The Royal Pain (5 page)

North Dakota Institute for Sea Life
Minot, North Dakota

“…and that's pretty much it.”

“Fascinating,” Alex commented.

“Yeah?”

She smiled. “My brother isn't the only one interested in marine biology. He was just the only one who wanted to go to school for years and years to learn about it. I thought my father was going to have a nervous breakdown.” At Shel's quizzical look, she elaborated. “It was very hard on him when David went away to school.”

“Oh.”

“You know. Parents.”

“Yeah. You know, I read about your bro somewhere,” he said, almost reluctantly. “Got his Bachelor's in three years, his Master's in a year and a half, and his PhD in two years.”

“Yes,” she said cheerfully. “He's a tremendous geek. Definitely the brains in the family.”

“I dunno,” he said, giving her a sideways glance. “Your knuckles don't exactly drag on the floor when you walk. Congratulations. You got through the tour without a single stupid question.”

She smiled graciously. “So did you.”

Shel laughed, and she had to look away. He had a great laugh and it took years off his face. She was trying to figure out if she was attracted to him because of his handsome face, killer long legs, or because he'd been so rude. Nobody was ever rude to her. It made for a refreshing change of pace.

“I appreciate your time, Dr. Rivers.”

“Shel. And it was no trouble, Princess.”

“Alex. And aren't you afraid you'll go to Hell for lying?” she teased.

“Hardly. I've lived in Guam; I've already been in Hell.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Army brat,” he replied shortly. “My dad was posted.”

“My dad was in the military, too—”

“I'll bet! Wasn't he, like, King-General-in-Chief?”

“Hardly,” she said primly. “And such nasty assumptions you make, Dr. Rivers. In my country, military service isn't mandated for the royal family. My father joined because he wanted to. Also, his mother was driving him crazy. But we were talking about your homes. I've never lived anywhere but Alaska. Have you been?”

“Yeah. Also Germany, France, Iceland, Great Britain, Gitmo, Italy, and Kentucky.”

She found that quite fascinating, though from the tone of his voice it wasn't a topic up for much further discussion. “How interesting. This is my first time in North Dakota.”

“Yeah, I figured. I mean, who's gonna come here if they don't have to?”

“You don't like it here?”

“Actually, I kind of love it here.”

“It's very beautiful. Different from home, but still lovely. You can
see,
here. For miles and miles. At home, the trees crowd right up to the road. It can be a little claustrophobic, especially if you're used to…” She held out an arm, indicating the state of North Dakota. “This.”

He was silent for a long moment, and when he spoke, it sounded like he was strangling. “It's my place. I picked it. Nobody dragged me here and then dragged me away. Nobody stuck me somewhere and waited until I made friends and then stuck me somewhere else. North Dakota's mine.”

She nodded.

“It's the only thing that's ever been mine.”

“Yes, Dr. Rivers.”

“I guess you wouldn't know about that.”

“I know about being stuck.”

He snorted. “Sure you do.”

“It's not an exclusive province of the children of Army officers.”

“Or royalty.”

She looked at him. “Oh. I see. You're one of those assholes who assume that the rich don't have problems.”

“I don't think princesses are allowed to use the word ‘assholes.'”

“Trust me, Dr. Rivers, you wouldn't know a damn thing about it.”

“Oh, come on! Like someone who has never once had to worry about buying food or paying the electric bill really has problems?”

“Good-bye, Dr. Rivers,” she said, and abruptly strode away, waving to Jenny who was waiting for her at the end of the corridor.

“Shel!” he yelled after her.

“H
i.”

“Hi.”

“So.”

“Yeah.”

“How've you been?”

“Fine. You?”

“Oh, you know. The usual things. Not much has happened in the four hours since I last saw you.”

“Well, kind of a lot has happened on my end,” Shel explained.

“Yes, I see that,” Alex replied.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Well, I felt it was the least I could do.”

“No, you didn't have to.”

“It's all right,” she said kindly. “I felt we had some unfinished business.”

“I kind of felt that way, too. I mean, that's the whole reason I'm here.”

“I understand.”

