Plain-Jane Princess

True, she barely knew Steven Koleski, but she’d never met anyone she’d felt deserved a leg up more than this man did. Not that she thought money was that much of an issue—poverty was easily identifiable by the sense of hopelessness in its victims’ eyes—but this was clearly a man with far too many plates up in the air. Thus far, she guessed, he’d been able to keep them from crashing—through sheer bullheadedness, if nothing else—but for how long?

And, typically, she found herself desperately wanting to help.

But how? As Princess Sophie, she had any number of resources at her command. For one thing, she could easily procure a housekeeper for him, even if it meant “borrowing” one of the palace staff for a few weeks. She could even, with her connections, have his photographs placed in a London or Paris or New York gallery like that. But revealing her identity might cause more problems than it would solve. For one thing, she’d lay odds that Steven Koleski had more pride than blood running through his veins. While she doubted he’d be adverse to any avenue of help that would enable him to keep these children, somehow she suspected he’d eat worms before he’d accept anything he could even remotely construe as charity.

Especially from a princess.

But, as Lisa Stone, what did she have to offer?

Sophie dared to sneak a glance at the set features of the man sitting barely two feet away, an ordinary man with the extraordinary power to capture some part of her that no man ever had before. He made her feel…connected, somehow, to the rest of the human race. She frowned down at her bloodred fingernails, then shifted her gaze out the window.

When she’d come up with this crazy idea, she hadn’t really thought about whatever personal benefits she might enjoy as a “regular” person. She hadn’t known how much fun it could be to be treated as an equal, to have someone tease her, even laugh at her, as if she were “one of the guys.” That felt good. Extraordinarily good. And she’d be kidding herself if she didn’t admit that she had no desire to jeopardize these stolen moments of anonymity by revealing a truth which might cause more harm than good.

But her yearning to help this man, these children, stemmed from something far deeper. For all her dedication to children’s issues, her involvement thus far had always been peripheral, if not downright theoretical. Yes, she’d helped set up the Children’s Home, and she’d done the usual hospital visits, the de rigueur tours of refugee camps, but she’d never been actually involved. Suddenly, here she was, faced with the first real opportunity she’d ever had to personally make a difference in five children’s lives, even if only for a couple of weeks. And she didn’t exactly find the prospect of perhaps being able to help ease the stress lines in Steven Koleski’s handsome face wholly unpleasant, either.

She was taking a tremendous risk, letting herself get close enough to care. But this was an opportunity that might never come her way again.

He’d known Lisa Stone for, like, five seconds, and already he knew to be leery when she got too quiet.

Of course, he wasn’t being exactly loquacious, either. Steve wasn’t sure which of them itched to asked questions more, although he was sure neither of them had a clue how to go about it. And it rattled him the way this complete stranger could sear through his defenses with a pointed question, an astute observation, a simple smile.

No woman, he realized with a little jolt, had ever looked at him like that before. Not so’s he’d remember, anyway. As if she saw…him. Not who she imagined she could eventually turn him into, but who he was.

And as if she genuinely liked what she saw.

Take the business about his photography. It was nuts to think she really had any idea what it meant to him, but something in her eyes sure made him think she did.

But how could she? Nobody did. Nobody knew how often he’d shoved his ambition behind him in the name of family loyalty, practicality, logic. Duty, in other words. Nobody was a free agent in this world. Not really. Everybody’s lives and ambitions were inevitably and inextricably intertwined with everyone else’s in their circle; peace was rarely achieved without compromise.

And he done more than his fair share of compromising over the past few years.

So when Lisa had asked about the photography, he’d been shocked to discover just how poorly he’d handled his disappointment over having to, once again, put his own ambition on hold. To discover a seed of selfishness at his core he’d thought long since eradicated.

But not nearly as much as he’d been to realize how desperately he wanted to confide in her. How desperately, despite all the hard evidence accumulated over the past little while that proved his desire not just foolish, but futile as well, he wanted to be able to trust a woman. Any woman.

This woman.

