TBAT-Christopher

by Anne, Melody

He dashed to the phone and called the chief royal physician. Sitting back down with her, he waited for what seemed like the longest minutes of his life.

  The doctor soon rushed in and moved Adara to the bed, telling Chris that he must now leave the room.

  The young prince paced by the door, and he wasn’t surprised when his two brothers appeared.

  “What’s wrong?” Xander asked him.

  “I don’t know,” Chris replied. “We were talking and then she was clutching at her head and in pain. I called the doctor right away.”

  They all waited for the doctor to emerge. That took only about fifteen minutes, but it seemed like forever.

  “Your Highness, I have wonderful news. Your conversation apparently jogged her memory. The rush of information was a bit too much for her, however, so I’ve given her a mild sedative. She should be back to herself by the morning.”

  Chris flinched when he heard the doctor’s words, but he thanked him and stood there with his brothers in silence while the man left.

  “I don’t know if I should go in there,” he said. Once again, he was feeling unsure of himself. It was happening so often now, and it had never happened before.

  “Just rip it off — like a bandage — and get it over with,” Xander told him, though the king seemed pretty unsure himself.

  “You’ll be fine, Christopher,” Bryan said. “It will work out. I see the way the two of you look at one another.”

  But the cowards didn’t stick around to see the show. Chris’s brothers scattered before he could open Adara’s door.

  But he had to be brave. He couldn’t hesitate any longer. So he turned the doorknob and walked inside. The room was lit only dimly from the lamp on the bedside table.

  “How are you feeling?” Chris asked as he approached the bed.

  “Maybe I was the one blocking my memory. I didn’t want to remember what you’d done,” she said. Her voice was filled with sadness. “How could you do this to me, Chris?”

  He went over to sit down, but she sent him a withering look, letting him know in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t at all welcome in her bed.

  “I did what I needed to do. In time you will realize that I made the right decision. We’ve found each other, and we care too much to let each other go.”

  In his fear of losing her, he’d gone on the offensive. He couldn’t appear weak right now.

  “I see. It’s that old ‘the end justifies the means’ crap. Your royal prerogative, or something like that. I need time to think about this, Your Highness. I want you out of my sight. Immediately. Get out of this room.”

  Her words pierced his chest, and he ached. But he wouldn’t show that to her.

  “We’ll get through this, Adara,” he said before he did her bidding and left.

  He had to believe that or he wouldn’t make it through the night, let alone the rest of his life.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Adara walked away from the palace in the early morning light and entered the waiting car. The driver had asked her no questions when she summoned him — she wasn’t under house arrest, after all. Still, she hoped the fellow wouldn’t get in trouble once Chris found out what she’d done. Their little — or big — drama wasn’t the driver’s fault.

  She was out of sight of the palace before she allowed her tears to fall. Her heart was shattered, but she’d survived worse things in her life and she would survive this too. Yet she could never stay with a man who had deceived her so thoroughly and with so few qualms. That was all she knew right now.

  The idea of life without him was killing her. But their entire relationship was built on nothing but lies. The truth they’d seemed to find in each other couldn’t withstand that foundation of deceit. She was in love with him, but she didn’t believe he loved her — couldn’t believe it. A man in love didn’t kidnap a woman he professed to love and then lie to her about what had happened for nearly a month. His feelings couldn’t possibly be real. All he’d wanted was to get married in time, before he turned thirty.

  The car pulled into the small airport terminal, and she put a handkerchief to her face in hopes the driver wouldn’t notice her pathetic weakness.

  “I’ll wait for you here,” he told her.

  “That’s not necessary. I’ll be a while,” she said. He gave her a concerned look, but she was able to force a smile. “It’s okay. I’m meeting my friend here, and we’ll be exploring the town. We’ll get a taxi.”

  He looked at her doubtfully, but she felt sure that she was putting on a good performance, a Chris-worthy performance. That thought almost made her burst into tears all over again. But she wouldn’t, not for a man like him. Hardly a prince of a man. She said goodbye to the driver and walked into the terminal with her spine stiff and her head high.

  A flight was leaving for the States in three hours, and she used the last of her money on the ticket, and then had nothing to do but wait. The waiting wouldn’t be fun, of course. The longer this took, the more likely it was that Chris would discover she was missing. But he surely wouldn’t think to check out the airport until it was too late. That, at least, was in her favor. Just about the only thing in her favor right now.

  At long last, she heard a woman announce her flight in at least four languages — luckily, one was English. Adara walked over, held out her boarding pass, and went onto the jet. She was doing the right thing, dammit, even if her heart was telling her the opposite.

  And, boy, was her wretched heart rebelling right now. Turn around! Think about that man! You’d come to know him after you let your guard down!

