Nodding, Alex watched her mother go, as her mind whirled with possibilities. Was her mom right? Was there hope? Yes, her parents’ love story had turned out well in the end, but the King of Cadria had been in love.
Whereas Garrett King refused to be in love with her.
She turned her head to stare out over the gardens, to the ocean beyond and to the man on the other side of the world. Hope, she thought wistfully, could be a both a blessing and a curse.
“She sent it back.”
“What?” Griffin looked up as Garrett stormed into his office.
Tossing a small package onto his brother’s desk, Garrett complained, “The necklace I sent to Alex two days ago. She returned it!”
“And this is my problem because…”
“You’re my brother, and it’s your job to listen to me,” Garrett told him as he stalked the perimeter of his brother’s office.
“Actually, it’s my job to look into the file we just got on our Georgia client and—”
“Why would she return it?” Garrett asked no one in particular, thinking of the platinum and onyx piece he’d had commissioned just for her. He hadn’t asked himself why it was so important for him to give her a memento of their time together. It simply was. He couldn’t have her, but damned if he could entirely let go, either.
These past two weeks without her had nearly killed him. Nothing felt right to him anymore. Without Alex in his life, everything else was just white noise. He kept as busy as possible and still her absence chewed at him, widening the black hole inside him every damn day.
His fingers closed around the box that had been returned to him just a few minutes ago. Shaking it for emphasis, he blurted, “It was a trinket. Sort of a souvenir. You know, help her remember her holiday.”
Griffin gave up and sat back in his chair. “Maybe she doesn’t want to remember.”
Garrett stopped dead and glared at his twin. “Why the hell wouldn’t she want to remember? She had a great time.”
“Yeah, but it’s over, and she’s back home at the palace.”
“So, close the door? That’s it?” Could she really cut him out of her life, her memories, that easily?
“Aren’t you the one who closed the door?” Griffin asked.
“Not the point.” Hell, Garrett knew he wasn’t making any sense. He didn’t need his twin stating the obvious.
Two weeks without her. Didn’t seem to matter that he knew he’d done the right thing. Didn’t matter that he knew there was no way they could have worked out anything between them. He missed her like he would an arm. Or a leg.
She was as much a part of him as his damn heart and without her, it was like he didn’t have one.
This had not been a part of the plan. He’d expected to miss her, sure. But he hadn’t counted on not being able to sleep or keep his mind on his damn work. He hadn’t counted on seeing her everywhere, hearing her voice, her laugh in his mind at odd moments during the day.
“You’re just going to prowl around my office, is that it?” Griffin asked.
Garrett stopped and glared at him. “What the hell am I supposed to do?”
“You know what I think you should do. Question is, what are you going to do?”
“If I knew that,” he muttered darkly, “I’d be doing it.”
“Well then, maybe this will help you decide,” Griffin said and pulled the morning paper out from under a stack of files. “Wasn’t going to show you this—but maybe you should see it after all.”
“What?” Garrett took the paper, glanced at the picture on the front page and felt his heart stop.
Front and center, there was a photo of Alex, dressed in a flowing gown and a crown, holding on to the arm of an impossibly handsome man in a tux, wearing a damn sash across his chest that was loaded down with medals. The tagline above the photo screamed, Royal Engagement In The Wind?
“Oh, hell no,” Garrett muttered.
“Looks to me like you’d better go get your woman back before it’s too late,” Griffin said, clearly amused at Garrett’s reaction.
Garrett’s vision fogged at the edges until all he could see was Alex’s face staring up at him from the paper. He was about to really lose her. Permanently. Unless he took a chance.
Clutching the newspaper tight in one fist, Garrett grabbed the returned package and said, “Call the airport for me. Have one of the King Jets fueled up and ready to go when I get there.”
Griffin was laughing as he made the call, but Garrett was already gone.
“Where is he?” Garrett stormed past the footman at the door to the castle and stomped loudly across the marble flooring. His head turned as if on a swivel as he scanned every hallway for signs of the king.
“If you’ll follow me,” the butler said, “his majesty is in the library.”
Garrett hadn’t slept in nearly twenty-four hours. He felt ragged and pushed to the edge of his endurance, but damned if he was going to wait another minute to talk to Alex’s father. He’d gotten past the palace guards on the strength of his having done work for the crown before. But getting an audience with the king this easily was a plus.
The air smelled of roses and beeswax, and Garrett took a deep breath to steady himself for the coming confrontation. The sound of his footsteps as he followed after his guide rang out hollowly in the air, thudding like a heartbeat. He had a plan, of course. Wasn’t much of one, but he’d use whatever he could. Alex was here, somewhere, and no matter what happened between him and the king in the next few minutes, he wasn’t leaving until he spoke to her.
