To Kiss a King

by Maureen Child

  Tilting her head to one side, she watched him. “Did you know at Disneyland?”

  “Not right away,” he admitted, and the iron bands around her chest tightened another inch or so until every breath was a minor victory.

  That statement told her that at least part of what she had thought of as a magical day had been colored with lies.

  Betrayal slapped at her. Was it before he’d kissed her in the dark during the pirate ride? While they laughed with his nieces on the carousel?

  She looked into his blue eyes and searched for the man who had been with her on his cousin’s boat a few days ago. The man who had touched her, shown her just how amazing two people could be together. But Alex didn’t see him. Instead, she saw a cool-eyed professional, already pulling back from her. A part of her wondered how he could turn his emotions on and off so easily. Because right at that moment, she’d like nothing better than to be able to do the same.

  “I didn’t know you at first,” he was saying. “Not until you and Molly were standing at the castle, talking about being a princess.”

  She nodded, swallowed hard and said, “So that’s why you insisted on taking me home that night.”

  “Partly,” he admitted.

  She laughed shortly, the sound scraping against her throat. “Partly. It wasn’t about me that night, Garrett. Not me, Alex. It was about protecting a princess. And you’ve been with me every day since for the same reason, haven’t you?”

  Scraping one hand across the back of his neck, he said, “I called your father that first night.”

  “Oh, God…” Just when she thought the icy cold enveloping her couldn’t get worse…it did.

  “I told him where you were. That you were alone and that I was…concerned.”

  “You had no right.”

  “I had a responsibility.”

  “To whom?” she demanded.

  “To myself,” he snapped. “I couldn’t walk away leaving you unprotected once I knew who you really were.”

  “No one asked for your help.”

  “Your father did.”

  She shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. But she knew that was a futile hope.

  “That’s wonderful. Really. Your responsibility. Your decision. Your phone call.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “But my life. This was never about you, Garrett. This was about me. What I wanted. And it never mattered, did it? Not to you. Not to anyone.”

  “Alex—”

  She looked around the restaurant as if searching for an exit. But all she saw were couples sitting at tables, laughing, talking, easy with each other. They were enjoying the restaurant, the music, the romance of the place, and Alex suddenly envied them all so much it choked her.

  “I never intended to hurt you.”

  “How nice for you then,” she said, looking back at him. “Because you haven’t hurt me. You’ve enraged me.”

  “Now who’s lying?”

  That snapped her mouth shut and all she could do was glare at him. Yes, she was lying because she was hurt. Devastated, in fact, but damned if she would show him how much his lies had cut at her.

  “There’s more,” he said.

  “Of course there is.”

  “Like I said before, your father hired me to protect you.”

  His words sunk into her consciousness like a rock tossed to the bottom of a lake. The sense of betrayal she had felt before was nothing compared to this. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she struggled to speak past the hard knot of something bitter lodged in her throat. Finally, though, she managed to blurt, “Yes, he’s paying you to spend time with me.”

  Garrett huffed out a breath and glanced to each side of him before he spoke again and a small part of Alex’s brain chided her for dismissing just how careful he was. For thinking that he was simply a cautious man. She remembered thinking not long after they met that he was acting a lot like one of the palace guards. Foolish of her not to realize just what that actually might mean.

  Then she pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated solely on what he was saying.

  “Your father hired me as a personal bodyguard. We were both worried about what might happen if you were on your own.”

  “Yes,” she said tightly, amazed that she could form thoughts, let alone words. “Can’t have Alex out and about behaving like an actual person. No, no. Can’t have that.”

  “Damn it, Alex, you’re deliberately misunderstanding.”

  “I don’t think so,” she snapped. “And you know? Maybe you and my father were right. Maybe poor Alex doesn’t have a brain in her head. After all, she was foolish enough to think a handsome man wanted to know her better when, in reality, he was on her father’s payroll.” Her fingers clenched into useless fists. She wanted to throw something. To surrender to the temper frothing and boiling inside her. Unfortunately, her breeding and training had been too thorough. Duty and dignity ran through her veins along with the blood.

  Circumspection was another watchword of the royal family and she was too steeped in its tradition to give rein to what she was feeling now. Still, she couldn’t continue sitting across from him as if this were a date. She couldn’t look at him now without feeling like a complete idiot. She couldn’t watch his eyes, cool and dark, without remembering the heat and passion that had flared there so briefly.

  At that thought, she gaped at him, horrified. “What about the boat? What happened there? Are you getting a bonus?”

  “What?”

  She leaned in toward him, pushing the flickering candle to one side. “Was that on the agenda? Show the princess a good time? Or did you just want bragging rights? Want to be able to tell your friends how you got a princess naked? Is that it?”

