woman who drove a Harley and had a tattoo.
The moment they’d kissed, Shey Carlson had sealed her own fate.
Tanner knew with immediate clarity that he wanted her. He’d wanted things in the past that hadn’t come to fruition, but this time he understood that wanting Shey was soon becoming something more. It was becoming a need. A physical and emotional pull that he couldn’t deny.
Even need didn’t seem an adequate definition.
He wasn’t sure he could accurately describe how he felt, but he did want to explore his feelings for Shey.
In order to do that, he’d have to talk to Parker, to make sure that their engagement—one she’d never acknowledged—was well and truly not viable.
As soon as he was officially a free man, he was going after Shey.
She might put up a fight, actually, he was sure there was no might about it. Shey would fight him tooth and nail, but in the end he’d win her over.
He was confident of it.
* * *
“Parker?” Shey felt a surge of relief as her friend walked into Monarch’s the next day looking none the worse for wear. The relief quickly gave way to guilt.
She’d kissed Parker’s fiancé.
Okay, so Parker didn’t think of herself as Tanner’s intended. She’d done her best to avoid him. But still, Shey had kissed Tanner. A man definitely out of her league.
Cara walked through the doorway that connected the two stores. “Parker, where have you been?”
Parker looked a bit dazed.
“Parker?” Shey prompted.
“Tanner’s been going crazy,” Cara said. “His men have been all over the city looking for you.”
Parker shrugged. “I don’t have to answer to Tanner.”
“We’ve been worried, as well,” Cara said softly.
That seemed to shake Parker from her stupor. “I’m sorry I worried you two.”
“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Shey said.
She gave Parker a small slug on the shoulder, then stuffed her hands into her pockets. She never knew how to handle emotional scenes.
“Do you have a way to reach Tanner?” Parker asked her out of the blue.
Parker wanted to get in touch with Tanner? What could that mean?
Shey nodded slowly. “I have his cell number.”
“Great,” Parker said, a smile of relief on her face. “Would you call him and tell him to meet me at my place at eleven. It’s time we finished this.”
Shey didn’t want to talk to Tanner, but if Parker truly did set him straight, he’d leave Erie.
Her stomach twisted at the thought of him going.
The feeling had to be relief, because getting rid of Tanner Ericson was her goal.
“What are you doing between now and eleven?” she asked.
“I’m going to take a shower, get some coffee, and then call my father. Enough is enough,” she said. “I’m done hiding, done running. I won’t apologize for wanting to live life on my own terms, in my own way. Tanner doesn’t have a fiancée. He’s just going to have to face it. And my father? He can keep the money, keep my title. All I want is for him to love me for who I am. If he can’t—”
“If he can’t,” Cara said, “then it’s his loss. But I don’t think you have to worry. Your father loves you. You love him. The two of you will find a way to work it out.”
“Yeah.” Shey felt sort of emotional and gave Parker another thump on the shoulder for good measure. “Good for you. I wondered how long it would take you to stop running away.”
“Exactly this long, I guess,” Parker said. “Because I’m done.”
“Can we help?” Cara asked.
“No. I’ve got it under control. But thanks for asking. You both know how much you mean to me, right?” Parker looked as if she might cry.
Shey hoped she wouldn’t. She never knew what to do when her friends were upset. She wasn’t much at comforting. She knew her back-thumping didn’t always have the desired soothing effect she wanted.
“And you mean just as much to us,” Cara said.
“Yeah,” she said, happy Cara had said it and all she had to do was agree.
“Good. You can get by without me at the store today?”
“We’ve got it under control,” Shey assured her. “Shelly’s coming back in. I think she’s going to work out to be a real asset.”
“I’m glad you didn’t mind us hiring her without your approval,” Parker said.
“I trust you two, you know that. Now get out of here and I’ll call Tanner for you.”
“Thanks again, Shey,” Parker whispered, then walked out.
Cara hurried back over to the bookstore to shelve books before opening, and Shey stared at the phone.
She’d promised to call Tanner.
Why on earth hadn’t she just given Parker the number and let her call him herself?
Because she was crazy, that’s why.
She punched the number and breathed a sigh of relief when one of his men answered instead of Tanner. She was pretty sure it was
Emil.
“Listen, tell the prince to meet Parker at her house at eleven.”
“Who is calling?” he asked.
“Shey.”
“Tanner said to wake him immediately if you called. He wants to talk to you.”
“Forget it. I only called to deliver the message.”
“But—” he started.
Shey hung up before he could continue his protest. The last man on earth she wanted to talk to was Tanner Ericson.
The phone rang, and her heart gave a weird little double beat. She squashed it down and tried to rake up a healthy dose of agitation as she picked up the receiver.
She lucked out. It wasn’t Tanner. It was a very upset Jace O’Donnell, looking for Parker.
“…She didn’t have a car here, didn’t stick around for Belgian waffles,” he told her.
Shey wasn’t sure why making waffles for Parker was so important to Jace, but she wasn’t going to tell him where her friend was. So she hedged, sure that if Parker wanted Jace to know where she was, he’d know. But she heard the pain in his voice and with a sudden insight realized that this wasn’t about breakfast, or even that Jace O’Donnell looked at protecting Parker—the princess—as a job.
It was about the fact that Jace had feelings for Parker.
Parker and a private investigator? It made more sense than Parker and a prince. But Jace couldn’t seem to get beyond Parker’s princessness.
Shey could sense his conflict. He was worried he didn’t have anything to offer Parker, and didn’t seem to get that Parker didn’t want diamonds and tiaras. The princess didn’t want a Prince Charming to sweep her away.
Parker just wanted to be loved for herself.
Shey gently reminded Jace that her friend “…might have to play princess and snack on caviar and champagne on occasion, but Parker’s a complete waffle girl. If you can’t see that, then you shouldn’t be making her any breakfasts.”
There, she thought as she hung up, that had been subtle. She wondered if what she’d said got through to him?
It kept buzzing around in her mind. If a princess could have a private detective, could a regular woman have a chance with a prince?
No. Jace and Parker had far more in common than Shey and Tanner ever could. Because, although Shey might have enjoyed kissing Tanner, the truth was, she was a waffle kind of girl herself, and he was definitely all caviar. There was no middle ground when differences were that great.
