TBAT-Christopher

by Anne, Melody

  She didn’t realize she’d said it out loud until she found herself being hauled from the water and pulled against his chest.

  Yet he suddenly pushed her away, wrapped the robe around her, and did up the tie before throwing a towel around his waist. And then he was lifting her into his arms — and throwing her over his shoulders as he moved away from the pool in haste.

  “Wh . . . what are you doing?” she gasped. She was hanging down his naked back, for goodness’ sake. The world was spinning on its axis.

  “I’m taking you to my bedroom. To my bed. I think I explained that plan before.”

  “Ohhh.” That was all she could say.

  They barely made it to his room before he tossed her on the bed unceremoniously — a severe lack of proper behavior in a prince! — and proceeded to make love to her. For hours and hours. She forgave him for his caveman tactics.

  They only emerged from the bed long enough to call for food and to shower, and then they went right back. And that shower had its interesting moments.

  She’d never shower again without picturing herself on her knees, taking him deep inside her mouth. The two of them had obviously never had a problem in the lovemaking department; they fit so naturally together, in every way.

  They must have been truly in love, she thought later as she lay against his chest and fell asleep with his arms possessively around her. She’d fallen in love with him all over again.

  Chapter Ten

  Our father has asked, so to speak, that you come home right away. News has gotten out that you have a potential bride whom you’ve hidden away here on your private island.”

  Chris frowned as he looked at his brother — now his country’s king — and then he said, “I’m not ready to go back yet.”

  “You can only hide out for so long, brother. I understand wanting to keep the woman away from our customs, from our people, from it all, until you absolutely have to return to the real world. I too wanted more freedom than we’re allowed. But you are a prince, and it’s time to come home.”

  “What if we get there and she remembers everything?” Chris asked Xander. He was speaking to his brother, not to his king.

  “I’m not sure what you’re saying to me,” Xander asked. “What really happened between the two of you?” He walked over to the bar and poured himself a nice glass of scotch. “Be precise.”

  “She was sort of . . . well . . . she kind of told me I could go to hell . . .”

  “Good heavens, Christopher! You’re speaking like a commoner now. An American! And what happened next?”

  “ I . . . well, I did what we’re supposed to do. I took her,” Chris said, shifting on his feet.

  “Hah! I knew she hadn’t come of her own free will. You were looking just a little too on edge when we came to your rescue after that sensational plane crash of yours,” Xander said. And he guffawed. “Did you engineer that too?”

  “This isn’t the time to mock me, brother. Right now, I’m worried,” Chris told him as he marched up to the bar, poured himself a drink, and downed it quickly.

  “Any time is the right time to mock you, Christopher. But I do understand what you’re going through. I’ll be candid. As you know all too well, I thought that I would lose Reanna, certainly lose her, after what I’d done and with all that drama. But it all worked out despite everything. She is now my wife. We have a beautiful child together, and another on the way. It doesn’t matter how the journey begins, ultimately. What matters is how it ends.”

  Chris was silent for several moments as he thought about his brother’s words. “Do you think Adara will ever forgive me when she finds out what I have done?”

  “Do you love her?” Xander asked him.

  “I . . . I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

  “Not relevant? That’s what it’s all about. If you love her, then tell her. Show her the man, not the prince, and let her love you back.”

  “When did you become so damn wise, Xander?” Chris was trying to insert a bit of humor into this heavy conversation, but his heart was far too full to pull it off.

  “The moment I met Reanna — that’s when. I thought I was saving my country, that I was protecting my royal title and doing what I was meant to do. Duty and honor and love of country. I never for one minute realized that Reanna was the one saving me, protecting me, and making me a better man, a man capable of ruling with compassion and great love.”

  “I just don’t know what I feel. I’m eaten up with guilt now and I can’t figure anything out. Do I love this woman or do I just want her to be mine? A sort of possession, I suppose. And a means to an end.”

  “Can you imagine living without her?” Xander asked his youngest brother.

  “Not for even a second,” Chris said without hesitation.

  “Then you have a starting place. It’s all happened quickly, and though there isn’t a fixed time on falling in love, there is a limit on how much a person can take. Just know that if you care about her, you must tell her. The truth — the whole truth. It will be difficult, and I doubt she’ll take it well. But there’s hope. I was certain that I’d lost Reanna forever. We were meant to be together, though, and we managed to find a way.”

  “Thank you, Xander. I will tell Adara that I’m taking her to the palace. Maybe I’ll tell her about all of this after the marriage.”

  “That is your choice, my brother. But I need hardly repeat to you the famous lines about a woman scorned, which includes being lied to,” Xander said with a smile. “Terrifying as hell.”

  Chris found his sense of humor again. “Ah, but she is no match for me.”

  “Of course not,” Xander told him with a laugh. “You know, I once thought the very same thing.”

  The king left after his little brother promised to return home the next day. And Chris went to find his fiancée. Today wouldn’t be the day he told her the truth. That could wait. For now, he was focused solely on getting her to the altar and making her legally his before she could walk away from him again.

