A Royal Embarrassment

by Emma Lea

  “Oh wow,” Margaret said. “You need to see this.”

  “No. There is nothing out that window that interests me,” I lied.

  “No, you really need to see this,” Margaret said. “Jed has a new helper.”

  “I don’t care about Jed.”

  “Maybe not, but you will care about this.”

  I had been resisting looking out the window all morning and now with Margaret’s urging I gave into the temptation. I crossed the room and peeked through the glass to the stables below and my eyes immediately went to the man who had haunted my dreams last night. The way he moved was mesmerising. His body had a grace and ease about it that drew the eye. For someone so big and tall he moved lightly and with an assurance that had me wanting to fan myself.

  “Look who he’s got shadowing him,” Margaret said softly.

  A mini cowboy came into view and I gasped. I couldn’t see his head because it was covered in a cowboy hat, but I knew who he was. I would know him from a mile away. Archer. Archer was down there in the stable yard with Jed. I watched, horrified and strangely impressed, as Jed instructed Archer and my little boy copied the big man with practised concentration. Archer looked up at something Jed said and a smile split his face. He looked at Jed with a kind of hero worship that closed my throat. Archer’s father had never even laid eyes on his son and it hurt that my boy would never have a father who loved him, or even a male role model in his life that he could look up to. He craved the influence of a man, but I couldn’t risk him getting too close to anyone, especially Jed.

  “I need to get down there,” I said. I needed to get him away from Jed and back to the cabin before someone questioned who he was, but mostly I needed to know why he was in the stable yard at all and where was Papa? Why wasn’t he keeping a better eye on Archer?

  I raced out of the room and took the back stairs as fast as I could without tripping over my own feet. My heart pounded in my chest and it wasn’t because of my exertion. If anyone discovered Archer and Papa then we would all be out on the street. I couldn’t afford to lose this job or my place amongst the ladies in waiting and if Archer was ever discovered then that was exactly what would happen.

  I stopped short beside the barn and watched as Jed explained something to Archer. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but I knew whatever it was Archer was completely captivated. Archer sometimes seemed to be a forty-five year old man in a five year old’s body. There was something about him that made him seem wise beyond his years. Too many times I felt I had nothing more to teach him, but Jed seemed to have piqued Archer’s interest. It was…good. Of course it was good but I couldn’t help feeling jealous even as my heart squeezed watching the way Jed and Archer bent their heads together like they were sharing a secret.

  Jed held out his hand flat and then Archer did the same. Jed placed something on Archer’s outstretched palm and then they both turned toward the enclosed pen where a horse stood. Archer reached out his hand toward the horse and my throat nearly closed over in fear. My feet were moving before I could stop them.

  “Archer, no!” I said, racing toward them.

  Archer jumped, the thing on his hand tumbling to the ground and Jed swung around to face me, but my gaze was on the horse. Its ears had gone back and its eyes were wild.

  “Come here this instant,” I said, my voice harsh.

  Archer shot a frightened look at Jed before walking toward me. The horse moved away from the fence and huffed, swishing its tail in annoyance. As soon as he was close enough, I pulled Archer toward me, crouching down so I could wrap my arms around him. My heart was beating erratically against my ribs and I couldn’t draw a full breath.

  In two long strides, Jed was beside me. I could see his well-worn boots as I continued to hold tight to Archer.

  “Savannah,” he said, softly.

  “No,” I forced out through my dry throat. “No. You don’t get to talk.”

  He squatted down beside me and I felt his warm hand land gently on my back. Archer struggled in my arms, trying to pull away, but I wasn’t ready to let him go.

  “Savannah,” Jed said again. “Archer was perfectly safe.”

  “Safe?” I yelled, letting go of Archer so I could turn my full wrath on the man beside me. “How can you tell me he was safe when that horse was about to bite him?”

  “Penny was not going to bite him,” Jed said, his voice calm but with a note of exasperation. “She is the gentlest horse in the stable. The only danger was when you came storming in and yelling, frightening the boy and the horse.”

