The Royal Couple: A Christian Romance (Royals Book 1)

by Nicole Taylor

  Her first reaction was a gasp.

  She put her hand to her heart as tears flooded her eyes. “William, my goodness…it’s spectacular. I…I can’t accept this. It’s…it’s too much.”

  William dismissed her protests instantly. “It isn’t too much. Quite frankly it’s not enough. You’re worth so much more.”

  He lifted the necklace from the box and waited for Barbara to lift her heavy tresses before he fastened it around her exquisite neck. His hands rested on her shoulders, lingering there for just a moment longer than necessary, then he turned her around to face him.

  He gulped. She looked incredible, just as he had envisioned.

  He took her hand. “Come and see how amazing this looks on you.”

  William led Barbara to the large ornate mirror in the foyer and stood behind her. He watched her in the mirror and savored her reaction.

  Barbara fingered the necklace. The smoky brown topaz and diamond necklace was designed as a fringe of graduated cluster drops suspended from an articulated collar. It was set with round, brilliant, marquise and pear-shaped white diamonds and oval smoky brown topazes.

  “This must have cost you a fortune,” she whispered.

  “Good thing I have a fortune, then.”

  “It’s absolutely gorgeous, but…I’m sorry…I can’t accept it.”

  “Barbara, so help me if you say that one more time I don’t know what I’ll do,” he said, taking her gently by the shoulders and turning her to face him.

  If she thought that this was something what would she say if she knew that he had bought two necklaces for her? Call him an eternal optimist but he was saving the second one as a gift for her on their wedding day.

  He had walked into Heming London a week earlier and explained to the manager that he wanted something extra special, not the ordinary jewelry that every other rich girl was wearing. The manager had eagerly shown him many necklaces, recognizing an opportunity when he saw one. When William had told him that he wanted something to match Barbara’s eyes, the manager had shown him brown topazes and yellow topazes. William eventually selected a beautiful necklace with smoky brown topazes and white diamonds. He had paid for the item and was on his way out of the store with the package when a magnificent necklace caught his eyes.

  “Are those yellow diamonds?” he’d asked the manager.

  “Yes, sir, they are,” he’d replied.

  William had been inexorably drawn to it as a vision of Barbara in a wedding gown wearing that necklace appeared before him.

  “I’ll take it,” he’d said and watched the manager’s whole face light up like he’d just won the jackpot.

  The combined cost had set him back almost £200,000, with the yellow diamond necklace bearing the majority of that cost, but Barbara was worth every penny.

  “Why did you get me something so valuable William? This is something you should give to a wife.”

  “I wish you were my wife. I love you, Barbara, and I want to wrap you in the most beautiful things.”

  Barbara drew in a sharp breath. She reached out and caressed his cheek. Her gentle touch almost blew his mind. Their gazes locked and he reached out and encircled her waist as he drew her to him. She didn’t resist and willingly leaned into him as her hands slid around his neck.

  William could feel every part of him tingle as his hands found the bare skin of Barbara’s smooth back. When their lips met he felt as though fireworks had just gone off. The kiss started out gentle, tentative, but soon it grew more passionate. As William’s desire increased Barbara’s seemed to mirror his own. She pressed herself so close against him that it would have been impossible to find a space between them.

  “Oh sweetheart, you feel so good. I want you so much,” he whispered against her neck as he rained it with kisses before moving back to her mouth.

  Barbara moaned in response and ran her fingers though his hair as they continued to kiss. Finally, they came up for air and faced each other like caged tigers, their breath coming in short starts. Then she reached for him again and in an instant his lips devoured hers as he lifted her into his arms.

  ~*~*~*~

  When Barbara realized that William had taken her to a nearby sofa she felt relief that he hadn’t ventured into the bedroom, yet her fingers seemed to have a mind of their own. They parted the jacket he was wearing and impatiently pushed it off. She itched to touch him. To touch his skin. But when he leaned away to quickly shed the jacket and drop it on the floor, she realized that she couldn’t ignore the discomfort she felt in her spirit any longer. What was she doing? What were they doing? She knew where things were leading and she couldn’t let that happen.

  When William reached eagerly for her again she placed her hands on his chest to stop him. His eyes were questioning. She swallowed hard and finally found her voice, “We need to stop. Right now.”

  He took several deep breaths. He looked so inviting with his hair mussed and his chest heaving under his light gray shirt she had to glance away.

  Slowly, reluctantly, he moved away from her and she sat up. He stood and rubbed a hand over his face. It was flushed and his eyes were as dark as the ocean on a stormy day. He jammed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. She realized that it was something he did when he was fighting for self-control. She found it so endearing.

  After a few minutes he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. I think I got a bit carried away.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  After a short while he came to sit beside her. He reached out and gently took her hand in his.

  “Where do we go from here?”

  The question took her by surprise but then she remembered it was William she was dealing with. He was a visionary. He didn’t stay in the moment for long. His thoughts ran to how every action led him nearer to his goal.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, playing dumb as she bought more time to think. She avoided his piercing gaze and looked down at the patterns in the area rug.

