“Finally.” She went to him, hugging him.
“I thought they’d never leave.” The grin in his voice made her smile.
“Pests. Spies, too. They’ve already informed my papa and he’s racing back to arrive shortly.”
“Improper.” He relaxed his hold and looked at her. “I know the drill. Remember, I stayed with Stephan at his father’s palace on and off.”
“You hated it.” She did recall his many stories of growing up—stern rules, unexplainable outdated procedures, and overall lavish lifestyle.
Thankfully, his best friend, Stephan, had convinced his father to do right by Sebastian after winning his home in a card game and leaving him destitute. It wasn’t such a nightmare for him in boarding school and college. At least he’d had his friend there.
“Is this what you want? I’ll understand if you say you do. It’s tempting.” He searched her face. A ripple of concern flashed in his gaze.
“More like suffocating.” She sighed, her chest squeezing. She’d been trapped for so long. “It’s a cage.”
“Lined in gold.” He shot her a sad smile. “I can’t give you this. Even if I could, I wouldn’t want it for myself.”
“You know. You sense it.”
“Duty. Tradition.” He nodded. “I see Stephan struggle with it. But then again, his father is worse than yours.”
“How can I live my life the way I want to when there’s so many who depend on me? So many to please?” There, she’d said it. “Am I being selfish?”
“Maybe.”
“That’s why you came to surprise me.”
“Oh, Sophia.” He kissed her forehead. “I hear it in your voice when I call you. I feel it deep inside—whether we’re together or apart.”
She clung to him at the same time relief swept through her. He didn’t hate her for questioning it. He wasn’t angry at her for voicing her concerns. “You’re not going to make me choose, are you?” So noble and honorable. “You wouldn’t do that. But you’re not going to stand in my way, whatever my decision is, either.”
“It’s yours to make.”
“And you’ve made yours.” Her heart skipped a beat. Without a doubt, she knew deep in her heart this wasn’t Sebastian’s life.
He brushed his thumb under her eye, swiping away a fast-falling tear she didn’t even realize she’d shed. “Don’t let it stand in your way.”
“But the wedding…”
“Sophia, my love, I will marry you in a mud hut, on the highest mountaintop, on a ship in the middle of the ocean, in a dense jungle, or on the moon. It’s not where. It’s that we are joined together as man and wife. That’s what I care about.”
His sweet, heartfelt words allowed the blinders to come off her eyes and the wall to crumble in her mind.
Nothing else mattered but them—who they were now and what they longed for their future.
“You’re an amazing man, Sebastian.”
He chuckled. “Of course, I am. I’m marrying you, aren’t I?”
Sebastian faced the king—his future father-in-law. The older man arrived less than four hours ago and now they were in his darkened study late at night. Alone.
“Thank you for seeing me.” What should Sebastian call him now?
“You have a great deal of nerve coming to my home, my land without informing me.”
Oh, so that’s how this is going to go. “Before I leave, I’ll be sure to get your number, sir.”
The man whipped around from staring out the tall, thin window. His gaze pinned Sebastian as he stood on the rich green Persian rug yards away in the center of the ridiculously opulent library lined with thousands of books the king surely never read. He chuckled.
Thankfully, the tense air siphoned out.
“Drink?” The older man went to the nearby cabinet.
“None for me.” Not a good idea to get hammered. He’d wait to get back to his own country and have a few pints and the best Scotch in his land with the villagers.
Sophia’s father poured himself a good amount, over half the glass. He came forward and waved for Sebastian to follow him, sitting in a massive leather chair in a small, intimate grouping. “Sit. Be still.” He sighed. “Even if you haven’t moved a centimeter, you still aren’t at rest. Why are you here?”
“Very hospitable.” And on target. The man wasn’t anyone’s fool.
“Do you always make jokes, mostly lame ones, when you face authority figures?”
This time, Sebastian chuckled. He nodded in admiration. “Just kings.”
The man threw back his head and laughed. “Ah, that one. He’s a fine mess, isn’t he? Yes, I understand you were his ward.”
“Reluctantly.”
“Stephan’s friend.”
“Until I die.” He’d never be able to repay Stephan and all he’d done for him. After school, they’d partnered together and Sebastian had become a wealthy man on his own.
“Loyalty. A good quality to possess. Now, about my daughter…”
“I want to bring her to my country for another visit, with your permission, of course.” He still knew how this went. “She’ll have a chaperone.”
“Why, the wedding is only weeks away. Can’t this wait?”
“No.” It came out so forceful that it even shocked Sebastian. At his concerned frown, Sebastian blew out a pent-up breath. “She’s unhappy—”
“Here?” He sat up. “This is her home, her kingdom.”
“Her beautiful prison.” Ouch, he said that. Sebastian rubbed a hand over his face, feeling his short, scratchy beard.
“Sophia said that?”
“Not quite those words.” Close enough, though. “When she was in the States and in my land, she was different. Freer. Confident. Herself. This Sophia is almost a stranger to me.” His chest hurt at the admission.
