by Romancing the Crown Series (13-in-1 bundle) (v1. 0) (lit)
Kate tilted her face to the wind, feeling her spirit revive with each turn of the road. If she could have flown, she would have. She couldn't get back to the base fast enough. After what she'd seen and heard today, she wanted only to be with the man she loved.
Sam had been asleep when she'd left the hospital this morning. The doctors had said that rest was what he needed most. It would be days before he'd be able to get out of bed. He'd lost a substantial amount of blood, and he'd received a serious concussion when he'd fallen to the deck, but astonishingly, the wound in his side was already showing signs of healing.
But that was her Sam, wasn't it? One in a million. If he'd heard the doctor's cautious prognosis, he'd probably laugh and say something about SEALs being tough.
Kate smiled, remembering how Sam had defied another one of the doctor's predictions and had managed to steal a few moments of lucidity the night before. The crazy, wonderful, stubborn man had just undergone emergency surgery, but he'd only been worried about her.
Oh, how she loved him. If he wanted to be crazy and stubborn, that was fine with her. She loved him for who he was. She didn't want him any other way.
Kate chaffed with impatience as she had to pause for the checkpoint at the gate. As soon as she was on the base, she drove straight to the hospital. She screeched to a stop in the parking area and headed for the entrance.
Sam wasn't in the room where she'd left him. Kate wasn't concerned at first—she assumed he'd been moved. But when she inquired at the nurses' station, she was informed he'd left almost an hour ago.
"Left?" Kate repeated, incredulous. "How could he have been discharged already?"
"Lieutenant Coburn discharged himself," the nurse said.
"But he's just had surgery."
"I'm aware of that, ma'am. You don't need to shout."
Kate glanced around. "Do you know where he went?"
"Sorry." The phone on the desk rang. "Excuse me."
It shouldn't surprise her that Sam would have wanted to leave. He wasn't a man who liked to wait around. He'd come to Montebello in the first place because he was supposed to be recuperating from a gunshot wound, but instead he'd taken on a new mission.
Was that what had happened? She thought back to what she'd told him the night before. She'd said the mission was over. That had seemed important to him. He'd seemed to want to tell her something before he'd slipped back into sleep. Was that what he'd wanted to say?
She hurried across the base to the command center she and Sam had set up twelve days ago, but Sam wasn't there, either. The room was oddly silent. Much of the equipment they had requisitioned had already been removed. Most of the personnel had resumed their regular duties. Is that what Sam had done? Had he joined Reilly and the other men on his SEAL team?
She tried his quarters next. She pounded on his door until a bleary-eyed bald man opened the door of the room across the hall to find out what she wanted. Yawning, he told her he'd run into Sam in the corridor twenty minutes ago. Sam had been carrying a bag. He hadn't said where he was going.
Kate slumped against the wall. After everything she and Sam had been through, had he really left without a word?
She didn't want to believe it. Yet that's what they'd both insisted on the last time. Did he still think she wanted an easy goodbye?
She should have told him she loved him sooner. She should have realized she loved him sooner.
But would it have made any difference? His thirst for adventure and his need for freedom were part of him. She loved him as he was, she reminded herself. They hadn't spoken of a future. Was that because there hadn't been time—or because they didn't have one?
She pushed away from the wall and raked her fingers through her hair. What could she do? Wait until the next time they ran into each other on duty or got together on leave?
No. She wanted to see him now. This minute, this second. She didn't want to end up haunted by regrets, like Lucas. He'd lost his chance with Jessica. She wouldn't lose her chance with Sam.
She lifted her chin and headed for the stairs. She would call Lucas from her quarters. The prince of Montebello said he was in her debt. He could repay her by having his father pull some strings with Admiral Howe and have the base commander delay whatever plane Sam was intending to leave on. One way or another, she wasn't going to make anything easy about this goodbye.
She threw open the door to her quarters... and stopped.
