by Virna DePaul
When Elisabetta had nearly gone into a fit, her husband had declared that they weren’t about to lose their daughter just because she was a snob. Astonished, Arabella’s mother fell silent, and Philippe had embraced his daughter. “I’m happy for you, dear,” he’d said. “Be sure to bring him down to breakfast in the morning.”
Kyle’s respect for the King had grown tenfold that evening and he’d stayed the rest of the weekend in the palace—not in Arabella’s room, despite his best efforts—before having to return home. He’d finished out the football season, bringing the Bootleggers to victory in the Super Bowl. Coach had forgiven him everything for scoring the winning touchdown, and for the first time, Kyle had seen his stoic coach cry real tears.
By March, Kyle had returned to Salasia, and to Arabella. They’d kept in contact throughout the entirety of their separation, with Kyle introducing her to the merits of sexting and sexy Facetime calls. But when they’d finally gotten alone, they’d stripped each other bare and made love deep into the night, thrilled to be together again.
Now it was May, and tonight was their engagement ball. Kyle had asked Arabella to marry him when he’d returned in March, but it had taken this long for the ball to be planned. He hadn’t wanted a huge celebration, but Arabella had wanted to do it for her family and for the country, so he’d reluctantly agreed. Besides, it would give him a chance to see her in a ball gown again. He grinned at the thought of taking it off her later tonight.
An hour later, he met Arabella at her bedroom door and could barely restrain himself from undressing her from her slinky gown. She wore a deep purple dress, all silk and straps and with an open back, raven hair loose about her shoulders, diamonds twinkling in her ears. She smiled at him when he took her arm, escorting her to the stairs that would take them into the ballroom.
“You look gorgeous, Duchess,” he murmured in her ear. “Then again, you always look gorgeous.”
She laughed. “And you’re a handsome devil who better behave tonight.”
“Oh, I’ll behave, darlin’. Believe me, I intend to get my reward afterward.”
Arabella laughed and pinched him lightly.
After descending the steps of the glittering ballroom, they stood with her family and Kyle’s football family—Heath, Camille, her daughter Emma, and Alec—as they announced their engagement. “We are delighted to welcome Kyle Young into our family,” Crown Prince Philippe told the crowd, sincerity in his voice. “May they have every happiness as a couple, and be immensely fruitful.”
Heath coughed into his fist, and Camille elbowed him. Kyle tried to stifle a guffaw but failed. Fruitful, indeed. Arabella glared at him, but a smile inched up her face despite her best efforts.
Kyle then took her out onto the ballroom floor for the opening dance. She was radiant, her smile wide and elegant, her cheeks flushed and green eyes sparkling. No one in the room could look away from her, mostly Kyle. His hand may have slid to the bare skin of her back more than once, but it was okay now, because this woman was to be his wife.
As they danced the night away, her brother Louis cut in to dance with his sister on one occasion. Kyle had taken to Arabella’s ne’er-do-well sibling the best out of her family, and he’d given the prince some love advice along the way. Louis seemed to be settling down more into his role as heir, even dating an eligible woman and trying his best to avoid scandal. He didn’t always succeed—drunken debauchery notwithstanding—but he seemed to have shed the wild child image that many in Salasia believed he’d never give up.
Since Arabella was not heir, she had more freedom to come and go from Salasia. She’d negotiated with her parents a living arrangement in Georgia with Kyle part of the year, and the other part in Salasia. She wanted to be there for her husband when he played, she’d told them, and Kyle had swelled with pride at her new assertiveness. She would also do charity work while abroad, and continue to practice and perform as a singer, too.
Later in the evening, the dance floor had cleared. Introduced by her brother, Arabella took the stage to sing a traditional Salasian song. She hadn’t performed in her own country in a number of years, and everyone watched her with hushed breath. Her voice, sultry and powerful and brimming with joy, brought more than one person to tears. Kyle, for his part, couldn’t have been prouder. To think this confident young woman had once been the girl running away in New York City just to have a little freedom! Now she was a woman who knew who she was and what she wanted.
The last notes of Arabella’s song faded away, and the crowd erupted into applause. She smiled and bowed and shook her head at the audience’s demand for an encore. “You must keep dancing!” Arabella replied, humbled by their good graces. The crowd soon forgot its desire for an encore and began dancing again, champagne flowing freely about the room.
“Congratulations, dude,” Heath gripped Kyle’s shoulder. “I’m glad you figured out what you wanted.”
Kyle gazed at Arabella from across the room. “I always knew what I wanted.” Setting his glass down on a table, he walked to where she stood and, taking her gently by the elbow, said, “Excuse us, ladies, gentlemen. I need a word with my fiancée.”
He led her away from the ballroom despite her protests. In his months here, he’d mostly figured out the layout of the palace, and he took the twists and turns without getting lost. Opening the door to the library, he shut it after them and sighed in relief at its unoccupied emptiness.
“What is this about, Kyle? We can’t leave our own engagement ball!” Arabella arched an eyebrow.
He turned to her with a big grin. “Of course we can. It’s our fucking ball.”
“Watch your language, or I’ll be forced to wash that dirty mouth of yours.”
