“It’ll only work if Farah cooperates.”
“She will, because you will persuade her,” Rodrigo said. His smile didn’t reach his eyes but he extended his hand.
Against his better judgment, Pierce hoped for the best and agreed.
A day before, he would have been surprised to think that his old life had so little appeal, but now, he couldn’t wait to be clear of it. He only hoped he could negotiate another second chance with Jacquie.
That was the serious long shot.
At least he knew what she wanted.
Pierce only hoped he would be back in town by the fourteenth.
“Excuse me! Jacquie Morgan! Hello!”
Jacquie looked back at the woman’s shout, alarmed to hear her own name being called on a public street at this hour. Her heart sank when she noticed that the woman chasing her was all dark hair and exotic beauty.
Farah.
Her instinct had been right. Her concern for Pierce and his welfare changed immediately to irritation. It seemed he still wasn’t able to disobey a royal command.
Farah had some nerve coming after her, if she was responsible for Pierce’s sudden disappearance.
Jacquie weighed the option of ignoring the princess, but decided to wait and hear her out. Maybe she’d have a chance to give Farah a piece of her mind.
The princess was a little breathless when she reached Jacquie’s side. She smiled, but Jacquie didn’t. “I’m supposed to tell you that Pierce is okay.” Her smile was that of a woman who always got her way, even if it inconvenienced others.
“Thank you for letting me know. I’m sure it was an inconvenience for you to bother.”
Farah made a face. “It was, but Pierce insisted.”
Jacquie was intrigued by that. “Funny you listened this time but not last night.”
Farah appeared to be puzzled. “No, not really. Last night, I didn’t think he meant it. I knew he could be convinced and Rodrigo agreed.” Her eyes widened. “But tonight, he’s really pissed. I’ve never heard him so angry.”
That reassured Jacquie. A lot.
“I don’t understand it,” Farah said. “He’ll be paid well.”
“But he declined.”
Farah waved her hand, dismissing the very idea. “Were you going to call the police?”
“I would have, if I’d known what to tell them. He did just disappear.”
The princess smiled. “One of Rodrigo’s stealth pick-ups.”
Jacquie found her anger simmering that her companion didn’t seem to care what Pierce had said. She recognized that he’d left her at the restaurant because he hadn’t been given a choice. “How nice,” she said, her tone so tart that Farah met her gaze. “He asked me how to deal with people who don’t take no for an answer. I thought he was joking. Reasonable people do take no for an answer, but apparently you and this Rodrigo never got that memo.”
“But it’s important...”
“I’m sure it’s important to you. This evening was important to me, and I think it was to Pierce, too.”
Farah looked astonished by this, which meant there was no point in saying more.
Jacquie stepped past the younger woman, fuming.
“I’m supposed to buy you dessert,” Farah said.
“I’m not hungry, thanks.” Jacquie held up the boxes. “I have two dinners to show for it and dessert isn’t going to make anything better.” She saw the younger woman’s expression fall, but maybe the princess was due for a disappointment of her own.
Maybe it was better to know sooner rather than later how it would be with Pierce. Apparently, his old life wasn’t going to leave him alone, no matter what he decided.
Could she live with that, even for a fling? Jacquie doubted it. She’d never been so angry and disappointed as she was in this moment. She pivoted and marched toward home, sure that there was steam coming out of her ears and well aware of the click of heels behind her.
“Well, how am I supposed to make this right?” Farah demanded, her tone plaintive. “What should I tell Pierce? He’s going to say that we aren’t friends if I don’t fix this.”
Jacquie spun on the sidewalk to confront the younger woman. “I’m not going to provide you with an easy solution. In fact, I’m the last person you should be asking for one.”
“Are you angry?”
“Yes! I don’t believe that you and Pierce are friends, because if you were, you could give some consideration to his perspective.”
“I’m here...”
“But he’s not. Friends don’t abduct friends.” Jacquie saw the younger woman’s surprise. What she was saying couldn’t be news to anyone, but it was probably new for Farah to have anyone tell her off.
She was a princess, after all.
Jacquie decided to be a novelty. “Probably no one has ever said that to you, but I’m disappointed. I was looking forward to a romantic dinner with Pierce tonight.”
“Pierce is hot. I’ll bet you were hoping for more than dinner,” the princess said, mischief in her expression. She really thought she could do whatever she wanted, pull people around and reshape the world to suit herself. Her attitude was oil on the flames.
“We had plans and you cancelled them for your own convenience, without any regard for what either of us wanted.”
“But you can have dinner with him another night.”
“No,” Jacquie said. “I won’t do that again. I won’t sit alone in a restaurant for a man who doesn’t even call to apologize.”
Farah appealed to her. “It’s not Pierce’s fault! Rodrigo won’t let him call.”
“And how is it that Rodrigo gets to decide what Pierce can or can’t do?”
“He took his phone.”
“You can’t blame Rodrigo for this situation, whoever he is. I’m pretty sure that your choices are responsible and I refuse to tell you that it’s okay.”
“I can do what I want.”
Jacquie remembered that line from her kids, but they had been small. “Everyone can do what they want, but when you act only in your own interest, you can’t blame people for walking away. The truth is that I feel sorry for you.”
Farah was visibly astonished. “You feel sorry for me?”
“I do, because no one taught you the value of having friends, much less what
