38. Cian
Chapter 38
Cian
" O h my God, we’re two hours late for dinner!"
Scarlett comes out of the bedroom, redressed in the clothes I stripped off of her two and a half hours ago when we came upstairs to get dressed for dinner. The dinner that started two hours ago and has easily been over for an hour.
Her hair is still wet from the shower we had to take after I got her nice and messy.
"Well, now you know what happens when you refer to yourself as my wife," I tell her unapologetically from the couch in the sitting room, where she ordered me when I wouldn’t keep my hands off her as she was trying to do her make-up and get dressed again .
She laughs. "I wasn’t even saying that to you."
I shrug. "Doesn’t matter. You being my wife makes me feral."
She smirks as her hand drops away from brushing through her wet, dark hair. "I noticed the same thing happened when I referred to myself as Princess Scarlett."
Yes, the same thing definitely happens when I’m reminded she’s my princess. I growl and get up from the couch. "If you want dinner at all tonight, you’ll control your wicked side. At least until we get back up here."
The grin she gives me in return is also completely without apology.
"We have to go to dinner tonight. Everyone let us get out of everything all day yesterday and most of this morning. People are going to wonder if we’re still alive up here."
I walk over to her, take the brush from her hand, and turn her to face away from me. I start pulling the brush through the long strands. "The empty dishes we keep setting outside of the room are proof of life."
She laughs and the sound hits me hard, filling my chest with emotion. It’s not just lust, but the overwhelming love that I feel for this woman that has intensified now that everything is open and official, and she is freely sharing all of her emotions with me. I had no idea I could feel this way about someone.
"I guess you have a point. Still, I have an impressionable teenage daughter. I need to resurface at some point. Even if we are newlyweds."
I chuckle as I divide her hair into three strands. "If you think your fifteen-year-old doesn’t understand what we’re doing up here…"
"Do not finish that sentence," she tells me.
I don’t. And I understand why that makes her uncomfortable. Mariah is now officially my stepdaughter. She is far too young to know anything about sex. Way too young to date. I don’t want her even remotely interested in boys. Or girls, romantically. And I feel a very strong surge of protectiveness go through me at the idea of some stupid teenager showing up at our doorstep, wanting to take her out. There is no chance there is anyone good enough for her out there.
Hope she’s okay with being a spinster.
Then again, she’s going to be so busy changing the world, that she might not be interested in silly things like romance.
But then I take in the woman before me and think about how much better a person I am with her than I ever was without her. She’s my partner, not just my lover or even my friend, and I realize I do want this for Mariah. I want her to find someone that builds her up and worships her and wants her happiness even more than they want their own.
Scarlett reaches back to feel what I’m doing with her hair.
"Hey, don’t mess with it," I tell her.
"Are you French braiding my hair?" she asks, surprise in her tone.
"It’s still wet. This is probably easier and will take less time than if we wait for you to dry it," I say, finishing the braid and reaching for her wrist. I know she has an elastic band there. I pull it from her wrist and wrap it around the end of her hair.
She turns to face me. "You know how to French braid hair?"
"That’s nothing. I can do a lot better than that. I have been doing princess hair since Saoirse’s got long enough to put in a barrette. Don’t insult me."
Scarlett’s lips curve into a bright smile that I swear I will never get tired of seeing.
"I guess I didn’t think of that. You helped with her hair?"
"Fiona’s too," I tell her, mock insulted.
"Well, that is very handy to know, Your Highness." She gives me a tiny bow.
I growl. "You know what calling me Your Highness does to me too, wife "
She holds a hand up and starts backing away from me. "No, no, we’re not starting this. We need to go down and eat dinner."
I stop advancing but give her a warning look.
Then she gives me a flirty grin. “But if I say anything like that during dinner, I probably deserve to be spanked for it later."
I growl again and take a step forward, wrap my hand around the braid I just created, tip her head back, and say, "I am so fucking in love with you. "
Her eyes are dancing as she looks up at me. "Ditto. And your hair styling skills are very good to know about."
I lean in and drag my lips down the column of her neck. "Is that right? You want me to do your hair more often?”
"Yes, I do, actually. Very hot,” she murmurs. "And you know, it will be handy if there are ever any other little princesses around."
