by Tina Leonard
He glanced at Serena but she didn’t smile. “What? What did I say? I’m not really all that nervous. You did great.”
She gazed at him. “Thank you. You’re a good teacher.”
Cade liked hearing that she thought so. “You’re a decent pupil. And a beautiful one, besides.”
Even when she rolled her eyes at him, he thought she was beautiful.
“There is so much about you that I don’t know,” she said wistfully.
“And I you,” he returned. “Like, how offended will you be if I don’t have them cut the onions on my burger?”
A reluctant smile hovered at her lips. “You don’t kiss me often anyway. Why would I even notice?”
Surprise jolted through him. “I have kissed you, though.”
“You are slow to do so and have to be encouraged.”
“Are you complaining? Or commenting?”
“Complaining.”
His gaze naturally went to her lips, which were full and deep peachy with a faint shine. Light paprika highlights sparkled in her hair as the sun came through the window and her skin glowed with a healthy polish. Her straight, tiny nose always looked regal because she challenged him on everything, giving her whole posture, including her nose, a rather saucy, upturned tip. There was even a challenge in her voice right now, disguised in her complaint, and her eyes held the unmistakable fire of the righteous attitude she held.
“I don’t even like onions,” he said, thinking that he could skip the burger, too, if she wanted to just sit in the car and neck. “Unless they’re cooked.”
“And kissing?”
“With the right woman,” he replied, knowing that would get a response from her.
“I am the right woman,” she told him, her tone imperious. “You knew it when you decided to impersonate your brother. Do not keep trying to pull the string away from me. I am not a cat to follow it.”
He laughed, reaching to touch her satiny hair with one gentle finger. “You are such a princess. I don’t think you can erase that from one single inch of your royal person.”
“You did it without regrets,” she said. “I mean to stay here with my husband. I can be a cowgirl instead of a royal.” Her nose tilted even more dangerously as she stared at him, making certain he had understood her words clearly. Then she turned to the order box and pressed the button.
“May I help you?” the order taker asked.
“Yes. Prepare me two hamburgers at once without onions,” she commanded.
Cade put his chin down on his hand so his princess wouldn’t see him laugh.
“Sure, honey,” the order taker replied, her voice implying that she hadn’t appreciated the peremptory demand. “Would you like that served to you on a silver platter?”
Cade recognized the tone coming over the speaker as someone who had known everybody in Bridle from the time they were in diapers and didn’t take guff from anyone.
“Yes, that will be fine,” Serena answered.
“Is there anything else I can get Your Highness?” the waitress asked sarcastically.
“How did she know it was me?” Serena glanced at Cade, puzzled.
He shrugged. “I think she’s trying to make a point.”
Serena frowned. “What point?”
“She didn’t like the way you placed your order.”
“What does that have to do with her addressing me by my title?”
Sighing, he said, “She’s being testy because she thinks you ordered her to get your lunch.”
“I did. That’s what I’m supposed to do. Order lunch.”
“Yes, but in Bridle, we don’t really order. We’ve all known each other for years, or at least known someone who knows someone else, so we request politely and maybe even ask after the kids,” he explained as gently as he could.
“I see,” Serena said. “I am sorry that I have offended the custom.” She leaned back to the microphone. “Pardon me,” she said, her tone contrite.
“Yes?” The woman was in no way appeased.
“If we could also have two sodas, that would be very nice. And I was wondering how your children are doing.”
Cade clapped his hand over his forehead.
“Who is this?” the woman demanded.
“Princess Serena Wilson-Al Farid,” Serena said. “And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing, please?”
“Queen Polly Ann Smith Dorchester Smith, because I married my first husband again after my second husband kicked the bucket. I didn’t include my maiden name in my title because it’s a mouthful. I’ll have your silver platter right out to ya, honey.”
