Winter Blockbuster 2012 (49 page)

Kayla looked back as they closed the door. A jagged little piece of her heart tore at the look in Pellea’s face. She bit her lip and turned away.

They walked away from the office. Kayla eyed at Max sideways and wondered how to broach the subject that was begging to be discussed. She kept expecting all this to be cleared up, and instead, she was just getting more confused.

“You want to explain all that to me?” she said at last, when he didn’t volunteer anything.

He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. “You mean, why I didn’t tell her about Princess Nadine?”

She nodded. “You could start with that.”

He shrugged and kept walking. “There was nothing about it in the complaint. So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s not what this is all about.”

She stopped him and searched his eyes in wonder. “You don’t believe that.”

He glanced back at her, frowning. “Who cares what I believe, Kayla. What does it matter?”

“Of course what you believe matters. How are we going to get to the bottom of all this if we just throw out theories without exploring them?”

She saw the torture in his eyes and melted. “Listen.” She grabbed his arm and pressed close so she could talk to him
softly. “Whatever they think you did, whatever it turns out to be, we’ll handle it. Nothing is going to drive you away. We won’t let it.” His gaze locked in hers. “I won’t let it,” she whispered, her love for him in her eyes.

He reached up and his hand cupped her chin, fingers trailing across her cheek. He didn’t say a word, but something in his eyes said volumes.
I need you, Kayla
, they seemed to be saying.
Don’t ever leave me. I don’t want to live without you. Never again
.

She saw it as clearly as though he had said the words aloud. But she also saw what followed—a regret, a denial. She’d seen his true feelings, but at the same time, she saw why he couldn’t act on them. It was all there. As Pellea had said, read them and weep.

He dropped his hand and looked away and she put distance between them and cleared her throat.

“Tell me about the horse,” she said coolly.

Something flashed in his eyes and he turned away, then steeled himself and turned back and said, “Let’s get some food first. Where’s the closest place to get some food around here?”

She led him there and they entered the fast-food cavalcade, all chrome and neon flashing lights, with simple tables and chairs and a counter for ordering your food. Colors screamed from all sides and music was loud and aggressive. He scanned the place, then looked down at her and shook his head, his eyes amused.

“Are you going to tell me this is one of your favorite places?” he said skeptically.

She raised her chin and tried to keep from smiling, though his gorgeous eyes were tempting her to laugh. “Hey, I hang out here all the time.” She glanced around the room while
he grinned at her obvious lie. “And anyway, you asked for something close.”

He bit his lower lip and attempted to adjust the criteria. “How about the closest decent food where you can also hear yourself think?”

“Say no more,” she said and led him to the escalator, then around two corners and onto a quieter walkway. “How about this?”

She would have thought the Two for Tea tearoom might have been a little too precious for his taste, but he smiled and nodded. “Looks great,” he said.

She grinned. “I hadn’t figured you for finger sandwiches,” she said.

“That shows how little you really know me,” he replied, and escorted her in.

Every table had a lace cloth. The tea was served in fragile cups and saucers and the trays of scones and little sandwiches were passed from table to table by girls in Victorian costumes. Music by Debussy, Liszt and Chopin filled the air. Kayla sighed. Just what they needed to calm the frantic mood of the day.

They sat, ordered and then smiled at each other across the table.

“We came here to talk,” she reminded him.

He made a face. “Yes.” He sighed. “What was the subject again?”

“The horse.”

“Ah, yes. The horse.” His eyes widened, full of innocence. “Okay, I did steal the horse.”

She gasped. “What? I thought you were going to convince me it was all a misunderstanding.”

“There was no misunderstanding. I stole him.” Reaching out, he took her hand in his. “There was a good reason.”

“Oh, Max,” she said, swept up in a sense of despair.

“Let me tell you how it came to be.”

She nodded, willing to hear him out. But tears were threatening and she knew he could tell. “Please,” she said shakily.

