by Raye Morgan
He wasn’t sure if he liked that prospect, and his eyes were troubled as he looked down at her. “I haven’t said I’d do all this yet, you know,” he reminded her.
She nodded. “But you will. You have to.”
He had to? His natural sense of rebellion was rising up. “I don’t have to do anything,” he claimed, feeling grumpy. Reaching out, he brushed back the hair from her face and looked at her lips. “Except kiss you. A lot.”
She smiled up at him. “Of course,” she murmured. “That goes without saying.”
So he did.
On Sunday morning, Kelly was preparing to go, and it broke her heart. How was she going to say goodbye to the child who still clung to her neck every time she got the chance? How many mothers and mother surrogates did this baby have to lose in one lifetime?
And then there was Joe. Kelly couldn’t even think about that.
Mei was asleep, and she wasn’t going to go in and look at her once more. It was time. She turned to Joe.
He came toward her and pulled her into his arms, rocking her and holding her against him.
“Kelly,” he said, his voice rough, “I want you to stay.”
She closed her eyes. This was so hard. “Joe, you know I can’t. I’ve thought about it long and hard. But I can’t.”
“Is it your job?”
She nodded, pulling her head back so she could look in his face. “You are Prince Cassius of Ambria and you have to take your place in that system. No matter how much you try to fight it, you belong there. I don’t. I would have no place there, no tie, no claim. And anyway, I would lose my job.” She shook her head sadly. “I have to look out for my own future.”
He groaned. “If you get on that plane, we’ll probably never see each other again.”
She knew he was right. But it had to be. She stayed with him until she was already behind schedule, and then she finally tore herself away.
“I don’t want you to come to the airport,” she told him when he offered. “Why not?”
She looked at him with tragic eyes. “I need to take my rental car back, anyway. I’d rather cut it off here and try to get back into my normal patterns right away. It’ll…it’ll be easier if I just…”
Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away. “Goodbye, Joe,” she said, her voice choked. “Good luck.”
“Kelly, wait.”
Shaking her head, she kept walking, fighting back the tears.
She heard him coming up behind her, but she was startled when he put his hand on her elbow, pulled her around and took her into his arms.
“Kelly,” he said roughly, looking down into her face. “Don’t you know that I love you?”
“Joe…”
His mouth on hers was sweet and urgent all at once. She kissed him back, loving him, longing for him, wishing things were different. But they were what they were.
“Oh, Joe,” she said brokenly as she clung to him. “I love you, too. But it doesn’t matter. We can’t…”
“Why can’t we?” he said, wiping away her tears with his finger and gazing at her lovingly. “I don’t have to be a prince. I don’t even want to be one. I’d rather be with you.”
“No.” Drawing back, she shook her head. “No, Joe. You have to go to Italy. You have to explore your destiny. I couldn’t live with myself if I kept you from that. You know you have to do it.”
Reaching up, she pressed her fingertips to his lips in one last gesture of affection. “Goodbye,” she whispered again. And she turned and left him there.
He didn’t say anything at all as he watched her walk to the car. This wasn’t like watching Angie die. Not anything close to that. But it hurt almost as badly.
To be or not to be. A prince, that was.
Did he really want to do this thing? Joe wasn’t sure. He had now talked to the liaison people Kelly had set up for him, and they wanted him in Italy right away. They claimed they had accommodations ready for him, including servants and child care for Mei. It sounded kind of cushy—one might almost say royal.
Of course, they were expecting him to take a DNA test first thing. That was only reasonable. And he had no doubt what it would show. He was Prince Cassius. He knew that now.
Prince Cassius of the DeAngelis family who had ruled Ambria for hundreds of years. Wow. That was a real kick in the head.
Did he feel royal? Not really. He felt like the same Army Ranger he’d been since he left school. He’d grown up in a working-class household without any thoughts of privilege, and those early lessons would stay with him all his life. Admittedly, this was going to be quite an adjustment for him. Did he want to make it? Was he sure?
He wasn’t sure of much of anything right now. His life was in flux and he was caught in the rapids. But there was one truth that he would never waver on—Mei was going to be with him wherever he went, whatever he did. His first priority would always be her. And Angie would always have a central place in his heart.
