by Susan Meier
Confusion rumbled through her, but she sat.
Eva said, “We understand you and Dean spent time together while we were away.”
“Yes. I mentioned to you already that he needed a guest for a Christmas party and when he brought his staff here I kept our relationship going to make sure he and his staff were comfortable.”
“He told us that he’s advising you on your charity, specifically talking about your board of advisors.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes. We had a very good conversation.” Eva reached out and took Alex’s hand. “This isn’t an easy situation for any of us. But ten years have gone by, and Xaviera’s Royal Guard, headed by Alex’s brother, absolved Dean of any guilt in the death of their mutual friend. It was time to let go.”
Kristen sat back on her seat. She tried to picture Dean’s reaction to that and couldn’t. The royals might not blame him for Nina’s death, but Nina had used him.
“Which was how the conversation naturally flowed to you and your charity. Dean is very impressed. We’ve always been impressed with you. And now that everything seems to be falling into place, Alex and I would like to offer our suggestions on that too.”
“I’d love to hear them.”
“We also want to be one of your first benefactors. As soon as you have your corporation and bank accounts set up, we’ll be donating a million dollars.”
Kristen’s face fell. “Thank you.”
Alex said, “We also think it’s time for you to quit your post here.”
Something inside of Kristen blossomed to life. For years she’d been dreaming, researching, and the day was finally here. She was going to do something important not for herself but for the world.
The thrill of it shimmied through her and she sat up taller in her chair. “Yes. It is. Thank you.”
“So as of today, you’re free.” Eva laughed. “Which means I now have to give you a formal invitation to the reception we’ll be hosting tonight for Suminski Stuff. Because you were the one who got them here, we’ll feel it’s only right you attend the reception—as yourself, not an employee anymore.”
Kristen rose. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Eva rose too. “Sweetie, you can call me Eva now. After all, if I’m on your board of advisors, I’ll sort of be working for you.”
* * *
The reception that night hosted by King Mason to honor the guests from Suminski Stuff was as formal as a ball, just a lot smaller. Kristen dressed in a pink lace gown she’d bought for the royal Christmas Eve party the year before. She wasn’t one to care about wearing the same dress twice. She’d actually seen Princess Eva do it. Plus, now that she was officially on her own, every cent she spent had meaning.
The princess straightened the cap sleeves of her gown. “You look perfect. Very smart. Are you ready for this?”
Kristen laughed. “I think dealing with Dean prepared me for a lot of it.”
Eva said, “Hmm...I hope you’re being careful with him. His upbringing made him ruthless. That’s not something a man gets over or forgets. It’s part of who he is.”
“I’m fine with him. In fact, I like him.”
“Like him?”
With everything happening so fast in her life, Kristen decided it was time to take another plunge. “He’s very different with me than he is with other people. He’s been to dinner at my house, helped my family decorate our tree.”
“Oh, my gosh.” Eva’s eyes widened. “You’re in love with him.”
Kristen winced. “I think. Yes.”
Eva shook her head. “Just be careful.”
Eva’s gown swished as she led Kristen from the staging area to the receiving line for the reception. Eva’s father, King Mason, a tall, fair man stood with her mother, Queen Karen, who wore a black velvet gown and a diamond necklace—her gift from her husband for being so understanding about why he’d left her out of the details of their near coup the winter before.
The king saw Kristen and Eva entering, and a smile blossomed on his face. He took both of Kristen’s hands. “I understand congratulations are in order.”
She bowed. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“The queen and I would also like to add a donation to your school project.”
Humbled, she bowed again. “Thank you, very much.”
Queen Karen hugged her. “Don’t thank us. You’re the star. Mr. Suminski using our country—even if it’s only for short-term projects—is huge for us.” She smiled. “And we have you to thank for that.”
Kristen laughed. “I just took things one step at a time.”
King Mason said, “Then that’s what you keep doing.”
They entered the reception room and took their places in the receiving line. Two butlers opened the wide double doors, offering entry to Dean first, who bowed to the king and queen, shook hands with Alex and Eva, and took a place next to King Mason, as the evening’s official guest of honor.
Then the doors were opened and Dean’s employees entered. Wide-eyed with amazement and curiosity, they glanced around the ornate reception room. Other dignitaries and guests filtered in, including the ones Princess Eva wanted Kristen to meet.
As Dean shook hands and talked of software and stock prices, Kristen spoke to the same guests, making plans to meet potential advisors and benefactors for lunch or dinner.
In what felt like a flick of a switch, her entire life changed.
Because Dean was with the king and queen, and Kristen was with the princess and Alex, their paths didn’t cross until after dinner when the king and his wife mingled and Eva and Alex danced.
Kristen saw Dean standing off to the side with Jason and she walked over.
“Hello, again.”
Jason all but bowed. “Hello, again, to you too. It’s quite a night for you.”
