CHAPTER FOUR
PRINCE CHARMING
The morning brought far too much noise from squealing, crying children for the Major’s liking. He soon realized why the high school had been chosen as the main evacuation shelter. There was plenty of room in the gymnasium, ample toilet and shower facilities, as well as a good-sized cafeteria for food preparation and distribution.
When he went to see what might be considered edible for breakfast, he was amazed when someone managed to scrounge up a jar of Nescafé for him. The Major wasn’t sure if this was because he was supposed to be security or because he was being looked upon as a local hero. Either way, he was grateful not to have to endure what was currently being passing off as coffee. He decided he would endure the hero worship a little longer when it earned him a personalized breakfast and a carton of cigarettes. Now, if he could just figure out how to keep the tittering females at bay.
Just walking toward the noisy gymnasium was enough to give the Major a headache. He found himself questioning his decision to throw away the painkillers. He went outside to smoke, leaning against the building and taking in the bright, clear day that was so markedly different from only twenty-four hours earlier.
“You sick of it in there, too?” a voice said from nearby.
Klaus merely grunted as a boy who was probably only sixteen walked over to him.
“Yeah, me, too.”
Klaus lit a cigarette and noticed the boy looking longingly at him. “No,” he said firmly as he put the cigarettes back into his pocket.
The boy kicked at grass with the toe of his shoe. “It’s bad enough I gotta come here with my baby sister,” he moaned, “but I can’t even score any action.”
Klaus rolled his eyes, silently puffing at his cigarette.
“Y’know what I mean, man?”
“No,” Klaus said coldly. “I’m not here to score any action.”
“Good thing. That new guy has all the girls gooey-eyed.” The boy wiggled his fingers and made a face before going back to kicking at the dirt. “You hear what they’re callin’ him? Prince Charming? Can you believe it?”
Klaus was hoping this meant the females who had been dogging him the previous evening now had a new target. Then he heard the boy say, “Just because he’s got some fancy English accent they go all—”
“English accent?” the Major snapped. “What does he look like?”
“Who?”
“Who do you think, idiot? Bloody Prince Charming that you’ve been whining to me about.”
“What do you care?”
The Major gave a low growl and the boy took a step back. “Hey, man, I don’t want any trouble.”
“Good. Where is this…Prince Charming?”
* * *
Apparently, “Prince Charming” was holding court in one of the classrooms that was being used for those with minor injuries. There were several cots set up in each room. After hearing the description, Klaus had no doubt that Prince Charming was the missing Earl of Gloria, who had apparently arrived some time during the night after being pulled from a swimming pool.
The Major looked in one room after another, finally finding the one he wanted. Then he stood in the doorway, staring in a stunned silence. The man in question was indeed the missing Earl. He was sitting up in bed, covered with bandages, battered, bruised, and surrounded by women. Women? Fawning, gushing females were lavishing attention on the unprotesting Earl of Gloria. What the hell?“Oh, you poor, poor man,” one of the woman was saying as she took a glass from the Earl’s hand. “What a terrible experience.”
“Yes, I suppose it must’ve been,” Dorian replied mildly.
Klaus scowled. Must’ve been? He was all the more bewildered when the Earl looked up at him, acknowledging his presence with only a small smile. “Is that all the greeting I get, Lord Gloria?” he asked as he entered, giving the women a disgusted look.
Dorian’s eyes grew wide and he sat up, suddenly seeming to forget his ardent admirers. “Do you know me?” he asked firmly.
Klaus gave a derisive snort. “You’re joking?”
“No, honestly.”
The Earl’s eyes had a lost, helpless look that the Major had never seen before. Nor did his voice sound quite right. It lacked its usual edge of self-assurance, and there was a pleading quality to it that Klaus found very unnerving.
“I don’t know who I am,” Dorian was saying. “Nobody seems to know who I am.” He gave the Major a searching look. “Please, do you really know me?”
Several things flashed through the Major’s mind in the space of a few seconds. Eroica without a memory! Here was his chance to humiliate the Earl beyond reason. To turn him into a man. To mold him into a productive member of society. Then when—if—he got his memory back, he would hate him with every fiber of his being and leave him alone. Forever!
