Duty At What Cost?

by Michelle Conder

  * * *

  Thirty minutes later the large room was buzzing with energy after her father officially announced that Ava would be taking over as Queen in exactly a month’s time. Ava’s own speech, pledging to uphold and expand on her father’s absolute dedication to their country, had been a resounding success. The funny thing was she hadn’t once felt nervous or overwhelmed. Either she was more ready to take on this job than she had thought, or all of her nerves had been cauterised when she had walked away from Wolfe.

  ‘And on top of that—’ The King waited for the crowd to subside into silence. ‘On top of that it is with great pleasure that I also announce—’

  ‘Before you do, Your Majesty, I need a word with your daughter.’

  Ava glanced up and gasped as Wolfe strode into the room, the outer door swinging closed behind him. Every head swivelled towards his voice and two of her father’s personal guards rushed him—only to fall back when they recognised who he was.

  Ava’s traitorous heart recognised who he was as well, and started beating heavily in her chest. Her eyes ate him up exactly like that first morning when she had met him as she sat on top of that wall at Château Verne. Only this time he wasn’t on a white horse and he wasn’t wearing jodhpurs. Instead he stood before her in a business suit and tie that did little to civilise the lethal glint in his golden-brown eyes.

  Her father scowled at the interruption and Lorenzo shifted nervously at her other side.

  ‘This had better be good, Wolfe,’ her father said.

  ‘It is.’ Wolfe’s eyes never left hers. ‘Ava?’

  Ava’s heart did a mini-somersault at his commanding tone; shock and surprise that he was standing directly in front of her was making her feel light-headed.

  ‘Surely whatever you have to say to my daughter can wait until after these proceedings are over?’ her father said impatiently.

  ‘Not if you’re about to announce what I think you are,’ Wolfe returned emphatically.

  His expression was perfectly urbane but it reminded Ava of the time he had threatened to drag her behind his horse weeks ago. She knew it would be pointless to argue with him in this mood—at least in public. ‘It’s okay, Father. I’ll speak with Monsieur Wolfe in private.’

  Lorenzo half rose out of his seat, as if he might object, but one look from Wolfe had him reluctantly subsiding.

  ‘Just tell me this.’ Wolfe rounded on her as soon as the footman had closed the door to the small salon she had chosen further down the hall. ‘Are you marrying Lorenzo because you love him or because your father wants you to?’

  Ava frowned at him. ‘Since I know your earlier experiences have given you a very skewed view of how women can be, I’m going to let that slide. But you need to know that question is incredibly insulting to me.’

  Wolfe surprised her by shaking his head and laughing. ‘Princess, you do have a special way of bringing me back down to size. But the fact that you didn’t answer with an emphatic I love him gives me hope.’

  ‘Hope about what?’

  ‘Hope that there’s still a chance I can convince you to fall in love with me.’

  Ava stared at him blankly and then blinked as his words stopped spinning inside her head. ‘Why would you want me to do that? You don’t even believe in love,’ she challenged softly.

  A rueful smile formed on his lips. ‘I didn’t until I met you.’

  ‘You’re not making any sense.’ Ava didn’t dare let her mind head down the track it had veered on to in case the excited beating of her heart was wrong. ‘What does that mean?’

  It took him three long strides to reach her, and when he did he gripped her fingers in his, his eyes searching hers. ‘It means you have opened my eyes to everything that has been missing in my life and why. It means I’ve been a fool to even think that I could let you walk out of my life.’

  He stopped and she watched his throat work as he swallowed, a fleeting moment of nervousness crossing his face.

  ‘It means that I love you, Ava. More than I ever thought possible.’

  Ava’s mind felt as if it was churning through butter as he said words she’d stopped letting herself imagine would ever fall from his lips. ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘About loving you?’

  She nodded, lost for words.

  Wolfe’s lips twisted into a wry smile. ‘Absolutely. But I don’t blame you for doubting me. I fought my feelings for you the whole way—imagining that they would weaken me, imagining that you would be as flighty and as unpredictable as my mother.’

  ‘I’m not like her, Wolfe,’ Ava assured him vehemently. ‘I would never abandon my husband. My child.’

  ‘I know you wouldn’t, baby. You need to know that when I was younger—about twelve or thirteen—and out looking for my brother for the hundredth time, I made a promise to myself that I would never let myself fall in love. That I would never make myself that vulnerable. And until that bright blue-sky morning at Gilles’s wedding I’ve never had cause to reconsider that promise.’ He paused, drew her hands up to his lips. ‘Then I saw you and...you simply stole the breath from my lungs.’

  ‘You left before I woke up that first morning,’ she reminded him.

  ‘That would be one of those foolish moments I was referring to,’ he said a little sheepishly. ‘And I’m sorry I hurt you. Truthfully, the way you made me feel scared me senseless. Just looking at you makes me burn up with need. When I woke with your head on my shoulder...I admit it—I panicked.’

  Ava gave him a lopsided smile. ‘I did think it was nice when you fixed my phone.’

