The Bachelor Prince

by Jane Beckenham

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness, I tried to stop her.”

  Lucas waved his assistant away, flexed his fingers against his desk, and then stood to face Blanche. Actually, his assistant had thwarted Blanche’s attempts to see him with a great deal of success every day since Cassie had left.

  Today, she’d failed.

  As Blanche walked in, as usual there wasn’t a hair out of place. The woman dressed to the nth degree. “You show a great deal of perseverance, Blanche.”

  “Of course. Where my daughter is concerned, her happiness is all that matters, Your Highness.”

  Lucas shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet.

  “My daughter loves you.”

  He hadn’t expected that and promptly sat back down. “I think you’ve got that wrong. Your daughter and I were lovers, not in love. We had, as she put it so bluntly, an emotionless affair. That’s all.” Lucas knew it wasn’t all. He felt it deep down inside—finally—and yes it scared the hell out of him.

  Blanche waved a diamond-bedecked hand at him. “Oh, I know the score. You were playing at being a couple. I’ve done it myself.”

  The edge of Lucas’s mouth shifted downward. “I’m sure.”

  “My daughter, whatever you may think, is not me. Did you ever look into her eyes?”

  “Pardon?”

  “You heard me. Did you ever really look, Lucas?” she asked, dropping protocol. He ignored it. “What did you see?”

  Lucas remembered exactly what he’d seen. Warmth. Excitement. Kindness. Desire, definitely.

  More? Yes, but… He’d ignored that too…scared to acknowledge it, and pushed her away. Then he’d taken from her everything she’d worked hard for and held dear. He went to speak, but Blanche held up a silencing hand, and Lucas snapped his mouth closed.

  “I know what you and others think of me, even my daughter—that I’m after any man who can offer me comfort at a good dollar value. I won’t dispute it; however, it didn’t start out that way.”

  “She needed you.”

  “Yes, she’s told me that in no uncertain terms just recently. The truth of the matter is, the same could be said of you.” She offered a designer-suit-clad shrug. “The good life is something I’ve become accustomed to, but Cassie is not me. You cheapened her.”

  “I gave her everything a woman could want.”

  “Clothes. Jewels. All very nice, but do you think it was really what my daughter wanted from you? Most women, me, yes, but not Cassie.”

  Blanche spoke the truth. When he’d returned that night, Cassie had gone, but not the jewels, the clothes or the ring. That action alone decimated his greed theory. He had offered her the ring as payment, which she had denied. She’d left it behind. That, and a letter that arrived in the mail the next day saying good-bye.

  “You took away her independence, everything she had achieved on her own merit, not a handout from a rich boyfriend—like her mother. That, she will never forgive, or accept.” Blanche shook her head, and not a strand of hair fell out of place. Not like Cassie. Images of her beautiful hair, a silken wash across his skin, teased his confused brain.

  “I might have been lax as a mother, but I do love my daughter. I did what I thought was best. But don’t you dare hurt Cassie anymore. Otherwise, you’ll have me to deal with.”

  “A formidable foe,” he agreed with a nod.

  “Mothers always know best.”

  “Do they?” He’d once thought his mother didn’t know best, only to be proved wrong. She had. But by then it had been too late. For him. For her.

  He had learned a hard lesson. Love was fickle…and it hurt like hell.

  He wondered what his mother would say now.

  In truth, he knew exactly what she’d say. She’d condemn his behavior. His mother had always pushed her daughters to be their own people, despite the royal tag they were born with. He’d taken Cassie’s sense of self-worth away from her. He’d tested her, branded her guilty without really knowing her or the truth, and all because of the way his ex-girlfriends had acted toward him. But not Cassie. Never Cassie.

  How wrong he’d been.

  Oh yes, he missed her beside him at night, but mostly he missed her laughter. Her smile. Simply knowing she was there. The thought of never having her with him ever again scared the beejesus out of him. He needed her. First, he had to find her.

  “You’re right,” he said, pushing up from his chair and facing up to what he had done.