She laughed. “I’ve been building to this for years. I wasn’t always giving a big push for my schools, but raising money and looking for people to help find real estate, teachers, textbooks was always in the back of my mind.” She took a long satisfied breath. “Now it’s a reality.” She turned to Dean. “Would you like to dance?”
Jason laughed. “Look at her. Her first official event as a leader and she’s already bold enough to ask a guy to dance.” He turned to Dean. “This is going to sound so odd, but you know who she reminds me of? Nina. Now there was a woman who was bold.”
His comment seemed out of place to Kristen, but she knew Jason and Dean had history. What he’d said probably made sense to Dean. Even if Kristen had no clue what he meant.
* * *
Dean put his drink on the tray of a passing waiter. In her pink dress, with her hair piled high on her head, Kristen looked as regal, as elegant as Princess Eva.
But she was more than royalty. She was an honest, open, wonderful person. Someone who liked him. Someone he liked—and trusted. She was nothing like Nina.
He smiled. “I’d love to dance.”
They walked out onto the dance floor and he smoothly took Kristen into his arms. As always, she felt like an equal. In a weird kind of way, she’d always been his equal.
No, if he remembered correctly, the night of their first Christmas party, in New York, he’d realized she was the woman of his dreams. The woman who could be his partner. Smart and sassy enough to keep him on his toes and beautiful enough to hold him spellbound, Kristen Anderson was everything he wanted.
And this was his moment.
“So how was your day?”
He laughed because her question, everything about the night felt right. Actually, a part of him was a little giddy.
“I snowboarded.”
Her eyes widened. “On your own?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “I took one of the buses that runs to the slopes and rente
d a board.”
A laugh bubbled up. “No kidding.”
“On the slopes I had some interesting revelations.”
“Sounds serious.”
He spun her around to change that mood. What he felt for her was serious, but it was also fun. Spontaneous. Wonderful. Snowboarding for the first time in a decade, he realized he’d already pushed through the hard stuff. Meeting her parents. Talking about his situation in front of them. Decorating a tree with her family. Eating cookies. And he knew that with everything in their relationship moving at the speed of light, he shouldn’t stop what was happening between them. He should grab this opportunity and run with it.
But he wouldn’t tarnish that by being ominous. He liked wonderful. He could get addicted to wonderful.
“My revelation wasn’t serious as much as it was true. Coming to terms with everything with Prince Alex at dinner last night, I felt like I was knocked back to the place I was ten years ago.”
She frowned. “Ten years ago? When you were starting out?”
Her question reminded him of Jason’s comment that she reminded him of Nina. It was ridiculous. She was nothing like Nina. “When I met the Saudi prince I wasn’t so much starting out as I was collecting capital. I knew I was good at what I did. I was also learning to have fun.” His eyes met hers. She might be “nothing” like Nina, but they did have the common denominator that they’d both pushed him out of his comfort zone to have fun. “You reminded me that I like to have fun.”
“Everybody likes to have fun.”
“Yeah, but some of us need to learn how to do it.” Kristen had brought him into her family. Nina had eased him into her social circle.
She smiled. “Well, you caught on really quickly.”
His chest pinched with a pleasure-pain. This was why he liked her. And what made her different from Nina. Kristen didn’t flirt. She didn’t have to flirt to make him feel good about himself, or life, or her. All she had to do was make him feel normal, worthy, honorable...and she did that by being herself, letting him be himself.
So though there were similarities between her and Nina; there were also differences. Big differences. “I like having fun.”
“But...?”
“No but. Just a statement.” He blamed Jason’s stupid comment for the fact that he was fumbling for what he really wanted to say. That she was warm. That she was honest. That she was everything he wanted.
The music stopped and they drifted out of their dance hold, but he didn’t let go of her hand. He needed to take her somewhere out of the ballroom. Somewhere they could talk. As he glanced around for a doorway that might lead to a private alcove, there was a commotion at the entry, and then King Mason strode to the stage, carrying a baby.
He took the microphone. “For those who don’t know, this is James Tiberius Sancho.” He kissed the little boy’s cheek. “He’s my daughter’s nephew by marriage. Dom and Ginny Sancho’s son.”
Dark haired, dark eyed, the child was as cute as a kid could be. The people clustered around the stage testified to that with their “Aw, isn’t he cute,” and “What a beautiful little boy.”
Dom and Ginny stood only a few feet away, proud, beaming parents, with Ginny’s mom and Dom’s dad, the King and Queen of Xaviera, now also married, looking on like the happiest grandparents in the world.
Kristen laughed. “That kid is going to be one spoiled child.”
Dean slid a glance to her. “Yeah, well, he is going to be a king someday.”
“His parents will make sure he’s raised right,” Kristen said with authority. “Dom looks all cool and sophisticated, but he’s got a father’s heart.”
A father’s heart.
Dean’s throat tightened. He had absolutely no idea what that was. Nina might have been able to ease him into her social group, and Kristen might be able to ease him into her family, but no amount of “easing” could make up for the shortcomings that counted.