I lift my head quickly. Is she talking about nieces? Or Mariah? She’s not really little . Or granddaughters someday? Or maybe…little princesses she and I make?
I open my mouth to respond when I hear a knock on the door and our doorknob rattle.
Scarlett’s head comes up and her gaze flies to the door. "I thought you said no one would interrupt us."
I let her go with a little sigh. We are very late for dinner. "There was one exception I gave them,” I say, referring to the palace staff and our friends that I instructed to leave us alone until I said otherwise—instructions that have miraculously kept the hallway clear for the past day and a half since our wedding.
"What exception?" she asks as I cross to the door.
"Mariah.”
Scarlett’s expression softens. I shrug. "Of course she’s the exception."
But as I reach to open the door, I hear voices in the hallway and I pause.
Mariah and Saoirse are on the other side.
"You shouldn’t bother them," Saoirse says. "They just got married. They want to be alone. After my mom married Knox, I stayed over at the other house with Torin and Cian and everyone for like three days."
I grin at Scarlett. She’s not exaggerating.
"I have to talk to her,” Mariah says. “They’ve been in there forever. They totally missed dinner." She sounds exasperated. “After I show them this, they can go back in there and I won’t bother them anymore."
"Okay, I’m just saying, this is normal. They’ll come out eventually."
"But my mom will really want to know about this," Mariah says. "This is huge ."
Scarlett and I exchange a look.
I point to the doorknob and lift a brow.
Scarlett nods.
I swing the door open.
It startles the girls. "Oh my God, Cian!" Saoirse gasps.
"You guys, you’re not going to believe what happened!" Mariah exclaims as she immediately comes into the room.
Saoirse is typing on her phone as she follows Mariah to the sofa.
"We were just coming down for dinner," Scarlett tells them.
The girls look at each other and then look at us. "Dinner was over an hour ago."
Yeah, I’d called it. We’re probably going to need to get food brought up again.
The girls plop onto the sofa right next to one another.
"So what happened?" Scarlett asks, dropping onto the cushion next to Mariah.
"You know how Leah texted me yesterday?" Mariah asks.
Predictably, the podcast had covered the fact that Scarlett and I got married. And all the other royal family news. Including that I was now a stepfather to a fifteen-year-old girl named Mariah.
Not long after, Leah McDonald, of all people, had texted Mariah a wide-eyed emoji, a crown emoji, an hallelujah hands emoji, and a heart-eyes emoji.
Mariah had been shocked. She had also taken it as a pseudo apology.
"Of course," Scarlett says. It had been huge news in our family, obviously.
"Well, Greta sent me this from a little bit ago."
I round the back of the couch and lean over so I can also watch the video Mariah is showing Scarlett on her phone.
It only takes me two seconds to recognize the lunchroom at Emerald High School.
The video is of Leah walking into the room…and being booed.
She stops, looks around as if confused, and then a girl in their class named Skyler stands up and calls out, "Mariah was telling the truth this whole time! You’re the liar!"
Leah looks shocked, then embarrassed. She gets very red in the face, but then straightens her spine, and says, “I know! I was wrong, okay?”
But there’s more boo-ing and eventually Leah flounces out of the lunchroom followed by her two best friends.
Greta is obviously the one recording the event because she turns the phone around to show her face and mouths, holy shit . Then laughs, blows a kiss to the camera, and says, “I miss you, Princess Mariah!”
Mariah stops the video and looks up at her mother, then up at me. "Can you believe that ?"
Scarlett’s eyes are wide, but she smiles. "You deserve that."
Mariah sighs. "I know. But after Leah texted me yesterday, now I kind of feel bad for her."
I put my hand on top of her head. "Imagine how great it will be when you get back to school and you can show everyone that you’ve forgiven her and you can both just move on from this."
“Yeah. I guess I can make this better for her,” Mariah says thoughtfully.
“Exactly. You have the power to make this hard on Leah or show everyone what grace and forgiveness looks like,” Scarlett says. “I don’t think anyone would blame you if you wanted to make her face what she did, but I know you’ll do the right thing.”
Mariah is still clearly mulling that over. “Oh, well, just so you know, something similar happened to Hannah,” Mariah says.
