The Prince: The Young Royals 1

by S. A. Gordon

  “You don’t have to be sorry,” she said quickly. “The timing wasn’t your fault.” She closed her eyes, pressing them tightly together before opening them. “But you need to understand what all this has done to me. I-I had to move back home with my mom. I couldn’t stay in New York. I got fired, for one thing.”

  David’s face froze. “I didn’t know that.”

  “You mean you know I work here but you didn’t know I got fired there?” Caitlin spat, then immediately regretted it when she saw the look on his face. “I’m sorry. I’m—I’m so sorry about everything.”

  “Now I’m going to tell you not to be sorry.” David took her hands and kissed her forehead. “It seems that we both thought things were spinning out of control, and we let them. We spun away from each other.” His eyes darkened and Caitlin thought he had never looked more kind yet still completely masculine. “We should have helped each other. And I, especially, should have helped you. I’ve been …” He squeezed her hands as he sighed and looked away briefly. “I’ve been unaware of how much my life must affect you—affect anyone who hasn’t grown up with it. My friends all understand, I guess. It’s been so selfish of me. So close-minded. So arrogant.” He looked stricken. “Can you forgive me?”

  Caitlin took a breath in and held it. She’d never thought she needed to forgive him for anything. Now she wondered what forgiveness might mean.

  “Caitlin,” came a hiss from along the counter and Caitlin looked up to see Mindy’s eyebrows dancing and her head jerking toward David as she pointed to herself.

  “Oh,” Caitlin said, her smile small. “I think my boss wants to meet you.”

  David stared at Caitlin with an expression she couldn’t read and then he turned to Mindy.

  “Hello,” he said, holding out his hand as he approached his newest fan, “I’m David.”

  “Oh—Your Highness—Your Royal—Your …” Mindy grabbed his hand tightly and pumped it.

  “Just David is fine,” he said as he placed his left hand gently over where their right hands were still clasped, shaking. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

  “Oh. I-I … It’s lovely to meet you!” Mindy quickly took her hand back. “I … um … Caitlin has never mentioned you!” She turned to Caitlin, her nostrils flaring.

  “C’mon, Mindy,” said Caitlin, slightly exasperated. “I didn’t have to.”

  “What do you mean?” said Mindy.

  “It was in all the magazines.”

  Mindy frowned. “What was?”

  David laughed. “It seems your boss doesn’t know your famous past, my love,” he said and his voice sounded lighter.

  Mindy looked even more confused. “What past?”

  David put his hand on Mindy’s arm and Caitlin thought the other woman might actually buckle at the knees. How did he do that to people? Was it just because he was royal—or because he was David? She might never know. But she knew that she still wanted to try to find out.

  “Caitlin and I are old friends,” David said evenly, then he gazed at Caitlin. “At least, I hope we are.”

  Swallowing, Caitlin kept her focus on him. “We are,” she said, nodding once.

  “Then perhaps you’d permit an old friend to take you out to dinner?” he said gently.

  “I’d love him to,” Caitlin almost whispered. She turned to her boss. “And Mindy—”

  “Don’t worry,” Mindy said, shaking her head and her hands, “I never saw anything. If anyone asks, that is.” Then she beamed. “Have fun!”

  Caitlin walked out from behind the counter and finally stood properly in front of the prince. David wrapped his arms around her and she felt the familiar contours of his chest again, her forehead pressing against his collarbones, smelled his expensive, exotic cologne. It was him. It was really him. She allowed herself to yield to his embrace and remembered what it was like to feel safe with him—to feel like he would protect her from everything. She didn’t even know what the everything would be, but she wanted him to protect her from it. And she could see, now, how unfair she had been to him—he couldn’t protect her during those awful few days after his father died because he had other people to protect: his sisters. Himself. Her reaction had been to leave him simply because he was temporarily unavailable to her. She had been so unfair to him. Yet here he was, giving her another chance.

  Caitlin tried not to cry as she hugged him tighter but it didn’t work.

  “Shh,” David whispered to her, “it’s all right, my love. I’m here. You’re here. Nothing’s broken.”

  “How is that possible?” She sniffled and burrowed her head deeper into his chest.

  “Oh, silly,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “It’s because we love each other.”

  Before he could say anything else, or she could have another thought, Caitlin kissed him. It wasn’t like a first kiss—there was too much between them for that. Yet it wasn’t familiar either. They had both changed since they’d seen each other last. They were both older. Both more sure of themselves. It was that sense of assuredness that made the kiss more significant, more definite, more overwhelming than any of their kisses had been before.

  This is the man I love, Caitlin thought. This is really him.

  “Yes, it is,” said David, and she realized she had spoken aloud.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “This is so exciting!” said Margaret, clapping her hands as she skipped toward Caitlin in the entrance hall of David’s apartment at Kensington Palace. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

  David watched his sister fondly as she embraced his fiancée and he realized that the biggest threat to his relationship with Caitlin now was that his sisters might monopolize her time. In fact, with a wedding to plan, Margaret would definitely monopolize Caitlin’s time. Alix had never been interested in wedding “frippery,” as she liked to call it, but by the look on her face as she trailed in behind Margaret, David could tell she was happy for him.

  “Darling,” Alix said, opening her arms to him.

  “Your Majesty,” he said, kissing her once on each cheek before he bowed his head and she hugged him.

