Austin gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Folks on the circuit gotta look out for each other." Nice evasion.
Hale was silent for a long moment, focusing on the other man. Finally, he sighed. When he spoke, his voice was even lower, and Pieter had to strain to hear.
"Alessandra's... half-sister...just found out...trying to locate her..."
A half-sister? Now that was the kind of information Pieter had hoped to find. He'd read every biography, newspaper article, and tabloid story about his cousins and the King. Once, he'd even attempted to bribe a royal staffer. There'd never been any hint of a scandal of this proportion.
An illegitimate child. A lost princess.
He turned away, satisfied for now that he had something he could use against the royal family when the timing was right. He definitely didn't want to draw Hale's attention. He ducked behind a stock trailer, pausing for a moment just to digest this new information.
Leaking this to the press would put a dark spot on the royal family's reputations and would likely create a media storm.
And... It sounded as if Alessandra wanted to find her sister. If a media storm blew up, would the sister she didn't know pull back from the relationship?
Now that was a punishment fitting for his cousins. But... Was it enough?
He needed to think about this.
He was making his way among the trucks and trailers when he caught a flash of what might be McKenna's hair.
She had her riding event this morning, didn't she?
He shouldn't go anywhere near her. She knew his identity and if she wanted to, could blow any sense of cover he had. Although now that he had this information about a lost princess, he wasn't sure he needed to keep his identity hidden.
And somehow he couldn't keep his feet from taking him in that direction.
He didn't have to talk to her. Didn't have to get close to her. He'd stand in the back somewhere and watch.
Just watch.
McKenna waited on Maximus’s back, just outside the arena gate. Another few seconds and she’d be riding the horsemanship pattern in front of judges, contestants and a smattering of onlookers.
Don’t blow it.
She and the other contestants had received notes on the horsemanship pattern, which was identical for all riders. If she couldn't remember the pattern and direct Maximus around the outdoor arena, she would lose points. If she couldn't get Maximus to obey, she'd lose points. If she was unseated, she could kiss her chances for winning goodbye.
And then, after the first round, she'd have to repeat the pattern on one of her competitors' horses. That might be the worst part, depending on how difficult or cranky an unknown horse could be. And it was luck of the draw.
"We can do this," she whispered to Maximus from her seat in the saddle. The other contestant exited the arena and McKenna nudged her horse forward.
She tried to ignore the judges, who were sitting on the front row of the arena stands. Ignored the building thunderheads above that made it necessary for the arena lights to be switched on.
Just concentrate on the pattern.
She raced Max across the dirt-packed arena floor and drew him up short, almost sending him to his haunches.
She nearly slipped her seat on the saddle and had to clamp her thighs tightly around Max to keep from doing so.
She hadn't meant to do that.
Face flaming at the amateur mistake, she forced a long exhale through her lips and kept moving. Left turn. Sidestep. Backwards. Tight circle.
Almost there.
She'd barely blinked and then was guiding Maximus out of the arena to a smattering of applause. She released the breath she'd been holding.
She maneuvered Max out of the way of the gates, where the next queen contestant, a young woman wearing bright pink from her hat to her boots, waited to be called inside. McKenna slipped off the horse.
She leaned her face against Max's shoulder. Maybe hiding a little. Distant thunder rolled, and Max's skin flickered, a sign of nerves.
"Good job," a female voice said from nearby.
McKenna looked across Max's back to see a girl in a pair of blue jeans, a purple dress shirt, and a white hat. She realized this girl had gone two ahead of her.
"I could've done better," McKenna said. "But thanks."
The girl winked. "I think that same thing every time I come out of the ring. I'm Danielle."
"McKenna."
"You're better than ninety percent of the other girls," Danielle said. "The rest is how the judges score it. Everyone makes little mistakes. Don't sweat it."
This girl thought McKenna was better than most of the other competitors? Was she for real?
Danielle must've seen the disbelief on McKenna's features because she laughed, a soft trilling sound that had Max's ears flicking, though he remained alert and calm.
"Is this your first contest?" Danielle asked.
"I won my hometown title last summer," McKenna said. "But I'm a total newbie."
"Well, you're a natural. Some of us have been going it awhile, and we don't handle our horses like you just did."
McKenna's face heated again at the unexpected praise. "How many times have you competed?"
"Too many to count. My mom and older sister made it all the way to Miss Rodeo USA, and I've been queening since I was eight."
Wow.
Danielle laughed again, softer this time and a little bitterly. "Yeah. It's a lot of pressure. If I can't get there this year, I'm out."
But at least she had family supporting her. Helping her.
McKenna was all alone, and too conscious of the fact since Pieter and she had parted ways earlier in the day.
"So your beau is a total hunk," Danielle said, breaking McKenna out of her morose thoughts.
"What?" she half-laughed. "I don't have a—"
Danielle pointed to the stands, and McKenna could see Pieter sitting at the highest level, not quite hidden in shadow but obviously trying not to be noticed.
