Page 78 of Royal Games (The Royals of Monterra)

I stayed up that whole night, unable to sleep. I just sat in the front room, and Rafe stayed with me. He held me the entire night. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to.

I couldn’t bear the thought of going to the diner. To where he had been the night before. So Rafe got Laura to cover my shift. “I have to go to the church bazaar tonight,” I told him. “I’m in charge.”

He agreed, but only if we had a bunch of bodyguards with us. I didn’t argue. But as the sun rose higher in the sky, I started to feel silly. As I sat encircled in Rafe’s protective arms, I decided that John-Paul would have to be the world’s biggest idiot to try to get at me while I was literally surrounded by men who would love to have an excuse to shoot him. And he might have been a lot of things, but he wasn’t an idiot.

Rafe reluctantly left me to shower and change.

A worn-out and worried Aunt Sylvia took his place on the couch. “Are you glad to have Marigold back?”

I was glad that she didn’t want to talk about John-Paul. “I am. But I feel bad that he gives me those kinds of presents. Like I’m some poor girl he has to take care of.”

My aunt huffed. “That’s ridiculous. Especially since his money is inherited. Would you like him less if he was poor?”

“Of course not!”

“Right. You’re being a reverse snob and feeling bad about something that isn’t his fault. And even if he works hard and earns more, so what? He shouldn’t have it? And he shouldn’t spend it on someone he loves?”

She was right. The money might make me uncomfortable, but I would probably have to figure out a way to cope with it.

I hoped she didn’t see my secret smile. Aunt Sylvia only guessed that Rafe loved me. She didn’t know that he had told me as much. No one did. Not even Whitney. It was between him and me and I intended to keep it that way. At least for a little while.

We all went together to the church bazaar. I felt bad about making them come early with me, but I had a lot of things to set up. Only it didn’t take anywhere near as long as I thought it would because the security team volunteered to help and everything got done super fast.

I enjoyed getting everything ready. I made sure the booths were set up correctly, that the silent auction was ready to accept bids, and that the food for dinner was hot and ready.

Nicole arrived, all dolled up in a little black dress for her MC-ing duties. She hugged me when she saw me. “Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you at your birthday last night, but you were a little busy.”

“Back at you,” I said. “And how are things going with Mr.Shane?”

“Um, completely perfect. Which is worrisome. Like three of the horsemen of the apocalypse are already here and I’m waiting for the fourth one to show up and destroy everything.”

“Or you have nothing to worry about because you’re amazing and Shane appreciates it.”

She was holding a plate of cookies in one hand. “He said he’d bid on my cookies. I’ve been trying to feed him more because you know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Either you’re a good cook and he’ll marry you to keep getting fed, or you’re a bad cook who will give him food poisoning, making him delirious, and then you can lock it down.”

I put my arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Things will work out the way they’re supposed to work out.”

She shook her head. “Maybe. But enough about me. What’s up with you and Rafe? Way to get back on that goat!”

“I think you mean back on that horse.”

“Back on that horse, under your prince, whatever,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Now I’m going to go put these on the auction table, and then I’m going to stuff food in my mouth until the feelings stop.”

It was time for the bazaar to start. All of Frog Hollow showed up to support the church getting a new roof, and to enjoy the socializing. I ran around the entire night, making sure that everything ran smoothly. I didn’t even get to eat dinner. There were games to supervise and an auction to oversee and activities to get going. I was so glad to be busy. It made it almost impossible for me to think about John-Paul.

Max was in a bluegrass band that met in the city, and he had convinced his bandmates to come out for the evening and play for free. They were up on the stage, and we even had people dancing to their music. Every time I made a pass around the room, I collected money from the various booths. It was so gratifying to see everybody so happy and having so much fun.

Rafe kept an eye on me the whole evening. Whenever I would look up or stop for a moment to catch my breath, he was there. Making me feel safe. And loved.

Nicole volunteered to help me count the money. “I need to know how much this auction has to earn.”

We were both disappointed when we realized we had only collected a little over ten thousand dollars. “I would have to auction everyone off for at least a thousand dollars apiece,” she said sadly. There was no way that would happen.

And it wasn’t like we could buy a third of a roof.

“Just trust in me,” she said. “I have faith we’ll do it.”

I had used up what little trust I had left on Rafe. I could probably give her some paranoia or anxiety. I still had loads of those.

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