Peasants and Kings

by Emma Slate

  Just when I thought I’d have to flee and find some privacy to let out my feelings, Ingrid changed the subject. “Do you want breakfast?”

  I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’m not really hungry. I think I’ll walk on the beach and clear my head.”

  I went back to the bedroom and dressed quickly in warm clothes and comfortable walking boots. I grabbed my phone from the living room and then waved to Ingrid before heading out.

  The air was cool but calm. Leaves and small twigs littered the sand from the previous night’s storm. My hands quickly chilled and I stuck them in the pockets of my fleece-lined windbreaker as I walked, my thoughts swirling.

  Hadrian is a criminal.

  But somehow, that didn’t matter to me. I was pondering a future with him. He was all I could think about. He was everything I had never even risked dreaming of, and more magnetic than any man I had ever known. My emotions were running rampant, and I knew I couldn’t risk losing a chance to make a life with him.

  As I went over the events of the last few weeks and previous night’s attack, I realized that I couldn’t knowingly keep him in the dark about why I’d needed a new identity. Lying by omission made me feel worse than becoming a Rex girl. He was determined to know everything about me. To keep it from him would sour the purity of our attraction. Every moment I spent in his arms made me feel cherished…loved. He’d shared his gruesome past, and if we had any chance at a real future together, then I had to share mine.

  None of my logic or reasoning mattered.

  I trusted him, and it was time.

  I found a spot in the sand and sat on the beach. A short while passed and I was considering getting up and going inside when I saw Hadrian stalking toward me. He took a seat next to me, moving close enough to touch me, but he didn’t. He brought his legs up to his chest and rested his hands on his knees. His knuckles were raw and enflamed. I wasn’t sure if that had been from the night before, or if it was the result of his interrogation techniques.

  How could someone with such a capacity for violence be so incredibly gentle with me?

  I leaned my head against his shoulder.

  “The intruder is dead,” he stated.

  I lifted my head and turned to look at him. “Dead?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you—”

  “No. I didn’t kill him.” His tone was hard. “He cursed at me in Sicilian and then killed himself.”

  “He what? How?”

  “He had a biologically implanted kill switch. High-level assassins use them to prevent themselves from being tortured for information. His was a very small glass cyanide capsule implanted at the base of his tongue. I was in the middle of…and he bit down hard on his tongue, breaking the capsule and releasing the poison, and that was it. Whoever sent him really didn’t want anyone finding out who he was.” His expression was grim. “If he hadn’t killed himself, I would’ve broken his neck anyway.”

  I fell quiet once again as my mind whirled. What were the chances of a Sicilian hitman appearing on his island after my arrival? I had to tell him everything.

  Hadrian brushed a battle-scarred hand against my cheek. “No one comes into my home to try and kill me and lives.”

  His intensity should’ve scared me, but it didn’t.

  “You have no idea who he is or who sent him, do you?” I asked.

  “No, I don’t. I can find out though. But it’ll take some time.”

  I nodded and then looked away from him to stare out across the ocean.

  He sighed. “You didn’t change your mind about leaving, did you?”

  “No.” I dragged my fingers through the damp sand. “You might change your mind about me staying though…when I tell you the truth about who I am.”

  “Try me,” he said, his tone surprisingly soft and tender, when moments ago he sounded like he wanted to go to war.

  Nodding, I gathered my courage and began to tell him everything.

  I started with my mother’s funeral, my voice ringing out across the empty beach, fighting to be heard over the sound of the waves. The story leaked out of me as I purged the secrets of my soul—secrets I had been willing to take to my grave until I realized what he meant to me. I kept my eyes on the water, not wishing to see Hadrian turn away from me when he realized I was nothing but a burden.

  When I was finished, I fell silent. I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my chin on my knees, almost perfectly mirroring his pose.

  “Sterling,” he said. “Look at me.”

  I reluctantly turned my face toward him but kept my cheek against my knee.

  “You did the right thing by telling me. Now I can protect you.”

  “How?” I asked, my throat tight. “My family is dangerous.”

  He reached out to caress my jaw. “So am I.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I stared into his eyes. “You’re not going to send me away?”

  He frowned. “Why would I send you away?”

  “Haven’t I just become more trouble than I’m worth?”

  He gently grasped my jaw, keeping my eyes on his. “What do you think last night was about?”

  I swiped my tongue across my dry lips. “Someone tried to kill you. I don’t know what you—”

  “I meant after that,” Hadrian said as he shook his head. “When I promised you the world. What the hell did you think that meant? That I would just get tired of you one day?”

  My eyes dropped to the sand.

  “No. You look at me. I need you to look at me, so I know you’re listening.”

  I reluctantly returned my gaze to his.

  “I will not abandon you,” he stated fiercely. “I will not leave you to the mercy of your family or the Foscari. You are mine to protect. Do you hear me, Sterling? I really need you to understand how deeply I mean it.”

  The burden of my secret suddenly lifted from my shoulders, and I bent my head and sobbed. I couldn’t stop the tears of relief. Relief that I wasn’t alone, that I’d finally found a man who wasn’t just strong enough to shelter me from the oncoming storm, but who chose me.

