King's Throne(45)

“I’m not sure.” Like a magnet, Mitch drew her gaze. “I think he’s fighting it, though the indications are there…” She trailed off, not wanting to go into explicit detail with her mother.
“Sometimes men need a little push in the right direction,” her mother surprised her by saying.
“But he’s the dominant partner in our pairing. My cat knows and accepts that.”
“That’s good,” her mother replied with a satisfied smile. “Having your tigress on board means this is a good match. But maybe you can coax her to be a little more forward in getting him to take the lead.”
Gina wasn’t quite sure what her mother was driving at, but she was getting some particularly naughty ideas. It was clear her mother wouldn’t object to Mitch. And if Mom didn’t object, Dad wouldn’t either. It was clear just by watching them spar that her father already had a healthy respect for Mitch’s fighting abilities. They’d also discussed the Rule and the history of the Clan and she knew the signs that told her without words that her father liked the way Mitch’s mind worked. They’d talked a lot about Mitch’s business background and experience, including his take on the world economic crisis and what could or should be done to fix it. The fact that he came from a family that had been close to hers in the past counted in his favor too, though he had been raised by others.
It looked like green lights on all fronts, except where it counted most. Mitch had kissed her. He’d even gone a little farther than that, but he seemed to shy away from the final step toward a deeper relationship with her. She’d have to fix that at her earliest opportunity. Maybe even tonight. If she could wangle a way.
She lapsed into silence, watching Mitch move around the dojo. He was poetry in motion, but her mind was on the possible scenarios she could engineer once she had him alone again. Night couldn’t fall too soon as far as she was concerned.
Eventually the bout came to an end with no clear winner, but all three men were smiling and sweating. There was a bank of showers along one wall of the dojo and everybody was able to clean up a bit before heading back to the Millers’ home. Joan had insisted everyone stay for dinner.
It turned into a raucous evening with all the Millers, including Tad and Mandy’s baby, young Addie. She was adorable and was passed from adult to adult to coo over and cuddle. She was a peaceful baby whose true name was Asdis, which meant goddess in Icelandic, and Gina had always thought there was something a little fey about her.
Unlike her parents, little Addie had clear blue eyes that she had never grown out of. She wouldn’t begin to shift until her teenage years, but Gina privately wondered what kind of tigress she would turn out to be. Very few golden tigers had blue eyes.
One other good thing to come out of the meal was that Maribeth had visibly backed off. She no longer flirted with Mitch, which calmed Gina’s tigress. In fact, Maribeth had given Gina a little wink and thumbs-up when Mitch wasn’t looking, wishing her good luck in the silly way they had as schoolgirls. Maribeth had ceded the conquest to Gina. Thank goodness. Gina hadn’t wanted to fight with one of her oldest and dearest friends over him, but she would probably have been pushed in to it if Maribeth had continued her flirtatious ways.
When the meal was finally over and the night had grown dark and cold outside, they lingered for a while over coffee in the Millers’ big living room. Eventually though, it was time to leave. A contingent of Millers—both old and young—formed an informal Guard troop of sorts to escort the king and queen back home. Some of the others wanted to do the same for Gina, but Mitch declined their help, saying he could protect her well enough on the short ride to the cabin.
After everything they had seen him do in the dojo that day, nobody cared to argue the point. Of them all, Mitch was the superior fighter. If he couldn’t keep Gina safe, nobody could.
They set out quietly from the big house, taking a different route than the royals, moving stealthily back to the dojo to retrieve their snowmobile. Mitch checked it over before starting it up, exercising some of his ingrained Royal Guard caution. He waited only for Gina to hop on the seat before taking off toward the cabin.
When they got close, he stopped the vehicle a short distance out, going the last yards on foot. His approach was again, cautious. It was clear he wasn’t taking anything for granted. They’d left the cabin secure, but they’d been gone for hours. Anyone could have infiltrated the building during that time.
Gina pulled out her smartphone and started accessing the cameras both inside and outside the cabin that she had set to broadcast to an incredibly well-hidden internet address. While she checked the small screen for any possible evidence of intruders, Mitch did a more physical inspection. Between the two of them, they soon established that nothing had been disturbed since they’d left.