She tried to lose herself in work. Staying busy sometimes took her mind off Alex. But then she would find herself eating a hot dog or hear a reference to Vashmira on the news and she would think of him. And at night, she didn’t want to sleep. At least during her waking hours she could repress her memories of Alex. But during sleep the memories flitted freely through her mind, making the days without him all the more barren.
Not knowing what had happened to him or how he fared drove her up the wall. She lost weight and couldn’t sleep. She was afraid he remained unconscious or had fallen into a coma and that was why he hadn’t contacted her. She didn’t like even to consider that he was well and no longer wanted to speak to her.
In the past three weeks there had been no further news about his progress—just that he was recovering as well as could be expected. She wanted to phone Alex, but didn’t know his location. Instead, she’d written a letter and sent it to the Vashmiran palace, but she had no way of knowing if he’d received her note or read it. As the weeks turned into a month and then two months, she expected the loss to ease. It didn’t. She might not think about him quite so often, but that was because she’d trained herself to focus on the present.
Finally she received a phone call on her answering machine from Queen Ericka. She’d played the message repeatedly. “Alex asked me to call and tell you that he is making a slow recovery. He will phone when he feels better. And I wanted to thank you for all you did for us…”
After two months Taylor had stopped leaping for the phone every time it rang, stopping racing to the door every time she heard a knock, stopped rushing toward her mailbox. It was over. Alex wasn’t coming back.
ALEX SHIFTED UNEASILY in the back seat of the limousine. Perhaps he should have called. But there were some things a man had to do in person—such as thanking a woman for saving his life. Taylor had saved him several times, when she’d stopped him from driving a car that had been about to blow up, when she’d pushed him out of the way of the sniper’s bullet and again after he’d been shot. Without her talking to him and demanding that he live, Alex might have just let go. Instead she’d urged him to fight for life and he had. The battle had been long and difficult, all the more so due to his location half a world away from Taylor.
He started to ask the driver to go around the block to give him time to gather his thoughts, but hell, if he didn’t know what he wanted by now, he never would. He’d thought of little else during the long months of his recovery. He was here. It was time to let the past go and to think about a future.
He exited the limousine flanked by two bodyguards. Since Ira had retired and Hunter had taken over security, Alex never went anywhere alone. However, as always, his guards were discreet and Alex understood their necessity.
The sight of Taylor’s busy office took him aback. A secretary sat in front of a computer typing while she spoke through a headset on the phone. Other lines were blinking with callers placed on hold and the interior offices boasted the names of two new investigators’ names in dark gold leaf on clouded glass doors.
The secretary looked up at him. “May I help…” She punched a button on her intercom. “Ms. Welles, there’s a client here to see you.”
“Did I forget an appointment?” Taylor’s voice sounded just as Alex remembered, clear with just an undertone of huskiness and sexy as hell.
Alex was just about to say something when with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, the secretary shook her head slightly and raised one finger to her lips, signaling him to remain silent. “You’re going to want to take this one.”
“Fine, send the client on in.”
Alex’s bodyguard opened the door for him, looked around the office, then nodded for him to enter. Alex stepped inside and the guard closed the door behind him, giving him a smidgen of privacy.
Taylor sat behind her desk, her hair shoved back behind her ears as she frowned at some paperwork. She bit down lightly on a pencil eraser, her full lips pursed, her finely arched brows drawn together in concentration.
Alex didn’t move. He didn’t say a word. He just drank in the sight of her as if he were a man dying from thirst. The silky blue blouse and neat cream jacket suited her. And when she lifted her head and her gaze finally rested on him, her lower jaw dropped. Her eyes widened. She stared at him, the blood rushing from her face and leaving her skin a pale white.
He strode toward her, came around the desk, leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Hi.”
The emotions on her face changed from shock to happiness to anger in the space of a heartbeat. Blood surged back up her neck and into her cheeks, flushing her with high color. “Why the hell didn’t you call me?”
“I’m glad you missed me, too.”
“Alex!”
He heard the frustration in her voice and figured he’d better start talking fast before she threw him out. “Well, first I was unconscious. When I came to and asked for you, the doctors thought I was hallucinating due to all the medication I was on. Finally I asked Ericka to call you.”