“Just as long as you use your tongue, I’m good with it.”
She rolled her eyes but laughed heartily. “You’re impossible.”
He couldn’t help it, he pulled her close and kissed her, sucking the champagne off her tongue. She gasped and shivered at his touch, and he couldn’t wait to get her out of this dress later.
“What was that for?” she asked after a moment.
“You looked so beautiful, I couldn’t stop myself.”
She curled her fingers into his hair. “You’re such a tease.”
“You’re right. I am.” He kissed her again. “But only for you, Duchess. Only for you.”
“And I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she replied before reaching up to kiss him again.
—The End—
Thank you for reading Royally Deep. If you enjoyed spending time with these characters, be sure to check out Heath’s story (Down Deep) and my other sexy contemporary romances!
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Books by Virna
THE BEDDING THE BACHELORS SERIES
Book 1: Bedding The Wrong Brother (Rhys): Click here to purchase
Book 2: Bedding The Bad Boy (Max): Click here to purchase
Book 3: Bedding The Billionaire (Jamie): Click here to purchase
Book 4: Bedding The Best Friend (Ryan): Click here to purchase
Book 5: Bedding The Biker Next Door (Cole): Click here to purchase
Book 6: Bedding The Bodyguard (Luke): Click here to purchase
Book 7: Bedding The Best Man (Gabe): Click here to purchase
Book 8: Bedding The Boss (Eric)**
HOME TO GREEN VALLEY SERIES
Book 1: What Love Can Do (Quinn): Click here to purchase
Book 2: The Way Love Goes (Conor): Click here to purchase
Book 3: I’m Gonna Love You (Brady): Click here to purchase
Book 4: Best Of My Love (Riley): Click here to purchase
Book 5: Because You Love Me (Sean)
SAY YOU LOVE ME SERIES
Book 1: Say It Sexy: Click here to purchase
Book 2: Say It Sweet: Click here to purchase
ROCK CANDY SERIES
Book 1: Rock Strong: Click here to purchase
Book 3: Rock Wild*
Book 4: Rock Free*
**Coming Soon
Going Deep Series
Down Deep
(Going Deep Book 1)
He’s here to score and he always wins.
Heath Dawson: football star, gorgeous man candy, and panty-dropper extraordinaire. He was also Camille Pollert’s first crush. But then he humiliated her at a high school football game, and while she got her revenge, she also closed off her heart.
Ten years later, Camille is a football photographer and single mother, and her old crush returns with a vengeance when she sees Heath again. He’s just as handsome, but now he’s a man. A man she can no longer resist.
Heath hardly recognizes the skinny girl he knew in high school, but he can’t deny the attraction he feels for the curvaceous and beautiful woman Camille has become. He wants her, and he always gets what he wants.
Just as the two of them start to realize they might be perfect for one another, reality rears its ugly head. Can Heath and Camille score a touchdown for their love? Or will they fumble the play and be parted once again?
Bedding the Bachelors Series
Bedding The Wrong Brother
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 1)
Determined to find her inner sex diva, Melina Parker enlists her childhood friend, Max Dalton, to tutor her after hours. Instead, she ends up in the wrong bed and gets a lesson in passion from Max’s twin brother, Rhys Dalton, a man Melina’s always secretly wanted but never thought she could have.
This #1 Bestselling Contemporary Romance is rated HHH ("Heat, Heart & HEA") and involves a bed mix-up, hot identical twins, sex lessons, naughty word games, light restraint, a shy sex bomb who's afraid she's boring and a playboy hero determined to prove she's got everything he'll ever need.
Bedding The Bad Boy
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 2)
This bad boy is ready to work some magic...
Identical twin and Las Vegas performer Max Dalton has always been the number one bad boy in his family, and he's appreciated the women and fame that comes along with his reputation.
Grace Sinclair is on a mission when she comes to Vegas, one that involves asking Max, her best friend's brother-in-law, to give her the pleasure no man's ever been able to. She suspects Max has more layers than he lets people see, but she's determined to keep her heart safe even as she offers him her body.
What neither of them plan on is love--or the triangle the media stirs up with Max's blonde bombshell actress friend.
Will Grace see beyond Max's bad boy façade long enough to trust him with her heart? And will Max figure out what he really wants before he loses the one woman who makes him believe in love again?
Bedding The Billionaire
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 3)
Free-spirited Lucy Conrad enjoys her friends but keeps others at a distance, especially her affluent and judgmental family...and the billionaire she once dated, Jamie Whitcomb. Despite their explosive chemistry, experience has proven she'll never fit into his world.
Charismatic Jamie enjoys work, women, and wealth. When duty demands he take over running the family business, he jumps in full-throttle; his only regret is Lucy's refusal to take the ride with him.
Then tragedy strikes and Lucy realizes that in order to gain custody of her orphaned niece, she must prove she can fit back into the high-society world she once rejected. The solution? Accept Jamie's make-believe marriage proposal, and be seen as the type of mother her niece deserves. Respectable. Controlled. Willing to play the game.