  Blanche, in all her designer chic, offered him a faint smile, and for the first time, Lucas recognized its genuineness, witnessed the sparkling twinkle in her eyes—eyes so like her daughter’s. “I know I am,” she agreed. “My daughter is more like her father, the apple of his eye. He was from New Zealand, you know. Muriwai. It’s a small beach community just north of Auckland.” Blanche offered Lucas a wink and a wave, and then exited in a cloud of exotic perfume and a jingling of gold from her wrists.

  Blanche Drummond was some woman.

  Being royal had its perks, Lucas conceded as his jet made ready for touchdown at Auckland Airport. The minute the Lear jet landed, he commandeered the waiting vehicle, allowing bodyguards to follow at a discreet distance.

  Leaving the city nicknamed the City of Sails, he drove for about an hour through suburbs that finally gave way to the rolling pasture of the west coast. He took the turn toward Muriwai Beach and drove down a winding road through an almost subtropical vista of palms and hibiscus. The road came to a dead end down by the beach.

  Where to now?

  A row of small cottages lined the beachfront. Lucas searched out cottage number four on foot. He rapped out a sharp and impatient knock on the front door. His heart seemed to cease to beat. The door opened, and Lucas quickly introduced himself, holding out his hand. “Lucas Palmera.”

  “The prince?” The elderly woman sniffed but offered a faint smile. “So it was you who made my granddaughter sad,” she said.

  “I’m afraid I did.” Lucas couldn’t deny it. It was time for honesty. “Is she home?”

  “She’s out walking.”

  Just then, a young girl poked her head out from behind Cassie’s grandmother. “You made her sad.”

  “Tina, shush,” the grandmother chided.

  “I’m sorry. I’m here to hopefully make her happy.”

  “I like happy. I can take you to her.” With childlike delight, the young girl reached out and took his hand. She turned to Cassie’s grandmother. “I’ll take Mr. Prince to Cassie. I like happy. Do you?”

  “Absolutely, especially when it makes Cassie happy.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Cassie’s feet slid across the wet black sand, reviving childhood memories with her father on New Zealand’s isolated Kaipara coast.

  Memories. She could never forget Lucas.

  When she’d arrived at her grandparents’ cottage, she’d been welcomed with open arms and no questions asked, keeping her tears for moments when she wandered along the windswept beach, where they mingled with the sea breeze.

  Then there was Tina. Seeing her joy and knowing she had done the right thing, at least went some way in healing Cassie’s heart. Tina needed her. Loved her. Lucas didn’t.

  “Cassie.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the pain as her mind relived the sound of her name on the wind.

  “Cassie.”

  It wasn’t the wind. She spun around, and her heart skipped a beat. “Lucas! What are you doing here?”

  “Finding you.”

  Shock. Love. Heartache. All of it jockeyed for supremacy in her chest while, instinctively, she pulled her jacket closer around her, praying it would protect her heart.

  His eyes were dark as lead, his hair windblown. She wanted to reach over and brush it from his face. Instead, her fingers curled into fists, nails bi
ting into her palms. Feel the pain. Remember the hurt.

  Tina stood just a few feet back, one hand pulling down her right eyelid. It was Tina’s way of winking. “He’s here to make you happy.”

  “You know your mother was right,” he said.

  “My mother? My mother, as you so succinctly put it, is always out for the best deal… Oh, but then, isn’t that the same category you put me into? You were dead set on testing me, and silly me, I didn’t even know it.” She shook her head, looked briefly out at the raging frothing surf, then faced him again. “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to find you.”

  Air stalled in her windpipe.

  “According to your mother, I should look into your eyes,” he said. Cassie blinked several times. “She has your best interests at heart, you know.”

  “Yeah, right. So she came to ask for a loan, or was it some diamond she was after this time? Maybe an introduction to a royal she wants to snag?”

  Lucas’s mouth hitched slightly, an action she knew so well. It tugged at her heart. She stepped back. She wouldn’t let him in. Couldn’t. It would destroy her.

