his bunched shirtsleeve and angling his face down to the right as if he was trying to discreetly look behind him. Kris had long suspected the movement accompanied heated internal debate—which clearly ended in a win against his anxiety, because he moved to take the unoccupied monarch’s chair.
Mark set the papers on his lap and shot a look at Kris. “What’s up?”
“I miss you guys,” he said with a sigh. “And the ranch.”
The heaviness of his brothers’ silence betrayed homesickness was only ever half a thought away for them, too.
“The quarter horses are due to arrive any day now,” Mark said, about the horses they’d secured for the royal stables. “And I was just describing chokecherry cider to Ava last night. I’m going to get some shipped over.”
Tommy quirked a brow. “We’d have to hide it from Frankie.”
“She’s a menace for it.” Kris grinned. “I’ll leave the last empty bottle somewhere for her to find.”
“She’ll claw you to pieces,” Mark warned.
Kris’s smile faded. “She’d have to get close enough.”
His brothers exchanged a glance before Mark leaned back in his chair, crossing his feet at the ankle. “How are things going with her?”
Kris tried to think of an appropriate word. “Strained,” he said, and after a pause, added, “As in, sexually.”
Tommy picked up a pen, spinning it between his fingers as he murmured, “Story of your friendship.”
“Is it—would it really be so bad if I ended up with a commoner?”
Tommy looked out the city-view window, pen still twirling. “Depends on the commoner.”
Mark smiled faintly. “The opposite of her job description.”
“Oh.” Kris shifted, remembering, and cast them a serious look. “Something happened while I was out last night,” he said, and told them about the incident at the bar. He noted Tommy’s tension—the stiffening of his shoulders, the way his eyes glazed as he stopped blinking. “The guy’s been charged with some offence called lèse-majesté.”
“To do wrong to majesty,” Tommy translated quietly.
“That’s the end of it.” Kris spread his knees, draping an arm along the back cushions of the sofa, widening his sprawl to counter his tension. “Frankie mentioned she’ll assign you both with a bodyguard of your very own for when you’re in public.” He wouldn’t tell his brothers of the possible link between Tommy and Jonah’s attack and the deaths of their family. They both had enough to handle right now, and as cowardly as it was, he would avoid admitting his guilt in Tommy’s attack for as long as possible. “As a precaution.”
“Right.” Mark was frowning. “You’re okay, though?”
Kris slid his bruised hand behind his head. “Fine.”
“Good.” His brother gave a nod. “I spoke to Mom and Dad yesterday on a videocall and introduced them to Ava. It was awkward. We got stuck on small talk. I think we spoke about the Sage Haven bakery for about twenty minutes. None of us seemed to know how to get away from it. And the peanut butter bars are still there . . . and the bagel melts . . . oh, and Mark, you’ll be happy to know they’re still baking cinnamon scrolls fresh every morning—Ava you must come and try the cinnamon scrolls . . .” He trailed off with a grimace.
“But she must Mark,” Kris said with a grin. “I sent Mom some photos from your engagement party. Apparently that made her cry.”
Mark sighed. “Dad’s not well enough to fly over for the wedding, and Mom doesn’t want to leave him. They’re both upset about it. Ava and I will visit them afterward.”
“They’ll love that.”
“In other news,” Mark said. “Ava held the press conference this morning.”
Kris nodded. It was Ava’s attempt to control the story surrounding her life with Mark and Darius. Protecting her son from the media spotlight and the often damaging curiosity of the public had always been her priority—and she’d sacrificed her best chance of that in order to be with Mark. All she could hope for now was that Kiraly would find her and Darius less interesting than its cowboy royals.
Tommy leaned forward, forearms on the desk. “How did she go?”
Mark raised a shoulder, looking a little helpless. “She’s stressed and upset. It was a public statement, so the journalists weren’t given the opportunity to hound her with questions, but they were so stunned by her reappearance that she couldn’t get a read on them. She’s worried about the story morphing in the media and the impact it’ll have on Darius.”