Kristen tugged on his hand. “Come on. Let’s go say good-night.”
Dean tugged her back. “To a baby?”
“Sure. He’s a sweetie. I’ve met him a few times when Dom and Ginny visited Eva and Alex.”
She tugged again.
He tugged her back again. “But there’s so much family around him already.”
Kristen laughed. “That’s the way they like it. The Sancho men were alone for so long that they love being surrounded by people. They especially love showing off Jimmy.” She smiled. “Come on.”
He almost took a step. Almost. But something held him back. From the corner of his eye, he saw Jason approaching.
Relief rippled through him when Jason said, “What’s going on?”
Kristen said, “We were just going to say good-night to Jimmy.”
Jason laughed. “Cutest kid I’ve ever seen. But Dean and I really need to talk about a thing. So why don’t you go and we’ll catch up later.”
He saw Kristen hesitate. Inside him, a small battle ensued. He wanted to go with her. He wanted to take this step. But he couldn’t and he thanked the heavens Jason needed to talk to him.
Kristen walked away and Dean turned to Jason. “So what do we need to talk about?”
“Nothing.” He laughed. “I could just see that you needed rescuing.”
“That obvious?”
“Nah. I just know you. Kids freak you out.”
Dean stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets. “Yeah, well, I’m going to have to get over it.” He nudged his head in Kristen’s direction. “I really like her.”
Jason snorted. “Of course you do. She’s gorgeous. And just like with Nina, you’re in love in two weeks.” He batted his hand. “You’re so predictable with a certain kind of woman. You like them strong and smart. But it almost seems that subconsciously you pick somebody you really can’t have. Nina was already taken, and this one—” He pointed at Kristen. “Is moving on.”
Confused, Dean faced Jason again.
“You didn’t hear that the royal family gave her the boot today?”
“What? They fired her?”
“No. No. They gave her the ‘shove the bird out of the nest’ dismissal. Rumor has it they also contributed to the tune of a million dollars.”
Pleasure for her shimmied through him. “That’s great.”
“It’s fantastic. For her. And who got her to this point? You. You introduced her to Mrs. Flannigan. Just like you gave Nina the way to get to Alex, you gave Kristen the way to get to know the people who could set her on the right course.”
Dean’s blood ran cold. “Are you saying she used me?”
“I don’t think she did it deliberately. I don’t think she realized the kind of clout that you have, but the genie’s out of the bottle now. She’s gotten her introductions and literally millions of dollars of funding. She doesn’t need you anymore. And you still have weeks of work on a failing project.”
Dean stood frozen, trying to link the things Jason said to Kristen’s behavior and he just couldn’t do it. True, he and Kristen were in two different places with their careers. But there was no law that said they had to be in the same place.
He wanted to support her. He wanted her to support him. “She’s exactly where she needs to be.”
“And so are you.”
Dean frowned. “Excuse me?”
Jason took Dean’s shoulders and turned him to face Kristen, who stood by King Mason, playing peekaboo with Jimmy. “Look at her, Dean. She is in her element. She is going to travel around the world and build schools. And what she needs is some big blond guy name Sven to hold down a fort at home. Maybe run the family farm. So that when she comes home, she will see her beautiful, well-adjusted babies and rest up before she has to go to Africa or Asia or South America.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
As Jason said the words, Kristen approached, her smile broad, her eyes gleaming.
Jason said, “You should be mingling with your staff, making them feel welcome.”
Jason’s assertion that Dean was to blame for Nina’s death was like a knife in Dean’s heart. He hadn’t been chasing her. True, he’d followed her from the restaurant, but once he realized she was going to the marina, he pulled together his pride and turned around. He’d been cleared of wrongdoing because Nina had driven five miles knowing he wasn’t chasing her.
The fact that Jason would bring it up—would make him remember—put a chill in his blood again.
“The staff is fine.”
Jason shrugged. “Okay. Whatever. If you want to lose what you have I’m not going to take the blame.”
Jason shifted away about the same time Kristen reached Dean. He felt the rush of happiness that she was near, but Jason’s comments rang in his ears. His company had teetered on the brink of failure for months after Nina’s death.
And now here he was with Kristen. A woman on the edge of having everything she wanted. It infuriated Dean that Jason would connect Kristen and Nina, and, worse, suggest that he would ruin Kristen’s life.
Because he could? Because that’s who he was? Or because Jason knew, just as Dean knew, that his upbringing didn’t lend itself to Dean being the most understanding, most easy-to-live-with guy in the world.
She said, “That baby’s a doll.”
Everything about her seemed to glow. And he suddenly saw what Jason saw. Not a comparison between her and Nina, but a comparison between himself and Kristen. Kristen was right now as he had been when he met Nina. She looked strong, but looks could be deceiving. Inside of everyone taking their first shaky steps was the potential to screw up royally.
