The Prince's Bride (Modern Fairytales) (7 page)

And she’d been devastated to find out she was wrong.

She’d sworn after Brian died to never let someone in her heart again, to never love someone enough that losing him would destroy her, and Leo was a threat to that promise. If anyone could make her forget the pain, the reasons she kept to herself and never let anyone in, it would be
him
. And she couldn’t afford to let that happen.

Not again.

“No.” She pushed his hand off her leg, even though her heart screamed at her for rejecting him, for refusing to give him a second chance. Even though every fiber in her body begged for him to do more than comfort her. “I don’t want to be your friend, Leo. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened.”

Liar
.

His touch was burned in her memory for all time. The way he’d made her feel as he caressed her skin, and how full she’d been with him inside her. How perfectly his lips had fit over hers as he made her come alive in his arms.

She’d never forget any of that.

Not in a million years.

He stiffened and then stood. “Well, then, by all means, I’ll leave. I’ve already forced my home upon you, so I won’t force myself any longer. Good night, Alicia.”

No. Don’t go. Stay.
She lifted a hand, not meeting his eyes. She stared at the fireplace instead. It was safer. “Night.”

Without another word, he headed for the door. With his hand on the knob, he hesitated and then turned back to her. “Alicia?”

Reluctantly, she gave him her full attention. The pain she saw in his eyes, the emptiness, struck her like a punch to the gut, and damn him, she ached to stand up, pull him into her arms, and make it all go away. It was like he was silently calling to her, and she couldn’t ignore it any more than she could stop breathing. “Yeah?”

“I am sorry that someone ruined what we had. What we shared together was—
is
—very special to me. So are you. And you can rest assured I will get to the bottom of this and find out who hurt you with those letters, one way or another.”

She swallowed, not saying anything.

And he left her alone in her room…

Just the way she liked it.

Riiiiight
.

Chapter Nine

Knock, knock, knock.

Leo stiffened and set his pen down on his desk a little too roughly, staring at his office door as if he could murder the intruder with nothing more than the force of his glare. After last night’s failed attempt at regaining Alicia’s friendship, and the endless hours of insomnia that had followed, he wasn’t much in the mood for company, or idle chat from a guard who couldn’t read his frown well enough to know he was in no mood for such things. He’d locked himself in his office all day, with strict orders that he wasn’t to be disrupted.

Yet, here someone was.

Fucking disrupting him
.

“Enter,” he called out curtly.

The door cracked open, and his father peeked his head in. “Are you busy, son?”

“No, of course not.” Smiling, he shook off his bad mood and stood, motioning his father into the room with a sweeping gesture. “I’m never too busy for you, Father. Come in, come in.”

The older man came inside, shutting the door behind him and letting out a small sigh. “Did you meet with the princess?”

Leo sighed, too, pinching his nose. “Yes. She was lovely, as promised. But, as I said, I’m not ready to commit to a marriage of convenience. Not yet.”

His father sighed. “I’m not getting any younger. And the Princess of—”

“Are you so sure about that?” Leo cocked a brow. “I heard you beat Lord Marshall in an intense tennis match yesterday. The man is younger than me.”

The king waved a hand. “Luck. Nothing more.”

“Well, I’ll continue to count on that luck to keep you around,” Leo said, straightening a pile of papers on his desk. “At least until I find the perfect wife.”

His father sighed. “I’ve been warned you are in a foul mood. Is this true?”

“It is.”

“Why?” his father inquired, coming across the office slower than he normally would have.

Leo rubbed his jaw and came around the front of the desk, perching on it. His father sat in the leather chair he’d had placed for visitors, settling in carefully and looking every inch his age in that moment. It took all Leo’s self-control to keep his hands to himself and not assist his father. “I didn’t sleep well last night. Couldn’t shut my mind off.”

“And did something trigger this night of unease?” he asked, his voice soft as he rubbed his wrinkled forehead. “A woman, perhaps?”

Leave it to his father to be spot on, like usual. “I spoke with Alicia again.”

And she confused the hell out of him, in more ways than one,
again
.

“Ah.” The other man nodded. “I take it the conversation did not go as expected?”

“Oh, it went as expected.” Leo let out a small laugh. “I expected it to be a failure, and it was. She has no desire to get to know me again, not after I brought her here under duress, and not after I betrayed her.”

His father frowned. “How did you betray her?”

“She thinks I left her sitting at an airport, from what I can tell.” Leo sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I have no idea what happened there, or how she got letters from me that I never wrote, but I can’t fix something I never did in the first place.”

“I see.” His father nodded slowly, looking far too worried for a problem that wasn’t even his. “She told you as much?”