He nodded, then took his hand away from hers and stared at the wall. “While I was living in Mercuria, I rented a room from a family, the Minderts, who had once been quite wealthy but through one thing and another, had lost all their money. All they had left from the old days, besides their house and land, was a stable of three beautiful, award-winning palomino horses, and it took all Dirk Mindert’s efforts to make enough to keep them fed and well taken care of.”

His eyes were troubled as he remembered how it had been for these people. “The whole family had one goal—keep those horses. But while I was living there, they had to get rid of two of them. They just couldn’t keep up with expenses. They were about to lose their house and they couldn’t …?.” He shook his head as though the words just wouldn’t come for a moment.

“I would have tried to help them, but the Mercurian government wasn’t paying me at the time. So I didn’t have much in the way of resources.” He looked down at his hands. They were clenched into fists. Slowly, he made them relax.

“But we managed to get together enough money to keep the most important one, a beautiful horse named Belle. He belonged to the Minderts’ eight-year-old daughter, Mindy. She rode her every day. It was magical to watch the way she and that huge horse had a rapport between them. It would have been a crime to separate them.”

Kayla murmured something and reached for his hand again. His fingers curled around hers, but he didn’t seem to know it. He was wrapped up in his story.

“The public affairs minister and I had a falling out. Bottom
line, he hated me. He tried to undercut me a couple of ways that just didn’t work out. And then, all of a sudden, he took Mindy’s horse away.” His voice deepened roughly. “He had some trumped-up national security reason. They were supposedly confiscating all horses in the sector.”

He turned to look into her eyes. “It was a bunch of bull. I went to him to try to get it rescinded. He called the guard, tried to have me arrested.” He shrugged. “I got away.” He gazed at the wall again and took a deep breath. “I found out where they were keeping Belle and I stole her back. I took her and I rode her right across the border.”

He looked back at Kayla as though to see how she was taking that. She looked right back. So far, she wished he hadn’t done it, but she didn’t see how it was going to be a capital offense. These things could be explained … couldn’t they? Maybe Pellea could authorize a payment?

But Max was still telling his story.

“I managed to have the Minderts meet me. They were about to lose their land anyway. It was time for them to go. I got them out of the country and on their way to Switzerland. They have family there.” He took a deep breath and looked at her. “And Mindy has her horse back.”

“Oh. I’m glad. But …” It did seem a large price to pay for a horse. She admired him for his instincts to help, but … “Max, you could go to prison for this.” Not only that, but he could also be giving up his place in the royal family.

“Yes,” he said simply. “I might.” He stared hard into her eyes, his own silver with passion. “But, Kayla, I don’t really care. There was something more important than that involved. And I would do it again. I would do it tomorrow.”

CHAPTER SIX

M
AX’S
hand tightened on Kayla’s. “You see, there’s more to this story. Mindy is a sweet and adorable girl. You would love her. But more than that, Mindy …” His voice choked a bit and he cleared his throat. “Mindy is blind, you see. Belle was her life companion, her only joy. You understand?” He searched her eyes, looking very serious.

She drew her breath in sharply, and then she nodded slowly. She did understand. She had to admit, Mindy’s blindness made all the difference. The fact that he had thrown away everything he had in order to help the child … she was touched by what he’d done. “Yes. I think so. I do understand.”

He nodded, as though satisfied with her answer and by what he could see in her eyes. “Good. It had to be done.”

She stared at him. Yes, it had to be done. And he’d done it. He was a man who went ahead and did things. He didn’t wait to see how the wind might blow. He made things happen. Suddenly, her heart filled with affection for him. So he stole a horse—so what!

“And you …?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I never went back. It was time for me to go anyway.”

She took a deep breath and sighed as though she’d just been through something important. “Wow. You were a hero.”

“No.” He shook his head and appeared pained. “It was my fault the horse was taken in the first place. I should have been more obsequious to the minister. I don’t ever seem to be able to learn that lesson.”

“And I don’t suppose you were much of a hero to the Mercurian regime, were you?”

He gave a short laugh. “Hardly.”

“So by the time you left, they already had a pretty deep grudge against you.”

“So it seems.”

