It wasn’t Murdock, but a young girl in a short maid’s costume. He’d seen her around the castle today—had noticed most of the pretty girls around despite Murdock’s warning he was getting engaged and to “keep it in his pants,” whatever that meant.
“Uh, hello?” he started. He’d stopped moving and was staring at her. She was very pretty, with short brown hair, bright green eyes, and freckles. A smile lit her pixie face as she looked at his hands.
“Nice gloves,” she said, shutting the door behind her and walking toward him.
“They’re gauntlets. Powerful ones,” he said, trailing off. He cleared his throat and looked around. “Everything’s fine. Uh, I don’t need any maid services right now, maybe tomorrow.”
She glanced in his bedroom and he remembered he’d thrown everything out of his trunk.
“I’ll pick it up,” he said lamely.
“Prince Brody, my name is Ava,” she said, introducing herself and offering her hand.
Brody shook it with the glove still on then hurriedly took them off. “Nice to meet you,” he said, backing up a little as she came close to him, stepping into his personal space.
She matched his pace and looked up into his face, her eyes glowing in the lamplight. “At the castle the maid services go beyond just cleaning rooms. Were you told about that?”
Brody was confused. Doran hadn’t said anything to him about maid services when he’d shown Brody around the castle and explained the daily routine. “No.”
“Well,” Ava smiled, “someone was remiss. We offer physical services as well.” Her pink tongue slid along her bottom lip. In backing away, Brody had hit the wall between the bedroom and the sitting room, and Ava pressed herself up against him.
“I’m here to get married,” he said to Ava. Her hands had circled around his body and given his butt a good squeeze. At his comment, she moved one of her hands to the front of his pants and started rubbing him intimately.
“Oh, are you engaged?” she asked as she undid his pants.
Brody had started to breathe heavily. “No, but I will be in under two weeks,” he said, not moving. He didn’t know what to do. Was this wrong?
“Oh good, then it doesn’t matter,” Ava said soothingly. “Until you’re engaged, you’re a single man and you can do whatever you want.”
Ava unbuttoned his shirt and kissed his chest. She rubbed herself against him as she put her hands at his hips and yanked his pants down. Brody was on fire, his manhood swelling and pulsing with need. He hadn’t loved a girl in at least a week. Murdock had put a stop to his amorous activities hoping it would put him in a better frame of mind for marriage. Abstinence was tough!
“You are so big and hot,” Ava said wonderingly. One of her hands was stroking him while the other caressed his body. She was kissing his chest and licking his nipples. She started moving lower.
“No, we have to stop,” he said weakly, using the wall to hold himself up when Ava reached her destination and started to suck. “This isn’t right.”
She stopped and he wanted to scream at her not to. “Trust me,” she said. Her eyes were glazed with lust, her mouth red and wet, ready for him. “This is right.”
“Okay,” he groaned, digging his fingers in her hair and guiding her mouth.
Chapter 22 – Doran
Although it was someone else’s idea, it was Doran who ended up with the responsibility of organizing the party to be held in two days. King’s only advice had been to ‘delegate’ before disappearing on that wild horse of his. Seraphina had shown up for her lessons, but he cancelled them until further notice.
“What? Why do you get out of your task?” Seraphina demanded angrily.
Doran was astonished at her reaction. “Are you feeling well? You hate lessons. This is a gift. What’s wrong with you?”
“I knew things would change when that barbarian arrived!” she fumed, picking up a coffee cup and lifting it over her head.
“Seraphina!” Doran cried, striding to her and snatching the cup from her hand before she could throw it. “Of course things will change! You’re getting married, what did you think would happen? Everything would stay the same?” Doran asked, stress causing his voice to rise. The pressure of the wedding was getting to him now. It wasn’t the organizing, the complaining, the press of dozens more people in the castle. He could do that with his eyes shut. He was unaccountably angry with the situation. He didn’t want Seraphina to get married anymore than she did, and his feelings for her were confusing. He needed to sort them out.