  William was having none of it. He turned her face to his, forcing her to bring her eyes along.

  “I mean after a kiss like that you can’t expect me to regard you as ‘just a friend’ any longer, can you?” His tone held slight amusement, yet the look in his eyes was dead serious.

  Barbara swallowed – hard. How had she gotten herself into this mess?

  “Nothing has changed, William,” she said softly and averted her gaze again. She knew deep down what a lie that was. Everything had changed.

  William didn’t respond.

  When she dared a quick glance at him again she noticed that his eyes had gone dark.

  It wasn’t with passion this time.

  It was with anger.

  “Nothing has changed,” he repeated slowly, as though those three words were a conundrum he was trying to figure out. “Okay. So what do you call this that we’ve got going here? Is this a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement?” he asked tersely as his eyes bored into hers.

  “What?”

  “Am I your best friend who also gets to passionately kiss you and grope you on special occasions like birthdays and other celebrations?”

  “You’re being ridiculous.’

  “Think so? I think this whole charade you’re putting on is ridiculous.”

  “What charade would that be?” she asked as she fought to quell her annoyance at his accusations.

  “Your body language is screaming one thing and your sweet little mouth is telling me another.”

  “I think that’s a little unfair –”

  “How so?”

  “It’s not like I planned for this to happen. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lead you on…but –”

  “I’ll let myself out.”

  William got up abruptly and retrieved his jacket. He left the room and didn’t look back.

  “Sleep tight,” Barbara heard him call drily before the door opened and closed. She sighed. That was surely sarcasm. Sleep tight? She would be lucky if she got a
ny sleep at all.

  Chapter 27

  Two days later, Barbara lay on a bed at the London Waldorf International Hotel and Towers. She had just traveled from Beijing to London and was overnighting in that city before the Lamport Holdings jet took her home.

  Staying overnight in the hotel gave her the opportunity to rest for a few hours in a bed. As comfortable as a private jet was it could not possibly compare to lying in an actual stationery bed.

  As tired as she was, though, Barbara couldn’t get to sleep, it kept eluding her. She had William Lamport on her mind.

  She had expected that William would confront her about her feelings for him in light of her passionate response the previous night. She had spent the remainder of the night and early the next morning debating what she should say when he raised the issue.

  She needn’t have bothered to play out the scenario. For one whole awkward day William had become more occupied, or was it preoccupied, than ever. Sure, he had used the excuse of work but she wasn’t buying it. He was angry with her and he was avoiding her.

  She was the one who had to seek him out the next morning at breakfast. He didn’t even have the decency to wait until she finished eating before he got up and dashed off, claiming that he had to meet with the general manager before he left the hotel.

  Then Matthew Helmsley had called to let her know the time the limo would be ready to take them back to the airport, like William couldn’t have told her himself. He had not even ridden in the same limo with her. She had traveled with his mother while he rode in a second limo with his management team and personal assistant.

  When she had questioned him about it on the plane he had shrugged and said shortly that he’d had some business matters to discuss with them and hadn’t wanted to bore her or his mother.

  Now, here Barbara was in a hotel room several floors beneath William’s penthouse condominium trying with futility to get some rest. She struggled a little more then decided to use the time more wisely. She got up, knelt beside the bed and prayed.

  ~*~*~*~

  97, 98, 99, 100.

  William collapsed on to the gym floor in exhaustion as he completed his last push up. He was steeped in his sweat. He absently thought about lowering the temperature on the thermostat. It was way too warm in there. But he didn’t have the strength to effect the simple move of grabbing the nearby remote and pushing the button a few times.

  The last time he had slept was Friday night. It was now Monday morning and his body was letting him know in no uncertain terms that he needed rest. Only a madman would have hauled his body to the gym at 4:00 a.m., after no sleep and a ten-hour flight. So it was confirmed. He was mad. He wasn’t just madly in love, he was a straight up nutter, period.

  After he had left Barbara’s room on the night of her birthday he hadn’t returned to his room. Instead, he had hit the hotel bar and had a glass of club soda while he listened to the singer crooning in Mandarin and talked to God about his predicament. He felt like he was being tested. This had to be a test. He was supposed to be patient and just be Barbara’s friend until when again. Seven years? What a joke. He couldn’t seem to be able to make it to seven weeks.

  What hurt the most was her response. Sure, she had kissed him with a passion that had threatened to unhinge him. Yet, she’d had the audacity to tell him that nothing had changed between them. She might be successful at deceiving herself but she certainly wasn’t fooling him. He knew she had feelings for him but he could sense that there was a part of her that was closed off from him. It was like she had drawn a chalk line and told him that he could go so far and no further. For the life of him he couldn’t understand why.

  He had left the bar and gone to his room briefly to change into gym wear. Then he had gone to the hotel gym where he did cardio and pumped iron until his body felt like it belonged to someone else.