With her faux-fiancé by her side, Lucy exchanges dirty martinis and leather for champagne and silk. But when the passion between Lucy and Jamie only grows greater, they have to make a choice: back away from each other and not get hurt...or risk everything for the kind of love money can't buy.
Bedding The Best Friend
(Bedding the Bachelors Book 4)
As the new year approaches, nice girl Annie O’Roarke finds herself bored and lonely. She wants more excitement. More adventure. And more sex…even if it won’t be with her secret crush, her best friend, Ryan Hennessey. Annie’s determined to be “bad” for once in her life, and that includes completing her “naughty” list in a city where being bad is just an ordinary day: Vegas.
Ryan Hennessey is a firefighter who relishes his time off with Annie. Annie’s the only person he can count on and he’d never jeopardize their friendship. Then Ryan discovers Annie’s “naughty” list. Although he’s stunned Annie is raring to explore her wilder side, he doesn’t trust anyone else to keep her safe.
So long as he’s there to protect her, Ryan’s going to teach Annie the true key to being a bad girl.
A bad girl takes what she wants.
Will Annie be brave enough to act on the passion that sizzles between her and Ryan? And will Ryan convince himself and Annie that love is worth gambling for?
Bedding The Biker Next Door
(Bedding The Bachelors Book 5)
Jill Jones has good friends, a great job, and a steady amount of dates. What she doesn’t have is a kinky or wild bone in her body—or so she thinks. Then she meets a handsome tattooed biker who lights her on fire. Suddenly she’s saying yes to all sorts of things, starting with a night in bed, no strings attached.
A security expert, Cole Novak protects others for a living, but he’s weighed down by grief that he couldn’t save the most important person in his life. Then he meets Jill, and for one night she brings color back into his world…only to walk away, plunging him back into the now-familiar darkness.
Soon Cole discovers that Jill is closer than he realized—living in the very house he plans to sell in order to leave the past behind. With the wild woman of his dreams suddenly the girl next door, will Cole still sell the place and move away, or will he soak in more of Jill and open his heart to hope and love?
Bedding The Bodyguard
(Bedding The Bachelors Book 6)
Hollywood actress Kat Bailey is on track to win an Oscar, but in the past year she’s been embroiled in a nude photo scandal, threatened by a fan of her cheating ex, and run off the road in what could have been a deliberate act. Now she’s renting a cabin in Lake Tahoe, considering the pros of leaving acting—including living a normal life for a change.
Bodyguard Luke Indigo initially turned down protecting Kat because he worried his intense attraction to her could compromise the job. But when he learns Kat has gone into hiding, Luke’s sense of duty has him following her to Tahoe. Once there, he pretends to be a vacationing neighbor in order to stay close and protect her. As they spend time together, Luke learns Kat’s charm is more than skin deep. She’s smart. She’s kind. And she’s oh so sexy.
Kat’s intrigued by the steely-eyed man who exudes danger but touches her so tenderly. Even better, he seems to have no idea who she is, making her think she’s finally found a man who wants her for herself rather than her fame.
However, when Kat learns Luke is the same bodyguard her manager tried to hire to protect her, she fears ambition not love has been his agenda all along. Can Luke convince Kat that he’d protect her no matter whether he’s hired to or not….and can he convince her that he wants her: body, heart, and soul?
Bedding The Best Man
(Bedding The Bachelors Book 7)
Rough-around-the-edges Gabe Nolan grew up poor in a bad neighborhood and literally fought his way to the top, learning discipline through boxing and earning a college degree. Now the owner of the nation’s most popular chain of sports adventure stores, he enjoys wealth and women, but neither can diminish the pain of losing the girl of his dreams to his best friend.
Brianne Whitcomb is all set to marry Eric, a man who’s perfect for her in every way—except for the fact he’s not Gabe. But Gabe didn’t fight for her when he had the chance, and it’s obvious he views her only as a friend. He’s even agreed to be Eric’s Best Man. Only when Eric fails to show up
for the wedding, Gabe takes on a new role: Brianne’s confidante and shoulder-to-cry-on. The more time they spend together, the more friendship turns into an irresistibly tempting passion.
With no idea if or when Eric will return, Gabe and Brianne tentatively explore whether their physical attraction can lead to something lasting. But Gabe’s fear that he’ll never be good enough is the toughest opponent of all. Will Gabe take on the fight of his life to win Brianne’s love?
Home to Green Valley Series
What Love Can Do
(Home To Green Valley Book 1)
Ireland has always been home for the five O’Neill brothers, but several tragedies, including the recent death of their mother, have them feeling lost. After making an unexpected discovery, eldest son and former rugby player Quinn O’Neill heads to Forestville, California, in the enchanted river valley where his mother grew up. There, he hopes to learn more about his family and explore the possibility of settling someplace new.
Traveling the world before opening her own bakery is Lillian Parker’s dream, and she’s one step closer to achieving it after winning an internship with a world-famous pastry chef in Miami. Unfortunately, Lillian’s mother is pressuring her to stay in Forestville and help run the family B&B. Then a handsome Irishman blows through the door with charm and sex appeal to spare, and suddenly Lillian’s not sure what she wants.