  ‘And that was when the trouble really started. After you got the news about your brother you became so withdrawn and I didn’t know how to reach you. I tried to tell myself that I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t stay away from you, Ava. I thought about you constantly.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call?’ she demanded fiercely.

  ‘Because I didn’t want to think about you constantly.’ He groaned. ‘I was still fighting the inevitable at that time...but that’s done. Gone.’

  ‘And you don’t like talking about the past.’

  He loosened his grip on her hands and hauled her into his arms. ‘I don’t like dwelling on it. But you’ve shown me that ignoring it doesn’t work either. What I want is to learn from it and move forward. I love you, Ava—heart and soul. I want to be with you always. I want to protect you. I want to be the man you turn to when you’re busy and... Aw, hell.’ He swiped an unsteady hand through his hair. ‘When you walked off my plane the other day you took my dead heart with you and made me realise that not only couldn’t I live without it, but I didn’t want to.’

  Ava felt her love for him swell up to the point of overpowering her. ‘Oh, Wolfe, I think I’ve loved you for ever.’

  ‘Thank God.’ Wolfe released a pent-up breath and bent to kiss her. ‘I think you just made me the happiest man on earth, and there’s only one way you could possibly eclipse that.’ He reached inside his breast pocket and withdrew a square box. ‘It probably doesn’t compare to the Crown Jewels in your vault, but I hope you will accept it, baby, as a declaration of just how much you mean to me.’

  Ava gasped as she shakily opened the box and saw a ring—a huge navy blue sapphire with two sparkling diamonds on either side.

  Wolfe removed it and steadied her hand before slipping it onto her finger. ‘Perfect. I knew the colour would match your eyes.’

  ‘Oh, Wolfe.’ Ava hugged him tightly, huge shiny tears blurring her vision. ‘It’s beautiful, and of course I’ll accept it, but...’ She stopped, suddenly realising the enormity of what he was setting himself up for.

  ‘But what?’ His eyes scanned her face. ‘If you have a problem I’ll fix it.’

  ‘It’s not me, Wolfe, it’s you.’ She gazed at the huge rock on her finger before forcing herself to meet his eyes. ‘You probably don’t know this yet, but my father has just announced that he’ll be abdicating in a month and—oh, non!’ She squirmed in his
arms until he released her enough for her feet to touch the ground once again. ‘My father is waiting for me!’

  Wolfe buried his face in her hair. ‘Wriggling around in my arms like that isn’t exactly the quickest way to get back to him. I’ve missed you,’ he admitted huskily.

  ‘And I’ve missed you. But I have to go to him. You know what he’s like. If I don’t he’ll most likely announce my engagement to Lorenzo without me!’

  ‘He won’t.’

  ‘How do you know that? Everyone must be talking. Wondering what is going on.’

  ‘Any fool back there who saw my face knows exactly what’s going on. And your father is no fool.’

  Talking about her father reminded Ava of her earlier concern and she stilled. ‘Wolfe, if you take me on you have to know that your life will change dramatically. You’ll have to become a citizen of Anders. You’ll have to—’

  ‘Be your back-up person. I get it, Ava. I know what marrying you entails and, frankly, I’d want to marry you if we had to build mud brick houses in the middle of the desert for a living.’

  Still she hesitated. ‘But what about your business? Your travel? I know if you curb your passions you’ll end up unhappy, and I couldn’t bear for that to happen.’

  ‘Ava.’ He cupped her face in his hands. ‘You’re not listening—which isn’t all that surprising—but...’ He laughed as she took a playful swipe at him. ‘But you should know by now that I don’t do anything without working everything out in advance.’

  ‘So what have you worked out, Monsieur General?’

  He gave her the lazy smile of a man who had everything he wanted in life. ‘My brother loves running Wolfe Inc far more than I ever did, and I only ever travelled to stop myself from having to think about my life. I don’t want to do that any more. And you’ll need someone by your side. Just as your father wants.’

  Ava finally allowed the smile she’d been holding back to beam up at him, so happy she felt as if her heart was aching with joy. She tightened her arms around his neck. ‘You know, in my wildest dreams I imagined love could be just like this.’

  Wolfe shook his head. ‘My wildest dreams never even gave me a glimpse of this level of happiness. You did that, Ava. You filled a gap in my heart I never even knew existed, and I want you to know that I will be yours for ever.’

  Ava gave him a watery smile. She caught the serious undertone to his words and knew that she could trust this man not only with her life but with her heart. Knew that now he had opened himself fully to her he would never let her down. That he would never leave her.

  ‘Good. Because I love you to pieces, James Wolfe, and I will never leave you.’

  Wolfe’s hungry gaze burned into hers, but just when she thought for sure he was going to lose some of that inimitable control of his he removed his arms from around her waist and clasped her hand with his.

  ‘We need to hurry up and break the news to your father,’ he said roughly. ‘I’ve never been a patient man and, as lovely as you look in that dress, it’s time you were wearing something else.’

  Ava smiled slowly, basking in the glow of Wolfe’s unguarded love. ‘And do you have something specific in mind?’

