A spark of heat ignited in her belly.
She looked for Millie, keeping her face neutral. Millie’s bland expression communicated the truth of the reporter’s claims. Ele’s eyes flashed back to the mob of people and the light of flashes. She saw movement in her peripheral as Tristan tried to step up to the podium. She watched helplessly as Ramsey put a hand on Tristan’s chest, stopping him. Their eyes met, and she slightly shook her head. The last thing they needed was for Tristan to comment. He held her gaze, trying to calm her. But her hands formed fists as heat and acid percolated in her belly. She swallowed compulsively, warmth spreading out, licking up the column of her neck. Ramsey tried to end the questions, but more paps joined the fray, shouting out to Ele.
Juliana, who had been silent by her side, stepped away from her, leaving Ele exposed. She saw this going badly in her mind, and that one thought sent her down the rabbit hole. There was jostling near her, and then all of the cameras turned away, focusing on something to her left. She turned her head and saw Juliana as she lifted her arm around Rowan’s neck and pressed her mouth to his. He was indecisive for a split second before he seized her around her waist— to push her away, Ele thought. But then his hands tightened on her waist, and he pulled her into him. The kiss turned carnal, and as the paps’ cameras fluttered and bulbs flashed, Robert maneuvered Ele away from the melee and into the waiting Range Rover. Belatedly, she realized Michael must have gone to get it when the press conference went bad.
Robert jumped in the back with her, and Michael pulled away.
Ele braced for the vise grip on her lungs, the constriction on her chest, but it never materialized.
They drove for a while; Ele had no idea how long.
Finally, Robert looked over to her. “Okay?” he asked, his voice even.
She nodded.
He smiled. “Good girl. I’m proud of you.”
Ele tried to smile back, but it just wouldn’t come. Her mind was racing, not one thought tangible. They continued to drive, and she realized Robert was giving her time to get ahold of herself.
Bless him.
“What was Juliana thinking?” Ele said when she could finally form words.
“Saving you,” Robert answered.
Ele blinked. “How often has she done that?”
“To that extreme? Not once. But in little ways, deflecting attention? Quite often.”
A myriad of memories bombarded Ele. Jules’s hand grasping hers at appearances, the upstaging and effusive attitude with the press, her more flamboyant outfits. The “incidents” Juliana always seemed to cause that often followed a social bomb by Ele.
She dropped her head into her hands. “How did I not see it?”
Robert sighed. “You couldn’t.”
“How much more do they pay you to be my head of security?”
“Ma’am?” he said, obviously confused by her.
“I mean, you have to put up with so much, do so much more, be a thousand times more vigilant with me. How did you get the short end of the stick?”
“Ah, Eleanor,” he said softly. His hand snaked around her opposite shoulder, and he pulled her to him. He dropped a quick kiss on her head before he said, “I would do it for free.”
He released her, and the moment passed in such a way that she wasn’t even sure it’d happened.
“Robert,” Ele began, making a hasty decision, “why did you give Tristan the file on me?”
He chuckled softly. “I’m a soldier, Your Highness. I don’t take much stock in fairy tales. But the day you met Mr. Davenport, something changed. The second he spoke to you, you seemed to open up. From the outside, it seemed like a tether ran between the two of you. Millie felt it too.” He paused, not to gather his thoughts because Robert didn’t need to gather or think. It was like his thoughts came to him fully formed. “Then, when he pulled you out of that panic attack—something no one, not even Jamie, could do—I thought it was worth seeing what would happen.
“We all have keys to us. Some of us have more than others. I think you have one singular key that can unlock you, heart and soul. I’m not sure if it’s in the pages of the dossier I assembled. But I think Mr. Davenport might be the only one who can find out. It doesn’t mean you will spend the rest of your life with him. But right now, Tristan Davenport is the right man for you. His sole purpose in being born might have been to help you.”
“He would probably disagree. I mean, he is awfully talented with that ball at his feet.”
Robert smiled; she knew it was more for her than because what she’d said amused him. “But he needs to understand what happened to you. And you need to be able to talk about it.”
Robert looked forward again, signaling the end of the conversation. Ele returned her gaze to the window.
Now that the danger had passed and she’d managed to keep her sanity, she recalled the press conference. And she giggled.
Robert’s head snapped around so fast that she feared he’d suffered whiplash.
Her hand flew to her mouth, and she giggled harder.
“Ma’am?”
Robert obviously thought she might be cracking under the pressure. She reached out and patted his hand. As far as she knew, she and Robert had never had any physical contact. And in the last couple of minutes, they’d touched twice.
“Rowan Beckwith is not going to be happy with Juliana.”
Robert’s mouth quirked on the left side—his tell when he wanted to give in to something funny. “No, ma’am, I don’t suppose he is.”
She fidgeted in her seat. “Robert?”
“Ma’am?”
“Do you think someone has posted that kiss on the internet yet?”
19
5 July
Denver to Chicago
Robert, Millie, Harry, Juliana, and Ele sat around the conference room table. Noah hit a button on the wall, and a large screen unfurled from the ceiling. When it reached its destination, Noah took his seat in front of an open laptop. Beside Ele, Juliana shifted, her chair squeaking, providing a voice to her discomfort.
“Why do we have to do this?” she complained.
Noah grunted as he cued up the computer.
Sympathy rushed through Ele. She didn’t want to subject her sister to something that obviously made her so uncomfortable. Ele rocked her chair into Robert’s, silently pleading with him to stop the madness. Robert shook her off. He didn’t do anything without a purpose, so she stopped trying to save her sister.
The press conference started on the screen in front of her. There were multiple views of the action, six different vantage points. The first was focused on Ele, the second on Juliana, the third zeroed in on Tristan, the fourth on Rowan. The last two were wide angles, showing the entire press conference from the left and the right. As Nicolas Ramsey answered questions, Ele took stock of her complicity in bringing this viewing about. Had she kept her curiosity at bay, she wouldn’t have asked Robert about the kiss. And they might not be sitting here, watching as Juliana shriveled with embarrassment.
Unfortunately, she’d sat through numerous debriefings in her lifetime.
When a poor image of the palace was projected, the team watched the offending appearance, looking for reasons and fixes so it wouldn’t happen again. At some point, she would have to talk to the queen about the incidents today, and she needed to be prepared to offer an explanation or at least some kind of convincing apology for the absolute chaos.