by Nikki Steele
My own hand replaced my mouth. I began to pump with it quickly as I looked up into his wide eyes.
“What are you doing to me?” he gasped. I could see his chest rising and falling quickly. I hadn’t realized I would affect him this quickly!
The thought made me grin. “Giving you something you’re never going to forget.” Then my lips leapt upon him once more. This time they didn’t bob, though. This time they went straight down. The tip of his head slid over my tongue, and then he was at the back of my mouth and I was pushing onto him even further, taking as much of him in as I could. I couldn’t quite consume his full length.
I came up with a gasp and then went back down again as he threw his head back and groaned. On the second try my lips wrapped around his base, and I stayed there, pleasing him with my tongue, until I had to come up for air once more.
My hands worked him while I caught my breath. I looked up; his breaths were ragged now. I moved faster, watching his face, enjoying the power I had over him with my fingers. His own tightened on my shoulders in warning.
It was going to be over soon; my mouth slipped back over his tip. I wanted to taste him. I wanted this to be something he would never forget, something I wouldn’t either.
I began to suck hard, the pressure curving my cheeks inward and producing a moan that reverberated through his body.
I wanted to do this for him. I wanted to please him in every way possible. I wanted to help him in any way that I could, even if I got nothing in return. Because I loved him so much that simply doing things for him gave me pleasure. I felt him swell between my lips.
My tongue rolled around his tip. Then I slid all the way down his length once more.
His hips tensed. His fingers on my shoulders turned white.
I pulled back up as his hot load shot onto my tongue. I swallowed every single drop as his back arched and he cried out over and over again.
* * *
I waited until I had left the battlements before I let the tears come. I didn’t want him to see them. Because I wanted to do this for him. I wanted to help him in any way that I could, even if I got nothing in return.
Gosh it was going to be hard though. I was going to miss him so much.
CHAPTER NINE
Richards drove me to the airport.
I told Xander I was going shopping—which was stupid because the shops would be closed by now, but then that was sweet, wonderful Xander for you—so strong and wise and intelligent, but also sometimes just a typical guy, too.
I left the necklace on my dresser with a brief note.
Xander.
I love you so much. And I know you love me too. But you said something to me once, back in America. You’re a prince; and a prince’s first duties are to his country. Right now, your country needs you.
Your mother has explained everything. Don’t be angry at her. I’m not. I understand the choice she had to make, and the responsibilities facing you.
I love you Xander. I do this for your future, and the safety of your people. Remember me. I’ll always remember you.
K
“Are you sure you won’t reconsider ma’am… Kate?”
I knew Richards was upset. He was using my actual name. “You’re very sweet to ask, but no. I need to do this.” I forced a smile to my lips. “Besides, maybe the Queen will be in a better mood now!”
Richards muttered something under his breath. It sounded treasonous.
“Look after Baxter for me?”
He nodded.
I was leaving Baxter behind—just for a couple of days. The commercial flight took pets, but he would’ve had to travel in an animal container in the hold. My heart had broken thinking of him cold and alone on the nine hour flight.
Then there would be quarantine once we actually arrived—he might be locked up for weeks without the papers I didn’t have time to apply for. No, it would be better to leave Baxter here for a few days. When Xander’s jet came back from maintenance, Richards had said he would fly the puppy over personally. Diplomatic flights weren’t checked for cargo.
“Last call for Alonia Air flight 240”
We both looked up to the boarding screen together. “This is me,” I said.
He took me by the arm. “It’s not too late. You could still-”
I eased my arm free, then shook my head. “You know it’s the only way.”
“There’s got to be another,” said Richards desperately. “This is going to break his heart.”
It had already broken mine. “Goodbye Richards. Please, give my love to Xander. Tell him I love him.”
His eyes were moist as he pulled me into a hug. Then I turned and walked toward the plane.
CHAPTER TEN
When Flight 240 left the ground, I began to cry. It was all tumbling down: my life, my hopes, my dreams.
On the tarmac, strapped into a window seat, I’d found myself looking out across the runway and hoping—dreaming—that I would see Xander charge across it. It was a fantasy, but I’d clung to it nonetheless. My life had been one huge fantasy since I’d met him, I’d reasoned, so stopping the plane was possible too.
But Xander hadn’t run across the tarmac. He wouldn’t even know I was leaving yet. I’d made Richards promise that he wouldn’t call ahead to tell him what I was doing. It meant he wouldn’t find out for another twenty minutes.
Real life wasn’t a fantasy. It was cold and cruel and ruled by logic, not love. It was a world where it took strength to make adult decisions.
His mother was right. She was a… a cow, but she was right. If I really cared for him, and cared for his country… it was the only choice.
* * *
I’d been through three packs of tissues and two glasses of champagne when the pilot came on the loudspeaker.
We’d reached cruising altitude a little over half an hour ago. I expected to hear a weather update, along with the usual deep voiced rambling about how long it would take to get to American airspace. Instead, the pilot sounded… confused.