And the sheer force—not to mention the idiocy—of that desire was making it very difficult to breathe. He could only believe—could only accept, for his sanity’s sake—that he felt so impelled to spill his guts to Lisa because she was a stranger, someone who’d only be around for a short time.

At least, that had better damn sight be the reason.

“What did you say the dog’s name was?” she suddenly asked, when the mutt stuck his pointed snout over the back of the seat to slurp her face.

He glanced over, not in the least liking his reaction to her low, throaty chuckles as she squirmed—but not really—away from the dog. “George. At least for the last couple of years. If he had a name before I got him, I wouldn’t know.”

“George,” she said, ruffling his fur, then gently shoving him back. She remained twisted around, her brow pinched in concentration. She’d chewed most of her lipstick off, leaving her expressive mouth a soft rose color. “What, exactly, is he?”

“Caninus Godonlyknowsis,” Steve said. She laughed, and Steve felt the fist of tension in the pit of his stomach unfurl, just a little. As if, just for this moment, maybe life didn’t suck. That maybe, somehow, things were going to work out. “Day I closed on the house,” he said, “I came up here with the keys, and there he was. Lying on the porch like he was waiting for me to come home and let him in.”

He could sense, more than see, her grin. “And you did.”

“I didn’t seem to have much choice. He’s dumber than dirt, but he worships me unconditionally.” Steve tossed a glance her way, then back to the road. “There’s a lot to be said for that.”

For some reason, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she pretended to be offended for the dog’s sake. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her twist around to the panting dog. “Did you hear that? You’re not dumb at all, are you?” George barked. Which wasn’t surprising, either. One thing you could say about old George, he was real good at keeping up his end of the conversation. “No, I didn’t think so.” She turned back around, her arms crossed. “Rather cheeky thing to say, don’t you think, considering that unconditional worship business?”

Steve considered this for a minute, then said, “The chickens might have something to say about that.”

“Excuse me?”

“He chases chickens. Cats, no. A cat could come up to him and blow raspberries in his face—nada. But chickens drive him nuts.” He turned to her. “Like I said. Dumb.”

The breeze coming in the truck’s windows was blowing her feathery hair every which way. Which was very sexy, he realized with a light but firm kick to the gut. She didn’t seem to give a damn, either, which was even sexier, for some reason. “On the contrary,” she said, her eyes sparkling like sapphires. “He’s just smart enough to pick on a species with a lower IQ than his.”

A chuckle spread out from the center of his chest as that fist uncurled just a little bit more. “Huh. Never thought of it like that.”

Looking inordinately smug, Lisa pivoted back around to face front, which is when Steve realized that the cautious, prickly young woman he’d met two days before seemed to have taken a hike, as well. Despite her assorted wounds, her less-than-pulled-together appearance, she seemed to be completely enjoying herself.

And damned if Steve’s woebegone ego didn’t decide to take at least some of the credit for that.

A minute or so passed in comfortable silence, interrupted by Lisa’s occasional question about something they passed. Then, obviously content in the back seat, Rosie started singing softly to herself behind them.

“What are you going to do?” Lisa asked quietly. “About the children?”

His moment of quasi-serenity popped like a bubble. “At the moment, I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“I take it there’s some question about your being able to keep them?”

“According to Family Services, yeah.” He turned to her, his heart hitching at the concern in her eyes. “Not according to me.”

She nodded, then looked out the windshield, frowning as she braced one hand through her hair to keep it out of her face. “But…if you’re the legal guardian, how could they take the children away from you?”

“Because I haven’t been granted full custody. Not yet.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ted and Gloria didn’t have a will, see. So even though it was always understood that I’d take care of the kids if anything happened to them—both their folks have been gone for some time—there was nothing in writing.”

“I see. And there was no other relative?”

“There’s one cousin on Gloria’s side. She seemed nice enough, the one time I met her at their wedding fifteen years ago, but she’s got four kids of her own. There was no way she could take on another five. So the choices were, split up the kids into separate foster homes, since, again, not many families could take on five at once, or grant me temporary custody, even though I’m not married. And they only did that because I promised to have a full-time housekeeper, at least until Rosie started school.”

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