  He leaned in, too, and the flare of the candle flame threw dancing patterns across his features. His eyes were more shadowed, his cheekbones more pronounced. “You know damn well that’s not true.”

  “Do I?” she countered. “Do I really? I know! I should trust you on this because you’ve been so honest with me from the first, I suppose.”

  “You kept secrets, too,” he argued.

  That stopped her for a second. But only a second. “I did, but I wasn’t spying on you.”

  “I’m not a damn spy!” His voice pitched a little too loud just as the song ended and several people turned to look. He glared them away before staring back at her. “I told your father I wouldn’t be an informer, and I haven’t been.”

  “Again,” she said coolly, “with your sterling reputation, I should just take your word?”

  His mouth worked furiously as though he were fighting an inner battle to keep his temper in check and angry words from spilling free. Well, she knew just how he felt.

  Finally, he managed to say, “You’re angry, I get it.”

  “Oh, I’m well beyond angry, Mr. King,” she snapped and stood up. “Fury is a good word and still it doesn’t capture exactly what I’m feeling. But thankfully, neither of us has to suffer the other’s presence any further.”

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, standing up to look down at her.

  Her body lit up inside and Alex silently cursed her response to him. What was it about this man that he could get to her even when she was more furious than she had ever been in her life? That simply wasn’t right. “Anywhere but here. This is a free country, isn’t it?”

  “Alex, don’t do anything foolish just because you’re mad.”

  “I’ll do what I please, Garrett King, and I’ll thank you to stay away from me.” She turned to go, but he caught her arm and held on to her.

  She glared down at his hand and then lifted her gaze to his. “You know, when we first met, I thought you were a hero. Now I know you’re the villain in the piece.”

  The muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew he was grinding his teeth into powder. Good to know that she wasn’t the only one feeling as if the top of her head was about to blow off.

  “I’m not a hero. Never claimed to be. Bu
t I’m not a damn villain, either, Alex. I’m just a man.”

  “Doing his job,” she finished for him and jerked her arm free of his grasp. “Yes, I know.”

  Head up, chin lifted in a defiant tilt, she headed for the bar. He was just a step or two behind her. “What’re you doing?”

  “I think I need a drink.”

  “Don’t be an idiot. Come back to the table. We’ll talk about this.”

  “Now I’m an idiot, am I?”

  “I didn’t say that,” he muttered.

  “Well, you’re right on one score. I have been an idiot. But not any longer.” She hissed in a breath. “I don’t want to talk to you, Garrett. Go away.”

  “Not a chance,” he whispered, close to her ear.

  His deep voice rumbled along her spine and lifted goose bumps across her flesh. She so wanted to be unaffected by him. But it looked as though that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

  The worst part of all of this? Beyond the humiliation of her father going behind her back and the man she was…involved with selling her out to the palace?

  She still wanted Garrett.

  Mingled in with the anger and the hurt were the underlying threads of desire that still had her wrapped up in knots. How could she still want him, knowing what she did now?

  Alex stalked into the bar and gave a quick glance around. There were a dozen or so tall tables with singles and couples gathered at them. A long, gleaming bar snaked around the room in a semicircle. Three bartenders in World War II military uniforms hurried back and forth filling drink orders. Mirrors behind the bar reflected the candlelight and the stony face of the man standing behind her.

  The face that had haunted her dreams from the day they met. Their gazes locked in the mirror and Alex felt a jolt of something hot and wicked sizzle through her system in spite of everything.

  Deliberately, she tore her gaze from his and walked to the bar, sliding onto one of the black leather stools. She crossed her legs, laid her bag on the bar top and ordered a gin and tonic.

  In the bar mirror, she watched Garrett take a seat a few stools down from her. Not far enough, she thought, but better than nothing. She was only surprised that he was giving her this small amount of space.

  “Hello, gorgeous.” A deep voice spoke up from just behind her and Alex lifted her gaze to the mirror.

  A tall, blond man wearing a black suit and a wide smile stood watching her. “You are way too beautiful to be alone,” he said and sat down without waiting for an invitation.

  “Thank you, that’s very kind.” She saw Garrett’s reaction from the corner of her eye and seeing him fume made her smile a welcome at the man beside her.

  “An accent, too?” He slapped one hand to his heart in a dramatic gesture that had Alex smiling. “You’re going to fuel my dreams for weeks.”

  “That’s a lovely thing to say,” she told him, though truthfully she thought he was a little on the ridiculous side. With his glib lines, and over-the-top reactions, he was nothing like Garrett with his quiet, deadly, sexy air. Ordinarily, in fact, she wouldn’t have been the slightest bit interested in the blond. Still, she caught a glimpse of Garrett’s face in the mirror and noted the abject fury on his features. So she leaned toward her new admirer and asked, “What’s your name, love?”

