Royal Playboy: The Prince's Choice

by Leila Haven

Anna wasn’t due to commence work for another couple of hours so I let myself into her office. There was no need for locks within the palace, nobody was allowed secrets from everybody else.

  Her filing cabinet was my best bet. I rifled through the paperwork she kept until I found a full file on Melody Parker. It was neatly labelled, I wouldn’t have expected anything else from Anna.

  I skimmed past all the personal details, including size measurements, family history, school exam results, to reach the address. I scribbled it on a piece of paper and hurried out of there.

  The kitchen was next. I may have been on a mission, but I needed fuel as well. I grabbed a bacon and egg burger from the cook and kept going.

  “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” the cook asked cheekily.

  I flashed her a smile. “Secret wife business. Don’t tell anyone you saw me. It’s our little secret.”

  “Be gone then and I’ll keep my lips closed.”

  Taking the burger into my expensive and pristine car would normally be something I wouldn’t do. However, Melody lived as far away from the palace as I could get. Not one minute could be spared before I saw her again. Getting to her trumped a potential stain to my leather seats.

  Juggling my breakfast and the gear shift, I sped out of the palace before anyone could stop me. I had a lot of driving time to think but I still couldn’t decide what I was going to tell Melody when I saw her.

  She had left me, rejected me already. What could I possibly say to her that would make her change her mind? I needed her to stand beside me. In all those scenarios I had imagined for my future, I needed her with me or I would not be able to carry them out. I would not be a good king without her as my queen.

  That was the crux of it.

  I wanted her more than I’d ever wanted anything before. She had been wrong when she said I only wanted to use her for sex. That was the least of my intentions. I wanted to have sex with her because I felt more attracted to her than any other woman I’d ever met. Somehow, she was so very different from all others in a way that I never thought possible.

  My mother was right. The moment I met Melody, I knew she was the one for me. My head might not have been able to process that at the time, but it could now. I was finally listening to how I truly felt.

  Convincing Melody of that was going to be the hardest of all.

  Chapter 14

  Melody

  ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉

  Coming home was difficult. I knew it would be. I’d thought about my decision long and hard on the train ride. There had been plenty of time to think and it had been more torture than relaxing.

  “Are you okay, honey?” Mom asked as she sat on my bed. We’d arrived in the middle of the night and didn’t want to wake anybody when we got home. Mom had wanted to hear the whole story the moment I woke up.

  I sat up and gave her a hug. “Of course I’m okay. I never wanted to marry the prince anyway. He was an arrogant pain in the butt.”

  “It must have been an adventure.”

  “It was.” I nodded, not realizing my lips had quirked up into a smile with the memory. Going to the palace had been an experience, that was for sure. But it was time to get back to reality. “I think I’m going to go into work today. It’s important I get back to my normal routine.”

  “If that’s what you want. Just as long as you’re really okay?”

  “Of course.”

  Mom stood and gave me one last look before leaving me so I could get ready. If there was going to be anyone able to see through my façade, it would be her. She always knew when I was lying, even as a kid.

  One of the things I worried about was being arrested. I wasn’t allowed to leave the city like I did. I went against the palace request and that was an illegal act. I wouldn’t be able to hide anywhere in the country without them being able to find me.

  But would they try?

  Rick would have chosen one of the other women, even if I was there. If I was no longer taking up the palace’s time, surely that would only be a good thing in their eyes? It wasn’t like Rick would be missing me or anything. He now had nothing standing in the way of him choosing Violet and announcing their engagement.

  I grimaced thinking about it. Seeing their smiling faces splashed across the media wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. While the rest of the country celebrated, I would be wondering about what could have been. But he was never going to choose me anyway so it was a stupid idea to hold onto. I needed to let it go – something that was a lot easier said than done.

  Whatever was going to happen, I still hoped the palace wouldn’t put the police onto me. I didn’t need to sit in a jail cell because I didn’t want to hang around and find out that I wouldn’t be a princess. That would be the ultimate humiliation. I would be someone’s bitch in no time. They would call me ‘princess’ just to rub it in.

  I got dressed slowly. It wasn’t only the fatigue that was making it seem like I was wading through quicksand, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. The competition was over for me, I’d removed myself from it before Rick could do it himself. I got out first, it was my decision.

  And that’s the way I liked it.

  It still didn’t change the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, though. Working was going to be a good distraction. It would take my mind off of things and remind me of how my life was supposed to be.

  I had breakfast and fielded dozens more questions from my family before I could escape to the café I’d worked in for three years. It was owned by my cousin and was a family affair. There were always extra shifts to pick up and every hand was made use of.