  It would all work out. He was a prince, after all. Didn’t stories about princes always have happy endings?

  Chapter Eleven

  Adara sat across from Chris, looking at him over a table lit with candles. The waiter poured out a little wine, and after sniffing and tasting it, Chris nodded. The man poured them each a full glass and disappeared.

  Chris lifted his glass to her, and a bead of moisture on his lips made her want to knock those candles over, reach across, and pull him to her. There was something in his manner that she couldn’t resist, making it impossible not to find ways to touch him these days.

  Meeting his father hadn’t been nearly as terrifying as she’d thought it would be, but still, she was an American and didn’t know the first thing about how to address royalty. What if she did something completely wrong and caused an uproar?

  Ugh! Whoever said life was easy had obviously never been engaged to a prince before. She’d heard mention of princess lessons. Maybe she would have to take them if she planned on staying with this man, which at the moment, anyway, she most certainly did.

  “Why the look of concern, agape mou?”

  “What does that mean?”

  “‘My love,’” he answered. “It’s Greek. But I’m versatile. Would you rather I said something similar in French?”

  “You can say it in any language,” she said, her heart beating faster.

  “Je t’adore. That, of course, is a full sentence and not just a term of endearment.”

  “Ooh, that’s very pretty,” she said with a sigh.

  “It means that I adore you — it reminds me of your name, Adara. I have just one more thing to say,” he told her with a smile. He reached across the table and took her hand, then pulled a black velvet box from his pocket. “Veux-tu m’épouser?”

  She gazed blankly at him, tryi
ng to figure out what he meant, until he opened the box and a beautiful diamond ring was sparkling up at her. She looked from the ring to his face and back at the large round-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds.

  “You . . . um . . . you’re going to have to speak in English,” she gasped, her heart absolutely racing now.

  “Will you be my wife, Adara?” he asked, stroking the back of her hand with his long fingers.

  “I don’t quite know how to respond. I feel as if we don’t really know each other,” she said, afraid to even look at the ring again.

  “Just tell me you will become my bride. Everything will fall naturally into place after that.”

  “But you said that we’re already engaged.”

  “We had agreed to be married,” he told her. He glanced away for a moment before reaching into the velvet box. He pulled out the ring, lifted her limp hand, and put the diamond on her finger.

  It was a perfect fit, of course. These royals never got anything wrong. Or that’s the way it seemed.

  “I think I want to marry you,” she finally said, her emotions now all over the map. It wasn’t joy that she felt, but it wasn’t sorrow. She had only two weeks’ worth of memories with this man; she wished so seriously that she could remember all the rest.

  “That’s all we need for now. The rest will grow over time,” he told her, rubbing the back of her hand in soothing circles.

  They sat in silence as the courses of their meal were served, each in its turn. Even with all these succulent dishes set before her, Adara had a difficult time forcing herself to eat anything.

  Why was she the least bit reluctant about marrying this man? He was perfect in every sense of the word. He was kind, spontaneous, romantic, and giving. He was what every rational woman dreamed about having in a partner. And yet she couldn’t shake this feeling that something was wrong.

  But maybe that was just because she just couldn’t remember what had happened before. He surely hadn’t changed dramatically after the plane crash. No person could do that. So if she’d agreed to marry him earlier, why should she hesitate now?

  She shouldn’t. It broke her heart to be suffering under such a nagging sensation at all.

  “You can tell me what you’re thinking. Please, Adara,” Chris said after the silence had stretched on for too long.

  “I can’t tell you, because I don’t understand it. I just know that I’m in a country I’ve never visited before, and I’m with a man I definitely have feelings for but don’t understand why, and I have a whole life that’s a blank to me. When I’m with you, I’m contented. And yet something inside me tells me that I’m missing the bigger picture.”

  “I understand that you’re frightened, my love — I can’t imagine that loss of memory is easy. But I’ll do everything in my power to make you a very happy woman.”

  “Why do we need to rush all of this, though? Why can’t we take our time?”

  “In my country, princes must be wed by their thirtieth birthday. I didn’t give a . . . whatever . . . for the longest time. I was willing to throw away my title instead of following the rules of a place I was unsure that I even cared about anymore . . .”

  Now she was really worried. “Is that why you want to marry me?” The question hurt as she asked it.

  “No. I assure you of that. I didn’t plan to marry . . . until I found you. I knew then that I didn’t want to live without you. And my sentiments for you made me understand that I did love my country. You opened my heart. And when I finally saw that I could have the best of both worlds, it calmed me. It saved me. I care about you, Adara — I can’t tell you how much — and I know that you feel the same for me. Though we might seem to be rushing this, love doesn’t work according to any set calendar.” Sheesh. Now he was parroting Xander’s words.

  “I’m truly sorry I don’t have the words that you want to hear,” she said, sadness overtaking her.

  “You can take your time, Adara. None of this has been easy on you.”

  “I need to . . . powder my nose,” Adara told him. She needed a few minutes alone needed them desperately.

