Reluctantly Royal

by Gillian Archer

  “Well, maybe I don’t want the good guy! Maybe I want to feel alive! Maybe I want to forget the horror show that my life will become after the surgery this week. Maybe just hold me!”

  My arms came around Hannah as I pulled her to me. “It’s going to be okay, mon chou. I promise.”

  “No. You can’t. You can’t promise me that. There’s a very good chance that nothing will ever be okay again.” Hannah buried her face in my chest and I held her as a huge, shuddering sigh left her. “Can you help me forget? Just for a little while?”

  Tears prickled the back of my eyes, and for the first time since I locked my emotions away after my brother’s death, I was in real danger of sobbing like a child. She was so brave, and so much better than I deserved. “As long as you remember that I tried to do the right thing for once.”

  “Deal.” Hannah smiled up at me, then took a step back. Holding my hands, she walked backward as she led me toward the bed. When we reached the edge, she paused and shimmied out of her pants, and suddenly she was naked once more.

  I quickly shed my clothes and hopped onto the bed and proceeded to help Hannah forget. Repeatedly.

  Chapter 24

  The morning of her surgery finally came. We were both groggy and bleary-eyed from not getting the best of sleep the night before. But we loaded up and set off for the hospital at just after four in the morning.

  “You’re sure you’re okay with my family releasing a statement about your health? I don’t have the actual statement in front of me. Bastien hasn’t sent me a copy yet, so I don’t know what it’ll say, but I think—”

  “Luc, it’s fine. I agree with you. I said yes. They can release the statement.” Hannah laughed as she picked up my hand and gave it a squeeze. “You know, I think you’re more nervous about this than I am.”

  Merde, if that wasn’t emasculating, I don’t know what was. But sadly, it was also true. Hannah was the rock this morning. “I’m sorry. I know everything is going to go fine. And I’ll be right there when you wake up. Your parents said they’d meet me in the waiting room, and I think Morgan arranged a private waiting area through the hospital for us, and—”

  “Luc?” Hannah interrupted me with a smile.

  “Oui?”

  “You’re babbling, honey. And the last half of whatever you were saying was in French. Are you sure you’re okay? Should we get Dimitri to arrange a wheelchair for you when we get there?”

  “C’est pas possible. I have nerves of steel. I flew helicopters in the Gulf. In Afghanistan. But this—damn, this is hard.” My eyes welled up with tears, and I blinked fiercely against them. “Hannah, I just want to say that—”

  “Whoa-ho. Hold up. Stop right there. We are not doing deathbed confessions right now. I am going in for a routine procedure. They’re probably going to release me tonight. So you can save anything you want to say for when I wake up from the anesthesia. Or better yet, for tomorrow. At least then I’ll have half a chance of remembering.” Hannah sounded like her usual cheerful self, but I could see her underlying fear in the way she gripped my hand and how she wouldn’t quite meet my eyes.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry, mon chou. I’ll save it for later, but I do want to say one thing before we get out.” The SUV coasted to a stop at a side entrance Morgan had arranged for us to use. “I am the luckiest bastard in the whole wide world because I have you in my life. And I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  “You son of a bitch.” Hannah cupped my face as tears coursed down hers. “You weren’t supposed to say sweet stuff like that right now.”

  “I want you to remember what I said while they’re getting you ready for surgery.” I leaned forward slightly and gave her a sweet, gentle kiss. “And that’s no way to talk about my mum.”

  Hannah laughed as she swiped at her cheeks. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  The next few hours were a flurry of hurry up and wait. After serving several years in the military, I was well acquainted with the concept. And then suddenly they were wheeling Hannah away, and I was sent to the waiting room where Mr. and Mrs. Allen were already seated.

  “Luc.” Mrs. Allen stood up and enveloped me in a bracing hug. “We just saw Dr. Ledbetter. She said they were getting ready to rock and roll. It should be a short procedure, so we won’t have to wait long.”

