To Marry a Prince

by A. C. Arthur

  “Somebody’s gettin’ out!” Giselle yelled.

  “Oh my, he sure is,” Paula stated. “He certainly...is.”

  Landry had already looked away from the window. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she chastised herself for being foolish. The fact was that her body was beginning to warm in a way it hadn’t done since she’d been in Grand Serenity. She shook her head and was just about to walk back into the kitchen when Paula’s next words stopped her.

  “He’s fine and he’s walking up to our door like he owns this house and everyone in it. Oh my, let me get myself together,” her sister said.

  Landry knew.

  Seconds after the doorbell rang and before she could wrap her mind around what was happening, he spoke.

  “My name is Kristian DeSaunters and I’m looking for Landry Norris.”

  His words trickled through her like a good alcoholic beverage, warm, slow and potent as hell.

  * * *

  “How did you know to come to my parents’ house? How did you even know who they were and where they lived?” Landry asked him an hour later, when he walked into her condo behind her.

  “I did extensive research on you before you came to the island,” he told her. “I thought we went over that already.”

  “You have people investigated, follow them when they are on your island and then hunt them down when they’re not?”

  He wouldn’t say he’d hunted her down. Not exactly.

  Yesterday afternoon, after a meeting with his father and having endured yet another sleepless night, Kris decided to make the trip to the United States. He’d waited long enough. Too long, as his brother and sister not-so-kindly put it.

  “I needed to speak to you,” was his reply.

  Her tone was edgy and he was afraid there would be an argument instead of the calm, mature discussion he’d planned.

  “You could have just called,” she told him after she’d dropped her purse onto one of two white couches that faced each other.

  There was a lot of white in there, the furniture, the huge crystal chandelier hanging from the white ceiling, the large piece of art on one side of the wall and the cheerful looking flowers in the crystal vases sitting on the iron-and-glass coffee table. He’d assumed she would have a brighter decor with colors that represented her vibrant personality. He’d been wrong about her yet again.

  “I wanted to see you,” he admitted.

  Kris was here for one purpose and he was not going to be deterred, especially not by his own foolishness this time.

  She stood near a wall with a silver mirror and a pale gray painted table, which held another vase with a burst of deep purple flowers. She liked fresh flowers, he deduced.

  “I don’t understand why,” she replied honestly.

  He could always expect that from Landry. Honest candor that he was certain didn’t come easy to every person he’d meet in this world.

  “I mean, when I left the island I was suspected of setting off a bomb in the palace,” she continued, folding her arms behind her back as she leaned against the wall.

  She wore blue slacks and a white blouse. One of the ones he’d bought for her as he recalled personally selecting this one with the navy blue stripes and swinging sleeves. There were thick bangles on her arms and a silver choker at her neck. She was still beautiful; that hadn’t changed at all.

  “Gary and Salvin found the man you heard talking on the phone,” he began. He’d hoped to talk to her about all the drama that had ensued on the island after she’d left, later, but if she wanted to hear it now, he would definitely oblige.

  “His name was Harry Copeland and he was posing as one of the construction crew that had been hired to work on some structural issues throughout the palace.” Kris walked farther into the living area, but he did not take a seat on either of the couches.

  She continued to stare at him. Kris was no stranger to people looking at him. That came with the title. Whether he was on a stage giving a speech, riding in a car or simply walking down the street, people looked. But none of them had any clue. Except for Landry. She’d seen through him from the very start.

  “He knew about the ball and who would be there because he was working with Amari Taylor, Malayka’s hairstylist. It had only taken an hour after reviewing the surveillance tapes and seeing Harry enter and exit that room next to Malayka’s dressing room, for the guards to find him. He’d actually come back to the palace to resume working two days after the ball,” Kris said with a shake of his head.

  He and Gary had figured the guy was going to try again since none of the royal family had been injured in the explosion and they were almost certain that the DeSaunters family were the actual targets.

  “Amari?” she asked. “He’s such a...a colorful character.”

  Kris nodded. He thought something similar when he’d first met the man as well.

  “Amari’s not as talkative as Harry, but we’ve had them both in custody for over a week now. Malayka was livid when she found out. She explained that you and she had been going to the dressing room to discuss her gown the night of the ball, when she realized she’d lost one of her earrings. She went to her room to get another pair and you said you would meet her in the dressing room. Before you could get there Amari showed up. He’s the one who hit you, but he’s not saying why.”

  She appeared surprised and then irritated.

