by Dana Marton
Benedek was looking at her funny. “You looked good on stage. I couldn’t wait to get you to myself.”
“Was the performance all right?” She hadn’t seen him since the limo brought her from the opera house to the palace.
“Better than all right. A performance that will be remembered decades from now.” He reached for her hand and drew her through the crowd in the reception room.
People were going to notice that. She tried to pull away, self-conscious all of a sudden, but he wouldn’t let her.
“Where are we going?”
“To the garden.”
She looked outside, into the dark through the windows. “We could talk in here.” Right, he was going to show her something. “You can show me tomorrow.”
“Trust me on this one?” His gaze sought hers, warm and heating her further with every nanosecond.
“Any news on the Freedom Council?”
“They suffered a serious blow. It’ll take a while before they recover. But that’s not what I want to talk to you about. Come.”
She stopped stalling and went with him without offering any further resistance. Her reward was a smile that would have made a lesser woman swoon. Even she grew a little weak in the knees. “What’s out there?”
“A surprise.”
“Better be a good one.”
They were at the door to the Queen’s private garden, the one she’d seen from above when the palace had been burning. After a month here, she’d gotten to know the place fairly well, although she hadn’t gotten around to checking out this particular garden just yet. She wasn’t sure if it would be okay. She figured they called it the Queen’s private garden for a reason.
Two liveried men stood guard at the entrance, in fact.
“Nobody is to come through this door,” Benedek told them, then led her down the path, toward the labyrinth in the middle. An eight-foot-tall boxwood hedge made up the labyrinth’s walls. It all looked wonderful from above, in daylight. But truth be told, the whole thing wasn’t her favorite place in the darkness.
“I’d see it better with sunlight. We could have coffee out here in the morning.” She stalled again, talking nonsense. She couldn’t imagine anything better than their current routine, drinking coffee in bed together.
“Do you trust me?” He beckoned forward.
“Yes, but it better not be to my detriment.”
She drew a deep breath as they entered the maze, which was even darker than the garden around it. He led her with sure steps, without any hesitation, his hand warm around hers.
“And if we get lost?”
“I’ll be here with you. But we won’t.”
Still, concern nudged her. The dark corridors of the labyrinth reminded her of the dark tunnels of the catacombs. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I’ve never been more sure.” They reached the middle of the labyrinth just as he said that.
A most beautifully appointed gazebo stood in front of them, lit by a thousand candles. It was definitely a fairy-tale moment. The whole place looked enchanted, and she held her breath as she took in every detail.
“What’s this?”
“The Queen used to take tea here when she wanted to get away from everyone. She hasn’t done it in years. Sometimes I come and read out here.”
“It’s…” Words defied her.
“You like it?” He sounded urgent, as if her response was especially important to him.
She flashed him an are-you-kidding look before her gaze was drawn back to the magical place before them. Her eyes caught on a champagne bucket and two glasses on the table in the middle of the gazebo. Silk-covered divans edged the gazebo, pushed against the railing.
“Are we celebrating?” She turned back to him.
“That’s up to you,” he said as he sank to one knee and pulled a velvet box from his pocket.
Her breath caught.
He opened the box.
She stopped breathing altogether. She’d done millions of breathing exercises in her career, but now she couldn’t remember a single one of them.
“Remember this?” he asked.
She shook her head, bewildered.
“The diamond in the middle of the ceiling in the treasure chamber you discovered. Istvan had all the stones removed after examining them for any possible clue. They can’t be left down there. They’d be hard to guard and he didn’t want them to be stolen. My brothers apparently decided to have the rubies made into a tiara for Mother’s next birthday. They had the diamond made into a ring and gave it to me. I thought it was because I was the one who found the room. With you,” he added.
Her head was spinning. “And that wasn’t the reason?”
“They gave it to me because they knew I was in love with you. It was their way of showing support without having to say anything.” He grinned. “Even princes are just men. Prefer not to have to express emotion if at all possible. I’ve been carrying it around in my pocket. I suppose I’ve been hoping…” He flashed her a disarming, sexy smile.
She was breathing again, but her lung and heart functions were far for normal. “I love your brothers.”
“And they love you. Especially Istvan, for finding the treasure chamber. He just better not love you too much if he wants to live.”
“I’m sure he’s perfectly capable of finding his own match.”
He grinned, then the air grew thick as he took her hand. “Will you marry me, Rayne?”
He couldn’t be doing this. Even if she wanted it, wanted him, with all her heart. “What about protocol?”
“Protocol was made to be broken.”
“There’s an age difference. In a couple of years you might—”
He put a finger over her lips. “I’ve never loved or wanted anyone half as much as you. You’re the one for me. The end.”
“The tabloids…”
He scowled. “I’m not even going to respond to that. We’ll be too deliriously happy to care.”
“You’re royalty. I’m a singer.”
“Grace Kelly was an actress.”
“Your family?”
“Turns out they approve.”
“The Queen can’t be—”
“As it happens, I mentioned my intentions to her while you went for your shawl. She said she survived two sieges in as many years. She’s too tough to be done in by a little scandal.”
The gazebo seemed to swirl with her.
“Before I was cross-eyed with love, I used to think all those things mattered,” he explained intently. “They don’t. Thank God, I had my head straightened out before I lost you. I can’t lose you. Rayne?”
A bigger person might have resisted some more, for the good of the crown and all that. She found that she wasn’t that noble. “Yes,” she said. “Yes!”
He slipped the ring on her finger, a perfect fit, then stood to swing her around in the air. And started kissing her. Then put her down and kept kissing her. Then picked her up all over again to carry her to one of the divans. And kept kissing her.
Then helped her take her clothes off as they kissed some more.
They were naked in the warm night breeze. She was gloriously happy in the arms of her prince who had brought all her walls down and saved her. She kissed him back with heat and passion.
And then they made love as the stars sang above them.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3476-9
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Copyright © 2009 by Dana Marton
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*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
*Mission: Redemption
†Defending the Crown
†Defending the Crown