  When I stepped in the door, everyone stopped. My cousin Dami shrieked. “Princess Melody! You’re back!” The entire café stopped to stare at me.

  I picked up an apron and put it on, buying myself some extra moments before I had to reply. “Hi, Dami. I’m not a princess, just plain old Melody.” I slipped into the kitchen as the rest of the staff followed me.

  They gathered around until I had nowhere to run. “You have to tell us everything. What happened? What was the palace like? Did you meet the king?”

  I plastered on the great big smile I knew I would be needing and let it cover everything I was really feeling inside. “The palace was beautiful and massive. I didn’t meet the king, but I did have lunch with the queen and she was lovely.”

  “What about the playboy prince? What was he like?” It was so quiet it was like everybody had stopped breathing while they listened for the much-anticipated answer.

  “He was okay, but nothing special. Good looking up close but that was about all he had going for him,” I replied flippantly. “The food was the best part of the whole thing. I’m going to miss that the most.”

  Dami crossed her arms over her overflowing chest. “And what’s my cooking, chopped liver?”

  “Nobody is as good as you.”

  “You better believe it.”

  She made me laugh and hopefully that would start the end of my melancholy. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like everybody was going to let me get off that lightly.

  “So what did you do there?” Rhiannon asked. Everyone else nodded eagerly.

  “Well, the first night I went to a ball. They gave me this huge dress to wear and it was like a fairytale.” Except I had felt like I was Cinderella, not one of the princesses. “Then there was a high tea, a garden party, lunch with the queen, interviews with staff of the palace, and a whole bunch of casual get-togethers where the prince could get to know us better.”

  They gasped and asked a million more questions. As I spoke, I realized I enjoyed talking about my time at the palace. Without the pressure of being in competition, I could appreciate the experience more. It had been a great time, I was just too stressed to notice how it really made me feel.

  Plus, I would be able to tell the story of my time as a potential princess for the rest of my life. Maybe one day I would be able to say it without feeling the sadness that came with it too. />
  I regaled them with tales until customers demanded attention back in the café. We all split up and got back to work. I cleaned the place from top to bottom, enjoying the manual labor since it occupied my thoughts just enough that my mind couldn’t drift off into unwanted places.

  Being home again, it was time to get my life back on track. My first priority was finding a job. A real one. I hadn’t lied to the queen when I said I wanted to help people. Some kind of humanitarian work was my first preference. To do that, I was probably going to need to go overseas and volunteer in third world countries to gain experience. Then I could work my way up the ladder to a paid position.

  It wasn’t going to be easy, but nothing worth doing ever was. I was determined to help people so I would do whatever I could to make sure that happened.

  A job was going to be the top of my list. After that, it would be finding a new place to live. I couldn’t live with my parents for too long. After being away at college for four years, it was difficult adjusting to the rules of the household again.

  Then, maybe after I’d sorted all that out, I’d start dating again. Perhaps by then Rick would just be a mere shadow of a memory in my consciousness. I looked forward to that day because then I wouldn’t have the sick feeling in my stomach anymore.

  Rick was going to be very happy with Violet. She would be overwhelmed when he finally picked her. She might even do the fair maiden trick and faint into his arms. I could picture them together, but it wasn’t an image that I wanted to really think of.

  I had made the right decision by leaving. Violet was going to be a great princess. She would make a great queen too when the time came – hopefully a long way into the future. The country would love her too, they would splash her across magazines and newspapers until we were all sick of the sight of her.

  I would probably be the only one in the country that didn’t love her to death. Me, and the other girls in the competition, perhaps. Maybe I was the only petty one. But nobody really wanted to see their competitor win, did they? Hopefully that didn’t make me a bad person.

  Questions kept popping into my mind. How many days would they wait to make the announcement? A day? A week? I imagined they would want to do it pretty quickly so they could proceed with wedding plans out in the open. Even the palace couldn’t keep a secret that big for very long.

  The whole thing made me feel sick to my stomach. But I had done the right thing. I wasn’t going to hang around the palace for rejection. That wasn’t me and it never would be.

  Getting back into the swing of work felt good. I had those that I loved around me and they weren’t my competition. It was amazing how simple life could be when love wasn’t getting in the way.

  I cleaned until it started to get busy, then it was time to help take orders in the front. Thankfully, nobody but my family knew why I had been absent for so long so nobody else asked me about what happened in the capital. I could merge back into my old life like nothing happened.

