Once Upon a Prince (Silhouette Romance)

by Holly Jacobs

  “More lucky than you know,” Tanner said.

  There was something in his voice that prompted her to say, “Tell me about your parents.”

  “They’re—” He shrugged. “They’re busy. My father’s been instrumental in restructuring our government. Dragging it kicking and screaming into the new millennium. My mother’s always here or there.”

  “And where do you fit in?” she asked.

  “I’m the heir. I have duties and obligations. That’s what my family is about, duty and obligation.”

  “What about love?” she asked softly.

  “Yes,” he said slowly. “I suppose. We’re just not very demonstrative with it. We have a formal relationship.”

  “You sound as if you wished it were different.”

  “That’s why I accepted the idea of me and Parker. I’d seen her family and I knew that’s what I wanted for my children, what she grew up with. The kind of thing you grew up with.”

  “Parker and I couldn’t have had more different childhoods,” Shey assured him.

  “But you both had parents who were fierce in their love.”

  She reached out and held his hand, a gentle touch, and they sat in silence for a while. Two people content to just be together.

  Shey started, “You know, all my mother ever wanted was to have my dad back. I think she missed him until the day she died. I wanted to give her the world, to make her life easier, to show her so many things. I never got the chance.”

  “Don’t you know that you already did that and more? She saw the whole thing, the beauty, the hope, the possibilities every time she looked at you. She saw your father in you, as well. But more important, she saw love…it’s what I see when I look at you. The beauty, the hope, the possibilities and the—”

  Shey was suddenly nervous again. She didn’t want to hear what else he saw. So she interrupted. “Maybe you need glasses. You seem to be seeing an awful lot of funny things.”

  “Don’t be afraid to let me in,” he tried.

  “I’m not afraid of anything,” Shey said.

  “Prove it,” Tanner challenged. “Kiss me.”

  “Kissing you will prove what?” she asked, trying to sound as if kissing him was the last thing she’d ever want to do; all the while, it was all she wanted to do.

  “That you’re not afraid of me.”

  “Afraid? Ha.”

  “So what are you waiting for?”

  An attack of good sense would be the logical answer, but all her sense, good and bad, had seemingly fled. Shey found herself moving back into Tanner’s arms.

  It felt like coming home.

  * * *

  “Tonight changes things—you know that, don’t you?” Tanner asked as Shey got out of the car an hour later.

  “It doesn’t have to,” she said, wanting to believe it. Needing to believe it. “We’re just two people who’ve discovered they have chemistry.”

  “It’s more than that. There’s something bigger between us. It’s been there since the first time I climbed on the back of your motorbike. And being with you has only made it grow bigger.”

  “I’ve got to go in now.”

  “Are you going to invite me in? Maybe you’d best go back to keeping an eye on me. An eye and any other body parts you’d like to share.”

  “You’re exhausting, you know that?”

  “Just trying to wear you down with my winning ways.”

  “Good night, Tanner.”

  “Spoilsport.”

  “I had a good time.” She was surprised to hear herself say the words. But they were the truth. She’d enjoyed herself thoroughly. Being with Tanner. She could get used to it.

  But she’d better not. He was leaving soon. “I’ve got to go.”

  “I might not have done a lot of dating in America, but it seems to me there’s a certain protocol that should be observed.”

  “Protocol?”

  “A good-night kiss.”

  “I think there’s been enough kissing for one night. More than enough.”

  “Fine,” he said and shot her a tragic look. “My first ordinary—”

  She scoffed, but he continued, “—ordinary date and you’re going to ignore custom.”

  “Fine,” she said, trying to sound disgruntled even though she didn’t think she’d quite carried it off. A smile kept twitching on her lips.

  She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

  He just shook his head and tsked. “That’s the best you can do?”

  This time the smile didn’t just twitch, it erupted and Shey gave into temptation and kissed him as though she meant it. “Now, that’s a good-night kiss for the record books,” she said, pleased with the slightly dazed expression the prince now wore.

  “Definitely for the record books,” he murmured. “And I’ll look forward to that other American custom.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, knowing she shouldn’t.

  “A kiss hello tomorrow.”

  “About tomorrow. I think I need the day off.”

  “Perfect. We’ll go—”

  “The day off from you. I need time to think. There seems to be a definite lack of thinking when I’m with you.”

  She expected him to protest, to fight.

  Instead he just said, “Fine. But I’ll be back on Monday and we’re going to settle a few things. While you’re thinking, ask yourself what it is that’s scaring you so badly.”

  “I’m not—”

  He interrupted her protest and simply said, “Good night, Shey.”

  No more talk about kissing. No protests about spending a day apart. Just good-night.

  Shey unlocked her door and stomped into the house. The house that suddenly felt empty.

  Empty. That’s just how she wanted it.

  No more annoying princes tailing her every move, filling her quiet house with a lot of noise.

  She tossed her jacket on the hook and sat on the couch without even bothering to turn a light on.

  Think about what was scaring her?

  Ha.

  She wasn’t afraid of anything.

  And at the top of her list of things she wasn’t afraid of were fiancée-seeking-princes who had no idea of what comprised an ordinary date. There wasn’t an ordinary bone in His Royal Painness’s body.

