A Royal Entanglement: The Young Royals Book 2 (19 page)

“Sit down,” I said, eventually tiring of her ranting about blonde wanna-bes who thought nothing of trying to hit on another woman’s man.
 
I assumed she was talking about the way the reporter had made her interest in me known, but I dared not say anything.
 
For the moment Alex’s anger was channelled in a very specific direction and I had no desire to turn it my way.

“Drink this,” I said, shoving a glass of wine in her hand.

She took a gulp and closed her eyes, resting her head back against the armchair.
 
I dismissed her maid and then sat opposite her.
 
I reached over and took her hand in mine, marvelling at how small it looked between my two paws.

“What are we going to do?” Alex asked, opening her eyes and looking at me.

“About what?”

“About that interview.
 
She made us look like fools.”

I smiled kindly at her and reached over to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
 
“She made herself look like a fool,” I said.

“Your parents will hate me,” she said and closed her eyes again.

I stood to my feet and dragged her up with me.
 
“Enough,” I said, “I’m taking you out and we are going to completely forget about that reporter and her clumsy attempts to find a non-existent story.
 
Grab your coat and let’s go.”

I grabbed the bottle of wine and slipped it
 
into my coat pocket and then took Alex by the elbow and propelled her out of the door.
 
We went down the stairs and out the front of the Palace and into my waiting car.
 
Alex was silent beside me while the car glided out of the Palace grounds and down the hill into Calanais.
 
We drove through the quiet late night streets and then came to a stop at the very end of the boardwalk. She turned to me, her eyes wide.

“You brought me to the carnival?”

I just smiled and climbed out of the car, offering her my hand to help her out.
 
The carnival was situated on a pier that jutted out into the lake.
 
During the summer months it was a popular attraction and was open well into the night, but in the middle of October, it was closed up and dark.
 
I pulled out a key from my pocket and unlocked the gate, opening it enough for her to squeeze through.
 
I followed her through and then closed the gate again.

I took her hand in mine and we wandered into the dark fun park.

“It’s kind of creepy being here at night when it’s dark,” she whispered, “We won’t get in trouble will we?”

I chuckled and pulled her close, letting go of her hand and putting my arm around her.
 
“We won’t get in trouble,” I assured her, “I had the key didn’t I?”

“So why did you bring me here?”

I looked around and smiled.
 
“I love coming here, especially at night when everyone else has gone.
 
There’s just something about it that draws me.”

“Maybe you were a carnie in a previous life,” she said, “Or a clown.”

“Ha ha.”
 
I smiled down at her.
 
“I can’t really explain it.
 
Everything about my life is so serious, and this place has always been about fun.
 
I suppose that’s why I like it.”

She was quiet for a while as we walked.
 
“What’s your favourite part?” she asked.

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

I stepped up our pace and directed her through the closed up stalls and rides until we stood before the carousel.
 
It wasn’t just any old carousel, it was a handmade marvel.
 
Intricately hand-carved and immaculately maintained, it was a piece of art as much as a carnival ride.

“Oh my,” Alex breathed beside me, her hands going to her mouth as she looked at it.
 
“It’s beautiful.”

I pressed my hand to the small of her back and ushered her forward.
 
We climbed up onto the wooded floor boards and wove through the horses until we came to a carriage.
 
I helped her climb into it and followed her up, taking the bottle of wine out of my pocket and removing the cork before offering it to her.
 
She took the bottle and took a swig from it before handing it back.
 
I followed suit and then settled into the seat to look around.

“It hasn’t changed since I was a kid,” I said.

“It’s incredible,” she said in awe.

I sipped form the bottle again before passing it back to her.
 
“This was my favourite ride,” I said softly.

She chuckled, handing the bottle back to me.
 
“I would’ve picked you more a roller coaster kind of guy.”

“Well, sure,” he said with a shrug, “Once I was a teenager you wouldn’t have caught me dead on the carousel, but it’s still my favourite.
 
There’s just something about it, an elegance.”

Alex was quiet and I turned to find her looking at me.

“You are full of surprises, Freddie Bingham,” she whispered.

I lowered my head and captured her lips in a kiss.

“Freddie,” I said softly when he lifted his head from mine, “You don’t need to keep kissing me, there’s no one to see.”

He quirked a small smile as he looked down at me and my heart squeezed.

“Maybe I like kissing you,” he said before dipping his head to kiss me again.

I couldn’t say I didn’t like it because that would be a lie.
 
Kissing Freddie was like nothing I had experienced before.
 
His lips were soft, but firm and he was tender as he moved his mouth over mine.
 
I could taste the wine on his lips and smell the spicy scent that he wore.
 
As his tongue touched my bottom lip, I felt a corresponding tug in my gut that I had never before felt from just a kiss.
 
He wasn’t my first, but he was the first that had made me want to curl up in his arms and never let him go.
 
Which was bad.
 
Very, very bad.

Being with Freddie was just pretend and I had to keep reminding myself of that.
 