  I was making sandwiches when there was noise from the front of the café. Someone had probably knocked something over so I didn’t worry about it too much. One of the other waitresses could clean it up while they were close.

  The noise continued and then everything fell into an exaggerated silence. Funny enough, it was the lack of noise that made me worry more than the noise had. At least you knew what was happening when you could hear it.

  My curiosity and concern got the best of me. I wiped my hands on my apron and popped my head around the door into the main area.

  Everyone was still there, plenty of customers and staff alike. They were all frozen, however, staring at the one man standing in the middle of the café like he didn’t belong there.

  Rick.

  Out of everything I had imagined that could have been going on in the café, seeing the next King of Illium there was not one of them. In fact, it was so far away from what I was expecting that my jaw dropped open too.

  His gaze swept the room, searching for my face in amongst all the others. I couldn’t think, my thoughts stopped just as quickly as my body had. He shouldn’t have been there, he belonged at the palace not in the small town I’d grown up in since birth.

  He finally found me, recognition relaxing the features of his face. He didn’t hesitate in hurrying for me, all eyes following his every move. “Melody. Your mother said I’d find you here.”

  Great, he’d spoken with my mother. The day just kept getting better and better. Perhaps he was here to arrest me, making sure that I paid for flouting his rules. He had to be somewhat angry about what I’d done.

  The exit was still behind me. I still had the opportunity to turn and run in the opposite direction of him. I had the advantage of knowing this place like the back of my hand, he would never find me if I fled.

  When he stood in front of me, everybody found their feet again. My family all moved closer, trying to overhear the conversation that was about to take place. They were all about to witness my humiliation. If Rick really wanted to punish me, he could just tell me that he never considered me one of the true contenders. All he had to do was open his mouth and let the words flow out.

  My heart hammered against my ribs, telling me to run instead of fight. If I really thought that would get rid of him, I may done just that. But Rick had come a long way and he would make sure to tell me what he came to.

  He opened his mouth.

  Chapter 15

  Richard

  ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉

  I didn’t feel this exposed and nervous, even in front of a media scrum. There had to be fifty people in the café, each of them crowded around and staring at me. I was used to garnering attention, but this place was too cramped for this.

  Plus, what I had to say to Melody was not something I wanted an audience for. Not when it was too important and not when any of them could film the display.

  I cleared my throat, hoping my voice wouldn’t come out like a young boy’s. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

  My words seemed to jolt Melody back to the moment. She had been as stiff as a zombie ever since I stepped into the café. She looked at me carefully, as if weighing her options. Surely she wouldn’t want to speak with me with such an audience? She knew better than that.

  She finally nodded and took a step backward. I followed her through the kitchen and out a back door. It opened onto a small street, barely wide enough for cars to pass through.

  Melody stopped, so I guessed this was the place she had chosen to talk. At least there were no other people around. It had the semblance of privacy which was the best I could hope for.

  “You left,” I stated bluntly. I wasn’t there to weave poetry, I was there to get answers. There was a big difference between the two.

  Melody looked everywhere before her gaze returned to me. “Yes, I did. I knew what your decision was going to be so I took myself out of the equation before you could.”

  “So you think you know me that well.”

  “I know your type. I’ve told you that before.”

  There were few people in this world that could fire me up as much as Melody Parker. She was as frustrating as she was beautiful. “You presume too much.”

  We stared at one another for a long time, trying to anticipate what the other would say next. It was Melody that broke first. “Why are you here, Rick? Why come all this way to scold me for leaving? I did you a favor. You were free to choose the woman you really wanted to, the one that was perfect for you.”

  “And who do you think that was?”

  “Violet, of course. Everyone loves her, she was the right choice for the country.”

  She really didn’t see it. She didn’t see the way that I wanted her so badly. She was going to make me spell it out for her, lay my heart on the ground so she was free to stomp on it.

  “Violet is a nice young woman,” I replied.

  “So when is your engagement going to be announced? I’d like to know so I can stay home and turn off my televi
sion that day.”

  “Hopefully it will be announced tomorrow.”

  She nodded as if answering a question inside her head and stared at the ground. She shuffled from foot to foot, making me nervous just watching her.

  Melody looked at me again with a very fake smile twisting her lips. “Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”

  “I’m sure we will be.”

  “And you thought driving for twelve hours just to tell me in person that you didn’t want me was a good idea? Was it worth it to see the look on my face?”

  I was really upsetting her, and that wasn’t my intention by any means. She wasn’t understanding what I was saying. Clearly I was going to have to be more direct.