  “I’m Derek. Who’re you?”

  “Alexis,” she said, “but you can call me Alex.”

  “You’re no ‘Alex,’ babe,” he said with a wink. “So Alexis it is.”

  In the other room, the music started up again and Derek stood, holding out one hand. “Dance?”

  From the corner of her eye, Alex saw Garrett stand up as if he was going to try to stop her. So she quickly took Derek’s hand and let him lead her to the floor.

  Damn woman.

  She was doing this on purpose. Letting that slick guy give her a lame line and then sweep her off to the dance floor. Well, fine, if that’s what she wanted, she could have the plastic blond guy. But she wouldn’t be alone with him. Garrett was still working for her father and damned if he was going to leave a woman like Alex to the likes of that guy.

  He followed them into the other room and stood to one side as the blond pulled Alex into his arms and started moving to the music. Alex looked like a vision. That wild mane of blond hair, those heels that made her legs look ten miles long and where the hell had she gotten that dress, anyway? Didn’t she know he could practically see her ass?

  Alex laughed at something Blondie had to say and Garrett’s teeth crushed together. He’d known from the start that his lies would eventually catch up with him. Maybe, he told himself, he should have listened to Griffin and confessed the truth to Alex himself. Then at least he would have had the chance to smooth things over with the telling.

  But how much smoothing could he have done, realistically? She would still have been hurt. Still have been pissed. And he’d still end up standing here watching as some other guy made moves on her.

  Moves, he told himself, that she wasn’t deflecting.

  Irritated beyond belief, Garrett stood like a statue, arms crossed over his chest, feet braced wide apart in a fighting stance. His gaze never left the couple as he watched Blondie ooze his way across the dance floor. Surely, Alex wasn’t buying this guy’s lines? Any minute now in fact, she’d probably step out of the dance and walk away.

  Any minute.

  Walking.

  Damn it, Alex.

  The music slid around the room and the singer’s voice wrapped them all in a sensual web. His arms ached to hold her. His hands warmed at the thought of touching her again and his mouth craved the taste of her.

  His eyes narrowed as Blondie steered Alex off the dance floor and out onto the dark balcony overlooking the ocean. While the music played and couples danced, Garrett moved through the crowd with a quiet intensity. Focused on his target, he was aware of his surroundings in a heightened way, but all he could think about was reaching Alex.

  He stepped onto the polished wood balcony and heard the rush of the sea pushing into shore. Moonlight washed the whole scene in a silvery glow and the wind sweeping across the ocean was nearly icy. Voices came to him and he turned his head in response. That’s when he spotted them, at the end of the deck, in a puddle of darkness that lay between the more-decorative-than-useful balcony lights.

  Alex was facing the water, and Blondie was plastered up behind her, as close as he could get. Garrett’s mind splintered a little and he actually saw red around the edges of his vision.

  Then his eyes nearly popped from his head in an onslaught of pure fury. Blondie had one hand on Alex’s ass and was giving it a rub—and Alex wasn’t even trying to stop him.

  What the hell?

  It only took a few, long strides to carry him to Alex’s side, where he dropped one hand on Blondie’s shoulder and squeezed. Blondie looked up, annoyed at the interruption, but annoyance faded fast when he got a good look at Garrett’s expression.

  “Dude, we’re having some private time here.”

  “Dude,” Garrett corrected through gritted teeth. “You’re done. Take off.”

  Alex whipped her windblown hair out of her face and glared at him. “Go away, Garrett.”

  Astonished, the handsome guy stared at her. “You know this guy?”

  “Yes, but pay no attention to him,” Alex said.

  Garrett’s hand on Blondie’s shoulder tightened as he silently convinced the other man it would be a much better idea to disappear. Fast.

  Message received.

  “Yeah, right. Okay. Outta here.” He hunched away from Garrett’s grip, gave Alex a wistful look and shrugged. “Sorry, babe. I don’t do violence. I think he does.”

  “Damn straight,” Garrett assured him.

  “Oh, for—” Alex set her hands at her hips and glared at Garrett as Blondie hurried back to the restaurant, in search of easier prey. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Hah!” Garrett backed her up against the railing, looming
over her as he planted his hands at either side of her. His grip on the cold, damp, iron railing tightened as he looked down into her eyes. “What am I doing? I’m keeping you from getting mauled in public.”

  “We were hardly in public and what if I liked being mauled?” she snapped, her eyes flashing with the kind of heat that any sane man would accept as a warning.

  Garrett, though, had passed “sane” a couple of exits back. He was too close to her, bodies aligned, that damn dress of hers displaying way too much beautiful, smooth skin. Heat seared his insides and his dick went to stone. Just the scent of her was enough to drive him insane. He fought for clarity. Fought for control.