by Kim Loraine
The Virgin's Royal Guard
Kim Loraine
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Also by Kim Loraine
Acknowledgments
Sneak Peek
Chapter 1
Sneak Peek
Chapter 1
Dear reader,
I don’t know about you, but I followed the royal wedding like crazy. I love a good fairytale and nothing says Once Upon A Time better than a handsome prince, a fearless bodyguard, and a forbidden love.
I hope you love this swoony, steamy, and sweet series of novellas following the royal family of my fictional country, Corline.
Take a break, put your feet up, and let these royals give you the Happily Ever After you’ve been dreaming of.
xoxo,
Kim
Chapter 1
Waverly
“He’s so beautiful.” Alina, my baby sister sighs as she watches Kingston Masters, Lord Haverford walk toward the stables with our brother, the king of Corline.
“Beautiful, and far too old for you. Alina, you’re not even nineteen, and he’s nearing thirty.”
She lets out a frustrated growl. “Age is just a number. One day, Kingston is going to fall in love with me. I’m going to steal him away on a Roman holiday. I’ll be Audrey Hepburn, and he can be my Gregory Peck.”
I laugh and shake my head. “That’s not really how that movie goes.”
“Just because you don’t want to fall in love, that doesn’t mean I’m going to avoid it.”
I ignore her dig at my single status. It’s true, I’ve stayed out of reach when it comes to men, but that was because I knew my parents were going to arrange my marriage. That’s what they’d done with Ryder, my brother. He’s just lucky his marriage ended with him falling in love. Now six months after our father’s death, Ryder is king, and he and his wife Gemma are expecting their first child.
“I don’t need love. Look at Mum. She’s destroyed since dad died. I don’t want to be that woman. Weak and reliant on a man to make me happy.”
“So you’re telling me you’ll really be happy with…him?” She juts her chin toward the man standing in our periphery. The man my parents arranged for me to marry.
Happy is not part of the plan for me. I’m promised to Tyler Packham, Duke of Longmire. What no one else knows is, Tyler and I are more incompatible than an American plug in a European outlet. It’s not that he’s a bad guy. In fact, I quite like Tyler; he just so happens to have the same taste in guys as me.
“Happiness comes in many forms. It might not be the fairytale between us, but at least we respect each other.”
My gaze slides past Tyler and rests on the man standing on the outside of everything. Archer Locke. Royal guard. He’s gorgeous, brave, dangerous, and completely off limits. But it doesn’t hurt to look. And I’ve spent years looking.
“Well, I suddenly feel like going for a ride. Care to join me?” Alina says, a devilish grin turning up her lips.
“Alina,” I warn.
“What? I’m not going to do anything. I just want to accompany my brother and his friend on a ride. Is that so wrong?”
I roll my eyes. It’s amazing Kingston puts up with her. “You go on. I’m going to stay here and chat with Gemma and Mum. We need to plan her baby shower anyway.”
Alina gives me an air kiss before bounding down the stairs and toward the stables. Her long blonde tresses bounce with each step, and I can practically see the unrequited love rolling off her.
“She’s got so much energy.” Mum’s voice hits me along with the familiar scent of her rosewater perfume. She hands me a cocktail, and we clink glasses.
“Always has.”
“And you? Where’s your spark gone, darling?” My mother knows me better than anyone.
“It’s here…I just…since dad died I can’t quite find it.”
Reaching up, she brushes the hair behind my ear. “You’ll find it again. I promise.”
My focus drifts to Tyler. “I don’t know.”
“I think you need a distraction…a cause.”
“Like what?”
She takes a long breath and links our fingers. “It’s your father’s birthday in two weeks. Why don’t we put on a charity ball in honor of him? We can hold an auction and donate the proceeds to a charity of your choice.”
The thought of honoring him, remembering my dad, giving to a worthy cause lights a fire in me. “That sounds…well, it sounds perfect.”
“Lovely. You know I can’t resist a good party. I haven’t had one to plan since your brother married Gemma.”
“What kind of auction should we have?”
“Well, there’s an abundance of young noble women who haven’t made good matches yet. What if we auction off the men?”
My jaw drops. “Mother. You can’t.”
“I don’t mean we should sell them off as husbands.” She laughs. “I mean, we auction off their dances for the evening. Instead of having to share, the winners get to keep their men for the ball. It will give them a chance to get to know each other better as well. I’ve had enough of this stuffy rule-following nonsense.”
I can’t believe she’s suggesting this. But so much has changed for us since Ryder’s coronation. The royal family has become more approachable, more human to our people. I wonder if she’s right to try to buck tradition. “All right. Let’s do it. Who should we auction?”
She takes a sip of her cocktail and gestures across the grounds. “We’ve got our pick.”
“There aren’t enough. There are five unmarried men at court under the age of fifty.”
“We’ll get your brother to call in some of his friends. They don’t have to be nobility. They just have to be handsome.”
I don’t know how to handle this new facet of my mother. “No, Ryder has enough on his plate.” I sigh and stare at the stables. “I suppose I could talk to Kingston.”
