Once Upon a Princess

by Holly Jacobs

  He didn’t have to finish. She knew. It was there in his crisp, designer suit. It was there in the way he studied her.

  “Tanner,” Parker said, turning his name into a curse of sorts.

  Peter shot her a smile that had probably wooed a thousand women and nodded. “Yes, Tanner. I’m supposed to stake out the place until he can get here.”

  “Shey’s got him tied up. He won’t be coming anytime soon,” Parker said.

  He just shook his head.

  “Really, he’s stranded,” Parker assured him, though at his disbelieving look she felt a bit less certain.

  “Tanner’s in an unusual mood,” Peter said. “He’ll be here no matter what…stranded or not.”

  “Then I’ll have to make sure I’m not here when he gets here.”

  She knew she should just stay put and face him, but she was tired. Tired of explaining herself over and over. Tired of being pressured. Just tired.

  Maybe if she could take a step back, find some quiet time, she could follow her mother’s suggestion and figure out what to do about her unwanted fiancé, about balancing her desires for a quiet, normal life and her royal obligations. And maybe, just maybe, she could figure out what to do about a certain pseudostalker.

  “Ah,” Peter said. “But my friend Emil’s at your house, and Tonio’s at your friend Cara’s.”

  She didn’t want to do this—confront Tanner.

  The other night had been enough. More than enough.

  She’d told Tanner how it was and how it was going to remain, but in typical royal fashion—typical royal male fashion—he hadn’t hear a word she’d said. Like her father, he only heard what he wanted to hear.

  Darn. She’d hoped Tanner was smarter than that.

  Well, then, she’d just go book a room at some hotel. Now that she had money again, that wasn’t a problem.

  “And I’ll warn you that I’ve already told him you’re here,” Peter said.

  Shey had told Tanner the radio on the boat was broken.

  As if reading her thoughts, Peter said, “He has a cell phone he didn’t mention to Shey. He pretended to be looking at the engine and called for a ride from a charter service.”

  Defeated.

  Utterly and hopelessly defeated by the power of modern technology.

  “How long until he gets here?” Parker asked.

  “He says he’ll be a while yet. I’m supposed to watch you until he gets here.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Parker asked, suspicious.

  “Maybe I don’t think anyone should be pressured into marrying.”

  “You’re worried about me? You don’t even know me. Why would you care?”

  “Although I think it’s a shame when any beautiful woman is taken off the market, my main concern is for the boss. I’ve been with him for five years now. He’s had a number of relationships—none of them worked out. This last one was particularly brutal. I don’t think he’s thinking straight.” Peter sighed. “It’s hard for a normal woman to live under the kind of scrutiny that he endures. I know that you understand what it’s like. That’s why he finally decided to agree to an engagement with you. He says you were always a headstrong girl, and you certainly understand what it is to be royal.”

  “I don’t think that’s enough of a reason to marry,” Parker said.

  “Neither do I,” Peter agreed. “That’s why I’m giving you the heads-up.”

  Parker laughed. “So, what are you going to do while you’re waiting for him to show up?”

  “I was thinking one of those blueberry muffins and a cup of coffee, maybe?”

  “Sure.” Parker got his muffin and coffee, and when he tried to pay, she shook her head. “It’s on me. Thanks.”

  “Like I said, I’m not doing it for you but rather for him. You’re welcome anyway, though.” He shot her an impish wink. “You know, if I didn’t think Tanner would skin me alive, I’d ask you out myself.”

  “This is where I sigh and say that if it wouldn’t be so weird, I’d say yes?”

  “It would do my ego a lot of good if you did.” He shot her a killer smile—one that spoke of years of charming women.

  Parker couldn’t help but smile back at him. “How come I have a feeling your ego doesn’t need any boosting?”

  Peter laughed. “I guess you’re an astute judge of character.” He started walking away.

  Parker said, “Thanks again.”

  He nodded, then took his coffee and sat down at the booth behind Jace and Shelly.

