Royals in Perry Square!—AGAIN

We didn’t think future princesses rode around on motorcycles, but Shey Carlson—local coffee shop diva—just might prove us wrong! Seems Prince Eduardo Matthew Tanner Ericson is back in town, and this highly eligible bachelor has set his sights on Shey. Of course, stubborn Shey denies all rumors of a royal courtship. But we’ve seen Tanner steal a kiss from his red-haired beauty, and wow do they kiss! Those who’ve seen them canoodling couldn’t be happier. After all, everyone’s rooting for this local girl with a big heart to make good…with a real noble man!

Once Upon a Prince
Holly Jacobs

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CONTENTS

Cover

Back Cover Text

Title Page

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

EPILOGUE

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

Shey Carlson was waiting for a prince.

Not in a waiting-for-her-personal-Prince-Charming-to-come-riding-to-her-rescue sort of way; rather she was standing in the small airport in Erie, Pennsylvania, waiting for a real, honest-to-goodness royal runs-a-country sort of prince.

Prince Eduardo Matthew Tanner Ericson of Amar to be exact. The unwanted fiancé of Parker Dillon—Shey’s best friend—to be even more exact.

How a girl from humble beginnings ended up waiting to greet a prince was a bit of a mystery. But then it was no more mysterious than the fact that the same girl had a princess as one of her best friends.

A man dressed in an impeccable suit, with perfectly styled dark brown hair and an ultrawhite smile, walked through the terminal door surrounded by three large men with serious expressions. Bodyguards, their stances practically screamed. The trio scanned the area, alert for any hidden danger.

The tallest guard had a thin, muscular build and dark skin, the middle-size one, who was still akin to a giant, was bulkier, and had more of a wrestler’s build and a crew-cut. The third was Asian, with a wiry, lean body. He winked at her as they approached and shot her a thousand-watt smile that Shey was sure worked on most women.

She scowled her response.

Shey Carlson was not most women.

The prince had arrived with his entourage.

“Your Highness?” Shey asked, though she didn’t need to. This man’s mere presence shouted royalty, just as the other three radiated come on and try something.

“Marie Anna, you’ve…” the prince started then paused, obviously searching for something to say. “You’ve changed since we last met.”

Shey looked down at her leather jacket.

She couldn’t imagine Parker wearing anything like it. Not that Parker was prone to wearing a tiara and ball gown, but she wasn’t the leather-jacket type, either.

“Since I’m not Marie Anna—who, by the way, goes by the name Parker these days—I guess change is an accurate word.” She thrust out her hand to shake. “Shey. Shey Carlson.”

The prince ignored her gesture. He was probably more accustomed to people bowing to him and kissing his ring.

Wait a minute, wasn’t it the higher-up clergy who expected ring-kissing?

Did you curtsy to a prince?

This kind of protocol had never been necessary in her lower East Side neighborhood when she was growing up. But whatever it was she was supposed to do, the handshake was the best she had to offer.

Shey Carlson didn’t curtsy or bow to anyone, and she certainly wasn’t into ring-kissing.

Not even for a handsome prince.

“You’re not Marie Anna…Parker?” He scanned the crowd. “Do you mind if I inquire where my fiancée is?”

“Ah, there is another little problem,” Shey said. “You see, Parker’s not your fiancée.”

Mr. Ultrawhite-smile wasn’t smiling now. He frowned. “That’s not what our betrothal papers say. Not what her father says, either.”

“Unless you’re planning to marry her father, I figure it doesn’t matter what he says, or what some papers say. Parker’s not your fiancée.”

“Why don’t you allow Parker,” he drew the name out with obvious distaste, “and I to settle this. Where is she?”

“She doesn’t want to see you, that’s why she asked me to pick you up.”

“And I insist you take me to her.” There was a small tic on the left side of his upper lip.

Did it indicate annoyance?

Shey sure hoped so.

“Fine,” she said with a shrug. “But I don’t have room for your gargoyles on my bike.”

“Bike?” he asked, ignoring the gargoyle comment altogether.

“My Harley. You’re welcome to a ride if you like. The three stooges here can grab your luggage and meet you at the hotel later.”

“Your Highness—” the largest stooge started to protest.

“It’s fine, Emil,” Tanner said with a regal nod of dismissal.

Emil obviously wasn’t intimidated. He didn’t back down. “Your father would be very displeased if we let you go off with a stranger.”

The prince gave Shey a quick once-over and turned back to Quasimodo. “I think I can handle her.”

“I don’t know, Your Highness, maybe you’d better let me handle her for you,” the ladykiller bodyguard said in a low, sultry tone.

“You know Peter has a way with women,” the middle-size brute added.

“That’s enough, Tonio. I’ll handle our unexpected hostess myself.”

Shey couldn’t help it…she laughed. “Better men than you have tried to handle me.”

“Did they succeed?” Tanner asked, a hint of a smile playing on his lips.

Shey shook her head. “Not a one.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” This time the smile wasn’t a hint, it was full-blown and quite a sight to behold.

