by Raye Morgan
“Oh.”
Emma was speechless, but Louise, who had heard every word, wasn’t.
“Oh, my God, the prince sent a doctor to check on you? Emma! I knew it. I knew we’d get a fairy-tale romance out of this. Oh, I wish I had time to fly over and see this for myself.”
“Louise, I’ll have to call you back,” she said, clicking off in hopes of keeping her cousin’s enthusiasm away from Will’s ears. She smiled at the man. “That’s so nice of you…and of the prince, of course. But it’s nothing. Just scratches. See?”
He saw, but he’d brought along antibiotic cream and bandages and he was determined to use them. He worked on her injuries for a good half an hour and they chatted pleasantly all the while.
“You want to take care of things like this, even common scratches,” he told her. “A little extra effort can avoid scars.”
That reminded her of the ugly wound she’d seen on Sebastian’s side the day before when he’d wrestled with Will on the pool deck. Though she knew it was none of her business, hesitantly, she asked Will about it.
He didn’t answer right away and she was afraid she’d offended him.
“The prince was stabbed defending Agatha’s honor,” he said softly at last, his eyes suddenly burning with a harsh light. “He foiled a kidnapping attempt. And that’s all I can tell you, as he doesn’t want the incident talked about.”
“I see.”
Well, she didn’t really see. Because this was about Agatha again. Will spoke her name as though he assumed she knew the woman, not realizing it was a name she was learning to despise. But all the same, her heart was thumping with the thought of Sebastian doing something noble, as she was sure he had. It was hard to hate him, no matter how much she tried.
She liked Will a lot. His calm good nature was a soothing antidote. At times she thought she caught hints of a secret sorrow in his manner, but he never failed to say something kind and clever.
And he was very good-looking. Still, after he left and she shut the door and leaned against it, she couldn’t help but notice that he didn’t make her blood zing the way the prince did. Not at all.
It warmed her heart a little—just a bit—to think Sebastian had remembered her scratches and sent help. But then, he would have done as much for anyone, she was sure.
“And remember,” she whispered to herself, like someone who couldn’t keep from touching a sore spot, “to him, you’re nobody.”
But that didn’t matter, because she was going to give him the best coronation dinner that had ever been spread out before a king. It was going to be a point of pride with her to make him eat his words.
The coronation was only a little over two weeks away and she knew that every day was going to be more and more precious to her as they dwindled down. She was going to do a good job. She had no doubt about that. But so much could go wrong that was out of her control.
Tomorrow, Todd was taking her down to the town market so that she could check out the local produce and incorporate as much of it as possible into the menus. She would have to order ahead of time and have supplies trucked up to the castle and she was looking forward to seeing what was available. Plus, a day away from the castle would be a good thing. Hopefully, she could find ways to avoid the prince for now—and maybe even for ever.
Sebastian’s eyes were glazing over. He was walking down a corridor in the castle with two of the most boring men he knew, his uncle the duke, and the Earl of Grogna, Minister of Accounts. The two of them were talking such rot he couldn’t keep his mind on what they were saying. What was the point of arguing the details of Meridian monetary policy when he wasn’t sure he was going to be in Meridia in another week or two?
He began to hang back a bit, planning his escape. The other two men were engrossed in their argument and might not even notice if he slipped away. They were just passing the library when something caught his eye.
He stopped. The two men went on, just as he’d hoped. And he walked softly into the library toward where Emma was trying to reach a book set on a shelf high above her. She’d pulled a small stepstool over and climbed upon it. Now she was on tiptoe, stretching her arm as high as she could and just barely touching the target with her fingertips.
He grinned. Nothing made his day more than helping damsels in distress. Especially damsels with such nicely rounded backsides, set off to perfection by her soft velour pants.
She hadn’t heard him approach, so she started when he came up behind her.
“Oh!”
“Allow me,” he murmured, reaching over her and taking the book from the shelf. But he didn’t bring it down right away. The reach had brought his body up against hers and she felt very good there. A fresh, spicy scent seemed to be emanating from her thick hair, and that, along with her softness, brought on a sense of sweet seduction that filled him like a drug. Closing his eyes to savor it, he turned into the hollow of her neck and pressed his face against her skin.
She gasped, but she didn’t pull away, and suddenly he wanted her with a deep, throbbing ache that surprised him. He touched the lobe of her delicate ear with the tip of his tongue for just a scattering of seconds, then gave a sigh that came directly from this new and very intense longing.
He knew it was time to draw back. He could hear the duke and the accounts minister returning and calling for him. Besides, the evidence of his desire for her was becoming all too clear and he knew she had to feel it. He had to go. But she felt so good, it was very hard to make himself do it.
“Sorry,” he whispered to her, handing her the book. “So sorry, Emma.”
He knew she wouldn’t know if he was apologizing for the erotic intrusion, or for the fact that he couldn’t take it further. And truth be told, he wasn’t sure which he meant either. But he did enjoy the completely stunned look in her eyes. He touched her cheek gently, then turned to rejoin his companions. But the feel of her body and the look in her eyes stayed with him for a long time.
