Heart of Mine

by Lindsay Bergman

  He nodded, but still looked slightly anxious. “Do you need anything else—some water or food?”

  “Just you,” I said quietly, watching his eyes soften. “I’ve missed you, Alex.”

  A tender smile lit up his face. “I’ve missed you too, amore mio.” He leaned forward, bracing himself on the edge of the chair, and studied my face.

  My eyes explored his face in return, still finding it hard to believe that he was actually here. I was beyond happy to see him, and yet my heart already ached just thinking about having to part from him again. It was torture being this close to him. Feeling his touch against my skin, his kiss on my lips. Listening to the sound of his voice and seeing his dazzling smile. All the while knowing that these few precious moments with him were already nearing the end.

  “Alex, you shouldn’t have come after me,” I said abruptly. I instantly regretted my outburst when I realized the words hadn’t come out right.

  Alexander’s eyes narrowed indignantly, and his shoulders stiffened as if he were preparing for battle. “Your life was in danger, Madison. Did you really expect me to hide behind the palace walls when your life means more to me than my own?” Angry, he rose and towered over my bedside. “I’ve already given up my heart for my country. I wasn’t about to sacrifice your life, too.”

  “That’s not what I meant, Alexander.” I touched his arm, trying to calm him. I could never be upset with him for risking his life to save mine when I had done the exact same thing. “What I’m trying to say is that it was hard enough saying goodbye to you the last time. I never expected to have to do it again.”

  The fight went out of him instantly. He dropped down onto the edge of my bed and carefully gathered me into his arms. “I know what you mean, dolcezza,” he murmured against my cheek. “Don’t think about it right now. We’re here together, both alive and safe, and that’s all that matters. Let’s worry over goodbyes another day.”

  He drew back enough to cup my face, and kissed the tip of my nose and my lips, before holding me close to his heart. We were still sitting wrapped up in each other’s arms when my visitors arrived.

  Alexander straightened at the sound of a politely cleared throat. I turned my attention toward the doorway. The hospital room had suddenly become very crowded; everyone that I loved was here. Standing closest to us were my parents, with Papa and Mackenzie. Behind them were King Mathis and Queen Gabriella, as well as Ashton, Arianna, Bennett and Ethan. And in the back corner of the room was Gerard.

  Alexander released me and stepped back from the bed to allow the others a chance to greet me. After hugs and tears had been exchanged, I looked up at the semi-circle of faces surrounding my bedside, feeling incredibly blessed by my loving family and friends. We chatted for a few minutes before I suddenly began feeling very tired. The pain medicine had finally kicked in and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. I was trying to concentrate on what Dad was saying to King Mathis when I felt a caress on my cheek.

  Alexander’s blue eyes met mine as the prince briefly studied my face, then he turned to address the room at large. “I think we need to give Maddy some time to rest. She’s looking a bit tired.”

  Twelve pairs of eyes turned to assess me and I didn’t even bother trying to object. My limbs were feeling heavy, weighed down by the pull of sleep. After a quick goodbye, Arianna began ushering everyone from the room until only my parents and Alexander remained. Mom insisted on staying with me and encouraged Alexander to go back with everyone else so that he could get some proper rest. The Royal Family had rented a massive vacation cabin for privacy and security. Since our home had been burned to the ground, my family was staying with them.

  The prince glanced down at me, looking reluctant to leave. My heartbeat stuttered nervously and I clutched at his hand, afraid that he might not come back now that he knew I was okay—and I wouldn’t blame him at all. It would be easier to part ways as soon as possible, instead of prolonging the inevitable. A clean break.

  Alexander read the anxiety in my eyes and smiled in reassurance. “Don’t worry, dolcezza. I’ll be back tomorrow, I promise.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Maddy,” Alexander said firmly.

  “Okay,” I whispered, my panic fading.

  He softly kissed my lips and straightened. “Sleep well, dolcezza. I’ll see you in the morning.” He gently squeezed my fingers, then let go of my hand and left the room, giving me a moment alone with my parents.