If Shey was prone to let looks influence her, her knees would be decidedly weak at the sight of that smile. But she wasn’t prone in that sense, so she stood quite solidly on the ground despite the fact this prince was easily the sexiest man she’d seen in a very long time.

A very, very long time.

He turned back to his henchmen. “I’ll meet you at the hotel in a short while.”

“Your Highness,” Tonio objected, obviously ready to start another argument.

“Tonio, not another word.”

And without another word to Curly, Mo and Larry, the prince turned to Shey and said, “I’m ready to see my fiancée.”

“You’re in for a treat.”

She led him out of the small airport without another word. She smiled as they reached her baby.

“This is it,” she announced, running a hand over the red tank.

She knew there was pride in her voice. She couldn’t help it. Her father had died when she was five and she didn’t have many memories of him. But she did have a distinct one—it was like a snapshot in her head—of her father, sitting on a flaming red Harley and smiling. A young man with a family who loved him, his whole life in front of him.

“This is our vehicle?” the prince asked, sounding less than enthused.

“No. A Harley is not a vehicle. It’s a bike, a hog, a way of life, but not a vehicle. That’s too plain, too mundane a word to describe a Harley.”

“You love this bike.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yeah, I do.”

She wasn’t embarrassed by the fact. She’d worked hard to buy the bike. It was more than a memory, more than transportation. The Harley represented how far she’d come from the little girl wearing hand-me-down clothes at school.

“But it’s simply a way of getting from one place to another.” He looked confused.

“A Harley is more than simply a method of going from one place to another.”

He shook his head.

“Have you ever ridden one of these?” Shey asked, though she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

“No.”

“Then let me teach you a thing or two.”

Shey got her spare helmet off the back and handed it to His Royal Cluelessness. “Here, put this on.”

She expected him to fuss that it would mess his perfect hair, that it wasn’t cool to wear a helmet, but the prince simply put it on.

Even though Pennsylvania had recently rescinded its helmet requirements, Shey was still a stickler for them. She slipped on her own helmet, slid her leg over the seat and started the bike.

It roared to life.

“Okay, climb on behind me,” she practically shouted in order to be heard over the rumble of the engine.

The prince did as instructed. His body pressed tightly against hers. His arms wrapped around her waist.

A small shiver of something crept up Shey’s spine.

It had been months since any man had touched her. Her reaction to the prince was simply a hormonal thing. Nothing more.

She kicked the bike into gear and started toward 12th Street.

“Hang on,” she called and she slipped into second, then quickly into third gear.

The feel of wind rushing against her face, the speed…riding the bike never failed to soothe her. But there was something different tonight—the man whose arms were wrapped lightly around her waist. The effect wasn’t quite as soothing as normal. As a matter of fact, there was a strange sensation that twisted her stomach and left her feeling short of breath.

Shey ignored it and simply concentrated on taking the prince to Monarch’s.

She’d let Parker deal with him.

Parker would send the prince packing and things would get back to normal.

Parker, Cara and Shey, three college friends, worked together at the coffeehouse, Monarch’s, and Titles Bookstore. No guys to muddle things up.

Shey remembered the night they’d come up with the names for their two attached stores. Parker had supplied the financial backing for the venture and they’d wanted to do something to acknowledge their royal friend. They’d all three laughed as they passed the bottle of wine and talked about the future—theirs and the stores’.

Shey had never had women friends before Parker and Cara, but if she’d been asked who’d she’d pick as friends, she would never have said a princess and someone like Cara, a quiet, soft-hearted woman.

Truth be told, when it came down to it, she hadn’t picked Parker and Cara at all…they’d simply meshed. Three people who’d connected and become friends. Friends who were closer than most families.

The prince’s arms tightened ever so slightly, reminding Shey of her unwanted passenger, jolting her from her thoughts.

* * *

Tanner Ericson knew that coming to Erie and collecting his fiancée was going to be a challenge. Marie Anna’s father had told him she might be a bit reluctant.

He’d prepared himself for all kinds of scenarios. But never in his wildest imagination had he thought he’d be whizzing down the city streets on the back of a motorbike driven by a most intriguing woman.

Short, spiky red hair and an attitude that screamed back off. This Shey Carlson was a tough, beautiful woman.

He inched a bit closer and tightened his arms around her waist, not so much because he was worried about falling off her motorbike, but because he liked the way she felt against him.

Eventually she turned off the four-lane street they’d been riding on, and much too soon they were pulling up to the curb.

She cut the motor and Tanner climbed off the bike. He took off his helmet and handed it to her.

“This is it,” she said.

He could hear in her voice that this place, with its small brick storefront, was special to her. The building had two doors. Over the right-hand one was a sign that read, Monarch’s Coffeehouse. It had a small crown tilted over the M.

The other sign read, Titles Bookstore. The same crown was over it, as well.

“Marie Anna’s here?”

“Parker owns the stores, along with Cara and myself. We’re all partners.” Shey started toward Monarch’s. “Come, on, Your Highness.”