As if someone like him could hide in plain sight. The man commanded attention wherever he went. Like yesterday in the diner, and just this morning he'd turned heads as they'd walked through the hotel lobby.
She couldn't see from this distance, but now that Danielle had pointed him out, McKenna felt Pieter's piercing gaze on her.
“He’s been staring at you since before your ride,” Danielle said.
"He's not my beau." McKenna averted her eyes.
Maybe she shouldn't have said what she'd said at the hotel, but she'd been blindsided to see another side of the man she'd come to think of as a hero. Which was silly, because she'd barely known him thirty-six hours.
Before she could protest again, the head judge moved to the side of the stands with a piece of paper in hand.
"She's posting the draw for the next round," Danielle said.
McKenna couldn't think about Pieter. All she had left was her dream. She couldn't afford to mess it up now.
There was an announcement—a break due to the severe weather gathering overhead. Sprinkles splattered the metal bleachers even as the voice said they'd reconvene mid-morning tomorrow. The stands around the arena quickly emptied.
Pieter's stomach was gurgling, and he figured he'd tortured himself enough watching McKenna. She rode like a queen, controlling her horse with expert movements and exquisite grace.
She wasn't like anyone he'd ever met before.
Why did she have to appeal to him so very much? He'd dated plenty of women, wealthy, polished women, but there was something about her…
He made his way through the small throng of people huddling beneath a batch of umbrellas, careful to watch ahead and make sure he wasn't going to bump into McKenna.
But once he’d navigated around the largest cluster of people, loud voices drew his attention. There was a scuffle near the trailer lot. And he couldn't help but focus in on the black horse and the woman in the tan hat who seemed to be at the center.
He knew trouble when he saw
it, and just the fact that McKenna was in the midst of it had him pushing past a few slow-moving grandmas.
Two men who could pass for taller versions of McKenna with their brown hair and hazel eyes flanked her, one attempting to edge between her and her horse.
"You've humiliated yourself enough."
"And us."
McKenna shook her head. Even from several yards away—and closing—he could see the color rising in her face. "How exactly have I humiliated you?"
"Everybody back home is talking—"
"That's their problem. Not mine."
Good girl.
Pieter was aware of the curious glances from several of the people nearby. And…was that one of the judges standing at a slight distance, watching?
The cousin closest to Pieter reached out and grabbed her elbow. "Look, you had your fun. It's time to go home."
McKenna tried to shake him off, but he was a head taller than she was, obviously much stronger, and he didn't let go.
Her horse neighed and bobbed its head, agitated. Thunder clapped loudly, and the horse's eyes went a little wild, the whites showing.
The girl standing a few feet from Pieter’s elbow, the one he'd seen chatting with McKenna outside the ring, looked over at him. "If the judges see this, McKenna might be disqualified for poor behavior."
He didn't know why this girl thought he had anything to do with the situation, but her words were like taking a spill off his bike. He knew how much this event meant to McKenna.
He jogged a couple of steps and put himself between McKenna and her cousin, forcing the man to drop his hold on her.
He stepped closer, got into Pieter's face. "Who're you?"
"Todd…" McKenna said.
So this was the cousin who’d belittled her on the phone.
"If you want to talk, let's find somewhere more private," Pieter said, using the same commanding tone he'd affected with his mother when she wasn't in a mood to be reasoned with. "Or better yet, let’s meet up after McKenna's next ride tomorrow. She needs to concentrate."
"She needs to come home," the second cousin said, joining his brother in Pieter’s space.
Pieter glanced to see that the judge had remained where she was, and her entire focus was on this confrontation.
She could be disqualified.
He looked at McKenna, who stood at his elbow, and saw the resignation in her eyes. She was fully expecting her cousins to ruin her chances at being crowned rodeo queen.
He wasn't so accepting.
He smiled at her. "Why don't you take Maximus to his stall, and we'll meet up near your trailer," he suggested. The storms were threatening, but at least they could have a modicum of privacy there, in case her cousins got loud. He suspected they might.
Miraculously, her cousins agreed.
He waited until McKenna had led the horse away, then followed the cousins to the parking lot to make sure they didn't make more trouble for her. The two brothers stood several feet from him, arms crossed and silent. Tension roiled as thick as the humid pre-storm air.
McKenna joined them minutes later, panting and out of breath.
She slanted a glance at him. He couldn't tell whether she was relieved he was still here or wanted him to leave.
"Who's this guy, Kenna?" not-Todd asked, jerking his thumb in Pieter's direction.
Lightning flashed in the distance. The air around them felt electric with the storm about to break.
"A friend," he said
Todd laughed. "Oh, that's rich. Some rich boy like you making friends with our cousin?"
McKenna's face went crimson.
"This the guy who drove you down here?" not-Todd asked.
McKenna nodded.
"How much did you put out to get him to help you? You little—"
"That's enough," Pieter said, hearing the dangerous tone to his voice. He felt on the verge of losing control, his hands shaking as he fought to hold onto it. He couldn't lose his temper like his mother. "You shouldn't speak of McKenna like that."
