To Kiss a King

by Maureen Child

  “Identical?” She took a long look at him. “You’re exactly alike?”

  He shook his head and gave her a half smile. “Nah. I’m the good-looking one.”

  She laughed as he’d hoped she would.

  “Must have been nice,” she said, “raising a little hell once in a while. Having someone to have fun with.”

  “No hell-raising in your house?” he asked, though he couldn’t imagine her and her brothers throwing any wild parties when the king and queen were out of town.

  “Not that you’d notice,” she said simply, then changed the subject. “Decker seemed very nice.” She ran her fingertips across the small brass plaque on the gleaming teak dashboard. King’s Kustom Krafts.

  “Decker King is his name?”

  “Yeah.” He hadn’t even considered that she would learn Decker’s last name. And what kind of thing was that for a man like him to admit? Hell, he made his living by always thinking three steps ahead. By knowing what he was going to do long before he actually did it. By being able to guess at what might happen so that his clients were always safe. But around Alex, his brain wasn’t really functioning. Nope, it was a completely different part of his body that was in charge now.

  And it was damned humbling to admit he couldn’t seem to get his blood flowing in the direction of his mind.

  “Yeah. Decker’s okay.”

  “He builds lovely boats.”

  “He really does,” Garrett said, relaxing again when she didn’t comment on Decker’s last name. “So, you’ve heard about my family, tell me about these brothers of yours.”

  She looked at him and he read the wary suspicion in her eyes. “Why?”

  “Curiosity.” He shrugged and shifted his gaze to the sea. No other boats around. But for the surfers closer to shore, they were completely alone. Just the way he preferred it. Giving her a quick glance he saw her gaze was still fixed on him as if she were trying to make up her mind how much to say.

  Finally, though, she sighed and nodded. “I’ve already told you I’ve got three brothers. They’re all older than me. And very bossy.” She turned her face into the wind and her long blond hair streamed out behind her. “In fact, they’re much like my father in that regard. Always trying to order me about.”

  “Maybe they’re just looking out for you,” he said, mentally pitying the brothers Alex no doubt drove nuts. After all, the king himself had told Garrett that Alex managed to lose whatever bodyguards were assigned to her. He could only imagine that she made the lives of her brothers even crazier.

  “Maybe they should realize I can look after myself.” She shook her head and folded her arms over her chest in such a classic posture of self-protection that Garrett almost smiled.

  But damned if he didn’t feel bad for her in a way, too. He hated the idea of someone else running his life. Why should she be any different? Still, every instinct he possessed had him siding with her brothers and her father. Wasn’t he here, protecting her, because he hadn’t been able to stand the idea of her being on her own and vulnerable?

  “Guys don’t think like that,” he told her. “It’s got nothing to do with how capable they think you are. Men look out for our families. At least the decent guys do.”

  “And making us crazy while you do it?”

  “Bonus,” he said, grinning.

  Her tense posture eased as she gave him a reluctant smile. “You’re impossible.”

  “Among many other things,” he agreed. Then, since he had her talking, he asked more questions. Maybe he could get her to admit who she was. Bring the truth out herself. And then what? Was he going to confess that he already knew? That her father was now paying him to spend time with her? Yeah, that’d go over well. How the hell had he gotten himself into this hole anyway?

  Disgusted, he blew out a breath and asked, “So, you’ve got bossy brothers. What about your parents? What’re they like?”

  She frowned briefly and shifted her gaze back to the choppy sea, focusing on the foam of the whitecaps as if searching for the words she needed. Finally, on a sigh, she said, “They’re lovely people, really. And I love them terribly. But they’re too entrenched in the past to see that their way isn’t the only way.”

  “Sound like normal parents to me,” he mused. “At least, sounds like my dad. He was always telling us how things had been in his day, giving us advice on what we should do, who we should be.”

  She tucked her hair behind her ears and, instantly, it blew free again. Garrett was glad. He was getting very fond of that wild, tangled mane of curls.

  “My parents don’t understand that I want to do something different than what they’ve planned for me.”

  He imagined exactly what the royal couple had in mind for their only daughter and he couldn’t picture it having anything to do with boat trips, ice cream and Disneyland. He knew enough about the life Alex lived to know that she would be in a constant bubble of scrutiny. How she dressed, what she said and who she said it to would be put under a microscope. Reporters would follow her everywhere and her slightest slip would be front page news. Her parents no doubt wanted her safely tucked behind palace walls. And damned if he could blame them for it.

  “Give me an example,” he said, steering the boat along the coastline. More surfers were gathered at the breakers and, on shore, towels were scattered across the sand like brightly colored jewels dropped by a careless hand.