He was accustomed to being called Your Highness but he preferred going by Tanner. Of course, he understood the necessity of his title or a more formal means of address when in Amar. But he was in America now. There was no need to stand on formalities here. Not with this woman.

“Tanner,” he said. “Call me Tanner.”

She didn’t say anything, just kept right on walking.

There was nothing for Tanner to do but follow.

He entered Monarch’s and found a blond woman talking to a dark-haired man.

It had to be her—Marie Anna.

He studied the woman he’d pledged to marry.

She hadn’t changed all that much. Yes, she looked less styled: her blond hair was pulled into a messy ponytail and she had on a pair of neat khaki pants and a light blue top.

This was the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

Tanner still had a hard time swallowing the fact that he had agreed to marry a woman he really didn’t know. But it was for the good of Amar.

He’d been lectured since birth that his first obligation was to his country. Small principalities like Amar and Marie Anna’s Eliason, could easily become lost in today’s world. By joining forces, the two small countries might have more clout. So in the age-old custom, he’d allowed himself to become engaged for political purposes.

At least, in public that was the reason he gave. In truth, he was just tired. Tired of women who merely wanted his title, his money. Women who thought they wanted to play princess, until they realized being a princess entailed very little play and an awful lot of hard work.

He was done.

After Stephana, he’d realized he’d never have a normal relationship with a woman, one built on mutual respect and—well, he wouldn’t admit it out loud, but the romantic in him craved a relationship based on love. But he’d simply come to the conclusion that it wouldn’t happen. That’s why he’d agreed to marry Marie Anna—Parker. She understood the intricacies of being a royal in modern society. Their union would be good for their countries.

If he couldn’t have what he wanted, then he’d settle for doing something that would be beneficial for Amar.

“Princess Marie Anna,” he said.

She stared at him and frowned.

“It’s Parker,” was her reply. “It’s been a long time, Tanner.”

“Too long,” he said, smiling at her.

There was no answering smile, as a matter of fact, her frown deepened to a scowl.

Two beautiful women had scowled at him in the last hour. Tanner didn’t like it.

“Not long enough,” she muttered.

Okay, so the pleasantries had been dealt with, time to lay his cards on the table. “Your father sent me to bring you home.”

“I am home.”

Tanner didn’t remember Marie Anna—Parker—as being so stubborn.

“Back to Eliason,” he clarified.

“You’re welcome to go back to Eliason or Amar on the very next plane out of Erie. But I’m staying here.”

“That’s it?” he asked. “I flew all this way to see my fiancée—”

“I am not your fiancée.”

He could hear the finality in her voice, but ignored her comment altogether and continued. “—and all you have to say to me is leave?”

“That’s about the shape of things. And speaking of leaving, I’m on my way out. You don’t mind closing up, Shey?”

“Of course not,” Shey said.

Tanner had almost forgotten about his bike-riding escort.

Almost, but not quite.

He was pretty sure that having met Shey Carlson, no one could ever entirely forget her.

Shey nodded in his direction and asked Marie Anna, “What about him?”

“Would you give him a ride to whatever hotel he’s staying at?” she asked.

“Sure,” Shey said with a shrug.

“Hey, watchdog, are you coming?” Parker asked the dark-haired man who’d been silent till now.

“Uh,” was his terribly articulate response. “Sure thing,” he said. “How about I drive?”

“Sounds good to me since I took the bus.”

“The bus?” Tanner asked. “My fiancée is riding public transportation?”

First Parker sends Shey to collect him at the airport, then she denies their engagement and now she was talking about riding a bus to work?

“You don’t have a fiancée,” Parker replied, “but if you were referring to me, then yes, I take public transportation. My father shut off my access to my trust and I’m broke. So I sold the car.”

“But, but…” he said, not sure what to add.

“Don’t worry about it,” the other man said. “I’ll see that she gets home all right.”

“Home,” Parker said to Tanner. “I’m home and you need to go home. Go back to Amar. There’s nothing for you here in Erie—especially not a fiancée.”

She walked out of the store followed by the dark-haired man.

The door slammed behind them with a certain sense of finality.

“Well, princy, that went well.”

“Tanner. My name is Tanner. If you can’t remember that, and insist on addressing me formally, Your Highness will suffice. Princy does not.”

Shey laughed. “Don’t get your boxers in a knot, princy.”

“Is it over?” came a soft voice from a small archway that led into what had to be the bookstore.

The woman was shorter than Shey. Curvier. Her hair was brown and she wore it in a simple shoulder-length bob.

“It’s over,” Shey said. “Cara, this is Parker’s supposed Prince Charming. I use the word supposed because so far, I haven’t found him all that charming.”

“Tanner,” he said. “Please, call me Tanner, Miss…”

“Phillips. Cara Phillips, but Cara’s fine.”

“Cara,” he said, rolling the R slightly. “It’s a lovely name.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling at him. “I’m sorry you had to come all this way for nothing, Tanner.”

