I heard a few excited barks and a couple of muffled yips in the distance. Where was he? Had he eaten tonight? I’d been paying Helga a few euros to look after him when I was tied up with all the engagement festivities.
I ran to the kitchen. Roman’s empty food bowls rested on the marble floor. I followed his muffled cries through the living room and out onto the penthouse terrace. He was tied to the fence, jumping up and down, straining against it. I thought it had been repaired, but once again I spotted a small gash in the protective netting. A split in the mesh that grew wider and more dangerous with each bounce of my exuberant puppy.
“What’s going on?” I strode toward him. “Did Helga leave you out here?”
“You worry about him just like a mama worries about her child,” Helga said, walking out of the shadows.
“Of course, I do. He’s a baby.” I tried to unknot his leash, but it was twisted around his collar, spiraled around the same spot that I’d almost fallen through a week earlier.
“You left a couple years ago, Lady Catherine. I thought you were gone for good. You finally come back and you are nicer than you used to be. I too have a child I love. A daughter who dreams of marrying a prince. And I told my Daira many times, ‘No, my sweetie. You are not royalty. You cannot marry a prince. Find a nice commoner or perhaps a lesser-titled royal.’”
My hand flew to my chest. “Daira who schtups—I-mean—used to date Prince Leopold is your daughter?”
“Playboy Prince Leopold comes and goes like the tide.”
“She can have him,” I said, working on the tangled leash and collar.
“But only if you are not here, Lady Catherine. I know these Royals. They speak with spooned tongues. They say anything to get what they want. And then they go back on their promises. But maybe if you are gone, maybe Daira has chance with Leopold. Maybe Daira’s dream can come true after all.”
“You sabotaged the netting! You tried to kill me. You gave me the best loofah bath of my life and still tried to murder me. That’s cold.” I knelt, trying to release Roman from these tangled loops around him as the split in the mesh grew deeper. I grabbed onto him with one arm, knowing that we were both in harms’ way.
“I am a good mother. Just like you are. Puppy might fall through the netting. You need to save your puppy. The same way I save Daira,” Helga said.
She edged closer to the living room door as I flirted with plummeting off a building yet again. I glanced down. It was a long, long way to the pavement below and I feared I would not land in a lady-like pose. Cici and Zara would probably be irritated.
I spotted Max sneaking from the living room, making his way onto the terrace. I widened my eyes in fake shock and pointed away from him. “Oh look! Is that Daira?”
Helga swiveled. Max grabbed her from behind and she elbowed him in the stomach. “Oof!” he said.
Roman wiggled out of my grasp and trod further on the damaged netting. I threw myself onto my stomach, crawled forward, and captured him, pulling him against my chest.
“Vivian!” Max said. “Are you okay?”
“No!”
Helga took the opportunity and bit his arm. He hollered and released her. She raced through the door into the living room and disappeared from sight.
Max moved the few yards toward me, seized me around the waist, and yanked us back from the accident about to happen.
* * *
The police and the Bellèno Secret Service questioned me, Max, and the building’s security guards. Lord Fontaine came home from work to a house filled with men and women in uniform.
In the kitchen, the interviews were winding down and Roman was eating his dinner. “Is your arm okay?” I asked Max.
“Helga apparently has short squat teeth that didn’t break the skin.”
“Good. You saved me. Thank you. Why did you come here?”
“Leo texted and told me what happened. Daira bragged about some kind of retribution before she stormed off with your engagement ring. He knew you wouldn’t talk to him and asked me to check on you.”
“Why you and not my Ladies?”
“He tried calling them first but all he heard was giggling, loud music, and ‘Take it off Lord Naughty-ham. Take it all off!’”
“Does he know what happened here?”
“I messaged him. We need to get you to a hotel or someplace safe, someplace with guards. Maybe the palace.”
“No hotel. No palace. No guards. Just you.” I looked at Lord Angus. “Papa?”
“Yes?”
“Can you watch Roman for what’s left of tonight?”