The sitting room drapes were closed, but the room glowed with light. Dozens of candles flickered from every surface, filling the air with the heady aroma of gardenias.
Kate swung the door closed behind her, her pulse pounding from more than her run up the stairs. She couldn't catch her breath. "Sam?"
He stood in the doorway of her bedroom. He held his body stiffly, his arm trembling as he leaned his weight on a cane.
She swayed forward. "Sam."
He extended his free hand.
The room was small. She crossed it in a heartbeat.
She wanted to barrel into his arms and bury her face in his chest and hold him until her ribs ached, but then she looked at the bulge under his shirt where the dressing would be and she stopped a breath away. "Sam..."
He grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her head to his shoulder. His lips tickled her ear. "Hello, Kate."
She turned her face to his neck, filling her lungs with the scent of him. "I looked for you. I thought you had gone."
"Where would I have gone?"
"Anywhere. Everywhere." She kissed his throat, his chin, the side of his jaw. "I thought you'd rejoined your team."
"You're my team, Kate. We're still partners, remember?"
"But the mission's over. Ursula Chambers is in custody and she's going to pay for every evil thing she's done." Her breath hitched. "Sam, you shouldn't be on your feet. You should have stayed in the hospital."
"I had to see you."
"And I had to see you. I had to touch you, but—" She put her hand lightly on his chest. "It must hurt."
"Minor detail."
"I thought you'd left, but you've been here all along. Why the candles?"
"I like the smell."
"And how—"
"Shh. We'll talk later," he said, tipping her face to his. In the candlelight his golden-brown eyes gleamed as brightly as a promise. "First, we kiss."
"Sam, I—"
He didn't kiss like a man who could have died the day before. Then again, maybe he did. He kissed her as if he wanted to pour a lifetime of passion into a moment. His cane clattered to the floor as he cupped her face in his hands, holding her steady even as his knees began to buckle. He leaned his shoulder against the door frame and kept kissing her until the world faded, leaving only the two of them and their need for each other.
Somehow they managed to make it to the bed. She helped Sam peel off his clothes along the way, moving carefully—oh, so carefully—yet with an eagerness that made them both smile. Sam eased down on his back, his glorious body naked except for the thick gauze pad that was taped under his ribs. In the flickering candlelight he looked like a warrior, a wounded warrior who had finally come home.
Kate stripped and then stretched out beside him. He lifted his arm, pulling her to his side with a strength that no longer surprised her. He was amazing, this man she loved. He caressed her tenderly, keeping his body still even as he made her writhe.
It was as if the time that had sped past the day before now slowed. Kate made love to him gently, always mindful of his injury. She tried to tell herself he needed closeness more than he needed sex. But each time her gaze strayed to his bandage, she thought of how she could have lost him, and the urge for completion became overwhelming.
She felt no awkwardness as she climbed over him. Nothing was awkward when it came to love. He shuddered. She sighed.
The candle beside the bed burned itself out as she watched him fall asleep in her arms.
Night had fallen by the time Sam awoke. He knew instantly where he
was. He didn't have even a split second of disorientation. He could tell by the scent and by the bone-deep satisfaction he felt.
But the afterglow of good, healthy sex wasn't all he felt. A persistent throbbing in his side reminded him of the doctor's advice. Bed rest. Well, he was in a bed, wasn't he?
Sam turned his head. Kate was lying beside him, her cheek propped on her hand. She had put on a silk robe, but he could tell by the cleavage he glimpsed at her neckline that she hadn't put on anything else.
Incredibly, despite the haze of exhaustion that dulled his senses, he felt himself stir. He couldn't get enough of her. He smiled and ran his fingertip along the edge of her robe. "Hey."
She smiled back. "Hey, yourself. How are you feeling?"
"Better by the second. Want me to show you?"
She leaned over and kissed him. But before he could do anything more, she pulled back. "Sam, before I came home and found you here, I thought you'd left."
"Yeah, you mentioned that a few times."
