Cowboy Fairytales Omnibus
Page 27
No longer.
Maybe it was better this way. Most of the five hundred wedding guests would have a view of her back. The only people who would have a good view of her face would be the minister and the bridesmaids and groomsmen—she doubted the bride and groom would have eyes for anyone but each other today.
In the expansive castle foyer, she found the new media specialist whom Father had hired. Jill was supposed to help Eloise navigate the minefield that the media had become.
"Right on time, Your Highness," Jill said. She was maybe a decade older than Eloise's twenty-eight. Perfectly coifed and wearing a professional suit jacket over a matching skirt and heels. She'd stay in the background at the wedding and the other upcoming PR events that Eloise was dreading.
"The car is waiting." Jill looked Eloise up and down. "You look great!"
But Eloise detected the note of false cheer in her voice and couldn't help noticing the way Jill's eyes darted quickly past on the scars across her face and neck.
"Let's go," Eloise growled.
As far as she was concerned, Jill's reaction to her scars was only the first of the thousand tortures she'd face today.
Professional bull rider Cody Austin had been to plenty of weddings before. Stood up for his friends a time or two.
But nothing like this. This was crazy.
He wasn't even that close with his buddy Gideon Hale, though they'd been tight back in high school. Gideon had confessed that he'd asked Cody to join the lineup of groomsmen—only one short of a football lineup—because his bride-to-be had such a long list of bridesmaids. Cody was happy to stand up for his buddy. More so because he needed the distraction. He'd had plenty of spills as a bull rider, but a nasty one a couple months before had given him the worst concussion of his career.
The doctors wouldn't clear him to ride again for another month. That is, if they cleared him at all.
He didn't want to think about that, about losing the only career he'd known. He was at the top of his game. The prime of his life, as cliché as that sounded.
If he lost his career, what did he have left?
He pushed the gloomy thoughts away and matched the other groomsmen’s stances—arms hanging loose, hands clasped together. Gideon sure was patient, waiting through the long procession of bridesmaids for the real prize—his princess.
Cody had heard snatches of the story about how Alessandra ended up on the Hale's ranch in north central Texas. She'd been on the run from an assassin and had fallen in love with the Navy SEAL-turned-rancher while laying low there.
He was curious how they were going to make things work, because he knew Gideon intended to keep running the Triple H. It was a nice spread and supported Gideon's sister and brother as well.
Cody honestly hoped they could make it work, but he hadn't seen the best examples in his own life.
As distractions went, this trip was the once-in-a-lifetime kind. He'd been too busy on the circuit to do any international traveling and had had to get his passport expedited. He'd only been in Glorvaird for thirty-six hours, most of them sequestered at an expansive villa near the castle, but he'd enjoyed what he'd seen. And they'd let him bring along his uncle EJ, who'd never been out of the good ol’ U.S. of A. before either.
EJ had raised him after Cody’s parents had split when he’d been ten. Both of them had just up and left him with his uncle. They’d come sniffing around when he’d started winning big on the circuit, but he’d told them to get lost and they had. He’d lost touch with EJ for a couple of years—his fault for traveling so much—but they’d recently reconnected and he hoped this trip would show EJ he was serious about wanting to maintain a closer relationship.
Flying over the clear blue waters as they’d neared the coastal kingdom had been awesome. They'd driven through the bustling metropolis before entering the sleepier part of the kingdom, which felt more like a village than a city. Gideon had invited the groomsmen to stay for a week or so, make a vacation of the trip, and Cody couldn't wait to explore. Get out on the beach, get some sand beneath his feet, feel the warm water on his toes, even if he couldn't surf. Didn't know how. He wanted to learn, but his doctors would probably kill him if he did something so dangerous when his head hadn’t healed to one hundred percent.
His head was throbbing now, but it was probably more from the heat than his injury. The centuries-old cathedral was steeped in history—including a musty scent he'd never smelled anywhere else before—and it felt like the air conditioning unit must be from a century ago. He was pretty sure he'd sweated through his undershirt and the white button-up beneath his tuxedo jacket.
The stained glass windows that soared stories above his head cast colorful patterns across the stone floors and the guests, all decked out in their finest for the royal wedding. Whispers from the past seemed almost audible. It was enough to make a chump like him who'd failed history—had hated nearly every class in school—want to find a library or historian dude to tell him about the building.
Another bridesmaid pranced down the aisle. He'd been around enough women to know that most of them were eating up the limelight. There were a few invited press sitting in the very back, their cameras clicking away.
The one person he was most curious about, though, seemed like she didn't want to be here.
The crown princess.
While Alessandra's younger sister, Mia, and Mia's husband, Ethan, had hung around the villa some and been a big part of the dress rehearsal last night, Cody hadn't seen the older sister until today.
She'd been announced before the procession and made her way down the aisle to sit on the front row. Representing the crown or something. But she was all by herself, and he couldn't say why that bugged him.
Maybe because of the stiff, uncompromising way she held herself.