“It’s not for nothing. Parker will be going home with me.”

“She agreed?” Cara asked, looking surprised.

“No,” Shey snapped.

“But she will eventually,” Tanner added. “She’ll see that our marrying makes sense.”

“Do you love her?” Cara asked.

“Pardon?” Tanner replied.

“It’s a simple question, Your High—Tanner. Do you love Parker?”

“Marie Anna, uh, Parker, and I are extremely well-suited. We both grew up knowing we have a duty to our countries. We were friendly when we were younger. I’m sure we’d be compatible.”

“Compatible is nice,” Cara said, taking a step closer, her expression earnest as she continued, “but love is important. Do you love her?”

“I’ll learn to love her.” Even as Tanner said the words, he hoped they were true. He wouldn’t want his child, their future children, growing up in a loveless home.

“I know that there are any number of things you can learn,” Cara said. “Most things, in fact, you can learn with simply a good mind and a good book. But love? You can’t learn to love someone, you can’t just study them hard enough and discover you love them. There has to be a spark, something to build on. You’d know if you and Parker had it. We’d know if you had it. You don’t.”

Tanner had thought he liked Parker’s friend Cara far more than Shey, but as she voiced his hidden fear, he found he much preferred Shey’s cut-to-the-chase comments to Cara’s softer, more insightful ones.

“How dare you walk in and think you can know what I feel?” he asked, assuming his best royal tone, one that was guaranteed to make people think twice before arguing with him.

But Cara didn’t back down. Didn’t even blink. “I dare because Parker is my friend. I dare because I’ve seen what a compatible relationship looks like. I dare because I may not know you, but I do know that having power and money doesn’t make a person happy, love does. You deserve that as much as Parker does.”

“I—”

She cut him off with a small, soft smile. “Good night, Shey. I was ready to lock up next door when the commotion started. Now that it’s over, I’ll be going. I’ll see you in the morning. And it was nice meeting you, Tanner.”

With that, Cara turned and walked back into the dim bookstore.

“Wow,” Shey said. “I wonder what’s got into her?”

“What do you mean?” Tanner asked.

“I mean, that’s the longest string of words that I’ve ever heard Cara utter in front of a stranger. In front of most people she knows well, for that matter.”

“Lucky me,” Tanner grumbled.

He’d like to totally discount everything the woman had said as nonsense, but he couldn’t. She hadn’t said anything he hadn’t thought himself.

“So now what?” he asked his reluctant hostess.

“Now, I’m going to pour you a cup of coffee and close up the shop. Then I’ll take you to your hotel. Tomorrow, if you’re smart, you’ll be on a plane leaving Erie.”

Tanner didn’t reply. He didn’t know what to say, but he knew that he wasn’t ready to leave Erie just yet.

Shey brought him the coffee, then bustled around the store turning off coffee machines, cleaning out carafes, then gathering up the sandwiches and snacks from the refrigerated case.

She hefted a tray full of items.

“Here, let me help you,” he said, as he started to rise from his seat.

“I don’t need help,” she snapped. “I’m quite capable of handling this on my own.”

“Fine,” he said, sinking back into the seat as she took the tray and disappeared into the back.

Cara’s words played over again in his mind.

She was right, love was an essential ingredient in a marriage, an ingredient his parents’ marriage had been lacking.

Tanner realized that Shey had been gone more than a few minutes. He got up and walked toward the kitchen, inching the door open slowly to see what she was doing.

He expected her to be cleaning or something, instead, she was standing at the back door, the tray of food now nearly empty.

There were people lined up and she was handing out the sandwiches and cookies.

“Leo,” she said, “did you go to the clinic about that cough?”

An old man wearing tattered clothes, said something softly that Tanner couldn’t make out.

“Good,” Shey said. “If you hadn’t, I’d have dragged you there tomorrow. You’d have had to ride on the back of my bike.”

The man laughed at that, the laughter punctuated by a harsh, rasping cough.

“You be sure you go to the shelter tonight. I don’t care how warm it is. You need to sleep inside and take your medicine.”

The old man nodded, then moved aside, replaced by a younger, yet equally disheveled-looking man.

Slowly, Tanner let the door close and went back to his seat.

He might not have known Shey Carlson long, but he knew she’d resent his witnessing her act of kindness.

Nonetheless it intrigued him.

Shey intrigued him.

No matter what she thought, Tanner wasn’t getting on a plane in the morning.

As a matter of fact, he wasn’t going back to the hotel tonight.

He pulled out his cell phone and keyed in Emil’s number.

“Yeah, boss?”

“You all have the night off,” he told his guard.

“What do you mean, night off?” Emil asked, displeasure in his voice.

“I won’t be coming to the hotel tonight.”

“May I ask where you’ll be spending the night?”

“No, you may not.”

Emil laughed. “Fine, I won’t ask. I’m nothing if not discreet. I’ll let Tonio and Peter hit the town. Peter’s dying to introduce himself to the female residents.”