  “Thanks for saving me, Daddy.” I took hold of his hand and looked gratefully up at the man who had loved me and protected me since the day I was born.

  Dad smiled and squeezed my fingers. “I will always protect you, Madison. I love you, baby girl. Get some rest.” He kissed my forehead, then turned to my mom and raised a questioning brow. “Are you sure you want to stay here all night, Claire? You need a good night sleep, too.”

  Mom touched his cheek, her expression unbending. “Yes, Sam. I need to be with our daughter tonight.”

  “All right, sweetheart.” Dad kissed her and followed Alexander out into the hall.

  Mom took the prince’s vacated chair next to my bed and reached out to tightly clasp my hand. She smiled past the tears that were suddenly in her eyes. “Sleep well, my precious baby girl. I’ll be right here with you all night.”

  “I love you, Mama,” I said quietly. My eyes closed, too weary to stay open any longer.

  “I love you too, sweet girl.”

  Holding on tightly to her hand, I drifted off to sleep. With my mom nearby, I knew that I was safe and loved. When I was a child she had always protected me from the monsters under my bed, and had helped to banish the lingering fear left behind by childhood nightmares. I was certain that I would need her protection tonight.

  The monsters who had stalked me, harassed me, kidnapped me and tried to kill me were gone, though I still didn’t know the details of what had happened to them. I was safe, and I was alive, but I knew that the memories of those monsters would haunt my nightmares forever.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  It was bright and early the next morning when Alexander walked into the room, dressed casually in a black button-down shirt and jeans, looking refreshed and well rested.

  He shot me a beaming smile as he strode over to my bed. “Good morning, bellissima. How are you feeling?”

  “Much better. It looks like you slept well, too.”

  Alexander smiled crookedly. “I passed out the second my head hit the pillow.” He glanced over at my mom, asleep in the chair with her jacket tossed over her folded arms. “How’d your mom sleep? She doesn’t look very comfortable.”

  “I’m not,” Mom announced, shifting in the chair. “This is a terribly uncomfortable chair.” Her eyes fluttered open and her weary gaze focused on us. She asked hopefully, “Did Sam come with you?”

  “Yes, he’s downstairs getting coffee.”

  Mom stood and stretched, then smiled at both of us in turn. “You’re in very capable hands now that Alex is here. I’m going to find Sam and get a ride back to the cabin. I’m exhausted.” She leaned over the bed to kiss my cheek. “We’ll come back over this afternoon.”

  She hugged Alexander and fondly kissed his cheek. “Take good care of my baby girl.”

  “I will, Claire,” Alexander promised.

  After Mom left, the prince sat down in her chair and looked over at me expectantly. “I’m sure you have a thousand questions for me, dolcezza. Why don’t I start at the beginning, and we’ll see if that answers everything?” At my nod, he continued. “Over a week ago now, Gerard contacted Pierre about the possibility that a third person was involved because we hadn’t found the man who’d been following you in America. We started looking more carefully through Simon and Charlotte’s files again, looking for something that we might have missed. Then seven days ago I discovered that Simon and Charlotte had a younger sister: Lady Amelia Mercier Delacroix—Marie’s mother. She was the connection we’d been missing. When I rea
lized she was related to Simon and Charlotte, I knew that you were right about a jealous noblewoman being involved. We immediately tried to locate Marie, but had trouble tracking her down.”

  Alexander leaned forward in his chair, looking restless and lost in the memory of what had happened. “I called Gerard to tell him what we’d found, and just minutes into our phone call I was told by security that Marie had boarded a plane to America two days earlier. Before I could even warn Gerard, I heard you in the background shouting about a fire. When the line suddenly went dead, I knew you were in trouble.”

  His dark blue eyes met mine, filled with the terror of that day, as if he were reliving every moment of it by recounting his side of the story. I grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly. Some of the darkness in his expression faded.