  He had finally returned to his room at 4:00 a.m., resolved that the only way that Barbara could remain just a friend was if he kept his distance from her. He couldn’t be that close to her and not ache every time she smiled or laughed or casually touched him. He didn’t know about her, but it was killing him.

  He’d watched the news and started reading some management reports and in general distracted himself from his thoughts until sometime around seven when he went down to breakfast.

  When she’d shown up he’d barely looked at her then he made an excuse to get out of there. It was a pattern that had continued throughout the day, and he knew that she was shrewd enough to know that he was avoiding her. But he felt he was doing the right thing for both of them – giving her the type of platonic relationship she had asked for and protecting himself from heartache.

  But he still couldn’t sleep – not on the plane as he sat across from her and watched her sleep nor when they got to the hotel where he’d retreated to his condo in haste and then ran on the treadmill and did pushups until he collapsed.

  Now he could barely scrape himself off the floor long enough to get into the shower. The water revived him only enough to lather his skin, wash off, dry in a towel and then fall flat on his face in the middle of the bed where he promptly fell off to sleep.

  ~*~*~*~

  Barbara was using all her charm to get access to William’s condo, with no success. The front desk clerk only conceded to buzz his room for the fourth time.

  “It doesn’t seem as though Lord Lamport is in, Miss Dickson.”

  “Listen, Ben. I’ve been calling and texting him for hours and he hasn’t responded. You told me there’s no record of him leaving the hotel since he came in. I think I need to go up to his room to see if he’s okay.”

  Ben Dean had only worked at the Waldorf for three months, but even he knew that there was a strict rule that no one, barring Lady Kendra Lamport, was to have access to William Lamport’s floor unannounced. He had checked and rechecked but no instructions had been given for Barbara Dickson to have access.

  Of course, he knew the connection between them. It was all over the newspapers that she was Lamport’s latest flame. And while this stunning American actress looked rather sincere, he wasn’t about to lose his job because he failed to abide by the policy that had been emphasized at orientation.

  “Miss Dickson, again, I’m truly sorry but no one’s allowed to go up to Lord Lamport’s floor unless he or his butler approves, and I can’t get hold of Lord Lamport and his butler is off today.”

  Barbara sighed. This was not working out.

  “Okay, fine, let’s compromise. Someone can accompany me to his floor. Please, I’m really worried that something may have happened to him.”

  Ben began to get worried too. There was something about the way she said it and the way she looked that made him afraid that if something had happened to Lord Lamport and he had stood in the way of him getting help, he was likely to be in worse trouble than losing his job.

  He called his supervisor and explained the situation and in a few minutes two members of security were travelling with Miss Dickson up to Lord Lamport’s floor.

  ~*~*~*~

  William was having a blissful dream. It featured Barbara. They were somewhere in a boat, and he was proposing to her with the crooning voice of a Chinese gondolier in the background. He was waiting for her response and when she opened her mouth all he could hear was a buzz. Then she paused and opened her mouth again and more buzzing.

  William began to gain consciousness. He realized that the buzzing was coming from his front door. He turned in the bed.

  Then he heard the sound of a man’s voice. “Lord Lamport?”

  What was going on? It wasn’t Alfred’s voice. He had given him the day off anyhow or he would have answered the door.

  William was suddenly conscious that he was in a state of undress. He rose quickly and then he heard Barbara’s voice. “William?” It was laced with concern.

  “I’m here. Just a minute. I’ll be right with you.”

  William quickly closed and locked the bedroom door. He dressed qu
ickly and hurried out to meet his guests. At least he knew that one of them was Barbara but that didn’t explain how she had gained entry into his condo.

  When William rounded the corner from his bedroom he met Barbara, the head of security and another security officer standing there. He glanced at each of them.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, thinking that obviously there was some emergency if two members of his security team and Barbara were there.

  Barbara glared at him while the head of security, Steven Bingham, looked at him in embarrassment.

  Bingham began first. “I’m sorry, Lord Lamport, but Miss Dickson was quite insistent. She said that she had been calling and you hadn’t responded and she–”

  “I’ll explain,” Barbara said shortly. “Listen, William. I texted you over two hours ago. Then I called you at least five times over the last hour and you didn’t answer. I thought that something had happened to you so I convinced security to accompany me to check on you. My goodness were you comatose or were you just not answering for some inexplicable reason?”

  William’s gaze shifted to Bingham, who was looking at his shoes, and Edwards, who was watching Barbara with a star struck expression. “Thank you, Mr. Bingham. I appreciate your taking Miss Dickson’s claim seriously.”

  Bingham was smart enough to hear the dismissal in William Lamport’s voice. He could tell that he wanted to be alone with his beautiful, feisty girlfriend. “Very good, sir. Have a good afternoon.”

  After Bingham and Edwards left, William glanced at Barbara. She was still glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Don’t stand there looking so mad. It’s not a crime for a jetlagged man to sleep for a few hours is it?”

  He turned and walked in the direction of the kitchen.

  As he expected, she followed him. “What time is it anyway?” he asked.