Alex could hear the click of heels, and didn't have to turn away from the bars to know Jenny had entered the small room.

“Oh, dear,” she said, staring at Shel. Her small nose wrinkled, and Alex knew why; she'd seen her fair share of jail cells. They all smelled like laundry soap, sweat, and piss. “Oh, oh dear.”

“Hi,” he said, waving at her from his side of the cell.

Jenny ran a distracted hand through her newly shorn brunette bob. “Oh, Dr. Rivers. Oh, oh, oh.”

“Don't tell me you've never had to bail out one of your little chickadees before.”

“She hasn't,” Alex informed him. “But we've visited friends on occasion.”

“Royal pals in the clink!” Shel said gleefully. “Film at eleven!”

“What is Dr. Tiegel going to say? What will the press say?” Jenny cried.

“What will my father say?” Alex suggested, because she had a vicious streak and wanted to see Jenny go even paler, if possible.

“Your father. Your father!” Jenny started walking in small, distracted circles. “I will, of course, be blamed for this, and he's right to blame me, I should have guessed you'd try something idiotic and ridiculous.”

“Hey!” Shel protested. “I just wanted to see your boss again, that's all. We sort of left on the wrong foot.”

“Actually, the wrong foot was wedged into your big fat mouth,” Alex said helpfully.

“So I thought it'd be cool to sneak in and see you and apologize.”

“Only to be tackled, cuffed, and hauled away by my ever-vigilant security team, then tossed in jail.”

“Look, in the movies it would have worked. It would have been romantic and cool.” He managed to get the sullen look off his face for half a second. “Thanks again for coming down.”

“How could I stay away, once I was told what you'd been up to?” she teased.

Jenny was shaking her head. “Dr. Rivers, what world do you live in?”

“An adorable one,” Alex said, and linked fingers with him through the bars. “You idiot.”

“Aw.” He blushed.

“Stop that!” Jenny snapped. “We have to focus on the PR aspects of this boneheaded stunt, not how cute he looked in his mug shot.”

“So you admit I'm cute!” he said triumphantly.

“No,” a new voice said. “You're as ugly as the south end of a north-bound skunk.”

Shel waved at the man, a striking green-eyed blond whose shoulder-length hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

“Oh,” Jenny said. She actually dropped her clipboard, which hit the cement floor with a clatter. After a long moment, Alex bent and picked it up.

“This is my best friend,” Shel was gesturing through the bars, “Teal Grange.”

“Oh,” Jenny said.

Alex wrapped Jenny's fingers around the clipboard.

“Teal, this is the Princess of Alaska—”

“I know who she is, pal. We get
People
magazine in Minot.”

“—and her majordomo assistant-type gal, Jenny—uh, I can't remember your last name.”

“It doesn't matter,” Jenny said, clearly dazzled. Teal was only a few inches taller than she was, but powerfully built…his navy tee-shirt bulged in interesting places, and he had the powerful look of a regular lifter. The fluorescent lights bounced off his glasses and made his moss-green eyes unreadable. The scowl, however, spoke volumes.

“Hi.” Teal shook hands with Jenny, who forgot to put hers away. It hung in the air, a small white bird without a nest. “Hi, Princess.”

“Hello.” They would certainly, she thought, make a beautiful couple; Jenny's willowy dark beauty and his blunt blond All-American good looks. “It's nice to meet you.”

“Me, too!” Jenny blurted, then blushed to her hairline when they all looked at her. “I mean, it's nice to meet you, too. That's all I meant to say.”

“I've come to bail out Dr. Dumbass.”

“That's so cute,” Alex said. “My sister-in-law makes up annoying names for her friends, too. It was nice of you to—”

“He's my one phone call,” Shel admitted.

“But it's not necessary.”

“Oh, one of your guards is gonna shoot him? That's good; it'll save time. Plus, I can get back to the
CSI
marathon.”

Alex laughed, but Jenny never cracked a smile; she was staring raptly into Teal's gorgeous green eyes. “There's no—there's no need to bail anyone out, Mr. Grange.”

“Teal. Mr. Grange is my brother.”

