The Heir_Billionaire Royal

by Sophia Summers

  Therese stood facing a camera. “He confided in me, so of course I knew, but he hadn’t told anyone else yet. I think he just wanted some quiet.”

  What?

  She moved closer. Then someone pointed to her and at once the noise and confusion and shouting voices surrounded her. “Are you Jo? Did you know Prince Nico? Did he tell you why he’s here?”

  Julian stood higher on the steps, catching her eye. He shook his head, then gave her a thumbs up. Nick? Was he Prince Nico? She couldn’t make any sense of this.

  Then someone shouted, “Did he tell you about his girlfriend?”

  And her knees buckled a little. She grabbed hold of the nearest person. A familiar voice reached her over the crowd. “Jo!”

  “Sierra. What?”

  “I’ll explain later. We have to get you out of here.”

  They pushed their way through the crowd, cameras following, a few reporters running with her. Until they got in Sierra’s car. “What is going on?”Jo couldn’t make sense of it.

  “Nick and Julian. They’re from Torren.”

  “What? What even is that?”

  “A country. An island off of Greece.”

  That made no sense.

  “Just drive. I’ll tell you all about it.”

  Sierra put the car in reverse and moved toward the crowd. At first they looked like they wouldn’t move so she sped up and revved the engine and they scooted out of the way pretty quickly.

  After she had circled the town a few times, and no one had raced after, Sierra started to talk. “Julian told me last night.” A pretty blush colored her cheeks. “He’s amazing, Jo. I think I’m falling for him—"

  “Look, Sierra, I’m happy for you. Can we stick to the most important quick facts right now?”

  “Did I say anything? I’m getting there.” She cleared her throat. “So they are both from this tiny island country. Nick is Prince Nico, crown prince and he is hiding out in Shady Lake for the summer.”

  “What?” She couldn’t wrap her head around any of it. “His name’s not even Nick?”

  Sierra shook her head. “That’s the first thing you can think of to say?” She laughed. “Jo, he’s incredible. Julian said he’ll be the best king their nation has ever known.” She squealed. “And you guys have a thing.”

  Jo shook her head. “We don’t have a thing.” The disappointment surprised her. They could have maybe almost had a thing. She remembered his lips hovering just above hers and warmed all over again at the thought. Did he kiss Therese? “He was all over Therese last night. ”

  Jo had just broken up with Kevin with the confidence of Nick’s arms, at least the arms of a friend. But now she was afraid. Comforting strong Nick the friend, and the Crown Prince of… whatever, felt like two separate people. “What is the name of his country?”

  “Torren.”

  “How can there be a country we have never even heard of?”

  “Does it matter?”

  She thought about it. With all the new information being thrown at her, she supposed it was the least of her worries.“So where is he?”

  “We don’t know. Julian can’t find him. He’s not answering his phone. He’s pretty sure Nick saw the crowds and went into hiding.” She jumped a little in her seat. “This is so exciting! Julian was telling me about their country. It’s stunning, surrounded by ocean. And they sail. And I am to go visit once they leave…”

  Sierra kept talking. Jo was happy for her. But she had to think. She started gathering her things, picked her bag up off the floor pocketed her cellphone. “Let’s go home.”

  “Do you mind dropping me off at my house first? Julian is going to come pick me up.”

  “Of course.” She wanted to talk it all through with her best friend, but she could tell it was not the time. Sierra’s thoughts were all over the place right now.

  12

  Jo pulled into her driveway, noting a strange car in front of the house. She entered through the garage and heard the shuffling of cards and her father’s laugh. “I don’t think you can recover from that kind of loss.”

  “I’ll do my best. There’s a lot riding on this game, sir.”

  Nick. Her heart pounded in her chest, the darkened hallway feeling too small and exposed. Was she ready to see him? And could she hide the emotional turmoil from her dad?

  “Is that you, pumpkin?” Her dad’s sweet question gave her strength.

