Royal Affair

  He snorted, looking at her from the corner of his eye. “And never once did you defend me.”

  “I thought you knew what you were getting yourself into. Apparently, I was wrong.” She just wished she’d known how wrong before she’d agreed to a televised wedding.

  He licked his lips and ducked his head.

  “Why are you really here?” Her phone dinged again, giving her the five-minute warning. She gathered her papers and prepared to leave. “I’m going to be late.”

  He took in a deep breath and met her eyes. “I want to give it another chance.”

  He has to be joking. There was no way he could seriously think she’d invite him back into her life. Ever.

  He held up his hands. “I understand. There’s a lot to think about.”

  “Think about?” She couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth. “You left me at the altar with no groom.”

  “I know.”

  “During a televised event.” She had to force the words through her throat. “A worldwide televised event.”

  “I am aware.”

  He’s aware? She took a deep breath, telling herself it wasn’t worth hurting her hand to punch his handsome face. “And never once—never once have you apologized for the humiliation you caused me. You’ve only ever informed me that it was my fault. That I made you uncomfortable.”

  He opened his mouth to say something.

  She took a step forward, gripping her papers tightly to her chest, lest she resort to violence. “You walked into my world and tried to make me change. Because you thought that marrying a princess would be easy? Because you thought all I should be made to do was to sit around and look pretty and make you happy and rich? Gilipollas. Do not insult me.”

  His eyes met hers and this time, they were laced with that same anger she was so used to.

  “Angelica,” he growled.

  There you are, you disgusting piece of… “Get out. Get out before I have you removed.”

  He closed his eyes, his expression stark as he visibly swallowed his anger. He clenched his hands into fists and then released them. Opening his eyes, he tried again. “Angelica, if you would just please listen—”

  “I am Princess Angelica to you, and you may address me as befits my title.” Because he had long since worn out the right to be so familiar with her. “I’ve heard all that I want to hear from you. I’m done.” She spun on her heel and headed for the door.

  She left the door open but stopped at Mr. Cébrian’s desk on her way by. “Make sure he is forbidden to enter the palace from now on. I don’t even want him near the gates.”

  “Of course, Your Highness.” Mr. Cébrian rose to his feet. “Do you think he intends to create mischief for you, Ma’am?”

  She had no doubt of it. “Just make sure he leaves, and I do not wish to ever see him again. Is that clear?”

  “Of course, Ma’am. I will make it so.”

  24

  Ludwig landed in Aragon without any issue. He stepped out of the helicopter with his carry-on and walked to the waiting car.

  I’m here. Now what?

  He didn’t know much about Aragon. All he knew was that he had booked the best suite in the best hotel in all of Aragon and rented the best Mercedes available. And that he was an outsider.

  Maybe he could get her to fulfill her promise and show him her home in the same way he’d shown her his. That would be a lovely idea.

  One thing was for certain. He needed to figure out just how serious he was about her. It was one thing to lust after a woman, to crave her. It was a completely different thing to need her and he was dangerously close to that.

  Do I need her enough to weather through anything that might be thrown at us? That’s one question he had to answer.

  He had a feeling that his normal powers of persuasion weren’t going to work on her in Aragon. She would have the upper hand on her own turf and that wasn’t something he had any experience with.

  But he was willing to find out.

  Good lord, am I.

  Seychelles

  Siobhan held the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, her fingers drumming on the white wooden desk she was seated at. The glass partition under her showed colorful fish calmly swimming in the cerulean waters of the Indian Ocean.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Angelica. It’s Siobhan.”

  “Oh!” Angelica’s voice on the other side of the line seemed cheerful. “How’s the honeymoon? I bet you’re getting a great tan.”

  Siobhan blinked at the woman’s chatter. In all the days Angelica had stayed in Lektenstaten, she had never been warm. “It was lovely, really. You must visit. I don’t want to leave.”

  “Well,” Angelica sighed. “I guess everyone has to get back to the monotony of life.”

  Siobhan grinned. With Angus, there would no monotony. Her husband constantly surprised her at every turn and she was unbelievably lucky to be his wife. “I’ve had the opportunity to talk with Angus at length and we…well, I don’t want to be Aragon’s Crown Princess.” She had been thinking about it since marrying Angus, anxious to enjoy her newlywed status and their family. She didn’t care to be caught up in the political drama they had witnessed on TV. “I will renounce my position at the first opportunity.”

  To her surprise, Angelica didn’t immediately react over the phone.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said a moment later, a heaviness to her voice. “But I don’t blame you. Aragon is in a world of distress at the moment. I cannot sleep without thinking of what might happen.”

  Siobhan’s heart went out to Angelica. Being a royal was not an easy life and she wished she could alleviate her sister’s concerns. They were her concerns as well. “But that doesn’t mean I’ll abandon you or Valantín to deal with this alone.”

