“Daughter of my heart, I know there have been difficulties as you have found your way to adulthood,” King Malik began. “Unexpected pitfalls.”
Bethany stifled a groan. She so didn’t want to have this conversation. Not now. Not again.
The unexpected pitfalls, as he’d called them, had been a series of hideous events that had left her feeling exposed and incredibly betrayed.
At fourteen, Bethany had been sent to a Swiss boarding school populated by the daughters of presidents, prime ministers and kings. She’d loved her studies and had made plenty of friends. Missing her family had been a drag, but she’d handled it.
At a coed dance with a neighboring school, she’d met a boy. It had been an innocent flirtation, completely age appropriate, and the night had ended with her first kiss. Only a frenemy had found out and had written all about it in an underground school blog. Someone leaked the blog to the European press and the story had grown into a scandal of sex parties and drugs.
Bethany had been humiliated. Her parents had offered her the chance to return to El Bahar and she’d taken it. Private tutors and her love of learning had meant she’d finished high school only two years later. She’d gone to college in Tennessee. Older and wiser, she’d been exceptionally careful about dating.
She’d fallen for a sweet guy—a slightly nerdy engineering major. They’d taken things slow. When they’d finally become lovers, he’d secretly taken pictures and sold them to a tabloid. While there hadn’t been actual frontal nudity, there’d been no confusing what—and who—was in the pictures. The headline—I Deflowered a Princess—had added to the clarity of the moment.
Once again a devastated Bethany had retreated to the safety of the palace walls. Her father had threatened to hunt down the young man in question and throw him in the dungeon while deciding which of several horrible ways to punish him.
Her normally even-tempered mother had agreed. When Bethany surfaced from the shame, she’d been more concerned about what she was doing wrong.
Other people managed to grow up in the limelight without so much as a misstep. Was it because she was just some kid from Riverside, California? Was there a whole “to the manor born” thing she was missing? Regardless of the reason, she’d accepted that she had to be even more careful. She’d withdrawn from much of what the world considered ordinary life. She could trust her family and the people in the palace and her horses. Everyone else—not so much.
Which was why she would travel as plain Beth Smith and not tell anyone in Happily Inc who she really was. While she helped Rida get settled, she would experience living as a normal, happy young woman before returning to the safety of the palace once again.
Now she looked at her father. “Dad, it’s not the pitfalls. It’s that you sold Rida. He’s wonderful. Fast and smart, with perfect form. He would have been a wonderful addition to our breeding program.”
“Yes, he would have been. However, in my stable every horse is perfection. He would have been one of many and I believe he deserves more. He deserves to be special. In America he will have a chance to fulfill his potential—to find out all he is meant to be.”
She narrowed her gaze. “We are still talking about the horse, right?”
Her father smiled. “Of course. What else?”
He had a point—it wasn’t as if she was staying in Happily Inc. Once Rida was settled, she would be returning home. In time for Christmas, as she’d promised her mother.
She hugged her father. “I’ll be okay, Dad.”
He held on tight for a second before letting her go. “You know how to get in touch with me if you need anything. If necessary, the El Baharian Air Force is at your disposal.”
“I’m going to pretend you never said that.”
Her father chuckled, then got back in his car and was whisked away.
With the royal distraction gone, Bethany turned her attention to the horse trailer. She helped unfasten the latches, then spoke softly to the huge, solid black horse.
“Hey, big guy. How are you feeling? Ready for an adventure? I think we should check out this little town called Happily Inc. It’s supposed to be really nice this time of year. What do you say?”
She walked into the trailer and untied Rida, then guided him down the ramp. She gave him a