  As a matter of fact, he was quite extraordinary.

  Even as she thought it, she realized that it had nothing to do with his royalty, and everything to do with the man himself.

  If he were anyone else, Shey might allow herself to have feelings for him.

  No, if he were anyone else, he wouldn’t be Tanner and she wouldn’t care a bit.

  Okay, so if he wasn’t a prince.

  No, that wasn’t right, either. Being a prince was part of who he was. Just like having dark brown eyes—chestnut eyes—was part of him. His sense of humor. The way he touched her, as if she were something beautiful and precious.

  All the little pieces that in and of themselves might not be exceptional, came together to make a man she could—

  The phone rang.

  Saved by the bell.

  She couldn’t afford admission of—well, anything regarding Tanner.

  “Hello?” she asked. Hoping it was Parker or Cara. They could be counted on to talk a long time and distract her from her thoughts.

  “Is Tanner there?” a male voice asked.

  It didn’t sound like one of his guards. After an evening of poker with them, she thought she’d recognize Emil, Peter or Tonio.

  “Who’s calling, please?” she asked. She wasn’t going to give information about Tanner out to just anyone.

  “His father. He’s not answering his mobile and his men said that I should try this number. That he’s been spending a lot of time here.”

  “I wouldn’t say a lot. And he’s not here now. You can probably catch him in a few minutes at the hotel.”

  She thought Tanner’s father would say all right and hang up. Instead he said, “Do you min
d if I ask who you are and what you are to my son?”

  “I’m Shey Carlson. A friend of Parker’s. And I guess you could say I’m a friend of your son’s, as well.”

  “So you’re helping match them up?”

  “No, I wouldn’t say that.”

  “What would you say?”

  “I’d say the idea of arranging a marriage is archaic. That both Parker and Tanner deserve more than an appropriate union. They deserve love.”

  “Love needs some common ground, a foundation. That’s what Parker’s parents and I were hoping they’d find. A common background, something to build a relationship on.” He paused a moment and added, “I want my son to be happy.”

  “I do, too. I just don’t think it’s going to happen between him and Parker.”

  “But his men said he went out on a romantic date.”

  “I don’t know about romantic,” she said, thinking about bowling shoes. “And I wouldn’t put much stock in the date. But I’m afraid your son’s coming home soon without a fiancée. And even though you didn’t ask, let me say he deserves love. Both in a marriage and from his parents.”

  “I love my son.”

  “Maybe it’s time you mentioned that to him,” she said softly. “Goodbye, Your Highness.”

  And she hung up.

  Hung up on a king. And shouldn’t she have called him Your Majesty? She should probably learn more royal protocol. Not that it mattered.

  Next on her list was breaking up with a prince. Sure, they weren’t really together, but she had to make it clear that they couldn’t see each other anymore. Because there was no way his father, much less his kingdom, would want someone like Shey as their princess.

  Knowing what she had to do didn’t mean she wanted to do it, because Shey was beginning to suspect that breaking things off with Tanner would break her heart.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Men…” Parker growled the next afternoon.

  They closed the shops early on Sundays and the three of them had gathered around a cluster of couches in Cara’s bookstore.

  This was what Shey needed…to reconnect with her friends. She was sure they’d help her regain her sanity and was heartened when Parker started the conversation with the proper amount of frustration fused into just that one word.

  “Men,” Parker said again.

  “Yeah, men,” Shey agreed.

  Actually, man. Tanner.

  She must have been off her rocker to think she could just date a prince…especially this prince. He’d come to Erie looking for a fiancée, a significant other. And now that Parker was out of the running he thought Shey would step up?

  She didn’t know much, but she was absolutely sure she wasn’t a second-string kind of girlfriend, any more than she was a dating-a-prince sort of girl.

  “Men…” Cara sighed, all breathy and dreamy.

  Shey glared at her. That was not the proper tone for the conversation.

  Derision. Annoyance. But she wasn’t in the mood for romantic notions. Today, she didn’t want to hear anything nice about the male species.

  Cara didn’t seem intimidated by Shey’s best glare. “Hey, just because you two have men problems, doen’t mean I do. I’m still looking for my Mr. Right.”

  “So am I,” Shey assured her.

  Because there was no way His Royal Kiss Me-Ness was it. She wanted a man who liked Harleys.

  Although Tanner did seem to enjoy her bike.

  Okay, so she wanted a man who enjoyed the simple pleasures.

  Remembering Tanner’s enthusiasm on the boat, at the concert and even bowling—it made her feel decidedly uncomfortable, because Tanner certainly wasn’t the man she wanted.

  “Me, too,” Parker said.

  “Come on,” Cara said with a lot more force than Cara generally used. “You two may be having problems, but believe me, you’re definitely off the market. Love’s not always easy.”

  “Love?” Parker asked, her voice much higher than normal.

  “Yes, love,” Cara assured her. “You and Shey’ve got it bad.”

  “Ha,” Parker said.

  Shey couldn’t agree more. “Yeah, ha.”

  In love with Tanner?

  She’d be a fool.