  ‘Oh, yeah.’ He tugged on her hand and brought her up against him for one brief, soul-deep kiss. ‘Me.’

  * * * * *

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  CHAPTER ONE

  DEMYAN SLID THE black-rimmed nonprescription glasses on before pushing open the door to the lab building. The glasses had been his uncle’s idea, along with the gray Armani cardigan Demyan wore over his untucked dress shirt—no tie. The jeans he wore to complete the “geeky corporate guy” attire were his own idea and surprisingly comfortable.

  He’d never owned a pair. He’d had the need to set the right example for his younger cousin, Crown Prince to Volyarus, drummed into Demyan from his earliest memory.

  He’d done his best, but they were two very different men.

  Maksim was a corporate shark, but he was also an adept politician. Demyan left politics to the diplomats.

  For now, though, he would tone down his fierce personality with clothes and a demeanor that would not send his prey running.

  He knocked perfunctorily on the door before entering the lab where Chanel Tanner worked. The room was empty but for the single woman working through her lunch hour as usual, according to his investigator’s report.

  Sitting at a computer in the far corner, she typed in quick bursts between reading one of the many volumes spread open on the cluttered desktop.

  “Hello.” He pitched his voice low, not wanting to startle her.

  No need to worry on that score. She simply waved her hand toward him, not even bothering to turn around. “Leave it on the bench by the door.”

  “Leave what, precisely?” he asked, amused in spite of himself by her demeanor.

  “The package. Do you really need to know what’s in it? No one else ever asks,” she grumbled as she scribbled something down.

  “I do not have a package. What I do have is an appointment.”

  Her head snapped up, red curly hair flying as she spun her chair to face him. “What? Who? You’re Mr. Zaretsky?”

  He nodded, impressed by the perfect pronunciation of his name.

  “You aren’t expected for another half an hour.” She jumped to her feet, the pocket of her lab coat catching the edge of a book and knocking it to the floor. “And you’re going to be late. Corporate types interested in funding our research always are.”

  “And yet I am early.” He crossed the room and picked up the book to hand to her.

  Taking it, she frowned, her small nose scrunching rather charmingly. “I noticed.”

  “Eventually, yes.”

  Pink stained her cheeks, almost washing out the light dusting of freckles. “I thought you were the delivery guy. He flirts. I don’t like it, so I ignore him if at all possible.”

  The woman was twenty-nine years old and could count the number of dates she’d had in the past year on less than the fingers of one hand. Demyan would think she might welcome flirting.

  He did not say that, of course. He gave her the smile he used on women he wanted to bed. “You have no filter, do you?”

  “Are you flirting with me?” she demanded, her gray eyes widening in shock.

  “I might be.” Awkward and this woman were on very friendly speaking terms.

  Her brows furrowed and she looked at him with evident confusion. “But why?”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m hospitably inept, not desperate.”

  “You believe you are inept?”

  “Everyone believes I’m socially awkward, particularly my family. Since not one of them has trouble making friends and maintaining a busy social life, I bow to their superior knowledge in the area.”

  “I think you are charming.” Demyan shocked himself with the knowledge that he spoke the truth.

  An even bigger but not unwelcome surprise was that he found the geeky scientist unexpectedly attractive. She wasn’t his usual cover model companion, but he would like very much if she would take off her lab coat and give him the opportunity to see her full figure.

  “Some
people do at first, but it wears off.” She sighed, looked dejected for a few short seconds before squaring her shoulders and setting her features into an expression no doubt meant to hide her thoughts. “It’s all right. I’m used to it. I have my work and that’s what is really important.”

  He’d learned that about her, along with a great deal else from the investigation he’d had performed on top of the dossier his uncle had provided. “You’re passionate about your research.”

  “It’s important.”

  “Yes, it is. That is why I am here.”

  The smile she bestowed on him was brilliant, her gray eyes lighting to silver. “It is. You’re going to make it possible for us to extend the parameters of our current study.”

  “That is the plan.” He’d determined that approaching her in the guise of a corporate investor was the quickest way to gain Chanel’s favor.

  He’d obviously been right.

  “Why are you here?” she asked.

  “I thought we’d been over that.”

  “Most corporations donate without sending someone to check our facility over.”

  “Are you offended Yurkovich Tanner did not opt to do so?”

  “No, just confused.”

  “Oh?”

  “How will you know if this is a good setup or not? I mean, even the most fly-by-night operation can make their lab look impressive to a layman.”

  “The University of Washington is hardly a fly-by-night operation.”

  “No, I know, but you know what I mean.”

  “You really have no filter, do you?”

  “Um, no?”

  “You as good as called me stupid.”

  “No.” She shook her head for emphasis.

  “The implication is there.”

  “No, it’s not. No more than I consider myself stupid because I could stare at my car’s engine from dawn to dusk and still not be able to tell you where the catalytic converter is.”

  “It’s under the engine.”

  “Is it?”

  “Point taken, but you knew your car exhaust system has one. Just as I know the rudimentary facts about lab research.”