  “Thank you,” Angelica sighed. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

  Angus, wearing only swimming trunks, which marvelously displayed his tall, muscular body, walked into the room and Siobhan reached for his hand, a shiver of desire running down her spine as he cupped the back of her neck lightly. “Let me discuss it with my husband. I’ll let you know when.”

  “You’ll always be part of our family,” Angelica responded, her words warming Siobhan’s heart. “No matter what you decide.”

  “Thank you. We’ll talk soon,” Siobhan said, clicking off.

  “Angelica?” Angus questioned as she set the cell phone on the desk.

  “Yes,” Siobhan replied, leaning into his strong touch. “I called her. They need me, Angus. They need my help to heal Aragon.”

  “No,” Angus said curtly, his fingers stopping on her neck.

  She turned, looking her husband in the eye. She saw the worry in their depths and understood his concern. There was no telling what danger she might face by going to Aragon. “I must go. Please, Angus, I know you will keep me safe.”

  He blew out a breath, looking away. “I worry about you. If anything happens to you…”

  She stood and wrapped her hands around his waist, holding him as close as her round belly allowed. “I know I am asking for a great deal but I must do this.”

  “A weekend,” he finally said, pulling back to look at her. “One weekend and then we come home, and I will lock us in the bedroom until we both can’t walk straight.”

  A smile curved on her lips. “That sounds like a fine plan to me.”

  Angelica sighed at her mobile screen and put it inside her bag.

  Since her talk with Jaxon, Siobhan’s foster brother, Angelica had suspected Siobhan would abdicate her rightful position as the Crown Princess, so it wasn’t a big surprise, but now that it was confirmed, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.

  Or rather, she had mixed feelings.

  First was relief. The only life she’d ever known would be hers again and her future was certain—to that extent.

  But she also felt some anxiety. If she had remained truly free, her options for a possible re
lationship with Ludwig were wide open.

  Now she didn’t know how things might develop, or what was even possible.

  When her car pulled up in front of the commissioning building, Angelica was prepared for the crowd of people who greeted her. She was rather used to it, especially of late, with the current political fire. In her opinion, the royal family needed to be approachable, something her brother and most of her advisors vehemently disagreed with.

  The people lined up on the street weren’t there to judge her for her latest fashion, though she was sure the only headlines she’d find about her wouldn’t be about her stance on certain issues. They would be about what coat she decided to wear and the outrage over the fact that she refused to wear nylons.

  Just once, she would like it to go on record that she had a political opinion. But instead, she would have reporters detailing her hair and her make-up choices, or how her hat had been seen in public three times before, in an off-the-cuff attempt to prod her for not spending more on clothing, while at the same time her brother would be in the headlines for allowing the budget to go over.

  She didn’t understand the public sometimes. There was a notion out there that princesses either weren’t real people, or that they didn’t have anything to do for real, and neither was the case. She worked more than twelve hours a day for their sake.

  “Bring more jobs,” one woman shouted from Angelica’s right, waving a sign in front of her.

  A man pushed forward from the throng but was kept back by the barrier made by the police. He shouted, “We need a living wage.”

  There were more shouts, most of which she couldn’t make out. She wanted to stop and address them, but it wasn’t her place to do so. If she did, she would undermine her brother, and she refused to do that. Her brother was a fair king. He was just a little out of touch with his people.

  She followed Celipa through the cleared path and up the steps of the commissioning building. Celipa cleared the hallways, talking into her wrist periodically. She poked her head inside the meeting chamber, then turned to Angelica and nodded curtly. “After you, Your Highness.”

  Angelica smiled at her bodyguard on her way through the door. She had a great deal of respect for Celipa and with all the years they’d been together they’d developed a kind of friendship. Angelica often wished she had the freedom to be more like her.

  The room was full of people. There were the observers in the gallery and on the seats along the walls.

  The council members sat along the curved bench in the middle of the room. Her brother sat at one end of the curve. She took her place on the other end.

  When their father had been on the throne, he had sat in the middle, commanding the attention of the council, but Valantín and Angelica had insisted that the members of the council be awarded some respect of their own. Their voices were to be heard as well, and they were encouraged to voice their opinions. Valantín’s word was the law, but that didn’t mean he needed to only listen to his own voice.

  She had arrived several minutes early and so had to wait for Lord Boezio Agustin, the council’s oldest member, to arrive. That was fine though because it gave her time to rearrange her papers and to gather her mental notes.

  Seeing Abelardo had been rather disruptive.

  She still couldn’t believe him. To show his face in her office, and then, of all things, to suggest they get back together. He has to be insane to think I’d consider such a thing. Does he think I’m that desperate? That lonely?

  Angelica was not at all conceited, but she was aware that she was considered very attractive, possibly to both sexes. And she was a member of the royal family. It was not as if she lacked suitors.

  Feeling eyes on her, she glanced up and scanned the observers for anyone she might know. She was afraid she might see Abelardo there.

  But instead she saw Ludwig.

  It’s almost unfair how handsome he is.

