To Kiss a King

by Maureen Child

  Yes, he wanted Alex.

  But his own code of behavior demanded that he protect—not bed—the princess.

  He watched the numbers over the elevator doors flash and as they hit the first floor and those doors sighed open, he told himself that maybe he could do both.

  The question was, should he?

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  Three

  “Did you and Mickey have a good time?”

  “Funny.” Garrett dropped into his favorite, bloodred leather chair and propped his feet up on the matching hassock. Clutching his cell phone in one hand and a cold bottle of beer in the other, he listened to his twin’s laughter.

  “Sorry, man,” Griff finally said, “but made me laugh all day thinking about you hauling your ass around the happiest place on Earth. All day. Still can’t believe you let Jackson con you into going.”

  “Wasn’t Jackson,” Garrett told him. “It was Casey.”

  “Ah. Well then, that’s different.” Griffin sighed. “What is it about women? How do they get us to do things we would never ordinarily do?”

  “Beats the hell outta me,” Garrett said. In his mind, he was seeing Alex again as he said goodbye. Her eyes shining, her delectable mouth curved…

  “So was it hideous?”

  “What?”

  “I swear, when I went to Knott’s Berry Farm with them last summer, Mia about wore me into the ground. That kid is like the Tiny Terminator.”

  “Good description,” Garrett agreed with a laugh. “And she was pumped today. Only time she sat down was when we were on a ride.”

  Sympathy in his tone, Griffin said, “Man, that sounds miserable.”

  “Would have been.”

  “Yeah…?”

  Garrett took a breath, considered what he was about to do, then went with his gut. He was willing to keep Alex’s secret, for the time being anyway, but not from Griffin. Not only were they twins, but they were partners in the security firm they had built together.

  “So, talk. Explain what saved you from misery.”

  “Right to the point, as always,” Garrett murmured. His gaze swept the room. His condo wasn’t big, but it suited him. He’d tried living in hotels for a while like his cousin Rafe had done for years until meeting his wife, Katie. But hotels got damned impersonal and on the rare occasions when Garrett wasn’t traveling all over the damn globe, he had wanted a place that was his. Something familiar to come home to.

  He wasn’t around enough to justify a house, and he didn’t like the idea of leaving it empty for weeks at a stretch, either. But this condo had been just right. A home that he could walk away from knowing the home owner’s association was looking after the property.

  It was decorated for comfort, and the minute he walked in, he always felt whatever problems he was thinking about slide away. Maybe it was the view of the ocean. Maybe it was the knowledge that this was his space, one that no one could take from him. Either way, over the past couple of years, it really had become home.

  The study where he sat now was a man’s room, from the dark paneling to the leather furniture to the stone hearth on the far wall. There were miles of bookshelves stuffed with novels, the classics and several gifts presented to him by grateful clients.

  And beyond the glass doors, there was a small balcony where he could stand and watch the water. Just like the view from Alex’s hotel room. Amazing how quickly his mind could turn and focus back on her.

  “Hello? Garrett? You still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Then talk. No more stalling. What’s going on?”

  “I met a woman today.”

  “Well, shout hallelujah and alert the media!” Griffin hooted a laugh that had Garrett wrenching the phone away from his ear. “’Bout time you got lucky. I’ve been telling you for months you needed to loosen up some. What’s she like?”

  “Believe me when I say she defies description.”

  “Right. You met a goddess at Disneyland.”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “She’s a princess.”

  “Oh, no,” Griffin groaned dramatically. “You didn’t hook up with some snotty society type, did you? Because that’s just wrong.”

  Frowning, Garrett said, “No, she’s a princess.”

  “Now I’m confused. Are we talking a real princess? Crown? Throne?”

  “Yep.”

  “What the—”

  “Remember that job we did for the King of Cadria a few years ago?”

  Silence, while his brother thought about it, then, “Yeah. I remember. They were doing some big show of the crown jewels and we set up the security for the event. Good job.”

  “Yeah. Remember the daughter?”

  “Hah. Of course I remember her. Never met her face-to-face, but I saw her around the palace from a distance once or twice. Man she was—” Another long pause. “Are you kidding me?”

  Garrett had gotten a few of those long-distance glances, too. He remembered not paying much attention to her, either. When he was on a job, his concentration was laserlike. Nothing but security concerns had registered for him and once that had been accomplished, he and his brother had left Cadria.

  Since the small island nation was just off the coast of England, he and Griffin had flown to Ireland to visit their cousin Jefferson and his family. And never once had Garrett given the crown princess another thought.

  Until today.