"And while I was looking for you, I realized something."
"What?"
"I'm not as good a person as I thought I was."
He slipped his hand into her robe and rubbed his thumb over the curve of her breast. "Kate, if you were any better you'd kill me."
"Sam, I'm serious."
"So am I."
She pulled his hand out of her robe and sat up. "Please, Sam. We already know we get this part right. I'm trying to figure out the rest."
He tucked his hand under his head and watched her. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right after we make love?"
She pushed her hair off her forehead shakily. "You're pretty appealing yourself."
"Your cheeks are flushed, and your eyes have this dreamy glow. Your whole body is soft and relaxed and—"
"Sam, please. I'm trying to tell you something."
"Okay. What?"
"I have to break our promise."
"Our promise? What do you mean?"
"No more easy goodbyes. It will mean compromises and probably a few changes in our careers. I know it's not going to be easy, and we'll have a lot to work on, so maybe loving you has made me selfish, but—"
"Wait a second. Did you just say that you love me?"
She knelt on the mattress at his side and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Love was the last thing that I thought I wanted. It doesn't fit into the plans we made for our lives, but it happened anyway, and these past two weeks have shown me that it's too precious a gift to squander." She moved her hands to his cheeks, cradling his face as she leaned over to kiss him, then she sat back on her heels and smiled. "I love you, Sam. You make me complete. When I'm with you, I'm home."
If it hadn't been for the pain in his side, he might have thought that he was dreaming. He hadn't believed it would be this easy. He'd been fully prepared for a long, difficult campaign. That's why he'd dragged himself out of the hospital when any sane man would have stayed put, and that's why he'd broken into these quarters to set the scene with candles. Yet while he'd been busy laying plans to breach the barricades around Kate's heart, she'd opened the gates and invited him in.
But what else could he expect from this stubborn, independent, passionate, maddening woman?
He covered her hands with his and turned his head to press a kiss to each of her palms. "Me, too."
"Sam?"
He tugged her downward until she stretched out beside him. "I love you, Kate Mulvaney."
Her smile widened. "Say it again."
"I love you. I love everything about you."
"And I love you, Sam Coburn. And I'll try to understand when you go off on your adventures but—"
"Kate, loving you is all the adventure I need. Next time I travel, I want to do it with you. How would you feel about a honeymoon in Fiji?"
"A... honeymoon?"
"After you marry me, of course."
"After what?"
This wasn't how he'd planned to propose. He'd rehearsed the words so carefully over the past two days, but he couldn't remember any of the arguments he'd memorized. Instead, he gathered her hands in his and pressed them to his heart. "You mentioned compromise, and this is a big one. I know how you feel about marriage, Kate, but not all of them turn out like your parents'. We'll be building from a solid base. Love." He tightened his grip on her hands. "I used to believe that love made a person vulnerable, but I was wrong. It's the other way around. Love gives you strength."
Her eyes brimmed. "I've seen that, Sam. Love can hurt, but it also heals."
"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Kate. We're a team, you and I. Together we can do anything."
"Yes."
"Yes?"
"I'll marry you."
He cupped the back of her head and brought his lips to hers. "Well, what do you know?" he murmured. "Looks like we finally got this part right, too."
She laughed. "Yes, it looks like we did."
"But just in case, we'd better practice some more."
The throne room was decorated with sunshine. That's how it seemed to Kate. The splendor that adorned the rest of the palace paled in comparison to the wonder of this chamber.
"I have to hand it to these Sebastianis," Sam said, leaning his weight on his cane as he glanced around. "They sure know how to create an effect."
"It's as if they captured the essence of the Mediterranean." Kate craned her neck and tried not to stare. It was an enormous room, large enough to have appeared cavernous, but the natural light that streamed through the long windows on every wall gave it the warmth of a sun-washed hillside.
Not that the room was simple. Wealth was evident everywhere, from the gilded pillars to the gleaming marble floor. In the spaces between the windows there were intricate mosaics that told the story of Montebellan history. Color and light collided in a joyful celebration.
