A Royal Mess and Her Knight To Remember

5

LATE THAT AFTERNOON, Tim rode back to the barn. He dismounted Jake, who immediately began searching his pockets with his warm, wet muzzle.

“Stop that.” Tim hoisted off Jake’s saddle. “You’ve already had your goodie today.”

The horse snorted and looked pouty, and behind them a soft laugh sounded.

Natalia stood there wearing a smile that shot straight through him, a smile that got to him when he hadn’t planned on her getting to him at all. “You make it look so easy,” she said. “Getting on and off. Riding. All of it.”

Which meant she’d been watching him. He wondered if she watched him as much as he watched her.

“My mom loved horses.” A flicker of sadness touched her eyes as she looked at Jake, though she carefully stayed back from him. “She, um…died in an avalanche twelve years ago.”

“God. I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Yeah.” He stroked Jake. “Let me guess. You’d be rich if you had a penny for every time someone told you it’ll get easier, you’ll see her again someday, she’ll live on in your heart forever…right?”

She lifted her head. “You’ve lost someone, too.”

“My parents. In a car accident.”

“So you know.”

“I know,” he agreed. “I also know the only consolation that works is to say that it sucks.”

That got a laugh out of her. “Yeah. Sucks.”

He smiled at her, thinking she looked good standing there in her new casual wear. The jeans clung to her hips and thighs, the T-shirt to her breasts. The wind ruffled her hair and had put color into her cheeks. She looked different here, far more earthy than wild, and though he knew that was because her makeup had been stolen, he liked it.

Too much.

“So that’s why you put up with your sister,” she said. “You’re raising her.”

“Someone has to.”

“You love her.”

He sighed, even as he smiled. “Like I said, someone has to.”

She smiled back, then shifted when he just stared at her. “What?”

“I was just thinking you don’t look anything like the woman from the plane.”

Immediately she lifted a hand to her hair and looked regretful. “I know, I-”

“I like it.”

“Are you saying you don’t miss the leather?”

“No.” He grinned. “The leather was good. But I like seeing your face.”

“Which is why I was fond of the makeup.”

“You liked hiding.”

“I liked hiding. I didn’t realize how much, or…”

“Or?”

“Or that I wouldn’t miss the hiding at all.”

They stood there, smiling at each other stupidly, until Jake shifted his weight, moving between them, ready to get back to his stall for his feeding if there were no goodies to be had.

Eyes wide, Natalia nearly tripped over her own feet in her hurry to back up.

At her sudden movement, Jake snorted, this time stomping his front hoof for emphasis. Feed me, he said with a toss of his head.

Natalia took another step back, and this time she did trip over her own feet, and would have fallen if Tim hadn’t grabbed her.

“Hey. You okay?”

“Oh, sure.” She forced a smile. “Just fine-”

Jake’s large head swung around, and he leveled Natalia with a baleful stare. Food!

Natalia staggered back from both man and horse, until the fence was at her back. “He’s…uh, really huge, isn’t he?”

If he didn’t know better, this outwardly tough woman was trembling in her boots. “Not a horse person, I’m guessing?”

Her eyes didn’t move from Jake. “Not an animal person.”

Jake, oblivious, thrust out his neck and nosed at Natalia’s front pockets, which earned him a petrified shriek.

Tim stepped between the nose and Natalia. “You must smell good.” Fact. “Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you.”

“I’m…fine. I’m not afraid.”

Uh-huh. She was only holding her breath. Trying to soothe, he ran a hand up her arm. “Natalia? Honey, breathe.”

“Yes.” She gulped air. “Of course. Breathing.”

He smiled at her attempt to be cool and calm. “What kind of pets did you have growing up?”

“Actually, where I’m from, there are plenty of horses and cattle.” She managed to tear her gaze from Jake. “It’s me. My failing. It’s a silly little phobia.”

“Nothing to be afraid of with Jake. He’s just looking for a snack. He thinks everyone loves him. Watch.” He turned to the horse and let out a soft whinny noise.

The horse repeated it, and affectionately rubbed the side of his face on Tim’s arm. Tim looked at Natalia. “Want to try?”

Before she could say no, before she could so much as let out a shriek, Tim had slipped an arm around her waist, pulled her against his side and let out that soft whinny again.

Jake mirrored the noise and rubbed the side of his huge face against Natalia’s arm. It felt warm and damp. And terrifying. In fact, she would have screamed if she hadn’t just swallowed her tongue. She would have shrunk away, but she was plastered against Tim, and-

And she was plastered against Tim. Oh my God. Heat, confusion, more heat. A noise escaped her and it had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with fear.

“Okay?” he asked quietly, staring into her eyes, completely focused on her.

It was the oddest thing-she’d been surrounded by people all her life, and yet for the first time she really felt as if she had someone’s one-hundred-percent-undivided attention focused on her. Totally and completely on her.

It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating. “Not sure,” she whispered slowly.