“Yes, of course. Your brother. Yes. Ah…the Baranov family acknowledges this was an unfortunate misunderstanding, and of course Dr. Rivers will be free to go as soon as we finish some rudimentary paperwork. It won't take long at all, you have my word…Teal.”

Nice,
Alex thought, amused.
What if he'd had a gun? Or a rope? Jenny's got a crush, so my security goes out the window. I'm dead of strangulation, but she gets laid.

“Hey,” Shel said. Then, louder: “Hey! That's really nice of you, Jenny.”

“You're welcome,” she replied, not looking at Shel. “How—how do you know Dr. Rivers?”

“Are we still in the room?” Shel muttered to her.

Alex shook her head.

Teal's scowl disappeared into a grin. “Oh, I went to high school with the dumbass here, me and my brother.”

“Spent one year with him, then I couldn't shake any of them for the rest of my life,” Shel volunteered.

“Hey, am I down here at ten o'clock at night to bail your sorry ass out? Yeah. Are you the most ungrateful dumbass on the planet?”

“Yes,” Jenny said, dazzled. Then, “Any of them? You couldn't shake any of them?”

“I'm over here,” Shel called helpfully. “In the cell.”

“Shut up, Dr. Dumbass,” Teal commanded. “The lady's obviously talking to me.”

Alex snickered, and Shel continued. “Teal's got a bunch of sibs. Tell her. She looks like she could use a good laugh.”

“Crane, Robin, Crow, and Raven.”

“No way,” Alex said, blinking.

“Bunch of bird-brained morons, each one of them,” Shel muttered.

“My parents,” Teal explained with exaggerated patience, “were ornithologists.”

“How interesting! That's so interesting. I'm really interested in hearing more about your—er—interesting family.”

Teal smiled at her and Alex could see the attraction; she could actually feel the man's smile in her knees. Blondes weren't really her type, but…poor Jenny!

“Anybody ever tell you that you look like Shania Twain?”

“Uh-huh,” she replied.

“Date later!” Shel shouted, startling everybody. “Bail first!”

“I think I can take care of that,” Alex said, which was just as well, because Jenny wasn't listening anymore.

“T
hanks for walking me to—er—where are we going, anyway?”

“I worked on the polar bear exhibit after you took off. I thought you'd like to see it.”

“Oh, your bear came in?”

Shel shook his head. He was getting a headache from trying to look at her out of the corner of his eye. Even while walking down a muddy sidewalk in beat-up sneakers (were princesses allowed sneakers?), she was breathtaking. He couldn't believe she was out with him, here, now. Hell, he couldn't believe she'd come downtown to grease the skids so he didn't have to spend the night in a cell!

Then, cool as a cuke, she tells Jenny and the guards (nice enough fellows with hands like iron), “That will be all for tonight,” and like that, he was walking her out and they were climbing into her car. No press—it was late, and Jenny had probably gotten rid of them.

The car pulled up to the back entrance of the NDISL, and they both got out. “That will be all for tonight, Kara,” she told her driver. “I'll make other arrangements to return to the hotel.”

“Highness,” Kara replied, touching her cap with a fore-finger, and pulled smoothly away from the curb.

“Is that smart?” he asked, watching the red taillights grow smaller in the distance. “What if someone tries to kidnap you or whatever?”

“Someone like who?” She gestured to the deathly quiet streets of Minot.

“Well, you know. Someone. There could be an elaborate plot to snatch you. I mean, it was in the papers. You coming here.”

She shrugged. “You'll have to protect me, I guess.”

“I could be in on it. I could be the mastermind!”

Another shrug. The woman, he mused, either truly didn't give a rat's butt for her own safety, or possessed the acting ability to make it appear that way.

“Aren't you worried about your own safety? I mean, you're a public figure worth big bucks.”

“No.”

“No, you're not worth big bucks?” he teased, because even in the near-dark, he could see she was stiffening up.

“No, I don't care. Shall we go? You said your bear was here?”

“No, I never had a chance to answer. The big guy's showing up tomorrow. I thought I'd show you his habitat.”

“Almost as fascinating a sight,” she said, “as the city jail.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

“…and in a year or so, we're hoping to get him a mate.”