On the other hand, any place would appear joyful to Kate. She was in love. And her husband-to-be was looking so handsome in his dress blues that he took her breath away.
Sam turned his head and winked at her. "Have I mentioned how beautiful you look today, Lieutenant Mulvaney?"
"Do you want an exact number, Lieutenant Coburn, or will a round figure do?"
He chuckled. "Think anyone will miss us if we skip out early and go back to your quarters?"
She rolled her eyes. "Sam, we can't do that. We're the guests of honor."
A heavyset man with a face like a bulldog approached them.
Sam took one hand off his cane to salute. "Admiral Howe."
The admiral's perpetual frown mellowed into what was likely his version of a smile. "Lieutenant Coburn. I'm pleased to see you on your feet already. I trust your recov ery is progressing well?"
"Yes, thank you, sir."
"And I'd like to congratulate both of you."
Kate and Sam exchanged a smile. "Thank you, sir," Sam said. "We haven't set a date yet. I'm waiting to hear from the base commander at Coronado about a teaching position with the SEALs there."
"That's why I've put in the request for a transfer back to the States, Admiral Howe," Kate added. "We thought we'd see more of each other if—"
"What are you talking about, Lieutenant?" the admiral interrupted, looking from one to the other. "What date? What transfer?"
"We're getting married, sir. I thought that's what you meant."
"I'm talking about this ceremony, Lieutenant."
"Ah."
"It's the first time the Montebellan Silver Star is being awarded to foreigners," Howe said. "That's quite an honor."
"Indeed it is, Admiral," Sam said.
"We're very grateful to King Marcus," Kate added.
Howe nodded, studying them from beneath his heavy brows. "And congratulations about the other thing, too."
"Thank you, sir," they replied in unison.
He shook his head and moved into the gathering crowd.
"You know what he's thinking, don't you?" Sam murmured.
Kate l
aughed. "If the Navy had wanted you to have a spouse..."
"... they would have issued you with one," Sam finished.
The level of conversation in the room rose to a hum as dignitaries continued to arrive. Navy personnel mingled with people in the black and gold dress uniforms of the Montebellan police and civilians in formal clothes. The ceremony was ostensibly to honor Sam and Kate, but it was also an occasion to bring closure to what had been a difficult time for the Sebastiani family. Many lives had changed forever since Prince Lucas had gone missing almost two years ago.
There was a flurry of conversation near the entrance. Kate and Sam turned toward the noise. A group of people moved into the throne room. They were dressed formally like the other civilians, yet their bearing set them apart. Kate recognized several members of the royal family whom she had met during her previous visit to the palace.
Prince Lucas separated himself from the group and moved to greet Kate and Sam. "Congratulations to both of you."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Sam said. "It's a great honor."
"I'll say. That's an exceptional woman you're marrying, Lieutenant."
Kate smothered a laugh. "We're very honored to be receiving the Silver Star as well, Lucas."
His smile didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm in complete agreement with my father on this. You both deserve to be honored for your service to my country."
There was a sudden wail from the center of the royal group. To Kate's astonishment, she saw the petite, dark-haired Princess Anna hurry forward with a baby on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Lucas," Anna said. "You were right, we should have left him with his nurse."
Lucas scooped the baby from his sister's arms. The child immediately quieted, looking at his father with solemn blue eyes. "No, he's part of this family, Anna," Lucas said. He turned to Kate and Sam. "It's never too early for him to learn the responsibilities that will come with the crown. But rest assured I'll see that my son doesn't disrupt the ceremony."
Kate looked at the child. She felt Sam's hand on the small of her back, a private offer of support. He was the only one who realized this might be difficult for her.
Yet it wasn't difficult, Kate thought. When she looked at Lucas's baby, she no longer felt the sorrow and the guilt that had haunted her. She saw an innocent new life. She smiled and held out her hands. "May I?"
