A Royal Embarrassment

by Emma Lea

  “I can’t say I’m fond of the breed,” I said, and I heard Jed snort in response. “The Arabian we have here is somewhat temperamental.”

  Chase laughed. “No doubt,” he said with an easy smile that made me smile in return. “They tend to be a tad ornery but there is no better sight than seeing one in full flight across a paddock. Temperamental but beautiful all the same. It takes a special person to be able to tame a beast like that.”

  I couldn’t help flicking my eyes toward Jed. He was the only one who could go anywhere near Mistborn. Somehow the man had garnered the wretched horse’s respect. What did that say about horse and man? Jed turned and our eyes met. His were stormy and I couldn’t quite read what he was thinking. I shifted in my seat, uncomfortable with the way he seemed to be able to see right through me to my very core.

  “I’d love to take you riding sometime,” Chase said and my eyes snapped back to him. I couldn’t think of anything worse. “There are some lovely trails, or so I’ve heard.”

  Jed’s eyes burned into me as I formulated my response. “That sounds lovely,” I lied. I don’t know why I did it. The last thing I wanted was to go riding—with Chase or anyone—but I knew that by agreeing, I would get under Jed’s skin. Why I wanted to get under his skin was anyone’s guess. Maybe it was just to get back at him for being my son’s favourite person at the moment. It definitely had nothing to do with wanting to make him jealous.

  The final course was removed and once again Alyssa invited everyone to the drawing room for after dinner drinks. I smiled up at Chase as he came around to escort me, anything to get away from the death stares Jed had been shooting me since I’d agreed to go riding with Chase.

  “I apologise in advance,” I heard Jed say to Hadley, “but would you mind terribly excusing me for just a moment?”

  “Of course not,” Hadley replied, but I could tell she was confused.

  “Lady Savannah? A word?”

  Jed’s face was like a thundercloud as he took hold of my elbow. I expected it to hurt, but he was surprisingly gentle. His work roughed fingers wrapped easily around my arm but he didn’t grip tightly. The touch of his skin sent ripples of electricity through me and I suppressed a shiver.

  “Lady Savannah?” Chase asked, pulling me back to the here and now.

  I forced an easy smile to my face. “You don’t mind do you, Chase?” I asked. “I’m sure Lady Hadley wouldn’t object to you escorting her to the drawing room. I won’t be but a moment.”

  Chase flashed an uncertain smile at me and then lifted his eyes to Jed before recovering his charming demeanour and offering Hadley his arm.

  “It would be my honour to escort you,” he said.

  Hadley grinned as she took his elbow. I could tell the wheels in her brain were turning at a hundred miles an hour trying to work out the dynamics between the four of us, but I tried to give nothing away as I returned her smile with a polite one of my own.

  As they walked away, Jed’s fingers tightened around my arm—again, not tight enough to hurt, but definitely tight enough so I couldn’t readily pull away.

  “Let’s go outside, shall we?”

  I nodded and let him guide me through the large balcony doors and out onto the terrace. Before the chill of the night even had a chance to hit me, his coat was around my shoulders and I breathed in his scent even as my body soaked up his warmth. He placed his hand on the small of my back as he guided me down the path between the rose bushes and into the same alcove where we had fought—and kissed—last time. Was that only a week ago? It felt like a lifetime.

  He didn’t speak until we were hidden from view and then he turned those stormy eyes on me.

  “What were you thinking,” he growled, his voice low and rough.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You don’t even like to ride. Why would you agree to go riding with Chase? You don’t even know him!”

  “I don’t see what business that is of yours,” I said. “You are not my keeper.”

  “No, and I never said I was. I’m just trying to look out for you.” Turning away, he ran a hand through his hair before turning back and nailing me with eyes that held a myriad of emotions I couldn’t understand.

