The Royal Affair (The Palmera Royals) (10 page)

“Whoa,” he said.

“What’s wrong?”

“We need a condom, baby.”

Before she could say
I don’t have any,
Jonas reached over her to his jacket beside the bed and tugged a foil out of his wallet pocket.

Shock hit her hard. “You were
that
prepared?”

“Told you I was a Boy Scout. Always be prepared is the motto.” He silenced her with a kiss and expertly sheathed himself in the rubber. Then he was inside her, nothing tentative, but filling her to the hilt.

Her inner muscles gripped him, legs slipping around his hips. “Welcome home, Wilder.”

“Feels like I never left.” He took her mouth, kissing her so that her brain ceased functioning, everything simply sensations, simply exquisite.

The kiss went on and on, her hands snaking through his hair, along the ridges of his back, as his thrusts quickened, deepened. She wanted him closer. Always closer.

The moment. This moment. Everything was about this moment as Jonas drove her over the edge of pleasure again. They say you see stars. Marina saw the entire universe as she spiraled past the point of no return, Jonas kissing her till breathing no longer mattered, two bodies, hearts becoming one as his orgasm took Jonas too over the exquisite point of no return.

Marina’s heart hammered, excitement interwoven with wonderment. She couldn’t move. She leaned up and kissed the edge of Jonas’s mouth, and his eyes flashed open.

“Is that a request for more?”

“Could be.”

“Hey, while I’m a guy who won’t ever say no to seconds, or even third helpings,” he quipped with a broad grin, a twinkle in eyes, “you need to give me a moment to recuperate.”

How she loved this complex man. She went to speak, but his mouth suddenly covered hers, and once again, everything but Jonas’s kisses was forgotten—for the moment.

Much, much later, satiated from glorious lovemaking, Marina lay spooned against Jonas. Heaven existed right where they were in their forgotten landscape, where horses roamed at will, and where she and Jonas had come together as nature beautifully intended.

Exhaling long and low, she snuggled back, relishing his warmth.

“You okay?” he whispered in the curl of her ear.

“Perfect.”

“Lucky break, me falling in the stream, I reckon.”

“How so?”

“That way you got me naked.”

She twisted round slightly so she could see him. “You wouldn’t have done that on purpose would you?”

His eyebrows quirked upward. “Who, me? Are you suggesting I would stoop that low?”

“Well, that depends on how low you wanted to go,” she shot back.

With his free hand, Jonas tapped a finger to his nose. “A gentleman, m’dear, never tells.”

She snorted at that. “Gentleman, my foot.”

Jonas held a hand to his heart. “You doubt me, Princess. I’m wounded.”

“So stick a Band-Aid on it.” She laughed right back at him.

Wrapped in Jonas’s arms, she lay wondering about the last few hours. She’d put in rules to protect her heart and broken every one of them herself.

So what now?

Marina woke with a start. A hand was doing wild and exciting things to her already aroused nipple. She tried to steady her nerves but failed miserably, anticipation overriding everything else. She opened her eyes to find Jonas staring at her. “What are you doing?”

“Playing.”

“Play… Oh no. No, we can’t. It’s morning.”

“Much better. Now I can see all of you.”

She scrambled out of bed, stumbling on the icy wooden floor. She scanned the room and found her shirt and tugged it on, yanking the sides across her bare breasts.

Jonas looked at her with devilment in his slumberous gaze. “Aw, shame. The view is enticing.”

Reality hit. “I was asleep. It’s weird having you look at me when I don’t know it.”

“Best kind of sleep I’ve ever encountered. Besides, everyone looks at you, Princess.”

“And you’re making a joke of this.”

“Never.
This
is serious business.”

“Wilder, shut up. We need to get back home.”

“Don’t you want to stay and have some fun?”

“I…can’t.” What she meant was she shouldn’t. Making love with Jonas had shifted things to dangerous ground, something she wasn’t sure she knew how to survive, and this was like one of those morning-after things. But what she and Jonas had relived had not been a one-night stand.

Now? Now, she didn’t know what it was.

“You said sometimes you wanted to run away. So why don’t you?” Jonas asked.