  “Oh no you don’t,” I said, standing. “Don’t you go blaming any of this on me. I told you I didn’t want him anywhere near the horses.”

  Jed stood too. He towered over me and he was standing so close I could feel the heat radiating off him. “I believe you told me to keep him away from Mistborn.”

  “One horse is just the same as the next,” I spat, reaching out for Archer, but he took a step away from me, crossing his arms and giving me a mutinous expression.

  Jed sighed and lifted his hat to run a frustrated hand through his hair. I didn’t know what the hell he had to be frustrated about. This was my child he was endangering with his reckless behaviour.

  “Savannah, calm down.”

  “Calm down? Calm down! How dare you—”

  He reached toward me and the words died in my throat. I wasn’t afraid of him, no, it was something else entirely that shut me up. The memory of how he had shut me up last night when he kissed me. For a moment I forgot where we were and who was standing just a few feet from me. I felt myself leaning toward him, almost begging for him to kiss me again. His eyes dropped to my lips and I parted mine in anticipation. But then he took a step back and let out a long breath as he once again adjusted his hat. His eyes dropped to the ground before coming back to my face.

  “Archer wants to learn about horses,” he said, his voice carefully controlled.

  “Maman, please,” Archer said, tugging at my skirt. I looked down at his eager face. There was no denying that this was the happiest I’d seen my boy since we came to Merveille. “Mr. Jed said I could be a stable boy and learn about looking after them. He even said he would teach me to ride.”

  I shot a look back at Jed. Narrowing my eyes.

  “I said we could ask you if it was alright if he learned to ride,” Jed explained, watching me as if he was waiting for me to fly off the handle once again.

  I took a deep breath and lowered my shoulders, which had somehow bunched up around my ears. I closed my eyes and tried to find some calm.

  “When did you learn to ride, Savannah?” Jed asked.

  “When I was about Archer’s age,” I admitted, opening my eyes to look down at my son. When had he grown up? It seemed like only yesterday that he was learning to crawl.

  “Look, he’s going to be coming up to the stables anyway,” Jed said. “I don’t think you are going to be able to keep him away. I figured it would be better if he learned more about them and how to look after them and even to ride so he wouldn’t get hurt. And I can keep an eye on him while he’s here,” he added quietly.

  I didn’t even want to think about what my father was doing while Archer was here at the stables. I knew he wasn’t the most reliable babysitter but he was the only option I had. Jed’s suggestion was logical but, damn, I hated having to admit it to him.

  “Fine,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “Fine.”

  Archer jumped up and down at my side, clapping his hands. Jed smiled as he looked down at him and I felt a flutter low in my belly that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Like about six years.

  “Can I learn to ride too Maman?” Archer asked, hopefully.

  I took a breath and looked up at Jed. I nodded slowly. “Yes, but on one condition. I get to be present for each lesson.”

  Jed nodded once, his face inscrutable. “Fine,” he said. “Next Saturday at four?”

  I nodded and Archer hugged me around the legs. “Thank you m
aman. Thank you.”

  “Come on, Tiger,” Jed said. “We’ve got work to do.”

  I watched them walk away, man and boy, and couldn’t help the way my heart stuttered in my chest. It was just apprehension about the riding lesson. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with the way my son reached out to take the cowboy’s hand.

  Chapter 7

  Jed

  I pulled at the collar of my shirt and stretched my neck. I did not miss these formal occasions. One of the many perks of leaving my old life behind was not having to attend the fancy dinners my parents held on their estate. It seemed that my days of hiding out in the stable were over. The queen had once again requested my attendance at yet another of her dinner parties and, as last time, there was no way to get out of it.

