The Soldier and the Princess

Chapter thirty-seven

Silas

Iknewthemoment she entered the room.

Like a sixth sense, I could actually feel her presence, my body and mind tuned to her like a compass, and I spun around, turning my back on Stone who had been saying something I was only half listening to.

When I saw her, hair pinned up, her delicate neck on display, her blue dress making her skin glow like the finest porcelain, I couldn’t help the low growl the rumbled in my chest.

“I hear ya, brother,” Stone said, his own words low as he gazed at his wife. I knew she was there, registered Penelope as the person standing beside Daphne, but other than that, I was at a complete loss.

Because I had never seen anything in my entire life that was as beautiful as Daphne Pennington was in that moment.

I stood still, my back against the bar, as she scanned the room, her practiced smile in place as she greeted the well-wishers who approached her. She shook hands, accepted air kisses, and was the quintessential Uptown Princess, exactly the way I always knew she would be. She carried herself around the ballroom with a poise and grace that belied the girl I knew, the one I had gone hiking with, the girl who had only a few days ago fought off attackers and protected the people she loved at great risk to herself.

Daphne was raised in the ivory towers of Manhattan, and no matter how much I wished it were otherwise, I knew that this was what she was good at, what she was made for.

New York looked good on her.

And, with a sudden clarity, I knew what I had to do.

Slapping Stone on the back, I turned to him with a wry grin.

“Well, what the hell are we doing standing around here for? Let’s go ask those pretty ladies for a dance.”

I stepped away, but Stone pulled me back with his hand on my arm, and I gave him a frown.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothin’,” he grunted, scrunching his eyebrows, a clear indicator that he was about to say something serious. “It’s just, I’m glad to see you smile again, Si. For a while there, I wasn’t sure you were still capable.” I nodded, not confirming what we both knew to be true; I had lost myself for a long time after Daphne left Nevada. “I know I had a hand in what happened—”

“Stone,” I started, but he held up a hand.

“No, let me say this.” Hooking his thumbs in his pockets, Stone rocked back on his heels and blew out a breath. “A lot has happened in the last few weeks, and I learned some things about you that I didn’t know before.” He cut me a meaningful look, and I knew he was talking about my less than legal stalking tendencies.

Not having an ounce of guilt, I simply shrugged.

“As a brother, I really should have knocked your lights out, you know? But as a brother who knows the only reason the two most important women in his life are even alive right now is because of you, I am more than happy to over-look it.”

He surprised me by pulling me into a hug, his hands heavy as he slapped my back. “Thank you, Silas, for protecting my girls.”

“They’re my girls, too, Stone,” I said, my throat tight. “I love them just as much as you do.”

“Yeah, about that.” Stone stepped back, one hand on the back of my neck as he leaned in, his face set in a stern scowl, one I hadn’t seen for a long time. “When are you gonna make an honest woman out of my sister?”

A shocked laugh exploded out of me, and a smile broke over Stone’s face.

“Just as soon as she’ll let me.”

With that, we headed across the crowded room, and I let Daphne draw me to her like a beacon, bright and brilliant and mine.

She spotted me about halfway, her eyes tracking my movements even as her mouth continued to smile at whatever the woman at her elbow was saying. I could see the appreciation in her gaze, how her eyes ran over me from top to bottom, and the way her cheeks flushed as I got closer made me want to pound my chest.

Me.

She was looking at me with hunger, that clear sign of want, and I knew that I had never needed anything more than I needed Daphne in my arms. Right fuckin’ now.

Pushing my way past the crowd of stuffed shirts and overly coiffed ladies, I stepped close to Daphne, breathing in her jasmine scent as I smiled down at her, holding out my hand.

“I came to ask if you’d dance with me,” I said, and the smile that spread across her face was breathtaking. She didn’t answer, didn’t excuse herself as a polite society woman would have done.

No, Daphne placed her hand in mine and simply walked away, leaving the crowd of her mother’s friends gaping after us like fish.

As we reached the center of the dance floor, fairly empty this early in the night, I drew her to me, cradling her against my chest like the precious thing I knew she was.

We swayed slowly, not really dancing, more just being. Our time together had been so fleeting, and these last few weeks had been a hectic mess of police interviews and hospital visits, darting from one appointment to another like crazy people. I had only just had my stitches removed two days ago because I had blown my wound wide open again in my mad dash down the stairs the day Davis had made his final play.

Not to mention the nightmares and hours spent laying awake, talking and dissecting all the things that had happened, Daphne and I had spent almost no time alone in the last fourteen days, so having her like this, I wanted to do nothing but enjoy.

After a while, Daphne leaned close, resting her head on my chest with a contented sigh, and I smiled.

This. This right here was all I needed.

Everything else was just details.

“I heard you offered Xander a job.”

I had been so lost in my head that her voice actually startled me, jerking me out of the clouds and back down to earth.

“Yeah,” I answered, leaning down and pressing my lips to the top of her head, holding them there and breathing in her warmth. “Stone and I talked to him a bit. He was having no luck finding work since he’d left the service. His girl left him when he couldn’t hold down a steady job, and he thought it would just be easier if he disappeared for a bit.”

I frowned. Knowing that I was not alone in my post-military struggles didn’t make it any easier to accept how many of my brothers and sisters were suffering after putting their lives on the line.

“Stone said that if he was up for it, he’d help set Xander up with any kind of job he wanted. I know some guys looking to hire a few bodyguards, crowd control and that kind of thing. Xander said he’d take it.”