  He released her hand and she stood up on shaky legs. And she nearly dissolved in tears when he stood at the same time. She loved the custom, loved how attentive a true gentleman he could be. But she just didn’t love not having the answers she needed.

  Standing in front of the mirror, Adara pulled out her lipstick and refreshed her makeup. She was trying so hard to remember who she was and what she believed in.

  Nothing was coming back to her, nothing at all, even as she pondered her reflection.

  “Are you enjoying yourself with Prince Christopher?”

  Adara’s eyes met a dark-haired woman’s gaze in the mirror. The woman certainly wasn’t smiling — hell, a deep rage seemed to be burning in this new stranger’s eyes. She was extremely beautiful, with her luxurious hair piled up artfully on her head, and her almost golden eyes highlighted by an expert stylist.

  Adara turned to face the woman. “Do I know you?” she asked.

  “No, but you should,” the woman said, her voice not rising, but scorn dripping from it.

  “I’m so sorry, but I’m having a difficult time remembering anyone,” Adara said. “It’s a long story. What is your name?”

  “My name is of no concern to you. All you need to know is that I don’t appreciate whatever spell you have put on my Christopher. He and I were quite happy together before you seduced him. An American, of all things. So tacky — I think that’s a word you know. And now I see you’re wearing my ring.”

  “I . . . I don’t understand.” Adara took an instinctive step back. Just her luck to be in the very quiet bathroom alone with such a woman. A woman who spoke in what appeared like a stream of strange italics.

  “Christopher and I have known each other since we were young. Our parents knew we would one day be joined together in matrimony. They planned it. And our romance lasted for years. Then he left for America, hiding away like a coward from his country and his responsibilities. When he returned, he had you in tow,” she said, and she took a step closer to Adara.

  “He never mentioned that he’d been dating anyone else — not that I know of, at least,” Adara said.

  “One expects princes to sow their wild oats. It’s a part of their genes, and one learns to turn a blind eye to these . . . derelictions of duty. Or indiscretions, if you will. But this is outside of enough. He’s placed a ring on the finger of one of his whores. That is unacceptable.”

  Adara couldn’t help but blink, though she tried to keep her thoughts to herself. She didn’t owe this woman any explanations at all, but even if she’d wanted to give her any, she wouldn’t have been able to. And all she really wanted at this moment was to get far, far away.

  “I see you’re afraid of me. That’s excellent. I can be a great friend, but I’m a nightmare as an enemy. And to make myself clear, if I haven’t already, you are most certainly my enemy.” The woman moved even closer, and her breath fanned Adara’s face.

  “I’m sorry. I truly am. If Christopher is indeed in love with you, though, I can’t imagine he would . . . be with me. He’s an honorable man,” Adara said, finding strength as she said the words. She wasn’t about to cower anymore, dammit.

  “Hah! Honorable. You don’t know your ‘Prince Charming’ at all. None of them know the least thing about honor. They do what they need to do to live in the manner to which they’re born.”

  “If you really feel that way, why in the world would you want to marry this man?” Adara asked her.

  “We are perfectly suited in every way. My noble lineage goes back many more centuries than you, as an American, could possibly comprehend. He and I would produce splendid offspring.”

  “That’s not a reason to marry,” Adara told her. “Love should enter into the equation.”

  “You American
s and your silly notions. What’s love got to do with it? It’s about responsibility and traditions. And it’s about genetics.”

  Adara blinked. “I feel sorry for you,” she said. “You’re obviously a very unhappy woman.” She was done with this conversation.

  She scooted around this insane person and was reaching for the door when the woman grabbed her.

  “Don’t you dare feel sorry for me, you little bitch. You’re the one who will be sorry.” And then she let go and was suddenly gone.

  Adara took a moment to compose herself before returning to the table where Chris was sitting. He looked up with his usual welcoming smile, but that smile quickly turned to concern.

  “Has something upset you?” he asked as he rose, rushed toward her, and took her hands. “What is wrong?”

  “It’s nothing. I just think the food didn’t agree with me.”

  She wasn’t pleased with herself for deceiving him in that way, but she was reluctant to tell him about her visitor. Not yet, anyway. She had a lot to think about.

  “I am sorry, Adara. Let me get you back to the palace.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her on the way back, and that helped — it helped more than she wanted it to. Being with him made her so happy. Or it did most of the time. Maybe she should just deep-six her feelings of unease, forget about the strange woman in the restaurant restroom, and just enjoy this moment, enjoy her time with Prince Christopher of Rubare Collina.

  Yes, maybe that was exactly what she’d do.

  Chapter Twelve

  As Adara walked along the paths in the large gardens behind the palace, she came to a decision. Would she ever regain her memory? Who really knew? And she couldn’t just wait with that sort of uncertainty, wait indefinitely to live her life. Yes, all she had to go by at this point was the way she felt when she was with Chris now. Prince Chris. Prince Christopher. His Royal Highness.

  Yes, that was a lot to deal with. But she felt wonderful.

  So, even though she was still assailed by feelings of doubt, she knew she was going to marry this man. How could it be wrong? After all, it was already a decision she’d made, wasn’t it?