  “None of the above.”

  “That would be a first.”

  “Don’t be hard on her. She knows who she is and what she is and doesn’t apologize for it.” He reached for her hand then, and before she could retract it, he held it firmly in his. Heat licked across her skin, teasing alive emotions and senses she desperately needed to stifle. Stand up for yourself, Cassie. Stand proud.

  If he wanted her, he had to love her.

  “You have every right to be angry with me.”

  “I have.” She eyed him with suspicion, not sure if she could cope with too much more of this. Of him, here. Close. “What did you mean about mothers?”

  “Blanche is rather wise. She said I should look into your eyes to really know you, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart. Cassie swallowed back a breath. “What do you see?”

  “Kindness. Loyalty. Desire. A fierce independence and strength of character.”

  “Shame you didn’t recognize it earlier.”

  “You were right. I was too scared.”

  His answer shocked her, and part of her wasn’t sure she believed him. “But you climb mountains. You’re an adrenaline junkie. You’re meant to be climbing Mt. Everest.” Cassie frowned, realizing what she’d just said. “Actually, why aren’t you? Shouldn’t you be at base camp or something?”

  Lucas’s smile broadened. “This is the only base camp I want, right here, now, with you. You’re my Everest, Cassie.”

  A flurry of butterflies took flight in her stomach. She reached for the cord of her jacket hood and began twisting it around her finger. “Oh, Lucas, trying the famous charm won’t work.”

  “So believe me.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because…” He twisted half away from her, then dragged a hand across tired eyes. Cassie wanted to hold him close. Soothe him. “It’s all a jumble of words, though Lord knows I’ve been rehearsing them for the last twenty-four hours on the plane.” He brought her hands up to his chest, and his heartbeat thundered beneath her touch. It excited her, but still she held back, determined to protect her heart. “Your mother said that you love me.”

  Cassie yanked her hands free and hugged them across her chest. She stepped back just as a wave washed ashore and lapped around her bare feet. “My mother doesn’t have a clue about love.”

  “I think she does. You see, she was right about looking into your eyes. Trouble was, I was blind, but now I can see exactly what she meant.”

  “So you came all this way just to prove she was right?”

  “No. I came all this way because I couldn’t stay away. Because I knew I was wrong.”

  She shook her head. Too much sea air had to the problem. What she wanted was for Lucas to go. Maybe then she could breathe. “An email would have been easier. I’m no longer part of your staff. Why bother flying all this way?”

  “Because I saw love in your eyes, though heaven knows I tried to ignore it. It scared me.”

  She tugged her jacket tighter. “Hard to believe. I’ve seen you in the boardroom, remember. You do things your way.”

  “I’m also a man. Just a man.” He took a step closer to her, but, clearly registering her wariness, halted. “Prince. Adrenaline junkie. They’re tags given to me by someone else, but when it comes down to it, I am a man running scared.” He offered her a wry grin, then his expression darkened. “Before my mother died, I had been studying in the United States and fallen in love. I wanted to stay and marry Galiana.”

  Cassie’s stomach tightened.

  “I’d come home to tell my parents. My mother tried to make me see that my world is different. I was angry, and we argued. I refused to drive to the mountains with her. She died in a car accident. I blamed myself. If I had…”

  Cassie reached out to him and then snatched her hand back. But it was as if he didn’t notice, and he carried on. “Life changed. I saw my father’s devastation. His loss. He hurt deeply, and that scared me. As far as I was concerned, love hurt too much. Was too risky. For years, I’ve kept my head completely separate from my heart. I was a fool. Life isn’t like that.”

  The pain in Lucas’s eyes made Cassie’s heart ache.

  “Then the person I believed loved me didn’t actually love me enough to hang around. I shut my heart down. That is, until you left, and I realized what hurt really meant. I’m sorry for what I put you through. For not trusting you. I want you back.”

  “You already have a replacement assistant.”

  “Not for that job.”

