It was late when she was able to slide into bed beside a warm, sleeping Gena. For a moment, Aria thought she was with J.T. and snuggled against her. Then she caught herself. She was not going to let that man back into her life. There were more important things to life than what one did in bed.
Tomorrow she would have time alone with Julian and she would allow him to help her forget.
* * *
“Your Highness!”
Aria woke slowly to her dresser’s voice.
“Count Julian is waiting for you.” The woman smiled smugly. “He seems most impatient to see you.”
Sleepily, Aria pulled herself out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Slowly, she began to waken and remember the events of last night. This morning she meant to begin forgetting her American husband. She would have hours alone with Julian—alone in the dim early morning light in the mountain forest.
She was impatient with her dressers but she couldn’t dress herself and make them wonder where she had learned how.
Once in her riding habit, she hurried out of the room. She stole a glance at the guard outside her room but he had his eyes straight ahead. She must remember his face because if there were rumors that she had not been in her room last night, he would have spread them.
“Good morning, Your Highness.” Julian greeted her at the door to the stables, then, as the groom walked inside, he leaned forward and planted a kiss just below her ear. “Or should I say ‘my darling’? You look ravishing.”
Aria blushed prettily. “You may call me what you wish in private,” she said demurely.
“Then I would like most to call you wife,” he said seductively. “Shall we go? In an hour we can be deep within the forest. Just the two of us alone. We don’t have to be back for hours.”
Aria continued blushing.
“Well, Count, that being alone part isn’t exactly right.” J.T. lazily moved out of the shadows of the stable door.
“You!” Aria gasped.
“Do you know this man?” Julian asked, looking from one to the other.
She squinted her eyes at J.T. “I had the misfortune of meeting him in America. We had business dealings there.”
J.
T. smiled. “I’m in charge of buying the vanadium from Lanconia.”
Julian stepped forward and took Aria’s arm. “Her Royal Highness will see you when she returns from her ride.”
“No,” J.T. said, placing himself between them and the horses, “that’s not the way it is. You see, there was a little trouble in America and we—”
“Trouble?” Julian asked seriously. “What does he mean?”
“Nothing big,” J.T. said before Aria could speak. “Just some people who seemed to want to cause the princess a little discomfort. So, to protect its own interests, America sent a couple of us soldiers over here to make sure there was no more funny business. One guy stays with the king and I’m to stay with the princess here.”
Julian kept a tight grip on Aria’s arm. “I’m sure that is very thoughtful of your government, but I can assure you that when Her Royal Highness is with me, there will be no need for your protection.”
He moved toward the horses but J.T. intercepted.
They were contrasting men: J.T. dark, tall, his skin weathered from a life spent outdoors, while Julian was the product of centuries of careful breeding: his skin cared for, his hands manicured, his short, trim body held rigidly.
“Sorry, Count,” J.T. said. “I go with her or she stays here.”
Impatiently, Julian snapped his riding crop against his tall, polished boots. “I will not tolerate—”
“What’s a matter, Count?” J.T. said jovially. “ ’Fraid I’ll interfere in your time with the lady? I’ll stay way back and you two can moon all you want.” He winked at Count Julian, whose face was beginning to turn purple with rage. J.T. smiled. “Of course, you have to understand that if I don’t go with the princess, then the deal with America is off. We won’t buy the vanadium from a country that’s hostile to us, and if we don’t buy it, we’ll sure as hell not let anybody else buy it, which means we may have to do something warlike to keep you from selling it. Then you’d be king of a country that’s maybe been bombed and has no money since you can’t sell the vanadium. That’s up to you.” J.T. turned and started to walk away.
Aria rolled her eyes skyward. “He doesn’t mean a word of it,” she said to Julian.