“I imagine he is,” Tanner said with a hint of laughter. Peter was a ladies’ man.

“I’ll be in all night though, boss,” Emil assured him. “If you have any problems, you call. You know your father would have a fit if he found out you were wandering about a strange city without a bodyguard.”

Shey walked into the room and Tanner smiled, “I think I can handle myself, Emil.”

Emil, more of a friend than a guard, just sighed. “But I’m here if you need me.”

“Thanks.” Tanner shut the phone and put it in his pocket.

“Are you ready to go?” Shey asked.

“I’m ready,” he answered, rising from his seat.

Tanner Ericson was more than ready, but he wasn’t sure Shey Carlson was.

CHAPTER TWO

Fifteen minutes later, Shey punched Parker’s number into the phone as she glared at the man sitting in her recliner, staring out her living-room window.

Shey knew that Parker had caller ID, so she wasn’t surprised when her friend’s salutation was, “Thanks for picking up Tanner.”

“There’s a problem,” Shey told Parker without preamble.

The problem heard her and simply smiled.

“What now?” Parker asked. “Who else could my father send?”

If it were only as simple as dealing with Parker’s father. Shey and Cara had years of experience helping their friend circumvent her father’s dictates.

“Not your father, your prince,” Shey told her.

There was a small sigh of relief before Shey asked, “Okay, so what did Tanner do?”

“It’s what he didn’t do…he didn’t leave.”

“And I’m not going to,” Tanner said softly.

Shey put a hand over the receiver and said, “Listening to other people’s conversations is just rude. I’d have expected better from a prince.”

“I live to shake people’s expectations,” he said with an unprincely grin.

“What do you mean?” Parker asked over the phone.

“I mean, His Royal Painness and his goons—”

“His goons?” Parker asked.

Shey realized she hadn’t had a chance to mention Tanner’s three henchmen, so she explained, “He brought bodyguards, three of them. Anyway, they have rooms at the new hotel on the bayfront, but princy here won’t go. He says he’s staying with me.”

“Why on earth would he want to stay with you?”

“Because he said he figured you’d come rescue me and he’d get to talk to you.”

“Do you need me to rescue you?” Parker asked.

Shey had spent her life taking care of herself, not simply because it was her nature, but because it was necessity. After her father died, her mother worked at least two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. Shey had to learn to be self-sufficient, because if she hadn’t learned to look out for herself, no one else would have.

That all changed when she won an academic scholarship to Mercyhurst College. That’s when she’d learned to count on others—when she found Parker and Cara.

No, she took that back. She hadn’t found them, they’d found her. She’d never quite figured out how or why, but over the years she discovered it didn’t matter. No matter how different they were, they fit. Three pieces that just clicked.

She had people to count on. Her friendship with Parker and Cara had seen to that.

Shey knew if she asked, Parker would come running to help even though the last person she wanted to deal with was her supposed fiancé. Knowing there was someone who would come when you called, no matter what, was a wonderful feeling. And every now and then it hit Shey and she felt a warm glow.

“No,” she said with a chuckle. “I just wanted to see how nice I have to be. He’s your fiancé, after all.”

“No,” Parker corrected, “he’s an old childhood friend, not a fiancé. And you don’t have to be nice at all.”

“Really?” Shey asked, smiling at Tanner who had the good sense to look a bit nervous. He rose and held out his hand for the phone.

“Really,” Parker answered.

“Great.” Shey ignored Tanner’s hand, still raised and waiting for the phone.

“Just don’t do anything that will land either of us in jail,” Parker added. “I could probably get diplomatic immunity, but you’d be sunk.”

“No problem. Hang on, princy wants to talk to you.”

“Parker, it’s imperative we speak,” Tanner insisted.

He was quiet as he listened to whatever Parker responded.

“Parker,” he said, “your father said—”

Parker must have cut him off because he stopped in midsentence.

“Someone else? Who?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. “That man from tonight?”

Shey almost felt sorry for Tanner. Parker was a dangerous opponent.

She’d remembered what had happened to poor Hoffman—the last man Parker’s father had sent after her. Parker had fixed up Hoffman with Perry Square’s resident manicurist, Josie. Hoffman swore it was a vicious, horrible act of spite. He’d had to spend so much time evading Josie and her pals, that he hadn’t been able to properly tail the runaway princess. Eventually, he’d told Parker’s father he quit, but by then he’d become accustomed to Josie, that they became one of the Square’s newest, happiest couples.

Maybe she should warn Tanner what he was up against.

Shey glanced at the very disgruntled-looking prince, who refused to leave her home, and quickly decided that maybe she shouldn’t.

“You can’t be serious,” Tanner said.

He waited a moment longer, then hung up the phone.

“So?” Shey asked.

“She’s seeing someone else?” he asked.

Shey knew Parker wasn’t, but she was willing to play along for her friend’s sake. “It never occurred to you that someone as amazing as Parker would be dating?”

“No.”

He looked as if the whole concept of a woman preferring someone other than himself was not only distasteful, but was totally incomprehensible.