  “I don’t see why you’re so upset about this,” I snapped. “He’s hardly an axe murderer and you obviously know him quite well if the dinner conversation was anything to go by. It’s just a ride and a picnic and we haven’t even made a firm date yet. And FYI, I don’t need anyone to look out for me. I am quite capable of looking after myself.”

  “Of course you are,” he replied harshly. “You’re an island unto yourself, aren’t you? You don’t need anything or anybody. You have it all figured out and god forbid anyone try to help you.”

  He tipped his head to the sky and closed his eyes. I stared at the column of his neck and watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. He would smell really good if I pressed my nose into the crook of his neck. I could tell, just by the scent on his jacket, that if I snugged my face into that space between his neck and his shoulder, he would fill my senses and I would get lost.

  “You don’t know him,” Jed said and my eyes snapped back to his. “Just because I know him doesn’t make him safe. In fact, my warning to you should make you stop and think that going out with him is a bad idea. There are many ways to get hurt and you don’t always need an axe murderer to do it. And you have your father and Archer to think about—”

  I pushed up onto my toes and sealed my lips over his, shutting him up. I don’t know why I did it, but it had worked so effectively for him last time. He froze and I thought he would push me away, but with a soft groan, his arms encircled me and pulled me closer. His mouth opened under mine and he deepened the kiss and then it was me who was whimpering.

  My fingers threaded through his hair, the strands soft and thick between my fingers. His hands spanned across my back, under the coat, keeping me close as he kissed me. My mind went blank and there was nothing but the two of us and the places where our bodies met.

  Far too soon, he broke the kiss. He looked down at me in the moonlight, his eyes unreadable. It was a breathless moment as we stared at each other and then he was pulling away from me. I clutched at his shirt, not ready for him to be gone, but he disentangled my fingers, slipped the coat from my shoulders, and strode away into the night, leaving me staring after him.

  I don’t know how long I stood there before another warm jacket settle over my shoulders. I jumped and turned to look at Chase. He smiled down at me with something like pity in his eyes and it was enough to snap me out of my stupor.

  “How much of that did you see?” I asked.

  “Enough,” he replied.

  I sighed, my shoulders slumping. He put an arm around me and hugged me briefly before sighing himself.

  “Come on inside,” he said. “There’s booze.”

  I laughed tremulously. That’s exactly what I needed, a stiff drink.

  Chapter 8

  Savannah

  The time for the riding lesson came all too soon, and yet not soon enough. I was anxious to see Jed again to see if the kiss had messed up his mind as much as it had mine and yet, I was nervous too. The stupid man had me so freaking confused that I didn’t know if I was coming or going as evidenced by Margaret kicking me out of the office because all I was doing was making mistake after mistake.

  I stood in my room surrounded by the contents of my closet as I tried to decide on the perfect outfit to wear. It was just a riding lesson and I didn’t even know if I would be the one riding. Should I wear jodhpurs, just in case? Or would jeans suffice? Were jeans even appropriate? I’d had to hide Alyssa’s jeans when she first became heir apparent because it was deemed unsuitable for the incoming monarch to wear denim. Did that also apply to her ladies in waiting?

  I was over thinking this whole thing. It wasn’t an official meeting and as far as I knew, in my free time, I could wear whatever I wanted. The truth was, I wanted to impress Jed, which was idioti
c. I had no reason to want to impress him. I didn’t want to date the guy, even if he kissed like no one else. Even if I liked the way it felt to be held in his arms. I neither wanted nor needed a man in my life. I wasn’t the silly little naïve girl of six years ago who fell for the easy charms and pretty words of a man who had no intention of sticking around. I had learned my lesson. The starry eyed, innocent girls with hearts and flowers and forever in her eyes had died when I peed on that stick and found myself pregnant and abandoned.

  I shook off the old memories and hurts and grabbed the only pair of jeans I owned. I hadn’t worn them in two years and I was surprised they were even still in my closet. Without another thought, I pulled them on and added a pale pink cashmere sweater, my favourite. If I was going to face Jed after my ill-advised kiss last night, then I needed my armour. I pulled on a coat and left the room, heading down the back stairs and out into the cold afternoon.