As he plucked the cup from her hand he looked at her. Grey eyes met green and a spark of attraction ignited in his body. His eyes swept her face and he noticed she was breathing rapidly in her ire. Her bosom was rising and falling attractively and his body was reacting to her with intense desire.
Faith stuck her head in the door and coughed discreetly. Seraphina glared at her, well, at everyone, then dropped herself in a chair, huffing.
“You asked for my assistance? I am here as promised,” Faith said with a laugh and an expression of interest as she observed her cousin’s emotional state.
Doran put the cup down and greeted Faith with a smile. “Welcome, fellow organizer. Please have a seat; the rest of the committee should be arriving shortly.”
Seraphina looked at Doran with large eyes. Was that hurt? “How come you didn’t ask me to help?”
Faith answered for Doran. “You’re a guest of honour. You shouldn’t have to plan the party.”
“No, the brainless wonder is the guest of honour,” she argued.
“You are the bride-to-be. You’re a big part of this—the showpiece part. You can stay and listen, if you want,” Faith said gently.
Seraphina was angry. “Never mind, I know when I’m not wanted. The last thing I want is to run into that blockhead—”
A loud voice echoed in the hallway and Brody stuck his head in the doorway. “There you all are. I’ve been looking around this stone maze forever! Were you guys talking about me?”
Murdock arrived behind Brody. “We’ve been searching for about ten minutes, but his highness does have a very short attention span. It would have been faster to cut through the servant’s corridor, but he refused.” Brody looked very uncomfortable, but Murdock didn’t notice as he straightened his sleeves and brushed imaginary dirt from his clothes. “I have business to attend to with the guards. I trust Prince Brody is in good hands?” Turning on his heel, Murdock left without waiting for an answer.
Doran had no choice but to invite Brody to join in. Seraphina stood. “I’m going riding,” she said as she swept out of the room. At the doorway she turned to look at Doran. “I don’t care what you have to do for this party, but you’re not missing your dancing lesson. I’ll see you at lunch.”
Brody barked a laugh. “Dancing lessons? Ha, that’s funny Silversmith.” He helped himself to coffee and sat down at the table. Faith looked at Doran and shrugged.
“You know me, two left feet,” Doran said lamely.
“I can help with that,” Brody said, perking up. “Let’s go and wrestle, like men, and then I’ll teach you an easy step that you can use for all the dances,” he said.
Doran sighed. Brody had a lot of nervous energy today. He kept glancing at the door and was drumming his fingers on the table. “Sure, Brody, but I need to have this meeting first. We’re just waiting for a few of the servants to join—”
Brody leaped up from the table, causing his coffee to splash everywhere. He stumbled back and grabbed the tablecloth, taking it with him. The tinkling of broken china could be heard throughout the room.
Doran was surprised once again. Brody’s face had an expression of…fear? Guilt? Doran wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Servants? Uh, on second thought, I’ll just go riding by myself—burn off some of this energy. Anyway, Murdock says it’s not good for my image to hang around the servants.” Brody tripped on his way to the door, looked both ways at the doorway, and bolted.
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Faith sat there quietly, stunned. “What just happened?”
Doran was at a loss. “I don’t know.” He was having a strange morning.
Daisy, Ava, Belle, and Dag arrived shortly after Brody’s departure. “What happened here?” Daisy asked, looking around at the broken crockery.
“Clumsy prince equals demolition this morning,” was all Doran mumbled.
“Oh, was that Prince Brody?” Ava asked curiously, helping herself to coffee.
“Ran out of here like a bat out of hell,” Doran told her.
Ava smirked. Doran frowned and narrowed his eyes at her, feeling suspicious all of a sudden. She gave him a guileless look and sat down. He opened his mouth to ask her what she’d done when he was interrupted.
“Let’s do this, Doran,” Daisy said briskly. “I’ve got mouths to feed.”
They got started.
Chapter 23 – Seraphina
Seraphina watched as Doran and Faith conferred about the party over lunch. They planned, and complimented each other, and laughed, and complimented each other, touched hands, laughed again, and complimented each other. It was making her sick.