“Well, princy, you’re not as bright as you think you are. Men are always after Parker. Chasing her, wooing her. I think it shows an awful lot of conceit to think she’d be just sitting here waiting for you.”

The momentary look of confusion disappeared and a regal arrogance took its place. “Speaking of waiting, I’m waiting for you to show me to the guest room. I had a long flight, a long day. I need to get some rest.”

“There is no guest room,” Shey said. Even if there had been she wouldn’t have told the prince. Let him tough it out. Maybe he’d give up and leave.

“Where do your guests normally sleep?” he asked.

“I don’t have guests.”

“Family?”

Shey felt a small stab of regret for what she didn’t have, then reminded herself that she was lucky in what she did have.

“Parker and Cara are my only family,” she said, “and they have their own places, so no sleepovers.”

“But surely this little place has more than one bedroom.”

She sighed and said, “Surely the place does have another bedroom, but I converted it into an office since I don’t have guests.”

“Does your office have a couch?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” Shey said with a smile. “It has a desk, it has bookshelves, it even has some file cabinets, but no couch.”

“Then I guess I’ll be sleeping down here.” He frowned at the leather sofa.

Shey would bet a big wad of cash that princy had never slept on a couch in his entire life.

Heck he’d probably never even slept on a twin bed. It was all king-size mattresses for the prince, she was sure.

“No,” she said patiently. “You’ll be going back to your hotel and sleeping there in your nice, spacious penthouse suite.”

She wasn’t sure if the new hotel had a penthouse suite, but if it did, that’s where the prince would be staying.

“Come on,” she urged. “You’ve had your fun, but this plan isn’t going to work. Parker’s going to stay as far away from me as possible, at least until I shake you. So call one of your henchmen to come pick you up, or if you prefer, I can call you a taxi.”

“If Parker is your family, as you claim, then she won’t be able to stay away for very long. She’ll eventually come to your rescue. And when she does, she’ll find me waiting to talk to her.”

“You’re not spending the night,” Shey said with mounting frustration. She felt a totally out-of-character urge to stomp her foot. She caught herself pre-stomp and settled for crossing her arms over her chest.

“I’m going to undress now,” the prince said with a smile. “Of course, you’re welcome to stay, if you like.”

“Threatening to undress in front a stranger.” She shook her head and tsked. “And you an engaged man, and all.”

He pulled off his jacket and reached for the buttons on his shirt.

“You wouldn’t,” she said.

“Try me.”

She felt a tug of curiosity and realized that if the man unbuttoning his shirt hadn’t been a prince—a prince who thought he was engaged to her best friend—she’d be very tempted to try him.

Instead of staying for the show, she turned and said, “Fine. I’m leaving.”

“Oh, do you have a pillow and blanket I can use?”

Do you have a pillow and blanket, he asked in the condescending princy tone. As if someone who didn’t have a mansion or a guest room wouldn’t be able to come up with even a pillow and blanket for a guest.

An uninvited guest, but a guest nonetheless.

How on earth had she found herself in this situation?

Truth was, she didn’t have a spare blanket or pillow. She didn’t need them. She hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d said she never had guests. But she wouldn’t admit that to princy.

Shey stomped up the stairs to her room and took the bedspread and one of the three pillows off her own bed, then carried them back downstairs.

He had completely unbuttoned his shirt, but still had it on. Shey was grateful for that.

Yes, the feeling that washed through her was thankfulness, though surprisingly it felt a bit more like disappointment. Who’d have thought those two distinctly different emotions could feel so similar?

“Here,” she said, holding out the bedding.

Tanner bowed at the waist and said, “Thank you,” then took them.

She couldn’t go without one more try to make him see reason. “Being my shadow is a waste of time.”

“Ah, but it’s my time to waste.”

* * *

Tanner lay on the leather couch wrapped in the blanket Shey had brought. His head rested on the pillow.

Both smelled like her. Warm and spicy.

No sweet cloying scent for Shey.

He smiled.

Shey Carlson was an exceptional woman.

Captivating, even.

He chuckled as he thought about her attempts to get rid of him.

She was tough. She protected her friends with a ferocity that he couldn’t help but admire.

Tanner was used to softer women.

Shey was all warrior.

He rolled again, trying to find a comfortable position, but the movement simply intensified Shey’s scent. It was playing on his senses—surrounding him.

Tanner gave up trying to sleep and resigned himself to a sleepless night.

Here he was in a strange city—a strange country—sleeping on a stranger’s couch. And his fiancée was less than enthused by his visit. He’d hoped when he saw her that he’d feel the magic, he’d feel some spark that would reassure him that they could make a go of marriage.

Instead he’d felt…nothing. Nothing but the remnants of a childhood friendship.

No lightning strike of passion.

No small blaze of interest.

Not even the tiniest ember.

After his disastrous relationship with Stephana, he’d seen the wisdom in his father’s arrangements. Tanner felt that he wouldn’t ever truly know if a woman loved him and not his money and titles, so why not marry a woman who had enough of each not to be after his?