“Ahhh… ladies and gentlemen, if I can have your attention for a minute…”
I heard scratching over the speaker and then his voice became fainter, as if the pilot had put his hand over the mic. “Yes sir. Will do sir.”
The voice grew louder once more. “Is there a Miss Kate Wilmont on board this flight?”
I looked around in confusion, then slowly put up my hand. A stewardess began to walk toward me down the aisle.
The pilot’s voice crackled over the speaker. “We ahhh, we have an unusual situation here in the cockpit. Miss Wilmont, if you could make your way to the nearest intercom.”
The stewardess reached me. “What’s going on?” I asked, standing up.
She looked slightly shaken, but motioned me toward an intercom phone at the front of the plane. I picked it up. “Hello?”
“Miss Wilmont?” It was the pilot.
“Yes?”
“I have the… Crown Prince on the line for you.”
“Xander?”
“Yes ma’am. He’s come in over a military frequency. He’s requested to speak to you immediately.”
“I don’t want to talk to him. There’s nothing to say.”
“Okay, please hold. I’ll… relay that.” The line went quiet briefly. Then the pilot came back on. “I’ve been told it’s not a request. I’m sorry, I’m going to have to patch him through.”
“I’ll just hang up.”
“Ma’am, you can’t just hang up on the Crown-”
I hung up. I couldn’t speak to Xander. I wanted to—so badly it hurt, more than anything else in the world. But I knew that if I did, it would just hurt more. There was no other way out. Prolonged goodbyes just made things worse.
The pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker. People looked up from their books again to listen. “Ahhh… ladies and gentleman, apologies again for the interruption. As I said earlier we have a rather unusual situation here in the cockpit. The Crown Prince of Alonia is on t
he line and demanding to speak to one of our passengers.”
Loud murmurs ran up and down the plane. Many of the passengers turned toward me, putting two and two together. I shrank back into the door, trying to avoid their gaze.
“I’ve been told that if she refuses to speak to him in private, I’m to patch him through on our main audio line. It was a direct order.”
I blinked. What? He wouldn’t!
Brief static filled the plane. Then I heard a familiar voice echoing through the cabin. “Kate? Kate. I know you’re there. Pick up Kate.”
Oh gosh. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and die of embarrassment.
“Kate? I swear to God I’ll start singing if you don’t pick up. Everybody else in the plane, this is your Crown Prince. I order you to tell her to pick up the phone.”
I could see smiles begin to break out up and down the plane. And old woman sitting near me put down her knitting. “Well go on then dearie. You don’t keep a prince waiting.”
Xander cleared his throat over the loudspeaker, as if about to start singing. I snatched up the phone, cheeks burning. “I’m here.”
“Kate!”
The voice was still patched through over the loudspeaker, but I could hear him through the phone too. Every face in the plane was fixed on me. Every ear was cocked to the loudspeakers.
“Xander, you have to listen to me. You need to let me go.”
“I love you Kate.”
Sighs echoed up and down the aisle.
“I love you too,” I said quietly. “But your country is more important than what we feel for each other. Your mother explained everything. I know why you were fighting.”
There was a pause. “Then you know what the stakes are. And you know I still choose you.”
“There’s no other way.”
“There is. I can give up my title—abdicate the throne and pass regency to Fredrick.”
“Xander no! Don’t be a fool.”
“I’d be a fool not to Kate—all these riches and titles would be meaningless without you.”
“Well I’m not coming back. And you can’t make me.”
“Actually, I can.”
“What, are you going to run after me and stop the plane? I’ve got news for you, we’ve already left the ground.”
A chuckle sounded over the speakers. “I know.”
“What?”
“Look out the right hand window.”
I leaned down to peer through the closest window as passengers on the left hand side leapt across the aisle to crowd viewports alongside their neighbors. The sun was just starting to set; the clouds were orange below us.
“I can’t even see the ground from here, it’s covered in clouds.”
“You’re looking in the wrong direction. Look up.”
I frowned, but did as directed. For a moment, I saw nothing. Then the gunmetal grey of a fighter jet rolled into view. It had been above the plane. “Xander?”
People started talking loudly, pointing out the window to each other. The fighter jet dipped its wings. “The one and only.” The jet had a pilot and co-pilot. They were both wearing helmets.
“Did you just commandeer a fighter jet and fly it after me?”
A chuckle echoed over the loudspeaker. “No, of course not… I’m the co-pilot. I couldn’t fly while I was holding the hostage.”
Xander reached up and pulled his helmet off. Then he lifted up a small, fluffy white bundle from his lap. A black nose pressed against the window and the glass began to fog. Over the intercom came an excited bark.
BOOK 4:
The Puppy and the Crown
Kate’s just an ordinary gal. Xander is a prince. And although the world is against them, they are determined to be together.
Within the age-old walls of his castle in Europe, it seems that dream may finally be coming true. With the help of her precocious puppy, Kate has overcome all odds thrown at them—even those by Xander’s mother, the Queen.
