Martha Shields - The Blacksheep Prince's Bride

Rowena met Jake’s gaze with an “I agree with you” nod. “Tell you what, Sammy. Go with your papa. I’ll be back in just a minute, and I’ll take you to see the pool inside the palace. It was built a hundred and fifty years ago.”

Sammy was clearly torn, but reluctantly agreed. “’Kay, Ena.”

Before there could be any more discussion, Jake turned toward the palace.

Sammy watched Rowena over Jake’s shoulder. “Guess what, Daddy?”

“What, Sammy?”

“We go see her puppies tomorrow, right?”

Jake gave his son a hug. “Right, Sammy. Tomorrow we’ll go see her daddy’s puppies.”

Sammy slipped his arm around Jake’s neck. “You, too. Right, Daddy?”

“Yes, Sammy. Me, too.”

With a contented sigh, Sammy laid his head on Jake’s shoulder.

Jake’s heart turned over. He didn’t care what was going on in the negotiations tomorrow, he was going to see Rowena’s puppies.

With Sammy, of course. Just for Sammy.

As they rounded a mountain curve the next morning several miles outside Edenbourg’s capital city of Old Stanbury, Jake settled back into the passenger seat of the Mercedes sedan marked with royal license plates.

“Finally,” Rowena muttered from behind the wheel.

“Finally what?”

“You’ve been sitting on the edge of your seat since we left the palace. Not an easy thing to do with a seat belt on.”

“Sorry.”

“Did you think I was going to kill us all?”

Actually, he hadn’t given her driving a thought, though he’d offered to take the wheel before they left the garage on the way to her father’s village of Kempton. The reason he’d finally relaxed was he just felt the chains break that had held him in the palace.

Now that she mentioned it, though, her driving was excellent.

“You’re a better driver than I thought you’d be.”

“Why would you think I wouldn’t be a good driver?”

He shrugged. “How often do you drive? You seem to be stuck in the palace as much as I am, and probably you have a driver if you go somewhere with the princess.”

She threw a sharp glance his way. “I haven’t gone out much lately, it’s true. Things have been hectic since the king disappeared. Isabel has needed me more than usual. But in normal times, I drive to see my father at least once a week.”

“You don’t even own a car.”

“You Americans.” Rowena smiled as she navigated a hairpin curve that overlooked a view of an impossibly green valley with a quaint village crawling up the side of a rocky mountain. “Can’t survive without at least one vehicle in the garage. Why should I give myself the expense of a car when I can check one out of the royal garage any time? You could, too, you know. You’re not a prisoner. You could borrow a palace car and take Sammy anywhere.”

“Anywhere on the island, you mean.” He didn’t mean to sound bitter.

“Well, if I do say so myself, Edenbourg is a beautiful country. We have many sites of interest, whether you like history or nature or the arts….”

“Anything a two-year-old might be interested in?”

“Sammy’s almost three, isn’t he?”

“Yes, in three months.”

“He certainly speaks well for his age.”

“I know. He started talking around ten months. Partly, I think, because he had to verbalize his needs.” He glanced in the back. Sammy wasn’t paying any attention to them. “Annette wasn’t the most…attentive of mothers.”

“That’s so—Oh, look. Here’s something that will interest a two-year-old.” She slowed the car. “Sammy, look. See the deer? That’s a red doe. And look! She has two spotted babies.”

“Where?” Sammy craned his neck from his car seat behind them. Rowena had procured one tall enough for Sammy to see out of the windows easily.

“There, through the trees.”

“I see them!” Sammy cried. “Can I pet baby deers?”

“Sorry, Sammy.” Rowena smiled over her shoulder. “They’re not like Boo-Boo. They’re wild. If you tried to get close to them, they’d run away.”

“Are they scared of me?”

“Yes, they are.”

“They think I hurt them?”

“Yes, like you used to run away because you thought dogs would hurt you. They don’t know that all you want to do is love them. Oh. There they go.”

“Where?” Sammy asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe they went home to see their papa.” Rowena eased on the accelerator.

Seconds later, Sammy said, “Ena, guess what?”

“Yes, Sammy?”

“I’m not afraid of dogs.”

“I know you’re not.” She beamed at him in the rearview mirror. “Why?”

“’Cause all they wanna do is love me.”

“You’re such a brave boy, Sammy. I’m proud of you. And your papa is proud of you, too. Aren’t you, Jake?”

Jake twisted so his son could see the pride in his eyes. “I’m very proud of you, Sammy. And I love you very much.”

“I know, Daddy.”

As he turned back around, Jake’s attention was caught by Rowena’s profile. For such a small woman, she had a strong face…and a strong mind to match.

She glanced over and caught him staring. “What?”

“You should be a child psychologist…or a mother.”

A flinch passed over her face so quickly, he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a shadow thrown by a tree they passed.

“I don’t think so,” she said.

“You don’t think…which one?”

“Either.”

“You don’t want children? I can’t believe that. You’re such a wonderful mother to kids who aren’t even your own…and you seem to love them.”

“I do love children. They still believe that wonderful, magical things can happen.”

“Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?”

“Yes.”

“But you don’t want children of your own.”

“I just…” Her face tightened, and she kept her eyes firmly on the road. “I don’t want to talk about it, all right?”

“Can’t you have children?” Once again, Rowena’s reputation reared its ugly head. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t married yet. Titled men needed heirs.

“I…” She glanced pointedly in the rearview mirror.

Jake turned to check on Sammy, who was absorbed in an antique toy soldier Rowena had borrowed from the palace nursery. His son was paying them no attention whatsoever. Rowena was not going to find an out there. “He’s not listening.”

“How do you—”

“Rowena, is that it? Can you not have children?”

The look she finally threw at him would’ve melted Jake on the spot if he were ice cream. “Why are you interrogating me? Am I on the witness stand? Have I done something wrong?”

“No, of course not.” Jake settled back against his seat again, but didn’t take his eyes off her. He had no idea why knowing this was so important to him. But somehow, it was. “I’d just like to know.”

“At the risk of being rude, Mr. Stanbury, the state of my reproductive organs is none of your business.”

He stared at the delicate curve of her cheek. “Why do you always do that?”

“What?”

“Anytime I ask something personal, you call me Mr. Stanbury.”

“That’s your name, isn’t it?”

Jake was too good a lawyer to be sidetracked. “You’re trying to remind me that you’re my employee. It’s as if you…”

He trailed off.

It’s as if she hid behind her servant’s mask. As if she held it up like a shield anytime someone tried to get close. The way she had done the other night when he’d suggested she read in the library.

He frowned. That didn’t jive with the image he had of her. Someone wanting to marry a title would play down—not emphasize—her lower status.