  “Let the boy up for some air, Tara. You’re going to smother him,” Mr. Allen grumbled.

  Mrs. Allen patted my back, then took a step away so I could shake Mr. Allen’s hand.

  “Again, thank you for being here for our little girl.” Mr. Allen choked up for a second. “It means the world to us. Here, have you met our son, Michael?”

  I blinked as I took in the only other person in the room. Somehow I’d missed him in the flurry of welcomes. Michael looked more like Mr. Allen than his mother—both tall and stout men with more than their share of muscles, probably from their choice of work. I shook his hand as we both smiled awkwardly.

  Then it was pacing or sitting in uncomfortable chairs while watching daytime TV or staring at our phone screens. After what felt like forever, the door opened and we all jumped to attention. Then I sprang out of my chair as my mum and brother walked into the waiting room.

  “Mum. Bastien. What are you doing here?”

  Mum gave me a hug as she kissed both of my cheeks. “You said Hannah was having surgery today. Of course we wanted to be here. Are we too late? We just got tied up giving our statement to the press.”

  “She’s been in for about an hour. I don’t think it’s supposed to take much more time.” With my arm around my mum, I looked back and forth between her and Bastien. I couldn’t believe they were here. I never thought I’d live to see the day that Bastien shelved his important duties to fly across the country for me. And Mum looked better than she had in a long time. “Come. I’ll introduce you to Hannah’s parents.”

  “Mrs. Allen,” Mum exclaimed as Mrs. Allen stood to greet her. “Oh, my. Your daughter is the mirror image of you. You could be twins.”

  “Th-Th-Thank you, er, how am I supposed to address you?” Mrs. Allen stammered.

  “Please call me Vivian. There is no need for ceremony between us. We’re almost family.”

  I watched in disbelief as my mum and the Allens sat down and talked like old friends. Two weeks ago my mum had been a shell of a person, and now…

  “Sorry we’re late, Luc.” Bastien slapped me on the shoulder. “But you know how the press can be.”

  I turned around and buried my face in my brother’s shoulder and hugged him tight. After a moment his arms came around me and hugged me back. “Thank you,” I whispered chokingly. “Thank you so much for coming. I can’t—I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything, little brother. You’re family, and family comes first. Always.”

  It was only a few minutes later that the doctor came in, and after a flurry of questions and answers we learned that the surgery had gone fine, the tumor was smaller than they had estimated, and we would be able to see Hannah soon.

  After the doctor left, we all hugged one another and celebrated Hannah’s good prognosis. But I wanted to see her with my own eyes.

  It was almost an hour later before they finally started letting visitors in to see her. Officially only family was allowed in at this time, but Hannah’s parents made an exception for us. I waited impatiently in the waiting room with my family as Hannah’s parents went in and saw her. Then her brother. Finally, after what felt like eons, it was my turn.

  She looked so small and pale in the hospital bed. Her eyes were closed, so I assumed she was still resting. Quietly closing the door behind me, I crossed the room and sat in the chair closest to her bed and looked my fill. A TV murmured in the background, but I didn’t pay any attention. I couldn’t look away from the beautiful sight of my Hannah alive and only centimeters from me.

  “Hey,” she whispered softly.

  “Hey, how do you feel?”


  “Pretty good. Wait, am I still dreaming, or is that your brother and mother behind you?”

  “I think you’re still loopy from the drugs, mon chou. My family is—” I broke off as I heard my brother’s voice behind me.

  “Hannah is currently receiving treatment for stage one thyroid cancer in Las Vegas.” The taped piece on the local news channel showed Bastien standing in front a large group of press personnel, wearing the same clothes I saw him in earlier. “And our family is here to give her our support. We would ask that you please respect her privacy at this time. Thank you.”

  “Prince Sébastien!”

  “Prince Sébastien! Do you have anything to say about Princess Helene and your engagement with her?”

  “Prince Sébastien! Do you have any comments about Princess Helene’s latest photos?”