  Now what? Parker couldn’t leave Tammy alone in the shop. And Cara couldn’t handle both the bookstore and the coffeeshop. She knew she should stay, but all she wanted to do was get out of there.

  Jace got up and came to the counter. “Need help?”

  “How’s Shelly?”

  “She’s been out all morning applying for jobs.”

  A lightbulb moment struck, bright and illuminating.

  “Maybe… Listen, hold down the fort a moment. I’ve got an idea.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just hang on,” she said as she walked into the doorway that connected the coffeehouse to the bookstore.

  Cara gave a little wave and joined her.

  “How’s it going?” she asked.

  “I think I could have a future as a waitress if I wanted,” Parker said. “I handled the morning crowd quite well, if I do say so myself.”

  “I don’t think that’s quite what your family has in mind for you.”

  “It’s definitely not what they have in mind. But I’m past caring.” But she did care. And she knew it. Thwarting her father’s wishes wouldn’t be nearly so hard if she didn’t.

  There was nothing to be done about her father right now, but there were plenty of other things to do. “I need to know what you think about something. Shey’s busy and I can’t talk to her about it, but there are two of us here. We have a majority.”

  “What is it?” Cara asked.

  “What do you think about hiring a new employee?”

  “Hiring someone? I thought we hired you in order not to hire someone else.”

  “See that guy over there?” With Jace back at the counter, Peter had slid into the booth with Shelly. He was smiling and Shelly was laughing at something. “He’s Tanner’s employee. He’s been sent here to watch me. Shey’s holding Tanner off. She thought she had a foolproof plan. But turns out Tanner’s got a phone, so it’s not, and he’ll be here sooner or later.”

  “I think I just missed a step or two, but if I’m following you, you want to make a break for it?”

  “Yeah,” Parker said, nodding. “And I can’t leave Tammy alone. So I wondered how you felt about hiring someone.”

  “Who?”

  “Jace’s sister, Shelly, needs a job. And since I don’t need to waitress—”

  “What and when did that happen?” Cara asked.

  “I got access to my money again this morning. And so I don’t need the job, and Shelly does. I mean, I don’t know if she’s even interested, but she’d be perfect. Older than the college kids we generally hire, and she’s had experience.”

  “You don’t have to convince me. I trust your judgment and I’m sure Shey will, as well. My vote’s yes. She’s hired.”

  “And you can help her out if she needs it, right?”

  “You know I can,” Cara promised. “Go ask her. But first let me ask you something. Why are you running?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Parker, you’re the strongest woman I know and yet you’ve spent a great deal of time running from your family, from your country. And now you’re running from Tanner. No one can force you to be a princess or to marry. So why do you keep running?”

  “Maybe I’m not running away, I’m running toward what I want.”

  Cara didn’t look convinced. “Running is running. And once you get a taste for it, once it becomes the way you handle problems, you get used to it and run the risk of never standing still to see
what you’ve got.”

  “You just don’t get it. You can’t know what it’s like—”

  “I may not be royal, but my parents were quite clear about what they expected, which is why I was on the debate team and not on the soccer team. It’s why I learned that they preferred being able to brag about me to spending time with me. It may not seem the same, but I gave things up in order to please them. Everyone has expectations thrust on them in some way or another,” she said in her quiet way.

  “If you don’t want me to hire Shelly—”

  “I meant it, it’s fine. Shey and I knew waitressing was just a short-term job for you.”

  Parker still hesitated.

  “Go ahead, ask her,” Cara ordered, shooing her away as if she were some naughty child. “Think about what I said, though. Running is running. Stand still, take a breath and look around to see what you want. Now I’ve got to get back to the bookstore.

  Parker walked slowly over to Jace’s sister, glancing over her shoulder at the door to Titles. Cara thought she was running away? Her friend was crazy. There was a difference between running away and running toward.

  Wasn’t there?

