Make Me Yours. Betina Krahn

Jack O. Lantern either—far too handsome for that. Nor Jack Ketch—too lively. Nor Jack A. Dandy—though you certainly are well-dressed enough for the part.” She bit her lip and then eyed him with flirtatious appreciation. “Clearly, sir, a man of your superior aspect and august bearing could only be…Union Jack.”

      A howl of approval went up from the others.

      She produced a mischievous smile, which the prince returned.

      “By damn, you’re a perceptive wench, you are,” he declared, grabbing her hand and using it to reel her closer.

      “So I’ve been told, sir.” She exerted just enough resistance to keep from being drawn down onto his lap. “And my ‘perception’ says that you and your company of gentlemen are in high spirits this evening.”

      A raw, male kind of laughter was their response. She was flirting with disaster. Literally. Jack straightened in his chair, tensing. If she didn’t watch her step, she would find herself in serious trouble. Times five.

      “I’ve taken the liberty of asking our innkeeper to prepare some of our special wassail for you. It’s the finest for counties around.” She swept the men with a playful grin. “Known far and wide to corrupt church deacons, improve the looks of spinsters and cure seven kinds of scurvy.”

      The prince’s booming laughter brought a dazzling smile to her memorable features, tinged, perhaps, with a bit of relief.

      “You say this is your inn?” the prince said, studying her. “The last time I was here, I was greeted by the owner himself. A fellow named Eller.”

      “Squire Eller was my husband, sir. Upon his death two years ago, the house and inn passed to me.”

      “You’re a widow then.” The prince raised an eyebrow and smiled.

      Just then a large bowl of warm, spice-fragrant wassail arrived in the innkeeper’s beefy arms, and the prince allowed the woman to pull away from him in order to serve it. Shortly, the sounds of a spirited fiddle wafted through the inn, growing louder as an old man appeared, warming up his strings.

      Music. Jack studied the bold-as-brass widow with mild surprise. To soothe the savage beasts. Very smart indeed.

      The old boy’s first selection was appropriate: the lively, patriotic, “Drink Little England Dry.” As the widow ladled out the wassail, she began to hum and then to sing. When she served the prince, she motioned for him to join her. He looked her over, as if deciding whether she might be worth the effort, then threw back his head and belted out the lyrics. His participation startled his companions. They glanced at each other and, as she served them, introduced themselves by their assumed names and joined in.

      Soon all were singing and drinking except Jack, who scooted his chair back a few inches and watched the wily widow and his fellow hunters from beneath lowered lids. Clever she might be, but the odds were not in her favor. What was she thinking, flirting with them all?

      As she handed him his cup and urged him to take up the verse, he met her eye and shook his head—hoping she would take it as the warning it was. When she merely shrugged and went on to the next man, he buried his nose in his drink and wished that for once he could just get pissing drunk himself.

      For three years he’d hunted and gambled and dined with the prince…handling details and smoothing over sticky situations. He had a reputation for clear-headedness and loyalty…the legacy of his clear-headed and loyal family. Following a longstanding English tradition, they had given up a sizeable parcel of land to enlarge Bertie’s grounds at Sandringham when the prince’s home had been built adjacent to their family seat. The prince had rewarded that generosity by drawing the stalwart St. Lawrence sons into his circle and allowing them to seek their fortunes in his exalted company.

      Jack sighed. Not that Bertie’s exalted company had included any marriageable heiresses of late. The future monarch was partial to “hunting” in places populated by his favorite quarry: married women.

      The old fiddler—Farley, the widow called him—transitioned seamlessly into another familiar tune: “Dance for Your Daddy.”

      “Surely, gentlemen, you know this one, too.” The widow swayed her cup in time to the music. “It’s played by every town musician at every country dance in England.”

      All Jack’s companions joined in spirited song, taking turns supplying verses, one drumming accompaniment on the tabletop. Jack groaned when she planted herself before the prince with a gallant bow and held out her hand. Bertie downed the rest of his drink, rose and began to step in time with her.

      Jack struggled to tamp down the tension collecting in his loins as he watched her turn gracefully and sway with seductive pleasure. She seemed to enjoy her precarious position. But then, what woman of the world didn’t love being the center of wealthy, powerful men’s attentions? And she clearly was that: a woman of the world. Every smile, every word and every movement proclaimed her well-practiced in the art of flirtation.

      If he needed further proof, it came as Bertie’s hands began to wander over her as they danced. She slyly chided him and rearranged his hands, but, Jack noted, submitted to more of the same by continuing to dance with him.

      When another of the hunting party, a west-country baron seated beside him, rose to cut in, Jack grabbed his arm and pulled him back down in his chair. A second man, a marquess by title and heir to a duchy, staggered forward minutes later, intent on claiming a dance, but Jack propped his legs up on a chair in the man’s path and glared him back onto his seat on a nearby bench. Each protested, but a not-so-subtle jerk of Jack’s head in Bertie’s direction reminded them that a woman’s company was the prince’s prerogative. They grumbled but reined in their irritation and settled back in spirits-soaked curiosity to watch their prince’s unusual conquest.

      As surely as one song led to another, one bowl of wassail led to another. The more they sang, the more deeply they imbibed, and it didn’t take much of a wit to deduce that that was the cunning widow’s intent. Jack felt a growing admiration for her determination and no small relief that her plan was working. If it had failed, he would have found himself up to his arse in trouble, along with her.

      His companions continued to mellow, their rum-weighted eyes shining with memories as they began to recount tales of first dances and first loves. He groaned quietly. Having to listen to their sentimental ramblings while cursedly sober was almost more than he could take.

      And having to watch the tempting widow settle on a stool by the prince’s knees and allow him to tousle her hair and fondle her neck soon had him rigid with unwelcome heat. Especially when she looked his way with those electric-blue eyes and caught him staring at her. She gave him a provocative little smile that set the skin of his belly on fire.

      

      MARIAH finally allowed herself to relax a bit as she sat by the prince’s knee. The camaraderie that developed as the rum and music worked their magic surprised her. She doubted these worldly, overprivileged men had ever had a night quite like this one. The prince had lowered his guard and begun to muss her hair affectionately, as if she were a cherished pet. She might make it through the evening without her heels in the air after all.

      As the light from the hearth lowered, out came campaigning songs and sentimental favorites that made the men’s faces soften further…all but the dark, handsome “Jack” who had withheld himself from the merriment and wassail, but not from searing looks in her direction. It was a relief when he slouched in his chair, laid his head back, and closed his memorable eyes.

      The clock struck one and the cups were filled yet again.

      “Never had s-such fun with m’ trousers on,” the prince said thickly, after the mantel clock struck two. Swiping a meaty hand across his drink-reddened face, he propped his drooping head on his palm. There was a weak “hear, hear” and a mute wave from a sluggish hand across the room.

      Fatigue and drink claimed them one by one. Jack O. Lantern laid his head on a table; Jack A. Dandy sprawled on his back on a bench, snoring loudly, and Jack Ketch pulled a second chair over