“Because it’s my life. The life I was born into, and…because it’s really the same reason you’re with Suzie. Because it’s family. Because you love her, just as I love my family too.”

“But if you want out of the royal stuff…?”

“Stuff? Yes, but it’s also important stuff.”

“What? Opening fêtes and parading around at balls.”

“Actually, it’s more than that.”

“You reckon?”

Marina bristled. “You obviously think the same as the rest of the world, that it’s all fluff and nonsense, the tittle-tattle in the gossip papers.”

“I don’t read them.”

“So don’t be condescending.”

“Oh, baby, don’t use big words on me this early in the morning. Mind you, I do like it when you get angry. Your eyes get all sparkly like diamonds, just like when you’re beneath me and I’m inside you.” Marina sucked in a lungful of air. His lips quirked into a wicked smile, and all the moisture in her mouth evaporated. “Hey, my mother taught me always to tell the truth.”

“Really? So tell me this, Wilder, what do you see?”

His smile broadened even more. “A beautiful woman who has every man drooling over her and women envious. But I also see a sense of sadness, a gazelle wanting to take flight.”

No. Don’t say that. Don’t see that.
She thought she hid it from the world.
But not from Jonas. He sees it.

“I think you’ve forgotten,” she announced, her tone rather clipped as she tried to right her equilibrium, “I’ve already taken flight. I took a gamble on sending my bodyguards away. I took a gamble and stayed in New Zealand longer than I intended. I think being
bad
was what you called it.”

His gaze shifted down her length, slowly, thoroughly, and then back up in the same languid motion. Like a wolf about to devour its prey, he licked his lips, and Marina found herself following his actions.

“Definitely very bad,” he agreed and hauled himself out of bed. Standing beautifully buck-naked in front of her, he reached out and swept his right hand down her cheek, her throat, scraping his fingers around her left breast, the work-calloused thumb abrading her already aroused nipple. Her heart fluttered.

Could he feel it?

He did. His mouth quirked a little higher. “Wanna be bad again?”

She did. Really did. But her brain said
run
. “Tempt me.” See, so easy to give in.

And he did just that. He kissed her, teasing her lips open, his tongue sliding along the edges of her lips, tangling with her tongue in a dance so reminiscent of the primal need building in her.

“Tempted now?” he asked.

“I could be.” So easily. So wanton.

He groaned. “Hoped you’d say that.”

“And I hoped you’d ask.” Shamelessly, she had. She could protest all she liked, but the roller coaster was turning too fast now, and she didn’t know how to get off, or if she wanted to or could. Getting off meant walking away and never coming back.

Closing the gap between them, she let go of her shirt and rotated her shoulders. The shirt slipped down her arms to land at her feet.

Taking her hands in his, Jonas drew her back down to their humble bed. She knew she was in way too deep. She knew she should say no. And she knew she was being very bad, but right now, bad felt really good. Marina felt as if she had come home.

She shut her eyes and inhaled the musky scent of him. “You smell of pure male,” she whispered. “Pure Jonas.”

“Baby, there’s nothing pure about me, or about what I want to do to you right now. In fact, it’s downright bad, bad, bad.”

Her eyes flashed open, and she cupped his beautiful face in her hands, thumbs gliding over the contours of his cheekbones. “You know, Mr. Wilder, you’re so beautiful, you could be called pretty.”

“Pretty! Handsome maybe, but pretty…”

“And did I mention modest with it?” She shifted slightly beneath him, her legs parting as his fingers sought her moistness. A sigh of contentment eased from her lungs.

“Tired? Want me to stop?”

She sucked at his bottom lip, then dragged her teeth off it. “Does this give you the answer you wanted?”

“Oh yeah.” And he kissed her, and kissed her and then kissed her some more.

Marina wouldn’t, couldn’t ever get enough of Jonas’s kisses. Beautiful soft butterfly kisses, slow and sultry. Then there were the others. Hard and fast, taking her to their private world.

Princess Marina Palmera of San Torrevna did not want to leave that world. Not now. Not ever. The roller coaster could keep on turning.