Not-Todd's eyebrows went up. He took a step into Pieter's personal space but looked at McKenna. "Awful protective for someone you're not sleeping with."
"You should be more respectful of your own flesh and blood." His voice was cold, angry. He didn’t back down, though the man had at least an inch and twenty pounds on him. And there were two of them.
"You should mind your own business," not-Todd said. "We've been telling her for years to watch who she sells her body to—"
Before he'd meant to move, he'd thrown the punch. The other man didn't see it coming.
Not-Todd went down, hard, but that left Pieter open to Todd's attack.
"I can't believe you did that," McKenna murmured.
She knelt in front of the trailer where Pieter sat holding a paper napkin to his lower lip.
His bleeding lower lip.
"They shouldn't disrespect you like that," he mumbled, but he wasn't quite meeting her eye.
She put both hands on his thighs, and his head came up, though he still held the napkin to his lip.
"No one's ever done something like that for me before," she said softly.
She hadn't believed it when she'd seen Pieter throw the first punch, had stood in shock when Todd responded with one of his own. She thanked God a security guard had arrived—said he'd heard from a gal named Danielle that there might be trouble out here. He’d broken up the fight and told her cousins the police would be called if they didn't get lost.
Her cousins had been escorted from the property and ordered not to come back. Which was a relief, but also had her second guessing herself. Was she doing all of this—and alienating the only family she had left—for nothing? Was it going to be worth it in the end?
She brushed a few strands of her hair out of her eyes. The humidity from the building storm was ruining her carefully-crafted curls. She looked down at the gravel between their knees.
"Maybe they're right," she said softly. "Maybe I should go home. I'm not sure I belong here. The other girls…"
"Your aunt and uncle should've taught them better," he said hotly. "They should be supporting you, not belittling you."
Her lips formed a sad smile. "My aunt and uncle might've taken me in, but they never bothered to care."
Pieter touched her chin, tipped her face up. "I know a little something about unfit parents."
"Your mom?" she guessed.
He nodded tightly. "Bi-polar. And schizophrenic." He snorted softly. "As if one weren't bad enough. Father's never been in the picture and…"
"I'm sorry." Her cousins weren't the easiest to live with, but his childhood sounded even worse than hers had been.
He clasped her hand and held it loosely between them. "You've worked hard to get here. You can't give up now."
She wrinkled her nose, made a face. "What if it was a fluke—the other contest?"
"It wasn't."
Looking into his confident, clear gaze, she could almost believe him. Wanted to, so very badly.
"You'll hate yourself if you give up now—if you don't even try."
He was right.
"I was a little surprised to see you watching the horsemanship contest," she said. "And you've come to my rescue again."
A hint of color crept into his neck, the only visible reaction to her words.
And so she went for it all. "You're more than this desire for revenge you carry," she whispered. "More than whatever it is your family's done to you." With a schizophrenic mother, she couldn't imagine what he'd been through.
His eyes were wary and watchful as she reached up. She pulled his hand away from his lip, took the napkin from him. There was only a small touch of blood on it, a small swelling at the corner of his mouth. He'd mostly evaded Todd's hit, even when her cousin had had the element of surprise.
"You've been my prince since this whole thing started," she said, looking straight into his face. "There has to be a better way to confront the situation than whatever you're plann
ing. Act like the prince that you are."
She rose up from her crouch, surprising him as she brushed his lips with hers.
She couldn't maintain the kiss for more than a few seconds, which was fine, because her face was flaming now, and she couldn't help but compare herself to all the women he'd probably kissed before.
She stood straight as another growl of thunder ripped through the sky. "I've got to check on Maximus. And get ready for tomorrow."
She didn't look back as she made her way to the stables.
Because she wasn't giving up yet. Not on being rodeo queen.
And not on the prince she'd begun to care for.
8
Sequestered in his hotel room later that afternoon, Pieter lay on the bed with his arms folded behind his head and stared at the ceiling again as rain poured down outside.
Turned out the bed wasn't much more comfortable than the floor.
Or maybe it was his own conscience that made it impossible for him to rest.
His mind had been spinning since McKenna had kissed him earlier in the afternoon.
He didn't understand her. How she could be treated so poorly by her family and still be kindhearted. She was driven, but not bitter.
She'd said he could be better.
The words had been like a cleansing waterfall, releasing something inside of him.
Or maybe it was her kiss that had felt like absolution. Like forgiveness, which he most certainly didn't deserve.
He didn't have to be like his mother. Seeking revenge, always grieving a crown that wasn't hers to have.
He could take the high road. Keep what he'd learned about the lost princess to himself, though it went against every molecule in his body not to use the information as a bargaining chip to benefit himself.
He could be worthy of McKenna. If he gave up his quest for revenge.
Did he want to do it?
Could he do it?
And if he did, what was he doing here in Austin? He'd come all this way. Could he leave empty-handed?
And what about McKenna? She had plans. Was college bound—he believed she'd get there eventually—and law school meant extra years in the classroom.
Was there even room in her life for him?
Cowboy Fairytales Omnibus Page 24