4. Nicholas
NICHOLAS
EVERY CORRIDOR, EVERY room went completely silent the moment I entered, and it was a little unsettling. Staff lowered their eyes, my advisers stood up a little straighter, and the foreign dignitaries I’d met with offered their condolences constantly.
It was exhausting, but I thanked them and moved on, because that was what kings did. One foot in front of the other, even though I would’ve preferred to be anywhere but where I was.
I stood in front of the mirror in my private chambers, fastening the buttons of my shirt as Baxter read through the afternoon schedule behind me.
“Your meeting with the prime minister has been moved to three. The foreign secretary will arrive at four fifteen, and Prince Gabriel asked whether you would join him for dinner in the family dining room this evening.”
“No.”
“He anticipated that response and asked me to inform you he would come here instead.”
I reached for my cuff links. Normally a dinner with my twin wasn’t something I would turn down, but since our father’s funeral two days ago, I’d wanted nothing but silence at the end of the day. “Tell him I’m unavailable.”
“I did, sir.”
“And?”
“He said, and I quote, ‘Nicholas has been emotionally unavailable since birth, Baxter. Be more specific.’”
I looked up, a twitch pulling at the corner of my mouth that I managed to hide, while Baxter’s face gave nothing away. “He is a menace,” I said.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I secured one of the cuff links and met Baxter’s eyes in the mirror. “Tell my brother six sharp.”
“Yes, sir. He’ll be pleased to hear it.”
“I’m sure he will.” As I tugged down my finished sleeve, I had the thought that even this act of dressing was something others did for my father and probably expected to do for me as well. Luckily, Baxter wasn’t pushing the issue. “The new footman begins today?”
“He began yesterday, technically. Orientation downstairs. Household protocol, service routes. Mrs. Hutcheon says he’s learning quickly, though—”
My eyes lifted as he cut himself off. “Yes?”
Baxter didn’t betray any emotion, but I’d been around him long enough that I could sense he hadn’t meant to say more than that. Unable to refuse my question, he added, “He has a habit of speaking more than necessary.”
“Out of turn?”
“Apparently so. He came highly recommended, though, and Duke Ashford’s household was quite complimentary about his work.”
“Well, let’s hope he’s a quick learner.”
A knock sounded at the door.
“That will be him now,” Baxter said.
“Send him in.”
He crossed over to the door and, when he opened it, said, “Mr. Bennett. His Majesty is ready for you.”
I expected yet another polite but nervous young man in palace livery, one of the dozens who moved quietly in the shadows.
Then Noah Bennett stepped inside, and for a moment I forgot to finish fastening my cuff link.
He was dressed in the black-and-royal-blue livery of the palace, the buttons so polished they gleamed, and his brown hair was pushed back off his face.
There was nothing improper about him, nothing that stood out in a way that should’ve drawn my attention the way it did.
But then his eyes lifted to mine. Only for a second, but that was all it took.
When most people looked at me, they saw the crown, even if it wasn’t on my head. It was my title and what I represented, not me as a man. But Noah Bennett looked at me as though he knew me, and I narrowed my eyes slightly, wondering at the familiarity.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, so briefly I could’ve imagined it, and he quickly bowed his head. “Your Majesty.”
There was nothing nervous at all in his voice. It was lower than I expected, and confident.
I looked away first, irritated that I’d noticed any of it. “Mr. Bennett.”
“Should I stay, sir?” Baxter asked.
I went back to fastening my cuff link. “No.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Baxter whispered something to Noah and then the door closed behind him.
The room went silent, Noah continuing to stand just inside the room, his hands clasped behind his back, awaiting my instructions.
“You may come forward.”
“Yes, sir.” He kept his hands behind his back but walked over, his gaze moving to the dressing table where several ties had been laid out for me. “How are you today?”
My shoulders automatically stiffened at the far-too-personal question. There was only one other who’d dared ask me how I was feeling, and he was so closely related to me that strangers could barely tell us apart.
Who did this man think he was talking to?
I turned my head a fraction, not enough to look him in the eye, but enough that he felt my distaste at his misstep. This was not off to a promising start.
“I don’t see how that’s relevant in helping me get ready this afternoon, do you?”
“I—” Noah’s mouth opened as a deep V formed between his brows. “No, sir. I was just being polite.”
“You were hired to be helpful, not polite.”
“Yes, sir. Of course.” He lowered his eyes to the table where the ties were all neatly laid out. “The dark blue, sir?”
“Yes. That will work.”
“Mr. Baxter said you favored blue for meetings with the prime minister. I can understand why. The royal blue is such a strong, commanding color. It suits you.”
My head snapped up. The boldness of this man was unparalleled. Offering opinions was something that was earned. Something that took months, sometimes years, to be established between a footman and a king, and here came Noah thinking he had permission to tell me what would or would not suit me.
He must’ve had a very relaxed relationship with the duke to take it upon himself to be so opinionated with me.
Maybe it was his lack of years that made him so audacious. Most footmen of the king were older, had served several men. But Noah was by far the youngest I’d seen. It made me wonder what Baxter had been thinking when hiring him.
Perhaps I should’ve taken the time to vet him myself.
Clearly unaware of his misstep, Noah lifted the silk between his fingers and stepped toward me.
If I hadn’t been on such a tight schedule, I might’ve taken the time to school him in all the things he’d done wrong since Baxter had left him here in my chambers, but I had meetings to attend and it wasn’t my job to teach this man his place.
I nodded once, choosing to get this over with and report to Baxter later. “Proceed.”
I had been assisted by staff my entire life. Stood through fittings of uniforms and robes, medals and sashes and gloves. The hands of strangers and those I barely knew had adjusted my sleeves and brushed lint from my shoulders.