“She did.” She stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not buying your explanation. But why didn’t you call? You might have been injured, but you certainly appear to have recovered. Why didn’t you call me last month? Last week? Yesterday?”
“I wanted to talk in person.”
“You couldn’t send me a note?”
“A note seemed…impersonal.”
“You idiot. A note would have stopped me from worrying like crazy over—”
Her mouth was too luscious to resist. He leaned down and kissed her. Initially, his move might have been quick and decisive, but once he felt her lips under his, he took his time, savoring her taste, breathing in her feminine scent, lingering and wanting so much more.
As always, she responded to him, her hands going around his neck, her mouth softening, her tongue teasing and making his head spin. So when she dropped her hands to his shoulders and shoved him back, he was totally unprepared for her rejection.
“Stop it. You have no right to ignore me for—”
“Marry me.”
“—while I didn’t know if you’d lived—”
“Marry me.”
“—or died—”
“Be my wife.”
“—or knew how badly you were injured—”
“I’m very healthy and I can prove it.”
“—and then you march in here and act like we’ve never been apart.” She finally paused to take a breath and then she must have finally realized that he’d proposed. She fisted her hands on her hips but she’d gone pale again and her eyes had narrowed with suspicion. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“I did.”
“We can’t marry.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re a prince.”
“You’re going to hold the circumstances of my birth against me?” He reached into his pocket and withdrew his mother’s ring. “I hoped you would accept this as an engagement ring.”
“That’s a family heirloom.”
“If you agree to be my wife, you’ll be family.”
She stared at the ring but didn’t reach for it. His heart rose into his throat as she shook her head. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
He felt as though he’d just taken a sucker punch to the gut. “You’re refusing me?”
“Yes.”
He wanted to shout at her, shake her, demand that she make an explanation, but then her eyes brimmed and tears rolled down her cheeks. Gently he took her into his arms and rocked her, smoothed back her hair. “I don’t understand. I thought you loved me?”
“I do.”
She clung to him for a moment then withdrew. She plucked a tissue off her desk and blew her nose.
“So what is the problem?”
“You haven’t said the magic words.”
Huh? Was she afraid of leaving her home and business? “Nicholas has made me the ambassador to the United States. We can live in your c
ountry for as long as we wish. I like it here.”
“How nice. What else do you like?” she prodded him.
“I like hot dogs.”
“Alex!”
“I like making love with you. I like eating hot dogs together. I like watching you sleep and waking up next to you in the morning.”
Her face softened but then she squared her shoulders. “That’s not good enough.”
He held in a groan. “You want a title? Because once we marry, you’ll be Princess Taylor.”
She shook her head.
“Your own suite in the Vashmiran palace?”
She sighed. “We’re going to live here, remember? And for a man who supposedly knows so much about women, you can be very obtuse.”
“Ah, you want me to kneel and propose?” He kneeled, thinking he’d certainly made a mess of proposing, but if she wanted romance, he’d shower her with flowers and cards and…
She tugged him to his feet with an obstinate shake of her head.
Obviously he wasn’t doing this right. “I could use a little help here. I can’t read your mind.”
“You haven’t told me how you feel about me.”
In frustration the words rushed from him. “You are the only woman I’ve ever asked to be my wife.”
“So you love me?”
Damn! How could he have been so dense? A woman as special as Taylor needed to hear the words. She didn’t want royal titles or palace suites. She wanted his love, and his heart lightened with understanding. He’d been afraid she’d ask for something he couldn’t give. But his love? She had that. He might not be able to point out exactly the moment he’d fallen in love, but he loved her absolutely, unequivocally, forever.
“I love you, Taylor. And I always will.” Her face lit with a wild happiness. “Now, will you marry me?”
“Of course.” She kissed him lightly on the mouth. “There’s only one more thing.”
He arched an eyebrow, waiting, but his heart remained light as her eyes danced with happiness. “I want children.”
“Agreed. And don’t worry. I promise to love them, too.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-4302-6
ROYAL PURSUIT
Copyright © 2002 by Hair Express Inc.
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*The Sutton Babies
†Hide and Seek
**The Crown Affair
Royal Pursuit Page 19