The voice went away. Serena looked back to Cade happily. “She was still being testy when she said she was a queen, but you were correct, she appreciated the courtesy of the inquiry. I didn’t realize that there was social protocol to be observed. I will remember to always ask after the family of the person to whom I am speaking.”
He couldn’t help falling a little bit under her spell. The glow in her eyes was too alluring, the delight in her tone too compelling. If he was on her turf in Balahar, he’d be making mistakes and gaffes all over the place. “You’re doing fine, Serena.”
“I am trying, my husband.”
The waitress came out to the car carrying a red tray lined with silver foil. “It’s kinda slow, honey, so I took the time to make this humble plastic tray as royal as I could,” she said with a raised brow.
Serena nodded. “Your efforts are appreciated.”
Polly Ann looked more closely at Serena. “Hey, haven’t I seen you somewhere?”
Cade pulled his hat down over his eyes, leaned forward and slipped the waitress a twenty. “We’re in a bit of a hurry, so keep the change.”
Serena took the hamburgers and drinks off the tray and handed them to Cade, before switching on the car engine.
“I am learning to drive in America,” she told the waitress kindly. “I have never done so before, so you might want to step back onto the curb. I almost ran through a fence before I got here.”
Polly Ann jumped back onto the curb, the silver paper on the tray fluttering in the breeze. She stared at Serena as she neatly put the truck in reverse, then just as Serena shifted into Drive and moved away from the parking spot, the woman’s mouth rounded in an O of recognition.
Cade grinned, his headache starting to recede for some reason. “I like being with you,” he told Serena. “I honestly didn’t realize how much I could enjoy doing simple things like going to a drive-up with a woman.”
“Not just any woman,” Serena reminded him as she blithely rolled a stop sign. “Me.”
A loud siren blared behind them. Cade shook his head, regretfully wrapping the burger back into the silver foil. “And then again…” he said with a sigh.
Chapter Fourteen
“Hey there,” Officer Duncan Peterson said, leaning on the car window to gaze at Serena. “Howdy, Cade,” he continued as an afterthought, clearly smitten by the driver of the truck.
“Duncan,” Cade said with a slightly embarrassed nod. Serena had ignored that stop sign as if it were invisible! “My friend is learning to drive, and I guess I glossed over the part about making sure the car stops completely at stop signs.”
“You can turn right on red,” Duncan told Serena, his tone admiring, “but you must stop first. So, I saw your picture in the paper, Princess. How do you like Bridle so far?”
“It’s lovely—” Serena began.
“Excuse me,” Cade interrupted. “I’m sure you’ve got a heavy workload today, Duncan. Don’t you want to write me a ticket?”
“Nah. It’s not every day a man gets to meet a real princess. So, what’s a princess like you doing with a guy like him anyway?” Duncan asked, his tone teasing and his remark aimed at riling Cade.
Duncan’s down-home ease with Serena annoyed Cade to no end—not that he was jealous.
“How is your family?” Serena inquired.
The officer raised his eyebrows as he stared
at her. “They’re all fine, sweetheart. Thanks for asking. Has Cade been telling you about my rascals?”
“No. I just met Polly Ann Smith Dorchester Smith at the drive-up and Cade explained to me that it is courteous in Bridle to inquire about everyone’s families.”
Duncan shook his head. “How did you manage to meet this doll?” he asked Cade, not caring what she learned from Polly Ann or anyone else. “As a word of caution from an old friend, don’t blow this one. As I recall, you couldn’t establish a commitment to save your soul after Penny Dearing dumped you.”
Serena turned her head to examine Cade. “I do not know Penny Dearing.”
Duncan laughed. “She moved up north with a rich fellow not too many years ago, right after deciding that Cade didn’t have deep enough pockets, I guess. Funny when you think about that one, isn’t it, Cade? You hanging out with a real princess and all? Bet you wish Penny could see you now.”
Serena frowned. “But Kadar is a pr—”
“Could we just have the ticket?” Cade interrupted.