  “I was on a plane less than an hour later. It was the longest flight of my life. We had no way of contacting anyone to find out what had happened, or to know if you were even all right. When we finally landed in Montana and reached your family’s ranch, both the house and barn had been burned to ashes ... and they told me you were probably dead.”

  “Alex, I’m so sorry,” I interjected, feeling crushed by the pain he must have felt.

  He kissed my fingers and tried to smile, though it was brittle. “That’s what the fire crew thought, but I refused to believe them until they found proof. You’d been missing for over twenty hours and they still hadn’t found anything in the debris, so when your dad found two sets of tracks behind the house leading out into the woods, Sam was convinced that it was you. He organized our search party and contacted the neighbors to borrow supplies and horses. We didn’t want to take the time to wait for Search and Rescue, so we set out on our own to find you.”

  I wasn’t surprised to hear that it was my dad who had found the trail that led them to me. He was a formidable force to be reckoned. Strong, clever and powerful, Dad had turned a four- generation cattle ranch into a successful multi-million dollar business. Taught about the outdoors by my grandfather, he was an expert marksman, hunter and tracker. Together they had spent many hours exploring the woods behind the house; venturing out on hunting expeditions or merely camping for the simple enjoyment of being outdoors. If anyone could have found me, bound and lost in the forest, it was him.

  I shifted on the bed, careful not to pull on the IV hooked to my hand, and looked at Alexander curiously. “How did you convince your security to let you come after me?”

  Alexander smirked and lounged back in the chair. “I’m the Crown Prince of Coradova. I’m very good at getting what I want.” I frowned pointedly and he laughed before his expression grew serious. “The men who came with me are my friends as well as my guards. They all know how I feel about you and even though they disagreed with me at first, in the end they reluctantly agreed to let me go along. I’m very persuasive when I need to be, and there was no way I was going to be left behind when your life was on the line.”

  He rose from his chair in a single fluid motion and leaned over my bed. His eyes were warm and blue as the deep ocean, with a power that reminded me he was not merely a man; he was a prince. Alexander understood his responsibilities to the crown and when it was necessary to put duty before desire, his country before his heart. But when Prince Alexander set his mind to something, he was an immoveable force. If he had wanted to be in that forest searching for me, there was nothing on earth that could have stopped him.

  His thumb softly traced my bottom lip, careful not to touch the cut left by Marie, and though his expression darkened infinitesimally at the sight of my injury, his kiss was sweet and tender. He was glowering by the time he sat back down in the chair, his thoughts far away.

  “Marie wanted us to find you,” Alexander growled. “The tracks were almost too easy to follow; planted intentionally like little breadcrumbs to keep us from getting lost. We left the horses at one point when we thought we were getting close. Then the trail split. My security refused to separate into two groups, afraid to leave me too vulnerable.” His hands balled into fists. “So they stayed with me while Sam decided to follow the other trail. We had flashlights, but didn't dare use them and risk giving ourselves away. Marie already knew we were coming; the forest had been so silent that night and we couldn’t hide the sound of our footsteps. When we heard that first gunshot and the sound of your scream—my heart stopped.”

  His eyes met mine, tumultuous with emotion. I remembered the sound of his voice, shouting my name through the dark forest, filled with fear. “During the confusion with Paul I was able to slip away from my security.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at me pointedly. “I’m sure you remember the rest. Recklessly putting yourself in harm’s way when Marie lunged at us with a knife and nearly getting killed in the process.”

  I boldly met his glare and raised my chin defiantly. “And I’d do it again if it meant saving you.”

  Alexander’s eyes flashed dangerously. “Do you realize how close I came to losing you this week? It’s bad enough that I can’t marry you. Must I watch them bury you in the ground, as well?” he demanded, jumping to his feet. He towered over my bedside, his eyes blazing fiercely. “I let you walk away from me in Coradova knowing that you were walking out of my life permanently, all the while telling myself that it was the right thing to do. That you’d be happier with a simple, normal life ... safe from the dangers of being royalty. For the last three weeks I’ve done nothing but torture myself with images of your life here in Montana—picturing you falling in love with some cowboy, getting married and having his children.”

