Something in the Heir (It's Reigning Men, #1) (17 page)

“She tuned that one out, no doubt.”

“The rest was just chitchat.”

Adrian arched a brow. "Chitchat?"

“Just sort of closing out the conversation.”

“Did you cut her off?”

“Not exactly. More like I said I had to go. Without letting her demand anything more of you.”

“Great,” Adrian said. “So the next person who shows up on the doorstep is going to be the royal entourage, with my mother at the helm, bearing the standard for the great nation of Monaforte. I’ll keep my eyes open for that.”

“I
’m
glad to see they taught you how to ride a bike,” Emma said to Adrian as she pedaled alongside him.

“You laugh, but I begged my governess to teach me,” he said. “She bucked it to her husband, who came in every day for three weeks until I mastered it myself.”

“You had a
governess
?” she said, incredulous. “I thought they were only in the
Sound of Music
or
Mary Poppins
.”

“You’re a strange bird sometimes,” he said to her, laughing. “Pardon me for following the protocol of my nation as expected of the heir to the throne.”

“What other heir-y things can you tell me about? Do you get special briefings from the prime minister? Full of top-secret information? Do you have a hotline, complete with a button that could launch missiles against the enemy? Do you
have
an enemy? Do you have a wardrobe full of crisply-pressed uniforms with brass buttons and epaulets and swords and crops for riding your dappled steed? Oh, wait, what about a suit of armor? I would love to see your suit of armor. And then could I see the crown jewels?”

“Ahem,” he said, clearing his throat exaggeratedly. “I was thwarted in that attempt just this morning, lest you forget.”

Emma felt her face turn hot. “Yeah, about that,” she said. “While that was certainly a lovely little diversion—”

“Diversion? I beg to differ,” he said. “It was far more than a diversion. At least to me it was.”

“What I mean by that is that you know you’re kicking a dead horse with this. Or barking up the wrong tree. Or—”

“I prefer to think of it as answering the call of the wild,” he said with a wide grin. “Emma, I happen to like you. I find you most attractive. And charming and sweet and adorable. And fun to be around. And you are a wonderful tour guide, make a mean omelet, and your parents are terribly quaint.”

“That’s so sweet Adrian, but—”

“But I’m not good enough for you?”

Emma laughed. “How about you’re too good for the likes of me? You know and I know that even if we fell madly and deeply in love, you and I can’t ever have a future together. So why go there? We’ll only get hurt. Or at least I know I will. And I don’t think I have the stamina to go through rejection again. I think I spent three months in a dark room sobbing after that last break-up. It took so much out of me, and I promised myself I’d not get caught up in that again. Life’s too short to waste on heartbreak.”

Adrian sighed. “Let’s not talk about this now. Let’s just enjoy this day.”

And it was a lovely day: unseasonably warm, the sun beating down to make it feel like late September rather than early December.

“Agreed?” he asked with a slight pout.

“Fine, agreed.”

“Hey look!” Darcy shouted out. “No hands!”

“Darcy! Watch out!” Caroline yelled, a split second before he careened into a mailbox, his bike jackknifing as his head slammed into the metal box.

Caroline was there in a split second, tending to him, pulling tissues from her pocket to press against the gash on his forehead.

“Oh, poor baby. Does it hurt?” she asked. “Wait, don’t answer that. That’s a really stupid question. Of course it hurts. Are you all right?”

Poor baby?
Emma mouthed to Adrian.

“I need some TLC, stat,” Darcy joked as he pulled her closer to him. His friends couldn’t help but notice the proximity of the two.

“In that case you’ve come to the wrong place,” Emma said. “We used to called Caroline Nurse Ratched when she was a kid. If someone fell or got hurt on the playground she’d tell them to buck up and get a move on.”

“That is so not true!”

Emma just looked at her with a deadpan face, suppressing a grin.

“Okay, so maybe it’s a little bit true. But not because I’m cold and heartless.”

“I didn’t say you were cold and heartless, I just said you were Nurse Ratched.”

“But she was cold and heartless!”

“Yes, but we knew better with you. Which made it all the more fun to tease you, since it made you so crazy. And for what it was worth, when my beloved pet bunny Hoofer died, you were a hundred percent sympathetic to me. You didn’t yawn once while I cried, nor did you tell me to stop bawling my eyes out.”