Klaus looked into the enormous blue eyes staring pleadingly at him and sighed heavily. “You are Dorian Red Gloria, the Earl of Gloria,” he stated flatly.
This caused a great deal of excitement among the Earl’s assembled worshipers.
“We were right, you are royalty!”
“Oh, an Earl. How romantic!”
“I like Prince Charming better.”
Dorian waved a hand for silence, repeating his own name to himself and shaking his head. It did not sound in the least familiar. “And you are…?”
“Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach.”Again, the women reacted with titters and remarks about the Major’s military rank.
Klaus rolled his eyes. “Lord Gloria, if we could dispense with your…harem?” This remark received giggles of approval that made his skin crawl.
Dorian responded with a dazzling smile. This, at least, was no different. He turned to his admirers. “If you could excuse us, ladies?” he said politely.
The Major stepped aside as the group left the room. Then he closed the door, giving the Earl a steady look. “You had better not be playing me for a fool, Eroica,” he said coldly.
Dorian frowned. “I thought you said my name was Dorian.”
“Eroica is your…professional name.” Klaus took a seat and lit a cigarette. The Earl’s bewilderment seemed genuine, but he was not going to take this at face value. He was, after all, an excellent actor. “You remember nothing?”
Dorian shook his head and then regretted it, a hand going to his head. “Oh, my head is killing me.” He leaned back and closed his eyes. “I have a lovely bump on the back of my head that they tell me might be why I don’t remember anything.”
“What do you remember?”
“I remember waking up wet.”
Klaus scowled. “Wet?”
“I seem to’ve landed in someone’s swimming pool with very little clothing and a lot of wood.”
“You don’t remember the tornado?
“No.”
“Or being carried off?”
“No.” Dorian’s eyebrows went up. “I was carried off?”
Klaus held up the hand bearing the scratches. “You were pulled out of my hand.”
Dorian put a hand to his mouth, his eyes growing wide. “I did that?”
“Yes.”
Dorian took hold of the Major’s hand to get a closer look at the scratches. It was all Klaus could do not to snatch his hand away. The Earl compared the scratches to the fingers of his own hand and then shook his head. “I don’t remember. I just don’t…” He sighed heavily, letting go of the Major’s hand. “They said I’ll probably remember in a day or two. That…something familiar will…” He shook his head again. “But nothing seems familiar.”
“That’s not surprising,” the Major remarked. “You’re not from here. We were just passing through and got caught in the storm.”
Dorian’s eyebrows went up. “That explains it, I suppose.” He gave the Major a searching look. “You really do know me?”
Unfortunately! “Yes.”
“And…we’re friends?”
The Major had to fight not to voice his opinion on this. “We…work together from time to time,” he said evasively. He got to his feet. “You should rest.”
“Klaus…” Dorian broke off when a dark look came the other man’s face. “That’s your name, isn’t it?” he asked nervously.
“You call me Major.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. We are not friends, Lord Gloria,” the Major stated flatly. He stopped short of telling him why, and that he hated him with every fiber of his being and wished him dead.
“Oh,” Dorian replied meekly. “I’m sorry if I offended you, Major.”
The Major’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Do you have a place to sleep?” he heard himself asking. Then he wanted to kick himself. The idiot will jump all over that one. To his amazement, the Earl did not respond with his usual indecent proposals and innuendo.
“They want me to stay in here for a bit.” Dorian replied mildly. He gave a small smile. “It’s supposed to be quieter, but the ladies…”
The Major rolled is eyes. “I have to check the other rooms,” he said as he turned to the door. “I’m supposed to be security here.”
“Will you…come back later?”
“Why?”
Dorian saw an angry look pass over the Major’s face. He could not help wondering if they were enemies. He tried to push this terrifying thought out of his head. Alone with no memory and with an enemy. He ended up giving the Major a confused look. “I…um…”
“Rest,” Klaus ordered. “We’ll talk later.”
Dorian watched as the man vanished through the door. “Later, Major.” He struggled to place the man’s face in his mind. Struggled to remember something, anything, beyond waking up cold, sore, and soaking wet. Nothing. He sighed heavily and curled up under the blanket. Perhaps if he got some sleep he would remember something. Hopefully.
* * *