  No. She hadn’t studied science for nothing. She had a logical brain, and she wasn’t about to let it be overpowered by her weak heart. She kept moving forward, and she found her seat on the plane and sat down. She could do this without falling apart.

  She’d made this decision and she would stand by it. She’d come to see that her mother was wrong, that some men could be trusted. Adara had made a terrible mistake, had opened her heart to the wrong man, but that didn’t make them all worthless. Maybe, just maybe, at some point, she’d find someone, the One . . .

  The doors of the plane slammed shut, and Adara let out a breath. Was it panic? Relief? She wasn’t sure. But whatever it was, there was no going back now.

  The great love of her life, or the supposed love of her life, just wasn’t meant to be. But she couldn’t watch as the airplane made its departure from the beautiful island of Rubare Collina, so she yanked down the shade over her window. She would keep her eyes closed and tell herself over and over again that she was making the right decision, the only possible decision that she could make.

  She heard a small crackle, and the captain’s voice came over the intercom. “We’re sorry to inform you, but there’s been an unavoidable delay. I’m sure that the problem will be resolved in just a few minutes. Please sit back and relax. We’ll be underway very soon.”

  When would this hell end for her? Adara sat up, wondering how much more of this she was expected to go through. The fates must have it in for her. She needed to get out of the country, the sooner the better, and she wished the freaking plane would just take off.

  Just her luck, again. She could hear the airline doors squeal as they were wrenched open. And then people around her were gasping. She just wanted to bury her head in her hands, but doesn’t everyone look toward a train wreck? Or a plane wreck? Or whatever? Suddenly all the passengers began applauding.

  She opened her window blind and looked out and her mouth dropped open. Chris was riding up to the jet on his horse, and he was dressed in full military uniform.

  What was he doing? Her stomach fluttered at the sight of him. She hated herself for feeling that flutter, but there was no way to control it.

  Within seconds he was jumping from his horse and running up to the aircraft, his guards close behind him. And then he was stand
ing right there before her. For the smallest of seconds, there was a sad vulnerability in his expression, but that soon vanished, and he smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Guards, seize her,” he said. He didn’t break eye contact with her for an instant, and she just gaped at him. Was he insane? Seize her? What the . . . heck was he playing at? He had to be talking about someone else, and she looked all around her to find out who it was.

  But the guards walked straight up to her. No way. She wasn’t setting foot out of the jet no matter what they said.

  “Miss Adara, you’ll need to come with us,” one of the guards told her.

  She’d seen this same guard countless times over the last month, and he’d always been quite respectful.

  “You are kidding, right?” she replied.

  “Sorry, ma’am, but we don’t joke in matters involving national security.”

  “I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said in her haughtiest voice. “As you can see, I’m getting ready to leave for home.” She looked from the guard to Chris, who was still smiling, then crossed her arms and sat there stubbornly.

  “You’ve given us no choice,” Chris said.

  He grabbed her seat belt and quickly unbuckled it, pulled her from her seat, and handed her over to his guard. The guard tossed her over his shoulder — no easy task, considering the tight space in the aircraft. She let out a scream and pounded on the man’s back. The passengers looked on in glee. They were obviously witnesses to something great.

  The guards took her off the aircraft and put her down next to Chris’s horse. He was still on the jet; she had no idea what he was doing there.

  He finally descended the stairs and came to stand beside her. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but slugging him was a definite thought dancing around in her mind.

  “You are being charged with theft, with stealing from the palace,” he told her.

  She looked at him in shock. She was devastated that he’d think she would take anything from him besides the clothes he had bought for her, and she’d only taken the ones she was wearing right now.

  “I didn’t take anything. Why would I do that?” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

  “You know perfectly well what you took. You stole my heart, Adara, my soul, my very existence,” he said, and he hauled her into his arms.

  It took her a few seconds to grasp what he was saying.

  “No, you know perfectly well that what you just said isn’t true. Our relationship is nothing more than a lie,” she said. “A way for you to retain your title.”

  “On the contrary. I publicly renounced my title this morning, the moment my driver called to inform me he’d dropped you off at the airport. I made a formal announcement to my people. I want nothing on this planet more than I want you. But I’m not about to force you to do anything, my Adara. Not this time. Tell me you don’t love me, and I will set you free, even though it will cost me everything I am.”

  Adara was stunned into silence. Could he be speaking the truth? She wasn’t sure about anything anymore. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

  “Please be my wife, Adara. We’ve been meant to be since the moment we set eyes on each other. At a bar in Ithaca, where my odyssey ended. I want to be your husband, to have the right to please you every single day for the rest of our lives, to worship you, body and soul. Please be my bride.”

  She was silent for several moments, not knowing what to say. Then, she realized she would never know if it were her decision or not, because he was continually forcing her to do things against her will.

