The Cowboy and the Princess Read Free Page B

I am and glad I’m a member of the royal family. My heritage is important to me. It’s just that while I’m here I’d like to remain anonymous,” she clarified. “If people know I’m here, there will be newspapers and…”
    “And someone might try to harm you or kidnap you,” Owen said, looking at the bodyguards, who were standing around trying to fade quietly into a landscape where they stood out like red ink on white paper. He remembered the man who had gone everywhere with Andreus when they had been in college. “I meant what I said when I told Andreus that I’d look after you,” Owen said. “No one is going to harm you, and I’m not talking about letting your keepers take care of things. I’m talking about me. I wouldn’t let anyone get near you.”
    She shook her head. “But I want people near me. That’s the point.”
    Her consternation was clear. However, Owen suddenly noticed Suze Allen driving by and giving him and Delfyne a good looking-over. Suze was a generous creature whom Owen had known for most of his life, but she was like a sieve. Any news that came her way instantly flowed through and out, and a stranger who looked like Delfyne conversing with Owen was definitely going to be news.
    “We’d better go,” he said suddenly. “Get in the car.”
    Delfyne looked toward Suze’s white pickup, which was circling to come back their way, and to Owen’s relief she didn’t argue. She let Owen hand her into the Land Rover, and her entourage piled into a black car that arrived from out of nowhere.
    “A girlfriend?” she asked when they were on the road to the ranch.
    Owen laughed at that. “A gossip, and nothing like a girlfriend, though she’s very nice. Suze is married to a man who would punch any man who looked twice at his wife.”
    Delfyne was silent. For almost five seconds. “Has he ever punched you?” she finally asked.
    Owen immediately turned to look at her. “I don’t pursue other men’s wives, no matter how nice the women are. But that’s beside the point. I haven’t forgotten what we were talking about before Suze came along. You said that you wanted to be anonymous.”
    “And you said you wouldn’t let anyone near me.”
    He sighed. “Maybe I phrased that badly.” He remembered a time when his ex-wife, Faye, had accused him of keeping her trapped in a box. “What I meant was that I wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt you, in case you were worried about that. People from the city sometimes worry about life in a place like this, which is a bit wild. I won’t let any harm come to you.”
    “I never thought you would! Andreus knows you and he trusts you implicitly. That’s absolutely good enough for me. I am most certainly not challenging your ability to protect me.” Now she was indignant…and cute. Somehow he didn’t think he should mention that. The word cute and royalty probably didn’t go hand in hand. “But I meant something more than that. I just—If people know I’m here, there will be reporters, of course, the paparazzi and all that. But that’s not my main reason for wanting to stay in the shadows. Ordinary people will treat me differently if they know I’m a princess. I hate that. I really hate that.”
    He could tell. Her voice was terribly sad.
    “And I know that’s kind of selfish and spoiled,” she went on. “I have so much. I’ve always had so much. I live in a world that most people can’t even imagine, but—”
    “But you want more,” he said. He’d heard that before. Heard his mother telling his father that as she dragged her suitcase out, packed it full of clothes and left him behind, telling Owen to be a good boy before the door closed and she disappeared from his life forever. He’d heard it from Faye as she’d begged him to sellthe ranch, take all his money and go somewhere fun and fine. He’d almost decided to do it, too, until his son’s death and the total disintegration of his marriage. After that, it had been too