  “Prince Sébastien!”

  “Oh, my god.” Hannah gasped as she watched Bastien smile tightly on the TV screen. “Did he do that for me?”

  “He did. Bastien knew that if he were the one to give the statement, then all the press coverage would focus on him and his scandal. It’s his way of apologizing for the way he treated you in Monaco. He considers you part of the family now. Both he and Mum are here, waiting for their chance to visit with you.”

  “Oh, my god. Wow.” Hannah dabbed at the tears welling in her eyes. “That’s so sweet.”

  “You did the impossible, mon chou. You put my family back together after mon Père and Julien’s deaths tore us apart.”

  “Luc.”

  “Am I allowed to say the things I wanted to say on the ride over here this morning?”

  “That depends.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her teasing tone. “What does it depend on?”

  “On whether or not you’ll let me go first?”

  “Always.”

  Hannah smiled shakily at me. “I love you, Luc. I think I loved you from the first moment I saw you on the other side of that awful karaoke bar. You made me laugh and you made me cry. You took me places I never thought I’d ever be able to see. I can’t wait to find out where you take me next.”

  “That’s my line.” I smiled at her even as tears welled in my eyes.

  “Fine, you go now.”

  “I love you, Hannah. You have been this great, amazing whirlwind in my life. You made me think about things I’ve taken for granted. You’ve been the first person who wanted to know me, the man, and not the prince. You’ve made my life worth living again. And I want to make sure that I’ll always have you in my life. So, Hannah, will you—” I got out of my chair and went to kneel at her bedside, as Hannah shrieked.

  “No! Don’t you dare!”

  “Er, what?”

  “You are not going to propose to me in a hospital after I had surgery and while I still have to go through treatment. Isn’t it enough that we love each other? Let’s get through this next battle and then see where we are.”

  I sat back in my chair with a thump. I couldn’t say I wasn’t chagrined. I’d never proposed to a woman in my entire life, and to have it rejected by the woman I loved hurt. Merde, it hurt like a son of a bitch.

  “Luc, please, don’t look like that. It’s not a no. I swear it’s not a no. It’s just…This whole thing is a lot. Can’t we get through this first, and then if you still want to propose to me after the doctor gives me an all clear, we’ll talk about it then?”

  I looked up from my sulking and saw the fear in Hannah’s eyes. I went back through what she’d just said and realized she wasn’t rejecting me—she was worried I wouldn’t want to be with her, either because of her treatment or something else along the way. There was no way that would happen.

  “Okay, mon chou. We’ll do things your way.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. And if at any time you want to propose to me, just let me know. I already have the ring.”

  “You, monsieur, are ridiculous.”

  “But you love me, anyway.”

  “I do.”

  “I love you, too, Hannah Allen.”

  “I love you three, Lucien Arthur Beauregard Mathieu Greiner.”

  “Wow, you got them all correct on your first try.”

  “What can I say? I’m a quick study.”

  Epilogue

  SIX MONTHS LATER

  Las Vegas Sun

  MONACO’S PRINCE LUCIEN TO MARRY LAS VEGAS RESIDENT HANNAH ALLEN

  Prince Lucien of Monaco proposed to his American Cinderella, former Las Vegas resident Hannah Allen—giving her the ring that the prince’s grandfather gave to Hollywood film starlet Evelyn Gardner in 1955.

  Prince Lucien said the ring “was very special to the family,” as was his bride-to-be. Giving it to her was his way of “honoring the connection both he and [his bride] have to [Allen’s] home country.”

  The long-anticipated news that the second in line to the throne was to marry his Cinderella girlfriend was announced by the palace earlier in the day. It does not indicate a planned wedding date for the pair, who have been dating for seven months.

  The proposal came six months to the day after Allen was first diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After undergoing treatment, Allen is currently in remission and is now looking forward to her wedding day.