Scarlett sits up a little straighter. “What?”
“Yep. She went to the café with her friends, and someone there said something about how now everyone knows that you really did date a prince and were telling the truth and she should be ashamed of how she talked about you.”
Scarlett looks at me. “Oh. That’s…”
“Great,” I say. “You both deserve to have the town know the truth.”
Scarlett nods her head. “Yeah. I guess. I just wish…”
I put my hand on her head now. “You’ll handle it. This is a great chance for you to show them all who you really are now. Just like you wanted.”
I wish they’d suffer even more for the lies and nastiness, but I know that’s not very generous of me. Scarlett will do the right thing and be a bigger person.
She’s awesome that way.
"Oh, and tell them the other thing,” Saoirse says. "Then we need to take the selfie that we’re going to send. "
"What other thing? What selfie?" I ask my niece.
"The podcast wants to interview us. And they want us to send a photo of us together,” Saoirse replies.
“That’s great.”
These two are going to be a force to be reckoned with together. But the podcast would be really fun for them. I look at Scarlett, though. It’s her call. I’m the stepdad. This is new. I don’t get to make big decisions about these kinds of things involving Mariah.
Scarlett looks up at me. "Can we trust them? I mean the podcast women?"
"For sure," I say. "We can also go with the girls. Or maybe, better yet, send Linnea with them."
Scarlett nods quickly. "That would be fantastic. I know Linnea will protect them from any inappropriate questions or topics of conversation."
"Of course I will," Linnea says, breezing through our doorway with Jonah right behind her.
"She told me to let her know if I saw you guys out of the room," Saoirse says. "I texted her because I figured this kind of counted."
I round the couch and sink down onto the cushion next to Scarlett. I reach for her hand, threading our fingers together. We are probably going to be here for a while.
Fifteen minutes later, Henry arrives, looking confused as if he’s been searching for everyone. "Didn’t think we’d be welcome across this threshold for a few more days," he says.
"Welcome is a strong word," I tell him.
No one in the room seems at all offended by that.
"I was just filling them in on the trip to Portland to open up the new moms’ community there,” Linnea says. “And telling them how excited Christopher is to have us come to New York and open one. He’d like to sit down and meet. He has some great input on some good locations.”
Apparently Linnea is hoping to have Declan and Astrid involved with the Portland site, and Christopher Waite, one of the senators from New York, involved with the one there.
"Of course he is," Jonah says, his hand moving from the back of the loveseat where he and Linnea are sitting to the back of her neck in a very possessive though almost second-nature gesture.
I know that Christopher had some interest in Linnea in the past and that she actually went on a date with him when she and Jonah were in Washington, DC, just a few months ago.
That could be interesting.
" Anyway ,” Linnea says. "The trips are all planned. There are a couple of interviews I think would be interesting for you as well, but we can check on those as we go. And I love the idea of talking to the podcast. In fact, I’m going to pitch to them having Mariah come back after we’ve gone around the country and opened some of these homes. I’m sure they would love to have a young woman’s perspective on this kind of work."
Mariah sits up straighter. "That would be really neat."
Linnea smiles at her. "You’re going to be so great at all of this. As an ambassador for the royal family, but also for all of the wonderful things your mom and Cian are doing."
Mariah looks over at us, almost as if she’s stunned.
"As much as you want to do," I assure her. "Your call."
Saoirse leans over and nudges Mariah with an elbow. "It gets easier as you go along."
My chest feels tight as I look around this room. This is exactly what I wanted to give my girls. A family, a community, a place where others would see how amazing they are and where they could really shine. This feels so damned good.
"Where is Ruby?" Henry asks me underneath the rest of the conversation.
I look at him with surprise. Typically, he knows everything that’s going on around the palace and on the island. "She left. Last night actually. She texted Scarlett when she landed in Ohio this morning."
He scowls. "She left?"
"You didn’t think she was going to stay with us indefinitely, did you?"
Looking at his face right now, I realize that he kind of did. Or that she’d be with us until we went back to Emerald. Or maybe he just hadn’t really thought it through at all.