  “Let me guess—your cameras picked that up too. Wow, I guess me leaving your room every morning wasn’t as much of a secret as I thought it was. Someone was watching all along,” she said with a shake of her head.

  “Security is important,” he told her. “As you can tell, even with all that we already had in place, we still need to step it up. Until we find out what’s really going on between Amari and this Harry guy who we think is just a middleman, we’re still being targeted.”

  “Why?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sure. It may be something related to the bank, hence the break-in there, but we’re still trying to work that out.”

  She nodded then. “So why are you here if there’s still more to find out? I know you didn’t come this far to tell me about Amari and his cohorts.”

  He hadn’t; she was absolutely right about that. However, Kris wasn’t sure how what he actually wanted to say was going to go over with her at this moment.

  “No. I didn’t,” he finally said.

  “Then what?”

  It sounded like a dare. She’d stepped away from the wall and now had her arms by her sides. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail; huge hoop earrings swung at her ears. She looked casual and classy all at the same time. Kris clenched his hands. He’d never been this nervous about anything in his life before. That’s how he knew it was important.

  It was very important.

  That’s why he decided to take a page from her book and just say it.

  “I missed you,” he told her. “I’ve never missed anyone in my life like this besides my mother. Every day, every hour of every day I missed you.”

  She did not move and did not speak.

  “I ate pizza. You’ve been gone for fourteen nights and five of them I had pizza for dinner. I drank beer. In my room, of course, but so much beer. I’d hoped it would make me sleep better, but it didn’t.”

  He took a breath and continued. This was uncomfortable and odd yet he knew it was the most important thing he’d ever do in his life.

  “I heard every word you said that morning on my balcony and the many times before that. I didn’t give us a chance. I never planned to entertain the idea of an ‘us.’ It’s only a small consolation to know that you didn’t either. But I should have. I should have known from the first time I looked at your pictures. You were different—I just wasn’t prepared for how different.”

 
Her arms fell to her sides.

  “If I were a god with power over the entire universe I wouldn’t deserve you. But I want you, Landry. I want the girl who was born in Northern Seton Hospital Center on February tenth, weighing eight pounds and three ounces. I want the girl who kicked the winning goal on her high school soccer team, and the young lady who aced all her classes for the first two years at California State Polytechnic University. And I want the woman who had Harper’s Bazaar call her back for a second internship and then offer her a full-time job. I know that she’s independent and headstrong and can be a little stubborn. But I want her. I love her.”

  * * *

  For once in her life, Landry didn’t know what to say.

  She’d been listening to Kristian talk and watching him at the same time. He looked fabulous in his navy blue suit and light blue shirt. His tie was pink and blue and made his eyes look brighter. His shoes were shined, his hair cut close and shaped up precisely. He was every bit as handsome as she’d thought he was the first time she’d seen him.

  And every bit as intimidating.

  Why had he really come here? What did he want from her?

  He said he loved her. Wasn’t that something a woman usually wanted to hear?

  Not her. Not now.

  She was shaking her head as she started walking toward the door.

  “Thank you for telling me that my name has been cleared and that your family no longer considers me a threat. I appreciate you coming all this way for that, but it wasn’t necessary. I would have been fine with an email.”

  She was reaching for the doorknob when his hand covered hers. Landry looked up into his face; she saw a muscle twitch in his jaw, smelled the rich scent of his cologne.

  “I couldn’t do this in an email,” he told her about two seconds before he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him.

  The kiss was fast, potent, pure fire.

  Her arms wrapped around his neck as if they were always meant to be there and damn if she didn’t give totally in to the kiss. She could have sworn she didn’t want to, that this was against everything that she’d so fervently believed for so long. She was independent and successful; she did not need to be with a prince, of all people. She did not need the duties and responsibilities that would no doubt come with loving him. He wasn’t like any other man and she knew that wasn’t just because of the title. She knew and that fact had her pressing her body into his.

  He turned them and her back was now against the door. His hands were moving up and down her sides as his tongue dueled dangerously and deliciously with hers. She was drowning; she could feel herself going slowly, but most definitely, under. When he cupped her bottom and lifted her off the floor, Landry sighed, her legs instantly going around his waist.

  “Bedroom,” he said between nipping little bites on her lower lip.

  “Down the hall and to your right,” she answered, her palms flattening on the back of his head as he walked.

  He moved quickly which was a good and bad thing, because when he entered the room and dropped her onto the bed, Landry wanted to get up and run. Then she wanted to strip and beg.

  “I don’t know what’s happening,” she admitted, when he pulled his jacket off and tossed it on the floor.