She was dressed more like a grandma than the woman she was. He guessed her age close to his—just on the edge of thirty. But the pale blue pencil skirt and buttoned up jacket she wore had a ruffled collar that hid everything up to her chin. Her hair was tucked in a bun at the back of her neck, but part of it on the right side—the side facing him—swooped down to cover most of her cheek. It had to be intentional. He didn't imagine her stylist or whoever would let her come to an event like this with a mistake in her appearance.
But it was a pretty unusual hairdo.
She didn't look right or left. Hadn't since she'd walked down the aisle. Only stared straight ahead.
He couldn't say why she intrigued him so much. Maybe the little frown she wore. Was she unhappy about her sister's marriage? Didn't prospective grooms have to be approved when you were a royal? He didn't know for sure. But if she was mad about it, why attend?
From where he stood, he could see perfectly the way the end of her nose tweaked up, just the tiniest bit. And her lashes... They were miles long surrounding her blue eyes.
The combination of those two things slayed him.
Not that he was looking. With his injury and his future career up in the air, he didn't know where he'd land, on his feet or on his butt. With the bull of life chasing him or not.
And anyway, it was unlikely that he—a plain 'ol Joe—was a match for a princess anyway.
Plus, with his injury still fresh, his emotions were as unpredictable as a bull in the arena. How could he ask someone to put up with that? Not knowing when it would end?
Emma Jean hadn't even lasted through his collarbone injury.
He'd been staring at the crown princess for a long time, but with the long procession of bridesmaids—none of whom he really knew—his thoughts had wandered. Probably a coping mechanism to distract him from his pounding head and the twinge of an old knee injury from years ago.
All of a sudden, the crown princess turned her chin slightly, and her gaze fixed on him.
He'd never seen someone so furious. Her face hadn't changed expression, but it was there in her eyes.
What had he done to annoy her?
He'd never even met her before. He
would've remembered if he had. He was reasonably sure he hadn't done anything to offend anyone since he'd landed in her kingdom.
He ducked his head, looked down to see whether he'd buttoned the front of his tux wrong or stepped in something unsavory. Nothing was amiss.
When he looked back up, the crown princess had gone back to staring straight ahead.
What was her deal? Why had she given him such a scathing look?
He was curious, but he doubted he'd see her again after this.
He couldn't be sure, not from this distance, but did the crown princess's lips tremble a little?
Gideon shifted, cleared his throat, and Cody's focus was broken.
Princess Mia of Glorvaird had never been so glad that she’d eloped as she was right this moment. She proceeded down the smooth stone aisle of the four hundred-year-old cathedral, the tenth in a line of bridesmaids clad in cornflower blue. The slippers Alessandra had chosen barely made a rustle of silk against cool stone and certainly weren't a match for the whispers and rustling of the sanctuary crowded with attendees. Fancy hats with plumed feathers bobbed and nodded as women whispered their opinions and judgments.
She clutched the simple bouquet of three white roses wrapped in ribbon, pressing her fisted hand against her stomach, where nausea roiled.
Of all the times to get a stomach virus. She'd lost her breakfast yesterday. She’d felt better in the afternoon, but now it was five minutes until noon, and her stomach had started bubbling violently. She forced a smile for the five hundred sets of eyes watching her. Tried to breathe shallow pants without anyone noticing.
She was especially careful to smile and look healthy as she neared the front of the cathedral, where her husband Ethan stood in line with the rest of Gideon's groomsmen.
Gideon had vacillated between asking his trusted hands to attend the wedding as his groomsmen or having them stay and watch over the ranch. He'd ended up with two hands here, Chase and Nate, plus his brother, and he’d asked other friends to match Alessandra’s ten bridesmaids.
And Gideon had asked Ethan to stand in.
Now she felt her husband’s eyes on her as she joined the bridesmaids and groomsmen already flanking the steps that led to the altar.
She saw the warmth in his eyes change to something else. Concern maybe, but he couldn't come to her now, couldn't check on her. And she couldn't reassure him, other than with what turned out to be a tremulous smile, thanks to her still-burbling stomach.
Finally she reached the front of the cathedral, climbed five shallow steps, and turned to face the guests.
As the maid of honor, she had a great view of Gideon, who stood several feet away in a sharp, black tuxedo. She'd gotten to know the man over the last several months as he an Alessandra had alternated between staying here Glorvaird and in Texas. He appeared calm and unaffected, his face turned toward the back of the cathedral where Alessandra would appear momentarily.
But Mia saw his hands fist, then straighten. Saw the slight tremor in his fingers. He was nervous, even if he wasn't showing it.
Alessandra had been flip-flopping between peaceful joy and nerves. Mia didn't think it was marriage to the former Navy SEAL that made her nervous but more the grand event itself that was making her sister worry.
Alessandra and Gideon shared a deep, abiding love that Mia knew would last a lifetime.
Just as she and Ethan did.
Over Gideon's shoulder, Mia met her husband's eyes and tried again for a smile.
A rush of sick rose in her throat, and she swallowed slowly, hoping to stem the tide. They'd done two walk-throughs for the ceremony last night, and it was slated to last forty-five minutes. She could get through that without embarrassing her sister, or herself.