Things in Emma’s life never seemed to go according to plan and the luck she’d once had seemed to have deserted her ever since she’d arrived in this strange little country. Todd had a last-minute emergency and couldn’t take her into town, but he’d given her instructions on how to get there and what to do once she arrived. She’d taken a castle car and headed out on her own in a drizzling rain.
It wasn’t long before trouble erupted. Swerving to miss a careening motorcyclist, she ended up in a ditch that was rapidly filling with mud and her wheels spun uselessly when she tried to drive back out.
So there she was in the rain, shoving rocks and pieces of stray wood under the back wheels of the car, trying to build a platform for traction, when she heard another car coming down the road from the castle. She didn’t even look up. The way her luck had been running lately, she just had a feeling she knew who this was going to be.
The car slowed to a stop and she heard a window being rolled down.
“Emma, what happened?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. Yes. It was him. Why? Why?
“Need some help?”
Swinging around, she glared at Sebastian, fully aware of how she must look in the silly yellow anorak she’d found in the trunk of the car, with her wet hair plastered to her face.
“No, thank you,” she said crisply, determined that he understand that she wasn’t in awe of him, despite how she’d fallen into a swoon over him the night before in the library. “I can take care of this myself.”
“Emma, don’t be ridiculous. I’m going to call the castle. They’ll send someone out to handle it.” He flipped open his phone and began to punch in a number.
She knew that was probably sensible, but she resented it none the less. “Then I won’t have a car,” she countered.
His smile was wide and innocent. “You’ll have me.”
“You!”
She put all the pent-up anger she had into the word and aimed it at him like a missile. He was startled.
“Hey, I’m not so ba
d.”
She wasted one more good glare on him, then turned back to her work. She could hear him telling someone to come out and get the car, but that only made her work harder and faster. If she could just get a good piece of wood under the tire, she might have a chance to move this wreck and get back on the road before they came.
“Come on, Emma. Get in the car.”
“No, thank you,” she called back, waving a hand at him. “Just move along. There’s nothing to see here.”
“Emma.” He was sounding impatient now. “If you don’t get into this car in the next five seconds I’m going to get out and pick you up and…”
But he didn’t wait five seconds. Before she had time to react, he was already out of the car and coming toward her and then his hands were on her shoulders and he was staring right down into her wet face.
“Emma, tell me why you’re so angry. What have I done?”
She gasped. He was so sure of himself—and so straightforward. He didn’t give her time to mount her defenses.
“Nothing,” she said, avoiding his intense gaze.
“Right. This feels like the old ‘if you don’t know by now, I’m not going to tell you’ ploy to me.”
She tried to twist out of his grasp. “It’s nothing. Really.”
“Was it yesterday? In the maze? Or what happened in the library? Or something I’ve done since?”
She looked up and that was her big mistake. Once she’d been captured by his gaze, she couldn’t seem to break free of it.
“I…well…can’t you just leave me alone?”
“No. I can’t. Tell me.”
She drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “All right. If you really want to know.”
She hesitated. How was she going to approach this? Could she be as direct as he was?
“Who was that woman who came into the maze as I was leaving?” she heard herself saying, as though a truth serum had been poured down her throat. She hadn’t meant to say it. She knew it made her look jealous to say it. And yet, there it was. She’d said it.
“My aunt Trudy?” He made a face, then realized who she meant. “Oh, do you mean Agatha? Emma, Agatha is my sister.”
“Oh.”
His sister.
Relief swelled in her like a small internal hurricane. She hadn’t even known he had a sister.
The humiliation of it all! To think that finding out the woman was just his sister could make her weak with happiness. She had to turn her head away so he wouldn’t see it in her eyes.
“Why would that bother you?” he insisted, looking truly puzzled.
She swallowed hard. He wasn’t going to let it go, was he? Well, then, she would just have to be honest. She’d gone this far.
“It isn’t that, really,” she said, only half lying. “It was what you said when she asked who I was.”
She glanced back at his face. He was obviously completely at sea.
“You’ll have to remind me. What did I say?”
“You said…” She swallowed hard again. This was more difficult than she’d thought it would be. “You said I was nobody.”
There. It was out. Now he knew how terribly insecure she really was. What a ninny—she couldn’t even laugh off something like that and go on with her life. She’d been obsessing about it for hours. And now he knew.
His face twisted in denial and he shook his head. “I couldn’t have said that. I wouldn’t have said that. It’s not true.”
Okay, time to show a little courage, at least. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look up into his eyes again.
“I know it’s not true,” she said stoutly. “But I heard it loud and clear.”
He thought for a moment, frowning intently as he went back over the previous day, and suddenly his face cleared.
“Oh, I know what happened,” he said at last. “Agatha said, ‘Who’s that?’ as you were walking away and I said, ‘Nobody you would know.’ That’s all. I knew the two of you hadn’t met. Agatha just arrived from Spain.” His expression changed. Reaching out, he pulled her closer again.