  The morning sunlight streaming in through the windows bounced off light blond hair that would have been too long had it not had a bit of an unruly curl to it.

  He stopped on the threshold and rubbed his hand through his hair as he contemplated her, mussing it even further. But whatever softness the disarray of his hair might have imparted to his appearance was countered by his eyes. They were startlingly sharp, a piercing blue, like a creek flooded with icy spring waters under a clear sky.

  What is he doing here? Her heart beat erratically almost as if she was nervous. She wasn’t, but she really didn’t understand what he was doing there. It made no sense at all.

  Those startling blue eyes landed on her causing a frisson to run through her spine.

  She tried to ask him non-verbally from across the room.

  He shrugged.

  That was all. He just shrugged.

  What does that even mean?

  The meeting began, demanding she focused her attention on the subject at hand: the budget and schedule for the new hospital.

  The old hospital was rather outdated. It had been top-of-the-line at the time, but they had struggled to keep it up-to-date as the times progressed. Now, with how far technology had advanced, everything needed to be updated. The size of the rooms, and all of their services, which she didn’t fully understand. They wanted to get a new MRI but did not have enough electrical capacity to support the new machines. The cost to increase it was almost more than to provide a completely new one in a new building.

  The population had grown to such an extent that they needed a larger facility anyway. It was Angelica’s hope, and she knew it was her brother’s as well, that this new hospital would be just one step in a long line of upgrades they both hoped their people would appreciate.

  If they could get the kinks worked out of the plan, Valantín would sign off on it and put it into action next month.

  After two hours of deliberations and debate, half of which Angelica won—or at least, it felt as though she’d won—they were done. The changes were agreed upon and would be incorporated before officially being reissued and put on Angelica’s desk in the morning. After her review, she would send it to her brother for approval, and then finally they could begin.

  Her mind still buzzed with the details of all she’d digested through those last hours when she looked up and her eyes locked with Ludwig’s once more.

  Well, it appears that he’s not quite as done with me as I thought he might be. But am I done with him?

  25

  Seeing her in the council, vocally supporting something she was so passionate about made her even more irresistible to him. Ludwig wanted to grab her and take her into the next room, to make her feel just how much she aroused him.

  She just had an undeniable sex appeal. She was not tall but she had a curvy body, long legs, long torso, and long, thin arms. She was graceful, and feminine; her waist narrowed and blended into her hips like an hourglass.

  It drove him nuts.

  Her breasts were large and firm, and oh so much sexier than any model.

  She wore designer made clothes, in attractive pastels and other feminine colors, but on her they didn’t seem expensive, or a waste of money, but natural.

  Seeing her working only increased his attraction to her.

  She was firm and decisive, but with a tone of voice that was cool, soft, and feminine. He realized she’d been discussing budgets and schedules and that shouldn’t be a turn-on, but it was. As was seeing how much she cared for these people who obviously didn’t support her or her brother, judging by the protesters outside.

  He wasn’t going to wait to watch her walk away from him, knowing that she was headed back out to the sea of protesters. He wanted to protect her from them. He understood that they could be stirred into a craze, could lose thought and focus and any sense of rationality.

  That possibility terrified him.

  What if there someone in that crowd who wants to do her harm?

  He had to find a way to protect his princess. If it was the last thing he did. But f
irst, he had to stick around long enough to make that possible.

  He texted her:

  I’ve missed you. Dinner?

  She turned her phone, which was lying face down by her hand, to read the message. But since she didn’t glance his way and continued to put her papers in her leather folder, Ludwig waited until enough people had left the room to make it easier for him to bridge the gap between them.

  Does she even want to know why I am here? He had to physically flex his fingers to resist the urge to run his hand over her and feel her warm curves. “Your Royal Highness.”

  Angelica raised her head as Ludwig addressed her in time to see him bowing in front of her desk. “Your Highness.”

  “I’d like to know if you are available for dinner later, Ma’am.”

  Well, at least he knows the customs and proper address for my title when in public. That was something Abelardo had objected to. She glanced at Lord Agustin who was clearly interested in what she was going to say.

  “I am not.” She was, but she was planning to work through it. “I have a great deal to catch up on.”

  He narrowed his eyes and tipped his head. “Are you saying you can’t break for a quick bite to eat?”

  “I am.” She rose to her feet and gathered her papers. She needed to organize her notes so that when the revised proposal landed on her desk in the morning, she would be prepared to review it efficiently. She didn’t want to delay this project any more than it already had been. Her people needed this hospital, more than most of the gentry on the council wanted to admit. “If there is nothing more?”

  Who is this woman? And where is my fiery woman who lived uninhibited on a free-spirited wind? His eyes grew colder, as if he had thrown a wall up to shelter his emotions.

  She was used to seeing that. She sent him a smile and stepped away from the table. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, as she stepped closer to him so Lord Agustin couldn’t hear them. “There is just a lot of work for me to catch up on. I doubt I will have any time for socializing.”