Chapter Eleven

Her lips were swollen. From too many kisses?
Never!

The last few hours had been glorious. They’d made love again. No way could Marina have said no to Jonas’s kisses, and it seemed silly now that she’d acted like some Victorian miss when Jonas had ogled her nakedness. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen her naked before, but somehow, at that moment, she’d felt more vulnerable than she had in her entire life.

Now, however, she had a big problem, and if she was going to unravel the mess she’d gotten herself into, she needed to find an inner strength.

The big problem? She loved him. Totally. Utterly. But it was one-sided. Jonas was not going to let love get into his life ever again.

After dressing quickly, she sought the solace of the dawn and sat on the wooden step. She shivered as the fresh morning breeze washed across the valley and tugged at her rumpled shirt, and wished she had a sweater for warmth.

You could go back to bed and Jonas. He’s warm.

Forget that. It wasn’t going to happen.

Hugging her knees, she tried to get her brain to wake up, to fathom what had come over her. She had instigated that little episode. She’d been dreaming of him, imagining him, but imagination had become real the moment she’d reached out in the darkness to touch him. Then reality took over.

And yet she had been the one to put the brakes on any hanky-panky
in the first place.

So why reach out for him? Why want more?

Talking had done it. Over dinner, they’d talked about Suzie and his family and her stables and its success. While she was extremely proud of what she’d achieved, she’d been left with a gnawing sadness that wouldn’t abate, and which, in truth, had been in her subconscious for a long time.

Then Jonas had been lying beside her, and all she wanted was to hold him. She’d done the thing she said she shouldn’t do. She’d reached out, touched him.

And there’d been no turning back.

She lifted a finger to her lips and traced their outline, aware of the kiss-swollen tenderness just as her heart too still ached. The realization that her success, though wonderful, was a cold bed partner and she was lonely was one thing, but reaching out for a man who didn’t want her was not a good idea.

He wanted you a few minutes ago.

That was sex, and while sex with Jonas was always sublime, she wanted more. Needed more. She needed commitment and love and the whole white-picket-fence thing. Jonas’s skewed opinion of commitment was the barrier to any future. To him, love took him away from Suzie. So where did that leave her? Alone with a bunch of horses.

As dawn fully awoke, she became aware of Jonas the moment he stepped over the doorstep, the hairs on her nape prickling.

“You done thinking?” he asked.

“Who said I was?”

“A woman sitting on a step when the sun isn’t quite up is a woman intent on thinking when she should be in bed with her man.”

Marina’s heart hitched. “My man? I wasn’t aware I had one.” He slipped down on the step beside her and draped an arm across her shoulders. Marina stiffened. “I thought we were leaving.”

“Plenty of time.”

No there wasn’t. Not anymore. She shrugged off his hold and scooted off the step. “For you, maybe, but I need to get back.”

Jonas rubbed his palms down his muscular thighs and stood. “Your wish is my command, Princess.”

But it was another half hour before they left the cabin as Jonas restocked the firewood they’d used last night. It left Marina with a few more minutes of contemplation, and she took the opportunity to wander along the edge of the stream. It ran swiftly, free-flowing despite the hindrance of some large boulders in the riverbed.

Was that like life? Challenges to surge through, just like the icy mountain water in this stream. Jonas had talked about this being reality. Well, the reality was that she was still in love with him, and that was bad, very bad, because he didn’t love her.

“Ready?”

Marina spun round to face Jonas. Dressed only in jeans, the zipper barely done up, his belt loose, he looked so ruggedly handsome, a man who suited his environment. Shock and desire charged in tandem through her veins. How she loved this man. Loved him so much. But what use was her love it if it wasn’t reciprocated? Without saying a word, she helped Jonas pack their gear while he finished dressing, then followed him across the stream to the helicopter. She waited while he checked the hydraulic fluid.

“Something bothering you, Princess?”

“I…”

“Having regrets?”

No. Yes.

“Keep it simple, Marina. It was a great night. Enjoy it for what it was.”

That was just it. She didn’t know what it was—exactly. It wasn’t
just sex.
To her, it was more. It was the reawakening of what she realized she had missed for the last four years. Not
just
sex, but Jonas, the man, the lover, the friend.

