Page 18 of Keep Her from Them

“They won’t let the cab in,” Dori informed me.

We made the rest of the trip on foot, our IDs checked and Dori weaving as we crossed the courtyard to the archway and through. He stumbled. I braced him with an arm around his back. This time, he allowed the support, even as a second guard checked our IDs at a side door.

I warred with myself over how to handle this. I’d have to tell Jared about intervening tonight, which didn’t worry me as I assumed he couldn’t care less, but more, I was afraid for Alex. She was the one I needed to warn.

Dori led the way down a hall far more opulent than the ones I’d walked half a night ago with Jared. Huge paintings of pastoral scenes were interspersed with portraits of long-deadroyals, the gold leaf on the frame glowing dully in the low light. There was no one else in sight, and our footsteps thudded on the floor.

“You’re a real one for the help,” he slurred.

“If you’d left when I asked instead of getting into a fight, it wouldn’t have come to two bouncers strong-arming ye down the stairs.”

Dori shrugged. “Fuck your judgement. If I hadn’t doused that asshole and trashed his camera, he would’ve been sneaking more pictures.”

“And the riling up of the crowd?”

“If they all took pictures, it’d devalue his.”

We reached an entry hall. Any further questions I had died on my tongue at the image ahead.

At the foot of a marble staircase, and in a shaft of moonlight, Alex sat, her knees together and her arms wrapped around her white dress with her delicate lace mask in her fingers. The wig had vanished, and her brunette curls fell in waves. She was an angel from a grandmaster’s painting. A vision. At our entry, she peeked up.

She looked so vulnerable I wanted to hug her.

That was never going to happen.

Dori pushed away from me and dropped to a sprawl next to her. “Your bodyguard is a grouch. He claims I made things worse tonight.”

She sighed. “Didn’t he have to pull you from a fight?”

“It was already over.”

“I’m glad you’re back in one piece. Can you wait upstairs for me?”

He grumbled agreement then shot me a glance, his lip curled in obvious dislike before he gave Alex his parting line. “See you in bed.”

His disappearance left me alone with Her Royal Highness. I wasn’t jealous. There was no way that emotion coursed through my veins at the thought of him stripping and waiting for her in a four-poster bed.

Alex twisted her fingers together. “Thanks for getting him out of there. You were off the clock. You didn’t need to do any of that.” Her gaze turned curious. “I still don’t understand why you got involved.”

I wasn’t entirely sure either. I raised a shoulder. “If I hadn’t, that could’ve ended badly.”

She tilted her head in question.

I elaborated. “More than one photographer tracked down your location. Your friend decided to fight rather than just leave. We could’ve got out of there much easier without his escalation.”

“It isn’t his fault he got into a fight.”

I gave her a sigh of disbelief.

“God, fine.” Her voice cracked. “Then it’s mine because tonight was my idea. I just hate that I can’t go anywhere without things like this happening. But I can’t and won’t sit at home and do nothing for the rest of my life. They’ll hunt me and write stories about me no matter what I do.”

“I never said ye can’t go out. Just take security.”

She made a sound of frustration. “I can’t. The team is only available to me for events when I’m representing my family. You won’t get paid for what you did tonight.”

“I don’t care about that. But what are ye talking about, only a few events?”

“The team is shared with other members of my family. You wouldn’t know as you haven’t been here long enough. If I’m working for the Crown, I get cover, but in a personal capacity, rarely is there the money, hence why I stay here when I’m in London. Ossington Palace is one of the most protected buildings in the country. Outside of that, I’m on my own.”

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