  “All right,” she said and straightened her shoulders as if preparing to defend her position. Her voice was stronger, colored with the determination she felt to run her own life. “At home, I volunteer with a program for single mothers.”

  Her expression shifted, brightening, a smile curving her mouth. Enthusiasm lit up her eyes until they shone like a sunlit lake. When she started talking, he could hear pride in her voice along with a passion that stirred something inside him.

  “Many of the women in the program simply need a little help in finding work or day care for their children,” she said. “There are widows or divorcées who are trying to get on their feet again.” Her eyes softened as she added, “But there are others. Girls who left school to have their babies and now don’t have the tools they’ll need to support themselves. Young women who’ve been abused or abandoned and have nowhere to turn.

  “At the center, we offer parenting classes, continuing education courses and a safe day care for the kids. These young women arrive, worried about the future and when they leave, they’re ready to take on the world. It’s amazing, really.”

  She turned on the bench seat, tucked one leg beneath her and rested one arm along the back of the seat. Facing him, she looked him in the eye and said, “The program has grown so much in the past couple of years. We’ve accomplished so many things and dozens of women are now able to care for their children and themselves. A few of our graduates have even taken jobs in the program to give back what they’ve received.”

  “It sounds great.”

  She smiled to herself and he saw the well-earned pride she felt. “It is, and it feels good to do something to actually help, you know? To step outside myself and really make a difference.”

  “Sounds like you’re doing a good thing,” Garrett said quietly.

  “Thank you.” She shrugged, but her smile only brightened. “I really feel as though I’m doing something important. These women have taught me so much, Garrett. They’re scared and alone. But so brave, too. And being involved with the program is something I’ve come to love. On my own.”

  She sighed then and beneath the pride in her voice was a wistfulness that tore at him. “But my parents, sadly, don’t see it that way. They’re happy for me to volunteer—organizing fundraisers and writing checks. But they don’t approve of me donating my time. They want me in the family business and don’t want me, as they call it, ‘splitting my focus.’”

  “They’re wrong,” he said and cut back enough on the throttle so that they were more drifting now than actually motoring across the water. “You a
re making a difference. My mom could have used a program like that.”

  “Your mother?”

  Garrett gave her a small smile. “Oh, my mom was one of the most stubborn people on the face of the planet. When she got pregnant with my brother Nathan, she didn’t tell our father.”

  “Why ever not?”

  “Always told us later that she wanted to be sure he loved her.” He smiled to himself, remembering the woman who had been the heart of their family. “She was alone and pregnant. No job skills. She supported herself working at In and Out Burgers. Then, a week before Nathan was born, my father showed up.”

  “Was he angry?”

  “You could say that.” Garrett laughed. “Mom insisted later that when he walked into the burger joint and shouted her name, there was steam coming out of his ears.”

  Alex laughed at the image.

  “Dad demanded that she leave with him and get married. Mom told him to either buy a burger or get out of line and go away.”

  “What did he do?”

  “What any man in my family would do,” Garrett mused, thinking about the story he and his brothers had heard countless times growing up. “He demanded to see the owner and when the guy showed up, Dad bought the place.”

  “He bought the restaurant?”

  “Yep.” Grinning now, Garrett finished by saying, “He wrote the guy a check on the spot and the first thing he did as new owner? He fired my mother. Then he picked her up, carried her, kicking and screaming the whole way, to the closest courthouse and married her.”

  He was still smiling to himself when Alex sighed, “Your father’s quite the romantic.”

  “More like hardheaded and single-minded,” Garrett told her with a rueful shake of his head. “The men in our family know what they want, go after it and don’t let anything get in their way. Well, except for my uncle Ben. He didn’t marry any of the mothers of his kids.”

  “Any?” she asked. “There were a lot of them?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Garrett said. “That branch of the family still isn’t sure they’ve met all of the half brothers that might be out there.”

  “I don’t even know what to say to that,” she admitted.

  “No one does.”

  “Still, passion is hard to ignore,” she told him, then asked, “are your parents still that way together?”

  “They were,” he said softly. “They did everything together. Even dying. We lost them about five years ago in a car accident. Drunk driver took them out when they were driving through the south of France.”

  “Garrett, I’m so sorry.” She laid one hand on his arm and the touch of her fingers sent heat surging through him as surely as if he’d been struck by lightning.

  He covered her hand with his and something…indefinable passed between them. Something that had him backing off, fast. He let her go and eased out from under her touch. “Thanks, but after the shock passed, all of us agreed that it was good that they had died together. Neither of them would have been really happy without the other.”

  “At least you have some wonderful memories. And your family.”