What she felt wasn’t simple, but way too complicated. She needed to figure out what to do, where to go from here, while Jonas… She didn’t know what he wanted.

So ask him.

But there was a problem with that simplicity. She was too scared to ask, too scared to hear the response. Coward! What had she expected? Words of undying love to pass his lips? So foolish.

The firing up of the chopper offered her an opportunity to ask Jonas anything—but then, didn’t they say that men didn’t discuss relationships, they just lived them?

So did Jonas’s comment about keeping it simple make this a one-night stand? After tucking her small bag beneath the seat, she climbed in and clipped on her seat belt. Within minutes, they were airborne and, whereas on their flight down yesterday Jonas had been chatting about the landscape below them, pointing out sights of interest, this time he remained resolutely mute, which suited her. She wasn’t sure she was up to chatty conversation right now.

Ninety minutes later, the homestead came into view and the helicopter landed precisely in the center of the landing pad.

Then silence. She didn’t move. Nor did Jonas. One heartbeat. Two. Three. Finally, unable to stand the silence any longer, she spoke. “Thank you for yesterday, Jonas.”

“And last night?”

“That…that was a moment of madness. I was half-asleep, tired.”

“You sure as heck woke up, me included. Don’t tell me you didn’t know what you were doing.”

“No, I can’t say that. It was as if something took hold, something unstoppable.”

Jonas shook his head, shifted his gaze toward the homestead. “Marina…Princess, don’t make it complicated. I don’t do complicated.” He dragged a hand through his disheveled hair.

Marina couldn’t help but watch his actions, focusing on his long fingers and remembering the feel of them on her breasts, the way he’d cupped her bottom so that she pressed bodily against him.

Oh dear God, this was hard. Too hard.

“I can’t do relationships,” he said.

See, it was simply a one-night affair. Wonderful, glorious sex, but that’s all. Nothing else.

Sudden tears threatened. She’d heard the words she didn’t want to hear, even though she hadn’t asked the question. Wrenching down the door handle, she exited the helicopter before he could say another word that would break her heart all over again. Head lowered, she snatched her bag and looped it over her shoulder, then spun away to stride toward the house.

Behind her, she heard Jonas talking, but not to her. Not to ask her to come back. Not to say…the words she longed to hear.

“Emerald, we’re back,” he said into his cell. Next came a slight silence. “What? Shit. I’m on my way. Clear it with the hospital for me to land.”

The blood in Marina’s veins froze. She stalled in her tracks and spun round to face him. He was already back in the pilot’s seat, the helicopter blades beginning to whir. “What’s wrong?” Words drowned out by the engine, she raced back to the chopper. “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t bother to look at her but continued to go through the procedure for takeoff. She grabbed his arm. “Jonas, what’s happened? Is it Suzie?”

“She’s in hospital.”

Horror ricocheted right to Marina’s heart. “Is she…”

“They think it’s meningitis.”

Oh God. “I’m coming.”

“Like hell.”

“Jonas, I need to be with her.”

“You’re here on business, remember? You’re fired, Your Highness. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have left her last night.” His fist punched the chopper door. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have stayed so long in San Torrevna. Now,
Your Highness,
stand back, because I need to get going.”

“No.”

Shock widened his eyes, the color darkened to pitch. “Princess, get the hell out of my way.”

Before he could continue, Marina scooted around to the other side and scrambled in, connecting her seat belt. She shot Jonas a don’t-you-dare-argue glare. “I’m coming, and you’re not going to stop me. So, I suggest you get this bird in the air, pronto, Mr. Wilder
.
” Marina continued to stare hard at him, daring him. She wouldn’t back down, and he knew it. If he wanted business, he’d get it, but she also knew deep down in her heart that this was nothing at all about business, but love. She needed to be with the man she loved, whether he wanted her there or not.

The trip to Auckland took less than an hour, Jonas communicating with hospital authorities as they came in to land at the helipad. After a few questions at the hospital information desk, Marina, ignoring everyone’s recognition, raced to the bank of lifts with Jonas. Once inside, the overwhelming silence of Jonas’s fear hit her. Standing by his side, she tentatively reached out and linked her fingers with his, her throat closing over, anticipation heightened, wondering if he would reject her offer.