"She wanted to get back,” I say. “She has a life in Ohio. She had to get back to work. She’s got a house. Friends. She can’t travel around the US with us.”
He’s still scowling. "Why not? You could support her.”
“That’s not the issue.”
“Then what? A bartending job she does only out of necessity in a town where she lives only because Scarlett wanted to move back there? Emerald was never Ruby’s plan."
I glance at Scarlett but she’s listening to Linnea and Mariah talk.
I lower my voice and lean closer to my best friend. "Well, I don’t know what to tell you, Henry. She came in and said her goodbyes. I arranged the plane. She texted Scarlett when she got home." I study him for a moment. "I take it she didn’t say goodbye to you?"
He blows out a breath. "No."
"Maybe that’s for the best?" I ask.
He doesn’t say anything for several seconds, but finally, he gives me a single nod. "Yeah, maybe.”
Just then Scarlett’s phone rings.
"Sorry,” she apologizes, pulling the phone from her pocket. She glances at the screen and frowns, then looks at me. "It’s Ruby."
"Take it," I say. "It’s fine." This is hardly a formal meeting.
Besides, Linnea is in charge. That’s really all any of us need to know. We’ll go where she tells us to, when she tells us to, and everything will turn out great.
Scarlett stands and takes a few steps away from the group, lifting her phone to her ear.
I watch her, feeling my neck muscles tighten as I observe her body language.
"Something’s wrong," Henry says, clearly reading the same thing.
Scarlett comes back over to the couch. "We might have to rearrange our trips a little bit.”
"What is it?" Henry asks, his tone sharp.
"We just need to go back to Ohio. Or I do. Maybe you can go on without me," she says to me.
I frown. "No way. Why do you have to go back?" I stand. "Is Ruby all right?"
"Yes. Kind of. She’s…taking someone in."
Henry is on his feet now too. "What the fuck does that mean?"
She looks at both of us then glances around the room. Everyone is listening. But this is our family. They would find out eventually anyway. And we might need some of their resources.
"You can tell everyone," I assure her. “They’re all here for you and for Ruby.”
Scarlett’s shoulders relax a bit at that.
"So you know that Ruby was with me when I faced down our father in the café,” she says.
I nod.
“And Ruby’s also been making noise about the church and city refusing grant money to help support single moms.”
I nod again.
“Well, she’s on some shit lists for that, but she’s also being lauded as inspiring to others.”
I look at Henry. He’s staring at Scarlett.
“So, a woman who knows Ruby from the bar has decided to leave her abusive husband and reached out to Ruby for help. Ruby invited her and her young son to come stay at our house until the woman can get her legal stuff in order and figure out a plan.”
"No," Henry says firmly.
Scarlett frowns up at him. "She’s not asking for permission, Henry. From me or you. She was just informing me.”
“Why do you need to go home then?" Henry asks, his tone challenging.
Scarlett shrugs. “I know the guy. We went to high school with him. He’s definitely not a good person. I am afraid he’s not going to let his wife and son leave peacefully. And I’m afraid he’s going to blame Ruby directly."
"So she’s not safe," Henry says.
Scarlett grimaces. "That’s what I’m worried about."
"Then I’ll go."
We both stare at Henry.
"You’re going to go to Emerald? And you’ll do what? Protect Ruby?" Scarlett asks.
"Yes." Henry looks around the room. "I’m trained for this, for fuck’s sake. She couldn’t have better protection. It makes perfect sense.”
"Except that she doesn’t want to see you anymore," Scarlett points out.
"This isn’t about that. She needs to be safe. We both know we’re not going to talk her out of doing this. So I need to be there to make sure she’s all right."
"But—" Scarlett starts.
"Even if you did go, you will not be as good at protecting her as I will," Henry says. “And if you and Mariah go home, there are two more people for this asshole to threaten and potentially hurt.”
My gut tightens at that.
“You two stay away until we get this woman and her kid settled. I’ll be there to be sure they’re okay. And Ruby, of course.”
“It makes sense, Scarlett,” I say.
She frowns. "What about Cian?" Scarlett asks Henry. "I thought you always had to be with him."
Well, there is that.
"He’s got you now,” Henry says.
Scarlett stares at him. "What?"
"You can keep him from doing anything stupid."
