by Kira Archer
Chris looked at Harrison. “Help.”
He snorted. “Sorry, mate. I’d rather they interrogate you than me. Besides, I’d like to know the answer to that, too.”
He sat back and listened while Chris tried to fend off his friends’ rapid-fire questions about the demise of his relationship with Kiersten’s BFF, truly grateful they had moved on from questioning him. Mostly because he didn’t have any answers.
Technically, nothing was going on with Nicole. It was a farce. But when he was with her…it didn’t feel so fake. He’d never felt so simultaneously happy, terrified, and confused as he was after a few minutes with her. She was somehow everything he’d ever wanted and everything he’d always been trying to get away from all rolled into one. And how would that work? Even if they were on the same continent?
He looked up to find all three men staring at him. “What?”
They laughed. “See?” Brooks said. “He’s a goner.”
Cole laughed, and Chris gave him a sympathetic look. Harrison scowled at them all. “Bite me.”
They laughed again, and he drained the rest of his glass. “Besides, being with Nicole would mean ruining our tradition.”
“What tradition?” Cole asked.
“You married Kiersten. Brooks married one of Kiersten’s best friends. Chris…” Harrison glanced at his friend. “Sorry, mate, but Chris was, until recently, in the longest relationship of his life with another of Kiersten’s best friends. Nicole doesn’t fit the bill.”
The sound of female laughter echoed from the doorway moments before the women themselves entered. Granny, talking animatedly to Leah, while Kiersten and Nicole followed behind. Arm in arm, heads together, laughing like they’d known each other all their lives. They waved to the men and then cozied up in a booth.
“You were saying?” Cole said.
Harrison swallowed hard. “Shit.”
Chapter Twelve
Nikki grabbed the bedpost and gasped, letting her breath out in a slow, tortured moan.
“Oh my God.” She gripped the post tighter. “How the hell did women breathe in these getups?”
Granny laughed. “They didn’t, lassie. Why do ye think they were always having cases of the vapors? Any little bit o’excitement and the poor dears would keel over from sheer lack of oxygen.” She cackled again and lightly wacked Kiersten with her cane. “One more good tug!”
Kiersten obliged, but Nikki let go of the post and grabbed at her ribs. “Nope, that was one too many. Holy crap, someone loosen this thing or I think I’m going to lose a rib.”
Kiersten hurried to loosen up the laces enough that Nikki could draw in a decent breath.
Granny shook her head and clucked her tongue. “Och. What’s a bit o’ pain? It’s well worth it, I say.”
Nikki snorted. “Well, you can say it all you want. I prefer breathing to having an eighteen-inch waist.”
Granny waved her off. “Suit yerself, lass.” She pushed herself to her feet. “I’ve sat around on me arse long enough. I’ve things to do. I’ll be seeing myself out.”
She toddled off, muttering under her breath about the lacking fortitude in women these days.
Kiersten smiled, eyebrows raised. “She’s interesting.”
“Very,” Leah agreed.
“I like her,” Nikki said. “Speaks her mind. Does what she pleases. Couldn’t care at all what people think of her. And she’s just ornery enough to be interesting without being totally miserable to be around. She’s awesome.” Then she frowned. “Mostly. I guess she did get me in this mess.”
She plucked at her corset but before anyone could say anything, Izzy entered with an enormous dress bag over her arm.
“Wait until you guys see this,” she said, hanging it on the open door of the armoire. She wasted no time in unzipping the bag and revealing the dress in all its glory.
“Oh, wow!” Nikki said, rushing over to it so she could run her fingers along the gold embroidered leaves on the skirt. “It’s an exact replica of the one Claire wears at her wedding on the show!”
She clasped her hands together and jumped up and down like a five-year-old who was just told she got a pony for her birthday.
“Okay, this makes it all worth it,” she said, gesturing the ladies over to help her get into the thing.
“Yes, speaking of all this,” Kiersten said, holding open one side of the skirt for Nikki to step into, “what is really going on with you and Harrison?”
She shrugged, trying to act casual and focusing her attention on the gorgeous dress she was slipping into. “Nothing.”
“Honey, you’re trying on a wedding dress. That’s anything but nothing,” Izzy said.
“Right,” Leah said from behind her where she was fastening more laces. “Spill the beans.”
“Really, it just…is what it is. Like Harrison said. We’re doing it for his grandmother.”
“Yeah, I get that the wedding thing might be for his grandmother,” Kiersten said. “We don’t mean that. We mean the two of you. You guys sort of tiptoe around each other like you don’t know how to act. At least when there are other people around.”
Nikki went to the full-length mirror and stared at herself. They weren’t wrong. When she and Harrison were alone, things seemed much easier. More natural. Sure, she was still nervous around him. Got those damn butterflies like she was some middle-school kid with her first serious crush on a boy. But once they started talking, it was really nice. Even just sitting with him in silence was comfortable. Something she hadn’t ever experienced before.