He didn’t.

Five floors up, the lift finally announced their arrival. Still holding her hand, he scanned the notice board for directions and tugged her behind him as he strode toward Suzie’s room. He thrust the door open and came to an abrupt halt.

He said nothing, did nothing, eyes wide, red-rimmed and glistening with barely suppressed tears.

“Jonas.” Marina drew her hand from his and rested it on the small of his back and urged him in. Her heart bled for him. She desperately wanted to make it better, protect him. Love him.

At last he snapped to and closed the gap between himself and his darling Suzie.

“She’s sleeping,” Emerald whispered, the relief on her face immense as they walked in. She began to cry, and Jonas wrapped her in a big bear hug. “Oh, Jonas. I’m sorry,” she sputtered against his shoulder. “I didn’t know what else to do. She had such a lovely day at school, then played with Lizzie at the after-school activity. But by dinnertime, she was listless, not hungry, said she was hot, then cold. Her temperature was too high.” Emerald looked up at her brother, eyelashes damp with teardrops. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Face drained of color, lips almost alabaster, Jonas stared mutely at his daughter over Emerald’s shoulder.

Marina circled him and drew Emerald away, hugging her. “You did the right thing,” she acknowledged.

“The doctors said it’s a fever, but her temperature was dangerously high. They thought at first it could be meningitis, and so the local doctor organized to rush her here by ambulance.”

Marina turned back to Suzie and Jonas. He stood so still but had at least taken his daughter’s small hand in his big broad palm. It seemed so frail and delicate against his strength and determination. She stepped closer and leaned against him slightly, surprised and relieved when he took her hand in his free one. She lifted her gaze to him. “She’ll be all right, Jonas. She’s a fighter.” She tried to sound reassuring, if not for Jonas, at least to quell her own fears.

“She’s six years old. She shouldn’t have to fight.” His tone was clipped, short.

Understanding his pain, Marina ignored his brusqueness. She turned to Emerald. “This hospital is wonderful.”

“It is,” she affirmed. “It’s built specifically for child health.”

“So colorful.”

Emerald screwed her nose up. “Better than that hospital green.” She looked at her brother. “Do you remember when I broke my leg? I fell off your horse.”

“Which I said you couldn’t ride,” he answered without taking his eyes off his daughter.

His sister offered a guilty smile. “I was just a kid. What can I say?”

“And you didn’t listen.”

“Of course not. When I want something, I go after it.”

Jonas snorted, and Emerald grinned back at him. “It’s a girl thing, brother. I’d have thought you were used to that by now, given you have two sisters.”

He shot her a scowl. “
Bossy
sisters.”

Marina took joy in their banter, and though Jonas’s attention was resolutely on his daughter, the conversation provided a brief respite from the stress of the last few hours.

“Anyway, Jonas headed out on a date with Fleur, and I snuck into the stables and got on Mercury. The horse didn’t take too kindly to a stranger on its back, and the next thing I knew, I was flat on my face with a broken leg to boot.”

Fleur? A date?

Marina knew she should be voicing concern at Emerald’s escapade and subsequent injuries, but when she heard about Jonas dating, jealousy scoured her heart. Her gaze linked with his, and she wondered if he could see what she felt. See in her heart the green, green jealousy.

Obviously not, because he remained silent.

“I hope your brother fetched and carried for you while you recuperated.”

“Definitely. A regular nurse, weren’t you, Jonas?”

“Stubborn female,” he grumbled.

“Oh, I like that. Stubborn
and
bossy.”

“Just like someone else I know,” he countered, looking directly at Marina.

She offered him her sweetest smile, only to have him look away. She wanted to reach out and stall him, turn him back so that he had to look at her.

“Daddy. Daddy, you came.” Suzie’s sweet voice penetrated the moment.

“Of course I did.”

Sleepy eyes the imitation of her father’s fluttered opened, and Marina’s heart bloomed as Jonas’s daughter offered a tiny smile.