by Leila Haven
I hoped he found his wife soon so we could all go home. Hopefully he wouldn’t play around for infinity while we were all stuck here as show ponies for him. Any longer here in the palace and I was going to go crazy.
“He’s so sexy,” the woman next to me growled. She had leaned closer to me, like this was a confidential conversation.
I shrugged. “He’s alright.”
“Alright? Do your eyes not work? Look at that ass. All I can think of is squeezing those cheeks. Doing that while underneath him would be even better.”
The girl from my other side leaned in too, joining the conversation. “I heard he’s a tiger in the sack. Like scream-your-heart-out tiger. Someone said he could do it all night, just keep going and going.”
That was more information than I needed to hear.
“I heard the family jewels are something he should be very proud of.”
“I bet they are.”
“I wouldn’t mind testing out that scepter.”
The women laughed and I just wanted to throw up. Seeing the prince’s family jewels or riding his scepter was of no interest to me. When so many others had been there already, why bother?
It did, however, pique my curiosity. The playboy prince had been in the tabloids more than any celebrity in the country. He was often photographed stumbling from a club at three a.m. with a woman on each arm.
Trying to imagine him with a cleaned up image and posing for wedding photos was laughable. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to change his priorities so quickly?
It would have taken a miracle.
I excused myself to go to the bathroom, but it was really to get as far away from that horrendous conversation as possible. When I returned, I found a more secluded spot in the corner and tried to look as unapproachable as possible.
* * * * *
When midnight came around, I couldn’t wait to leave. I headed toward the gates, determined to get through this time.
They were in sight when someone tapped my shoulder from behind. “Excuse me, Miss Parker. I have this for you.” The boy would have been in his teens but bore the uniform of the royal house staff. He handed me a small envelope, sealed with a piece of wax.
Clearly the palace hadn’t heard about self-sealing envelopes. They could probably save a lot of time if they did.
“Thank you,” I said automatically as I accepted the envelope. The kid merged back into the landscape of the palace grounds and disappeared.
The gates were open in front of me and the guards at the side. I didn’t want to hang around for a moment longer. I slipped the envelope into my bag and hurried out.
It played on my mind the entire way back to the hotel. I both dreaded and was intrigued by what could be inside. With any luck it would be a dismissal so I could go home and not have to attend any more meet and greets.
My aunt Helen was already asleep in our room. Even though I was twenty-three years old, my mother wouldn’t let me go to the ‘big city’ by myself. Mom was too busy working so Aunt Helen graciously stepped in for me.
I clicked on a single lamp as I sat down and pulled out the envelope. It was another invitation, this time to a garden party that was to take place tomorrow.
Great.
Another speed dating session.
The invitation was addressed to me personally, in cursive handwriting that looked like it was written by someone from two hundred years ago. Nobody wrote that neatly anymore.
There was no place to RSVP on the invitation. Even better, this one was as optional as the last. It may have asked me to attend the garden party, but I knew it was another summons. Just like the one that had brought me to the capital.
Helen was going to be excited.
Too bad she was the only one.
Chapter 3
Richard
҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉
“You have to take this seriously, Richard.” Anna wrinkled her nose while she tried to be angry with me. She was recently tasked with finding me a wife and I think she thought it an impossible task. “It’s not a nightclub where you can take any girl home and throw her out in the morning.”
“I am taking it seriously. I spoke to hundreds of girls last night.” I wasn’t lying, I had the sore feet to prove it. If one more woman stood on my toes they were going to fall off.
“Dozens, not hundreds. I watched you, you just didn’t put any real effort into knowing the women.”
“What was I supposed to do? It was a ball.”
She stood with her hands on her hips. The angry fumes rolling off her were almost visible. Poor Anna, she thought my mother liked her and now she was tasked with the impossible.
Her hands were thrown in the air as she stormed back to her desk. She took a few deep breaths while sliding the chair in. “Maybe the garden party today will allow you to have more time with the girls.”
“I’ll try my best.”
She sighed again, knowing that was a lie. It wasn’t like I wasn’t trying, just that the whole thing seemed to be a farce to me. People weren’t supposed to get married like this. They were supposed to stumble home together, drunk out of their minds, and fuck for a few hours. If they were still together in the morning, it went from there.
Balls and garden parties were never going to cut it.
Booze, that’s what we needed.
“You better get going or you’ll be late,” Anna said as a dismissal. “Make sure to change.”