  “Nope. Not kidding. Princess Alexis was at Disneyland today.”

  “I didn’t see anything about it on the news.”

  “You won’t, either.” Garrett took a swig of his beer and hoped the icy brew would cool him off. His body was still thrumming, his groin hot and hard, and he had a feeling it was only going to get worse for him, the longer he spent in her company. “She’s hiding out or some damn thing. Told us her name was Alex, that’s all.”

  “What about her security?”

  “Doesn’t have any that I could see.”

  Griffin inhaled sharply. “That’s not good, bro.”

  “No kidding?” Garrett shook his head as Griffin’s concern flashed his own worries into higher gear. Alex was all alone in a hotel room and Garrett was the only one who knew where she was. He couldn’t imagine her family allowing her to be unprotected, so that told him she had slipped away from her guards. Which left her vulnerable. Hell, anything could happen to her.

  “What’re you gonna do about it?”

  He checked the time on the grandfather clock on the far wall. “I’m going to wait another hour or so, then I’m calling her father.”

  Griffin laughed. “Yeah, cuz it’s that easy to just pick up a phone and call the palace. Hello, King? This is King.”

  Garrett rolled his eyes at his brother’s lame joke. They’d heard plenty just like that one while they were doing the job for Alex’s father. Kings working for kings and all that.

  “Why am I talking to you again?”

  “Because I’m your twin. The one that got all the brains.”

  “Must explain why I got all the looks,” Garrett muttered with a smile.

  “In your dreams.”

  It was an old game. Since they were identical, neither of them had anything to lose by the insults. Griffin was the one person in his life Garrett could always count on. There were four other King brothers in their branch of the family, and they were all close. But being twins had set Garrett and Griffin apart from the rest of their brothers. Growing up, they’d been a team, standing against their older brothers’ teasing. They’d played ball together, learned how to drive together and dated cheerleaders together. They were still looking out for each other.

  To Kings, nothing was more important than family. Family came first. Always.

  Griffin finally stopped laughing and asked, “Seriously, what are you going to do?”

  “Just what I said. I’m going
to call her father. He gave us a private number, remember?”

  “Oh, right.”

  Nodding, Garrett said, “First, I want to find out if the king knows where she is.”

  “You think she ran away?”

  “I think she’s going to a lot of trouble to avoid having people recognize her, so yeah.” He remembered the blue jeans, the simple white shirt, the platform heels and her wild tangle of hair. Nope. Not how anyone would expect a princess to look. “Wouldn’t be surprised to find out no one but us knows where she is. Anyway, I’ll let the king know she’s okay and find out how he wants me to handle this.”

  “And how do you want to handle it?” Griffin asked.

  Garrett didn’t say a word, which pretty much answered Griffin’s question more eloquently than words could have. What could he possibly have said anyway? That he didn’t want to handle the situation—he wanted to handle Alex? Yeah, that’d be good.

  “She must be something else.”

  “Y’know? She really is,” he said tightly. “And she’s going to stay safe.”

  Memories flew around him like a cloud of mosquitoes. Nagging. Irritating. He couldn’t stop them. Never had been able to make them fade. And that was as it should be, he told himself. He’d made a mistake and someone had died. He should never be allowed to forget.

  “Garrett,” Griffin said quietly, “you’ve got to let the past go.”

  He winced and took another drink of his beer. As twins, they had always been finely attuned to each other. Not exactly reading each other’s minds or anything—thank God for small favors. But there was usually an undercurrent that each of them could pick up on. Clearly, Griffin’s twin radar was on alert.

  “Who’s talking about the past?” Bristling, Garrett pushed haunting memories aside and told himself that Alex’s situation had nothing to do with what had happened so long ago. And he would do whatever he could to see that it stayed that way.

  “Fine. Be stubborn. Keep torturing yourself for something that you did. Not. Do.”

  “I’m done talking about it,” Garrett told his brother.

  “Whatever. Always were a hard head.”

  “Hello, pot? This is kettle. You’re black.”

  “Hey,” Griffin complained, “I’m the funny one, remember?”

  “What was I thinking?” Garrett smiled to himself and sipped at his beer.

  “Look, just keep me posted on this. Let me know what her father has to say and if you need backup, call.”

  “I will,” he promised, even though he knew he wouldn’t be calling. He didn’t want backup with Alex. He wanted to watch over her himself. He trusted his brother with his life. But he would trust no one with Alex’s. The only way to make sure she stayed safe was to take care of her himself.

  Alex couldn’t sleep.