“Penny wasn’t near as pretty as you are, though,” Duncan continued. “Considering all the times I saw Cade making out with that gal when he was here on college breaks, I’d bet you can’t pull him off your face, sweetie.”
Cade could feel his wife’s intense attention burning his face. “Could we please have a ticket?” he demanded. “So you can get back to work?”
Serena turned back to Duncan. “Cade feels that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of their station in life. Please give him a ticket for my driving error, as well as the fact that of course I have no license, and anything else you can think of that I might have done.”
Duncan grinned at her. “I’ve never seen two people more eager to get written up, Princess. But I’m going to have to let you off the hook today. With you being new to our country and all, I wouldn’t feel good about it. We want you to be happy here in Bridle, even if you are stuck with this ol’ hombre. That’s punishment enough.”
Cade sighed. “Thanks, Duncan. We really shouldn’t keep you any longer from maintaining law and order at the coffeehouse and the pizza restaurant.”
“That’s all right. I can’t wait to tell the wife who I met today. Your picture in the paper didn’t do you justice,” he complimented Serena. “It was an honor to meet you.”
Serena beamed at him. “And I am honored to make your acquaintance as well.”
“When you run out of patience with Cade, you call the local high school for driving lessons. They offer courses for folks to brush up on their skills.”
“Thank you, Officer Peterson.”
“My pleasure, Princess.”
The policeman did everything but bow as he patted Serena on the shoulder and backed away from their truck. Cade grunted with annoyance. “Duncan is a numbskull, although a nice one.”
She looked thoughtful. “I cannot understand why a woman would marry anyone other than you if she had the chance. Considering your family and The Desert Rose, it is a good arrangement for any woman…” She looked at him for a moment, shyly. “And then there is you, which, when you are not being stubborn, is the very best part of the marriage arrangement for a woman. At least that is my opinion.”
They sat silently for a moment before Serena straightened. “I will know at once why you could not stay off Penny Dearing’s face and have to be dragged to kiss mine.”
Cade shook his head. “That was a few years back. I’d forgotten all about her until Duncan mentioned her.”
“Oh,” Serena said, her tone somewhat mollified. “I didn’t like hearing that you’d kissed another woman, but if you’d forgotten about her—”
“I did. I had.” Cade wanted clear of this subject immediately.
“Then kiss me,” Serena demanded.
“Now?” They’d nearly gotten a citation, and the princess wanted to smooch.
Then again, it wasn’t all that bad an idea, Cade decided, staring at her twinkling eyes and bright smile. “You know, I think you like living on the edge, Serena.”
“Now, Prince Kadar,” she reiterated, puckering. “Otherwise I will have to again bring up the unfortunate Penny Dearing, who passed up a true prince to marry a rich man and move away up north.”
“All right,” he said, leaning to frame her face with one hand as he drew her close to him. The feeling of Serena’s lips molding to his sent heat into regions of his body he’d let grow cold over time. She warmed his heart; she warmed his life.
Maybe, he thought as she slid her fingers through the hair on the back of his nape, maybe I could sit here all day and kiss this lady.
Behind them, the siren wailed again. Serena and Cade jumped apart as if they’d been snapped by static.
They poked their heads out of opposite truck windows to stare back at Duncan, who was waving from the cruiser. Using the speaker, he said, “You two can’t sit there and obstruct traffic. I’ll have to give you a ticket for that.”
“Start the engine,” Cade tersely said. “Let’s get home.”
Home. It was the first time he’d thought of The Desert Rose as home for him and Serena as a married couple. Suddenly the pieces in his life shifted, and instead of thinking that she might want to leave Bridle in a few days, he was hoping that she’d want to stay with him.
Somehow, she had become his home.
THE SECOND SERENA PULLED into The Desert Rose driveway, she panicked and threw the truck into a grinding halt. She had good reason to panic, because reporters swarmed the truck, snapping pictures and thrusting microphones through the open window.