  Jed and Archer were already at the corral when I arrived. I stood back and watched as Jed showed Archer how to saddle and bridle the pony. Archer looked so tiny next to the beast and man and I bit my lip to stop myself from protesting. The horse may have been small, but it could still trample Archer without too much trouble. I had given everything I had to protect my son and watching him now, so close to danger, had my heart racing and my hand clutching at my non-existent pearls.

  With the horse ready, Jed stepped back and Archer finally saw me. A big grin split his face and his eyes were alight with excitement. I don’t think I had ever seen him this happy and my heart clenched. It wasn’t much of a life for him, being cooped up in the cabin with his grandfather. Unfortunately I didn’t see another option, not if I wanted to keep my job and the money that was standing between us and being on the street.

  “Look at what I did, Maman,” he said, his grin infectious.

  “You’re doing great,” I replied. “Make sure you listen carefully to Mr. Jed, okay?”

  Archer nodded enthusiastically and looked up at Jed with something akin to hero worship. My heart clenched again, but for a different reason this time. Archer was becoming attached to the tall cowboy and I knew it was going to end in heartbreak. Jed didn’t want to be part of our little family, but Archer didn’t understand that.

  Jed was instructing Archer on how to mount, but all I could see was my little boy ending up heartbroken when Jed eventually left us, just like Archer’s father had. Archer didn’t even know his father and his father had never laid eyes on the boy. No, that relationship ended before it even began. I thought I was in love with him. I thought he was in love with me. What a joke that had been. I’d been a conquest, made even more desirable because of my earlier objections. David had wooed me, taking my innocence and walking away, leaving my life in tatters. And if I let him, Jed would do the same thing to Archer. Already my little boy was falling in love with the man, latching on to the only real male role model he’d ever had. He was like a little baby duck, imprinting on the first man that came along.

  “Wait,” I said, stepping forward. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  Archer’s face paled and went carefully blank while Jed slowly turned to me with a questioning eyebrow.

  “Penny is not going to hurt him,” Jed said calmly.

  “No, I know, it’s not that…” How could I explain that I wasn’t afraid of the horse hurting Archer, but I was afraid of Jed hurting him? “It’s just, um, don’t you think he’s too young?”

  My eyes went to Archer who was staring at me with glassy eyes. His face was pale but there were two spots of colour on his cheeks and his lower lip trembled. He was trying to be stoic. He was trying to be strong. I was the one breaking his heart right now, not Jed.

  Jed stepped toward me, his hands going to my elbows as he looked into my eyes. I could feel his gaze right down to my soul. He could see right through me but he would have no idea at the tumult of emotions that swirled inside me.

  “I promise you,” he said, his voice low and rough, “Archer will not get hurt.”

  If only that were true, but I knew in the end it wouldn’t only be Archer who got hurt.

  “I promise to take good care of him. You need to trust me.”

  Against my better judgment, I did trust him. I nodded slowly. He stared at me a little longer before letting go of my arms and walking back over to Archer, boosting him into the saddle. When Archer turned a delighted grin onto Jed I knew, with a sinking feeling in my gut, we were both doomed.

  Jed

  “You wanted to see me?” I asked as I walked into Cliff’s office, although office was a bit of a misnomer.

  The room was crammed full with detritus from Cliff’s many years as Master of Horse, but there was not a computer or filing cabinet in sight. Instead, Cliff kept meticulous, hand-written notes in a series of moleskin journals. These were stacked around the room in haphazard piles that had no sense or rhyme to anyone apart from Cliff. I was sure that there were many people who would commit crimes to get ahold of Cliff’s notes but they were all written in a code that only he seemed to understand.

  “Sit,” Cliff said gruffly.