Caroline turned away from her friend to deliberately shun her. “So, Darcy, let’s take a look at your noggin.” She removed the tissue and peered at the gash. “Looks pretty angry. What do you guys think — maybe some stitches in there?”

“Lord, no. Anything but that,” he said.

“I don’t know. Looks pretty deep. Plus how dirty is that thing? Rusty metal? You probably need a tetanus shot.” Darcy’s face grew white.

Adrian started to laugh. “For as heartless as your friend was during childhood, Darcy was fearful. At least when it came to medical procedures. Needles and Darcy don’t go hand in hand.”

“Oh, please,” Darcy said. “I’m not afraid of a little stick.”

“Good, then,” Emma said. “Because we’re going to get that looked at and sewn right up. You’re not going to come down with a bad case of trichinosis on my dime.”

“I think that’s lockjaw, and it would be on your watch,” Adrian corrected.

“I guess your governess taught you that?” Emma said, cracking a broad smile. “You do know I’m just giving you a hard time, right?”

“Yes, I do. Though I seem to recall a few days ago you told me you’d stop with that mockery, if I’m not mistaken.”

“D’oh. You are so right about that. Let me apologize yet again.”

“Not to worry,” he said, helping Emma back onto her bike. “I’ll find a way for you to make it up to me.”

“Says you.”

“Says me. Now let’s get this patient fixed up.”

~*~

T
wo hours later they were on their way back from the emergency clinic, Darcy with four stitches holding together his sliced forehead. He sat in the backseat with Caroline, who was being awfully empathetic for her usual non-doting self.

“If you want, I can kiss it and make it better,” she said in treacly baby talk.

Emma glanced over at Adrian when they were at a stoplight and pretend-stuck her finger in her throat.
They’ve kissed?
She mouthed to him, her eyes wide open in surprise. He just shrugged. Clearly someone was moving fast there. Or at least it seemed to be from the outside looking in.

“Awww, that’s sweet of you,” Darcy said.

“Not sure that’s the cleanest of options,” Emma said. She shifted her rearview mirror in a futile attempt to spy on what they were up to in the back seat. The best she could tell — aside from her friend grimacing and sticking her tongue out at her —was that Caroline’s hand was happily perched atop Darcy’s thigh. Which in the scheme of things wasn’t surprising, because Caroline was nothing if not a flirt. But from the texts she’d gotten from her, Emma was under the impression Caroline was set on playing hard to get with Darcy. Seemed that hard to get became Easy Ellie when bloodshed was involved.

“Now that we’ve eliminated bike riding from the schedule, our entertainment options are a bit limited what with it being off-season, but I think there’s one putt-putt golf we can go to, if you’re game,” Emma said.

“Putt-putt golf?”

“Hardly Saint Andrews in Scotland, I’m afraid, but it’s a fun diversion,” she said. “Then we can take a walk on the beach, before it gets too cold.”

She turned into the parking lot of Blackbeard’s Treasure Hunt and pulled into the very first space.

“Looks like we won’t have to wait in line at least,” Caroline said, noting there were exactly no other cars in the lot.

A pimply-faced teenage boy with dark hair combed directly over his eyes so as to obscure himself from the world took their money while they all selected putters and golf balls.

“Guys against the girls? Or should we pit couple against couple?” Darcy asked.

“Most decidedly couples,” Adrian said. “We’re going to kick your bony—.”

“Now, now, no need to get sassy,” Emma said. “Even though we are so totally gonna kick your asses.” She smiled at Adrian. “Didn’t think it was particularly regal for you to be saying such things, but I, as a card-carrying member of the masses, am entitled to charming colloquialisms like that.” Adrian gave her a little shove in protest of her mockery.

Adrian proved to be masterful at his short game, putting away shot after shot with barely a backward glance. Emma, it turned out, wasn’t so bad either. “Dad made me take golf lessons when I was little.” She scrunched her nose. “I didn’t have the patience to keep up with it, but it works for putt-putt.”

Darcy’s putting skills were pretty good as well, but Caroline whacked the ball this way and that, rarely making it into the hole without a good eight attempts, and most of her balls ended up going over walls and into water traps. Four times she had to hunt for the thing. It was lucky the place was empty or she’d likely have downed a couple of victims with her wayward balls.

