Twelve
Exhaustion hit me like a wall. After hours of meeting lords and ladies, Prime Minister Joseph and his husband, Paul, I was done.
My feet ached, my false smiles no longer pinning to my lips.
Small talk was torture for me. I loathed the awkward conversation social etiquette forced on you so you didn’t come across as rude and when every face blurred and the only thing you wanted was to take your shoes off and go to bed.
“I’m going to turn in,” I whispered to Theo, who was in full debate with Lord John about a recent footie match. Ben, Charlie, Hazel, and the prime minister’s husband, Paul, were also in on the discussion.
“Oh no. Stay.” His eyes were slightly glossy from drink. “I promise, just one more hour.”
I couldn’t stomach the idea of another hour after he already promised me we’d leave two hours earlier.
“You stay.” I patted his arm. “I’m fine.
It’s not like my room isn’t right down the hall.
” That was still a sore point for me. I had asked Chloe again about finding me a place, but she brushed it off.
I really felt being outside these walls would help with the adjustment to all this.
A place that was just mine, where I could relax and recharge myself.
“You sure?” he slurred slightly.
“Of course.”
“I can come to your room later,” he rumbled, his eyes lowering on my body. “Make sure you are tucked in.”
Since I had come here, we had no time to be alone. One night he had come to my room, and after some kissing, we both fell asleep from fatigue. I missed him, the thought of sex always playing in my mind. But doing anything else but sleeping tonight wasn’t going to happen.
“I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast.” I went up on my toes and kissed his cheek. Tomorrow was going to be long and stressful. My family would be coming, meeting the king and queen at the polo match and garden party. “Love you.”
“Love you too.” He kissed me before facing back to the group, picking up right where they left off. Quickly waving goodbye to them, I scurried across the grand room, counting down the seconds until I could rip off my shoes.
The rooms and hallway were quiet, the press long gone, only a few stewards were attending the doors. The instant I got outside the ballroom, I tugged my heels off with a groan, my toes curling in the soft carpet. “Bloody hell, that feels good.”
“If men only knew how easy it was to make a woman moan.” A deep voice rumbled behind me, causing me to jump with a startled yelp, circling to face the figure slinking out from the shadows.
“Holy shite!” I cried, my hand going to my chest. “You scared me.”
Lennox’s presence this week had been far in the background since I never left the palace. He was a figure in the distance. It had been so pleasant not having him right there, another person displeased by my presence here.
Tonight he was dressed in a perfectly fitted black suit and dark tie. His hazel eyes popped in the glimmering light of the chandeliers above our head, forcing a hitch of air up my throat.
“Then I guess I’m doing my job well.” He crossed his arms together in front.
“What are you doing here?” Irritation bristled over my skin, jutting my chin up.
“Working.” He eyed me. “Thought being so smart, you would be able to put that together. Don’t let anyone tell you your upper education wasn’t worth it.”
“You are an arse.” I folded my arms. “Since I’m still technically in the palace, there is no need for you to be protecting me. Hence the reason I’m questioning why you are stalking me.”
Stepping closer, a smirk twisted his mouth, his huge figure towering over me. “You know the world doesn’t revolve around you, right?”
His form barely grazed mine, but I couldn’t stop the gulp of air, the need to step back. Danger and hate pulsated off him in violent surges.
“I don’t sit around watching telly and wanking off.” A blush moved up to my cheeks and down my legs at his blunt speech. “I have a job, my lady. Not that you would understand that.”
My shock turned to fury in a snap.
“You know nothing about me.”
“You are a baroness; growing up with so much privilege you don’t even see the real world. How some of us have to work to feed ourselves. Survive.”
My jaw locked down, my nose flaring. He had no clue about my life, but at the same time, I couldn’t deny that compared to so many, I had grown up with privilege.
He made me feel like a horrible person for circumstances I had no control over.
Plus, my family barely held on. We were the lowest on the totem pole.
“What is your problem?” I folded my arms, pushing back into him. “Look around you. Talk about privileged. You work for the royal family. Why does mine offend you so much? Why do I?”
“It doesn’t.” He arched an eyebrow. “I was making a point. You are not why I am working tonight. I’m on duty to watch over everything.
There are a lot of guests and strangers going in and out.
We always have to be ready. For thieves.