“Yes. Over dinner.”

“Then you need to try harder,” his father said, tapping a hand on the arm of the chair. “Do something to win her over to your side.”

“Or I could let her go, and hope that someday she can look back on me fondly, despite my attempts at keeping her here against her will,” he said drily, knowing that even
that
was a far stretch. “I think that’s the only wise course of action at this point.”

“You know it’s too late for that. Our customs—”

“Are sexist and outdated.” He gripped the edge of the desk so tightly his fingers ached. “And you know it as well as I do.”

“True. But it is what it is. She’s not the first woman to suffer her fate, and she won’t be the last, I’m certain.” Father shrugged. “Your own mother—”

“Was once in her shoes. Yes, I know.” He gritted his teeth. “She was from our country, and understood our customs. Alicia does
not
.”

His father stood, wobbling slightly. “You still like this woman?”

Leo hesitated, but nodded, watching his father closely for any other signs of unsteadiness. It wasn’t like him to show his exhaustion so clearly. “Of course.”

“Maybe she’s the woman you’re waiting for?” his father asked slowly, rubbing his forehead again, as if he had a headache. “The woman you intend to marry?”

He liked Alicia, sure. But enough to marry her? To give up his freedom? To relinquish the
one
thing that was actually in his control, because his father said so?

Nope. Not happening.

He wasn’t ready for that.

“She’s not a princess,” Leo pointed out, latching on to that one fact. “Are you so desperate to see me married off that you’ll forget your rich Princess Genevieve plan?”

That was the princess his father
really
wanted him to marry. She came from a country that had loads of money and a huge army.

Not that they needed either. Randovia was healthier than most of its European neighbors, because his father was brilliant and a great king.

A legacy Leo hoped like hell to live up to.

His father shrugged. “If it gets you settled? Yes.”

“No,” he gritted out, tired of this same argument they’d had a million times. A million and one, now. “I’m not getting married. Not yet. I need to focus on this country and learning how to run it. I don’t need anything else distracting me.”

“And yet you still wish to court Alicia?”

Leo barely refrained from rolling his eyes at his father’s outdated term for what he felt for Alicia. “I like her, and I enjoy spending time with her, and want to be her friend. That’s all.”

Well, that wasn’t
all
.

Every time he talked to her, or saw her, or even thought of her, the desire he felt for her grew more and more insistent. If he wasn’t careful, it would consume him. He’d love to get her in his bed again and see all the ways she’d changed underneath those tantalizing dresses and loose, flowing shirts she always wore. If he regretted anything, it was that it had been too dark to see a damn thing in that hallway.

If he had it to do all over again…

“Then think of what made
her
like
you
, and vice versa, and then recreate it,” his father said, interrupting his thoughts. “And after you try again, bring her to me. I wish to dine with both of you tonight.”

“I don’t know if she’ll come,” Leo warned.

“She’ll come. Just tell her I requested to see her…” He pointed a shaking finger at him. His face was ashen, almost gray, and he looked exhausted. “After you do something romantic intended to win her over, that is.”

Leo hesitated, but really, what did he have to lose?

She already hated him, so he might as well try. And he’d agree to pretty much anything his father asked, as long as it got him in bed. “All right. I’ll do my best, but only if you go take a nap while I’m out being ‘romantic.’”

The older man shook his head. “I’m not tired.”

“I don’t care. You nap, or I don’t try harder.” He paused a beat. “And I don’t meet that other princess tomorrow, the one that you slipped into my schedule without telling me, even though you’re clearly pushing for Princess Genevieve.”

Holding his hands up, his father winced. “Very well, then. I’ll nap.”

“Good.” Leo pulled him in for a tight hug, clapping him on the back. “Have you heard back yet from the former head of communications about those letters Alicia received?” Leo asked him.

“No.” King Henry frowned, his face going even more ashen. “Not yet. But don’t worry, we’ll find out what really happened, soon enough, I’m sure.”

He forced a smile. “Thanks, Dad.”

His father stepped forward and winced, pressing a hand to his chest. Leo started to reach out to help him steady himself, but the stony stare he shot his way stopped him. “I’m fine. Stop worrying about me and go get your girl instead. I’m not getting any younger, you know. And I’d like to hold a grandchild in my arms before I die, whether it’s through a princess or an American.”

Despite his worry, Leo rolled his eyes. “I’m not marrying Alicia, Dad.”

“We’ll see, son,” he said, grinning. When he smiled, his blue eyes sparkled, and he looked younger than his sixty-three years. “Now, do something that would impress me. Make this forced nap worth it, or you’ll answer to me.”