But there was something else that was becoming more and more important to him, and it centered around a woman with a mop of curly blonde hair and an irrepressible smile—the very woman who had brought all this royal stuff crashing down on him. Kelly. He missed her every minute. How could you miss someone so much who you hadn’t even known two weeks ago? Something about her had worked for him from the very beginning. If he had Kelly with him right now, he’d be a lot more sure of what he was doing.
Was he in love with her? He thought back to how it had been with Angie, how he’d fallen hard from the moment he first saw her, how she’d swept up his life into days of passion, weeks of torture when he was away from her, moments of high drama and the awful, final act of destruction. It had been a wild ride, but—except for the ending—he wouldn’t have missed a moment of it. Angie was part of him now, and she had left him with Mei, the best present of his life.
The way he felt about Kelly was different, and yet in some ways it was stronger even and more life-changing. She saw into his soul in ways no one else ever had. She could tell him more with a simple glance than anyone else, as well. In the short time she’d been with him, she’d made a lasting impact on them all. Kelly could have been his angel for the long haul, the center of something big and important. If only they’d had a little longer together…
But life didn’t stand still and let you take time with decisions. It came at you quickly and you had to be ready to take it on. They wanted him to be a prince. Okay. He’d give it a try. He’d go to the funeral in Piasa. He’d meet the others and check the lay of the land and decide from there.
There was one missing ingredient, though. Something he was going to have to have. He sat down and looked up some numbers on his cell phone. He had a few people to call.
Kelly had been back to work for three days. California seemed like a dream. Had she really been there? Had she really fallen in love with a prince?
Yes, she had. But it was all over now. She had to get back to real life, even though there was a big, black hole in the middle of her soul.
She’d never been in love before. She hadn’t realized how much it was going to hurt to know she could never have Joe, no matter what she did. For the first two days, she’d felt as though her life was over. She was getting better now. She had finally slept the night before, and was actually able to force down some toast for breakfast before coming in. Now she was just trying to retrain herself to focus on her work and not dream all day about a certain golden surfer who was far, far away.
She was typing up a report when Jim came in waving a piece of paper.
“Guess who’s going to the funeral?” he said, looking acerbic.
“Oh. Did you get an assignment?”
“No.” He waved the paper at her. “You did.”
“What?” She frowned. That couldn’t be right.
“It says so right here. Better pack your things. They want you in Italy right away.”
“Oh my gosh!”
The whole situation was crazy. How had s
he been chosen? But she didn’t want to ask too many questions. She was afraid someone would say, “Hey, why are we sending her, anyway?” and it would be all over. So she kept her head down and made quick preparations, and before she knew it, she was on the plane to Italy.
And all she could think about was Joe. Would she see him? Would she get a glimpse of Mei? Maybe she’d see them at a fancy restaurant, or maybe there would be a parade and they would be in it. If she waved, would they wave back? How hard would that be—to see them passing and have them look right through her? She didn’t know if she would be able to stand it.
But she was going. What would be would be. Piasa wasn’t a very big town. Surely she would see them somewhere, at some point.
She landed at the airport and took a five-hour taxi ride into the mountains. The town of Piasa looked as if it belonged in the Swiss Alps. It was very quaint and adorable, with chalets and wildflowers everywhere. She almost expected to see Julie Andrews bursting into song every time she looked at the mountains.
Kelly spent the first day getting acclimatized, checking into her hotel, learning where she needed to go to get information, meeting some of the townsfolk. And asking discreetly if anyone knew anything about the lost princes. No one did.
But all in all, it was pretty exciting meeting Ambrians everywhere. The feeling of kinship was strong and there seemed to be a festive spirit in the air. Something was up, that was for sure.
When she finally got back to her hotel room that first night, there was a message from her home office of the Ambrian News Agency, asking why she hadn’t contacted her client yet, and giving a number for doing so.
Client? What client? No one had told her there was a specific client involved. But she supposed that must be why she’d received the last-minute assignment, and no one had completed briefing her on what she was expected to do here.
She looked at the clock. It was too late to do anything about it tonight. She would call the number in the morning. With a sigh, she began to get ready for bed.