“Of course she is. She has duties and charities and events to attend to. All the things expected of her to take over from her late mother…” A flash of genuine pain slashed across his features. “All the things required of the next heir to the throne.”
“And no life of her own.” Sebastian sighed, trying to fathom a way out of this; he shouldn’t be speaking for her. Only Sophia could stand up for herself when it came to her father. Maybe if he could get the king away from here… “My invitation extends to you, too. You can see for yourself. My home—humble as it is. My people, dedicated and devoted.”
By the look on his curious face, the king appeared intrigued at least.
“We’ll leave in the morning.” There, Sebastian had pressed his point, not wanting a delay and allow more time for the man to reconsider.
Now, if only Sebastian could get his sweet Sophia to shed this abundant lifestyle and the century-old, royal duty shackles placed on her and welcome his much less material and down-to-earth world…
Chapter 4
Sophia stuffed her mother’s wedding dress deep in her room-sized closet, far away from her sight.
The ruffles and puff sleeves taunted her through the long, sleepless night as she tossed and turned. At least the fifteen-foot train wouldn’t be reused, having had her parents’ initials embroidered along the delicate hem. That was theirs. Not hers.
If she could only convince her father the dress wasn’t meant for her, either.
It would take sheer willpower to confront him. She lacked that and backbone, she realized.
She’d been the good, obeying daughter for so long. Her little sprint of freedom in the States empowered her, allowed her to make her own decisions, and even have a real job at the renowned King’s Department Store. A dream when she figured that she’d met Sebastian there.
All that floated away, slowly and succinctly, as Sophia returned to her normal life, fulfilling her required princess duties. Freedom slipped away the longer she entrenched herself back in her old routine, broken only by a few treasured visits to Sebastian’s homeland.
Sophia blew out a breath and marched out of her closet, swatting at silky fabrics in he
r way. Oh, what she would give to have a normal existence right now.
In less than ten minutes, she raced down the palace hall to the small, quaint family dining room, excited to see Sebastian again.
He was there, waiting for her. She giggled when he picked her up and kissed her quick. “Ready for an adventure?” His grin reached his gorgeous blue eyes.
“Where?” She gasped out the word.
“Home with me.”
“And me!” Her papa’s voice boomed through the room.
Startled, she shoved away from Sebastian and turned to her father. “Papa?” The last exchanges sank in. “You’re going, too?”
“It’s about time, don’t you think?”
Part dread and part delight washed over her at the same time.
What would happen there? Would her father hate it and demand she not go back? He favored wealth and prosperity. Sebastian’s home and land had neither. Yet. Maybe never.
Appearances mattered. Image, too.
Too put it politely, Sebastian’s home lacked the expected elegance and regal surroundings one being of royal descent had become accustomed to. Her father would hold this against Sebastian; she was certain of it. She slipped her hand in Sebastian’s, squeezing tight.
Don’t let this invitation be a mistake…
Sophia sat beside Sebastian as Zeb drove them to the airport. Her father insisted on using his own royal car with his small entourage in tow to conduct business on the way. The man did not stop ruling at every chance.
She shifted closer to the window and leaned against Sebastian’s arm as they exited the large, ornate palace gate. There were a scant number of people today; however, she looked anyway and waved. “Remember I told you what happened when I returned yesterday?”
“The little girl with the hand-drawn picture of us?” His voice held a smile.
“Adorable. But not her. The older woman in the wheelchair.” She searched the couple of dozen onlookers, hoping to find her again. “There was something about her… I don’t know. It’s hard to put it into words really. Intense. Urgent, almost.” She shook her head and sat back. A trickle of disappointment seeped inside.
“You said you thought she might be sick.” Sebastian reached over and brushed his fingertips over her cheek and then lifted her chin so she would look into his eyes. “Did you get her name? Maybe we could check in on her.”
“Really? We could do that?” Sophia blinked back the sting of tears. “Why don’t I think of things like that? You’re always so good and thoughtful.” Knowing Sebastian as a kind, caring man had pointed out many of her own flaws. She’d been too sheltered all her life. And she’d been self-absorbed, mired down with what added up to silly issues.
“Name?”
She shook her head. Then she remembered. “I had one of the men in my security detail take a picture.” She fished out her cell phone and scrolled to the photo. She enlarged the image and showed him.
Frowning, he studied it in silence for a long time. “Intense is a good word. She’s different than the others and dressed in dark clothes for a sunny day. Desperate to get you to listen to her…”
Sophia shook her head. “I wish I had asked her more. My mother.”
Someone knew Mama and could tell Sophia more of what she was like—connecting her to her mother, something she longed for now.
Right now, Sophia would take any scrap of information she could get. She realized the nearer she got to her wedding day, the more curious she became of her mother, even younger than she at the time, promised to a stranger in a marriage of convenience.
The ache in Sophia’s heart grew a little more at missing her mother when the most important day of her life drew near. What had her mother thought and felt as her own wedding day approached? What advice would she have given Sophia?
“And what she said…there is another.”