But there’s one final hurdle that still lies in their way. A neighboring kingdom, and the mystery of a priceless crown jewel that went missing half a lifetime ago. It’s a hurdle that may be insurmountable.
CHAPTER ONE
Xander held my hand on the limousine ride back, as if afraid that if he let go I would leave again.
We didn’t talk—not after the landing, and my tears, and us standing on the tarmac with his arms around me and two hundred faces plastered up against the airplane’s windows.
Everything that needed to be said had been voiced at 35,000 feet. Xander loved me. And he loved me so much that he’d been willing to commandeer a fighter jet, chase me halfway across Europe, and then turn my plane around.
Oh, and hold my dog hostage. Though I was uncertain whether that had truly been the original plan, or if instead, Baxter had just demanded to go along for the ride. He was a strong willed little dog. As was, it turned out, the man sitting beside me.
The limousine wound through green valleys on the way to the castle once again. I still didn’t know whether I’d been a fool. I was a problem in Alonia—an incongruence to plans his mother had set in motion when Xander was just a young boy. Plans that had stopped a war, but committed him to marrying a Zuri Princess.
I’d thought I was doing the right thing by leaving. But then he’d followed, and said he would rather abdicate than lose me. Xander an ordinary man? I couldn’t picture it. There had to be another way. Perhaps we could talk sense into evil King Fredrick. Or perhaps… kings of old had concubines, didn’t they? Could I let him marry this princess, then be his lover on the side? The thought made my stomach churn. But I didn’t dismiss it.
I joined Baxter, leaning out the window as we slipped quietly through Helvsgard, the castle visible on the hill beyond. Xander would approach his mother the day after tomorrow. He’d announce his plans to abdicate then, and I had 48 hours to come up with something better.
CHAPTER TWO
“Xander, how did your father die?”
We’d spent the night making love. We’d spent the morning doing it too. I was now propped up on a pillow, with a sheet wrapped around me, picking at a late breakfast in bed. The tray had been overloaded to the point of spilling—I suspected the cooks were glad to have me back, too.
He paused, turning with his shirt half buttoned to consider my question.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just you’ve never spoken about it. But it’s okay if you don’t want to answer the question.”
He smiled. “Why don’t we go for a walk? Put on a pretty summer dress, we can talk about it on the way.”
It didn’t take long to slip something over my head. Xander led me through the castle; past the dog kennels, where we’d left Baxter the night before. He trotted over to say hello before running off to play with his German Shepherd friend.
He didn’t speak until we were walking down a long, tree lined promenade that ended in sunlight. “It happened when I was very young—memories of my father are blurred, though there are some things I recall clearly.” His eyes had a far off look. “His smile was kind and gentle.” He nodded to my pendant. “His hands; swift but precise, creating that necklace you now wear.”
He grimaced. “As for how he died, it was from an aneurism—I think you Americans call that a stroke?—while walking through the castle gardens one night. We found him the following morning.”
“That must have been horrible,” I said quietly.
Xander shrugged. “Actually, I’m kind of glad. The coroner’s report showed evidence of mesothelioma in his lungs.”
I paled. I knew what that was—an aggressive cancer with no known cure. I’d treated patients at our hospital with it. The first sign was often shortness of breath, and then… “I’m so sorry,” I said. It was a horrible way to die.
“Please, don’t be. As I said, he died peacefully, walking through his favorite gardens. The cancer hadn’t begun to affect him yet.” We stopped beneath a stone archway. He turned to me. “Don’t
misunderstand me—I wish my father was still here. Though in a way, he still is.”
My head cocked.
Xander touched the necklace above my heart. “Here,” he said simply.
He took my hand again, a smile lighting his features, and pulled me into the royal garden. “And also here.”
It was like stepping into another world. Greenery stretched off into the distance, progressing in gentle undulations from our vantage, down across the hill. Whereas at the front of the castle the hill fell sharply, here at the back it fell with more leisure; like a wave, with the castle its foaming crest and the garden its gently sloping back.
The castle wall encompassed all, stretching around perhaps four football fields of beautifully cultivated splendor. We stood on the edge of a manicured lawn, with hedges and benches and sparkling fountains before us. On the left was what looked like a Japanese garden. It had a pavilion at its center. On the right were ornamental flowerbeds—I could smell the scent of roses wafting on the breeze. Beyond all of this was a lightly wooded area. A huge oak rose from its center.
“Xander, this is magical!”
He nodded. “It was a very special place for my father—he used to come here when he needed to think, or be inspired. It’s a very special place for me, too.” He proffered his arm to me, flashing a smile. “Would you care for a stroll, m’lady?”
I looped my arm through his.
We promenaded through the garden, enjoying the sunshine and conversation. The ugliness and stress of the last week was still so recent that it was relaxing to be surrounded by natural beauty; just appreciating each other’s company. Xander picked me a rose as we walked. I put it in my hair.
