Page 29 of The Prince of New York

Dr. Stanton snorted, and I grinned at the older woman’s indication my fever would be back to bother us, probably by the evening. “Don’t get your hopes up, Melody. This is Ian we’re talking about, and Ian’s difficult at best when he gets fevered. In good news, we are fairly confident we’ve figured out the primary cause. You can thank Jack for that later. He made the suggestion that we check your spinal alignment, as he’s had to have his spine adjusted a few times after search and rescue incidents. He still has some problems with his back from time to time, especially after doing questionable work.”

“He got to go on a search and rescue dive last month,” Melody informed me. “He was supposed to stay in the helicopter, but the primary diver ran into trouble, so he went on in and screwed his back up. The diver emerged relatively unscathed, and they rescued the distressed boater, but I have gray hairs now.”

Yeah, right. “Did you get to observe the RPS footage?”

Where Jack went, a second RPS helicopter followed, and the man’s track record for rescuing people inched ever upward, as the kingdom paid all RPS fees when their future monarch decided to do his job. As far as I was concerned, I thought it was the perfect use of resources. Jack got to do the work he loved above all else, and lives were saved.

“I did. I had to excuse myself.”

I bet she did, well aware my friend got the hots whenever her man displayed even a hint of general competency. I gave it only a year or two before the pair joined the pool of men and women having babies, although she’d likely wait until after Olivia and Terry welcomed their little ones into the world. Rather than tease her about it, I chuckled and replied, “Mind sending me a copy? I’d like to see how he works.”

“Sure. But he twinged his back fairly hard, and it turns out you have a similar problem. We’re guessing you either twinged it during your sister’s assault or you twisted something while playing on the course. In good news for Terry’s mental health, we were able to explain that it wasn’t anything the matter with the course that caused the problem, so once they fix the edge to be a little safer, they’ll be letting your sister rampage on it to her heart’s content. You’re banned from it until we’re sure your back isn’t going to cause a problem again or we give permission. In bad news, outside of going over to do an inventory and maybe doing some melting work, you won’t be working in your junkyard for at least a few weeks, which means you’ll get to visit and that’s that.”

Damn it. I raised my hands in surrender. “I accept your terms.”

“There. I told you he was easy to work with.” Melody placed her hand on my neck, moved her thumb around, and then jabbed the hell out of me.

My neck and shoulder snapped, crackled, and popped, and I yelped at the unexpected assault, got off the table, and warded the woman away with crossed fingers. “What the hell was that for?”

“I was adjusting your spine.”

“Warn me next time!”

“If I had warned you, you would have tensed, it would have hurt more, and we would have been dealing with whining all day. Whine, whine, whine,” Melody muttered, and she threw her hands into the air. “Dr. Stanton, he’s all yours.”

Without another word, Maine’s heir headed off, likely seeking out Jack, as she loathed, abhorred, and protested any separation from him.

“Don’t you go rubbing your neck,” Dr. Stanton ordered, and she glared at me.

As I’d been about to do just that, I decided to fiddle with my suit cuffs, adjusting them and pretending I was appropriately presentable. “I messed up my back and it caused a fever?”

“It happens. It’s a combination of medication, your back being misaligned, and stress. I did run blood tests and had Melody also check for any signs of meningitis, but you’re clear of every single illness we could think of that might be responsible for your episode. You’re just a delicate little flower, Ian.”

I laughed. “But do I recover when I’ve been properly watered?”

“Your care requirements are not as drastic as some royals I know. I’m talking about Terry. Frankly, the fact you didn’t try to store your lunch in your lungs is putting you far above that walking disaster.”

“I will enjoy teasing Terry over that for months to come,” I confessed. “Rachel freaked. I thought she was going to lose her mind upon finding out he had pneumonia.”

The unexpected trip to Texas had thrown the entire palace staff for a loop, but fortunately for me, they’d managed to handle most everything without needing me to come in and help them. The palace staff’s ability to work around the situation had left my sister relieved. If something did go wrong, she understood she could handle it without everything falling apart at home.

During our parents’ reign, unless they were present to do the equivalent of whip the palace staff, things soured in a hurry. I understood the reasons why.

The palace staff worked because they adored Rachel, and they wanted her reign to be pleasant.

Before, they’d worked out of a mix of necessity and fear of consequence.

Change had come swiftly to New York.

I still regretted my part in making certain my sister took the throne as the people wanted.

“Rachel handled the situation much better than I anticipated. I was concerned I would be headed to Texas rather than waiting for Terry to return to New York. She’s progressing well. As being outdoors is good for you, and you were clearly thinking about honeyed salmon, I asked the kitchen to go ahead and make you dinner for breakfast, and someone will bring a basket out for us. Madelyn has mostly hammered out your schedule for in California, and the RPS has begun teaching her risk assessment.”

Uh oh. “I spy with my little eye a great deal of trouble brewing on the horizon.”

“That is because you’re an intelligent man. Sit at the table properly, go over your schedule with Madelyn, and wait to be fed. Then you can take a proper wander back to the palace without alarming the RPS. Let’s try to keep your trouble manageable today.”

“Just today?” I asked, unable to keep my curiosity from reflecting in my tone.

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