This wasn’t real, none of it was, and I couldn’t let myself be caught up in the romance of it.
 
I couldn’t fall in love with him, I’d learned my lesson on that front and I wouldn’t let it happen again.
 
Love was dangerous.
 
Love made people do stupid, stupid things and I would never let myself go down that road again.
 
It’s why I had chosen to marry Bradley, because there was no love, just mutual need.
 
He needed a respectable wife who could keep him organised and run his household and I needed a respectable marriage to keep my family happy.
 
If they were happy then they wouldn’t try to get attention from all the wrong places.

Oh, but it would be nice to fall in love with Freddie and live out every young girl’s fantasy.
 
Who wouldn’t want to be adored by a man like him?
 
He was gorgeous and smart and funny and I loved being around him.
 
Even when he drove me to distraction during meetings leading up to the coronation, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
 
He seemed to see beyond the image I projected to the outside world, he seemed to want to see more of it, although that would never happen.
 
Just knowing that he was intrigued by more than just the way I looked and my very proper behaviour was enough to draw me to him.

And I knew he would be the kind of man who would want to look after me.
 
I had to admit that coming to Merveille, running away from my previous life, had a lot to do with needing a break from my very codependent family.
 
I had been taking care of them for so long that I was tired.
 
I was tired of being the responsible one, tired of having to take control and being the grown up.
 
I was tired of bailing them out and running around putting out all the fires they seemed to set with their total lack of regard for me or each other.
 
It would be nice to have someone step up and take all that responsibility from me and I knew that Freddie would be the kind of man to do it.
 
Which was a very good reason for me keeping my heart guarded, because this wasn’t real.
 
Freddie wasn’t really my boyfriend and he wasn’t going to be the one to rescue me.

“Hey,” he said, looking down at me with soft eyes as he used his index finger to trace the curve of my cheek and tuck a stray tendril of hair behind my ear.
 
“Where’d you go?”

I sighed and pulled away from him, putting space between us so that I could breathe in some fresh air and clear my head of him.
 
“I was just thinking about our agreement.”

He grimaced and turned his head away.

“The interview didn’t go as well as I had hoped.
 
Should we be worried?
 
Should we come up with some strategies to deal with the fallout?”

He turned back to me and I saw a sadness in his eyes.
 
“Do we have to talk about it now?” he asked, “It doesn’t air for a few days, we’ve got plenty of time to discuss… strategies.”

He looked upset, almost angry and I was sorry for ruining the moment we’d had.
 
Regardless of everything else, Freddie was my friend and I didn’t like seeing him upset.
 
I took a swig of wine for courage and then got to my feet.

“Where are you going?” he asked sitting up.

“Stay there,” I said with a grin, “I want to show you something.”

He settled back into the seat of the carousel carriage and I shrugged off my coat and slipped out of my shoes.
 
The wooden boards of the floor of the carousel were cold, but I didn’t stop to think about it.
 
I hurried over to the pillar in the middle of the ride and found the switch.
 
I flicked it on and the lights came to life and the carousel started to move, thankfully the music was a separate switch and I left it in the off position.

“Ah, Alex, what are you doing?”

I turned back to Freddie and had to hold in a giggle at his expression.
 
I don’t think I had ever seen him flustered in the whole time we’d worked together.
 
I’d seen him frustrated and even ticked off, but never flustered like he was out of his depth.

“Relax,” I said, pushing him back in his seat when he tried to rise.

The carriage we had been sitting in was like a fairytale princess carriage and was being drawn by two white steads.
 
As the carousel turned, the steads rose and lowered elegantly on their poles.
 
I climbed up onto one of them and stood on its back, my bare feet gripping the shiny lacquered surface.

“Is that safe?” Freddie asked, his brow furrowed with worry.

“Relax,” I said again with an eye roll for good measure, “I’m a professional.”

“What?” he coughed out a laugh as I let go of the pole and balanced on the horses back.

“When I was a little girl,” I said, doing some fancy footwork over the back of the rising and lowering horse, “I wanted to be a trick rider with the circus.
 
You know, the ones that got to stand on the backs of those fancy horses with the colourful plumes as the galloped around the ring?
 
That’s what I wanted to be, so I used to practise on my horse.”

“Your parents let you stand on the back of a horse while it galloped around a ring?”

“What?
 
No, of course not, they didn’t know.
 
They would drop me off at the stable, or at least the chauffeur would, and I would be left there for hours, unsupervised.
 
Don’t worry, Betsy was a very gentle and eternally long-suffering horse.
 
I could have danced a jig on her back and she wouldn’t have flicked an ear at me.
 
I was also a gymnast, so I just imagined I was on the beam and I’d practise my tricks.
 
Watch.”

I bent my knees and sprung into the air, landing on the back of the other horse with a slight wobble before righting myself.
 
I did a few dips, bending one knee and lowering my other leg down along the side of the horse, I did a couple of turns and finished with an arabesque.
 
Freddie clapped and chuckled and I bowed before climbing down.
 
I liked the smile on his face and knowing I had been the one to put it there.