“Did you know your marriage isn’t legal, Princess?” a reporter asked.
“Why are you hiding who you really are, Prince Kadar?” another one demanded. “Why are you hiding out here in Bridle, Texas?”
Serena glanced to Cade, horrified. “I told no one,” she said on a gasp. “I promise you I did not.”
“Drive close to the house, up on the yard,” he instructed tersely. “We’ll make a run for it from there.”
“But they are blocking the way!”
“They’ll move.”
She forced the truck forward slowly and reporters reluctantly eased out of the path. Suddenly they heard the familiar blare of a police siren behind them.
Duncan got out of the cruiser with a bullhorn. “Ya’ll are on private property. Move away from the truck, and find yourselves a place down the lane to park. Any pictures taken closer than the sign posted that says Private Drive will be considered evidence that you have trespassed on private property.”
The reporters mumbled, not of a mind to listen.
“They’re not going to talk to you,” he continued. “Whereas maybe if you haul yourselves a safe distance away, the family might be talked into a press conference at some point.”
“Drive while he’s got their attention,” Cade said swiftly. “Park on the lawn next to the steps.”
She did, her hands trembling on the steering wheel as she told herself she could do this, she could drive close to the house without hitting any of the pretty landscaping.
“That’ a girl,” Cade said. “Now put it in Park and let’s get inside.”
She did as he asked, and they both jumped out of the truck, hurrying onto the porch.
“Thanks, Duncan,” Cade called.
“Forgot to tell you your mom had called to ask if there was anything to be done about the reporters. I’ll handle ’em.”
Cade waved his thanks but didn’t hang around long enough to see the “handling.” Rose held the door open, closing it behind them as Serena and Cade came through. “Somehow,” she said simply, “they found out that the princess is not your wife in proper name.”
“I wonder who could be behind that.” Cade didn’t like his short time with Serena being the object of the world’s scrutiny.
Serena and Rose glanced at each other.
“Layla,” they said together.
“Why? Why this plan? What does it accomp
lish for her?” he asked.
“She brings us out of hiding, and with a media spotlight turned on this awkward position between you and Serena, she is hoping that the country of Sorajhee will feel that King Zak is not being honest with them. That there is a reason he had his daughter married in secret. Remember that there has been unrest between the two countries lately. Layla and Azzam are heating the situation to a boiling point. King Zak and I had hoped that a royal marriage between Serena and Prince Makin would be satisfactory to the people, as Makin is the son of Ibrahim, whom the people of Sorajhee had loved.”
“But because the marriage didn’t go off as planned, and since it isn’t even legal, the people are suspicious,” Cade finished.
“Not to mention that Layla will be at the ready, sending out her teams of well-versed gossipmongers to spread lies to increase the people’s tension,” Rose explained. “It is a difficult problem we have unwittingly brought to the king, Kadar.”
“Have you spoken to my father?” Serena asked.
“Not as yet. The press only just arrived, so none of this has had a chance to hit the world airwaves.” Rose shook her head sadly. “When I think of all the years Randy and Vi protected us, kept your very existence a secret, it makes me want to tear every hair from Layla’s wicked head. She has gone too far now.”
“Mother.” Cade put an arm around his mother’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “Somehow we’ll make all this work out.”
“Perhaps it is best if I return home now,” Serena said softly. “My presence has caused enough trouble already.”
“Absolutely not,” Cade and Rose said in unison.
“No matter what, I am determined that Layla will not force you and Cade to make decisions you will regret for the rest of your lives,” Rose said. “Unless this latest dilemma changes your father’s mind, you have yet a week at The Desert Rose if you want to stay, Serena.”
Serena looked at Cade, wondering what she would see in his eyes. Did he really want her to stay? Or was it merely his pride that was talking?
“You are not going, Serena,” he said, shocking her. “You don’t move one inch from The Desert Rose until you tell me you want to go. And then I will fly you back to Balahar myself.”