  Cara continued on her must-be-love speech even after Shelly joined them. Shey was pretty sure she kept up her end of the conversation, but she couldn’t be sure. Her brain was sort of trying to wrap itself around her feelings for Tanner.

  He frustrated the hell out of her.

  He made her laugh.

  He was annoyingly persistent.

  Gorgeous as all get-out.

  She’d been surprised to discover she liked him. But something more than that?

  She wasn’t that foolish.

  Loving a prince would be absurd.

  She just wasn’t going to do it. The warm melty feeling she got whenever he kissed her, whenever she was with him, well, she’d simply ignore it.

  Shey Carlson was not going to fall in love with a prince.

  Shey couldn’t stand any more love-talk and made her escape. For the first time ever, talking to her friends hadn’t comforted her.

  As a matter of fact, Cara’s whole love-and-you’re-off-the-market speech had left her feeling more uneasy than ever.

  She wasn’t quite sure what to do with herself.

  She didn’t want to go home.

  Didn’t want to go back into the shops.

  She wanted to find Tanner, to be with him. Instead, she practically bumped into Peter.

  “Did Tanner send you to spy on me?” she asked. Not sure whether she preferred a yes or no answer.

  “No.”

  Her heart did a little dip. She must have been hoping for the yes, which didn’t make sense. She’d told Tanner to give her a day off and he had.

  She should be pleased.

  The fact that she wasn’t didn’t make sense.

  But then nothing about her feelings for Tanner made sense.

  “Okay.” She started walking back down the path through the park again.

  “Hey,” Peter said, causing her to stop and turn back around. “Is Shelly still in there?”

  “Yes.”

  He grinned. “Well, then, okay.”

  “Why don’t you just go in and get her?”

  “She told me to give her some space.” He sounded as morose as Shey felt.

  “And you think stalking her qualifies?” she asked.

  “I was waiting for her to get off work, hoping she’d had enough space already.”

  She thought of Cara’s little speech and decided maybe her friend hadn’t been entirely wrong. There was something brewing between Peter and Shelly.

  “Man, you’ve got it bad,” she murmured.

  “Sort of the pot calling the cat black, isn’t it?”

  “Kettle,” Shey replied, even though she knew what he meant.

  “What?” Peter asked.

  “The saying is, the pot calling the kettle black.”

  “Oh.” He shrugged. “Either way, I’ve been watching you and Tanner, and I think I’m not the only one developing feelings.”

  “But that’s the point. Nothing could ever develop between Tanner and me.”

  “I don’t know if we have a lot of say in matters of the heart.” He sounded remarkably like romance-on-the-brain Cara.

  “I gotta go,” Shey said. She started down the path again without a backward glance.

  Love on the brains.

  Everyone she met seemed to have it. Even Parker seemed all sighy over her private investigator.

  Well, enough was enough.

  Shey refused to get all mush-for-brains over Tanner. She was going to ignore whatever it was she was feeling and simply wait for him to leave. Encourage him to leave, even.

  After all, he’d have to leave soon. Wouldn’t he?

  * * *

  Tanner sat on a bench at the tip of the dock. A giant statue of a dolphin sat to his right. He wondered why the city cho
se something that didn’t live in a freshwater lake for a statue.

  It was an inane thing to think about, but it was easier to ponder dolphins than to wonder about Shey Carlson.

  She was an enigma. Every time he thought he’d figured her out, she presented a new piece of the puzzle…a piece he hadn’t even realized was missing until he found it.

  Yesterday’s date had been the right way to approach her. Traditional wooing would never work with Shey. But bowling…it was brilliant, if he did say so himself.

  Now he had to think of something equally as original for tomorrow night. He needed something special because he had to talk to her about how he felt.

  When he’d met her, he’d found Shey frustrating but entertaining. It didn’t take long for the entertaining to grow, and a healthy dose of respect to move in. Oh, she still frustrated him, but on a totally man-falling-for-a-woman level.

  He wasn’t falling any longer. And he knew the exact minute he’d stopped.

  When she’d made those sandwiches for the men. He’d stopped falling and hit the hard realization that he loved her.

  He’d come to Erie to woo Parker, a princess, someone who would be the perfect wife for him.

  Instead he’d found Shey. Brash, bold and independent. And he’d fallen. But she was stubborn. And convincing her that they belonged together might take some work.

  Okay, no might about it. Loving Shey was easy. Convincing her that they belonged together would be a bit harder.

  He needed to find something perfect, some perfect date where he could lay out his case.

  Looking out along the bay’s shoreline, he could just make out the tip of the amphitheater’s tent.

  And he remembered what Shey had said. He flipped out his cell phone. “Tonio, I need you to make a few calls for me…”

  * * *

  Shey tried to walk off some of her nervous energy. She loved her downtown neighborhood. It was a brisk walk over to the bay. Watching the water never failed to soothe her, and she really needed soothing today.

  She walked down State Street, past the hospital and down the hill. The Bicentennial Tower stood, tall and proud at the foot of the dock. Cars filled the spaces, people milled about, some fishing, some walking, and several sitting at the outdoor tables of the restaurants.