Martha Shields - The Blacksheep Prince's Bride

“Jake, you’re not listening,” Edward Stanbury said.

Jake stifled a sigh. His father was as bad as his two-year-old, wanting attention focused on him at all times. The only problem was, his father was fifty-five. “Yes, I am. You’re agreeing with Luke that we shouldn’t support Nicholas’s position on the immigration clause.”

“You let a foreign underclass in,” Luke sniffed, “and you open yourself to all kinds of criminal activity.”

“That’s not necessarily true. Meanwhile, with an economy as strong as Edenbourg’s, menial jobs go begging for workers.”

“Yes, but what happens when the economy weakens?” his father argued. “Once you let these people in, it’s harder than hell to boot them out again.”

“And if you don’t have jobs to give them, you have to support them.” Luke lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in Jake’s face. “They’re a liability any way you look at it.”

Jake didn’t flinch against his brother’s stream of smoke. He’d learned a long time ago it was best not to let Luke know he was getting under his skin. “They’re not always a liability. Having a full workforce will strengthen the economy, so it doesn’t get weak. Right now, Edenbourg is begging for workers in the lower-paying jobs. It’s worse here than in the States because, as a rule, Edenbourg citizens have a higher level of education.”

“You always were soft on…” Luke’s attention focused on something behind Jake. He whistled lecherously. “Now there’s something that’s not a liability…in any country.”

It had to be a sexy woman. Jake glanced over his shoulder. His brother was too predictable.

A woman was bent over a child at the edge of the small pond about a hundred yards away, giving them a view of a well-rounded rear end.

“Damn, they grow ’em right over here, don’t they?” Luke tossed down his cigarette. “I think I should go show that sweet young thing just how friendly Americans can be.”

The woman straightened then, and the sun glinted off deep red highlights in her dark hair.

Rowena.

Jake grabbed his brother’s arm. “That’s Sammy with his new nanny.”

“Well, I’ll be…” For once, Luke didn’t finish his vulgarity. “No wonder you’ve been antsy to go home the last couple of nights.”

“Isn’t that Princess Isabel’s lady-in-waiting?” Edward asked. “What’s her name?”

“Rowena Wilde.” Jake released his handful of Luke’s pinpoint cotton shirt. “And the reason I go home at night is to spend time with my son.”

“Yeah, right.” Luke grinned. “So when are you going to invite your father and brother home for supper? Is she a good cook, as well?”

“As a matter of fact, she—” Suddenly, Jake stiffened.

Rowena and Sammy were disappearing around the end of the pond, heading for an arbor swing on the other side. From his vantage point above the gardens, Jake could see something Rowena couldn’t.

Hidden by a hedgerow and running straight toward them was an enormous mastiff.

“What’s wrong?” Edward asked.

“Sammy’s afraid of dogs.”

Jake bolted down the terrace and took the endless layers of stone steps three at a time. Heart pounding in dread, he vaulted over rose bushes and blasted through a hedge. Still, it took several minutes for him to reach the pond.

When he did, what he saw was so far from the bloody, screaming carnage he expected to see, he skidded to a halt.

Rowena knelt on the ground next to Sammy. The dog sat facing them, tongue lolling, his huge paw lifted and placed in Sammy’s hand by Rowena.

His little boy, who’d always been terrified of dogs of any size, was giggling. Actually giggling.

As Jake gaped, Rowena lifted her gaze and her beautiful smile widened. “There’s your papa.”

Sammy dropped the dog’s paw as he turned. “Daddy, guess what? See my doggie? His name’s Boo-Boo.”

Finally able to move, Jake walked over and knelt beside his son. He casually patted the dog’s head. “Yes, indeed, Sammy. I do see the dog. Boo-Boo is a very nice dog.”

“His name is Booten Sebastian Cabot the Fourth,” Rowena said with a laugh in her lilting voice. “But that’s a bit much for a little mouth.”

Sammy mimicked his father by stroking Boo-Boo’s head. “Good doggie.”

“How did you manage this?” Jake couldn’t keep the amazement from his voice. “Sammy’s always been…a bit leery of dogs.”

“This brave little man?” She gave Sammy a hug. “He just needed to see how much dogs are like we are. All they want is a little love.”

Boo-Boo butted her arm with his nose.

Rowena laughed and scratched the dog behind his ears. “All right, a lot of love. Isn’t that right, you big old baby?”

“Big baby!” Sammy cried, laughing. “Isn’t he, Daddy?”

Jake scratched the dog’s deep chest. “He sure is.”

Boo-Boo gave a little howl, loving all the attention.

Sammy giggled and helped Jake scratch the mastiff’s chest. “Can Boo-Boo go to our house?”

“Not today, Sammy,” Jake said. “But I’m sure you can visit Boo-Boo any time.”

“Of course he can.” Rowena stood and held onto the dog’s collar. “As a matter of fact, my father’s cairn just had a litter of puppies. Is it all right if I take Sammy to see them tomorrow?”

Jake stood, too, and picked Sammy up. “Where does your father live?”

“In a village called Kempten. It’s about half an hour’s drive.”

“You drive?”

“Of course I drive. I can take a car from the palace garage any time.” She placed a hand over her brow to shade her eyes from the early afternoon sun as she looked up at him. “Would you like to go with us?”

As he gazed down at her lovely, upturned face, Jake realized he very much wanted to go.

During the past couple of days, he’d discovered that he liked Rowena’s method of handling children. Laughter mixed with positive comments rather than frowns and criticism. And she’d just performed a miracle with Sammy.

He wanted to see the man who’d raised her. She must be very loved, to have so much love to give.

To children, of course.

“It would do you good, to get out of the palace for a while,” she said. “Have you seen much of Edenbourg?”

“Just the road from the airport to Old Stanbury.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “You’re the one who found the king’s car, aren’t you?”

Jake stiffened. “Yes. Why?”

“It’s just that the coastline road is not the shortest route from the airport to here.”

Jake frowned. Luke had provided him with directions from the airport.

“Are the puppies like Boo-Boo?” Sammy asked.

Rowena smiled. “No, they’re a lot smaller. Papa has a Cairn terrier. He bought her when he and I went to Scotland on vacation several years ago.”

Jake let go of what was bothering him about the airport road. “Cairn?”

“Ever seen the Wizard of Oz?” Rowena asked.

“Who hasn’t?”

“Toto was a cairn.”

“Toto!” Sammy cried.

“Have you seen the Wizard of Oz, Sammy?”

Jake nodded. “We watched part of it a couple of months ago. Until the witch got a little too much for…um…me to take.”

Laughter brightened Rowena’s dark golden eyes. “She scares me, too.”

“Me, too,” Sammy admitted.

“Are you going in to the palace?” Jake asked, turning to let her precede him.

Rowena still held onto the dog’s collar. “I need to take Boo-Boo back to the kennel.”

Sammy struggled against Jake’s hold. “I wanna go with Ena.”

Jake held on with difficulty. Sometimes holding on to his son was like trying to hold on to an eel in a vat of oil. “I don’t know, Sammy.”