Mum’s hand squeezes mine. “Fantastic, darling. I’ll get the plans in place. You just arrange the auction.”
I take a long drink and place my glass on the balcony rail. Time to go find some men to sell to the highest bidder.
Chapter 2
Archer
This palace is always busy. Constant visitors, constant threats. Princess Waverly leaves her spot on the balcony and begins making her way in my direction.
I press on my earpiece. “Sparrow is on the move.”
My chest tightens as I watch her walk, the poise and confidence of a future ruler exuding from her. She is the most beautiful creature on this earth, and I can’t touch her. Her gaze finds mine as she walks by, the sight of her smile making my body react in ways it shouldn’t. I know I should tear my focus from her, but I can’t.
“How is your day going, Archer?” Her voice is the thing I crave most but rarely receive.
“It’s my favorite kind, your highness. The uneventful kind.”
“I’ll see what I can do about giving you more to do.” She winks and saunters down to the stables.
Her perfect ass sways with each of her steps, and I have to force myself to avert my attention, but the damage has been done. My cock is stiff and aching, but I have a job to do. People to protect. Then she glances over her shoulder, and her eyes find mine. I’m caught staring. At least I’m supposed to be watching her.
As soon as my princess reaches the stables, I radio in. “The sparrow is going for a ri
de.” Then I start my rounds. I walk the perimeter of the palace, eyes clear, focused, determined to see any threat. Since King Ryder’s coronation, things have been…tense, with a few extremist groups making waves politically. A change in power is always the perfect opportunity to cause chaos.
The Duke of Longmire stands with Lord and Lady Waystrom; his toothy smile makes me suspicious. When a smile is that forced, there’s a hidden secret being masked. Some might say my aversion to him stems from the knowledge that he’s supposed to marry Princess Waverly, but it would be untrue. Everyone knows the duke is gay. If they do marry, it’ll be for show only. What I don’t like is the thought of my princess being trapped in a sham marriage. She deserves a man who will love her more than life itself.
A scream pierces the air from the direction of the stables, and my heart kicks into high gear. Everything else becomes white noise as I bolt for the building, hand already going for my gun. I knew we should have had someone on each of the princesses at all times.
I burst into the stable, ready to take down anyone who’d threaten Waverly or Alina, only to find the youngest princess flat on her ass, laughing hysterically.
“What…the hell…happened?” I ask through tight lungs.
Waverly’s apologetic glance and pink cheeks calm me. “There was a spider in her riding boot. She panicked.”
I take a moment to look around the area, taking in the tack on the walls and the discarded boots in the middle of the floor. A dappled grey horse with big dark eyes stares at me from over her stall door. “I thought someone was hurting you.”
Waverly—Princess Waverly strides across the room and places a hand on my arm. That one little bit of contact makes electricity race through my blood. “We’re fine, Archer. Promise.”
I love the sound of my name on her gorgeous lips. “Thank you, your Highness. If you don’t mind, I’d very much like to be on your detail for the remainder of the day. It would ease my worry.”
She nods, taking her bottom lip between her teeth. “Is something wrong, Archer? You seem…not yourself.”
I shake my head. I can’t let her know any of my concerns until there’s actual information to offer. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
The princess stares me down. Sometimes I worry she can see right through me. If that’s the case, she knows I’m desperately in love with her. I don’t back down. Is it proper to maintain eye contact with a member of the royal family? No. But I can’t let her see me back down. It would kill me to know she thinks I’m weak.
“There they are! The little princesses.” Lord Haverford strolls into the stables, a cocky grin on his chiseled jaw. Princess Waverly frowns, and part of me is thrilled to see her displeasure.
“I’m certainly not little, but I do need to speak with you, Lord Haverford.” To my dismay, both princesses head across the room to him. Waverly takes his arm gingerly while Alina clutches him like he’s going to disappear if she lets go.
“Well, that’s a welcome pleasure. I’m at your service Your Highness.”
The three of them walk past me, Alina staring up at Lord Haverford like he’s a piece of something she wants to eat. He’s everything they should avoid. An untouchable player without a care in the world. The last thing I want is for my princess to be next to him.
I move to follow, but Waverly casts a glance over her shoulder, those beautiful eyes of hers locking with mine. She gives a minute shake of her head and just like that, I’ve been put in my place. Were she not a royal, I’d tell her to stay, that I wasn’t going to let her leave my sight. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. She’s second in line to the throne of Corline until the king’s child is born.
I press on my earpiece and grumble, “I’ll need eyes on Sparrow and Wren. They’re with the hawk.”
A voice comes over the line. “In sight.” The line goes dead but clicks as someone begins speaking again. “FYI, Clark’s called a meeting as soon as the palace is safely tucked away for the night.”
“What about?”
“Who knows? But, it’s more than likely going to interfere with regularly scheduled programming.”