  “Yes, Dad.” She walked the remaining steps and entered a cheery, well-lit kitchen. Her dad smiled, his eyes as bright and intelligent as they ever were. Across from him, at their small kitchen table, sat Nick, grinning, his hands full of seven cards.

  Her father gestured for her to take the open chair. “We’ll deal you in. Just started a new hand.”

  And so she did. Taking a deep breath and then letting it out slowly, she let some of her worries out with it. She could talk about all of it, think about it later.

  Nick tipped his head in question, but she just shook her head and smiled in return. “Looks like someone needs to put you boys in your places. Who’s first?”

  Her father sorted his cards. “When I met Jo’s mother, I knew right away she was the one for me.”

  Jo smiled. “Cause she was the prettiest girl at the ball.”

  He chuckled. “That’s what I’ve been telling her all these years, but the truth of it is a bit less romantic.”

  Jo leaned in, praying he wouldn’t lose his train of thought.

  “The real thing that drew me to your mother is what you two have.”

  She felt her face heat.

  Nick turned to her, his eyes sincere, their open strength surprising her.

  Her dad continued. “She was solid.” He shrugged. “That’s the only way to describe it. She kept me grounded.”

  Jo’s eyes welled, but she forced a lighthearted voice. “I can see why you stuck with the prettiest girl at the ball story.”

  He ran his thumb down her cheek. “Not as romantic, but far more lasting reason to be together.”

  She nodded, not daring to look at Nick. They could never be together. She had thought perhaps, when she broke up with Kevin, but now that she knew Nick was Nico, a prince, the difference in their situations returned like the crashing of a wave. Didn’t they have rules about who their royals could be with? She didn’t even know. And he had left with Therese.

  “I’ve got you now!” Nick startled her by shouting and he laid all his cards out at once, in neat runs or straights and placed his discard face down.

  “Oh! You’ve done it.” Her father tapped his own cards. “And I’m so close too.”

  They played several more rounds, interactions between them almost as comfortable as the day they’d met. She tried to forget all that she’d learned about him and just enjoy the moment.

  The nurse knocked and entered. “It’s time for your medication and then some lunch.”

  Nick stood. “I should get back to the store.”

  Jo started. Maybe he didn’t know about all the outside hype. “I’ll walk you out.”

  He took her hand in his, its warmth so comforting, his strong palm gently cradling her own. They made their way to the front room when he said, “Jo, we need to talk.”

  She squeezed his hand, and he led her to the back porch.

  They swung on her parent’s bench swing in a sort of charged silence for a moment until she could no longer stay quiet. “So, Prince Nico?”

  He turned to her, his mouth open in shock. “How could you know?”

  “I went by the store, looking for you.”

  “And the press was still there?”

  “Yes, Sierra and Julian were there also. She told me.”

  He nodded. “Julian can’t keep anything from a pretty woman.”

  She scoffed. “The whole town knows now, Julian or no. Therese said you told her.” Her voice broke. Somehow after everything that happened today, this was the thing that would start the tears. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes t
ight.

  “I never did.” He reached for Jo’s hand and began toying with her fingers. “She left my boat soon after she arrived.” He laced his fingers with her own. “I’m not into her.”

  “That’s a relief. My opinion of you took a dive when I saw you leave together.”

  “Oh? And what about Kevin?”

  She swallowed. “We aren’t a thing either. He’s just not…” She searched for a good word, gave up and said, “For me.”

  “That’s a relief. My opinion of you took a dive when I saw you leave together…” His eyes lit up in a teasing challenge.

  She laughed gratefully. “Oh touché, touché.” She took a breath, trying to pretend he wasn’t a prince who was about to leave and go rule his country. “I guess it took knowing you for me to realize how wrong Kevin and I are.”

  His face took on a new serious look and for a moment she could see the king inside. “I’ve had some difficult news today. And you were the first person I wanted to tell.”

  “And you for mine. That’s why I was at the store to begin with.” She ran a finger across the back of his palm. “Tell me your news.”