“It’s a good thing you’re beautiful,” Darcy said to her. “Because if you had to rely on your golf skills to get by, you’d be a goner.”

“Thanks a lot,” she said, laughing. “I never claimed I was any good at this game!”

“Put her in a fifty-yard dash and she’d leave you in the dust,” Emma said, coming to her defense. “Plus she makes a mean photographic assistant.”

“Yeah, flirting with her subjects,” Darcy said.

“I was not flirting with my subjects!”

“You mean to tell me that look you gave me that night at the reception, sizing me up, that wasn’t flirting? I felt like a pork chop before a starving dog.”

“You weren’t meant to see that! That was for my eyes only. Well, sort of.” She winked at him and swatted him on the butt.

“You American girls,” Adrian said, shaking his head jokingly.

“You mean we American girls whose mommies don’t force us into marriage with someone?” Caroline said in a taunting singsong voice.

“Ouch!” Emma said. “She got you there.”

“Indeed,” he said. “Let’s ignore that comment. I’m trying to forget about that.”

“And you’re succeeding quite well, mate,” Darcy leaned over and whispered to him. “From the look of things.”

“Most certainly,” he whispered back. “But for a bad case of blue balls, I’m good to go.”

Darcy burst out laughing.

“What?” the girls both asked, looking mistrustful of the guys.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Adrian said. “It’s your shot, Emma.”

T
he
foursome finished off the day at one of the few waterfront restaurants still open in the off-season.

They decided to splurge on a bottle of champagne with dessert.

Once the flutes were all filled, they raised their glasses.

“I promise you the last thing I expected when I agreed to that Library of Congress photo shoot was to take on a royal stowaway,” Emma said. “But I can honestly say I’m so very glad you kidnapped me and forced me into royal subjugation.” She laughed as she spoke.

Adrian leaned over and whispered into her ear, “That might have happened had I had five more minutes this morning, love. But give me time.”

“Yes. Give him time, Em,” Darcy, clearly a master eavesdropper, said. “He loves to subjugate his, er, subjects.”

Emma blushed.

“That was not meant for your ears, my friend,” Adrian said.

“Just trying to up your chances, mate.”

Adrian squinted at him. “Thanks. I think I can handle this on my own.”

“Uh, hello! We are sitting right here and can hear everything you’re saying, you know,” Caroline said. “Honestly. Men.” She shook her head in dismay.

Adrian reached over to reassure Emma, who was seated next to him, and clasped her hand, twining his fingers with hers. It was so unexpected but felt so right, Emma decided she didn’t want to be a naysayer right at that moment, so she held on tight.

“So what say you to a moonlight stroll on the beach after dessert?” Emma asked.

“Sounds perfect,” Darcy said, glancing over at Caroline with swooning eyes. He looked like a Labrador waiting for his supper.

After Adrian paid the check with Darcy’s credit card, they drove to a secluded section of beach that Emma knew well.

“This is a place I used to walk along with my grandmother,” she said. “It’s far enough away from the houses that it doesn't attract the tourist crowd. I love how it makes you feel like it’s your very own island or something.”

She decided not to make any jokes about Adrian probably actually owning his very own island, and instead they began to walk. At first they walked four astride, but soon the couples split off, with Darcy wrapping his arm around Caroline to ward off the December cold, and Adrian then doing the same.

“Don’t think this means you’re getting anywhere with me, buddy,” Emma said.

“Not to worry, I know I’m up against an impenetrable army of man-fear,” he said.

“When you put it like that, it sounds sort of silly.”

“Gee, you think?”

“Remember back when we’d all go skinny dipping in the ocean?” Caroline said. Big mouth.

“And you and that Teddy—”

“So, how’d the stock market close today?” Emma said, trying to change the subject.

“Nice try. We want more information! Caroline’s got dirt on Emma,” Darcy said, singing that last part. “Come on, spill.”

“Nothing to spill,” Emma said. “Yet another in a long list of losers.”

“Oh, come on, Ems,” Caroline said. “We had fun, even if he was a jerk. I mean it’s not your fault he was two-timing you!”

“Thanks, Caro. Feel free to toss in a few more ingredients in the ‘Emma’s-a-loser’ soup.”