"I…" She looks from him to me, then back to him. "I was thinking more of the keeping him from being assassinated thing."
"He can’t be anywhere safer than here in Cara," Henry says. "And when you go to the US, Jonah will be with you." Henry turns to Linnea and Jonah. "Right?"
Linnea nods. "Right."
Jonah looks at his wife and then at Henry, "Yeah. Right." Clearly this is news to Jonah, but he’s rolling with it.
Henry turns back to us. "So he’ll have a babysitter and a bodyguard with him."
"Hey," I protest.
They all look at me expectantly.
Then I shake my head. "No, never mind. That sounds good."
"I’ll call you from Emerald." Henry turns and strides from the room without another word.
Scarlett looks at me. "So he’s just going to go?"
"Yep."
"And I don’t have a say in it?"
"Oh, definitely not."
"Do you have a say in it…Your Highness?"
I growl and lean in to kiss her.
She giggles and leans back. "Well, do you?"
"Do I what?" I don’t remember what she asked me before calling me Your Highness . She never should have called me that while on her knees in the flower garden. Forever that’s going to result in an instant erection.
"Ever tell Henry what to do," she says. “Since you’re basically his boss.”
Jonah and Linnea both snort at that. I think I even hear Saoirse giggle softly.
"Oh, I’m not Henry’s boss. And no, I don’t do that."
Scarlett laughs. "I’m shocked to hear that."
"I have tried it in the past,” I admit. “And a couple of times he’s gone along with it. Specifically to prove the point that he’s always right. I gave it up four years ago when I was in the ER waiting to get stitches and he was assuring the first-year intern that I didn’t need any numbing.”
She smiles, then sighs. "So Henry’s going to Emerald. Where it will be just him and Ruby."
"Yep."
"Ruby’s going to kill me for that."
"Nah, Jonah won’t let her," I tell her with a grin. Then I lean in and kiss her. "Let’s give Ruby and Henry some space. Let’s go to Portland, then New York, and we’ll…see how things are in Emerald then."
She looks at me with wide eyes. "Wait…Cian O’Grady, are you playing matchmaker?"
"Maybe? Henry will be a lot easier to live with for the rest of our lives if he and Ruby can work this out. But… if it doesn’t go well, I’m not interested in being there with Ruby and Henry if they’re not getting along. I say we stay away until they’re madly in love or until this woman and her abusive asshole husband are taken care of and Henry doesn’t feel worked up about protecting the woman he can’t have.”
Her eyes are wide, but she nods. "Yeah, you have a point."
Then she leans closer and says, “I’m so glad we worked out all of our issues. I’m so lucky to be your wife .”
That’s it. “Okay, everyone out. My wife and I need to eat dinner."
I need to feed my woman so I can take her back to bed. She’ll need the calories.
Everyone laughs and gets up, heading for the door. I take Scarlett’s hand and tug her up from the couch. I start to follow the group out of the room, but I feel Scarlett pulling me back.
I look at her. "What’s going on?"
“Bye, girls! Love you, Mariah!” she calls.
“Bye, Mom! Love you too!”
Then they’re all gone, the door shutting behind them.
"I was just thinking," she says. "Could we have dinner brought up? Since we missed it anyway?"
"Sure. But why?"
She slides her arms around my neck and presses close, kissing my throat. My cock immediately begins to respond. "It’s just… you’re right. The "my wife" thing is really hot."
I grin down at her as I slide my hands up her back to her hair. I pull the ponytail holder free, wrap it around my wrist, and start to unbraid her hair. "Yes, it is, Princess. Yes, it fucking is."
"So…" She kisses along my jaw as I pull my fingers through her hair. "Maybe we can wait a little bit to call down for food too, Your Highness?"
I bend and sweep her into my arms. She gives a sweet little gasp then giggles as I carry her into the bedroom.
“Yes, but…” I stop next to the bed and let her slide down my body. "I believe it’s my husband to you now."
She gives me that smile that will forever reach into my chest and wrap around my heart as she pulls me down onto the bed with her. “Yes, it certainly is, my husband.”
Thank you so much for reading Cian and Scarlett’s story! I hope you loved Rags to Royals!