Zuric didn’t look particularly happy either, but he sat there stoically, eating his stew. The only sign of his ire was the violent way he was ripping his bread, as if it was someone’s head. Seraphina could probably guess whose.
Seraphina had never been jealous of Faith. They were so different they had always complemented rather than competed with each other. However, she had to accept that she was not happy that Doran was so fascinated with her. What was it about Faith that Doran liked so much?
She picked desultorily at her food. Brody was blabbing incessantly beside her, trying to get to know her. After living with Doran and conversing with him for weeks, Brody’s stories of his strength and agility were so boring. He was so dumb that he didn’t even realize she wasn’t listening. Apparently an occasional “wow” was all he needed to continue. She had learned something, though. Apparently he was a good hunter because all his stories were about the poor things he had killed.
Ava walked in with a platter of meat and Brody choked on his stew, having just taken a large mouthful. Ava dropped the platter in the middle of the table and swung around to smack Brody smartly on the back, dislodging what was stuck. He swallowed and took a deep breath, grabbing his ale and drinking it in one swallow.
“Are you okay, your highness?” Ava asked with some concern. “You almost choked there.”
“Now he knows what the animals he hunted must have felt when they died drowning in their own blood,” Seraphina said meanly.
Brody laughed and nodded, but Ava rounded on her cousin angrily and hissed in her ear. “You be nice to him and listen to his stories, do you hear me? It wouldn’t kill you to be kind for a change. He’s in the same horrible situation as you are, Seraphina.” With an angry flounce, Ava left the room. Shocked, Seraphina looked at Brody, who was watching her cousin exit.
“I’m sorry if I was rude,” she said sincerely. “I was just joking.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Brody said, but he looked troubled.
Seraphina rose from the table and looked at Doran. It was time to bring this little admiration society to a close. “It’s time to dance, Doran. Let’s go.”
With his standard courtly bow, Doran excused himself from Faith’s company and presented his arm to Seraphina. “Shall we?” he asked with a smile.
Seraphina stared at him. She wanted to smack his arm away and scream her jealousy at him, but then they wouldn’t have their dance time together, and she was desperate to have some of his attention, on her, just her, alone. Instead, she smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Lead on, my prince,” she said sweetly and was glad she did. The answering warmth and interest sparkling in his eyes made her draw a breath in anticipation.
A slight cough came from Brody’s direction. Seraphina froze. She’d forgotten her betrothed was there! Was he going to comment on the intimacy between her and Doran? They both turned slowly to look at him.
“Ahem, Doran, remember what we talked about? You know, this morning?”
Doran looked blank. “What?”
“You know, the dance step?” Brody winked.
Seraphina gave a small sigh of relief. He hadn’t noticed.
Brody broke a piece of bread and chewed it. “I don’t mean to suggest you can’t teach Doran to dance, Seraphina, but this step works for all the dances. If I can learn it so can Doran, and I’m a fantastic dancer.”
Seraphina just then felt the danger. “Thanks, Brody, but our lessons are going just fine.”
He laughed deprecatingly. “I’m sure they’re not. I’ll join you to help out once I’ve finished my lunch.”
Seraphina’s jaw dropped. Her afternoon with Doran was in perilous jeopardy.
Ava came through the doorway with more bread. “Don’t worry, Seraphina. I’ll give Brody directions to find you,” she winked conspiratorially.
Brody showed up almost an hour later. Doran had been stiff with her at first, unlike his usual swing around the room type of behaviour, but at Brody’s continued absence, he loosened up and started to enjoy himself. Seraphina liked being in Doran’s arms. They fit well together, she thought. She loved his elegant hand on her waist and the other twined with hers. She loved looking at his sculpted face and his beautiful mouth. He had a slightly crooked tooth that gave his smile great charm. She really enjoyed the feel of his body against hers as they danced, even if today he was keeping his distance from her. She’d tried to squeeze closer, but he was adamant about it.