  He yanked a hand through his black hair as darkness stole across his face. “It kills me, dolcezza, to think of you with another man. But I’d rather live with that kind of pain for the rest of my life, knowing that you were alive and happy, than dead and buried.” He dropped onto the bed and drew me close into his arms, our faces mere inches apart, his intense blue eyes fixed on my face. “I can’t stand the thought of living in a world without you in it, Madison.”

  “Oh, Alex,” I sighed, touching his face. “Don’t you see? That’s why I had to save you, because I feel the same way. You’re my heart, Alexander.” Our lips touched in a kiss that was wistful and poignant, our arms wrapping tighter, protective and reassuring. We were both alive and safe, but we wouldn’t be together for much longer. They were releasing me from the hospital in a few days ... and then Alexander would most likely be heading home.

  “What happened to Marie?” I asked, pulling back to look at him. While I’d asked the question as a distraction for my restless heart, I had been desperate to know the answer since yesterday.

  Alexander’s expression grew grim. “She died in the forest from gunshot wounds. I’m sorry that it happened, but I’m relieved she’s no longer a threat. Her illegitimate half-brother, Paul, is currently being transported to Coradova. He’ll stand trial with the Merciers. The Duke and Duchess de Anjou are under surveillance until my parents return to the palace in a few days; then they’ll be brought in for questioning. I want to make sure that anyone who was involved in hurting you is locked behind bars for a very long time.”

  His hands tightened on my arms as anger flashed across his eyes. For a moment Alexander seemed lost to the darkness of his fury, then he shook his head and the fierce lines of his face smoothed. He brushed the hair away from my face and smiled tenderly. “But it’s over now. No one will ever hurt you again, Maddy.”

  “Except you ... when you have to leave me,” I whispered, suddenly desolate.

  Alexander flinched and slid his hands up to frame my face. He kissed me with a fierce and intense passion, and the barest hint of desperation. When he pulled back, the throbbing in my heart was acute.

  His thumb softly caressed the arch of my cheekbone, and the eyes that explored my face were shadowed. “I don’t want to leave you.”

  I gently touched my forehead to his, my eyes closing on a remorseful sigh. “But you will.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  It was
early morning, with the golden sunlight cascading across the tips of trees and glistening off the flowing blue water. Standing out on the back deck of our vacation rental, I braced my elbows against the wooden railing and looked out over the beautiful scenery. The two-story log cabin sat on ten acres of land nestled between the river and surrounding pine and fir trees, with the steep gable windows facing out over the water. It was quiet and peaceful, the constant roar of the river broken on occasion by the sounds of wildlife. Beyond the expanse of trees, the distant mountain peaks were impressive and layered in shades of blue and purple. The silhouette of a hawk drew my gaze upward as my mind wandered.

  It had been almost a week since I was released from the hospital. Before bringing me to our temporary cabin home, my parents and Alexander had taken me by our family cattle ranch so I could see first-hand the damage left by the fires. I had latched on tightly to Alexander’s arm, in desperate need of his support as I’d looked out over the acres of land that had been in my family for four generations. Where the barn and two-story farm house once stood, built by my great-grandfather, there was nothing left but ash and debris. My family home was gone, along with all of our possessions and heirlooms. Lost in the blink of an eye, consumed by the raging flames of vengeance that had cruelly been unleashed on us. Overwhelmed by disbelief and anguish, I had fallen into Alexander as my knees buckled beneath me, consumed by the emotions that had poured out in a torrent of tears. From heartbreak, to fear and pain, longing, misery, shock and outrage. Not just because of the destruction of my home, but from everything that had happened since I’d left Coradova. It was a while before I had been able to get myself back under control.

  “We’ll rebuild,” Dad had said, his voice sure and strong. “What matters most is that we’re all safe, and together.” My mom was curled into his side, her face set in determination. Together, my parents were strong and unshakeable. Watching them, I’d felt envious of their happy marriage. Alexander and I would never have that.