by Katie Dowe
She was deciding whether or not to have lunch sent up to her when her phone rang. “Maia, I know I have not been around for a few weeks, but I am swamped. I promise that this weekend I will let us do something.”
“I need to see you. How about having lunch at Renee’s?” Maia asked her quietly.
Debbie looked at the piles of folders on her desk and sighed inwardly. There was something in the girl’s voice that had alerted her that something was wrong. She had heard from her mother and Deloris so she knew it had nothing to do with them. “I will be there in twenty minutes.”
She had just hung up from her friend when he sauntered in. He was wearing dark blue dress pants and a red cashmere sweater that looked great against his skin. “I did not get a chance to talk to you all morning,” he said softly as he came into the room. “When I left you were so sound asleep that I did not want to wake you.”
“That’s okay.” She got up and reached for her pocketbook and her jacket.
“Where are you off to?”
“Lunch,” she told him briefly, pulling the jacket on over her blue and white wool dress. She had worn her hair down for a change and it flowed in waves around her shoulders.
“With him?” His expression had hardened as he looked at her.
“None of your business.” She made to move past him, but he grabbed her arm.
“I am the one screwing you, so yes, it is my business,” he told her coldly.
She pulled her arm away and looked at him scornfully. “You might have some hold over my body but you do not own me. And you are right, Prince Alexander, all we do is have sex and nothing else. I need to go somewhere I can have an actual conversation.” She swept out and left him staring after her furiously.
*****
“What’s wrong?” Debbie demanded as she took a seat opposite her friend. Maia looked pale and tense as if she had not slept in a few days.
“Can we get settled before you ask that question?” Maia asked as she drank the water that had been put on the table.
“I am settled and I have half an hour before I have to get back.” She signaled for the waiter and ordered the Caesar salad and her friend did the same.
“I have no idea how it happened,” Maia began shakily as she avoided her friend’s eyes. “He came over one night and we started drinking and it just happened. I swear to you, Deb, that I had no intention of anything happening.”
“What are you talking about?” Debbie asked her warily, already feeling the trickle of awareness along her spine.
“I am pregnant,” Maia said abruptly.
Debbie stared at the girl in disbelief. She had not heard from her brother since the falling out when she had stopped by for dinner a few weeks ago. “You are kidding.”
“I wish I was.” Maia dug into her salad lifelessly as she felt the tears coming. She had not thought about it until one day last week she had noticed that she was late. A home pregnancy test had confirmed it.
“Have you told him yet?”
She nodded. “Just this morning and he promised to step up.” She looked at her friend. “How could I have been so stupid the second time around?”
“I don’t know, Maia. How could you be?” Debbie felt sick at heart. The situation was untenable! Maia was her best friend and Derek was her brother. She had warned the girl over and over again and she had allowed him to get to her twice!
“I am thinking of aborting it.”
Debbie looked at her sharply. “You know I don’t condone that. It is your body and everything, but I think the child deserves to live.”
“At least he is still working. He told me he asked you to put in a good word for him with Kelsey and you refused.”
“I did and I do not apologize.” She pushed away her salad bowl, her appetite disappearing. “Are you in love with him?”
Maia shrugged listlessly. “I don’t know and I cannot think about that right now. I just wanted you to know.”
“I have to go,” Debbie said, glancing at her watch. “Come over after work and we will talk some more.”
“Thanks.”
Debbie nodded and made her way out, her heart heavy!
Chapter 7
Debbie was not in the mood for his behavior when she got back. She had too much on her mind and she was thinking about what her friend had told her. Pregnant again for a man who was not settled and had not been in the habit of taking care of the first child!
“How was lunch?” he asked her coolly when she was in her office trying to wade through the work she had to do. Amelia had gone to meet with a client and had left instructions for her to handle some party she was planning for Thanksgiving Day at the manor.
“Excellent,” she said without looking up at him.
“You are not to see him again.”
This time she looked up at him and almost smiled at his imperious tone. “Or you are going to spank me?”
“That’s a thought,” he told her grimly as he came further inside the room. “I told you that you were mine and I do not share.”
“I am not yours, Alexander. I am my own woman and I do whatever I please.”
“I want you to be mine,” he told her stubbornly. “We are good together and I want to be with you. We could be discreet in order for the press not to find out. You will find that I am a very generous lover.”
“So let me get this straight: you are offering me the exclusive position of being your lover and in return for this wonderful privilege you will make sure I do not lack anything?”
He looked at her uncertainly and then nodded.
“What are some of the things I can expect?”
“Anything you want,” he told her softly.
“How about a wedding ring?”
“What?” He looked at her frowningly.
“Are you willing to marry me and let me become Princess Debbie Ann Costa?” she asked him mockingly.