“I’ll send this to my phone and we’ll see if we can track her down somehow. I’ll ask Zeb when we arrive.”
“Yes, and he can check with the other drivers. Maybe someone knows this woman and by the time I get back, we’ll find out more about her.” A bolt of confidence zinged through Sophia. She needed this now, something to allow her to feel close to her mother again, know who she was. It seemed so very long ago. No one in the palace dared speak of her mother for fear of a reprisal from the king or cause more distress with the delicate grieving process for Sophia.
“Good idea. Promise me you won’t go without telling me first and you go with your guards.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Sophia swallowed hard, thinking she’d never get the chance with security around—protecting, yet suffocating her. But, if she could get away…
For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, Sebastian sat on a private jet—this time the king’s royal one—and anticipated his reception.
However, this one wasn’t about himself; he’d gained favor and respect among his countrymen. It had taken quite some time for them to come around to Sophia. Her dedication to him and love for him and to his people slowly convinced them over her several visits and many contacts through letters.
He had grave concerns about the king, though. His presence alone would rub many the wrong way. They tended to reject overlords, especially in this modern century. They’d had more than enough from Stephan’s father over the years until he gave back control and rights to Sebastian.
Why had Sebastian done this again?
Sebastian glanced over at Sophia, dozing and with a slight smile on her soft, sweet lips.
For her.
Anything for the woman who had stolen his heart. Anything for her…
Hours later, Sebastian slipped a note under Sophia’s door in his personal wing in the castle.
Hopefully, she’d see it soon.
He’d given her father the massive east wing—recently renovated and with two dozen rooms. He and his entourage were still ensconced in heavy discussions on their country’s economy and other boring topics.
Sebastian’s small staff of six had prepared well for their guests, if not reluctantly. They wouldn’t shame him, but had made it known they weren’t allowing the king’s people to interfere in their ways. Personalities and territories clashed.
The bumpy start didn’t sit well with the king.
He’d grumbled all the way through their delicious dinner—roast beef with plenty of vegetables and wine, with a good amount of the best Scotch after—about the failings of such a small country and the need for decent help.
Sebastian bit back a few retorts. However, much to her credit, Sophia defended the loyal castle staff.
“Papa, you are mistaken. Sebastian’s staff are some of the very best I’ve had the great privilege of meeting.”
“Ah, my Sophia…”
Now, Sebastian sighed as he retraced his steps and went down the back stairs to the softly lit, huge kitchen redone to highlight the architectural details of the old castle while blending in hidden modern appliances. His highly experienced cook left the light on over the eight-burner stove for late-night hunger strikes.
He grabbed a ready sack from the counter and heard the faint noise behind him.
“I thought we’d never get time alone.” Sophia’s whispered words made him smile.
Turning, he opened his arms and she went into them. He nearly crushed her to him, burying his face in her sweet-smelling hair. He murmured, holding her tight. “This makes everything worth it. The complaints. The scowls. The wait.”
She pulled back, her face in shadows. However, he noted the hitch in her breath.
“Let’s not. Wait, that is. Nothing matters but us.”
It should have soothed his concerns. It didn’t. Instead, he tried to search her shadowed gaze in the poorly lit room. “What are you afraid of?”
“Something, anything stopping us. Papa pokes holes in the goodness of your home and your people and your land…” She shook her head. “In my country, our wedding is turning into a fiasco. I…I hate all o
f it.”
His gut twisted. He hadn’t ever seen her like this. Distraught. “Come with me. We’ll spend a few precious hours alone.” To talk. There were too many things weighing between them and too many questions unanswered.
He sensed her hesitancy as she nibbled on her bottom lip.
“Trust me?”
Chapter 5
Sophia clung to Sebastian, her arms wrapped around his waist as he directed his large black horse into the night. A full moon guided him over hills and down valleys and up again, slowly ascending higher and higher. The gentle sway soothed Sophia’s frayed nerves.
She rested her cheek against Sebastian’s strong, solid back, liking the feel of his muscles against her.
Trust him? Of course she did. However, some things were in their way. She sensed it and had for quite some time. With distance, she’d brushed it away.
A part of her longed to go back to their time at King’s Department Store. She’d been free then. Free of rules and order and protocol. And she’d found him.
The horse’s hooves picked up speed, pounding on the ground, sure-footed and able, whisking them away from the village and into the upper levels. When Sebastian tugged back on the reins, slowing the animal, Sophia sensed the shift—in height and in tension.
Sebastian relaxed beneath her touch.
Sophia placed a kiss in the middle of his back. He shivered. She smiled.
“We’re here.” He halted his horse and reached around to help her down.
“Where is here?” She peeked around him, grabbed his forearm, and then allowed him guide her to the ground. The landing jarred her slightly and she touched Sebastian’s strong thigh to steady herself. Her palm burned and she yanked it away.
His deep chuckle smoothed away her shyness. He dismounted with agility and grace, reminding her how different they were—athleticism versus her dainty upbringing.
Once Upon a Royal Wedding Page 3
