The Blacksheep Prince's Bride

“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.”

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.

Chapter Three

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.

“As if I what?”

But now that he thought about the times he’d seen Rowena in a roomful of people, she’d been flitting around, yes, but there seemed to be a method to her flightiness. She would talk to every man in the room—except him, of course—but only for a moment. And she was usually carrying a tray of something, using it as a barrier between her and the men obviously interested in her.

It was as if she knew that behind her shield, she could flirt all she wanted…and still be safe.

“As if what?” she repeated.

He met her worried glance until her gaze was pulled back by the demanding road.

He didn’t want to play this hand just yet. He needed to test his theory…to see if he could determine her motivation. As a lawyer, he’d learned that motivation was everything. With the right motivation—right, at least, in their minds—people were capable of committing terrible crimes…even against themselves.

He knew Rowena wouldn’t be satisfied with a brush-off, so he’d distract her by making her angry. “As if you enjoy being a servant. As if you love pointing out your inferiority.”

On cue, she bristled. “I’m not inferior. Just different.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’m a nanny, and you’re a prince.”

“I’m American. Americans don’t have titles.”

“You’re fourth in line for the throne. Third if the king…”

She couldn’t finish the sentence, and he couldn’t blame her, but for another reason. “The last thing in the world I want is the throne of Edenbourg.”

She glanced at him carefully. “You don’t want to be king?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I just quit one high-stress job so I could raise my son. I certainly don’t want to jump in the middle of one with twenty-four-hour stress.”

She brought the car to a halt at the entrance to a roundabout and studied him as if she couldn’t decide whether or not she could believe him. Her expression reminded him of his suspicion about why she’d been placed in his household. Was she there to ascertain his involvement in the king’s disappearance…or just to take care of his son?

“It’s a lot of money,” she pointed out as she eased into the empty roundabout.

He shrugged. “I have plenty of money.”

“Not this much. Just think about how much the crown jewels are worth.”

“You mean the fabulous riches locked up in some vault somewhere that no one can enter but the king and his heir, enough to buy the world two times over?”

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