  The last time Monaco celebrated a wedding was in 1983, when Lucien’s father, Prince Xavier, married Princess Vivian of York, the daughter of the Queen of England, bringing a huge royal pedigree to the tiny Mediterranean principality.

  But the Greiner dynasty that has ruled for more than seven centuries is also familiar with tragedy and bad publicity: Gardner died in a 1980 car crash, and her children, Xavier, Caroline, and Arabella, regularly made headlines for the wrong reasons. The dynasty was dealt another blow when almost two years ago the plane carrying Prince Xavier and his son, Prince Julien, went down over the Atlantic, killing both princes and the ten other passengers and crew aboard.

  And more recently, the Sovereign Prince Sébastien made headlines when his engagement to Princess Helene of Belgium ended last year in a scandal, as the titillating texts between the princess and her personal trainer were leaked to the press. Prince Sébastien canceled the wedding and has been camera-shy as of late.

  Prince Lucien asked Allen to marry him during a private holiday in Paris last month and has, the royal press office stressed, asked her father’s permission.

  Allen’s parents, Griffin and Tara, were “thrilled.” Her father, Griffin, reading a statement outside their home in Las Vegas, said they had gotten to know the prince very well: “We are extremely fond of him. We wish them happiness for their future together.”

  Prince Lucien and Ms. Allen have asked that in lieu of gifts, well-wishers may donate to the American Cancer Society or to the Prince Julien Greiner Foundation in their names.

  Everyone here at the Las Vegas Sun wishes the happy couple all the best.

  To Sue Grimshaw. The excitement you have when you talk about my books humbles me every time. I love the way you push me to be a better writer, and I hope you know how much I appreciate your effort, each and every inch you make me climb. Thank you!

  Acknowledgments

  First off I have to thank you, the readers, because without you guys I don’t have a job. So Thank You! I love hearing from all of you, and I love how passionate you all are about my books. I hope you’re just as passionate about this one!

  To my amazing husband, Dave—I love how much you make my writing a priority. Even the times when it feels like you’re making me! You’re the kinda guy I write about every day. Love you.

  To Gloria—thank you for all the hard work you do to get the word out about my books. I appreciate all you do for me and I am so grateful to call you a friend.

  As always, I have to thank my awesome crit buddies—Paisley and Amy. You guys work so hard to make my stories sparkle! I don’t know how I’d do this without you!

  To all the amazing people behind the scenes at Loveswept—Gina, Erika, Madeleine, and every
one else I’m forgetting, so sorry—thank you for taking a chance on me again!

  BY GILLIAN ARCHER

  Reluctantly Royal

  True Brothers MC

  Ruthless

  Rebellious

  Resilient

  Rough Ride (coming soon)

  PHOTO: PAISLEY HENDRICKS

  GILLIAN ARCHER has a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering but prefers to spend her time on happily ever after. She writes the kind of stories she loves to read—the hotter the better! When she’s not pounding away on the keyboard, she can be found surfing the couch, indulging in her latest reality TV fixation, or baking something ridiculously tasty (and horrible for her waistline). Gillian Archer lives in the wilds of Nevada with her amazing husband, gorgeous little girl, and goofy dog.

  gillianarcher.com

  Gillian@GillianArcher.com

  Facebook.com/​GillianArcherWrites

  Twitter: @gillianarcher

  Sign up to receive important news and new-release info from Gillian Archer straight to your inbox: eepurl.com/n3UWf

  Read on for an excerpt from

  Royal Pain

  His Royal Hotness

  by Tracy Wolff

  Available from Loveswept

  Chapter 1

  My skin itches like it’s too small.

  Like I’ve got a really bad sunburn.

  Like it’s the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever worn.

  Which, let’s face it, at the moment is totally true.

  Well, that or I’ve got a raging case of the chicken pox.

  Or maybe it’s just that the monkey suit I’m currently stuck in is a fucking disaster.

  Or it could be…Jesus, the possibilities are fucking limitless right now, aren’t they?