His gaze slid to her mouth, which fell open, just to get air to her suddenly deflated lungs.

At that, his eyes darkened, and his arm tightened around her. “And now?” he whispered across her cheek.

Senses on full alert, she leaned toward him, unable to resist his big, solid, warm body. Standing so close like this, feeling him react to her, surround her, it felt like coming in from the rain.

“Natalia?”

In anticipation her entire body tingled. She even licked her lips and…

A sound escaped him, a near groan, and her eyes fell closed.

Here it came…a kiss…a perfect kiss…

Only it wasn’t a man’s hard, demanding lips that met hers. It was a horse’s demanding whinny in her ear, as Jake once again thrust his head between theirs.

Her eyes whipped open just as Tim let out another groan. “Nice timing, Jake.” He pushed the horse’s big head away, but Jake was persistent, and finally Tim had to laugh. “Sorry, but the big lug here thinks he’s my baby.”

Heart still pounding, Natalia pulled back. “Yeah. Baby.” The biggest baby she’d ever seen. “I…have to get back to work.”

Tim looked at her, an easy smile on his lips, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to stand so close, to have blood racing through her body, to want him with all her being… Unless he didn’t feel it.

Of course he didn’t.

“See you at dinner,” she managed, then walked out calmly, sedately, as if she had near-miss kisses every day of her life.

Alone in the kitchen, she sagged against the sink and drew a deep breath.

And wondered at the fact that she wished they hadn’t missed at all.

THE NEXT DAY after breakfast, Natalia stepped out into the sunshine. Everyone had been in a huge hurry to be out and gone. Though they’d all smiled-well, except Sally-at what Natalia thought had been an incredibly inventive casserole dish made from bread, eggs and sausage, they’d still vanished the moment she’d turned her back.

They were busy, she understood. It didn’t matter. She was having a great time. It felt almost wrong, this lovely rush of joy she got piddling around in the kitchen, and she didn’t want it to end.

Feeling good and nice and sure of herself, she moved off the porch, lifting a hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun. She would have denied it to her dying day, but she stood there, a kitchen full of work to do, secretly hoping for a peek of Tim.

Just a peek, mind you, just one, of his tall, built, wildly sexy self. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since yesterday, when he’d touched her.

Nearly kissed her.

She hoped to catch him working, which meant she’d get a good look at all those muscles in action, stretching taut beneath his shirt. Maybe he’d be hot- hot enough to have removed said shirt, for an up-close-and-personal view.

Something deep inside of her pitter-pattered at that, and she moved off the porch. When she did, the animals in the side stockade, the “pity pets” Sally had called them, all came to hopeful attention.

Her heart stopped. Her palms went damp. It was ridiculous, this terror, and she knew it. She even knew where it came from. Every year in her hometown the royal family rode in the Christmas parade. When she’d been five, her father had deemed her old enough to sit on a pony by herself. How proud she’d been, forgetting to hold on to the reins so that she could wave to one and all.

But then a pack of Labrador retrievers from the float behind her had broken loose, and startled her pony into rearing. In her velvet Christmas finery, Natalia had slid off the back and to the ground. She had still been sitting there when the pony had decided to let go of all it had eaten for a week.

Covered in pony dung, which stuck nicely to her dress, the dogs had run in circles around her while the entire town…laughed.

Yep, nearly twenty years and she still harbored this irrational fear of animals.

She took another couple of steps and so did Tim’s animals-toward her. Actually, the little three-legged pig came running. Well…hopping, but he was good at it, moving as fast as three short legs would take him, his snout quivering with such velocity it nearly took him off the ground into flight. At the fence that separated them he pressed his snout against it and let out a series of frustrated snorts.

Startled, Natalia stopped short, her heart pounding. But there was a fence between them. A good one. She was safe. Determined to get over herself, she took another step, even closer.

The goat came, too, but it wasn’t until it bumped right into the pig that Natalia remembered the thing was blind. Which didn’t stop it from lifting its head over the fence and sniffling, searching…for food, she realized as she nearly fell backward to get out of the way.

The ancient horse shuffled forward, too, stepping over the pig until all six eyes-four good and two not-waited expectantly.

“But…I don’t have anything,” she told them, lifting a hand to her racing heart. “I’m sorry.”

Still, they pressed against the wood, putting out whatever they could, which in this case was a very muddy snout, a set of teeth surrounded by a goat’s beard and a soft, searching muzzle.

They cried, each looking so unexpectedly adorable she had to laugh. “I’m telling you, I’m not carrying food.” She lifted up her hands, which turned out to be a bad idea as it started a wave of enthusiasm on their part.

They looked so hungry, her heart tugged. “Hold on,” she said, then raced back to the house and grabbed the first thing she found in the fridge.

Back at the stockade, her three new friends were now making a huge ruckus. Oh, boy. They looked ready to rumble for the three carrots she’d brought, and not nearly as adorable as she remembered. “Don’t eat me,” she begged, and bravely handed one to the old horse, who in its excitement, dropped the carrot to the ground.

