by Susan Meier
“We’re all having dinner.” She pointed to her dress. “Semiformal, with your dad and Rose, Dom and Ginny and my mom.”
“So no tux?”
She shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. You never know with Rose.”
“Maybe I can get away with nice trousers and a dinner jacket.”
“Do you feel lucky?”
He laughed. “Are you quoting American movies to me?”
“An old one. Go. You have about ten minutes before we have to leave.”
He showered quickly and though he looked at a tux, he decided on a simple jacket and trousers. His day might have been calm and casual by Dom’s standards, but it wasn’t easy to get back into the swing of working. Especially not when he’d spent the afternoon thinking something was up, only to discover his cause for alarm had only been something like a fire drill.
When he met Eva in the sitting room, she walked over and straightened his collar. “There. Now you’re perfect.”
The strange sensation he kept getting around her filled him, then grew.
He shook his head to clear it of the feeling and motioned her to the door. “We have about a minute and a half left then we’re late and Rose hates it when anybody’s late.”
“My mom does too.”
He stopped her at the door, before they would have been in public space where someone could have overheard. “How’s she holding up, by the way?”
“Now that she knows the truth, she’s like a kid at Christmas. She’s proud that she did her job and eager to see her husband again.”
He said, “That’s good.” But a weird empathy rippled along the edges of his skin. He’d decided it was because they’d all had a part to play. So of course, he understood Karen’s feelings.
But after a long elaborate dinner that seemed more like a celebration, Alex walked Eva to their apartment in silence.
He didn’t even want to think that the so-called fire drill this morning had been practice for possible trouble when her dad made his announcements about the plot to oust him. He didn’t want to think tonight’s dinner had been a goodbye dinner for Eva and her mom.
That would mean she was leaving the next day, and he just didn’t want to think about it.
He opened the apartment door and directed Eva to walk in before him. She stepped into the sitting room, removing her earrings.
“That was unexpectedly nice.”
“Yes. It was.”
She faced him with a smile. “Your father found a real gem when he found Rose.”
“Technically, Dad didn’t find Rose. Dom brought her here to help Ginny adjust.”
She walked over to him, her head angled to the right, a silly smile on her full lips. “I’m guessing that was a great story.”
“It was. What I know of it, at least. I’m not privy to all the private stuff, but Dom very honestly admits he simply couldn’t resist Ginny.”
“The power of love.”
Gazing into Eva’s silvery blue eyes, he almost believed it. But it didn’t matter. She had a destiny and he wasn’t ruining that for her. She, at least, needed the chance to decide who she was. To go home, as herself, to figure out what role she wanted to fill in her kingdom.
But what he wouldn’t give for one night.
She bounced her earrings in her hand. “I guess I’ll go to bed.”
He stepped back. “Yeah. Me too.”
But she didn’t move. And the temptation that rocked him almost pushed him over the edge. She was beautiful, soft, smart, elegant and poised, yet delightfully normal. And the law said she was his.
But she wasn’t a private jet that he could commandeer, use and return. And he wasn’t a kid anymore, who took what he wanted without consideration for the consequences.
Though it felt like an actual, physical pain when he forced his legs to move, to walk away from her, he did.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ALEX WAS IN parliament the next day when one of his secretaries stealthily entered and slid a note into his hands.
The news has broken that Prince Gerard of Grennady has been arrested. King Mason is in your father’s office. Your presence is requested.
He bounced out of his seat, caught Dom’s gaze, then nudged his head in the direction of the door. Dom gave a quick, curt nod.
Alex exited calmly, but once in the high-ceilinged foyer, he began to run. He wasn’t sure why. He had no idea where the sense of urgency came from. But he had a picture in his head of King Mason loading his wife and daughter into a helicopter or plane and Eva waving goodbye from a window—
And he’d never see her again.
Wouldn’t even get a proper goodbye.
He ran faster. His heart was pounding, his breaths shallow and uneven until he reached the secretary’s office outside his father’s door.
He stopped, leveled his breathing and, without asking permission from the secretary, opened his father’s office door and stepped inside.
“Here’s the man of the hour now,” his father boomed. He, King Mason, Rose, Karen and Eva stood in a cluster in front of his desk. There was no silver tea service with coffee and scones on the low table in front of the sofa in the conversation area in the corner. There was no sigh of relief, no relaxing on the overstuffed chairs. No one sat. Everyone stood, as if the King of Grennady was eager to be off.
“I’ve never seen anyone step up the way Alex did.” When Alex reached his father, he clapped Alex on the back. “The wedding was perfect. No one would have ever believed the two of them weren’t in love.”
Alex’s gaze snapped to Eva’s. Her eyes were red-rimmed as if she’d had a tearful reunion with her dad. When she smiled at Alex, her lips wobbled.