“Of course, my darling daughter.”
“Thank you.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
He discretely wiped a tear away and ran his hand over Roman’s back. The puppy wagged his tail.
“Let’s go, Max,” I said.
“But what about Leo?”
I held my left hand in front of him. “What do you see on this hand?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s right. And that’s not changing tonight.”
* * *
After my parents died I swore I would never ride a motorcycle again. And yet here I was in the darkest of night, my first time back on a bike, holding tight to a gorgeous man, my arms wrapped around his waist. We sped along mountainous roads that curved around mist-covered lakes.
Every so often Max would glance over his shoulder. “How are you doing?”
“I’m good.” I shivered, hugged him tighter, and leaned my mouth toward his ear. “Where are you taking me?”
“Someplace safe,” he said over the roar of the engine.
“As long as it’s with you I’m good.”
Chapter 23
MAXIMILLIAN
Vivian rested her chest on my shoulder as the bike idled at a fenced in, thickly wooded property. The upscale lodge was located in the foothills above Friedricksburgh and overlooked Lake Susannah. An armed guard stood at the entrance. He saluted and opened the gates for us.
Once we were inside and settled, I drew her a hot bubble bath, threw in some lavender salts, and placed a fresh pair of cotton PJs we kept for unexpected guests on the stand in the bathroom. “Enjoy,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said.
I made us hot chocolate, called in a favor, and found a local chef who delivered goat cheese pizza in the middle of the night. Pizza and hot chocolate might sound like an odd combination, but Vivian needed comforting, needed to feel safe. And there’s nothing better than comfort food in front of a fireplace.
After her bath, we lounged on pillows in front of a roaring fireplace in the Rochartè Chateau’s living room. Vivian sipped the steaming cup of cocoa, and looked out the three-story, floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the lake.
“It’s snowing!” she said.
“How is it that you don’t remember it snows in Bellèno in the summer?”
She shrugged and made her way outside onto the deck.
I followed her and couldn’t help but stare at her ass. It looked delectable in a pair of simple pajamas that appeared non-remarkable on visiting heads of state.
Vivian looked up at the sky and I followed her gaze: light gray clouds bumped up against each other as fat, wet snowflakes fell in a flurry onto the lake and around us.
She held out her hands as the snowflakes wafted down. “It’s magical! It’s perfect, here, Max. It’s perfect here with you.”
“I didn’t think The Crown Affair would become so fucked up.” My heart pounded in my chest just looking at her. I wrapped my arms around my waist, pulled her flush against me and stared down at her pretty face. “I regret getting you into this.”
“It’s been a ride, that’s for sure. Certainly never thought someone would try and kill me. But right now, there’s a more pressing problem.”
“What?”
“A snowflake on my forehead is threatening to melt. Can you help me with that?”
I smiled. “Close your eyes.”
She did, the sides of her mouth quirking up in that impossibly sexy way.
I cradled her head in my hands and kissed her forehead. I kissed her eyelids. I kissed her face. My hands traced her neck, lingering on her soft skin and landed on her breasts. My pulse quickened and my dick hardened. “Vivian.”
She shivered, pushing her pelvis into mine, the heat between us growing. “Yes.”
I slipped one hand inside her pajama top and ran my fingers over that gorgeous breast. I trailed kisses down her neck then brushed my lips against hers. “Vivian.”
“Max.”
I dropped to my knees on the deck in front of her in the middle of summer flurries that looked like the heavens were showering us in frozen angel tears. I circled my tongue around one nipple, felt it pebble, and pulled it into mouth. I unbuttoned her pajama top and kneaded her other breast with my hand. She sighed.
I pulled back and stared into her gorgeous eyes. “I’ve fallen for you, love. I am hopelessly, utterly smitten. I’m not sure where I was before I met you or where I will be after.”
“I think we should go inside,” she said.
“I thought you’d never ask.” I scooped her up. She circled her arms around my neck and I carried her back inside the chateau.