“Seraphina, your fiancé is here. We need to act with a bit more decorum. After all, you are spoken for.”
“We’re just dancing, Doran,” she said, a trifle desperately.
His mouth tightened. “Yes, and because we’ve become fond of each other, we’ve taken some liberties,” he stated, “but that has to stop.”
Fond? She was mildly insulted. Wait. “What liberties?” she asked curiously, wondering what he thought they were.
“Ah…” Doran was saved by Brody.
“I finally found you!” he exclaimed, striding confidently into the room. He nodded to Dag, who played a few jaunty notes in acknowledgement, and stopped in front of the dancers.
They pulled apart guiltily. She held one of his hands and wouldn’t let go, even though he tugged. She had no reason to feel guilty! Brody was the outsider.
In any case, he didn’t notice.
“Er, Ava, you know, the maid…ahem. Anyway, she gave me instructions to get here, but she must be new at the castle because she sent me in circles. I know a much faster route now.”
Doran closed his eyes and shook his head.
Seraphina hid her smile. She owed Ava for that one.
Brody looked at Doran. “Okay, it’s time to dance, buddy. Seraphina, you can watch from over there.” He waved to the seats against the wall.
Seraphina looked skeptical and held on tighter to Doran’s hand. “Brody…”
“Seriously, let him go. It’s my turn to dance with him,” Brody insisted, taking Doran’s other hand.
Dag’s fiddle slipped, making a squealing sound. He was smiling broadly at the show unfolding in front of him.
Doran looked as if he were in pain.
Seraphina tugged at Doran’s arm. “Let go, Brody. I can do this.”
Brody looked mulish. “I know what I’m doing. I can teach hopeless men to dance. Let GO!” he shouted and yanked Doran’s arm. His hand was torn from her grasp and Doran went sprawling into Brody’s brawny arms.
Dag laughed out loud. Seraphina’s anger melted away and she laughed too. “Fine, you can have him!” she said, waving a hand at the two men. “Wow me. Show me what you can do, Brody.”
Doran was horrified. He did not want to dance with Brody. He started to back away.
“Come on, come on now, no time to be shy.” Brody was brisk and business like. “This is important, believe it or
not. If you want a lady to finish a dance with you in one piece, you need to learn this. Best thing I ever learned and I know lots of things. This skill got me many willing fillies…ah, in my past, of course.” He stared at Seraphina, who was now glaring at both of them.
Slightly red, Brody cleared his throat. “Watch and learn, my friend. Watch and learn.”
Chapter 24 – Pre-Party
The day of the party the castle bustled with activity. Nobles from the visiting villages arrived in groups. Doran arranged for animal housing, human housing, and meals. Groups of adults, giggling girls, and mischievous boys could be seen touring the castle. The dining room was constantly full as guests took their meals. The party would start with dinner in the evening and then dancing in the grand ballroom, which was the only room currently off limits to curious guests looking around. That room was to be a surprise.
Doran and Seraphina were at the castle’s main entrance. Doran had been there all day, directing traffic and resolving problems when she found him. He was now helping her untangle a lock of flaming hair from her riding crop. “How on earth did you do this?” he muttered. Her hair was very soft and smelled like roses, unlike the rest of her that smelled of horse, which was generally Seraphina’s daily perfume.
She shrugged in response.
She was probably going to hit someone, he thought in resignation. Her temper had been short lately. He had almost given up when a bevy of deep, familiar voices shouted his name. She yelped as Doran pulled her hair as he flinched.
They both turned and watched as three huge men barreled toward them.
His family had arrived.
“Well, this should be interesting,” she murmured. Good humour lighting her face.
Doran looked at Seraphina. “You should leave. Now.”
She grinned. “There isn’t enough gold in this castle to make me leave now.”
“Son!” It was King Silversmith, Doran’s father and her godfather. His two brothers accompanied him.
“Brace for it,” Doran said under his breath just as his father grabbed him in a bear hug and his brothers took turns thumping him on the head and back.
Seraphina could hear Doran’s bones cracking. Poor guy.
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