When other people were around, it felt like they were on display, putting on a show. Which, they were. But it was more like everyone was analyzing every move they made or word they said, trying to read something into it. Which, between the villagers’ bet and his friends’ preoccupation, they sort of were.
“I mean, I think he’s great and all,” she finally said. “He’s definitely easy on the eyes. And that accent has a way of making you go weak at the knees.”
She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, all eighteenth century bridal glory with a dopey grin on her face and a trio of women with knowing smiles on their faces, and tried to snap herself out of it.
She cleared her throat. “But there’s nothing going on. He’s my temporary boss. We’re friends, I guess.”
Kiersten looked at her. “Well, how do you feel when you see him?”
“I don’t know.” She plucked at her dress. She may have had an idea…but not one she was comfortable sharing out loud.
“Do you get butterflies? Excited? You seem happy when you see each other,” Kiersten said.
Izzy nodded. “Yeah, I’m not even into all that romantic stuff, but you certainly seem to have the hots for one another.”
Nikki glanced at the three of them, her cheeks flushing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh come on,” Izzy said.
“Okay, fine,” Nikki said. “I think he’s hot.”
The other women grinned at her and each other.
“But,” Nikki added, “what difference does that make? He’s my boss.”
“I think maybe you should be taking advantage of that,” Izzy said with a wink at Kiersten.
“Come on,” Nikki said. “This whole fiancée thing is a total sham. Nothing is ever going to come of it, and I don’t want anything to. We barely know each other.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Leah said. “You know, love at first sight is possible. Brooks and I fell pretty hard for each other when we first met. We were just stubborn about it. But we got married before we knew that we were in love, and it worked out fine.”
Nikki looked up at her in surprise. “You’re going to have to tell me the whole story one of these days. But that doesn’t mean that something like that happens all the time. It was a fluke.”
Leah shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. Might be worth it to find out, though.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,” Nikki said. “T
he last thing in the world I need is to jump into a relationship with another man.”
“What do you mean?”
Nikki sighed and stepped off the stool she’d been standing on for the fitting, sitting on it instead. Her dress poofed out around her like a giant meringue, and she ran her fingers over the silky fabric. “I’ve been in one relationship or another my whole life. I’ve never been alone. I’m like a serial monogamist.”
Leah nodded. “I get that.” She glanced at the other ladies. “We should hook her up with Chris. That seems to be his specialty.”
Kiersten shushed her. “I get what you’re saying. Really, I do. But I would hate for you to miss out on a good thing because of past mistakes.”
“True,” Nikki said. “At the same time I don’t want to make all new mistakes just because I’m afraid of missing out on something. I need to learn how to be by myself before I can be with someone else and actually make it work. I can barely make my own life work at the moment.”
“What happens if he’s not still there when you’re done doing that?” Kiersten asked.
Nikki forced a laugh. “You guys are assuming there’s a possibility he might be there at all. You still haven’t convinced me of that. Aside from some…physical attraction, he’s done nothing to make me think he’s even interested in a relationship. And,” she added, holding up her hand, “it wouldn’t matter if he was, because I’m not.”
She climbed back on the stool. “Now, let’s get this thing fitted so I can get out of it and breathe again.”
The ladies let the matter drop, though Nikki caught more than one speculative look between them.
If Nikki wanted to be honest with herself, she’d admit the thought of Harrison with anyone else bummed her out a lot more than it should. After all they weren’t in a real relationship. They didn’t know each other all that well, and she had no claim on him.
If she was wrong and he was interested—and if she ever wanted to admit she was also—then waiting until she was in a better place was a chance she would have to take.
She would just have to hope that she wasn’t making another huge mistake.
“What’s behind that door?” Nikki asked, pointing to a rounded door at the top of a short flight of stairs.
“We don’t need to go up there.”
She frowned. “I thought we had to check out everything one last time to make sure it was all good.”
“That room won’t be open to the public.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Because it’s private.”
She folded her arms. “You realize you’re making me more curious to see it with all the vague answers, right?”
His lips twitched. “You know what they say about curiosity.”
“That there’s only one way to satisfy it?”
“No…”
But before he could protest further, she’d jogged up the stairs and was pushing the door open. She sucked in a surprised breath, and he put his head down and sighed. No avoiding this now.
He followed her up the stairs and stood at the doorway as she wandered slowly around the room that had been his private haven when he was growing up.
“Wow,” she said, craning her neck to gaze up at the elaborate models of planets, stars, constellations, and galaxies that he had spent years arranging on his ceiling.
He watched her, waiting to see how she’d react to this peek into his geeky side. He’d never shown a woman this space before. Never invited anyone in here, though he was sure at least some of his family members had seen it.
“This is seriously cool,” Nikki said with a huge grin.
His body relaxed, and he returned her smile. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted her to like something that meant so much to him.
“Did you do all this?”
He nodded and walked farther into the room, looking up at his projects. “Whenever I was home on breaks or holidays I’d hide away up here and build my models. I’ve always been a huge space junkie so…” He shrugged.