Never once, though, had I paid attention to a man adjusting my collar.
Noah moved in close, straightening both ends of the tie, and then began to loop it. I watched him, his attention focused on the task, and realized I’d been right when first I’d seen him—his eyes were a soft shade of hazel.
As he continued tying the blue silk, his knuckles brushed lightly against my throat, and my entire body went still. It wasn’t anything. It was a nothing touch, one that had probably happened thousands of times before, but for some reason, my body noticed anyway.
“That’s enough,” I snapped, irritated by my body’s inappropriate reaction.
Noah’s head jerked up, his hands stilling where they were on the tie. “Yes, sir.”
He took an immediate step back and dropped his hands to his sides, and a sudden wave of guilt washed over me. I felt as though I’d just kicked an overeager puppy.
“It’s just done, that’s all,” I found myself explaining, then shook my head, wondering why I bothered. He understood his position. I didn’t owe him an explanation.
“Yes, sir. Of course.”
His words weren’t anything out of the ordinary—he was polite to a fault, mostly saying all the right things. But something about his easy capitulation grated on me.
Jesus. The day must’ve worn me down more than I realized. But that was bound to happen when you’d barely had two hours’ sleep since finding out you were ascending to the throne about twenty years earlier than you expected to.
This new footman—Mr. Bennett—didn’t deserve my surliness, but I didn’t have time to worry about his feelings.
Not when I was expected to tamp down my own.
The best I could manage was to remember he was there at all, and considering the last two days of chaos, I’d say I was doing a pretty good job at that.
I moved over to the chaise longue where my shoes waited, each of them polished so well that I could see my reflection in them. As I took a seat, about to reach for them, Noah was there, down on one knee, beating me to it.
“Your Majesty, let me.” His eyes were on mine as he said the words, my shoe in hand, and when I gave a clipped nod, he smiled.
It was a simple gesture, a slight curve to full lips that showed his appreciation, his happiness at my approval. But his smile in that moment made the weariness I’d been feeling shift. It made the heaviness ease a little.
I lifted my foot, and as he slipped it on and started to tie the laces, I stared down at his thick hair. It had a slight wave to it, and I had the sudden urge to reach out and run my fingers through it.
“You came from the Duke of Ashford’s house, I’m told?” I said, feeling the need to fill the silence. Something that never happened. But clearly I needed to do something if I was sitting here thinking about touching his damn hair.
Noah raised his head, his eyes full of confusion. “Yes, sir. We spoke of it the other night.”
The other night? That couldn’t be right. I hadn’t met him until right now, this very moment. So what was he—
Gabriel. That shit. He’d interviewed my footman.
Menace was too kind a word for my brother. He was a troublemaking bastard, that’s what he was, and Noah, with his habit of speaking out of turn, suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense.
So did his familiarity with me.
Lord only knew how Gabriel had acted with him. But one thing was clear: Noah was under the impression that he’d met me—the king—two days ago and struck up some kind of rapport.
As he began tying the laces of my other shoe, I couldn’t force my annoyance down.
“That’s impossible because you and I have never met,” I said, and Noah’s head snapped up.
“It seems my brother thought it would be wise to take a meeting with you and pretend to be me, for reasons I can’t fathom, but let me assure you, this is our first introduction. Consider me less than impressed.”
I’d heard the term white as a ghost, but I’d never actually seen someone turn that particular shade, and not in the span of a heartbeat.
Horror filled Noah’s eyes, and he dropped the laces he’d been tying.
“OhmyGod,” he said under his breath before swallowing hard. “Your Majesty, I apologize, I…I didn’t know—”
“Now you do.”
He nodded quickly. “I’m so sorry—”
“Whatever impression my brother gave you of how you’ll do this job was incorrect. You don’t serve him, you serve me.”
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
“Do you think you can manage discretion, or should I remove you now?”
Noah blinked and shook his head. “No, sir. I will do whatever His Majesty requests.”
“Good. Then you can start by finishing my shoes.”
“Of course, sir.” He lowered his eyes and picked the laces back up, tying them quickly, and then I stood.
But that was a mistake, because I happened to glance down at the man kneeling at my feet and was struck by how beautiful he was on his knees.
I shoved it aside, like I did every feeling I had, and stepped away to get my jacket. But Noah was there before I could reach for it, averting his eyes as he held it open for me.
“I won’t require you between meetings, but I’ll expect you before bed,” I said. As soon as the words were out of my mouth—words I’d said plenty of times before with no thought to them—I could instantly feel the way they’d come out with a different connotation than I’d intended.
Or maybe that was purely one-sided, because Noah nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
I walked to the door, more than ready to put this meeting behind me, when Noah appeared beside me and reached for the handle. The speed with which he moved was impressive, but along with it came the lingering scent of his cologne as it wrapped around me.
It was soft and woodsy, but with subtle notes that made it inviting and warm—sexy, even—but not overpowering. Usually I’d ask my employees not to wear anything around me, because it bothered my head, but I liked this.
A little too much.
The door opened, and the guard outside it moved to attention as I turned my head to dismiss Noah. When my eyes locked with his, I expected him to immediately lower them now that he knew of his missteps—but he looked right back at me.
“Have a good afternoon and evening, Your Majesty.”
I knew I should respond, tell him to do the same, but something about him got under my skin. Something that made me feel…uneasy.
So I gave a clipped nod and stepped out into the hall, where the guard averted his eyes.
Yes, that was much better. That response I understood. And as I walked up the corridor and every person stood a little straighter than the last, I felt more at ease as my world began to make sense again. A world where people treated me as they should and I understood how to respond.
Not where my far-too-attractive footman told me to have a good day and looked me in the eye while doing it.
I was going to kill Gabriel for this.