Free The Royal Mess by MaryJanice Davidson Page B

sank to her knees, laughing like a loon on uppers.
    â€œI remind Her Highness,” he said grimly, hands jammed wrist-deep into his pockets, “that I am heavily armed.”
    â€œProve it, stud. And stop talking about me in the third person; I’m not warning you again. But first get me up this hill.”
    â€œI’ll do the latter, but we’re not done discussing the first.”
    â€œHow about if I make it a royal command?”
    â€œYou couldn’t issue a royal command if I stuck my gun up your nose.”
    â€œOooh, is that your idea of foreplay?”
    Muttering, he turned his back to her and brushed more pine needles off his suit. She leaped on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. He was so surprised he nearly fell down again.
    â€œLet’s ride, cowboy,” she said, then kissed him on the right earlobe.
    He took the gradual slope at a dead run, clutching her legs so she wouldn’t fall off, and she rode him all the way to the top, whooping and giggling.
    They were having so much fun, in fact, that they nearly knocked Edmund down the same slope they’d just come up.

Chapter 25
    J effrey had his gun out, but whether it was to shoot himself, Nicole, or Edmund he didn’t know.
    Disgrace. Dishonor. Death?
    Edmund’s question, “Did you two lose something besides your minds?” was still hanging in the air.
    Nicole hadn’t climbed down. She just glared at Edmund over Jeffrey’s left shoulder. He could feel the glare.
    â€œWhat are you doing out here? It’s practically the middle of the night!”
    â€œIt’s nine thirty,” Edmund said mildly. “Prince Nicholas went looking for you, Princess. He is still looking. So I suggest, Your Highness, that you get back inside. Now.”
    It was amazing. He sounded totally polite, even deferential, but she knew it wasn’t a request.
    Jeffrey, the bum who was supposedly watching out for her physical safety, dropped her like she was hot, and she hit the lawn ass-first.
    â€œOw, dammit!” Nicole reacted. Then, “Fine, we’re going.”
    â€œMr. Dante—”
    â€œJeffrey, your . . . ah . . . devotion to duty is commendable, but I am perfectly capable of escorting Her Highness back to the palace if you need to . . . ah . . . walk the perimeter. That is what you were doing, yes?” He speared Jeffrey with a laser-beam gaze. “Walking the perimeter?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œVery well. Good night.”
    â€œGood night,” Jeffrey said glumly. There was no point in wondering whether Edmund had seen them kissing. The man saw everything.
    â€œHey.” Nicole was handing him back his jacket.
    â€œYou’re not in trouble, right? Because I take full responsibility. I was the one who climbed out of my window and—”
    â€œI enjoyed our walk, Highness,” he said loudly, drowning out her confession. “Reynolds will relieve me at the top of the hour, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    â€œOh.”
    Incredibly, she seemed almost hurt. But that couldn’t be right. He was saving her reputation at the cost of his own. It was for her own good. Surely she realized that.
    â€œFine. See ya,” Nicole said.
    She fell into step with Edmund and walked with him without once looking back.
    He knew, because he was watching.

Chapter 26
    P rince Nicholas, last in line for the throne, was giving serious thought to playing baseball with the jade chess pieces the emperor had given his great-grandfather when Edmund finally walked in with Nicole.
    Edmund, of course, looked as he always did: starched and proper. Edmund was never-ending, like the tides, and never-changing, like the face of the moon, or his father, or Kathryn’s aim.
    But Nicole looked like she’d been run over by a truck. Her hair was all over the place, there was something sticky (sap? mud?) on her left cheek, pine needles all over her leggings, a bloody scratch