In the end, Stephana had decided all the money in the world wasn’t worth the hassles of noblesse oblige, the obligations of nobility. She claimed she hadn’t signed on to be an unpaid workhorse. She wanted to party, to spend Tanner’s money. When she saw that wasn’t what she was signing up for, she left.

He didn’t miss her. And he was honest enough with himself to know that not missing Stephana meant he’d never really loved her. Whatever he’d had with her, it had been a fraud on both their parts.

He and Parker would at least have honesty between them.

But no spark.

He snuggled farther into the pillow and Shey’s scent surrounded him and he felt a surge of something.

More than an ember.

More than a small blaze.

It was definitely in the lightning category. A lightning strike of interest.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t the least bit interested in him. And she was the best friend of the woman he should be thinking about.

Tanner dozed, and as he slept, he dreamed. Not of Parker, but of Shey. He dreamt of riding the Harley with her, holding her tight as feelings so intense that they threatened to burn him alive assailed him.

* * *

Shey was up before her alarm rang. It wasn’t difficult, since she’d hardly slept. Knowing there was a prince in her living room had played havoc on her dreams, and those dreams had left her reluctant to go back to sleep. So she’d tossed and turned, dozing and dreaming, then fighting to stay awake and not dream, all night.

She hurried to get ready for work. If she was lucky, she would be long gone before Tanner woke up. She just needed a little distance from the decidedly handsome man to regain her equilibrium.

Tanner was off-limits. Not because he thought he was Parker’s fiancé. Parker declared that relationship null and void, so there were no worries there.

No, he was off-limits because even though there was some sort of chemical reaction when he’d wrapped his arms around her, that wasn’t enough. He was a prince. A man used to the finer things. A man of social position and power. The finest thing in Shey’s life was her business and her Harley…and of course, her friends. Though she liked her life just fine, she wasn’t in the prince’s league, no matter what sort of spark she felt.

She was grinning as she tiptoed across the kitchen. She was going to bypass the living room and sneak out the back.

She quietly turned the deadbolt.

She was home free.

She shut the door softly behind her.

“Good morning, Shey.” The prince was leaning against her bike.

Darn.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, glaring at him.

He looked way too good for a man who was wearing yesterday’s suit and hadn’t even shaved.

As a matter of fact, the stubble on his face took the sheen off his clean-guy image and made him even more attractive in Shey’s estimation.

Not that she was attracted.

Not at all.

“I’m out here waiting for you,” he said with a smile. “So, what’s on the schedule today? Any chance we’re going to see Parker?”

She noticed he’d given up trying to call her friend Marie Anna. Maybe she was making a bit of progress in convincing Tanner that Parker wasn’t who he thought she was, that she wasn’t the woman for him.

“No, we’re not going to see Parker. I’m going to work and you’re going to call your goons and do whatever it is a prince does to fill his days.”

“Wrong. If you’re going back to Monarch’s, I guess I’m going to Monarch’s, as well.”

“Why don’t you just admit defeat and go home?”

“I swore I’d bring a fiancée back with me, and I plan on doing just that.”

“A wise man knows when the battle’s lost.”

“And a great commander would tell you that this particular battle hasn’t even begun.”

“Oh, shut up and climb on the ‘vehicle.’” She sneered the last word in an attempt to mock him.

The prince was far too dense to recognize a good mocking. He just laughed and said, “Having ridden it yesterday I agree, a Harley isn’t just a vehicle. It’s a way of life.”

Now he was mocking her.

Shey glared at him and stalked to the bike. She put her helmet on with a bit more force than necessary.

“If you’re coming, get on.”

“Any chance we can swing by the hotel first so I can grab a shower and change? You were sneaking out early, so I assume we have time.”

“Well, if I’m stuck with you today I might as well make sure you smell good. Fine.”

“You’re a truly gracious host.”

“I’m not a host. I’m your keeper.”

“I have always been a man who resented being kept, being trailed by guards, having my every movement shadowed. But this once, I’m finding I don’t mind it at all.”

“You’re perverse.”

“Maybe, or maybe it’s just…”

Whatever he was going to say was lost in the roar of the Harley. Shey kick-started it and threw it into gear.

* * *

Tanner surveyed the small dining area in Monarch’s. Everything was neat and clean.

He felt a warm rush of pride.

Or maybe that warm feeling was merely the wet area of his shirt where he’d sloshed water on it when he’d rinsed the last load of dishes.

Either way, the day hadn’t gone the way he’d thought it would.

He’d thought he was in control when he’d outwitted Shey and was waiting for her by her motorbike. He’d even felt rather triumphant when she’d taken him to his hotel so he could shower and change while she waited in the lobby.

But she’d thrown the first kink in his plans when she’d tossed a towel at him and taunted, “I don’t suppose a prince such as yourself has ever had to clear his own table, but I’m thinking you’re bright enough to figure it out.”

She shot him a grin that said she doubted he was, in fact, bright enough.

