Chapter 41

After a moment, Jecob stepped back and took a deep breath, clearing his head. “Pardon me, Your Majesty. It’s just… I can’t get enough of you.” He lowered his eyes, and she rested her forehead against his, sinking into him for a moment as his eyes traced the curves of her breasts peeking out above her bodice. If only his eyes could be his hands, but that would have to wait. She just hoped he would remember that since he’d had trouble with the rules the night before and hadn’t even been drinking, as far as she could tell. She would have to admit he seemed like he had had some sort of artificial bravery when he climbed through the shrubbery.

“Did you have a nice day today?” he asked in a breathy whisper.

“I did. You’re an excellent athlete.”

He chuckled and leaned in to softly kiss her lips. The urgency was gone this time; the kiss was sweet and soft. “It was nice to see you, but it was too bad all of the others had to be present.”

Giving a small giggle, Kit reminded him, “That’s the way this process goes, you know? I have to narrow it down slowly. I can’t just choose my mate in the first week or so.”

“Why not?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with mischievous charm. “I think we both know how it all will end.”

“You seem awfully sure of yourself,” Kit replied, taking a step back, though she didn’t disentangle her arms from him, and she was smiling. “Do you think there’s no one else I’m remotely interested in?”

He shrugged nonchalantly. “Perhaps, but the others are of little concern to me. I know how you feel about me. I can see it in the way you look at me, can feel it in your kiss. I know your mother wants me to win. What more could I ask for?”

Cocking her head to the side, Kit asked, “What do you mean you know my mother wants you to win? And since when is this a contest?”

“Pardon me, Princess. I didn’t mean to offend you. Of course, you’re not just any prize, but certainly whomever you select will be a victor in every way possible. Don’t you think?”

“I’ll have you know, I’ve gone to great lengths to try to prevent this from seeming like a contest of any sort. I am not a prize. I’m simply… the princess… looking for the man she shall spend the rest of her life with. “

“The man who can pleasure her best, I know.”

“Not necessarily.”

It was Jecob’s turn to take a step back. “What’s that? Are you changing how the Choosing works, my Princess?”

“No,” Kit said quickly, not wanting to put it into anyone’s mind that she was considering amending the rules in any way. “I’m only saying… I would like to find a man I can love, that’s all.” Her thoughts from earlier, that it would be difficult to choose just one, came to mind, but she pressed them aside for argument’s sake.

Jecob’s grin slowly spread, and he pulled her close to him again. “Well, that certainly sounds like a prize to me.” He leaned down and found her mouth again, and Kit detected a hunger even greater than last night in the garden as he dove in, his hands trailing up her side. The thumb on the side away from the open window was circling dangerously close to her breast, and even though she was becoming a little light headed, she knew he would have to stop before he made contact.

“Jecob,” she said when he came up for breath. “You don’t want to do anything to get yourself disqualified. I like that head of yours right where it is.”

He chuckled but did not move his hand. “How would anyone know?”

“You do see that there are windows across the courtyard, don’t you?” She gestured at them with her head.

“All I see are rows of closed curtains.”

“And who knows how many old biddies peeking between them.” She reached up and pushed his hand down to a respectable level, and he began to laugh again. “Now, what was that you said about my mother?”

Crinkling his forehead, he replied, “I don’t recall.”

“I don’t believe that for one second. You said she wanted you to win. How do you know that?”

Jecob began to walk backward, sliding his hand down to gather hers, and pulled her the few steps over to the railing that looked out on the courtyard. “I don’t know it, not for sure,” he said, leaning over and looking down at the ground far below them. Kit didn’t dare do the same. “I was just under the impression the reason the voting finally came to an end in Eastbury was because of your mother. I’m not saying she interfered by any means, just that she may have put in a good word for me so that I could finally get a majority and defeat that other bastard, the one who kept coming in second by too close a margin. Of course, he wasn’t the only one those senile old bats kept casting their votes for, but he was the biggest threat. I heard he cried so hard they had to wheel him away from the voting center.” He gave a chuckle then. “As if you’d want to spend the rest of your life with a farmhand.”

Kit took all of that in while he was rubbing her arm, a touch that would’ve been comforting if so many of his words had not been so rude. “Did you just call your councilwomen senile old bats?” she asked.

“Oh, that’s just me, Kit. That’s just how I talk. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. But some of them are. Have you ever been to Eastbury?”

“Yes, of course. It’s only a few miles away. I’ve been there often.” When she left the castle, Eastbury was almost always the first province she’d visit. There were lots of villages there where she’d hand out alms or visit the schools to bring them new books. She’d never noticed anything particularly shocking about any of the councilwomen, and she’d met many of them.

“Well, then you probably know. It’s a backward province to say the least. I think, one of the first things we should do, when you’re queen, is appoint some new noblewomen onto the council. We could take some of that land your mother confiscated and turn it into several small plots, make a few more duchesses. I have some young ladies in mind.”

There was so much to respond to in that statement, Kit wasn’t sure where to begin. He was already thinking about what he was going to do when she was queen? And he knew plenty of women? And did he say confiscated?

“Seems as if you’ve got it all figured out.”

Kit turned to see Blankka leaning on the windowsill and was once again stunned at the moxie on display that night.