He stepped into the library and the butler left him with the king. The room was imposing, as it was meant to be. Dark paneling, bloodred leather furniture and floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the sea. The man standing before a crackling fire was just as imposing. King Gregory was tall, muscular and the gray in his hair only made him look more formidable.
“Garrett, this is a surprise.”
About to be an even bigger one, he thought and cut right to the chase. “Your majesty, Alex can’t marry Duke Henrik.”
“Is that right?” One eyebrow lifted.
Hell, Garrett couldn’t believe the man would allow Alex near the duke. A quick online search had been enough to show Garrett that the man was more known for his string of women than for any work done in the House of Lords. Well, the king might be okay with that, but damned if Garrett would let Alex end up with someone who didn’t deserve her.
“How is this any of your business, Garrett?”
“It’s my business because there’s a good chance Alex is pregnant with my child.”
Risky move, he told himself, since there was no way Alex was pregnant. But it was the one sure way he knew to delay any kind of wedding but for the one Garrett now wanted more than anything.
The king’s face went red. “You—”
“Pregnant?”
Garrett whirled around at the deep voice behind him and was just in time to watch Alex’s older brother Prince Christopher’s fist collide with his face. Pain exploded inside his head, but he ducked before the prince could land another one.
Then he threw a fast right himself and watched the prince stagger backward. The other man recovered quickly and came at Garrett again, still furious.
The king was shouting, “Pregnant? Pregnant?”
Two more men ran into the room. They took in the scene at a glance and immediately joined their older brother in the fray.
“Perfect,” Garrett muttered, turning a slow circle so he could keep an eye on all three of them. Seemed he wasn’t going to come out of this without a few bruises. But he’d give as good as he got, too.
He blocked another blow, threw a punch himself and smiled when the youngest of the princes was laid out flat on his back. The king pushed past one of his sons and threw a punch of his own that Garrett managed to avoid. He wasn’t about to hit a king, either, so he focused on protecting himself and doing a lot of dodging.
As Garrett avoided ano
ther blow, he yelled, “Just let me talk to Alex and we can straighten this out.”
“You stay away from my sister.” This from the prince pushing up from the floor.
“No one is talking to anyone until I have some answers,” the king shouted again.
“Why is everyone yelling?” Alex called into the mix.
Garrett turned at the sound of her voice and Christopher landed another solid jab on his jaw. “Damn it!”
Hands clapped loudly, followed by a sharp, feminine command. “Stop this at once! Christopher, no more fighting. Help Henry off the floor, and Jonathon, get your father some water.”
The king was sputtering in rage, but everyone else moved to follow the queen’s orders. Everyone but Alex. She just stood there in the doorway, staring at him as if she’d never seen him before. Her hair was tidy, her elegant dress and tasteful jewelry made her seem unapproachable. But somewhere beneath that cool exterior was his Alex. And Garrett wasn’t leaving until he’d had a chance to reach her.
The capper for Garrett, though, was seeing the damn duke standing right behind her. That settled everything. No way in hell was Garrett letting his woman go. And she was his. Had been from that first day at Disneyland.
“Who’s pregnant?” Alex demanded.
“Apparently, you are,” Christopher told her.
“I’m what?” She fired a furious look on Garrett and he just glared right back.
“I said you could be.”
“Pregnant?” Henrik repeated from behind her. “You’re pregnant? I’ll be leaving.”
“Henrik!” The king’s shout went unanswered as the duke scuttled out the door to disappear. Probably forever.
“What is going on here? I could hear the shouts all the way to the garden.” The queen looked from one face to the next, her silent, accusatory stare demanding answers.
“Garrett King claims Alexis is pregnant with his child,” the king managed to say through gritted teeth.
“And I was just about to beat him to a pulp,” Christopher said helpfully.
“In your dreams,” Garrett muttered, never taking his eyes off Alex.
“Well, it’s a lie,” she snapped. “I’m not pregnant.”
No one was listening. The princes were arguing among themselves, the queen and the king were locked into battle and Alex was looking at Garrett through furious eyes. When she turned to leave, he bolted across the room, grabbed her hand and tugged her into the hall, away from her arguing family.
“Don’t,” she said, pulling her hand free. Looking up at him, she said, “You don’t belong here, Garrett. Go home.”
“No.”
“You had your choice, and you made it. Now it’s time we both live with it.”
He grabbed her again, holding on to her shoulders half worried that she’d run if he let her go. It could take him weeks to find her again in this place. “Why did you return the package I sent you?”