“How enthralling.”

“You don't have to be a jerk about it,” he said, trying not to be hurt. Then mad at himself because he was trying…or even hurt! “If it's not interesting to you, just say so. I can take it.”

“No, it's interesting,” she said, poking a toe at one of the piles of snow.

The habitat was large—bigger, Shel thought, than his own apartment—and cool, with piles of snow everywhere, and a large pool off to the left. Since it was currently bear-free, the place had a fresh, clean smell.

“He'll get a lady friend in here, will he?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm.”

She was walking around with her hands clasped behind her back, just like a dignitary. A dignitary in spotless jeans, a spotless white blouse, and sneakers. Her black hair looked like a starless night against the starkness of her shirt and the cool white of the habitat. Her lips were pursed in thought, but it was too close to looking like she was ready for a kiss, and he had to look away.

“So, you're hoping to get cubs out of the deal?”

“Ideally.”

“Assuming she accepts the fellow you picked out for her.”

“Well…” He could feel the blood filling his face and told himself to grow the hell up. He was a scientist, for Christ's sake, not a giggling high school freshman. “Polar bears are solitary, actually. So we'll only put them together for mating purposes. She'll have her own habitat most of the time. And they'll—if they're compatible, they'll mate several times in one week.”

“So, they'll do it again and again and again, and then she'll go back to her own place?”

He coughed. “Yeah.”

“Now that
is
enthralling,” she said, and pounced on him like a big cat. He was so startled he staggered back, clutching at her, and they toppled into one of the snow banks.

Her lush mouth clamped over his, and her arms curved around his neck. He clawed for air and gasped, “You must really be into polar bears.”

“Dr. Rivers,” she murmured, fumbling with his belt buckle, “shut the hell up.”

He did, and tried not to gasp again when her chilly hands closed over his dick. Cool or not, he was
very
happy to see her. He fumbled for the buttons on her blouse and got them open with fingers that felt like flippers. Her breasts, pale white with rose-colored nipples, filled his hands. Her scent filled his nose; his face was hidden in the dark blaze of her hair.

They wriggled against each other, working out of their jeans, and then her knees were on either side of his hips and he was thrusting up into her. She was tight, and dry, and, if possible, more determined than he was.

“Wait—”

“No.”

“I can—”

“It's fine,” she gasped.

The last of the blood left his brain and cognitive thought became a thing of the past. Before he could do just about any crossword in pen, now his thoughts were reduced to: Yum smell. Feel good. Want more. Sleepy soon.

He had to have been hurting her—hell, the friction was almost hurting
him
—but she didn't seem to mind, seemed to be enjoying it. She'd thrown her head back and was rocking against him, bracing her palms behind her on his thighs. He groaned as his climax didn't so much approach as gallop up to him, overtake him, bury him.

“Oh my
God
,” he managed, as she stopped rocking, as she surged forward to look down at him and her hair swung into her face. “You're an angel!”

She grinned. “Keep it between us, please. I don't think the
Minot Daily News
needs to know about my angelic properties.”

“This snow bank is freezing,” he complained. It was actually the first time he'd really noticed, but snow had gone down his collar and up his ass.

“What a whiner,” she said good-naturedly, and climbed off him. In seconds, she had arranged her clothing and was standing patiently, waiting for him to get his act together.

“Well!” he said brightly, brushing snow off his jeans. “That was…that was really nice. I'm sorry you didn't—”

She waved a hand at him. “I had fun. It was fine.”

“Yeah, but I think I had I
more
fun, physiologically speaking, if you know what I—”

“It's fine, I said.”

What was going on here?
He frowned at her but she seemed not to notice. She was more distant and chilly than usual, acting like—well, acting almost like a guy who'd gotten his and now wanted to be gone.

“I'll—I'll give you a ride back to the hotel,” he said.

“That would be great.”

“Maybe you want to get a drink or something first?”

“No,” she replied. “I'm really tired.”

“Yeah, I guess you've got another big day tomorrow.”

“I guess you're right.”

Well, fine. We both got ours and now we're being adults about it.

Then how come he felt so shitty?