“It’s really incredible,” she said, spinning slowly and taking it all in.
“Wait just a second. Stay right there.” He held his hand out to her to keep her in place and then went to the light switch. He turned off the main light and then switched on the other knob he’d installed.
Her gasp filled the room as hundreds of tiny twinkle lights lit up the vaulted ceiling.
“Oh, wow,” she said, reaching out to grab his arm when he came back to her. “Harrison, this is amazing.”
She slipped her arm around his waist and leaned her head against his chest as she continued to look up at the stars, constellations, and galaxies that he’d painstakingly created out of lights. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close. She settled against him with a soft sigh.
They were silent for a few moments. It wasn’t awkward, though. Relaxing, quietly intimate. But not awkward.
“It’s pretty cool that you grew up to work in an industry you loved as child,” she said, tilting her head enough to look up at him.
“It took me awhile to get there. I got lucky with a few of my early designs, made a few million, invested wisely. Made enough to start my company and hire the best minds in the field to help me develop designs and software that I hoped would change the world one day.”
“Then you sold that company three years ago for a cool 1.9 billion.”
Harrison raised an eyebrow and she shrugged. “I looked up a few articles on you when I first got here. Thought it would be good to know a little about the man I’d agreed to spend the summer with.”
He gave her a crooked grin and shrugged. “The sale allowed me to get away from having to deal with the day-to-day business aspect. As a freelance consultant, I can still remain a part of what I started, but put all my energies into focusing on what I love. The science.”
“You’re lucky. Not many people get to do what they love. I keep forgetting the whole travel thing isn’t your main job.”
He smiled. “It is, sort of. Our trips just go a little farther away than the average company.”
She laughed. “A space travel company, huh?”
“Don’t laugh. It’ll happen. We’ve already got tickets sold for the first trip into space.”
Her eyes widened. “Yeah? Wish I would have known that. I’d have negotiated it into my benefits package.”
“I’ve got a couple spots reserved. Maybe you can be my plus one.”
“You’re probably joking, but I’m totally holding you to that. Oh my God, that would be unbelievable.”
He gave her a teasing smile but was surprised to realize how much he meant it. He’d love to share that experience with her.
Her face was still upturned, her eyes staring into his. Her arm tightened slightly around his waist, bringing to mind a few other experiences he’d love to share with her. His smile faded, and he traced her jawline with his finger. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she rubbed her cheek against his hand before gazing back up at him with wide, searching eyes that sucked him into their chocolate depths.
Maybe it was because she was the first person in a long time that he’d connected with. Who made him laugh. Who seemed to get him. Or it could be that they were basically standing under a romantic, star-lit sky, wrapped in each other’s arms. Or maybe it was the simple fact that he’d wanted another taste of her.
He drew his thumb across her skin, cupping her cheek in his hand. She rose on her toes, and he leaned in.
It was a horrible idea. There were a million reasons to walk away from her.
And he didn’t give a shit about any of them.
Their lips met, and his blood roared. What he’d meant to be a gentle swipe of her lips turned into a deep, passionate kiss that shook him to his core. She lightly clung to him, leaning against him to keep her balance on her tiptoes, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, keeping her steady.
Her lips moved with his, igniting a fire in him that he hadn’t
felt in a long time. If ever. All other thoughts but one fled his mind—where the hell had she been his whole life?
A shout from outside startled him enough that he raised his head, though for the moment he ignored everything but her. She smiled up at him. Everything in him demanded that he bury his hands in her hair and drag those lips back to his. But another shout and a chorus of laughter drew his attention to the window.
He let her go with a regretful sigh and stalked to the window, pushing aside the heavy drapes to look out onto one of the courtyards.
“Bloody hell,” he muttered, before spinning away and marching to the door.
“What is it?” she asked, looking out the window. Her amused gasp had him throwing open the door and striding into the hall with her fast on his heels.
“What in the world is your grandmother doing?” she asked, her breath coming faster as she tried to keep up with him.
“Jousting.”
“On a bike?” she said, with a laugh.
He sighed. “Come on. We’d better hurry before she hurts someone.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nikki followed Harrison at a near run until they reached the courtyard. Where the joust was moments from commencing.
Harrison strode over to where Cole was helping Brooks suit up with elbow and kneepads, a chest protector like a hockey goalie would wear, and a bike helmet. Chris stood in the middle of the “field” with a white handkerchief like one of those capri’d beehive girls in the old car race movies. A crowd of the castle staff and several of the villagers stood on the other side of the field in a makeshift spectator section.
Nikki headed over to where the ladies surrounded Granny, who was already in full gear and sitting on her bike clutching a broomstick.
“What’s going on?” Nikki asked.
“It’s jousting day!” Granny said, adjusting her helmet.
Nikki raised her eyebrows and glanced at Amy, who, for once, wasn’t glued to her phone. Well, it was still in her hand. But it looked like it was more for recording purposes as she lifted it every few seconds and took a picture or video of something.