“What’s wrong with my clothes?” The jeans and polo shirt I had on seemed perfectly adequate to me. She shot me another angry glare. “Okay, I’ll change.”
She didn’t watch me leave.
When I got back to my room I changed into some brown chinos and paired it with a blue shirt. Hopefully that would pass Anna’s approval. She was rather terrifying when angry. Her and my mother were the only people in the world that scared me.
I headed toward the back garden of the palace grounds. It was a nice area that my mother retreated to often when she needed some alone time. Today though, it was packed with women.
For a moment, I felt excitement. It was odd, considering how much I didn’t want to be there. I finally put my finger on what it was.
I was hoping to see Melody there.
I had danced with her, so that would mean she was added to the invite list, but would she attend? Technically, she had to but that didn’t mean she would. It wasn’t like the palace was going to actually charge anyone for ignoring the royal summons.
“Prince Richard, it’s so good to see you again,” a woman said, pulling me closer to her before I could barely get inside the gardens. “I dreamed of our dance all night, I can’t get it out of my head.”
Telling her I didn’t remember her probably wouldn’t go down too well. Over her shoulder, I saw Anna ready with a scowl for me. Not talking to the woman wasn’t really an option.
I plastered on my best fake smile. “Dancing with you was a dream.” She giggled, mission accomplished. “I hope you enjoy the luncheon we’ve put on today.”
“Oh, I’m sure I will. Maybe we could have a chat? I was hoping I could tell you all about me and you could do the same? I’d love to get to know you better.”
Another face popped into the crowd behind her. I would recognize that dark bobbing of hair anywhere. I had to get to Melody before she disappeared.
“A chat would be lovely. But I must go, so it will need to be later.” Her face flashed disappointment before I stepped out from her clutches and hurried down the path.
It was like running a gauntlet. Women popped into my way, all trying to get my attention before I could move onto the next one. All while I watched Melody slowly disappear over and over.
This definitely wasn’t how to meet a wife.
Melody knew I was following her. Every few steps she glanced over her shoulder to make sure I was still there. I don’t think it was because she wanted me to chase her. I think she was trying to avoid me.
Which was all the more rea
son why I had to speak with her. The woman had been consuming my thoughts since dancing with her last night and nobody else had even come close to that before.
She spiraled through the paths, through hedges, and around the fountain in the middle. The woman was practically running, her short skirt flouncing in the wind. I walked faster and only barely closed the gap between us.
I knew where she was heading and it made me smile. This was my favorite part of the palace gardens. I’d run through them countless times when I was a child. Melody could run, but she couldn’t hide out here.
She turned the corner and stopped, just like I knew she would down the dead end of the hedge maze. Her whole body froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
“What it takes to say hello to you,” I said.
“Well, you got me,” she said. “You trapped the poor country girl in your web. Happy now?”
“Not really. It would be better if I didn’t have to corner you. You seemed to go to a great deal of trouble to get away from me. Last night, today, I’m seeing a pattern here.”
“Maybe you should let me go home then.”
“You are free to leave whenever you like.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right.”
We studied one another carefully. Being up close to her again reminded me just how fucking hot she was. If Anna looked this cute while she was angry I might have chosen her for my wife.
The fire in Melody’s eyes was real. I would bet she had that same look there when in the throes of wild sex. There was passion blazing in those gray eyes and I wanted to see if I was right, more than anything.
I placed my arms on either side of her head, leaning on the statue behind her for support. She was boxed in, and despite her protests, she didn’t seem that unhappy about it.
“My god, you are sexy,” I growled in her ear. “I want to kiss you so badly right now.”
Her lips quivered just slightly before she chewed on them with her pearly white teeth. “I’m not some fool in a bar that you can fuck and throw away. If you kiss me, I will knee you in the balls.” She moved her leg slightly to prove to me she would do it.
I didn’t doubt it.
Melody was a little firecracker and I wanted to light her on fire. “I don’t see a club here, do you? It’s just me and you and a whole lot of hedge.”
“Funny, I still see a bastard.”
I leaned in slightly, making sure our lips were so incredibly close to kissing we could almost taste one another. I brushed them together gently, so briefly she would wonder if it really happened or if she just wanted it to.
Her lips were pink as she blushed slightly. Her teeth let go of the flesh and her mouth parted slightly. Fucking hell, I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to own those lips until all she could do was gasp my name with them.