He held her gaze. He knew the past six weeks had been difficult for her. But there had been joy in there too. A wedding. Stolen kisses. Confidences that had rocked his soul. “It’s Eva who deserves the credit.”
He wasn’t the screw-up he had been when she arrived. The guy who lived for himself. He’d more than done his duty. He’d become the prince his father had always wished he would be.
Knowing her had made him who he was.
And now...
Right now...
His whole life was in her hands.
Except he didn’t think he had the right to ask her to stay. She couldn’t rule from Xaviera.
King Mason slid his arm around his daughter’s shoulders. “I watched your news every day. She was magnificent. But I had no doubt that she would be.” He smiled at her. “She’ll be a queen one day.” He looked over at Alex. “And you’d have made her a fine husband for real. I’m sorry we had to screw that up.”
Alex glanced at Eva. No one, it seemed, realized something had happened between him and Eva.
He waited a heartbeat for her to say something. Anything. To ask him to come with her. Because that was their only option.
But King Mason said, “We really need to be going. This hit the press two hours ago and I need to get in front of my parliament.”
Alex’s dad shook Mason’s hand. “You have your speech.”
“I’ll be refining it on the flight home.”
Karen hugged Rose. “This might have been nothing but a charade but I think you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I hope we can get together.”
Rose winked. “I think we need to do a little shopping in Paris.”
Karen laughed. “I would love that.”
Alex waited. Eva had missed the opportunity to tell her family that what she felt for Alex had been real. Hell, he’d let it go by too. Because it wasn’t really his choice. It was hers. She’d asked him once to stay married to her, but he’d said no. He wouldn’t steal her destiny. He couldn’t change his mind now. Could he?
Eva hugged his dad. �
��Thank you.”
“Princess, you were a delight. Anytime you feel like a beach vacation, you just fly down.”
“I will.”
Then she turned to him. Her eyes were bright, not filled with the hopeful, wistful look that had made him feel he could see the whole way to her soul. She was happy.
“Thank you, Prince Alex.”
He sniffed a laugh. “I think that’s the first time you’ve given me a title.”
She held his gaze. “You earned it.”
And he couldn’t think of anything to say. He couldn’t say, “Please stay.” He couldn’t pull her away from a country where she would be queen. He couldn’t say, “I love you,” because he wasn’t sure he did. So he couldn’t ask her for a little time to get to know each other—or date—because that seemed ridiculous.
But she could ask him.
Just ask.
Just say the word.
One word.
Any word.
She stepped forward and put her arms around him, hugging him awkwardly. He smelled her scented hair. Breathed in the scent, as his heart realized she wasn’t going to say anything.
She pulled away.
And his heart did something he’d never felt before. Not even when Nina died.
It shattered.
“Goodbye, Alex.”
“Goodbye, Eva.” He meant for that to sound strong. Instead, his voice was hoarse, scratchy.
She turned to her parents, who gathered her up and walked through the door where members of the royal guard awaited them.
“They have to go five floors to the roof and run a good distance to their helicopter,” Dominic said.
Alex whipped around to face him.
“You can catch her.”
He blinked. He could catch her. He could stop her.
And tell her what?
Promise her what?
She would someday be a queen. She was strong. Smart. Capable.
What the hell would she want him around for?
But his father made a sound of distaste and said, “Never belabor goodbyes. Leave Eva with the memory of you strong. I’m sure you’ll meet again, and you’ll laugh about this. But right now I’m releasing you for a much deserved holiday.”
* * *
The helicopter flight to the royal airstrip and Grennady’s private jet was too noisy to talk and Eva was glad. She’d never felt this odd feeling. Almost as if she were outside her body, watching this happen to someone else.
She knew her dad coming home would be disruptive. Surprising. Totally out of the blue. Especially for her mom, who was so desperate to see him, to know that he really was still hers. But it wasn’t seeing her dad that left Eva feeling as if she were vibrating with confusion.
It was leaving Alex.
It was being there in that room, almost begging him with her eyes to admit to their families that they’d become close for real, and having him step back, away from her, that caused her stomach to fall and her nerve endings to shimmy.
She’d thought he was beginning to see that they belonged together but apparently she’d been wrong.
The helicopter landed and they ran to the plane. As soon as they were inside the main cabin, her mom put her hands on both of Eva’s cheeks and kissed her soundly.
“You have definitely proven yourself. You are Grennady’s next queen.”
She tried to smile.
“Yes. Your mother is right. I realized while watching you every day that you weren’t just the woman who’d bear our next heir,” her dad said, hugging her one more time. “You were made to rule.”
She sniffed a laugh. “I realized it too. Actually, Alex realized it first.” Saying the sentence out loud, picturing the times and the ways he’d said it, slowed her heartbeat. Their relationship had always seemed so real to her because some of it was. He’d been her friend. Her partner in their charade. And eventually he’d grown to like her.
How could something that real be over in the space of what seemed like seconds?