  She pushed all thought of Cara’s mini lecture aside and gave a little nod to Peter as she addressed Jace’s sister. “Hi, Shelly. Remember me?”

  “Of course I do. I don’t forget women Jace is dating,” she said with a devilish grin. “There are so few of them.”

  Part of Parker wanted nothing more than to slide into the booth and ask Shelly about the few women Jace had dated, but she knew she didn’t have time. “Listen, Shelly, I think I have an idea….”

  “You’re sure you want to do this with me?” Jace asked for the umpteenth time.

  Parker had planned to get away and be alone. To stand still and maybe figure things out. But when Jace had pulled one of his I-have-other-things-to-do-be-a-good-princess-and-help-me-out laments, she’d found herself agreeing to go on a stakeout. A stakeout!

  She hated to admit it, even to herself, that while time alone sounded good in theory, being with Jace sounded better in reality.

  “You’ve got to work and I’ve got nowhere to go, so yes, this is fine. I’d like to watch you on the job, rather than the other way around. It’ll be exciting.”

  “Not as much as you think. I’m watching this guy for his wife, documenting who comes in and out of his office during the day. It’s a lot of sitting around, is what it is.”

  He settled back in his seat and Parker tried to get comfortable, as well. “That’s it? No binoculars or surveillance equipment?”

  “This isn’t high tech. My camera’s got a zoom lens. That’s enough.”

  “Oh.”

  A silence descended over the truck, as if neither knew what to say. It stretched a long, increasingly uncomfortable distance.

  Jace finally broke it by asking, “Why are you running away, Princess?”

  Parker was momentarily taken aback by the directness of the question and the fact that Jace was the third person in a short span of time to ask it. If it had been someone else, she’d have simply ignored the question. But this was Jace, and though she didn’t owe him an explanation, she wanted—no needed—him to understand.

  “Honestly if one more person asks me that… First my mom alluded to my running and reminded me I was a fighter. Then Cara gave me her little running-is-running speech. Now you.”

  “Maybe everyone talking about it means there’s something to it?”

  “I’m not running away. I’m running toward a life I want.” Correcting him wasn’t the answer he wanted, so she continued, “Do you know what it’s like to be able to track your entire life in a newspaper? My birth, baptism, birthdays… Maybe if the press had settled for those major events, I could manage. But they don’t let up if they see a chance to sell papers. And fact of the matter is, royalty sells papers.”

  “What happened?” he asked softly.

  She hadn’t planned to tell him, but she found the story spilling out. “I was sixteen, in school. A friend wanted to sneak out of the dormitory and go to a party. I just wanted to have a night with no security guards dogging my every step, so I said yes. We got out of the dorm, ditched my security and went. It was at a local college. I had a drink. She had a lot.”

  “Then?” he prompted.

  “Someone recognized me. I panicked. I found my friend and practically carried her out of the house, she was so drunk. We were a block away from our dorm when a photographer caught us. He snapped a picture, startling us, and she fell, pulling me down with her. He kept shooting pictures. Even when she started to throw up, he took pictures. What kind of man photographs a girl getting sick? The next day, there it was. Headlines. Eliason’s Bad-Girl Princess. Party Princess. That’s just an example of one incident.

  There were many more. Especially after that. It was horrible.”

  “Was all of it horrible?”

  “Not my family. But the rest… When I made an appearance, it was a photo op, a way for a group or organization to get its name in the papers. If I felt I made a difference, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I was just a chance at free advertising.”

  “So you came here to college and decided not to go home.”

  “No. I still planned on going home after I graduated. My parents worked so hard to give me a false identity. Parker Dillon. A normal, everyday schoolgirl. You should have heard the arguments I had with my father. He still wanted security, but I swore I’d disappear completely if he insisted. The thought was claustrophobic. But still I was going to go home after I got my degree.”

  “But?”

