“I hate to be unfriendly,” Coco said.
“It’s about survival,” Sarah said. “We have to survive the incoming.”
The phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Coco said as Emma continued to babble.
“I’ll let you,” Sarah said and turned back to stirring her pot.
Coco scooted around the corner to grab the phone in the den and almost collided with Benjamin. “Oh, I didn’t know you were here,” she said.
Emma stared at Benjamin’s hat and immediately stopped babbling. “She really doesn’t like that hat,” Sarah muttered.
Rolling his eyes, Benjamin removed it. “I’ll get the phone,” he said, picking up the receiver.
Coco went after him. “You might not want to do—”
“Garner Ranch,” he said and listened. He wrinkled his brow and his face became more and more perturbed. “Wait a minute. Wait, wait a minute. You say you’re a DJ at a radio station, and you want to interview Princess Coco Jordan?”
Benjamin glanced at her. She cringed and shook her head.
“She doesn’t want to be interviewed,” he said and opened his mouth as if he were going to say goodbye. He listened a moment longer and his eyes grew wide with disbelief. “You want to have a reality competition for men who want to marry a princess? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life—” He broke off and shook his head. “You say you’ve already got fifty men signed up? I don’t care if you’ve got a million. It’s not gonna happen. Ever. Got it? Goodbye.”
He hung up the phone and turned to her. “We’re gonna need a different strategy.”
* * *
That night after she put Emma to bed, Coco returned to her bedroom, pulled on a sweatshirt and crept downstairs and out the back door. Her mind whirling a mile a minute, she circled the house. She started out at a fast jog. What was her blood brother like? Were any of those royals worth knowing? Would any of them consider her worth knowing?
Coco had always dreamed of having brothers and sisters, but her parents had told her she was their everything. In retrospect, she’d felt more than a little pressure from that. She’d always wanted to be the best student, the best artist, the best singer, the best fisher, the best athlete, but in truth, she’d been mostly average.
Oh, she’d been a good speller and her grades had spiked into Dean’s List territory every now and then, but along the way, she’d learned that she couldn’t be Miss Perfect. And she’d felt a little guilty about it, especially when she’d overheard her parents arguing about money and learned that her parents had spent their life savings to adopt her.
After a time, she’d seen that her requests for a sibling had pained her mother and father, so she’d stopped voicing them. But she’d never stopped wanting a brother or sister or both. And now, she technically had brothers and sisters, all for the taking. Yet she felt as if it were all a bad joke, because she sensed they would regard her as a complication, perhaps a threat.
Which was so ridiculous, because she wasn’t a nasty person.
Why couldn’t she put this craziness out of her mind? The onslaught of the press didn’t help, but she just wished she could turn it all off at night when she went to bed. So far, no luck.
Suddenly, Benjamin appeared by her side, walking with her. “Something bothering you?” he asked in his low drawl.
“It’s been a strange day,” she said a little breathlessly. She inhaled quickly, superaware of his height and muscular frame.
“I’ll say,” he said. “Which bothered you most?” he asked. “Eunice and Timmy? Or the reality competition for your hand in marriage?”
She shot him a dirty look. Ordinarily, she would have been more careful with her reaction to her boss.
He chuckled and gave her a quick elbow. “Looks like you’ve got some extra energy. You need to run,” he said and started to jog.
She couldn’t not accept his dare, so she quickened her stride. Coco noticed that Benjamin wasn’t breathing hard. “Were you a football player when you were in high school?”
“And college,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged and upped her speed a bit. “Just curious. You’re big, but fit,” she said.
“Big?” he echoed. “I was one of the little guys on the team. But thanks for the compliment. It helps to move around a lot during the day. You should know with all the moving you do for Emma.”
She nodded, concentrating on her pace and breathing.
“You still didn’t answer my question about why we’re running,” he said.
“I don’t know why you are running,” she said.
“Okay, I can settle that. I’m running to keep up with you. Why are you running?”
She ran several more steps. “I don’t want to have to deal with all this right now. I just started taking care of Emma. Sarah has been a good sport, but it’s not fair to her to have to answer all these crazy phone calls.”
“Yeah,” he said. “What else?”
She continued jogging then slowed. Then walked. “I don’t want to want to meet them,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest. “I don’t want to care if I ever see one of them face-to-face.”
“But you do want to meet them. I would want to,” he said, walking beside her.
“You said that before,” she said, looking at him.
“Sure. I’ve got brothers, but I’ve always known them,” he said.
She nodded, taking a deep breath. “The trouble is I don’t want to go by myself, and I can’t think of anyone to go with me.”
“Hmm,” he said.
Her heart twisted. “And it’s such bad timing.”
He rubbed his chin. “It could be worse.”
“How?” she asked.
“It’s not calving season,” he said and met her gaze. “How would you feel about having Emma and me tag along for your trip to Chantaine?”
She gaped at him in amazement. “Are you joking?”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my heart,” he said. “You’re the best one for Emma, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you.”
Coco blinked while his words sank in. Allrighty. She was totally confused for an entire moment, until she realized that Benjamin was still desperate to keep Emma happy, even though his daughter had stopped screaming at the very sight of him.
The next day, numerous bouquets of flowers, invitations and fruit baskets arrived. The arrivals kept Boomer busy as he tried to greet each deliveryman. Benjamin made a new message for the voice mail and no one was required to pick up the house phone. His men kept all visitors at bay.
Coco breathed a sigh of relief several times throughout the day. Sarah was more relaxed. Even the baby seemed more at ease. The conversation she’d had with Benjamin made her feel alternately uneasy and anxious. Was she really going to Chantaine to meet her half siblings? Had Benjamin really agreed to go with her? And take Emma?
Coco wondered if she’d dreamed it.
“There’s