It snorted at the food, but couldn’t seem to pick it up out of the dirt. Then, to the great consternation of the old horse, the pig started toward it.

“Oh, no. That’s not yours-” She went to her knees to reach through the fence, trying to help the horse.

But the goat got a hold of the hem of her shirt and started to eat it.

“No,” she cried, the terror gripping her by the throat, trying to pull back, but the goat wouldn’t give up.

Then the pig got into the act, wiping its dirty snout down her trapped arm, looking for another carrot, and Natalia nearly had a heart attack, imagining herself without a limb or even worse. With all her might she wished for lithe, toned, strong Annie, who could handle these animals with her eyes closed.

With one hard tug, Natalia freed herself…and fell to her butt in the dirt, ripping the shirt. But she was free! Frantically, she checked all her limbs. After careful inventory, she decided that the only thing damaged was her pride and the T-shirt. “It could be worse,” she told herself. “I could have been pooped on. Someone could have seen it all.”

“Oh, it’s worse.”

Sally. Great. Natalia sighed and craned her neck, finding Sally standing behind her, arms crossed, a spiteful smirk on her face. “Hey. I was just…”

“Feeding the goat your shirt. I know. I watched.” With a shake of her head in disgust, she walked on.

Natalia got to her feet and told herself it didn’t matter. Sally didn’t like her whether she was an idiot or not, and surprisingly, when she went back into the house and changed her clothes, she felt even lighter of heart than before she’d made a fool of herself.

In fact, she felt so good, she hadn’t thought about New Mexico for at least a couple of hours.

A slight amount of joy faded as she remembered now.

This was all temporary. Very temporary, as in one day left temporary, so no use getting attached in any way.

But she had a sinking feeling it was far too late.

“It’s never too late.”

Natalia jerked at the sound of Amelia’s voice and whipped around, but she was alone in the kitchen.

“Amelia?” she whispered, feeling ridiculous, and yet Amelia’s beloved and very British voice had sounded so real.

No one answered.

With a little laugh at herself, Natalia turned back to the task at hand. Lunch. Good God, she was really losing it here.

Never too late.

What did that mean? That she could stay if she wanted, just a little bit longer? She fingered her cell phone in the pocket of her jeans. What if she called ahead to New Mexico and said she couldn’t make it for some reason? She wasn’t due back in Grunberg until next Monday.

She pulled out the cell phone, and before she could change her mind, called information for the hotel in Taos where she was to meet up with her sisters on Saturday morning. It was chicken of her to do it this way-calling and leaving a message that no one would get until Saturday-but then she wouldn’t be missed until it was too late.

She finally got through to a hotel representative. Perfect. “Just say I’ve come down with…” Natalia wracked her brain trying to come up with a viable, believable excuse that wouldn’t bring the entire royal family to Texas in arms. “Poison ivy,” she said brilliantly. That would keep people away, right?

“Poison ivy,” the woman said. “Tell her Your Serene Highness has poison ivy. Ma’am, is this some sort of a joke?”

“No.” Not a joke, just a little white fib. Sorry Annie. Sorry Lili. “Be sure to tell her I’m covered with this horrific rash, terribly contagious and smell to high heaven from all the oatmeal baths I’m taking.” Yep, that would do it, and she hung up feeling far too excited for someone who’d just sentenced themselves to cooking for ranch hands for another week.

Luckily for her, lunch was fairly simple. Hors d’oeuvres that she’d whipped up from the night before and oddly had some left over. No sense in wasting food.

It was the iced tea she had a hard time with. Caught up in the hors d’oeuvres and an approaching thunderstorm that made the sky so pretty she couldn’t stop looking out the window, she let it brew too long.

But cowboys liked things strong, didn’t they?

She’d have to learn to multitask better. She had it down pat in other aspects of her life. She could, for instance, spread treats out on a tray while gazing out the kitchen window at Tim, working with his horses.

He’d just come into her view. Already her heart was drumming as it had when his horse had frisked her, but it wasn’t simple fear making it nearly leap right out of her chest.

It was him.

He took off his hat, and swiped at his forehead with his arm. Then he shoved the sleeves of his shirt up to reveal forearms corded with strength.

Such a large man, and yet he appeared so utterly gentle with the young horse he was currently whispering sweet nothings to.

In response, the horse playfully bumped his chest, causing Tim to toss back his head and laugh.

The low, husky sound of it carried across the yard and through the window to her ears.

“Ridiculous,” she muttered, but she kept her nose plastered to the window all the same. Maybe he’d get hot and rip off his shirt. She didn’t want to miss that.

Get hot, she mentally transmitted. Really hot. Instead, he bent down, scooping up the front right hoof of the horse in his big hand to inspect the bottom.

She got busy inspecting, too. His terrific bottom.

“Oh, jeez.” From behind her came Sally’s groan. “What the hell are you doing now?”