Peasants and Kings

by Emma Slate

  I woke up to sunlight and the scent of ocean mist from an open window in the cabin. My head was foggy from the medicine I’d taken the night before as well as the time change, but I didn’t detect any sea sickness.

  Sitting up, I nestled myself against the pillows at my back and dragged the covers up to my chest. Hadrian had put me to bed naked, and I’d woken up that way. His side of the bed was empty, and I wondered how long he’d been awake.

  Embarrassment washed through my cheeks when I remembered the previous evening. Our dinner had been a series of questions that was clearly the beginning of something intimate. Hadrian’s assessment of me, and the fact that he was so in tune with me, made me wary. He’d used our time in the shower to remain close while he continued his attempts to battle through my armor.

  The more I endeavored to dance out of his verbal embrace, the more he was determined to twirl me back into his arms.

  Was I just a challenge to him? Though I’d admitted easily our physical attraction and he appreciated that level of honesty, he still demanded more.

  How was I supposed to keep my wits about me when the man had taken care of me after I’d gotten seasick?

  I brought a pillow to my face and moaned into it, thinking about Hadrian seeing me when I hadn’t been at my best.

  Some courtesan I turned out to be.

  His words came back to plague me; he’d said numerous times that I didn’t have what it took to be a Rex girl.

  I wasn’t sure he was wrong.

  What would my life look like in six months when my contract with Hadrian was over? I would be a million dollars richer, but I’d have to go back to work at The Rex for at least a year to fulfill my end of the bargain for a new identity. Would Gen count my time with Hadrian? Or was this all off the books and something entirely different?

  Not wanting to drown in thoughts of the future, I turned my attention to the present.

  There wasn’t a clock in the bedroom, and I wondered about the time. Though the sun was aloft, I had no idea the true hour. All I knew was that I hadn’t gotten to fully enjoy my lobster from the previous evening, and I was hungry.

  I flung off the covers and climbed out of bed, shivering in the cool air. A pair of blue silk pajamas had been left on the chair by the bed and I grabbed them and threw them on. Slippers lined with soft fleecy wool were at the foot of the bed.

  I’d gone to sleep with a wet head and when I looked in the bathroom mirror, I nearly gasped. I was a hot mess. I brushed my teeth and tried to get my appearance under control and then went in search of food and Hadrian.

  I went back upstairs to the salon and found the table laden with fresh fruit, chocolate croissants, and yogurt. Three glass canisters full of different fruit juices rested on a bar at the center of the room toward the bow.

  I grabbed a chocolate croissant and wondered about coffee when one of the crew members, dressed in khaki trousers and a white button down, entered the dining room from below. His face was angular; he was young and muscular, and his dark hair was combed off his forehead.

  “Good morning, Ms. Smith,” he greeted, his Scottish accent thick. He set a tray of lox down on the table.

  “Er, good morning,” I greeted, feeling awkward that I was still in my pajamas.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked. “American coffee? Espresso? Something else you may enjoy?”

  “I’d love a cappuccino,” I said. “Please.”

  He bowed slightly which had me frowning in confusion.

  “Mr. Rhys is on deck. You’re welcome to join him if you like. I’ll bring you your cappuccino.”

  “Thank you, ah…”

  “Angus, ma’am,” he supplied.

  “Thank you, Angus.”

  I saw Hadrian through the large sliding glass door, sitting at a table on deck, his head bent over his plate as he took a bite. He was dressed in a thick wool charcoal gray sweater and a pair of dark trousers.

  Before venturing out to meet him, I took a moment to study the view of the ocean. Waves crashed against the beach with craggy mountains in the distance.

  When I opened the door to the deck, Hadrian turned his head and smiled. “How are you feeling? Any trace of seasickness?”

  “None,” I said with a shy smile and a shiver, feeling my nipples pebble.

  I really should’ve taken the time to find undergarments before coming on deck, I realized.