  He choked. It surprised her. She slid over and wrapped her arms around his neck. The position was awkward, but she tried to squeeze some comfort through her embrace.

  “This won’t do.” He lifted her and sat her on his lap, burying his face in her neck, quiet for a moment. She ached for him. He subtly wiped his eyes. She held him, waiting, comforting while he regained control. When he finally lifted his head and wiped the tears from his face, he said, “My father is ill. We don’t have answers, but he’s concerned enough he is talking about my coronation.”

  She brought a hand to the side of his face. “I’m sorry.” And she couldn’t imagine the burdens he bore at that moment. She felt completely unable to help him and felt so outside his world all she could do was listen. “Could it be a false alarm?”

  “Yes. And I cling to that thought, even at the same time I dread and worry for the opposite.”

  “When my father started to decline, I wasn’t here.” The ache of not being here for him returned every time she thought of it.

  “But you are here now.” He toyed with her fingers.

  Tingles ran up and down her arms, and she found it difficult to concentrate. “My news was nothing like that. Just that I finally broke up with Kevin.” She shrugged.

  And he chuckled. “Best news I’ve heard all day.”

  “Is it?” Her eyes widened. Sitting so close to his face, cradled in his arms, her physical closeness moved from comfort to yearning in one blink. Everywhere their bodies connected warmed her. When he adjusted his arm across her back, moving his hand through her hair, she shivered, moving closer.

  His eyes held a question. They found her lips, and he swallowed. “I’d like to change our original boundaries for the summer.”

  A hair’s breadth away, she breathed a whisper of a response. “Oh?”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  She closed her eyes and parted her lips, ready for him, hoping he would.

  His mouth covered her own. His soft lips, moving and exploring, filled her. His hands clenched at her back, pulling her closer, as close as she could be, pressed against him. And her urgency increased. She wanted this, yearned for it. For the first time in a long time a kiss felt like a completion. He filled her. Every missing space in her heart filled and the strength that came was intoxicating. She clung to him, gripping the back of his neck, pulling his face to her as if she might never stop.

  After a time, a sigh passed between them, a regretful acknowledgement. And she pulled back a little, her mouth just above his own.

  He took one breath and then grinned and opened his eyes. “Well now, that just clinched it.”

  She laughed. “What?” His lighthearted tone thrilled her.

  He wrapped his arms around her, dipping her on his lap and laying a new playful kiss on her mouth. Then he peppered several more all over her cheeks and then on the tip of her nose. “After a kiss like that, I can’t ever let you go.”

  She smiled. Then giggled. “Oh? And food? Shall we eat out here on the porch swing?”

  “I’ll survive on your kisses alone.” He touched her nose with his own. “You are an incredible woman. It’s just like your dad said. You ground me.”

  The meaning of his words flowed through her. He did the same for her, and the fact that it had worked for her parents gave her courage. Maybe she and Nick could make this work. It seemed a cruel injustice to realize how perfectly Nick fit in her life only to have him stripped from her. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  13

  Nick had never experienced such a kiss. The wind whipped through his hair, but he felt only warmth from the memory.

  “Can it be, Julian, that a kiss could totally change a person’s outlook on life?”

  “A kiss, perhaps not, a person, certainly.” He sat across from Nick on their boat, leaning back, relaxed.

  “Then you’ve never had such a kiss.”

  Julian lifted his eyebrow skeptically. “Is this what you call not having any entanglements?” But his eyes smiled, and Nick knew he approved.

  Nick pulled at the lines, tightening the sail to catch more wind. “I’m uncertain what mother will think.”

  “She will be displeased on principle but cannot help but love her when they meet.”

  Nick’s consistent fear since waking up this morning heightened. “If Jo will come. I don’t know if I can even get her to come to Torren. Her life is full. Her father needs her. And she knows nothing about me or the way I live, nothing except the country where I’m from calls me Prince Nico.” And that his father might be dying.

