Page 65 of Royals
I wave back, but I cannot bring myself to say “Toodles.” I don’t even likethinkingit, to be honest.
When I get back to the jeeps, Miles is the only one there, leaning against the side of one, biting into a sandwich. I perch myself on top of the folded-down tailgate of the jeep and pick up another thermos, turning it in my hands.
“Why aren’t you shooting?” I ask him, and he shrugs, folding his sandwich back up in wax paper.
“Not one of my favorite activities,” he says. He puts the sandwich down, then shoves his hands in his pockets, and for a second, I think we’re just going to sit there in total silence until we actually die of the awkwardness.
“Flora’s not giving you a hard time, is she?” Miles asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. I turn to see Flora at the bottom of the hill, joking with Gilly, and lift one shoulder.
“I think we might actually be becoming friends? Or at least not enemies.”
Miles makes a little noise in the back of his throat and takes off his cap for a second to scrub a hand over his hair. “She’s not so bad, Flo,” he says. “Or at least not as bad as she’d like people to think.”
I look back at him, wanting to ask about her, aboutthem, but before I can, Miles nods at one of the jeeps. “Do you wanna go for a drive?” he asks, and I blink at him.
“With you?”
His lips quirk. “Unless you’d prefer the company of one of the sheep.”
That makes me smile in spite of myself.
And then he adds, “Hopefully there will be a good story in the papers about us sneaking off on this shooting trip. Glynnis will be thrilled.”
Oh, right. We’re spending time together because of how itlooks, not because we actually want to.
I think of the other night at the ball, that weird little momentthat passed between us, and then I grind that thought to dust under my mental boot.
“Good plan,” I tell him, hopping off the tailgate. “Let’s go be illicit.”
I don’t know if anyone sees us leave, and as we drive away, it occurs to me that I probably should’ve told Ellie we were going. But by the time I think of that, the jeep is already rattling over the hills, the wind blowing hard enough in the open top that we can’t talk.
The Highlands spread out before us, rolling fields, snow-capped hills, and I take a deep breath, grinning at the sheerprettinessof it all. It’s wide open in a way that makes me want to... I don’t know, run around with my arms thrown out or something.
The jeep slows as we approach a fence, and I look at Miles, curious.
He smiles back at me, then nods at the gate.
The jeep rumbles to a halt, and I can’t stop the sound of delight and surprise that escapes me. It’s embarrassingly close to a squeal.
But there, at the fence, is a shaggy red cow, his massive horns curling up from his head, long hair covering his eyes, and he is the actual cutest.
I hop out of the jeep, approaching the fence carefully, but the cow only munches on grass, clearly not that concerned with me.
“Ellie said you still hadn’t seen one,” Miles calls, and I turn to smile over my shoulder at him. “I hadn’t,” I say, and I reach out—verycautiously, those are some massive horns—and give the cow a little pat on his head, that long reddish hair rough under my fingertips.
“Hit all the Scottish high notes now?” Miles asks, and I head back to the jeep, dusting my hands off on the back of my pants.
“Just about,” I say. “Fancy cows, shooting, wearing plaid, doing folk dances, seeing lots of kilts...”
He’s still sitting in the driver’s seat (and I’m never going to get used to the whole “sitting on the wrong side of the car” thing), smiling at me, and it occurs to me that this—taking me to see a cow, which, okay, not exactly the most romantic of gestures, but still—has nothing to do with papers or tabloid stories. It was just... a nice thing to do.
For me.
Which is so bizarre I don’t want to think about it too much, lest my head explode.
“Thank you,” I say, getting back in the jeep. “I know it must physically pain you to do a nice thing for me, so I appreciate your sacrifice.”
He gives a little cough, covering his mouth with his fist and widening his eyes. “Oh god, I think the damage has already been done.”