  I looked around and froze. Chase smiled smugly at me and wriggled his fingers in a mockery of a wave.

  “What’s he doing here?”

  “The queen invited him,” Cliff said. “Now sit.”

  I sat in the only other chair in the cramped room and eyed Chase suspiciously. We’d once trusted each other with our lives, now I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, and I’d really like to throw him.

  “Chase here has a proposition that I’m considering.”

  I grunted noncommittally. I didn’t want to work with Chase ever again and if I could stop him from having anything to do with the queen’s stables, I would.

  “Come on Jed,” Chase said easily, a grin on his lips that didn’t reach his eyes. “Surely we can get past our differences in order to work together.”

  “Our differences?” I replied unbelievably. “I’d hardly call what you did ‘our differences,’” I spat.

  “It was more than two years ago,” Chase replied quietly, “and it had nothing to do with the business.”

  I snorted and shook my head, looking away and wishing I could stand up and walk from the room. I would have stormed out if not for the way Cliff was staring at me.

  “Regardless of your…past,” Cliff said carefully, “the queen is interested in the proposition Chase here has. Are you going to continue to behave like a five year old or are you willing to shut up for a minute and listen to what the man has to say?”

  The very last thing I wanted was to work with Chase. Just looking at the man had me remembering that night and the image of what I walked in on was burned into my brain. I could feel my blood pressure rise and the edges of my vision were tinged red as anger suffused my body.

  “Jed—”

  I held up a hand to stop Chase from speaking. “I’ll work with you,” I ground out through a tight jaw, “but under protest. If I had my way you wouldn’t have even got a foot in the door here. I don’t know how you found me or even why you came here, but I want it to be noted that I am against this whole thing.”

  “You don’t even know what the proposition is,” Chase said, a note of frustration in his voice. “And as for finding you, I didn’t come looking for you. Contrary to what you may think, the world doesn’t revolve around you, Jed.”

  “No, but apparently it revolves around you,” I growled.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Chase growled back.

  “You couldn’t help yourself, could you? You couldn’t stand the fact that I had something good and beautiful and you didn’t. You couldn’t stand the fact that I could be happy with something that didn’t include you.”

  “You think that’s what happened? You think I was so jealous of your wonderful life that I had to take a piece of it myself?”

  “What other reason would you have to take it all away from me?”

  “
If you think I had the power to take anything away from you, then maybe I’m not the one you should be so freaking angry at.”

  “Oh don’t you worry,” I spat, standing to my feet. “I have enough wrath for both of you.”

  “And I suppose you are the innocent party in all of this?” Chase replied, getting to his feet as well.

  “When my best friend and my fiancée decided to have a little naked party all of their own then, yeah, I think I am the innocent party.”

  Chase shook his head. “You are still so freaking naïve,” he said with a shake of his head. He turned to Cliff. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all. I should go—”

  “No,” Cliff said, shooting daggers at me as he too got to his feet, leaning heavily on the desk in front of him. “The queen is interested in what you’re offering and frankly so am I. If we could do this without Jed, we would, but Jed is the only one who seems to be able to get that damned horse to do anything.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Cliff. “This has to do with Mistborn?”

  Cliff nodded once. “Chase has a mare he’d like Mistborn to service.”

  I swung to face Chase. “Titania?”

  A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. A real smile this time. He nodded.

  “Is she here?” I asked.

  “Not yet,” Chase said. “I didn’t want to bring her in case we were rejected.”

  I pulled my hat off my head and ran a hand through my hair. This changed things. Titania was a beautiful horse and I knew that a foal fathered by Mistborn would be something to behold. I didn’t know how Chase managed to get Titania’s papers. I assumed the deal had fallen through when I walked away, but apparently not.

  I looked back at Cliff. “Fine,” I said. “If it was any horse other than Titania then this wouldn’t be happening.” I looked back at Chase and narrowed my eyes. “Just make sure to get everything in writing. I still don’t trust him.”