The Princess and the Constable: A Standoff in the Stables
Title: The Princess and the Constable: A Standoff in the Stables
Rating: K
Pairing: Adama/Roslin
Word Count: 1,368
Summary: Princess Laura knows what she wants, but can the chivalrous Constable withstand her charms?
Author’s Note: Posted for the about_time Battleship Challenge: Team!Laura. Prompt met: 'A Battle Ensues' and 'Bring out the Big Guns'
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Ronald D. Moore. He’s a very lucky man.
This is a sequel to A Night on the Road. While not strictly necessary to enjoy this story, I would recommend reading that story first.
“Constable Adama,” Laura grinned as she walked into the stables. “How delightful to see you.”
“Your Highness,” Adama bowed his head in deference, pausing his arms’ circular movements as he lathered the flank of his gray stallion.
Moving further into the stable, Laura rested her arms upon the wooden gate of the stallion’s stall.
“Can I help saddle your horse, your Highness?” Adama seemed willing, though Laura noted he didn’t jump into action as any of her father’s lower ranking knights would have done. It wasn’t that the Constable was above such things as helping the Princess with her mount but she had sensed a distance from the man since their night in the carriage a fortnight before.
Laura waved off his offer of help but didn’t move from her position. After a moment, the knight bent back to his task, whispering soothing words to the horse as he moved about it with bucket and brush.
Since that night on the road, Adama had been spending more time here in the stables than at her father’s side. Laura knew he wasn’t out of favor with the King. He was the Kings highest ranking Knight, after all. He had been raised and trained in the castle by the High Constable before him. His own father had become a bit of an outlaw after his wife and daughter were murdered when a brigand had attacked one of the kingdoms outlying settlements. The woman who birthed William the Second hadn’t been able to care for the boy on her own and had sent him to the castle as soon as he could speak.
Of course that was all more than a decade before Princess Laura had been born. Adama had already been a young knight-in-training when Laura became old enough to notice him. She had seen him about and when she’d come of the age to notice men in a more than platonic way, she had certainly paid attention to the strong arms and broad chest of the King’s bravest knight. She’d also noticed his loyalty to her father as he rose in rank, proving himself in battles while protecting the kingdoms borders and serving as an evenhanded arbiter of justice in local disputes.
The King had been seeking Adama’s advice for sometime before Laura herself was invited to strategy meetings. At first, she had been timid around the knight. Being new to her own womanhood, she hadn’t known how to interact with this man who was neither family, servant, nor suitor. In time though, seeing her father’s trust of him, and developing her own confidence, Laura began to appreciate Adama’s shrewdness and courage. He always took time to carefully consider the problems the King put before him. Never jumping in with a poorly thought out opinion. When he did speak, it was with an efficiency of words that left Laura longing to hear more of his husky voice.
She had tried a few times to engage the knight in more personal conversation on the occasions that he accompanied her on a trip through the kingdom or when she found him browsing the castle’s massive library. But the Constable simply paid his respects and made an excuse for being needed elsewhere.
Her cajoling him into her carriage had been more than survival instincts. She was fairly certain the Constable knew this but he was too much of a gentleman to call her on it and too much of a loyal servant to refuse. Nonetheless, he had been more than proper throughout the night, despite her own propensity to cuddle. Normally with her pillows, but on that night the Constable’s body had been a blazing furnace and Laura had woken in the morning to find herself tangled in its embrace. He seemed to have already been awake and had quickly made his entreaties to return to his men outside the carriage and prepare for the journey to the castle.
Laura had let him go, noting that though he avoided touching her in the small space, he did catch her eye as he withdrew his sword from its resting place, a look of muted longing as he seemed to catalogue her features and, Laura fantasized, the memories of his night with her as well.
But like the chivalrous knight he was, Adama hadn’t spoken to her since and it was beginning to grate on Laura’s nerves. She was surrounded lately by suitors wishing to lavish attention on her but the one man in all the kingdom she actually wanted to have take notice seemed eager to go the other way. And she was going to do something about that.
“I was beginning to think you were avoiding me,” Laura said, disrupting the heavy silence of the stable that had only been broken by stamping hooves and whinnying horses.
Adama’s head snapped up from where he was now cleaning out a hind hoof. His eyes were wide as he stared at the Princess, her arms crossed on the wood beam, her bosom peaking over the edges of her embroidered bodice.
“If you need assistance in the stables, Your Highness, I have already offered to oblige and been refused,” Adama said gruffly.
“I was not referring to this morning Constable and I think you know it,” Laura’s left brow rose in challenge. Adama’s own eyes seemed to narrow, nearly concealing his bright blue eyes.
The Knight seemed unwilling to directly answer the challenge so Laura continued, “When you are done caring for your steed, Constable, I would enjoy your company on a ride out to the lake. There’s an area along the north shore I have been endeavoring to convince father to let me build a summer cabin. The sun rises along the water, making it seem as crystal in the morning.” Laura’s voice had turned wistful, her gaze drifting off as though she was already standing on the porch of her cabin by the lake.
“As you wish, Your Highness,” the deference in Adama’s tone grated on Laura’s fantasy. She huffed loudly and her hands snapped to her hips before being crossed under her ample bosom.
“Not as I wish,” Laura snapped. “I am asking if you would like to join me, Constable. Not ordering you to.” Her voice began to soften. “Would you not enjoy an afternoon in my company, sir?”
Adama had the good sense to look Laura in the eye, noting a vulnerability he had never seen before in the strong-willed woman. The truth was, William Adama knew he would probably greatly enjoy an afternoon with the Princess. But that was the problem. She was a princess and he a servant of the King. She may not understand the bounds of propriety but he would certainly not allow the reputation of the heir to the throne to be tarnished on his account.
Not willing to lie to the fair maiden, Adama used his duty as Constable to make his excuse. “My apologies, Your Highness. I have many duties to attend to this day. If it is a companion you seek, I am certain my Second’s wife, Ellenore, would be happy to oblige. She is an enthusiastic conversationist.”
Laura recognized the battle as lost. If William Adama would recommend Ellenore Tigh as a companion to the Princess, he was sincerely desperate to be away from her. It seemed Laura would have to raise the stakes if she wished to win this war.
Stepping back from the stall door, Laura tossed her thick auburn braid over one shoulder, she cocked her hip, one hand rested on her slim waist, the other tracing the lace lined edge of her bodice. Watching Adama’s eyes follow the trail of her fingers, Laura’s body heated. She grinned wide when she caught the knight’s eyes at last. Yes, this battle was far from over.
In a sickly sweet tone, Laura said, “Thank you Constable, but I believe I’ll visit the dressmaker instead. I’ve decided another order of this lace may be in order. Don’t you think?”
Without waiting for a reply, Laura turned quickly and sauntered down the center of the stables and out into the fresh air. All the while, feeling a heated gaze upon her back.