  Every time she closed her eyes, her mind dredged up images snatched from her memories of the day. Mostly, of course, images of Garrett—laughing, teasing his nieces, carrying a sleeping baby…and images of him as he leaned in to kiss her.

  Oh, that kiss had been…well, way too short, but aside from that, wonderful. She could still hear the water sloshing against the boat, the singing from the pirates and feel the hot wind buffeting their faces. Still feel his mouth moving over hers.

  It had been, she told herself with a small smile, magic.

  She picked up her hot tea off the room service cart and stepped onto the balcony of her suite. A summer wind welcomed her with the cool kiss of the sea. She stared up at the night sky then shifted her gaze to the ocean where the moon’s light danced across the surface of the water, leaving a silvery trail, as if marking a path to be followed. In the middle of the night, everything was quiet, as if the whole world was dreaming.

  And if she could sleep, Alex knew her dreams would be filled with Garrett.

  She took a sip of the tea and sighed in satisfaction.

  Alexis knew she should feel guilty for having left Cadria the way she had, but she just couldn’t manage it. Maybe it was because of the years she had spent doing all the “right” things. She had been a dutiful daughter, a helpful sister, a perfect princess. She was always in the right place at the right time saying the right things.

  She loved her father, but the man was practically medieval. If it weren’t for her mother’s restraining influence, King Gregory of Cadria would probably have had his only daughter fitted for a chastity belt and tucked away in a tower. Until he picked out the right husband for her, of course.

  Alex had had to fight for every scrap of independence she had found over the past few years. She hadn’t wanted to be seen only at state occasions. Or to christen a new ship or open a new park. She wanted more. She wanted her life to mean something.

  And if that meant a twenty-eight-year-old woman had to run away from home—then so be it.

  She only hoped her father would eventually forgive her. Maybe he would understand one day just how important her independence was to her.

  Nothing had ever been hers. The palace deemed what she should do and when she should do it.

  Even her work with single mothers in need, in the capital city of Cadria, had been co-opted by the palace press. They made her out to be a saint. To be the gently bred woman reaching out to the less fortunate. Which just infuriated her and embarrassed the women she was trying to help.

  Her entire life had been built around a sense of duty and privilege, and it was choking her.

  Shaking her head, she tried to push that thought aside because she knew very well how pitiful that sounded. Poor little rich girl, such a trying life. But being a princess was every bit as suffocating as she had tried to tell little Mia earlier.

  Mia.

  Alexis smiled to herself in spite of her rushing thoughts. That little girl and her family had given Alex one of the best days of her life. Back at the palace, she had felt as though her life was slipping away from her, disappearing into the day-to-day repetitiveness of the familiar. The safe.

  There were no surprises in her world. No days of pure enjoyment. No rush of attraction or sizzle of sexual heat. Though she had longed for all of those for most of her life.

  She had grown up on tales of magic. Romance. Her mom had always insisted that there was something special about Disneyland. That the joy that infused the place somehow made it more enchanted than anywhere else.

  Alex’s mother had been nineteen and working in one of the gift shops on Main Street when she met the future King of Cadria. Of course, Mom hadn’t known then that the handsome young man flirting with her was a prince. She had simply fallen for his kind eyes and quiet smile. He kept his title a secret until Alex’s mother was in love—and that, Alexis had always believed, was the secret. Find a man who didn’t know who she was. Someone who would want her for herself, not for who her father was.

  Today, she thought, she might have found him. And in the same spot where her own mother had found the magic that changed her life.

  “I can’t feel guilty because it was worth it,” she murmured a moment later, not caring that she was talking to herself. One of the downsides of being by yourself was that you had no one to talk things over with. But the upside was, if she talked to herself instead, there was no one to notice or care.

  Her mind drifted back to thoughts of her family and she winced a little as she realized that they were probably worried about her. No doubt her father was half crazed, her mother was working to calm him down and her older brothers were torn between exasperation and pride at what she’d managed to do.

  She would call them in a day or two and let them know she was safe. But until then, she was simply going to be. For the first time in her life, she was just like any other woman. There was no one to dress her, advise her, hand her the day’s agenda. Her time was her own and she had no one to answer to.

  Freedom was a heady sensation.

  Still, she couldn’t believe she had actually gotten away with it. Ditching her personal guards—who she really hoped didn’t get int
o too much trouble with her father—disguising herself, buying an airplane ticket and slipping out of Cadria unnoticed. Her father was no doubt furious, but truth to tell, all of this was really his fault. If he hadn’t started making noises about Alex “settling down,” finding an “appropriate” husband and taking up her royal duties, then maybe she wouldn’t have run.