  I forced a smile to my face as I waited with the other escorts for the night. Lord Martin again, although he barely looked at me other than to great me politely, and a friend of the Prince’s, Lord Sabastian. Tonight I would be escorting Hadley, one of the prospective ladies in waiting and Margaret’s friend, if I remembered correctly. Lord Sabastian would be Margaret’s date and Lord Martin would once again be on Savannah’s arm. This fact alone was enough to make me want to turn tail and offend the queen by refusing to attend. I couldn’t justify the jealousy I felt. It wasn’t like anything was happening between Savannah and me, unless animosity counted for something.

  The entourage approached and I straightened my shoulders. The time for escape had passed and now I needed to get over myself and at least try to be a better date than I had been last time. I used to be good with the ladies, not that anyone here would know that. I used to have an easy charm and considered myself a decent date. But all that had died when I ran away from home, licking my wounds. The one woman who I had opened my heart and my home to had destroyed all of that with her money-grabbing, social-climbing betrayal. I pasted a smile on my face and met Hadley’s eyes, trying hard not to let my gaze stray to Savannah.

  “Jed, let me introduce you to Lady Hadley Winchester,” the queen said. “Hadley, this is Jed Fairchild.”

  I executed a smart, short bow and offered my arm to Hadley. She took it with a smile and we headed in to the dining room. I found our seats and held the chair out for Hadley as she sat before rounding the table to sit opposite her. The footmen bustled around us, laying napkins on our laps and pouring first water and then wine. I lifted the glass to my lips—the wine, not the water—and steadfastly kept my eyes on my own date, refusing to look a few inches to the right where Savanah was now seated.

  A familiar laugh caught my attention and I nearly choked on the sip of wine I had just swallowed. I slowly lowered my glass and turned my head. Lord Martin was not Savannah’s date tonight. Someone else was. Someone I despised with every cell in my body.

  Chase Tanner.

  Ex-best friend.

  Cheating bastard.

  He smirked at me as he seated Savannah and I felt my blood heat with unresolved anger. I shouldn’t be surprised to see him here. Hadn’t Cliff warned me he was coming? I just never expected him to be here with Savannah and it made my stomach curdle. My eyes dropped to the woman in question as she looked up at Chase with a smile on her face. The smile he put there. The smile I had never managed to get out of her despite the frequency of our interactions over the last few weeks.

  I forced myself to look at Hadley. She was eyeing me with curiosity. Was it just me or did everyone else around us feel the tension? I tried not to take any notice of Chase as he rounded the table and took his seat beside me. My back teeth were going to be ground to powder by the end of the meal, but I refused to let him see how much he got to me. Instead, I smiled at Hadley and took another sip—of water this time.

  “How are you enjoying your stay in Merveille?” I asked.

  “Oh, I just love it here,” she said. “It so pretty.”

  “Not too cold for you?”

  She laughed. She had a nice laugh and I felt myself relaxing. I could do this. I could make conversation and pretend that you-know-who wasn’t sitting beside me trying to charm his way into Savannah’s…good graces.

  “No, not too cold. It’s a definite improvement on the constant dreary grey skies and drizzle of the UK. What about you? You’re not a local.”

  “No—”

  “No he isn’t,” Chase said, cutting me off and slapping me on the back. “He’s from a little place in Kentucky called Emmaville.”

  Hadley rose her eyebrows as I further crunched my back teeth into nothing.

  “You’re a long way from Kentucky,” Hadley said, looking at me. I could feel the laser-like burn of Savannah’s eyes, but refused to look her way. “Did you also work with horses in Kentucky? I hear it’s known as the thoroughbred capital of the world.”

  Chase laughed and slapped me on the back once more. “Have you ever heard of Fairview Park?” Chase said. When Hadley shook her head he continued, “They’re only the best horse farm in all of Kentucky and our friend Jed here is—”

  “Was,” I cut in. “I was one of the trainers there.” I felt Chase freeze beside me and I kept talking before he could give away any more of my secrets. “Do you ride, Lady Hadley?”

  She nodded. “I do. What well-bred lady doesn’t?”

