Chapter 25 Shep
SHEP
“CAN WE BOTH agree this is absolutely ridiculous?” Theo took a drag of his kretek and blew it out with the wind where we stood on the balcony of my family’s home in Delaware.
To say the photos of us splashed on the front of every newspaper had gone wild over the last week was an understatement. I knew there’d be some kind of response—I wasn’t stupid. Theo and I had both been in this game as public figures our whole lives, so we knew how crazy it could get.
This, however, was on a different level. And it’d been enough for our families to call a meeting to figure out how to move forward.
Less than half an hour in, Theo needed a smoke break, and I grabbed a full glass of wine on the way out the door.
Theo leaned against the rail, looking out over the vast lake my parents had built this property on after my father left office.
It was quiet, the only house around for miles, almost too serene after the hustle and bustle of the city.
Some might say it was peaceful, and I supposed it was, though the scene inside had been a bunch of voiced opinions on the best way to handle the public scrutiny.
Along with admonishments for springing such a huge surprise on the families without advance notice.
I unbuttoned my suit jacket and sighed as I leaned back against the white banister. “I think they’ve forgotten we’re forty and entirely capable of managing this.”
“Forty? Speak for yourself, old man—you’ve still got three years on me.”
I arched a brow. “Old man? You really wanna go there?”
Theo shot me a wink as he blew smoke over his shoulder. “What can I say? I’ve got a thing for hot older guys.”
“Call me old one more time—”
He pushed off the rail and stepped toward me. “Did I also mention incredibly sexy?”
“Not soon enough.”
“Smart, sexy, protective…mine.”
I slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him in the remaining few inches. “I feel like a damn teenager.”
“You definitely have the sexual appetite of one,” Theo said, then leaned up to nip at my lower lip. But not even his flirting could get me out of my surly mood.
“What grown-ass adults get summoned to their parents’ house to discuss their dating schedules and relationship intentions?”
“Listen, if you sleep with a prince,” Theo said in the most uppity tone I’d ever heard, “then you have to answer to the Crown.”
I snorted. “Does that include getting me on my knees, Your Highness?”
“Your Serene Highness.” He grinned up at me, and I stole the kretek from his fingers and took a drag. I hadn’t smoked since dabbling in college, but this situation was driving me to.
The clove cigarette was sweet and spicy and familiar from tasting it on Theo’s tongue. It made me crave more of his mouth, but now wasn’t the time or place, not when Amaya, the royal family’s manager, stuck her head out the door.
“Do you two think you could join us to wrap this up soon?”
I appreciated the fact that she didn’t seem to sugarcoat things, which meant maybe we’d all come to an agreement before Theo and I decided to strangle everyone instead.
I put the kretek back between Theo’s full lips, and he took a long drag before stamping it out.
As we headed back inside, I quickly checked the phone in my pocket, since it’d been vibrating nonstop and I needed to set it to silent.
“Oh Jesus,” I muttered as I opened the home screen. The message thread with our brothers had over fifty unread texts, something that was unusual if there wasn’t a crisis.
Once I clicked on them, though, I immediately regretted it.
Did Shep get the “Royal Approval”?
Were you given the key to Theo’s chastity belt?
Will you be given a chaperone now that you’re dating an actual prince?
Did they assign you Secret Service yet?
The questions were obnoxious as hell, and while I wasn’t about to feed their nosiness with a reply, I was going to ask about that last one.
It was one thing for our families to be concerned for our public image and welfare, but if my father thought for one second he was going to have me tailed like he did back when he was in office, he could forget it.
“Oh good, there you are.” Speak of the devil.
Shepard O’Neil Winchester the second came over to where Theo and I had just stepped back inside his study that overlooked the lake.
The wood paneling on the walls gave the room a warm, rich, masculine feel, and with the whiskey flowing and the wine being poured, it was the perfect backdrop to discuss my future—not.
“Listen, Dad—”
“I know that tone,” my father said as he came over to clap me on the shoulder. “But no need to worry yourself. We all think this relationship is…wonderful.”
“We weren’t worried,” I said, a frown pulling between my brows. There was nothing I hated more than being treated like a child. “But we do think it’s important you’re all aware of it.”
“How magnanimous of you, son.”
“I thought so.”
Theo’s mother, Jacqueline, offered up a smile as she took a sip of her wine. “I think what your father meant to say, Shep, is that we’re thrilled the two of you have found one another. We always knew you were friends, but this? This is just lovely.”
Theo turned a saccharine-sweet smile my way. “Oui, c'est tellement adorable.”
It took everything I had not to roll my eyes, because the last word I’d ever use to describe either one of us was that. But, not about to offend Theo’s mother, I aimed my friendliest smile in her direction.
“It was a surprise to us too,” I said, as Theo took my hand in his.
“Why don’t you tell them how it all started?” he said, a mischievous light twinkling in his eyes. “It was at Jean’s wedding.”
I was going to kill him.
“Really?” Jacqueline sat forward on the couch. “Wait a second? Did I…? Was it because I asked you to check on him? Did I play a part in this?”
