“I’m very pleased,” King Malik said as they walked out of the stables. “Rida has settled in nicely. Selling him to you was a wise decision. I hope we can continue to do business together.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
The polite response when the real one was “Are you kidding? It will be years before I can afford another horse like him.”
He thought about Bethany, then tried not to think about Bethany. He wanted to say something to her father, but what? There were no questions he could ask, nothing to be said. Not when—
He swore silently. King Malik wasn’t here because of a horse—he wanted to check on his daughter. Only he wouldn’t say that. Cade would be a moron to think otherwise.
“You came a long way to check on a horse,” he finally said, wondering if the older man would take the bait.
“I was in the neighborhood.”
“Happily Inc isn’t close to El Bahar.”
“Distance is a matter of perspective, as is much of life. Rida has left our stable to become part of yours, yet he will live on in both. At first, he would have been uncomfortable here, but now this is his home. So it is with life.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
King Malik surprised him by smiling. “I’m the king. I don’t have to.”
“I guess no one’s going to argue with that.”
King Malik surprised him again by putting his hand on Cade’s shoulder. “You have done well and I am pleased.”
Words that shouldn’t have mattered, yet somehow eased a tiny fraction of the gaping hole inside his heart.
“Thank you.”
With that, Malik walked back to his car, nodded at his driver and got in. Seconds later, they were gone.
Cade stared after them wondering what on earth had just happened. Malik had flown halfway around the world for a ten-minute visit? He hadn’t even spoken to Bethany—there hadn’t been time.
He started toward the house, only to realize that if she hadn’t left with her father, she was still here. He stopped outside the back door, not wanting to go inside, yet wanting to see her. Only he couldn’t want that because the Bethany he’d known, the Bethany he’d started to care about, wasn’t real.
He’d understood Lynette was vain and selfish, but he’d told himself her love for him would overcome all that. He’d ignored the problems in their relationship, her willingness to sleep with him without ever talking about the future. He’d assumed she would grow up a little and see they belonged together, and he’d been wrong.
In hindsight, he’d been lucky to escape as easily as he had. If she hadn’t dumped him, he might have been tempted to hang around and try to change her mind. What a disaster if he had.
But with Bethany, everything was different. He knew her. Knew she was a hard worker, knew she was kind and funny and determined. She was fearless, affectionate and it had all been a lie.
Maybe not all of it, but enough. He had no idea which parts of her were real and which were just a game—the princess playing at being like everyone else.
He walked into the house and found her waiting in the kitchen. She’d dressed in jeans and a T-shirt—her usual work uniform. He took in the thick braid, the big blue eyes and felt a stabbing sensation in his gut. He wanted to tell himself he’d gotten off easy a second time, that his luck was holding, but he knew better. Forgetting Lynette had taken a couple of weeks and then he’d been over her. With Bethany it would take longer. Possibly several lifetimes.
She stood with the kitchen counter between them. She placed her hands on the worn tiles—hands that were almost as strong and scarred as his own.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “I want to be clear that I’m not going to say I didn’t mean to lie to you. Of course I did. I came here as Beth Smith. I didn’t want you to know who I was. I didn’t want anyone to know.”
“Everyone has fun in her own way.”
She flinched. The movement was small, but he caught it. Caught the intake of breath, as if he’d hurt her. He tried to find pleasure in that, and couldn’t. Instead he wanted to go to her, pull her close and tell her he was sorry. That they would figure it out. Only he knew that forgiving her would begin a spiral from which he would never escape. Better to let her talk, then send her packing.
“It wasn’t for fun,” she told him. “From my perspective, it was for survival.” She hesitated. “At the risk of playing the ‘poor little princess’ card, it’s not easy being in my position. I’m an American at heart, living in El Bahar as the daughter of the king. I straddle both worlds and I don’t do it well. I love my family but I want more from life than an arranged marriage and having babies. The problem is there are limitations to what I can do as Princess Bethany.”
Her expression turned pleading. “Imagine how things would have been different if I’d come here as her. You wouldn’t have talked to me or let me stay at the house. You would have treated me differently.”
He wanted to say that wasn’t true, but it was. He wouldn’t have teased Princess Bethany or taken her to dinner with his family. He wouldn’t have kissed her or...
“You lied,” he said, more to distract himself than accuse her.
“I did.” She continued to hold his gaze. “I’m sorry about that. I was wrong, but I’m not sure I could have made another decision.” She drew in a breath. “I like being plain Beth Smith. I like being the same as everyone else. I like being accepted for me and not having to worry that people are pretending to like me because I’m a member of the royal family. I’m not famous enough to be recognized in my regular life. Not outside of El Bahar and I want to keep it that way.”
She glanced down, then back at him. “Do you remember when I told you about the guy in college who took pictures of me?”
He nodded.
“He didn’t just post them on the internet. He sold them to a tabloid. It was a big juicy headline.” She made air quotes. “‘I Deflowered a Princess.’”
Rage exploded. Cade took a step forward, then realized he had no one to attack and no reason to defend.
