His mates slap the table.
“Told you Gwen could handle it,” Kai says triumphantly, like I’m one of his soldier friends. A discordant note of unease sounds within me. I don’t want to be a girl who’s just another one of his fellow knights. I want to be special to him.
“Aye, I hear the lass is up for anything.” One soldier winks. I don’t wink back. I’m too busy trying to stay upright against the thumping of Kai’s open hand between my shoulder blades. Eyes watering, coughing, and choking, I can’t figure out what the winking soldier meant by that comment, but I know it wasn’t good.
Kai scowls. “Gwen doesn’t understand what you’re implying, and I don’t like it.”
The soldier raises both hands, palms out. He’s clearly more brawn than brains. “Didn’t mean nothing by it. She’s a pretty little lass. No man could blame you, Highness. I mean, Captain. Are you Captain, Commander, or Highness, now?”
“Just call me Kai.” Music, a lute, pipes, and a drum, carries over the din of conversation. He takes my hand. “Let’s dance.”
I’m torn between confusion over what the man said, and giddy glee over the unexpected honor of being asked to be Kai’s first partner. Before he drags me away, I snatch the tankard and down the rest of its contents. The men use strong drink as liquid courage. Why can’t I?
Within seconds the world is spinning ever so slightly off-center. I swat his arm. “Don’t be so serious. Want me to fight them? I’m not going to let a couple of gossipy soldiers ruin your day.”
“I don’t like it when they imply things about you. I know you aren’t like that.”
“Like what?” Maybe I am and he doesn’t suspect.
“Grasping, like Lady Ashburn. She’s ambitious and unfaithful.”
“Oh.” I am definitely not like that. If anything, I wish Kai wasn’t a prince at all.
“No matter what anyone says about your family, I know the truth. You’re the sweetest and most honest person I’ve ever met. You’re loyal to people you?—”
He stops abruptly, to my great disappointment. Mentally, I fill in the blank with the wordlove.Does he know how much I love him? What lowly scullery maid wouldn’t swoon to hear a prince sing her praises? I would follow him to the ends of the earth.
Kai scowls. “I trust you more than anyone outside my own family. They can’t say those things about you. Or me, for that matter. I would never behave inappropriately with you, Gwen. I honor you in every way.”
Well that’s too bad, I barely manage to not say.I could do with a little less honoring and a lot more kissing.I yearn for the taste of his lips. Instead, all I have is the lingering grassy-wheat flavor of beer.
His hand envelops mine, warm and tough-skinned from many hours of battle practice.
“I honor you, too,” I belatedly respond. If by honoring, one means,I used to sneak down to the training yard to watch you practice without a shirt. I imagine what your lips would feel like on mine. I think about us being married, having children?—
“I would never do anything to damage your reputation,” he says. Yet that appears to be one thing beyond a prince’s control. He can’t stop people from gossiping about us.
“I know.” I hiccup. “Choosing me as your first dance partner won’t stop tongues from wagging, though.”
“We can stop if you want to.”
“The damage is done.” I’ll deal with Nana’s wrath later, and savor this moment for as long as it lasts. “You should choose a more illustrious partner than a scullery maid for your next dance.”
“Why would I want to dance with anyone but you?” He spins me. I twirl, laughing, as the world spins dizzyingly. When he says things like that, my heart soars with hope.
“Gwen?” The amusement in his voice showers sparks on my skin. That low rumble reverberates in every part of me as I fall against him. Another hiccup takes me by surprise. His lips brush the rim of my ear when he says, “You’re drunk.”
“I am not.”
“Are too.”
“It was only one beer.”
“You’re small for a girl your age and you drank that beer impressively fast. If I let go of you, you’d fall down.”
“Then you’d better not let me go.”
I lean into him. My breasts are heavy and aching inside my bodice, and the tips are so hard and sensitive that they actually hurt when I brush against his chest. Kai stiffens.