  Like I’d chosen him.

  Hadrian stood and brushed the sand from his trousers. Then he reached down to grasp my hand, hauling me up into his firm embrace. Apparently that wasn’t enough for him, because he lifted me into his arms and carried me toward his home.

  I rested my cheek against his chest, the wool sweater warm under my skin.

  “Ingrid made meat pies. Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “How can you think about food at a time like this? I just told you who I really am, and you’re sweeping it away like it’s nothing.”

  He paused for a moment. “Is it surprising who you are? Of course, but in spite of what I’ve shared with you, you don’t know everything about what it is I actually do for a living. Your family…are known to me. I’ve done business with them for years.”

  I lifted my head and peered at him in disbelief. “What? You have?”

  We arrived at the stairs that led us back into his home. He set me down and then took my hand again as we made our ascent. “Come on. We’ll finish this conversation in a minute. I need something to drink.”

  Once we were in the kitchen, I immediately went to the stove and put on the kettle for tea.

  I leaned against the counter, trying to support myself with weak legs. “So, you do business with my family?”

  “Aye,” he said.

  “What kind of business?” I demanded.

  “Nothing that concerns you.”

  I looked at the tea kettle as I waited for it to boil. “My mother ran from the Foscari, but she made it clear that she was also running from her own family. She told me that I couldn’t go to them for help, that it would be dangerous for me.”

  “You didn’t go to them for help,” he reminded me. “You came to me for help. And I can handle your family. You have to trust me.”

  I nodded absently. A part of me hated that I had handed over my problems t
o Hadrian. The other more rational part of me was glad that he was willing to deal with it on my behalf. My mother had fled because there hadn’t been a way out of her predicament. Maybe turning to Hadrian, confiding in him, was the right decision to end the nightmare once and for all.

  I momentarily pushed thoughts of my family away to address another matter that had yet to be settled between us.

  “Hadrian?”

  “Aye?”

  “What am I going to do about The Rex?”

  “What about The Rex?” His phone buzzed in his pocket. Hadrian pulled it out, read a text, and then typed out a reply.

  “I became a Rex girl. I signed on the proverbial dotted line for a year.”

  “You’re not a Rex girl anymore.” He set his phone down on the counter and gave me his attention again. “It’s already been handled.”

  A knot formed in my stomach. “What does that mean, exactly?” When he didn’t reply, I pressed, “Hadrian. Tell me.”

  He ran a thumb across his chin. “When I transferred the money into your account I also settled with The Rex.”

  “Settled what?”

  “You were never going back to The Rex, Sterling,” he said calmly. “I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

  “Excuse me?” I screeched. “You wouldn’t have allowed it?”

  “Before you get upset, let me explain. Even if you left here and decided not to stay the six months with me, I couldn’t stomach the thought of you working at The Rex. So, I paid them not to take you back even if you wanted to go.”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “No. I’m not.” His phone buzzed again, but before he could reach for it and dive into his text conversation, I grabbed it and held it behind my back.

  “May I have my phone?” he asked in amusement.

  “In a moment—after you explain things to my satisfaction.”

  “Speaking of satisfaction—”

  “Hadrian,” I snapped.

  “Sterling,” he mocked. “I always get my way. You should know that by now.”

  I bared my teeth in an angry snarl. “I am not a chess piece you can maneuver.”

  “I don’t maneuver.”

  “No?”

  “I tactfully manipulate.”

  “THIN. ICE.”

  His hand reached out to settle at the curve of my hip. “If you didn’t want to stay, I would’ve let you go. It would’ve killed me, but I would have. I can’t handle the idea of other men—of you with them.”

  I understood his possessive vein, but Hadrian couldn’t make my choices for me.

  “You need to promise me something,” I said.

  “What?”

  “Moving forward, if you want me to do something, just ask. Don’t go behind my back and pull my strings like some puppeteer.”

  “Just ask,” he repeated. “That’s all it would take?”

  I nodded.

  “Sterling?”

  “Yes?”

  “Will you kiss me?”

  Before I could respond, he dragged me closer so that I was pressed against him. My arms reached up to loop around his neck, and I played with the hair at his nape. I stood on my toes, attempting to reach his mouth. “You’re a fast learner.”

  When his mouth covered mine, I lost all rational thought. His arms tightened around me and it felt like he’d never let me go. I lost my desire to remain a separate entity, in spite of my hopes for the future.

  Hadrian Rhys had scrambled my psyche, pulled apart my soul, and rearranged it to fit tightly into his.

  We made it as far as the living room before he had me naked and bent over the couch. A Shetland tempest was nothing compared to us. We were cataclysmic, like an unstoppable storm.

  When we collapsed to the floor, spent and shaking, Hadrian grabbed a woolen blanket and covered us before pulling me tight against him.

  “Has it ever been like this?” I asked dreamily, my fingers stroking his chest. “With anyone else?” I closed my eyes and breathed in the perfume of pleasure in the air.

  “No. It’s never been like this with anyone,” he said softly. “And I knew it the first night we spent together.”