The wait was over. Once again, Vivian was mine.
I carried her to my room, and laid her on her back on a large, feather-top bed. Her tits bounced when I put her down. They were gorgeous. Her nipples were hard, either from the chilly night air or all the attention my mouth had given them. I grazed my hands across her breasts, playing with them, kneading them. I pinched the tips. She extended her neck on the bed. I bent my head to one bud and pulled it into my mouth, sucking gently at first, then harder as she moaned.
“I’m so wet,” she said, taking hold of my head and drawing it down toward her pussy.
My cock throbbed in my pants but I resisted her direction. “First things first. I have to be fair, you know.” I ran the stubble of my beard over her other breast and watched in delight as that nipple hardened like the other.
“I’ll tell you what’s not fair,” she said. “I’m half naked. You’re not.”
“Easily solved.” I yanked my shirt over my head and tossed it.
“Ooh, nice.” Her lips quirked appreciatively and she brushed her hand down my chest, her fingers lingering on my abs. Her hand came to rest on top of my hard-on, still confined in my jeans. She gave it a firm rub. The bulge in my jeans grew even larger. “Perhaps I missed your performance at the strip club, Hot Ginger Prince.”
I tickled her waist. “You’re not allowed to call me that. Ever.”
She laughed and wriggled out from under my touch. “I’ll call you that until you find a suitable way to make me stop.”
My dick pulsed harder in my pants. “Tempting,” I said, placing a hand on the waistband of her thin pajama bottoms. I tugged them down her hips and she kicked them off. She was breathtaking naked. The skin on her stomach was creamy, the V between her legs groomed just the right amount.
She stared up at me, her breath coming faster. “Touch me.”
I slid my hand down her stomach and played with the cropped curls close to her warm center. She moaned.
“Lower,” she said.
I dipped my fingers down the apex of her thighs and found her sex. She was drenched. I swirled my fingers around her folds and closed my eyes. I tried to keep control of my beating heart and my pulsing, straining dick. I’d waited a long time to be back here with Vivian.
In her beauty.
In her vulnerability.
In the center of her world.
I wanted to enjoy every damn second. Make this moment last. I would claim the memories of touching her, fucking her, making her mine, and burn them into my brain for eternity.
“Inside me, Max,” she said.
“Not yet.” I ran two fingers over her clit. It was engorged and warm, meant to be played with. I stroked and teased her bud as she writhed. She clenched her fists, her breath quickened and she moaned.
“Inside me, Max.”
“Spread your legs wider, love.”
She moved them apart.
“Wider. Feet on the bed.” I lifted her legs and placed her feet flat on the mattress. I kissed the inside of her leg all the way up to her pussy. I lowered my mouth to her warm, juicy center, and rubbed the stubble of my chin across the sensitive bundle of nerves. She groaned.
“Inside me. Inside me now.”
I slid my fingers into her pussy and her heat contracted around me. I plunged in and out, teasing her clit the entire time she rode my hand.
“God, oh, God, Max. I’m coming.” She arched her back and contracted against me, her body shuddering in waves of pleasure.
I waited a few moments. I stared at the flush on her beautiful face, the glow on her chest, and slipped my fingers out of her pussy. I pulled a condom from my back pocket and tore the package open with my teeth. I unzipped my pants and tossed them.
“I’m dying to fuck you, love.” I rolled protection on my hard cock, edged between her legs, and positioned myself on top of her. I rubbed my length against her pussy. So wet. So warm.
“I’m dying for you to fuck me, Max.”
I eased inside her, then pushed deeper, burying myself in her. Her eyes fluttered closed. She held onto my arms as I rode her easy at first, then thrusting harder. “Wrap your legs on top of my shoulders, love.”
She draped those gorgeous legs over my shoulders, next to my ears.
I grasped her hips and pulled her ass down toward me, leaned over her beautiful face and kissed her mouth as I pounded her.