“Because what we had is over. Now please, just go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he murmured and pulled her in close. Wrapping his arms around her, to hold on tight when she started to squirm, Garrett kissed her. He poured everything he’d been feeling for the last two weeks into that kiss. The longing. The pain. The regret. The joy at being with her again. For the first time in too damn long, he felt whole. As if the puzzle pieces of his life had fallen into place.
Her tongue tangled with his, her breath slid into his lungs and her heartbeat clamored in time with his own. Everything was right. He just had to convince her that he was a changed man.
Finally, he broke the kiss, stared down into those amazing eyes of hers and said, “Alex, I don’t give a damn about your crown. I don’t care that you’re a princess. Don’t care that our worlds are so different. I’ll convince your father to let us be together. We can make it work, Alex. We will make it work.”
“Garrett…” She sighed, and said, “I want to believe you. But you made yourself perfectly clear before. You didn’t want me in California. So why now? What’s changed?”
“Me,” he told her, lifting his hands to cup her face. His thumbs moved over her cheekbones and just the feel of her soft, smooth skin beneath his eased the pain that had been tearing at him for what seemed forever. “I’ve changed. And I did want you in California, Alex. I always wanted you. From the first time I saw you in Disneyland, I wanted you. I was just too busy looking for trouble to see what I’d already found.”
She shook her head, and Garrett’s heart stopped briefly. But a King never backed away from a challenge. Especially one that meant more to him than his life.
“Alex, I know now what’s really important.” God, he had to make her believe him. Those eyes of hers were so deep, so rich with emotion, with love. Seeing it gave him enough hope to continue. To tell her everything he wanted her to know.
And he still hadn’t even said the most important thing. “I love you. I love you, Alex, Princess Alexis Morgan Wells. I really do.”
Her breath caught and a single tear rolled from the corner of her eye. He caught it with his thumb as if it were precious. Sunlight speared in from an overhead window and lay on her beautiful hair, now tightly controlled in a twist on top of her head.
“I love your laugh.” His gaze moved over her and then he reached up to tug a few pins loose, letting her hair fall down around her shoulders. “And I love your hair, all wild and tangled. I love the way you find something beautiful in everything. I love your clever brain and your smart-ass mouth. I love that you’re willing to call me out when you think I’m being an idiot.”
Her lips quirked.
“And I love that you want to help women in need and I’d like to be a part of that.”
She took a sharp breath.
“I want to be with you, Alex. Always. I want to build a life with you. In California and Cadria.”
“How—”
“I’m opening a branch of King Security right here in Cadria. We’ll be the European division.”
“Garrett—” She shook her head sadly. “You’re not used to this kind of life. I’m followed by reporters and photographers. We wouldn’t be able to just buy a house in town and move in. We would have to live here in a wing of the palace. You’d hate that, you know you would.”
He laughed shortly. “First off, you forget. I’m one of the Kings of California. We’ve got paparazzi following us all the damn time looking for a story. I’m used to life in a fishbowl. It’s not always pretty, but if you want to badly enough, you can carve out a private life.”
“But—”
“And it doesn’t matter where we live, Alex,” he said, “as long as we’re together.” He gave a glance around the wide hallway, with its priceless art hanging on the walls and the gleam of marble shining up at them. “I could learn to love the palace.”
She laughed, and God, it sounded like music to him.
“I’ll miss good Thai food at one in the morning, but if the craving gets bad, I’ll have Griffin send me some on a King Jet.”
“Oh, Garrett,” she said on a chuckle.
“It’ll work, Princess,” he said quickly, giving her a quick kiss as if to seal a promise. “We’ll blend our lives and build one together that will suit both of us.”
Alex’s breath caught in her chest. Everything she had ever dreamed of was right here, in front of her. All she had to do was reach out and take it. Returning the package he had sent her hadn’t been easy, but she’d hoped that he would come to her, repeating family history. Now, here he was and Alex was half afraid to believe in it.
“I love you, Alex,” he said softly. “Marry me. Love me back.”
She sighed and lifted both arms to wrap them around his neck. “I do love you, Garrett King.”
“Thank God,” he said on a laugh, dropping his forehead to hers. “When you returned the necklace…”
“It was a necklace?”
“I brought it with me.” He dipped one hand into his pocket and pulled out a flat, dark gr
een jeweler’s box.
Alex took it, opened the lid and sighed with pleasure.
“It’s a seagull,” he told her unnecessarily. “I had it made to remind you of the ocean. Of all the time we spent at the beach.”
Tears stung her eyes as she lifted the beautifully crafted piece free of the box. She turned and lifted her hair so that he could put it around her neck and when it was lying against the base of her throat, she touched it and whispered, “I love it, Garrett, though I don’t need a reminder. I’ll never forget a moment of my time with you.”
To Kiss a King Page 17