“Emma, I’m sorry if you thought…”
No, she was the sorry one—sorry that she’d ever brought it up. Her face was flaming now. She believed his explanation. It fitted. And she wanted to believe it. But that hardly mattered any more, because all this was so tangled up with her impossible feelings for this man and the kiss that had been so close and then hadn’t happened and then the encounter in the library. Deep and disturbing emotions that she’d learned to cover up over the years that were now starting to stir inside her.
And finally, the sudden, strange urge she had to reach up and fold herself into his arms, as though that would somehow protect her from the wet and the cold and from ever being hurt again. She’d never felt anything like it. The hunger for his embrace filled her with such longing, she almost whimpered aloud. And for just a moment, she thought she saw an answering impulse in his eyes.
But the moment was lost as the castle Jeep came bumbling to a stop beside them and two workmen jumped out, ready to deal with the mired car.
By the time the two of them were in Sebastian’s car and headed toward town, she’d regained control and recaptured her sanity.
“You can just drop me at the market,” she said, sitting stiffly on her side of the car. “I’m sure you have places to go, people to see.”
“Oh, yes. My life is a mad whirl of activity.” He glanced at her as he slowed to let another car pass. “To tell the truth, I’m running away from home.”
“What are you talking about?”
He sighed. “It wasn’t bad enough that I had to sit through a two-hour lecture on Meridian foreign policy from my uncle, a man who couldn’t find Latvia on a map if his life depended on it. I also had to stand up again and again for a flock of tailors who kept interrupting in order to take my measurements for every ceremonial uniform this country ever authorized. Then the secretary of the council called to say they wanted to see me for a discussion of my attitude problem.” He shook his head. “It was too much. I had to get out of there. I couldn’t take any more.”
She was frowning, caught up in his problems in spite of herself. “You don’t already have all those uniforms?”
“Sure I do, but I need new ones. I’m bigger in the shoulders these days.”
She glanced at his wide and very attractive shoulders. She couldn’t help it. And then she flushed again when he caught her at it.
This was getting repetitive. She turned her head and looked out the window at the countryside. The rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through the clouds, pouring golden light over the green landscape. Everything seemed fresh and new.
Landlocked and hidden in the mountains, tucked between Italy, Switzerland and Austria, Meridia had managed to avoid most of the wars and cultural dislocations of the twentieth century. But that also meant the country sometimes seemed left behind by history and the technological revolution. Still, that only gave it a certain unique charm.
The capital town of Chadae was just ahead. She could see small, brightly colored houses spilling over the hillside like a child’s set of blocks. Sebastian pulled off onto a turnout and switched off the engine. She turned to him in surprise.
“What are you doing?”
He gave her a wink, leaned over and pulled open the glove compartment in front of her, taking out two pairs of dark glasses.
“Here’s a lesson,” he said. “If you’re going to hang out with royalty, learn to go incognito.” He handed her one pair of sunglasses and put the other on himself.
She gave him a scathing glance. “ That’s supposed to be incognito?” They hid his beautiful eyes, but everything else about him still screamed, “Royalty here!”
He shrugged. “I usually do a better job. I didn’t prepare myself sufficiently. I’m going to have to get back into the swing of these things.”
“Never mind,” she said, passing the glasses back to him. “I’m not really planning to do m
uch hanging with royalty.”
“You’re hanging with me today.”
“No, I’m not.”
“What do you call this?”
She was speechless for a moment. He was making bad assumptions. “I’m accepting a ride into town. And I shouldn’t even be doing that.”
“Why the hell not?”
He couldn’t be this clueless. “Come on, Sebastian, don’t pretend to be dense. You’re the prince. I’m the chef. The prince and the hired help don’t go gallivanting around together. It isn’t done. And I’m not going to do it.” She folded her arms and stared straight ahead.
“You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.” He waited for a response, then frowned when she refused to give him one. “So you’re saying you don’t want to be seen with me? What a snob you are, Emma Valentine.”
She sighed, looking heavenward. “Okay. I’m a snob. My standards are high. I refuse to be seen with princes.”
He looked into the rearview mirror and adjusted the glasses. “Do I look like a real prince to you?” he asked doubtfully, looking hard at his reflection.
“Yes.” She was adamant.
He made a face. “Okay. And you look like a princess.”
She wrinkled her nose with disdain. “I do not.”
“You could.” He actually looked hopeful.
“But I don’t.”
Looking at her, he started to laugh.
“Well, I have to admit, right now you look a lot more like a drowned cat. A very bad-tempered drowned cat.”
She was trying hard not to smile, but it was getting almost impossible to keep a straight face around him. The harder she tried to dislike him, the more he turned on the charm, just to prove he could. She was fighting a losing battle here and she knew it.
“You may try to avoid royalty, Emma, but I’m afraid royalty is going to come your way, regardless. At least for the time being.” He handed the glasses back again. “So in the future you might want to be prepared with extra pairs of dark glasses and a good trench coat at all times. Just in case.”
He was saying these things with a good-natured earnestness that made her want to laugh. Biting her lip, she put the dark glasses on and looked at him. He grinned.