“You’re gorgeous. You’re so fucking gorgeous and you’re mine. Say it. I want to hear you say it.”
“I’m yours.”
“Say it again, Vivian.” I plunged into her harder. I couldn’t get enough of her. I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to get enough of her. “Say it again. Say you are mine and say my name.”
“I’m yours, Max.” She looked up at me a sexy smile on her full lips.
I placed a hand behind her head and rocked her to sitting. Then I laid on my back and pulled her on top of me. “I want to watch you fuck me.”
I placed both hands on her hips and guided her up and down as I broke into a sweat, the sensations building in me like a firestorm. “So good, Vivian.”
Her breasts were so pretty as they bobbed over me. I reached out and cupped one, then caressed the other. Her nipples hardened and she gasped.
“Claim me, Vivian.” I dropped my hands to the tops of her hips, lifting her and impaling her harder on my cock until I saw stars. “Claim me and I will be yours forever.” I exploded inside her, my world rocking, my mind spinning to a place I’d never been before.
* * *
The following afternoon, we sat opposite each other on the chateau’s terrace overlooking Lake Susannah, eating French toast and drinking dark coffee. The sun had come out and warmed the air considerably. I gazed into her pretty eyes.
“You’re like a knight in shining armor,” she said.
“No, I’m not. I’m a prince.” I smiled at her, leaned over the table and kissed her lips.
“Hear me out,” she said. “You saved me on the balcony last night. You followed me outside Mugshots after I got fired and recommended me for this job.”
“The latter I somewhat regret.”
“Say what you will, that paycheck keeps my uncle in Assisted Living.”
“That part makes me happy.”
“Leo’s texted dozens of times saying how sorry he is. Cici should be arriving soon, just in time for the wedding. I think I should change “my” mind, accept Leo’s apology, and tell him the wedding is back on. Do you think I should tell Cici that he was cheating? I’d want to know. She has the right to know what she’s getting into before she marries him.”
“Normally I’d say yes. But this is The Crown Affair. This deal has to go through. Besides I can guarantee Cic
i already knows about Leo’s womanizing and is more than capable of handling him.”
“I assume you’re still going to be his best man?”
“He’s my brother. I owe him some kind of loyalty. I’ll be glad when this phase of The Crown Affair ends.”
“What do you mean, ‘this phase?’”
“Cici has to marry Leo. The money has to be transferred. Who knows what other problems will pop up with this whole debacle? I’ll have to handle it, just like I’ve handled everything else.”
“Like you’ve handled me? Am I part of the debacle?”
“I wish we’d never landed in this situation but we did. You’re the best part of this whole shit show.”
“Boy do you know how to make a girl feel special.”
“It was a part-time job, Vivian. It lasted longer than it was supposed to, but ultimately, for you, The Crown Affair was always a part-time job.”
She pushed back her chair from the table. “What we did the last 24 hours, was that part of the job?”
“Of course it wasn’t part of the job.” My phone buzzed. I picked it up and glanced at the text from…
Mr. Cartwright: Need to talk.
“Which is why we’re still here and we’ve done what we’ve done, oh, five times now.” She stood up, placing her hands on her hips.
“That’s separate from the job, Vivian.”
I texted Cartwright back.
Max: What’s the problem?
Mr. Cartwright: I’ll tell you in person. I’m on my way to Friedricksburgh from the airport. Vivian with you?
Max: Yes. Just give me a heads up what the problem is.
“So, it’s back to this, again?” Vivian asked. “I’m just your employee? It’s only about the job for you? The whole ‘Claim me and I will be yours forever,’ was something you say to all the girls you sleep with? Some stupid royal line you shout out in bed?”
“No.” But I could barely concentrate on what she was saying. Cartwright’s next text sent my world crashing. Ice water coursed through my veins and I dropped my head in my hands. I managed to pull myself together enough to say to Vivian, “Think whatever you want. This started off as The Crown Affair. And it will end as The Crown Affair.”
The Prince's Playbook Page 17
