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Henry was the king of empty regrets and a frustrating lack of answers. Either he truly didn’t have the answers, or he was impressively covering secrets to protect himself or someone else. His wife had been kidnapped by William and Naomi Rindlesbacher. Tristan had to believe that was true. If Leslie was somehow in league with the pair and Henry was tied up in that mess, Tristan didn’t know how they’d navigate such a nightmare.
He hated that he questioned the sweetheart Leslie, his mum’s best friend, and that he now doubted the man he’d once looked up to as much as his own father. Henry had always seemed to understand Tristan and appreciate his attempts at humor, no matter if his jokes were ill-timed, aimed at Henry, or immature. Tristan had imagined Henry would be his father-in-law and had counted himself blessed they had such a fabulous relationship.
The joke was on the crown prince. The love of his life had ditched him, and her father was a mess. Losing Jennifer hurt worse than the burns from the bomb that he thought would never stop burning.
The nefarious Rindlesbachers had used Leslie Shule to blackmail Henry for months. They’d also tried different cunning schemes before attempting to force Tristan’s youngest brother Malik to kill their dad, Tristan, and Henry with a bomb to protect his love Sophie Pederson and her daughter and parents. When William thankfully failed again, he, his wife, and Leslie had disappeared.
Tristan and his dad felt awful for Henry and were doing all in their power to ensure Leslie’s safe return, but they still had no idea what to believe. The constant meetings Tristan had to attend as the crown prince used to be annoying and boring, except for his and Henry’s constant jabs and banter. Now even discussing traffic patterns in the capital city seemed fraught with tension and hidden meanings. Tristan always used humor to deflect from the seriousness of his role and to keep himself sane, but lately even that had failed him. It wasn’t much fun to joke when his target, Henry, and the two people who always at least smiled at his jokes, Henry and his dad, were now stiff and uncomfortable.
The only good news of late was that his brother Steffan and his wife Hattie had returned home. The world media finally knew the truth of Hattie’s innocence and the Rindlesbachers’ deceptions. For the first time in years, Hattie didn’t have a target from the Rindlesbachers on her back. At least not a visible one.
Hattie had been framed for murder twice by the Rindlesbachers. There was no end to William, Naomi, and their son Treven’s scheming plots, some of which seemed insane but were more impressive and brilliant than Tristan wanted to admit. He feared William would somehow twist fate in his favor again. The Rindlesbachers were masters at accomplishing evil and unforeseen twists.
Thankfully, the Rindlesbachers were the ones running scared now. It was a nice twist, and Tristan could only pray William and Noami would be caught soon and join their son in prison and that Leslie Shule would come home safe.
If only her daughter would come home as well.
Tristan stared into the trees and saw a flash of a tanned arm. He should probably call Ray, get in a defensible position, and stay safe. He should probably not confront the person who may or may not be stalking him. But Tristan played cat and mouse games all day with political nonsense. He was tired of it.
He took off at a run down the trail, racing toward the person hiding behind the tree.
“Oh!” a female voice exclaimed, then she took off at a sprint, darting away from him.
That voice. That golden-brown hair with the long, soft curls trailing down her back. The fit body and lean, muscular legs. It couldn’t be, but it had to be.
“Jenn!” he called out.
She darted a gaze over her shoulder at him.
The air was knocked from Tristan’s lungs as surely as if Ray had punched him in the sternum. He almost faltered and fell to his knees to praise the Lord that she’d returned.
Instead of throwing herself into his arms, Jennifer picked up speed.
Tristan was baffled by her response. He couldn’t falter or fall to his knees and pray. Not now. Jennifer was here, within his grasp. He wanted to talk to her, touch her, look at her. He needed some answers about where she’d been, why she’d left when he needed her most, and how she could walk away and not love him any longer.
Tristan pushed his legs into an all-out sprint. His longer legs closed the distance between them.
He reached her, wrapped both hands around her upper arms, and tugged her to a stop.
“Help!” she screamed.
“Jenn.” Tristan whirled her to face him, out of breath and confused.
“No, please … I’m not supposed to …” Her eyes were wild, darting around as if someone would jump out of the bushes and tackle them. The thick lashes framing her dark eyes fluttered quickly as she refused to look at him and tried to pull away.
“Jenn … it’s me,” he said softly, releasing her and stepping back, putting his hands up in a non-threatening gesture, hurt that she either didn’t recognize him or truly didn’t know or love him any longer.
She blinked and then focused on him. Tristan braced himself. He didn’t know if he could handle Jennifer looking at his scars, seeing the revulsion and shock in those deep-brown eyes that had always seen and loved him. All of him.
Jennifer’s gaze held his, and she didn’t even look at his scars. Their souls reconnected in that moment and shesawhim, just as she always had. She saw him. She loved him. He wasn’t his scars, wasn’t the crown prince. He was the man Jennifer knew and loved—her Big Bad Wolf, her true love. The spark between them burned brighter than ever.
Hope filled his chest and made his heart race. It had to be her move as she was the one who’d left him, but it seemed a certainty that she would throw herself into his arms, they’d share the reconnection kiss of the century, and then she’d explain everything to him. There had to be a deep, dark reason she’d left. There must be a reason she’d been so terrified a moment ago.
They could fix all the agony of being apart. He’d keep her safe from whatever was scaring her. She’d reassure him of her love with her words, her gaze, and her lips. He could easily reassure her of his. No one but Jennifer would ever be the right match for him. His one true love.
Their gazes got tangled up, and he took a step closer. “Did you not know it was me?”
With all the many, many questions he needed to ask her, he wasn’t certain why he’d started there.