And then she heard a strange sound. She stopped, holding her breath. Something brushed against her door, and then there was whispering. And finally, a firm knock.
Her heart began to pound. This was an idyllic, picturesque little town, but she knew behind the pretty pictures lurked a perpetual menace. The Granvillis were behind most of the ugly incidents that happened to ex-patriot Ambrians. Everywhere she’d gone today, people had warned her to be careful.
She went to the door and listened. There was still whispering, but she couldn’t make it out.
“Who is it?” she called.
A voice spoke—what sounded almost like a child’s voice.
A child’s voice. But it couldn’t be….
“Mei?” she said, almost whispering herself. Throwing caution to the wind, she ripped the door open. “Mei!”
There was the darling little girl, high up in Joe’s arms, and now shrieking with laughter and clapping her hands. Kelly was so surprised she stood in shocked paralysis, her mouth open.
“Hey, better let us in,” Joe advised, his grin wide and his eyes filled with affection. “You’ll have your neighbors up in arms at all the noise soon.”
“Joe!” She stepped back and herded them in. “I can’t believe this. I was hoping I would find you somewhere, and here you are.”
“Darn right,” he said. “We’ve been trying to catch up with you all afternoon. You were supposed to check in as soon as you got here.”
She shook her head. “What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you guess? We’re your clients—me and Mei. I got your agency to send you. I told them I needed to hire you as my communications director for awhile.”
She stared at him, at a loss. Things were happening too fast.
“Hey.” He pointed his thumb at his chest. “Meet the new boss. You’re all mine now.”
As if she hadn’t been all along. Kelly started to laugh, and then she stopped herself, afraid she might lapse into hysteria. This was all so crazy.
Then she took a good look at them. Joe was dressed in a gray sweatshirt with a hood, and so was Mei. They looked like versions of how she’d appeared on the beach when Joe had first noticed her.
“Yeah, we’re running around town undercover,” he told her cheerfully. “Did you bring your sweats with you? You can join us. That’ll keep you incognito as we make our way back to the Marbella House, where we’re staying.” He glanced at his watch. “Mei is up way past her bedtime, but she wanted to help me find you, so here she is.”
Kelly shook her head in wonder. “So you two are okay now?” she asked, though she really didn’t have to.
“Sure. Look at this.” He set Mei down in a chair and knelt before her.
“Okay, Mei. We need to show Kelly your new talents. Show her. What does the pig say?”
Mei wiggled her nose and made a very cute grunting noise.
“What does the doggie say?”
She scrunched up her face and woofed heartily.
“What does the Mei say?”
She threw her arms out and wrapped them around Joe’s neck. “Dada!” she cried happily.
Kelly watched with tears in her eyes. “That is the best present I could ever have,” she told Joe, snuffling a bit as he stood and wrapped his arms around her.
“Okay,” he said, lifting her chin and dropping a sweet kiss on her lips. “Then I guess I’ll have to try to better it.”
She blinked up at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “How would you like a royal wedding?”
“But…I’m not getting married.”
He looked surprised. “Oh. Funny. I thought you were.”
She was frowning. He was teasing her again, wasn’t he? “No, I’m not, and it’s not funny at all. In fact, I think you’re—”
She stopped dead. He had a diamond ring in his hand. As she gaped at him, he went down on one knee and presented it to her. “Kelly Vrosis, would you be my wife?” he asked, his eyes shining with something that looked very much like love.
“Oh!”
He raised one eyebrow. “I was hoping for a yes.”
“But…but—” She was utterly flabbergasted. Never in a million years had she expected anything like this.
“I need you with me, Kelly. Mei needs you, too. And the only way I can guarantee that is to marry you.”
She laughed. “So what you’re proposing is a marriage of convenience. Your convenience.”
“You might say that. I’d rather say we were meant for each other and there is no point in delaying the inevitable.”
Her smile could have warmed the room. “I like that kind of talk.”
“And your answer is?”
“Yes! Oh, yes!”
“Dada!” Mei chimed in, clapping her hands.
Joe scooped her up and they had a three-way hug, a family at last.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7608-0
SINGLE FATHER, SURPRISE PRINCE!
First North American Publication 2010
Copyright © 2010 by Helen Conrad
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