  “Yeah, I do. But you’re lucky to still have your parents in your life. Even if they do make you nuts.”

  “I know,” she said with a determined nod. “I just wish I could make them understand that—” She broke off and laughed. “Never mind. I’m wasting a lovely day with complaints. So I’m finished now.”

  Whatever he might have said went unspoken when he heard the approach of another boat. Garrett turned to look and saw a speedboat seemingly headed right for them. As casually as he could manage, he steered their boat in the opposite direction and stepped on the gas, putting some distance between them.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He glowered briefly because he hadn’t thought she was paying close attention to what he was doing. “Nothing’s wrong. Just keeping my distance from that boat.”

  She looked over her shoulder at the boat that was fading into the distance. “Why? What’re you worried about?”

  “Everything,” he admitted, swinging the little boat around to head back toward shore.

  “Well, don’t,” she said and reached out to lay one hand on his forearm again. The heat from before had hardly faded when a new blast of blistering warmth shot through him. Instantly, his groin tightened and he was forced to grind his teeth together and clench his hands around the wheel to keep from shutting the damn engine off and grabbing her.

  Seriously, he hadn’t been this tempted by a woman in years.

  Maybe never.

  Shaking his head at the thought, he said, “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t worry, Garrett.” She released him and even with the heat of the sun pouring down on them, his skin felt suddenly cool now at the loss of her touch. “I’m taking a holiday from worry and so should you.”

  That wasn’t going to happen. Garrett made his living worrying about possibilities. About danger around every corner. Possible assassins everywhere. Not an easy thing to turn off, and he wasn’t sure he would even if he could.

  “And what do you usually worry about?” he asked.

  “Everything,” she said, throwing his own word back at him. “But as I said, I’m taking a holiday. And so are you.”

  Then she laughed and tipped her face up to the sky. Closing her eyes, she sighed and said, “This is wonderful. The sea, the sun, this lovely boat and—”

  “And—?”

  She looked over at him. “You.”

  He nearly groaned. Her blue eyes were wide, her lush mouth curved and that off-the-shoulder blouse of hers was displaying way too much off-the-shoulder for his sanity’s sake. Now it had dipped low over her left shoulder, baring enough of her chest that he could only think about getting the damn fabric down another two or three inches.

  For God’s sake, she was killing him without even trying. Garrett was forced to remind himself that he was on a job here. He was working for her father. It was his job to guard her luscious body, not revel in it.

  Besides, if she knew the truth, knew who he was and that her father was paying him to spend time with her…hell, she’d probably toss his ass off the boat and then drive it over him just for good measure.

  Knowing that didn’t change a damn thing, though. He still wanted her. Bad.

  “Alex…”

  “I’ve been thinking.” She slid closer. Their thighs were brushing now and he felt the heat of her through the layers of fabric separating them.

  He almost didn’t ask, but he had to. “About what?”

  “That kiss.”

  Briefly, he closed his eyes. Throttling back, he cut the engine and the sudden silence was overwhelming. All they heard was the slap of water against the hull, the sigh of the wind across the ocean and the screech of seagulls wheeling in air currents overhead.

  That kiss.

  Oh, he’d been thinking about it, too. About what he would have done if they’d been alone in the dark and not surrounded by laughing kids and harassed parents. In fact, he’d already invested far too much time indulging his fantasies concerning Alex. So much so that if she moved another inch closer…pressed her body even tighter to his…

  “Garrett?”

  He turned his head to look at her and knew instantly that had been a mistake. Desire glittered like hard diamonds in her eyes. He recognized it, because the same thing was happening to him. He felt it. His whole damn body was on fire, and he couldn’t seem to fight it. More, he didn’t want to.

  He hadn’t asked for this. Hadn’t expected it. Didn’t need it, God knew. But the plain truth was he wanted Alex so badly he could hardly breathe.

  The worst part?

  He couldn’t have her.

  He was working for her father. She was a princess. He was responsible for her safety. In the real world, a holiday romance was right up his alley. No strings. No questions. No complications. But this woman was nothing but complications. If he started something with Alex, regret would be waiting in
the wings.

  All good reasons for avoiding this situation. For brushing her off and steering this damn boat back to Decker’s yard as fast as possible. For dropping her at her hotel and keeping an eye on her from a distance.

  And not one of those reasons meant a damn thing in the face of the clawing need shredding his insides.

  “Not a good idea, Alex,” he managed to say.

  “Why ever not?” She smiled and the brilliance of it was blinding. She leaned in closer and he could smell the soft, flowery scent of her shampoo.

  Her question reverberated in his mind. Why not? He couldn’t give her any of the reasons he had for keeping his hands to himself. So what the hell was he supposed to say?