  “What is there to know?” Julian laughed. They both knew that she would need to be a remarkable woman indeed to take on all that would be required of her in his country. But Nick didn’t know about her future yet. All he knew was that he was a better man with her by his side, and if he were being honest, not just by his side but with his lips on hers while holding her in his arms.

  Jo awoke with a smile. Her cheeks ached as if she smiled in her dreams. Giggling, she thought that possible. Too bad she never remembered her dreams. She brushed her teeth and put her hair in a bun on top of her head, and the smile still stretched across her face.

  So many things she did not know about Nick. Prince Nico, she corrected. But she didn’t care. Whoever this man was, he made her happy, and she felt stronger with him by her side. The rest, she would just see where it led. She looked forward to a long and happy summer.

  She made plans to go for a sail.

  “Jo? Jo!” Her father’s voice sounded rough, scared, panicked maybe.

  “What is it, Daddy? I’m here.” She rushed down the stairs. He stood at the front window, hiding behind curtains.

  Fear filled her. He was having a confusion-induced panic. “Everything’s OK, Daddy.”

  “Hush. Shhh!” He waved her to quiet.

  She moved calmly to his side, prepared to tone down the rising angst. But the growing crowd on her front lawn created a panic of her own. “Daddy! What do we do?”

  The nurse came out into the living room. “Heavenly days!” She laid a hand on Jo’s father’s arm. “Should we start your breakfast, sir?”

  He waved her off. “Does this look like the time to be making breakfast? What could they want?” He turned worried eyes to Jo. “Is everything OK with the marina?”

  “Yes, of course. Let’s sit down, Daddy. This is about Nick.”

  Confusion filled his face, but anyone would have been confused. “I’m still following you, but how’s about we sit and you explain some things.”

  They sat and she turned on the television to their local news. Images of Shady Lake flashed across the screen and of the crowd gathered in front of Sweet Treats yesterday.

  “Well, how about that.” Her father watched with a wrinkled forehead.

  “Nick is a crown princ
e, Daddy.”

  A loud knock pounded on their front door. “Jo Finley? Are you in there?”

  “Careful, Jo. Don’t answer the door.” Her father gripped her hand, and she knew it was only a few more moments before he became panicked. She had heard it was a side effect of his medicine as well as a normal reaction to confusion and lack of cognizance.

  She squeezed his hand. “We won’t answer.”

  The nurse nodded in response. “I’ll be preparing you a bite to eat and get your medicine.”

  “Thank you, June.” Jo turned up the volume.

  “Why is the Crown Prince of Torren hiding out in small town South Carolina, you ask? It could have something to do with Angelika Arrington, his girlfriend.”

  Images flashed on the screen of a stunning tanned blond in a bikini draped across his body on a long sleek yacht.

  The next image showed a woman with a gently rounded belly.

  Jo gasped.

  Her father called out in welcome, “Nick!”

  Her gaze jerked in the direction her father looked. Nick stood in the doorway, out of breath, looking from the television to Jo and then her father. “Perhaps we can turn that off?” Nick’s pleading face softened her growing hurt. She pointed the remote and with the resulting quiet, the noise of the crowd became more obvious.

  Sierra and Julian joined Nick in the doorway.

  “How are you all getting in?”

  Sierra grinned. “I showed them how.”

  “Through the upper window?” Jo was amazed, when Sierra nodded.

  Nick’s eyes still held concern and his gaze had not wavered. “What you saw just now.”

  Someone pounded on the door again. “Miss Finley. Are you Prince Nico’s girlfriend? Did you know about Angelika? How long is he staying here in Shady Lake?”

  Her father’s face seemed less pinched. Once Nick arrived, he relaxed considerably. It seemed Nick had that effect on everyone, Therese, Angelika, and who knew how many others. She narrowed her eyes.

  Nick noticed immediately. “Don’t believe everything you see.”

  “Hmm.” She squeezed her father’s hand and then stood. “I will believe what I want to believe and what I’m seeing is a man who might have obligations elsewhere.”