That taunting smile should have made him angry.

Instead, it made him wonder what it would be like to kiss her.

A highly inappropriate thought.

So, he’d ignored the fact that when she smiled she stirred up embers of feelings best forgotten and taken her challenge to heart. That’s why it was dinnertime and he’d not only mastered the fine art of bussing tables, but had also learned to run the monstrous dishwasher, and work the cash register.

He still had a tendency to splash himself when he used the nozzle to rinse the dishes, which is why his shirt was damp, but otherwise, he’d had a productive day.

Productive at least from the busboy end of things.

In terms of the prince finding his fiancée, he hadn’t been nearly as successful.

“Hey, if the ruling-a-country thing doesn’t work out, you might just have a career in the food industry,” Shey said as she joined him. “You surprise me, princy. I thought you’d sit around and mope all day, but you really pitched in and helped. Thanks.”

“A prince doesn’t mope. And believe it or not, I’ve put in a hard day’s labor in the past.”

“Right. Signing royal decrees and proclamations can give a guy writer’s cramp.”

“Do you work at being abrasive, or does it just come naturally?”

“What can I say?” she said with a shrug and a smile. “It’s a gift.”

He couldn’t help but smile in return. He could trade barbs with Shey all day. He rather enjoyed her prickly nature. Most of the women he’d dated in the past had bent over backwards to be agreeable, hoping to snag a rich prince.

He was pretty sure that Shey didn’t have an agreeable bone in her body. If he said black, she’d say white just to have a good argument.

He glanced at his watch. He’d been here all day. “When does Parker arrive?”

“Oh, didn’t I mention,” Shey said slowly, “that today was her day off? Tammy’s here to close up shop.”

She grinned, obviously she’d had this planned all along.

A moment before, sparring with Shey had delighted Tanner, now it had him gritting his teeth as he said, “No, you didn’t.”

“So sorry. But today is Parker’s day off. Guess you wasted time helping out here, didn’t you?”

She looked completely pleased with herself.

“You let me slave away all day on purpose, knowing she wasn’t coming in?”

“What part of ‘I’m Parker’s friend and would do anything for her’ did you miss? That doing anything includes putting up with you all day.”

He glared at the redhead. Somewhere along the line he’d lost sight of his ultimate goal and lost a whole day.

Now what?

Shooting an evil glance at Shey, he pulled out his mobile and called Emil to ask him to bring a car to the coffeehouse.

“You’re giving in?” Shey said. “Wish I could say I’d miss you, but I don’t tell lies.”

“Never?” he asked.

“Never.”

“I don’t either. So if I said that despite the fact you’re a highly annoying woman, I’ve been thinking about kissing you all day and that I find you to be a very attractive woman, what would you say?”

Tanner heard the words spill out of his mouth. He couldn’t seem to stop them. He waited, expecting some sort of outburst from Shey, sure she’d take offense.

Instead, she laughed and said, “I’d say you wouldn’t be the first to think I’m annoying, and you’re also not the first to think about kissing me, or to think I was attractive. I’m sure you won’t be the last to think any of them. But I’d add, I’m not interested in kissing you, although you’re more than welcome to continue thinking I’m annoying and attractive.”

“And what if I said that I don’t believe the not-wanting-to-kiss-me part of your little speech? That I felt your eyes on me all day.”

“I’d say, quite truthfully, that you were right. My eyes were on you. You know the old adage about not trusting a fox in the henhouse? Well…” She let the sentence hang.

“I’m familiar enough with American slang to know that you thinking I’m a fox could easily lead you to fantasize about kissing me.”

She didn’t even bother to respond. She just snorted and laughed again.

Tanner was thankful he’d never had problems with low self-esteem or else that snort might have put a dent in his psyche.

“I don’t know why I bother,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re easily the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met. And if you knew the last woman I dated you’d realize that’s saying something. So, as much as this has been interesting,” he said with just the proper sneer added to the word interesting, “I’ll have to say goodbye.”

She wasn’t laughing or snorting now. She suddenly looked all serious. “You’re still going after Parker, aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” he said with a shrug.

“Then I’m going with you,” she said, throwing down her dish towel like some cotton gauntlet. “Tammy, I’m leaving now.”

“No, you’re not,” Tanner said.

“No problem,” the young student said. “It was nice meeting you, sir.”

Shey gave a quick wave to the girl and smiled at Tanner. “Yes, I am going with you. You owe me.”

“How did you reach that misguided conclusion?”

“I not only met you at the airport, but I let you stay at my house. I even gave you the pillow and blanket off my own bed.”

Ah. That explained why her scent was so strong.

“So now I’m cashing in. I’m coming along.”

“Fine.”

He tried to sound disappointed, but for some reason, he wasn’t.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

CHAPTER THREE

“This isn’t much of a surprise,” Shey muttered as she sat in Tanner’s living room. “It is decadent, though. I mean, most people stay in a hotel and are lucky to get cable TV. You’ve got an entire floor. I mean, this suite is bigger than my whole house.”

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