  “Come here.” He gestured to the other chair next to him. “There’s a heating lamp to keep you warm.”

  “Maybe I should change,” I said.

  “Don’t bother. You won’t even notice the bite to the air. I promise.”

  Nibbling my lip, I padded over to the seat next to Hadrian and sat down. Apparently, I wasn’t close enough because he grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled me toward him.

  “Good morning,” he said, brushing his lips against mine in a quick greeting before sitting back. He’d barely touched me, and I was already breathless.

  “Is it? Morning?” I asked. “Not afternoon? There wasn’t a clock in the bedroom.”

  The doors to the deck slid open and Angus appeared with my cappuccino in hand.

  “Thank you, Angus,” I said with a genuine smile.

  “Can I get you anything else, Ms. Smith?”

  “No. I’m okay, thank you.” I took a bite of the chocolate croissant.

  “Bring her a crab omelet and a side of fruit,” Hadrian commanded.

  “Yes, sir.” Angus retreated before I could tell him not to bother.

  I raised an eyebrow at Hadrian instead. “I don’t usually eat a heavy breakfast.”

  “Humor me.”

  “You’re in a really good mood.”

  “I slept for six hours last night,” he said. “That never happens.”

  I took a moment to study him. The shadows under his eyes did look less pronounced and my heart kicked up with emotion when I thought that maybe, he’d slept well because I’d been in bed next to him.

  “You sleep like a corpse,” he said. “Did you know that?”

  I chuckled. “I did know that.”

  “Because a boyfriend told you?”

  “Boyfriend?” I looked at him in confusion. “No. I’ve been that way since I was a kid.”

  “How many men have you been with, Eden?”

  “Jesus, Hadrian. Can’t I have at least a cup of coffee first?” I sighed. “Just when I thought we could get through a meal without an interrogation.”

  “It was a simple question.”

  “One that has no bearing on us,” I pointed out. “I have a sexual past. You have a sexual past. Let’s leave it there. In the past.”

  “You’re not curious about the women I’ve been with?”

  “Not really, no.”

  “Why not?” he demanded.

  “Because it doesn’t matter.”

  “I’m insanely jealous,” he clipped.

  I looked at him while I took a tentative sip of my cappuccino. “Why?”

  “I hate the idea of any man before me bringing you pleasure.”

  Angus took that moment to return with my plate of food. “May I bring you anything else, Ms. Smith?”

  “No, this looks great. Thanks, Angus.” I shot him a smile of gratitude and he beamed before leaving.

  “Stop smiling at my staff,” Hadrian groused.

  “I was being polite.”

  He shook his head and glared at the sea.

  “You’re a mysterious billionaire who can have any woman he wants. Why do you care so much about my past? You’re so Victorian, Hadrian,” I baited, picking up my fork.

  “How am I Victorian?” Hadrian demanded, a bite in his tone.

  “You expect me not to have had lovers, yet you were completely willing to be a one-night stand.”

  “I’m possessive.”

  “So I’ve noticed,” I said dryly.

  He examined me. “You’re different this morning.”

  “How so?”

>   “Last night you ran when you didn’t like the direction our conversation was going. Now you’re facing me head on. Why?”

  “I have my own pride, Hadrian,” I said softly. “Everyone wants to be wanted. I knew you were possessive when I said yes to your contract.” I shrugged. “And I can’t change my past. I can’t rewrite it to make you feel better.”

  “Just tell me how many men you’ve been with.”

  “Why, so you can torture yourself with the knowledge? One or one hundred, it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t a virgin when we slept together.”

  “I wish you had been,” he said, brogue thick and sensual. “I wish there had been no one before me so that you knew nothing except me. I wish I could’ve been the one to worship you first.”

  My hand reached out to gently clasp the back of Hadrian’s neck, my thumb stroking his jaw, forcing his gaze to mine. I leaned toward him and settled my lips on his.

  I was unable to stop my body’s reaction to him.