I sigh. Anytime there’s a change in the schedule, we have to spend hours planning, mapping out escape routes, preparing for all eventualities. But worse than that, it puts the royal family at risk because one dropped ball can mean the rest falls to pieces.
Chapter 3
Waverly
“I think you were right, Your Highness, a masked ball was definitely the way to go.” Mila, our most trusted event planner, raises a glass of champagne and smiles. “All twenty-five men are backstage and ready for auction. Might I suggest you put on your mask and ready your paddle?” She hands me the beautiful feather mask I picked.
I secure the mask in place and stare at myself in the floor to ceiling mirror. My golden gown hugs my curves and sets off my dark hair, picking up the strands of blond and accentuating them. With the black feathers of my mask hiding my face, I doubt anyone who hasn’t seen me earlier would know who I am on sight. It’s freeing and wonderful. “Thank you for all your help pulling this off in such a short time.”
“Without Lord Haverford’s help, we wouldn’t have such a gorgeous array of men to put up for bidding. All I did was make sure they were properly attired.” She hands me a flute of champagne and grins.
I glance around the ballroom and grin. “And arrange the florist, caterers, bar, music…I could go on.”
“All I want is for you to have a lovely evening. Enjoy yourself tonight. You’ve worked hard enough these last two weeks.”
With a nod, I take a drink and make my way to the dance floor where Alina is twirling around, her pink tulle skirt flowing all around her, and the pale pink mask over her eyes barely hides her identity. She smiles and takes my hand, pulling me into her spin like I’m a planet and she’s the sun.
“What are you doing? This is a waltz!” I shout, placing my nearly empty champagne flute on the tray of a passing server.
“It’s boring.”
“It’s not boring. A waltz is beautiful.”
“I’m going to win Kingston tonight. If I disappear with him after, don’t come find me.”
I roll my eyes. “You know you’re not buying him right? He won’t be yours forever if your bid wins.”
She laughs and lets me go, raising her arms and giving up on me. “But it’ll be a start. He’ll have to pay attention to me if I win.” Then she dances off into the crowd, leaving me smiling after her. Her hold is replaced with the arms of a man, and in the blink of an eye I’m face to face with a stranger, his mask dark as his eyes, and grin as wicked. “Your dance partner seems to have abandoned you, Your Highness.”
“You know who I am? Damn, this mask isn’t working.”
“Your sister was a dead giveaway. No one else would be so familiar with you.”
His voice is deep and deadly sexy. I’m sure I know him. I know everyone at court, but I can’t place him. “And yet you steal a dance and speak to me as though we’re equals?”
“I’m supposed to be fitting in. I can’t do that if I’m not dancing.”
It’s then I figure him out. A thrill runs through me. “Archer?”
His eyes widen, but a smile spreads across his face. “Shh. Don’t blow my cover.”
“How many of the guard are here?”
“All of them. Hopefully they aren’t as easy to identify as I was.”
He pulls me close enough that I can feel the heat of his body and the spicy scent of his aftershave floods my senses. I don’t want him to let go. In all my years of unrequited love, I never thought I’d get a chance to be in his arms. “I expect I know you better than most. You’re always around.”
“I’m always here for you,” he whispers in my ear, the feel of his lips brushing my sensitive skin making a shiver roll through me. We dance through three songs, bodies close, eyes locked, and I fall even harder for him with each passing moment. I know I shouldn’t, but I want him
. I want to take him to my room and give him my virginity, let him have a part of me no other man will ever claim.
I open my mouth to make my proposition, but his posture straightens and a hand goes to his ear as though he’s listening to something. “Your Highness, I’m sorry, but I’ve overstayed my welcome on the dance floor with you.”
He takes my hand and brushes a soft kiss to my knuckles.
“It was a pleasure, Archer,” I breathe.
I watch him walk away, arousal coursing through me as I take in his broad shoulders, narrow hips and waist, and long legs. He’s a formidable presence, and I was just in his arms. I sigh and as soon as he’s out of view, I make my way off the dance floor, ready to watch the auction.
“Well, well, you little minx. It’s a good thing this is a masked ball or people might think you’re casting me to the side.” The Duke of Longmire, my intended, says from where he’s sidled up next to me. Tyler isn’t even wearing a mask. He’s too vain to hide his face.
“Aren’t you supposed to be flirting with your not-so-secret-boyfriend in the coat closet?”
He chuckles. “Have to put on a show for the masses, my dear. Father won’t admit I’m gay to anyone, let alone himself.”
My heart breaks that Tyler’s life is that way. I wish more than anything he could be open about who he is. “I’m sorry.”
His shoulders rise and fall. “Not to worry.” Then he gestures to my empty hands. “You need more liquid courage if you’re going to bid.”
“Oh, no. I won’t be bidding on anyone tonight.” I thread my arm through his. “Besides, I’ve got you to keep me company.”
We walk through the crowd, and I find myself scanning the perimeter for any sign of Archer. I’m certain he’s here, but the man is like a ninja. He’s stealthy and though I can’t see him, I know he’s watching me.