Read Online The Trouble With Princesses by Tracy Anne Warren - Free Book Online Page A

and aggressively showed his teeth, causing Selkirk’s horse to step hastily back. Rupert responded by moving Odin nearer to Ariadne’s horse, Persephone, in a way that separated the two of them from the other man.
    She shot Rupert a glance out of the corner of her eye, wondering if the maneuver had been deliberate on his part. But he gave no sign of anything other than polite concern over his horse’s less than friendly behavior.
    “You can see what I mean about him,” Rupert said. “But he is a full-blooded stallion and used to having his own way.”
    Selkirk moved his gelding another foot back, putting him well out of harm’s way. “You must have trouble finding staff who are willing to work with him.”
    “It takes a skilled touch, I admit. I find with lively beasts that one wants to use enough control to keep them in line but not so much as to break their spirit. It’s the spirit that makes it all worth the effort.”
    Ariadne scowled, wondering why she suddenly had the feeling he wasn’t talking solely about horses anymore. From the look on Selkirk’s face, she thought he might be wondering the same thing.
    Her lips tightened, along with her gloved hands on the reins. “It’s been a pleasure running into you like this, Your Highness. Now, if you will excuse us, Lord Selkirk and I must continue on our way.”
    “Yes,” Selkirk said. “I told the archduchess, your sister, that I would have the princess back in time for a late breakfast.”
    Rupert regarded them, his eyes alight with sudden intrigue. “Well, if such is the case, there’s no need for you to trouble yourself riding all the way back to Lyndhurst House. I am going there myself and shall be pleased to escort Princess Ariadne home.”
    Selkirk’s jaw stiffened with clear displeasure, his eyes moving to trade a look with Ariadne.
    She spared him barely a glance before she set her sights on Rupert once more. “There’s no need for you to cut your ride short, Your Highness. I am sure Lord Selkirk doesn’t mind the brief journey back to Grosvenor Square.”
    “No, not at all,” Selkirk said. “Lyndhurst House is on my way.”
    Rupert smiled, showing his teeth in a way that reminded her of Odin. “Actually I was finished with my ride, so why do we not all return together?”
    He had them cornered and he knew it. Short of being unpardonably rude, there was no choice but to agree to his plan.
    She met his unrepentant gaze, then turned her horse toward home.

Chapter Six
    T wo weeks later, Ariadne walked out of Lyndhurst House, fuming as she stepped into the waiting coach.
    Blasted man! He’s driving me mad!
    She took a seat and leaned back against the comfortably upholstered cushions, smoothing a stray crease from the skirts of her periwinkle blue day dress. Idly she gazed out the window at the residential Mayfair street and up into the nearly cloudless sky above. Moments later, the coach jerked and they were off.
    How lovely to be alone.
    Or perhaps she ought to amend that sentiment.
    How lovely to be without Rupert.
    Lately, it seemed that everywhere she went, he was there as well. Balls, soirees, musicales, garden parties, afternoon fetes, even carriage rides and strolls around the city with one prospective gentleman or another—somehow he managed to appear at them all.
    She couldn’t prove that he was following her, but she knew very well that he would never have bothered to accept a fraction of the invitations that arrived daily in his correspondence were it not for his sudden interest in tormenting her.
    In fact, he was making the social hostesses of London swoon with delight, leaving more than one of them to speculate excitedly that perhaps his unprecedented socializing meant that he was considering taking an English bride, an aristocratic girl from outside the usual royal circles.
    But Ariadne knew better. She knew his real game was to thwart her plan to take a lover.
    What an idiot she’d been to share such a confidence with an