“I am not ready for that yet,” he told her stiffly. “There are too many things in my life that needs sorting out.”
“So just your lover then?”
“You never know.”
“Okay Prince Alexander, as flattered as I am, I am afraid I am going to have to pass.” She went back to what she was doing.
“Why?”
“Because I happen to have my self-respect and my pride. Anything else?” she asked him coolly.
“You are going to deny us the pleasure we get from each other?” he asked her darkly.
“I am afraid so. If you change your mind on the marriage then you can let me know,” she told him coolly.
He looked at her furiously for a moment and then left.
Debbie slumped against the chair and closed her eyes wearily. The day was going from bad to worse!
*****
“It’s none of your business!” Derek told her heatedly. She had gone against her decision and had called him as soon a she reached her apartment. Alexander had avoided her for the rest of the day and she had been grateful. She could not deal with him right now.
“I have made it mine. She is my best friend and I was the one who introduced you in the first place all those years ago. You got her pregnant then and left the responsibilities with me and Deloris and Mom and now you have gotten her pregnant again. Ever heard about using a rubber?” she asked him coldly. She had no idea what had gone so horribly wrong in life. She had always looked up to him when they were growing up.
“I am not going to leave the way I did in the past. I am going to ask her to marry me.”
Debbie went still at that. It was the last thing she had expected him to say. “And what are you going to do to take care of a wife and two children? You work at a fast food restaurant for heaven’s sake!”
“Thank you for your confidence,” he told her bitterly. “I am trying, Debbie, and I know I have made some mistakes in the past. I am sorting out my life and I am working very hard to do so. I was made head chef at the restaurant and I have been in touch with Kelsey herself who is think
ing of opening another restaurant and putting me in charge. You are the only one who does not have faith in me. Thank you for that.” He hung up on her and she put the phone away feeling a little ashamed. He was right! She had never given him any encouragement. She had that tendency of being intolerant of other people’s shortfalls and she had never realized it before. Good for him, she thought with pride. He was finally stepping up!
*****
“The decorators are already at the manor as we speak.” Debbie ticked off the details on her iPad each time she mentioned it to Amelia. “A live band will be playing as you requested. The food is taken care of and the RSVPs have been pouring in. You are getting quite a crowd.” She looked up with a smile.
“I hope you included yourself in the guest list,” Amelia told her. “You can always bring someone.”
She opened her mouth to respond, but Alexander walked in just then. It had been a week since they had had the argument in her office and he had been avoiding her.
“I need to talk to you, Debbie.” His eyes went to his mother and then to her.
“I am in the middle of something-"
“Would you mind excusing us, Mother?” he asked imperiously.
“No-”
“Of course. We will take up where we left off, Debbie.” She looked at her son for a moment and then left the room.
“That was really rude.”
“I am rude. We have established that,” he told her grimly as he took a seat beside her. “Marry me,” he told her abruptly.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“You told me to come back to you when I am ready to marry you and now I am.”
“You did not get that I was being sarcastic?”
“I don’t care. I cannot sleep and I cannot function without you.”
“It is just sex and you will soon get it out of your system.”
He laughed harshly. “Believe me, I have been with enough women to know when it is just sex.”
“Thank you for sharing,” she said dryly.
“I was just letting you know that I know the difference. Ever since I met you it has been different for me and I cannot shake the feelings I have for you.”
“You will,” she told him, refusing to let it get to her even though her heart was pounding. “Just give it time.”
“Marry me,” he insisted.
“No.” she told him firmly.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Because you will change your mind eventually and because I am just an admin assistant and you are Prince Alexander Costa.”
“So?”
She sighed. “Alexander, it means that we are not suited. We are from different worlds and I have been seeing someone.” It was not exactly true. She had had lunch with Heath once but she would do anything to dissuade him from his nonsensical proposal.
“You are seeing another man and screwing me?” he asked her coldly.
“A lapse in judgement that will not be happening again.”
“Stop seeing him, Debbie.” His voice was hard as he looked at her.
“I am not one of your subjects,” she reminded him.
“You are my woman,” he told her grimly.
“I am not your woman.”
“I will not have you seeing him again. I forbid you to.”
She laughed in spite of the strange situation. “You forbid me to?”
He got up and hauled her to her feet. “Yes, I forbid you to see him and I mean it. If I see you with him I am not going to be responsible for what happens.” He kissed her savagely, causing her to tremble as the shiver started inside her. He put her away from him, his eyes scouring her face. “I mean it,” he said and left. Debbie sat back down, her legs trembling and her mouth throbbing!