For people using this as a way to sneak in.
” He leaned into me. “For those trying to slice pretty throats like yours.”
My lids narrowed, anger stirring a beast inside me. I shoved him back, a growl in my throat as I grabbed my heels, storming away. His chuckle followed me down the hall, his footsteps barely audible across the rugs. I craned my neck to look behind me.
“What are you doing?” I snarled. “Go do your job watching the palace, and leave me alone.”
“Unfortunately, you are my primary job, and there are a lot of drunk nobles roaming around. Lord William has been known to get quite handsy when drinking. And not drinking. He is someone, as a woman, especially a young one, you avoid at all costs. My duty is to make sure you get back to your room unharmed.”
“Oh, my knight in shining armor, huh?” I snorted, curving down a hallway to the private residence, my shoes hanging off my fingers.
“Or the smartest predator here.” His timbre was low and taunting, and a slice of anxiety sank in my chest. Peering at him over my shoulder, his gaze burned into mine, his expression undetectable.
“Go. I don’t need you. I’m not helpless. I can walk to my damn room myself.”
“Not sure about that.”
“Bloody hell, Lennox!” I swung around. “Go away!”
His jaw twitched, his face trying to hide his real feelings. He clenched his teeth as he bowed, turning away from me, walking back toward the party.
Exhaling, I tried to push away the thread of guilt weaving in my gut. He deserved it. Complete wanker.
Stepping through the portrait gallery, my nerves buzzed with energy and aversion.
“Lady Sutton, right?” A man stepped out from the shadows, frightening me again, my shoes dropping on the wood floor with a clunk.
“I am so sorry to have startled you.” The man came closer, the dim light highlighting his features.
Oh, blooming biscuit. Speak of the devil, and he will rise.
Lord William. Easily in his late sixties, he was tall and thin but had a podgy belly that stuck out of his tux.
His white hair had left his head and taken up residence as his eyebrows, nostril hair, and was dying a slow death on his lip.
Some say in his day he was a ladies’ man, but those days appeared to be centuries ago, and he had yet to realize he was no longer the catch he once was.
Though, with his misogynistic ego, I doubted he ever was.
I had been at an event at fifteen where he had greasily hit on my mother and me at the same time.
He stepped closer, a leer shining in his light brown eyes and lifting his lip. “You have grown up quite a bit since I last saw you.”
“Yes. Kids tend to do that.” I dipped my head, ready to walk around him, but he slid with me, blocking my way, causing alarms to go off in my head.
“Don’t run away so fast. Please, I would love such a stunning girl as you to keep me company.” He stepped closer to me, his breath smelling of stale whiskey. “You are a beautiful woman, Spencer. You look so much like your mother.”
“Thank you,” I replied briskly. “I really need to go. Theo is waiting for me.”
“Yes, you and the prince.” The hair in his nose wiggled. “Your uncle must be thrilled. How the mighty have fallen. Using you as a life raft. I must say he is tenacious.”
“I must go.” I tried to move around him again.
“Wait there, sweetheart.” His fingers wrapped around my arm.
“Let go.” I sneered at him.
“I just want to know how much you are worth to them; what is your family willing to take to stay afloat?” He leaned in, his grip tightening. “Because I am a billionaire. I have more money than the king. I could make your family very comfortable again.”
“What?” I jerked back, disbelief knocking me backward. “What are you talking about?”
“Please, my dear, you are not an ignorant little girl anymore. You know how much your family is in debt to me, to so many people.”
His statement punched me in the gut, my mind going numb to his accusations.
“You are lying to me.” Instinct had me wanting to defend my family, to not let a weasel like Lord William wiggle in with doubt.
But I recalled my father’s words, telling me we couldn’t afford my schooling, even if Fredrick let me go.
I knew we weren’t doing great, but what the Lord was suggesting seemed way past a few tough months. “I don’t believe you.”
“I am not a fool, Spencer. Do not treat me as such. I know why you are here, even if no one else does.” His glossy eyes rolled over me hungrily.
“Fredrick couldn’t have picked better bait for the prince if he tried.
You are delectable, my dear. And I think it would be in your best interest if I got to have you. ”
Bile coated my throat, churning my stomach with disgust. “You are disgusting.” I tried to pull out of his grip. “Does your wife know you proposition teen girls?”