“I was so humiliated. My parents never said anything, but I knew they were disappointed. It was horrible. I left college. Maybe I should have stayed, but the press was everywhere. I felt so naked every second of every day. I just wanted to hide. That’s when I started working in my dad’s stables. There nobody cared. When I delivered my first horse to a new buyer, I went as Beth Smith and it was great. I wasn’t recognized. I was just that girl with the horse. It never mattered before. Not until I came here.”
He wanted to believe her. That was what got him. He wanted to say it was fine, that he would forgive her and they would go on as before. Only he knew that was a joke. Just like them.
“I get it,” he told her. “You wanted to escape the whole royal thing and you did. Good for you.”
Her expression turned wary. “What aren’t you saying?”
“That it doesn’t matter. You had your reason, Princess Bethany, but at the end of the day, you lied about everything and we have nothing. We never did.”
* * *
BETHANY SUPPOSED THAT on her list of sins, taking one of the ranch trucks without asking was the least of it. She would have told Cade she wanted to borrow it, but since he’d walked out of the kitchen two hours before, she hadn’t seen him.
She was already packed and had a car coming to pick her up and take her LAX. From there she would fly home. But until the car arrived, she had unfinished business.
She drove through Happily Inc, doing her best to memorize all the cute businesses, decorated for the holidays. It was a great little town with lots of character and warm people. She thought maybe she could have been happy here.
She parked outside of Weddings Out of the Box. She’d already texted Pallas to ask if she could stop by. She didn’t want to leave until she’d spoken with her friend.
Although to be honest, she wasn’t sure if she and Pallas would still be friends after Bethany told her the truth.
Pallas greeted her on the stairs and brought her up to what looked like a small break room. “What brings you to town?”
“I wanted to talk to you.”
Pallas grinned. “I should probably be subtle, but I think I can guess the topic. I saw the way you and my brother were looking at each other at dinner the other night. There were some serious sparks.” She paused, then laughed. “Okay, I want to know everything right up until the kissing starts. Not that I’m not going to be a good friend, but Cade is my brother and there are some things a sister simply doesn’t want to know.”
Pallas poured them each a cup of coffee, then opened a small box of Oreos. They settled at a round table.
“So?” Pallas beamed at her. “You’re crazy about him, aren’t you?”
Bethany was shocked to feel her eyes fill with tears. Pallas was at her side in a second.
“What?” her friend demanded. “Did Cade do something stupid? I hate it when men are stupid. What happened?”
Bethany sniffed. “It’s not him, it’s me. I lied to him.” She looked at her friend. “I’m sorry. I lied to you, too.”
“Oh, please. About what?”
“About who I am.”
Pallas returned to her seat and grabbed a cookie. “What does that even mean? You’re an alien? You have antenna and a tail?”
“I’m a princess.”
Pallas froze, the Oreo partway to her mouth. She stared at Bethany, then put down the cookie. “A what?”
“Princess. My father is the king of El Bahar. My mom met him when I was nine and we moved there so she could teach at the American School. They got married and when my biological father died, Malik adopted me. I’m really Princess Bethany of El Bahar.”
“Wow. That’s so cool.” Pallas picked up the cookie again. “No offense, but you don’t act like a princess at all. You’re so like a normal person.”
“Thanks.” Bethany felt some of her tension ease. “I’m sorry I lied to you and everyone. There are a lot of reasons.”
Pallas waved her hand. “You don’t have to explain it to me. Of course you wouldn’t want everyone to know. That must be a drag. As Beth Smith you got to be yourself. No one fawned, you didn’t have to guess if we liked you, you could burp in public.”
Despite everything, Bethany laughed. “Exactly.” Her humor faded. “Your brother doesn’t see it that way. He feels betrayed.”
Pallas rolled her eyes. “Then he needs to get over it. I mean, come on. It makes perfect sense.”
Not to Cade, Bethany thought. He would only see that she lied about who she was. He would feel that she tricked him, mostly likely for sport. He would judge her by Lynette.
“Thank you for understanding,” Bethany said. “I wanted you to know the truth. I hope we can stay in touch.”
“That sounds like you’re leaving.”
“I am.”
“What? Why? I thought you were happy here.”
“I don’t belong.” Bethany shook her head. “Sorry. I need to be honest. I love it here, but Cade doesn’t want me and at the risk of sounding too much like a pathetic coed, without him, there’s no point in staying.”
Pallas narrowed her gaze. “Okay, I’ll accept all the rest of it, but not that. You are both too involved for you to just walk away. Have you told him how you feel?”
Bethany didn’t bother wondering how Pallas had guessed. When it came to love, everyone was smarter than her.
“He won’t care.”
“You don’t know that. Bethany, I’m serious. You have to tell him. If you don’t, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life. Cade’s one of the good guys. He’s worth fighting for.”
On the drive back to the ranch, Bethany couldn’t stop thinking about what her friend had said. That Cade was worth fighting for. She turned the idea over and over in her head, wondering if she’d ever had to fight for anything before.