She almost said something, but her mom began talking about her having a real reign and her dad began enumerating things she’d have to do, like get daily briefings and attend parliament when it was in session, maybe take over a committee or two.
She nodded and smiled, thrilled for the opportunity, but she couldn’t stop thinking about Alex.
Actually, what she probably needed was time alone.
But her parents went on discussing her reign through the plane ride with Eva participating as much as she could. Her dad wanted her on the dais with him at the press conference the following day. But he wanted her to wait to actually introduce herself into parliament until after he’d totally settled things. This was a point in his reign when he needed to look strong and though having her at his side was good, a king had to be autonomous. When she was queen, there’d probably come a time when she’d have to do the same thing. Stand alone, as a leader. Someone their subjects could trust.
When they arrived in Grennady, their airstrip was quiet, deserted. The drive to their palace was still, though the air hummed with the realization that her dad had a lot of work to do. As soon as they arrived, he walked directly to parliament.
Her mom went to her quarters to lie down and Eva spent some time on her bed too. But she couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t anything. Her mind was numb. She was so filled with sorrow and confusion that she couldn’t even close her eyes.
Engaged in the duty of pulling his country together again, her dad didn’t come home for dinner. Eva met her mom in the private dining room in her parents’ quarters. But she didn’t eat. She stared at the food as if it was a foreign object.
“Sweetie?”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“I was just about to ask you the same thing. What’s wrong?”
“I think I’m just having a little trouble adjusting. This time yesterday I was married—” She stopped herself. “Pretending to be married. Then suddenly Dad was in King Ronaldo’s office and we were on a helicopter.”
Her mom’s eyes narrowed as she studied Eva’s face. “It did all happen fast.”
“No warning,” Eva agreed. “No time to prepare.”
“What would you have had to prepare? You were in on the plan. You knew that at any moment your dad would come to Xaviera to get us and take us home.”
Eva cleared her throat. “That’s the way it was in the beginning. But the pretending went on so long.” She sucked in a breath. Closed her eyes. “I got married, Mom.”
“As part of a charade,” her mom reminded her. Then her face changed. “Wait.” She gasped. “You didn’t—”
“No. We didn’t.”
“Well, thank God for that because if I’m reading this right that’s your basis for an annulment.”
“Yes.”
“And you need an annulment, not a divorce if you want to be queen.”
The dining room got quiet. Karen ate a few bites, but glanced at Eva again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Eva nodded.
Her mom sighed. “Tomorrow, you will have to go in front of the press to answer questions and with the knowledge that you won’t just be a placeholder. Your father saw your strength. He knows you can rule and he will be telling the country that tomorrow. You can’t be this—” She fumbled for a word and finally settled on, “Quiet.”
“I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Her mother studied Eva’s face again. “You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“And there’s nothing you want to talk about?”
She would have loved to have talked. But as her mother said, she was a woman who would someday be a queen. Anytime she fell apart, had doubts, was human, she would be perceived as weak. And she’d se
en firsthand that her uncle’s family, the ones next in line for the throne, would exploit that.
So she couldn’t talk. Except to a confidant...like a husband who understood. Like Alex.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. He hadn’t asked her to stay, hadn’t told their families that the charade had turned to real love—probably because for him, it hadn’t. And he had a real life to get back to. Their charade had changed him. He had duties, responsibilities now.
Truth wore away some of her shock and created a struggle inside of her. The woman who loved him wanted to weep. The woman who would be queen put her shoulders back and recognized her duty.
But in bed that night, the tears came and she realized she’d finally had her heart broken. And if this pain, this sorrow, this anguish, was anything to go by, Alex must have suffered a thousand times over when he lost his first love, the woman who kept him from wanting to love again.
* * *
The next day, she and her father were in front of the press, explaining the entire charade.
At the end, when a cheeky reporter asked her if she hadn’t, even once, wished her marriage to Xaviera’s handsome Playboy Prince was real, she’d shaken her head with a laugh and said, “Absolutely not. I was doing my duty.”
* * *
Alex stared at the TV in his father’s office, watching the closed circuit TV feed that Grennady had provided the rulers of Xaviera who would most assuredly be contacted for comments.
Eva wore a red suit—the color recommended to all leaders when they wanted to show their power. Her soft blue eyes were sharp today. Her gaze was clear, direct. Her chin was high. Her shoulders were back. Her comments were short, emotionless. Even as she demonstrated she would not steal her father’s thunder, she wore all the marks of a queen.
When she said, “Absolutely not. I was doing my duty,” his muscles froze. He told them not to. He reminded them he should have expected this.
But he pictured her on the yacht, eating dinner with him in the moonlight.
He saw her in the wedding dress.
He remembered holding her the night she was sick, when he all but admitted he had feelings for her.
And he saw past the future queen to the woman she’d buried somewhere inside her.