As he left, Leo picked up the phone and made a quick call. It was just after five in the evening, so it was a bit of a stretch to pull off what he planned at this hour. When he was done, he left his office, and as he climbed the stairs, he nodded at servants and workers who he passed, smiling at each one in turn and greeting them by name. His father taught him at a young age to learn a man or woman’s name and never forget it, because a man who couldn’t remember his employee’s names was not a man worthy of running a country.

It was a lesson he’d never forgotten.

As he approached Alicia’s door for the second time in as many days, he knocked immediately. The door swung open. This time, when she saw it was him, she didn’t slam the door in his face. She didn’t look
happy
to see him, either, but still.

Progress.

“What now?” she asked, frowning.

“We’re going out, that’s what.”

She stood straighter. Despite her casually disinterested expression, he saw the flare of excitement in her eyes before she hid it. Just like he saw the way she checked out his body, her cheeks flushing delicately as she looked at him again. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

She licked her lips and glanced down at her black Converse sneakers, tapping the heels together nervously and tucking her long blonde hair behind her ear. It took all of his control to keep his hands at his sides instead of pulling her into his arms. “But where—?”

He held his hand out, locking eyes with her. “Come with me if you want to find out.”

Her cheeks flushed even more at the reminder of the words he’d spoken to her the night they made love, and his gut tightened into a tiny ball in the bottom of his stomach. If only he could show her just how much that night had meant to him, some way, some how. She would forever be the one who got away, but he didn’t want her to go away
yet
. And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that reluctance.

“Leo…” she said as if she would protest.

“Come on.” He wiggled his fingers, shooting her a dark, seductive look that made her inhale a deep breath and hold it in. “You’ve got to be bored out of your mind in that room all by yourself. Let’s go live a little, maybe knock something else off that bucket list of yours.”

She hesitated. “I actually like being alone, just for the record.”

“I promise not to bite.” His gaze drifted down to her red lips. Fuck, he needed to see if she tasted as good as he remembered—because that didn’t seem possible. “Unless you ask me to.”

She snorted, but her pupils dilated before she shook her head and stepped back. “Not gonna happen.”

“Then you’re perfectly safe with me. So why not go out and have some fun?”

“I would, but you’re the one asking me out,” she said quickly, crossing her arms. “And we both know you forgot how to have fun years ago.”

He wished that wasn’t true, but it was. He couldn’t remember the last time he went out just for the hell of it. “So show me how,” he said, extending his hand to her.

After staring at him a bit, she shrugged and grabbed her purse off the bar by the door. “All right. Curiosity was always my weakness. So…let’s go have some fun.”

A rush of satisfaction punched him, and he grinned, stepping out of the way so she could pass. “Excellent, my lady.”

“Whoa.” She blinked at him, her lips parting. “You
do
remember how to smile.”

The grin died right away. “Obviously.”

“Well, I haven’t seen evidence to support that.” She shut the door behind her softly, brushing past him. His gaze fell to her perfect ass, because he was only a man, and she was fucking gorgeous. Over her shoulder, she called out, “There might be hope for you yet, Your Royal Pain-in-the-ass Highness.”

He hurried in front of her and offered her an arm, even though he was ninety-nine percent certain she wouldn’t take it. She seemed as averse to touching him as he was addicted to touching her. “I’m not the only one who changed over the past ten years, you know.”

“I never said you were,” she said quickly, eying his arm as if it were a weapon. Slowly, she reached out and curled her pale hand around his bicep. Her touch burned through his jacket, making his already erect cock stiffen even more, and his pants too damn tight. “But, out of curiosity, how do you think
I’ve
changed?”

“You’re more closed off. More cautious. Aside from the night we spent together, before you found out who I was, you’ve barely shown me anything other than cold indifference and a bit of sardonic humor.” He led her down the hallway, nodding to people as they went. They all stared openly. “Of course, that could be because I’m holding you against your will, but still, from what you’ve told me, you’re not the girl who saw a boy skating across the rink, came over, and introduced herself before inviting him to come see her in
The Nutcracker
.”

She pressed her lips together, looking none too happy with his assessment, and tightened her grip on him. He half expected her to pull away, but she didn’t. “You’re right. I’m not that girl anymore, and that’s a good thing, if you ask me.”

He side-eyed her. “Why?”

“Because that girl was naive, and way too willing to believe in the good in this world.” She tightened her hold on him. “She was also easily hurt.”

Right. By
him
, supposedly. “And now you’re not?”

“Well, when you lose everyone you love, and you’re alone—” She twisted her lips, staring straight ahead. “You kind of realize it’s better to stay that way.”