  Hadrian’s hands reached out and grasped my hips, all but hauling me onto his lap. He became the aggressor.

  I knew what it was like to want to change the past, but the past was already written. It could not be stricken from the book of who we were any more than a thread could be pulled on an old sweater without destroying what it was.

  We could only look to the present.

  “Hadrian,” I whispered against his mouth.

  “I told you I wanted every part of you,” he growled against my lips.

  “You can’t have something that never belonged to you,” I said, pulling away, just enough so that I could rest my head on his shoulder, in the crook of his neck.

  Lust coiled inside of me and raged in my blood, and I chose to believe that was the reason I wanted to offer him something truthful, a small measure of comfort.

  “It doesn’t matter who’s been before you. None of them compare to you. Okay?” I lifted my head to look into his turbulent eyes.

  “Okay,” he said, his voice whisper-soft.

  Shivering, I tried to climb off his lap, but he wouldn’t let me. So I ate my breakfast from the confines of his embrace, wondering what the hell I’d gotten myself into.

  Hadrian was silent, content to hold me and every now and again brush the hair off my shoulder or steal a hand across my back.

  When I was finished, I said, “I’m just now realizing we’re not moving.”

  “I had them drop anchor in the middle of the night.”

  “Why? I thought you wanted to get home.”

  “I do, but I also wanted you to have a view of the island during breakfast,” he said. “The truth is, we could have been home in a couple of hours at top speed, but I had the captain take his time overnight so we’d be here this morning.”

  I couldn’t stop the smile from blooming across my face. “Are you trying to seduce me?”

  “No trying about it,” he said, humor tingeing his own lips. “I am actively seducing you. I’m Hadrian Rhys.”

  After another cappuccino, Hadrian and I returned to the master cabin and the yacht began to move again. I got dressed for the day and put on some makeup, despite the occasional interference of Hadrian’s wandering hands. While I was pulling on a pair of dark jeans and a blue sweater, I heard a bell sound over an intercom system.

  I looked at Hadrian.

  He grinned back at me. “We’re home.”

  I slid back into my boots since we were about to leave the yacht and let Hadrian escort me to the deck. The yacht was docked at a private pier and I had an expansive view of the island. Sunlight highlighted the gray, craggy mountains that seemed to loom over the entire beach.

  On the paved road a few feet from the pier was the hottest car I’d ever seen.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed.

  “The view?” he asked in amusement.

  “No.” I dropped his hand and ran toward the vintage muscle car. “You own a mint condition ’67 Shelby Cobra convertible with a blue and white racing stripe paint job?”

  “This? This is what turns your head?” Hadrian asked with a laugh, following me at a leisurely pace. “Not the jet, not the yacht? This car?”

  “I know you’re rich, Hadrian,” I said with a look at him, “but now I know you also have style.” My hand glided up the hood of the convertible. “What do I have to do to get you to let me drive it?”

  “I have a few ideas,” he quipped. “I’ll drive us to my home so you can enjoy the view.”

  “But you will let me drive this car, right?”

  “I’ll let you drive it, yes,” he promised.

  I squealed in excitement, which made Hadrian raise his brows. He walked around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for me.

  Hadrian then went to his side and tucked his large body into the muscle car.

  “The car was just sitting, waiting for you,” I said. “Isn’t that a bit…”

  “Bit what?”

  “You left it out for anyone to steal.”

  “No one would’ve stolen it,” he assured me.

  “How do you know?” I pressed.

  He turned the key, and as the engine roared to life he said, “Because I own the island, Eden. Now buckle up.”

  I did as he said, clipping into a four-point harness in the racing seat. As soon as he saw that I was buckled in, he depressed the clutch, put the car into first gear, and then stepped on the gas.

  “You own the whole island?” I yelled over the thunder of the straight pipes as the wind began to pick up and kick my hair around.

  “Actually, I own this island, and the four neighboring ones.”

  I started to laugh uncontrollably.