  He drew her into his embrace, the security a welcoming blessing. Cassie knew she should pull away, but just for this one tiny moment, she wanted to stay there and take what solace she could. She fixed her gaze on his beautiful face. So strong and commanding. Full of…

  Lucas talked about looking into her eyes, and in turn she stared into his, shocked at what she saw. Oh yes, there was lust and the fire of desire, but there was something more. Something beautiful. Heartfelt. Desperate.

  Hope at last renewed in her heart.

  Suddenly, Lucas knelt down on one knee. “I love you, Cassie Masters. Will you do me the honor and marry me and stand at my side?”

  “Oh, Lucas.”

  “You don’t have to live the royal life if you don’t want to. I’ll abdicate. I can do that, just like my father. I’ll walk away if I need to.”

  “Shush.” She silenced his protest, placing a finger over his parted lips. She felt the heat of his breath against it and knew exactly what her answer would be. “Lucas Palmera, I’ve loved you from the moment I walked into your office, and I’ll love you whether you’re a prince or not. But you can’t give up your life. It’s an intrinsic part of you and what I love about you. Your loyalty, your honor and pride.”

  He kissed her fingertip, and her heart blossomed with the love she’d held back for so long. “You love me?”

  “So much. So very, very much. Now, will you get up out of that surf and kiss me?”

  “A request I cannot refuse.”

  “So are you going to be Mrs. Prince now, Cassie?”

  “What?” Cassie looked over Lucas’s shoulder. Tina hovered nearby.

  “Lucas, I think you need to meet my half sister, Tina. She’s my responsibility. I can’t leave her behind.”

  “Shush, sweetheart,” he said, silencing Cassie with a sweet kiss to her lips. “We’ve already met, and wherever you go, she comes with us too.”

  Cassie beckoned Tina forward, and she shuffled up to them. “Did Mr. Prince make you happy? He said he wanted to.”

  Cassie ruffled Tina’s wayward curls. “Oh yes, sweetheart, he has.” She smiled up at Lucas. “Very much.”

  Lucas hugged her to him and dotted a
kiss on her mouth. “I have something for you,” he said. He drew out a velvet pouch from his pocket and tumbled the exquisite solitaire onto the palm of his other hand. “You left it behind.”

  “I couldn’t take it. It made me feel bought.”

  “Never that, sweetheart. This ring is given with my love. Forever.”

  Epilogue

  The echo of the trumpets reached high into the ancient gothic ceilings of the abbey as the Archbishop of San Torrevna pronounced them man and wife.

  With her hand resting in Lucas’s, Cassie couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the braided trio of trumpeters on the balcony. Dressed in red with Lucas’s coat of arms embroidered on the front of their tunics, they were the epitome of regal.

  In front of over a thousand of Europe’s royalty and elite from both business and the arts, along with her grandparents, her mother and Tina, Cassie held Lucas’s hand in a death grip. His brow rose a fraction, and she realized the poor man was bearing the brunt of her nerves without wincing once.

  The doors to the abbey opened to the welcoming roar of the flag-waving people of San Torrevna.

  Cassie’s lips were dry. She didn’t think she had stopped smiling since Lucas proposed on the quiet little beach on the other side of the world. That it had been in her father’s country made it so very special for her. Perhaps he had been there, looking down with approval. She hoped so. Her mother had certainly been delighted, but what had surprised Cassie was how genuine her delight had been. And that Jorge Rodriguez had convinced Blanche to try again. Next week, they were jetting off to Argentina.

  Beneath the stone arch at the abbey’s entrance, they came to a halt, and Lucas drew her to him. “I’ve been wanting to do this for hours,” he murmured against her ear.

  The crowd went wild.

  “So, my beautiful wife, how about we give them what they’ve been waiting for.” He slipped his arms around her shoulders and drew his fingertips down the curve of her back. His breath was warm and teasing.

  Lucas kissed her, and kept on kissing her, his tongue a tantalizing wash across hers. A groan slid from her, and her body sagged against his. A thunderous applause broke loose all around them.