A voluminous rustle of clothing and bodies filled the space as the guests rose. Alessandra appeared in the arched entryway, a vision in white. Her off-the-shoulder dress with its glittering seed-pearled bodice flowed all the way to the floor and, though she couldn’t see it from here, she knew the train extended a good six feet behind the dress. Mia knew Alessandra had been worried about tripping on the multiple petticoats, but now she seemed to only have eyes for Gideon. The emotion shining in them made her own tingle with tears.
Gideon’s swift intake of air told her what he thought of his bride. She’d look at his reaction, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the beautiful bride.
Alessandra walked the aisle slowly, as she’d been directed to, but Mia thought her sister looked like she wanted to jog to her groom. She reached him, linked her hands in Gideon’s. The two smiled at each other as if they were the only people in the room.
The minister spoke words that Mia remembered from her own, much simpler, wedding eight months ago. She looked past the bride and groom to meet Ethan's eyes again, attempting to send him all the love she felt—and not the rolling in her stomach.
Gideon spoke his vows fervently, face coloring with emotion.
Mia couldn't see Alessandra's face past the veil but heard the tears in her sister's voice.
And then it was over, and the newly married couple faced their guests as man and wife, ready to start the next chapter of their lives.
2
"What are you doing in here?" Cody had seen his Uncle EJ slip out of the royal wedding reception, back at the castle. He’d followed him because he was concerned.
Cody had reconnected with his uncle about a year ago when EJ had phoned and told him he had a heart condition. Cody had cancelled a contracted appearance at an event that weekend to be there for EJ’s consult with a cardiologist, and the news wasn’t good. His uncle had maybe two years left. Cody had moved some things into his uncle’s small ranch house and been there ever since.
Things were different than when he’d been ten. EJ was different. There’d been a hardness to him that Cody didn’t remember.
And Cody’d heard some rumors in town that EJ was suspected in a robbery of the local pharmacy. He hadn’t believed them. And nothing had ever come of it, so Cody figured the rumors were unsubstantiated.
They’d settled in to a comfortable routine. EJ had had a couple of spells that had put him in the hospital. Cody figured he was running out of time to spend with his uncle, so it was natural he’d invited EJ as his plus-one for this shindig.
When he’d first followed him out of the ballroom, he’d figured EJ was looking for a restroom. But when EJ had slipped into an empty, darkened room, Cody had started to wonder.
He came up behind the gray-haired figure, who turned, eyes wide. The crystal rose clutched in the older man's hand brought back the memories of those rumors and a twist in his gut.
"Uncle EJ, what are you doing?"
"I was just looking at this," EJ said. But Cody couldn't help but notice that his uncle didn't put the jeweled flower back on the empty pedestal. How much was that thing worth?
The room was cavernous, quiet after the voices and music of the reception in a nearby ballroom. Paintings of what must be royals, judging by their elaborate costumes and the crowns they wore, lined the walls. Pedestals stood at intervals, some of them with glass enclosures. But the hall was shadowed and empty. Dark.
Off-limits.
"How'd you get in here, anyway?" Cody drew a little closer. He needed to get EJ to put the rose back and get them both out of there. There were probably security cameras everywhere, and he really didn't want his uncle to get into trouble.
"How'd you get in here?" EJ countered.
"I followed you."
EJ shrugged as if he hadn't done anything wrong by wandering into the royal family's private quarters. "The door wasn't locked."
"Doesn't mean you're supposed to be in here."
"This hall is off-limits to party guests." A strident female voice rang out in the quiet.
Cody whirled to find the crown princess moving toward them, her heels clicking on the marble floors.
He didn't know the exact protocol, but bent at the waist in hopes that would suffice.
It didn't work.
"What are you hiding?" She gasped softly. "Guard!" she called out over her shoulder.
Lights flared, and he blinked against the brightness.
A man in a dark suit—as opposed to a uniform, like Cody had kind of expected—rushed into the room.
All Cody could think about was his uncle's heart issue. "Wait!"
But the guard didn't wait as the crown princess pointed to the treasure in EJ's hands. The guard roughly took the older man's arm.
EJ promptly lost his grip, and the rose slipped from his grip.
Cody reached for it, catching it before it hit the floor. Barely.
It was heavier than he’d thought it would be, though fragile. He straightened and held it out to the crown princess.
She ripped it out of his hands. Color was high in her cheeks, and their eyes met and locked.
The moment seemed suspended in time.
The chignon behind her head had come loose, and the hair that had covered her right cheek had fallen away. A silvery scar snaked down her cheek and jaw, disappearing into the ruffled neck of her jacket.
Her shoulders rose and fell as if she were fighting some high emotion.
"How dare you come into my home and attempt to steal one of my family's heirlooms?"
Cody couldn’t believe she’d jump to that conclusion. Never mind that it had crossed his mind as well. This woman didn’t know Uncle EJ.
"I want him arrested immediately."
The guard nodded, his grip on EJ's arm tightening.
"Wait a minute." Couldn't they see how white in the face EJ had gone? “He wasn’t stealing anything—just looking at it.”
The crown princess didn't look him directly in the eye. “I was just sent a digital photo of a man in a dark jacket placing the rose in his pocket.”