  He glanced at me in confusion and then focused back on the road. “What’s so funny?”

  Shaking my head, I tried to get my hilarity under control. “You’ve done it, Hadrian. You’ve actually impressed me.”

  He let out his own booming laugh as we ripped around a curve. “Finally.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  We drove in companionable silence, the humor lingering between us as the sounds of the car’s engine filled our ears.

  Hadrian was so fantastically wealthy. His money transformed desires into existence. Desires most people would never experience, and because of chance and sheer circumstance, I was with a man who tied me into knots of lust, a man who was possessive and caring, a man who had swept me away from my former life.

  But I couldn’t forget what I was—a Rex girl.

  His wealth reminded me that there was a clear divide between us. No matter how much I enjoyed his company and banter, no matter how much I longed to stay in bed with him and watch the sun set from the embrace of his arms, I knew the truth.

  Every time I forgot that I was a courtesan, something happened to remind me that I was.

  Cool raindrops began to fall around me. Hadrian stopped the car quickly and raised the top of the convertible and locked it into place. We rolled up our windows and then continued on through the light rain. After a few minutes of driving, the wall of mountains broke away to reveal the other side of the island. I pressed my nose to the glass when I finally saw Hadrian’s home on the top of a craggy cliff with waves crashing against the rocks below.

  A memory from my childhood pierced my heart so quickly I was helpless to stop it. I hastily wiped my cheeks. The tears had come unbidden.

  “Eden?” he asked as he eased off the throttle.

  “I’m fine,” I muttered.

  The car came to a stop, and he stuck the gear shift in neutral and put on the parking brake. Hadrian reached over and brushed away the tears coating my cheeks.

  I was suddenly embarrassed at the show of emotion. But knowing Hadrian, he wouldn’t continue driving until I told him what I was feeling. Yet he wasn’t pushing me to talk.

  The rain began to pour, beating against the glass. The sound of it resonated in my chest.

  I wanted to tell him. To share it with him.

  “It was the waves
,” I said softly. “Below your home.” I peeked a glance at him.

  His expression didn’t change as he let me go on.

  “When I was a kid, my mother used to read me a story about the last unicorn in the world. The unicorn didn’t know where all the other unicorns had gone, so she went on a journey to find them. They’d been pushed into the sea. Captured by one lonely, unhappy king who thought if he owned all the unicorns in the world, his heart would be happy.” I shook my head wishing I hadn’t said anything at all.

  I hoped he would put the car into gear so we could continue on our way. I hoped he’d forget that the tears spilling down my cheeks were temporary, and that we could return to normal if we just ignored the moment.

  But Hadrian was no ordinary man.

  “King Haggard,” he said finally.

  My gaze flew to his.

  He nodded. “I know the story.”

  “Did someone read it to you, too?” I asked.

  Hadrian paused and then said, “A girl I used to know.”

  His expression was shuttered, like he wanted to lock down every feeling that threatened to bubble to the surface.

  We stared at each other and something like understanding, mingled with compassion, bloomed between us. Neither of us pressed the other to say more, and I was glad for it.

  He finally put the car into gear again, and we headed straight toward the mountain. There was no road in front of us and it looked like we were about to crash. I was about to scream when a door slid up, Bat Cave style. Suddenly we were in a tunnel that opened into a well-lit garage with stark white walls. Six other luxury cars were parked next to each other, all spotless and ready to roll at a moment’s notice.

  I glanced at him and he shrugged like it was nothing.

  He cut the engine but left the key in the ignition. Hadrian unlatched his racing harness and got out of the car. I was slower to move, and Hadrian came around to help me. Once I was standing outside the vehicle, he closed the door. He lifted me up and set me down on the rear quarter panel of the wet muscle car and then pressed up against me.

  “I need to touch you,” he said, voice low.

  I nodded in agreement. Whatever passed between us in the car during the rainstorm, whatever unspoken burdens we’d shared, neither one of us wanted them to linger.