Her breath was sweet on my skin as she fought to control herself. It was satisfying to see her reaction. Her words were one thing, but you couldn’t hide the physical attraction between us.
I wanted to take her right here, right now. It would be unlikely that anyone would find us here in the center of the maze. I could just take off her panties, press her against the hedge and not stop until we were both gasping out our pleasure.
“My knee is in position,” she said, completely shattering the fantasy I was lost in. My gaze returned to her eyes where all the passion was now lost to unmistakable determination.
“I could make you scream in pleasure,” I replied breathily. I was putting everything I had into seducing her and she was closing me down at all chances.
“I can make you scream in pain.”
Her jaw was set in stubbornness now. There would be no changing of her mind. I pushed back and took a few steps away from her. Leaning against the hedge, my hands were shoved in my pockets.
“You don’t like me,” I stated.
She recovered quickly from our little moment, standing to face me from across the small space. “I don’t like any of this. I don’t want to be here.”
“I have no control over that.”
She laughed like she didn’t believe me. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. This whole thing is in the hands of my mother. There is no telling her no.”
Melody studied me carefully, looking for signs that I was lying. In this particular case, there was nothing for her to find. “So I guess we’re both stuck here.”
“Yes, we are.”
Fantasies of closing the gap between us and fucking right here and now were still dancing around in my head. I mentally undressed her, eager to see what lay underneath her short purple skirt and white blouse. Those boobs would fit nicely in my mouth.
“So what do we do about it?” she asked.
A plan formed in my head, one that she just might be agreeable to. “We make a deal. You stick around and talk to the other women, help me find one that won’t make me want to shoot myself.”
“And what do I get out of it?” Fair question, I supposed. But what I wanted to give her wouldn’t be something that would seal the deal right now.
“You get whatever you want. Name your price.”
She had to think for a moment while I waited patiently. “I want a million dollars.”
“Done.”
“I was kidding.”
“I wasn’t.” That stunned her for a moment, I liked the way her mouth quirked at the edges when she was shocked. I would have agreed to anything to keep her close by.
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
She hesitated some more, looking at me with those sexy lashes. All I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and take her somewhere more comfortable. Somewhere I could make her scream for hours on end while our bodies were wrapped around one another.
“So, do you agree? Otherwise I can speak with one of the other women. I’m sure any of them would jump at this opportunity.”
“I only have to give you information about the other ladies?” she asked. I nodded. “And then you’ll give me a million dollars.”
“Very well summed up. You have five seconds before I change my mind.”
She didn’t even need one second. “Okay, I’ll do it. If I’m stuck here, I may as well make myself useful and take your money.”
“We should get back to the party so you can get to work.” As much as I would rather spend time alone with her, it wouldn’t be too long before many people noted my absence.
She nodded as if dazed and started walking down the maze. I moved ahead of her to show her the way without it being obvious. I wouldn’t want to embarrass her by needing to ask directions.
We made it back to the garden party which was in full swing now. We merged into the crowd, separating quickly. My dick was still excited from having been so close to Melody. If I didn’t stop thinking about her soon, I’d have to find a woman to help me with my situation.
I spoke to woman after woman, all of them the same. They were excited to be here, the gardens were so lovely, the ball was amazing, blah blah blah. None of them had something new to say to me and, fair to say, none of them stood out.
The entire time, I kept an eye on Melody. She mingled with the other women but I could see she wasn’t having any fun. She was probably finding their conversation as dull as I was.
With the party almost over, it was time to throw caution to the wind and liven things up for us. I headed directly toward her, taking her by the elbow and dragging her away from a brunette.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, panic in her voice. She was a fiery girl, that was for sure. I bet she was a cracker in the bedroom. It only took that one comment to get me hard.
“I’m taking you to meet someone,” I replied. She protested the whole way but was silenced the moment we stood in front of my mother.
Melody curtsied. “Your Majesty, it is an honor to meet you.”
“And who is this?” Mom asked.
“I would like to introduce you to Miss Melody Parker,” I made the introductio
n. The woman was angry at me for not preparing her for this, one glance my way told me everything she was thinking.
It was too much fun riling her up.
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Parker. I hope you have been enjoying your time in the palace?”
“I have, thank you. You have a very nice… home.”
Anna appeared at my side, leaning in to whisper to me. “May I steal you away? There are some women you must meet.”