  “I got to the airport a few weeks after graduation and had said my goodbyes to Cara and Shey. Then someone snapped a picture. Just a family taking a picture at the airport. My stomach heaved, I started to sweat, I couldn’t breathe. A full-fledged panic attack. That’s when I knew how much I didn’t want to go back to that life. I’m not proud to admit I just can’t do it.”

  “Maybe there’s a strength in knowing what you do want and going for it?”

  Parker shook her head. “It’s nice of you to say that, but I don’t buy it. I stayed in Erie because it was easier. Shey, Cara and I formed a partnership and opened the stores. My father still doesn’t understand. He thinks I’m coming home regardless. My mother told me today she believes I’ll find a way to blend the life I want and the life I was born into. I just don’t know if I can.”

  “They love and miss you.”

  “I know. I love them, too. But I can’t. Being a princess isn’t something I chose.”

  “Sometimes we don’t get a choice. Everyone inherits family, and there’s not much we can do about who and what they are.”

  “I saw in your file that your parents were divorced. I’m sorry.” She realized she’d rested her hand on top of his. For a moment she thought about pulling it back, but then he gave it a squeeze and she left it, enjoying the feel of him.

  “I’m not sorry they split,” he assured her. “My father wasn’t a nice guy. But I’m sorry for my mom. He just walked out and started a new family. He forgot about us. Mom worked two jobs trying to support us. It was just Shelly and me most of the time.”

  “You didn’t see your father after that?” Even though her father was driving her a bit crazy lately, Parker couldn’t imagine not seeing him. Ever.

  “He wasn’t interested, and neither was I.”

  This time she gave his hand a squeeze. “Despite everything, no matter how difficult I am, I’ve always known my father loves me, that my family cares.”

  “Caring for you isn’t hard, Parker. Not hard at all.” He leaned across the seat slowly. Parker knew he was going to kiss her. He gave her time to back away, to hold him off, but she didn’t want to back away. Instead she moved toward him. It was as if time moved in slow motion as they drew closer, closer—

  A loud rap on the window sent Parker flying back to her side of the car.

  “Uncle Jace, let us in.”
/>
  Bobby and Amanda stood outside grinning.

  Jace muttered something under his breath as he pulled away. He popped the locks and the twins crawled into the back seat.

  “What are you two doing here?” he asked, his voice sharp.

  “We came to help you on the stakeout,” Bobby said.

  “How did you find me?”

  “Now, you wouldn’t want us to give away all our trade secrets.” Bobby wore a mischievous grin. “I mean, if we did, why would you need to hire us?”

  “We can stay, right?” Amanda asked.

  Jace shot Parker a look. She could see the apology in it, but she could also see how much he loved the kids. She couldn’t blame him. Despite the fact they’d interrupted a kiss, she liked them, as well.

  He turned around, his voice stern. “You could have put my investigation at risk.”

  “We were careful. Plus it will look a lot less suspicious with us in the car. I mean, who’d suspect a family of spying? No one stakes out an office with kids in the car.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be at your dad’s?”

  “He’s been gone all day,” Amanda said in a small voice.

  Parker could see the wave of sadness around the girl’s eyes. Bobby just looked mad.

  Jace must have seen it, as well, because he said, “Fine. You can stay for a while. But when we’re done, you have to go back.”

  “Great,” Bobby exclaimed. “We bought a pad of paper to record license numbers. And…”

  As the twins bubbled over with excitement, Jace shot Parker a quick grin that said, What can I do? She smiled back at him.

  She couldn’t believe how much she’d just told him. The only people she’d ever talked like that to were Cara and Shey. But she’d wanted him to know, to understand her decisions.

  She looked at him talking to the kids and her heart did a little double beat. Having him understand, accept what she’d done, meant something to her. But she wasn’t going to analyze just what it meant right now. Right now she was simply going to stand still and acknowledge what she had right in front of her.

  Jace pulled into his driveway and glanced at Parker.

  She was staring at him again.

  She’d been giving him strange looks ever since they’d dropped the twins back off at their father’s.