“Oui.” Theo nodded and cozied up into my side. “That was the exact moment I realized how much I enjoyed Shep’s…company.”
Jacqueline playfully nudged her husband. “Didn’t I tell you something was different about them at the ceremony for the museum?” She beamed at us once again. “A mother can tell these things.”
“That she can,” my mom spoke up, bringing Theo and me fresh glasses of whiskey. “And I have to admit, I’ve never seen you look happier, Shep.”
I took the tumbler from her and felt her silent show of support when she brushed her fingers over the backs of mine.
That was my mother’s superpower. The art of subtlety. People always assumed I got my calm and logic from my father’s side of the family, when really it was this beautiful lady right here who’d taught me the true meaning of grace under fire.
Cynthia O’Neil Winchester had been a beloved first lady to her country, revered as both a fashion icon and the rock to her powerful husband. My parents were viewed as one of the most influential couples in the world, and a lot of that was due to my mother’s eloquence under pressure.
“Thanks, Mom. I am happy. Happier than I’ve ever been.”
“Good,” she said, then looked to Theo. “Because friendship is what makes a relationship last. It makes the strongest foundation. Wouldn’t you agree, Shepard?”
“That I would,” my father said, taking her hand and guiding her over to sit opposite Theo’s parents. “But their relationship isn’t the issue we’re here to discuss today.”
It wasn’t? Well, that was good. But if it wasn’t our relationship that had them all calling for a meeting, then what?
“This attempted shooting last week…”
Oh, right. With Ari well and truly out of our lives, I hadn’t given any more thought to it.
But as far as the public was aware—including our parents—the threat hadn’t been neutralized.
We should probably talk to Alessio about that, make sure that word got out to the public that the threat had been contained.
“It’s over,” I said, leading Theo to one of two clubman chairs at the far end of the room, “and we’re all fine.”
“You were shot, Shep,” my mother pointed out. “That’s not even close to fine.”
“He just means that he’s doing well,” Theo interjected, leaning over to pat my leg. “Plus, I’ve been taking good care of him.”
“Which is all good and wonderful,” my father said. “But the timing of this little announcement you decided to spring on the world is concerning.”
“It’s really not a problem, Dad.”
“I agree, because I’ve decided to give you a couple of Secret Service agents.”
Oh my God, that was what this was about. My brothers had called it. My father wanted to assign us a protection detail.
“Absolutely not,” I said, much firmer than even I’d expected.
“Shep?”
Yeah, I knew that tone. It was the one my father used when he knew I was hiding something from him.
“You still have a threat—”
“Do I?”
The entire room fell silent. So silent you could hear a pin drop as my father’s eyes locked with mine over his tumbler.
“Fuck.”
“Don’t ask if you don’t want to know.”
“But—”
“I’m forty years old, Dad. I can look after myself and my man.” Not that Theo had needed my assistance. Not when armed with his favorite set of cuff links.
“So for now you’re…safe?”
“We are.”
My father was nobody’s fool and knew exactly what I was telling him, and judging by Prince Louis’s—Theo’s father’s—solemn expression, I had a feeling he could read between the lines too.
“But we thank you for the offer,” Theo said before looking over at his dad. “There’s just no need to put any kind of bodyguard on us. As you can see, I’m out of hiding now, and the danger has passed.”
“You’re certain of that?” Prince Louis said.
Theo brought his glass to his lips, took a sip, and let free a smile just this side of sinister. “I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
Louis reached for his wife’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze of reassurance, and I wondered if, like my father, the prince knew what his son—what I—was capable of when it came to protecting ourselves and our loved ones.
“Very well, then—we’ll trust you have this handled.”
I gave a curt nod and reached for Theo’s hand, and as he interlaced our fingers, a bright smile lit his mother’s beautiful face.
“Will you come to Monaco soon? The family is going to want to formally meet you, Shep, and we can’t wait to show you off.”
“He’s not a show pony, Mom.”
“Of course not. But he’s part of our family and we want to introduce him to the world.”
“I’m pretty sure they already know him.”
“And I’m pretty sure you’re going to want to let me do this. Since you didn’t tell me before you told said world.”
It took everything I had not to snort at the sheepish expression that crossed Theo’s face, because I don’t think I’d ever seen someone put him so firmly in his place.
“Oui, Mother. We will make arrangements as soon as we’re able.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear.”
I turned to see my mother watching the two of us, her heart in her eyes, her joy evident in her soft smile as she leaned into my father’s side.
That was what I’d always wanted—a love like theirs, and as I brought Theo’s hand to mine and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, I knew I’d finally found it.
“You wouldn’t by chance have enough food for two extra tonight, would you, Mom?”
She hadn’t asked us, but the pleased expression that lit her face told me how much it meant to her that I wanted to stay, that I wanted them to get to know Theo and me as a couple, and that we wanted our families to become closer beyond planning for the next crisis.
“We sure do.”
I looked at Theo to see him nodding his approval. “Then why don’t we go and set another two seats?” I said.
Theo got to his feet and rubbed at his belly. “Sounds like a plan. I’m starving.”