*****
She left with the others so he would confront her again. His mother had come back into her office a few minutes later and thankfully she had composed herself enough to continue. Amelia had not said anything at all to her and Debbie wondered what she was thinking. She went home and locked her doors and turned her phone off. She had no strength left to argue with Alexander. Her mother had called her and had told her proudly that Derek had turned his life around and she had known he would have!
She took off her clothes and went to set a bath. She poured in the fragrant bath oils and tested the water with her fingers and then went into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of wine to have while she was soaking.
She must have fallen asleep because it was the constant banging on the door that finally got her attention. The water had cooled and the bubbles had dissipated by now. She got out and grabbed a robe to wrap around her wet body to see what the ruckus was all about. She looked through the peephole and saw Alexander standing there. With a sigh she opened the door and he came in.
“I have been calling your phone,” he told her.
“I turned it off,” she told him mildly. He was still in the same clothes she had seen him in at work earlier.
“I need an answer.”
She stood right there in front of the door with the robe wrapped loosely around her. “I already gave you my answer.”
“I cannot accept that.” He reached for the tie at her waist and pulled it, pushing the robe off her naked body. “You smell nice,” he murmured, his hands cupping her generous breasts, his thumbs passing over the nipples. “I was thinking we could announce our engagement at the Thanksgiving Day party.”
The fire unfurling inside her died a premature death and she pushed at his hands and belted her robe. “Go away, Alexander.”
“No. I told you I always get what I want and I want you.” He pulled her into his arms and held her. “I am not going anywhere.”
“I am not some possession that you decide that you have to have. I am a person with a mind of her own and I am not marrying you.”
He lifted her into his arms and she cut off a squeal. He marched with her into the bedroom and dumped her onto the bed. She tried to get back off but he used his knee to capture her while he took off his clothes. Pretty soon he was standing before her magnificently naked. “You are going to be mine if I have to tie you up and take you to the altar,” he told her huskily as he stripped the robe off her. He climbed over her and stayed there suspended as he looked down at her. “I want you in the worse way and I am not going to deny myself again. Deal with it.” He lowered his head and his lips touched hers slowly. Debbie arched her body up to meet his, her movements hungry and restless as she spread her fingers over the tangle of hair on his solid muscled chest. His penis touched her briefly and she moved towards it. “Put it in,” he demanded huskily. She did as she was told and gasped as he pushed deep into her, bending his head to capture a nipple inside his mouth. She was delirious! She lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist as he started to thrust into her, his movements measured as he increased the pace!
*****
She defied him deliberately. The very next day she called Heath and invited him to lunch. Alexander had not leave until the morning and even though he had insisted on asking her to marry him, he still had not revealed anything of himself to her. She had to do something drastic to prove to him that he did not own her!
“I am so happy you asked me to lunch, Debbie,” he said with a pleased smile as they made their order. “I was beginning to think that I had done something to make you want to stay away from me.”
“Not at all,” she told him with a smile, looking discreetly around to see if Alexander was going to come marching through the doors. She had chosen something downtown deliberately and had told Amelia she was heading out. She had sighed in relief as she realized that he had not been there for the afternoon. “Would you like to come to the Thanksgiving Day party with me next Thursday?” she asked him suddenly. “Amelia said I could bring someone.”
“I would love to,” he said, beaming at her.
“Good,” she said with a smile, feeling the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she considered the look on
Alexander’s face when he sees them together.
She turned the conversation on the topic of his business and they discussed the real estate business that his cousin was involved in. “Leesa was quite persistent when it came to pursuing Brad,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Now he does not go anywhere without her. They have been married for almost fifteen years and they are still in love.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“I hope to find something like that one day.” His eyes strayed to her lips and she felt the alarm going off inside her.
“I am sure you will.”
*****
She avoided Alexander for the next few days and it was very easy to do so. The party was a huge annual event that took a lot of planning and Amelia had gratefully left everything to her. She was in her office two days before the function when a box was delivered to her office. She smiled in anticipation as she guessed what it was. She had no intention of opening it until she reached home where she could try it on.
*****
Alexander dressed with special care. He had not said anything to her but he had been making plans. He had ordered the ring: an exquisite emerald stone surrounded by dozens of diamonds. It was an heirloom and had been passed down from one generation of women in his family when they got engaged. He had not told his mother yet but he would be announcing it at the party. He had had it cleaned and it nestled inside his coat pocket where he had put it. He looked at himself in the mirror and nodded. He had chosen to wear black with a light pink shirt and bow tie and his hair was brushed back from his face. He laughed softly as he realized that he was nervous. He did not know how he felt about her but he knew he felt something powerful and he had no intention of letting her go. With a smile he stepped back from the full length mirror and made his way downstairs to meet the guests along with his mother.