  Savannah rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her wine.

  “How about you, Lady Savannah? Do you ride?” Chase asked, turning his attention to Savannah. I couldn’t help but look to her for her answer. I knew she rode. I had saddled her mount myself on several occasions. But I also knew she didn’t particularly enjoy it, as evidenced by her reluctance to have Archer anywhere near a horse.

  “But of course,” she said and smiled at Chase.

  Again with the damned smile. What was it about Chase that had every woman falling all over herself to bat her eyelashes at him? I took a healthy slug of my wine as the first course was placed in front of me. I would not let him derail me tonight. I would not let him get the better of me. I smiled at Hadley.

  “Tell me about yourself,” I said as I dipped my spoon into the soup.

  Savannah

  Chase and Jed obviously knew each other but there was something going on that I didn’t quite understand. While Chase tried to be friendly and charming, Jed rebuffed his every attempt to be dragged into a conversation. And he wouldn’t look at me.

  I shouldn’t care that he kept staring at Hadley like she was his sun and moon. I shouldn’t care that he didn’t even try to make conversation with me. He seemed a different man to the one at the last dinner party. He even managed to make conversation with Lord Sabastian and Margaret, who sat on the other side of him. He steadfastly ignored Chase and me.

  That was fine. I didn’t want to talk to him anyway. Chase was engaging and interesting. He was also terribly good-looking. Dark hair, blue eyes and a smile that produced dimples in both cheeks. Dressed in his tux, he looked like he just stepped off the pages of a fashion magazine or the set of a James Bond movie. Not that I had any intention of falling for his charms. The man had playboy written all over him and I had far too much experience with another man just like him to fall prey to his charisma. He reminded me far too much of Archer’s father—a man who was all flash and no substance.

  Still. There was nothing wrong with enjoying myself. Having a man give me his undivided attention was a nice change to the years of man-draught I had been experiencing. It didn’t have to go any further than this one dinner date—a set up at that. I could kill Alyssa for insisting that she organise dates for Margaret and me, but there was no negotiating with her. She had it in her mind that she needed to find a man for me and she refused to listen when I told her that a man was the last thing I wanted or needed in my life.

  I laughed at something Chase said. Not that I was really listening, but others around us laughed and it was only polite that I do so as well. Jed shot me a hot look, his eyes narrowed and his mouth tight. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was jealous, but that couldn’t be
it because he was doing his own little charm-thing with Hadley. It was almost like Chase and Jed were in competition to be the most charming tonight and it was irritating. The man was nothing but a bear to me and yet get him around a pretty woman like Hadley and suddenly he was all smiles and sweet compliments.

  “So what are you doing here in Merveille?” I asked Chase as the first course was removed.

  “I’m here to talk to a man about a horse,” he said, with a crooked grin and a twinkle in his eye.

  I returned his smile. “We have some of the best horses in the world right here in the palace’s stable,” I said. Not that I cared about horses. They bit and were mean and smelled awful. I rode because I had to, not because I found any particular joy in it.

  “I believe I have some of the very best horses in the country,” Freddie said from across the table and those around us laughed.

  “I think Cliff would have something to say about that,” Jed said, earning another laugh from the table.

  Freddie lifted his glass in salute to Jed, who returned the gesture.

  “No one could argue the quality of the horses here,” Chase said, with a careful look at Jed. “But I’m not here to buy, I have another proposal in mind.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “You own a horse farm?”

  “Yes ma’am,” he said and when Jed coughed beside him, he grimaced. “My family does,” he amended.

  “Fairview Park?” I asked, watching Jed carefully as his face became stormy.

  “No ma’am,” Chase replied with an easy grin. “Willow Tree Farm. We’re not quite as well-known as Fairview, but we do have a recent Kentucky Derby winner on our resume. An Arabian.”

  Jed’s face seemed to cloud over even more and he turned his back on Chase. I dragged my eyes away from him and down onto the plate of food placed in front of me.