  “I thought I’d told you not to call me that,” Alix said, somewhat tersely, as she hugged him.

  “But I notice you said nothing about me bowing to you,” David said, tickling her back as he had done since they were children.

  “Well, that’s not negotiable.” Alix sniffed and let him go. “Ask any courtier and they’ll tell you.” She winked.

  With that David glanced at Caitlin, hoping that she remembered what he’d told her about protocol. He was relieved to see her curtsey to the queen as Alix approached her. It must seem ridiculous, having to curtsey to a woman not much older than her when she’d grown up in a country that had long ago jettisoned the monarchy. But it was important to him. Alix was a person—his sister and Caitlin’s future sister-in-law—but whenever they encountered her they were meeting the Crown as well as the person. Both had to be acknowledged. And he noted that Caitlin had also remembered to curtsey to Margaret. Not that she’d ever have to curtsey to him. He would never want her to, no matter what the rules said.

  “So, cheeky siblings,” he said, walking to Caitlin and wrapping his arm around her waist, “I would love to officially present to you my fiancée, Caitlin Meadows.”

  Alix’s smile was so wide that David thought she looked slightly deranged. “I’m so thrilled, you know, Day. So thrilled. Even if it means that now I have to come up with a duchy for you when you get married. Did we talk about Sussex?” she said slyly.

  “That’s enough,” David said, his nostrils flaring. “Let’s allow Caitlin to settle in before we make her a duchess.”

  “Now, I’ve made room for her in my place,” said Margaret. “Can’t have her shacked up with you, Day, it won’t do.”

  “Thank you, Rita, but I believe it’s your staff who made room for Caitlin, not you.”

  “I moved some books!”

  “Of course you did. My love,�
� he said, turning to Caitlin, “your luggage will be taken to Rita’s apartment. But obviously you can spend as much time here as you like. Is that all right?”

  Caitlin nodded, her own smile as wide as Alix’s. “Absolutely,” she said.

  “Now, you must tell us everything,” Margaret said, grasping Caitlin’s wrist. “Day only told us that you’re engaged, not where it happened or how or anything like that.”

  “Did Mummy raise you to be this hopeless a romantic?” Alix said, nudging her sister gently.

  “Don’t listen to her,” said Margaret earnestly. “Tell me everything.”

  As Caitlin was pulled away into another room, with his sisters fluttering around her, David stood and watched them, the softest of smiles on his face. He loved his family. For all its singularity, it was a family that worked. There was love in it, and squabbles. Just like any family. He would never want to swap it for another.

  Now, though, as he watched Caitlin laughing and felt his love filling every part of him, he knew it was time to start his own family. His life would be his, as much as he could make it. And he would always work as hard as he could to ensure that Caitlin’s life remained hers. She was the right woman for him. At last. And he was, he knew, the right man for her. Together they could do amazing things—in their public life, and also within their world of two. But first he had to prize her away from his sisters.

  About The Queen: The Young Royals 2

  There’s an empty seat beside her throne …

  Queen Alexandra is newly crowned and newly single. But, contrary to popular belief, being a monarch doesn’t make the dating game any easier. While foreign royals and millionaires may be of a similar social standing, they are woefully inadequate when it comes to winning her heart. Alix needs someone who understands her world and who also sees that behind the crown is a young woman who just wants to fall in love.

  But the situation may not be as hopeless as it seems. Someone Alix has known her whole life is secretly in love with her. And, while he may not have the breeding or bank balance expected of the Queen’s consort, nothing will stop him from trying to win Alix’s heart …

  For more information, please visit momentumbooks.com.au/books/the-queen-the-young-royals-2/

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to the Momentumous:

  Joel Naoum

  Tara Goedjen

  Patrick Lenton

  Kylie Mason, editrix extraordinaire.

  Thanks also to:

  Isabelle Benton

  Jen Bradley

  Kristy Diffey

  Kate Eltham

  Kate Graham

  Mark Harding

  Jon MacDonald

  Jasper Marlow

  Rod Morrison

  for their encouragement and support.

  Special thanks to:

  Vanessa Radnidge, for the spark.

  Inspiration for this story came from Their Royal Highnesses:

  Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

  Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

  Princess Madeleine of Sweden

  Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

  Prince Henry of Wales

  Prince William, Duke of Cambridge

  Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

  In memory of:

  Diana, Princess of Wales.

  About S.A. Gordon

  S.A. Gordon is the author of the Open Season series—four novels about tennis players, their rivalries and entanglements—and Hung Parliament, a novel about politicians, their rivalries and entanglements which was published by Momentum in 2013. Turning her attention to royal families for the series The Young Royals allowed her to leave rivalries behind and just focus on entanglements—specifically those with attractive royals—adding in the odd bit of court life, glamour and international jet-setting. S.A. Gordon lives in Sydney.

  First published by Momentum in 2014

  This edition published in 2014 by Momentum

  Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd

  1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

  Copyright © S.A. Gordon 2014

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

  A CIP record for this book is available at the National Library of Australia

  The Prince: The Young Royals 1

  EPUB format: 9781760082192

  Mobi format: 9781760082208

  Cover design by Danielle Maait

  Edited by Kylie Mason

  Proofread by Keren Joseph

  Macmillan Digital Australia: www.macmillandigital.com.au

  To report a typographical error, please visit momentumbooks.com.au/contact/

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