"Mom! He's going to be my step-brother, which just will look so wrong to so many people." I tried to point out; I was not expecting her to encourage me to go after Rupert. My mind was officially boggled.
"Honey, you were not raised together; you didn't even meet for the first time until after we announced our engagement. No one is going to care, at least not much if you two get involved. There are no blood relations." My mom was logical, I'd give her that.
"So you don't really mind?" I asked her cautiously, my stomach clenched as I pictured stroking my hands on his face, his tongue ring touching my skin and I shivered and closed my eyes for a moment to take a deep breath.
"Honey, if Rupert were to make you as happy as his father is making me, why would I deny you that same happiness?"
"Happiness isn't exactly what I was worried about." I muttered, but then I changed the subject. My mom was clearly on team Rupert, and didn't seem to care about the repercussions of what that man could do to me, or my heart.
What he could do to my body was an entirely different matter, and that's where I was in hot water. I wanted him to do it. He was all wrong for me. When I boarded the plane to go to the estate, I had a few hours to sit there and think about how everything could possibly go wrong and tried to steel myself against the inevitable.
I got to their house, which wasn't exactly a castle, but mansion or large estate wasn't quite the right word for it either. The maids showed me in and helped me take my luggage.
Prince Percy was Rupert's pet cat. This evil little fluff ball that reminded me of the cat from Cinderella. He was lazy and fat and just had this evil look and was constantly underfoot trying to trip anyone who wasn't looking where they stepped. He seemed to delight in trying to make the maids fall down the stairs.
"Good morning Lara," Rupert said as he came down the steps to greet me. He put his arm through mine and pulled me away from the house before I could even stop him.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked him, my nerves felt like a live wire.
"I got a new horse; I thought you'd want to see it." He told me and dragged me out to the barn behind the back of the house. I was wearing pink high heels and had on a light pink suit that hugged every curve. I was not dressed to go out to a muddy barn with animals and get dirty. Not that I minded getting dirty, but that's what jeans and boots were for, not heels and skirts.
"I'm not exactly dressed to go see a horse." I told him and raised a brow when he halted and turned to look at me.
"The horse won't care what you're wearing, and if you want to be that picky, you can just take it off here and leave it." He leered at me and looked down into my face taking a step closer so I could feel his hot breath on my skin. "I don't mind for a second if you go into a dark barn with me in just your under garments."
"I'm not taking my clothes off!" I blinked at him in shock, although the idea of our bodies intertwined in the hay in the back of the barn had me thinking thoughts that I had no business thinking about.
"Stop being such a prude and come see the new horse I bought." He tugged on my hand and basically gave me no choice. I followed him and his enthusiasm was engaging even though I was trying to distance myself.
I stepped into the barn and was immediately assaulted by the smell of horse flesh, leather and oils, and manure. Normally I didn't mind, but the idea of getting it on my clothes had me slightly shuddering. I wasn't a wuss, really. But this was a three hundred dollar pair of pink shoes. No one wants to ruin them with poop of any kind.
"Come on Lara, stop walking so prissy and keep up." Rupert told me and looked over his shoulder at how slow and carefully I was walking through the halls of the barn.
"Keep your knickers on," I growled at him and tried to catch up to him. Walking over to the stall, I was surprised to see the horse wasn't very big. It was a pretty horse and was munching on hay.
"I got her for you." Rupert whispered in my ear and stepped behind me, putting both arms on either side of the stall so I couldn't get away.
"What?" I said, confused.
"Your mom said you loved to ride horses. She's a sweet girl, mellow, well trained; I thought you'd like to ride with me sometime so I got her for you." Rupert told me.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I plan on moving back to England after the wedding." I told him, turning to look up at him I was still getting over the shock that he'd drug me out here to see a horse that he was intending to give to me. I didn't understand why he'd give me a horse.
"Lara, why are you playing so hard to get?" Rupert asked me and tilted his head to the side and looked down at me. For once the boyish charm was nowhere to be seen and he looked genuinely confused.