  “Knew what?”

  “I knew you were different.”

  After we recovered, we showered. We took our time, lathering each other’s bodies, lingering with our touches and kisses. Then we laid in bed, facing one another as the rain beat against the balcony doors.

  My hands wandered over his skin, lingering on his scar. His other fresh wound was bandaged again after our shower, but the pain of it hadn’t slowed him down at all.

  “Do they bother you? My scars?” he asked, his brogue rumbling like looming thunder.

  To answer his question, I pulled back the covers so I could see him. And then I pressed a kiss to his healed mark before snuggling into his embrace.

  His fingers plowed through my damp hair. I closed my eyes and gave into his pampering touch.

  I slid my leg between his, angling to get closer, and when I did, I sighed in contentment. His fingers circled my neck, reminding me that I hadn’t worn my necklace in days. Come to think of it, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen it.

  “Have you seen my necklace?” I asked.

  “Aye. It’s in my bedside drawer.”

  “How long has it been there?” I asked. “I don’t remember losing it.”

  “You didn’t lose it. I took it off of you on the yacht while you were asleep.”

  I smiled into his shoulder. “Of course you did.”

  “I kept telling myself that I only wanted to keep the necklace safe for you until you left, but I was lying to myself. I knew that bringing you here was the beginning of the end.”

  “The end of what?” I asked, propping my chin up to look at him.

  His gaze softened. “My solitude.”

  He braced an arm underneath his head. Hadrian stared down at me with languid eyes, but another part of him seemed ready and eager for my attention. The sheet above his lower half was tented.

  I reached underneath the covers and grasped him.

  Hadrian closed his eyes, his jaw clenched.

  He was like hot granite and my mouth watered in anticipation. I wanted to feel him at the back of my throat.

  I removed the sheet so I could see him in all his naked glory. I glided my lips over him, causing him to groan. I strung out his pleasure and his hands clenched at his sides. Watching the big, brawny man lose control made me feel powerful in a way I’d never felt before.

  I owned a part of him like he owned a part of me, and when he came in my mouth, I swallowed every bit of him.

  His skin was flushed and damp, and I kissed his taut belly before resting my cheek against him.

  “Have you forgiven me?” he asked.

  “For what?”

  “For my domineering nature?”

  I let out a laugh. “I guess it comes with the package. The whole beautiful, protective, generous package.”

  “I’ve never heard myself described that way, but I’ll take it.”

  “You’re also broody and terrifying.”

  He grasped my hip and gently pulled me toward him. “I thought you weren’t afraid of me. Despite what you know about me.”

  “I’m not. I feel…protected around you. I can’t explain it.”

  He stroked my spine, and like a whip, his next words made their mark. “I’ve invited your family here.”

  My heart kicked up in fear, and I shot up off of his chest to stare at him. “What? Why?”

  He pondered my question for a moment. “It’s two-fold. Your mother’s debt must be settled. You can’t go through life on the run. How do you know you haven’t made a mistake, just like Sister Agatha? You’re not a professional, Sterling. You could have already done something you’re not aware of that puts you…no, us, in jeopardy. Your family is powerful, and if there’s any chance in the world they might piece together who you are…I can’t risk it. We have to settle it now. But your fam
ily are also the kind of people who might know who tried to kill me—and why. The assassin spoke Sicilian just before he died. These men have ears to the ground in their own country. If they know anything about what happened, I need them to tell me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Fear slashed my insides as my mind churned over Hadrian’s announcement. I attempted to slow my racing heart.

  My mind kicked into survival mode and traveled every avenue of thought. I would come face to face with my family, the very people who were never supposed to know about my existence. The people my mother had warned me about.

  This next part is the most important of all—you cannot go to my family.

  But Hadrian would be waving me in their face.

  I instinctively clutched him tighter. Even though I trusted him, I was afraid, and we lay there in silence until I fell into a restless sleep.

  A few hours later I awoke, my heart thundering in my chest. The alarm clock on the bedside table read 3:15. I didn’t need to reach out to Hadrian’s side of the bed to know he was gone. A patch of moonlight speckled the floor and my sluggish brain managed to piece together that the drapes on the balcony doors were pulled back.

  I could see Hadrian’s stark form through the glass, and I blanched when I realized he was bare-chested. The weather in Shetland had been steadily getting colder, and I couldn’t imagine being out in the elements without being properly dressed. It had been raining only a few hours ago and the air was no doubt still cold.

  I flipped on the bedside lamp and sleepily stuck my feet in the pair of slippers at the edge of the bed. After I got up, I grabbed the tartan wool blanket from the back of the leather couch, turned on the gas fireplace to dispel the chill in the air, and then went out onto the balcony.

  Hadrian sat in a patio chair, not noticing my intrusion. Without a word, I placed the blanket around his shoulders. He grasped the edges and pulled it closer to him. I was just about to leave him to his thoughts, when he reached out and dragged me onto his lap. As I settled in his embrace, he nestled us under the blanket and I shivered from the coolness of his skin, even though we were cocooned in tartan.