  “I didn’t know either but now I’m convinced it’s a good thing,” he told her and worked on his tie and the first buttons of his shirt.

  Landry lifted her blouse up and over her head, tossing it onto the floor the same way he’d done his jacket. She toed off her slip-on flats and then went to the buttons of her pants.

  “How is this happening? How will it work?” she asked and then pushed her pants down her legs, letting them fall to the floor as well. “You live on an island and I live here. I have a business and clients and you have thousands of citizens to care for.”

  He’d removed his shirt and the undershirt he wore beneath it. He was unbuckling his pants when he looked up at her.

  “I have a private jet. There’s no reason you can’t fly to where you need to be, when you need to be there. Detali has been fielding numerous calls from a diverse group of people interested in her designs. That’s all thanks to you. Even Sam said she wished there were someone stationed on Grand Serenity who could bring more fashion icons to the attention of our residents.”

  Landry opened her mouth to say something and then she closed it again, because once more, she wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I don’t... I mean, I can’t,” she stuttered.

  He removed his shoes, his pants and then his boxers. After taking a few seconds to slip on a condom he had in his back pocket, he came closer to the bed; he planted a knee on the mattress between her legs and cupped her face in his hands. “You can do anything you want, from wherever you want, as long as you’re with me. As long as I know that at night I can lie down beside you. That I can look into your eyes and tell you how much I love you. How much I need you in my life. Say you’ll marry me.”

  The next kiss was shorter, yet it still took her breath away. He moved quickly to rid her of her bra and panties and then he was over her, sinking deep inside her before she could think of another question or argument.

  Epilogue

  Two weeks later

  The First Royal Wedding

  “I love you,” Landry said as she stood across from Kristian beneath a trellis full of red begonias.

  A few seconds ago her father had handed her off to Kristian, the smile on Heinz Sr.’s face so big Landry feared it might be permanently stuck that way. Her parents had been elated when two days after Kristian had appeared at their house, he was there once again to ask for Landry’s hand in marriage.

  Sure, it seemed fast. She’d known Kristian for three and a half months, but there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he was the man she wanted to marry.

  Of course, Heinz Jr., her niece and nephew, her grandparents and the rest of her brothers were much more excited about getting an all-expenses-paid trip to Grand Serenity Island. Paula was very interested in meeting Roland, in the hopes that the other prince didn’t mind a ready-made family.

  Planning a wedding in two weeks was not an easy feat but Sam had jumped right in and worked tirelessly to make this day everything Heinz and Astelle Norris had dreamed of for their oldest daughter. It was all so beautiful, Landry had to admit.

  They’d chosen a spot outside the palace, close to the water and the path that led down to the abandoned stables. She’d known that would be important to Kristian as he’d admitted to only feeling close to his mother when he was there.

  White chairs lined the lawn and accommodated the one hundred close family and friends that they’d decided to invite on such short notice. There were tall crystal vases at the end of each row of chairs filled to the point of bursting with blue jacaranda, bottlebrush and alpinia. Landry had selected the flowers herself, going for color and excitement as she, Paula and Sam wore all-white dresses.

  Landry’s dress had, of course, been made by Detali, her new favorite designer. While Peta insisted on making the bridesmaids gowns as soon as Landry told her about the wedding.

  Prince Rafferty and Roland were in full regalia, their medals shined to perfection as each of them stood tall at the altar with Kristian.

  As for her husband-to-be, Landry could only smile. He was temptingly gorgeous in his black jacket, the gold tassels at his shoulders and the sword at his hip giving him that dashing royal look without anyone even knowing his title. But it didn’t matter what he was wearing to Landry. It only mattered what he said.

  “I love you. Just you, for who and what you are,” he whispered before the minister began the ceremony.

  The rest of the day proceeded with all the pomp and circumstance of a royal wedding as Landry eagerly awaited the next morning when she would awake as Princess Landry Norris DeSaun
ters, owner and managing editor of the new magazine aptly titled Tropical Fashions. She was going to have her own magazine where she could focus on all things fashionable throughout the world. She and Sam were also working on a charity fashion show, which they hoped to make an annual event on the island.

  Her parents had been right, Landry thought as she and Kristian took to the dance floor in the smaller ballroom inside the palace. She could have it all. She’d compromised by agreeing to move to Grand Serenity. But she didn’t feel as if she’d sacrificed who and what she was to be with a man, not even to be with a prince.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from GIVING MY ALL TO YOU by Sheryl Lister.

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