So much had been handed to her. So much simply given by virtue of who her mother had married. When there had been trouble at her boarding school, she’d run home. The same in college. Had she ever once stood her ground?
She found Cade at his office in the stable. He didn’t look happy to see her, but she didn’t care. What she had to say couldn’t wait for him to be in a better mood.
She carefully closed the door behind her, then sat at his desk across from him.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “I think you can understand why I did what I did, but you can’t get past it. It brings up too much hurt from your past. I agree that there were so many times when I could have told you who I was and a bunch of times I should have told you the truth. I was wrong. I guess I’ve always let circumstances dictate who I was and what was going to happen. I never made any of the hard decisions myself. I’ve drifted, which is ridiculous. Poor little rich girl with too many options. I want to be different. I want to change.”
She took a breath. She was going to have to lay it all on the line and hope that Cade would give her a second chance.
“I know you’re hurt and angry. At the end of the day, whatever my reason, I lied. I take responsibility for that and I ask for your forgiveness. I hope you’ll consider giving me a second chance because what we have together is good and special, and as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t happen all that often.”
Now came the hard part, she told herself.
“I’ve fallen in love with you,” she told him. “With you and this town and I hope you’re feeling, if not the same, then maybe you can see yourself...”
Her voice trailed off. Instead of softening, Cade’s expression hardened. His eyes became icy and his mouth formed a straight line.
“Don’t,” he told her. “It’s not going to work, Bethany. You should have stopped with the apology. That I might have believed. But this crap—it’s not gonna happen.”
“It’s not crap,” she whispered, feeling heat on her cheeks. “It’s not. I love you. Why would I lie about my feelings? How does telling you the truth make this crap?”
“It just is. Sell it somewhere else. I’m not buying it for a second.”
And that was it, she thought numbly. The end of what could have been. Being brave was highly overrated.
“Okay.” She brushed the tears from her cheeks. “I guess this is goodbye.”
“I guess it is.”
There was so much else she wanted to say but what was the point? She walked out of his office and went to the stable to see Rida one last time before going to the airport. Once she was home, she would figure out what to do next. And how to stop being in love with Cade.
CHAPTER NINE
RIDA CANTERED DOWN the trail but Cade could tell his heart wasn’t in it. Bethany had been gone for nearly a week and Rida continued to miss her. The stallion had allowed Cade to ride him for the past three days without putting up any kind of a fight. Cade suspected that was more about being lonely than because of Cade’s training skills.
Together they turned back to the barn. Rida knew the way and kept to the main path. When they reached the stable, he looked around, as if searching for someone. Then his head lowered slightly and he walked to the paddock.
Cade walked him to cool him off, then groomed him and checked for injuries before turning him out into the pasture. He would put him in his stall after he’d had a chance to relax in the sun.
Harry jumped up on the railing and walked over to get his head rub, then meowed for Rida. The horse trotted over and stood close so the cat could rub against his face. Rida looked at Cade, as if asking him to fix the problem.
“I can’t, big guy,” he told the horse. “I’m sorry.”
Rida didn’t look convinced.
Cade thought about pointing out he was suffering, too. That h
e missed everything about Bethany, but there was no point. Not only wouldn’t the horse understand, if he could appreciate the sentiment, he would most likely tell Cade to take care of business. It wasn’t as if Rida could text or call.
Cade knew he couldn’t, either. He had all the reasons and he was determined. In time, he would forget her. Only that hadn’t happened yet.
Cade headed for his office, then stopped when he recognized his sister’s car by the back of the house. He saw her sitting on the porch and went to join her.
“Hey,” she called as he approached. “How’s it going?”
He’d texted her after Bethany had left to let her know her friend was gone. Pallas’s response had been to say that she was around if he wanted to talk. Apparently she’d gotten tired of waiting for him.
“I’m good. How are you?”
She studied him for a second. “You’re going to be a jerk about her, aren’t you?”
“I see you’re getting right to the point.”
She waved a folder. “You’re my brother and I love you, so yes, I’m going to try to convince you not to be an idiot.”
“You have no idea what happened between me and her.”
“I know she’s in love with you and I’m pretty sure you feel the same way about her.”
No, he told himself. He didn’t love her. He refused. She’d lied and nothing else mattered.
Pallas waved the folder at him again. “I thought you might retreat into strong-silent mode. It was always your way of dealing with stuff. When Mom got on your nerves, you went to the ranch. Before that, you’d hide out somewhere in the backyard. You don’t believe in confrontations. You walk away. Well, walking away this time is a big mistake, Cade, because if you take too long to figure out what she means to you, you could lose her forever.”
She opened the folder. “The internet is an amazing place. Nothing ever dies, it just gets harder to find.” She picked up a piece of paper. “When Bethany was fourteen, a friend wrote a blog about how Bethany had a crush on a guy at a neighboring boarding school. The supposed friend gets into details about how Bethany wanted him to kiss her at the school dance and he didn’t. The friend posted the story online and it went viral. Remember your first crush? Wouldn’t having the whole world know be special?”
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