Their tea was getting cold and the first round of sandwiches had arrived. Luckily, they were delicious and Kayla began to relax. It was wonderful what a little bit of tea and some yummy finger food could do. She was feeling so much better about everything.

He had reasons for taking the plane and reasons for stealing the horse. Surely he also had an explanation for the historical artifact. Whatever that was. But she wouldn’t bug him about that right now. All in good time.

She definitely wouldn’t let herself get caught up in so much worry about it any longer. She had work to do. She was supposed to mold him into a prince in a week. It was time to get going on that little job.

“We’ve got to get back to the essential things we’ve been tasked with,” she told him between bites of a watercress delectable. She gave him a significant look. “Prince lessons.”

He rolled his eyes but didn’t balk. “I’m game,” he said with resignation. “What do I do next? Cut my hair in a pageboy?”

“Nothing so old-fashioned as that,” she assured him. “But I think we ought to make a list.” She pulled a notebook out
of her huge purse. She’d brought it along just for this sort of thing.

“A list?” His look was wary.

“A list of all the things the modern nobleman must be.”

He gave her a crooked grin so endearing, she felt something move in her chest. He’d grinned at her with just that look before. She had a quick flashback to a day on the beach down on the Mediterranean, a day so bright and beautiful, it made her think her world had been enchanted. Max and Eddie were competing to see who could build the best sand castle. And she was just sitting to the side, watching them and laughing at their silly macho banter. The sea was turquoise blue, the sand was sparkling, the sun was liquid gold.

A perfect day. A perfect time. A bittersweet sense of nostalgia swept through her and she had to hold back tears. Nothing would ever be so special again.

She pulled herself back into the now and Max was still making fun of her list.

“I’ll see your modern nobleman list,” he teased her. “And then we’ll raise the stakes and make a list of everything the non-noble should know before attempting to play the royal game. That one I might be able to shoot for.”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry. This doesn’t mean you have to absorb everything all at once. It’s more of a wish list.” She wrote on the top of the page, The Attributes of the Perfect Prince.

“Perfect?” He groaned. “Might as well toss it right now.”

“Will you stop it?” she said, raising her pen to her cheek as she thought things over. “I know. We’ll start with physical appearance.”

He seemed surprised. “You don’t think I’ve got the looks for the job?”

She flashed him a satirical glance. “As far as the basics,
you’ll do. But there’s more to it. There’s a certain way that a prince carries himself.”

He grinned. “Arrogance and disdain? I think I can handle that.”

She pretended to glare at him. “No. Confidence and competence mixed with a certain sense of approachability. Leadership and the common touch, all wrapped up in one handsome package.” She wrinkled her nose. “Do you understand what I mean?”

He looked back and then sighed. “I think I get it.”

“Good.” She nodded. “Work on that, please.”

“Oh, sure. No problem.”

“And then there is your manner of dress.”

He looked down at his casual shirt and Levi’s and eyed her questioningly.

Her look back was scathing and she shook her head. “I’ll get together some pictures to show you what you can do on that.”

“Spend money,” he said cynically.

“Yes. But carefully. I’ll teach you the tricks.”

“No kidding?” His smile was nothing if not provocative. “I didn’t know you had a few of those up your sleeve.”

She grinned back and tapped him with her pen. “Be ready for anything.”

“Oh, I will.”

“But right now,” she said, shifting gears and getting serious again, “I want to see how you walk.”

He blinked at her. “What?”

“Your walk. Is it royal enough? Does it need more backbone? Insouciance? Perhaps a bit more savoir faire?”

“Listen, I’ll do anything you want, but I’m not going French.”

She laughed. “You only wish you could be French. The French know how to walk.”

“I’ve never been put down for my walk before.”

“Let’s see it, then.”

He blinked at her. She couldn’t mean what she seemed to mean. Could she? “What?”

She gestured for him to stand. “Do it.”

His eyes were clouded. “Do what?”

She leaned toward him, holding back a laugh at his hesitancy. “Walk across the room. Let’s see what you’ve got.”