  “Even if you’re telling me the truth, even if you’re willing to give up your title for me, that doesn’t change the fact that you took away my free will, that you weren’t willing to let me go.”

  He looked so pained at what she was saying. But she had to be strong. He’d kidnapped her, and then lied to her, tried to force her into marriage. How could she ever forgive that?

  “You’re right,” he said, releasing his grasp on her. “I want it to be your choice. I want you to love me of your own free will.”

  The pain in his expression was almost more than she could handle witnessing. “How can I prove to you that I love you?”

  “I don’t know that you can, Christopher, not after all that has happened.”

  Silence again surrounded them before he hung his head. When he next looked at her, she’d never seen him look so haunted, so anguished.

  I have to let you go,” he told her.

  She was stunned by his words, not knowing if this was a trick or not. Finally, she spoke.

  “That means I can turn around and get on this airplane?”

  “Yes. I will let you go. But, Adara, know that I love you. I love you enough to let you go, to let you live the life you want, to pursue your dreams. It will destroy me to watch you walk away, but if that’s what will make you happy, I will do as you ask.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured.

  She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, and without another word she turned and walked away, waiting for him to grab her, to tell her he’d been bluffing, that he wouldn’t really let her go.

  It never happened. His guards stood down while she went back up the steps to the airplane. The passengers were all staring at her as she returned to her seat and buckled up.

  She told herself not to look out the window, but she couldn’t help it, couldn’t help checking out where he was. He was right there where she’d left him.

  The captain’s voice came on over the intercom. “We’re sorry about the . . . delay. If everyone will get ready for takeoff in the usual manner, we’ll be on our way.” Even he sounded depressed.

  The woman across the aisle turned to look at Adara with mournful eyes. “He told us he was going to ask you to be his wife, to be our princess,” she said.

  “He did, but it’s . . . complicated,” Adara said as her tears began to fall.

  “Isn’t love always complicated?” the woman said. “But it’s also a rare gift when you find that one person you can’t live without. I lost my Enrico ten years ago, and not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had just one more moment with him.”

  The woman turned back to the book she held in her lap as Adara sat there, almost sobbing. Had she made the wrong decision?

  The door to the jet closed, and the engines started, and then the plane began moving in reverse. Adara watched Chris, still standing where she’d left him, but growing farther and farther away, his head down, his shoulders sagging.

  “Wait!” she called out as she unbuckled and rose to her feet. “Wait, please! I have to get off this plane!”

  “We’ve been cleared for takeoff, ma’am. You must sit down,” the flight attendant told her with some hostility.

  “I’ve messed up, made a mistake,” Adara cried. “I have to get off this plane.” She rushed to the door and gripped it.

  “Ma’am, you must return to your seat,” the flight attendant said. And she took Adara by the arm.

  “Take me back to the airport now!” Adara yelled.

  The passengers began chanting in a number of languages. “Turn this plane around! Turn this plane around!” And soon the plane did in fact turn and left the runway. When it stopped, the doors were opened. Adara dashed down the stairs.

  She began running back toward Chris, who was now looking her way. He didn’t hesitate. He rushed toward her as well, and she launched herself into his arms and clung tightly to him.

  “I do love you, Christopher. My mother — poor woman — brought me up to believe that needing a man was the worst fate imaginable, and then I met you. I was already giving you my heart before that plane crash, but I was too afraid to admit it.”

  “I’ll protect your heart, my Princess, if you only give me the chance.” He leaned back, joy shining in his eyes. “I love you,
Adara; I love you so much. We can go anywhere you want, live anywhere, do anything. I don’t care as long as I’m with you.”

  “I don’t want you to change who you are, Chris. I just want you to love me forever.”

  He let her go, and for a moment she was afraid. But then he dropped to his knee and pulled out the ring she’d left sitting on her dresser in the palace.

  “Marry me, Adara, of your own free will. Love me always because you are forever in my heart. Make beautiful babies with me. Let’s live a life together that we can both be proud of.”

  His eyes were shining as he spoke, and his words filled her with joy. She wouldn’t have to walk behind him. They were equals in every way.

  She looked a bit nervously from him to the smiling guards. She didn’t know whether princes ever kneeled to anyone. But for her, he was doing exactly that.

  “Yes, Chris, yes, I will marry you. I want all of that and more. I want to live here in Rubare Collina, I want to have your babies, I want to live happily ever after, and I never want to fight with you again,” she said, dropping down to her knees so they could be face-to-face.

  “I can’t guarantee that we’ll never fight,” Chris told her, “but I can promise you that making up from those fights will be well worth it.” He grabbed her and kissed her breathless.

  Then just as quickly he pulled away and took her hand, slipping the beautiful ring back on her finger. And the two of them stood up together.

  “Don’t give up your royal title. Your people love and respect you,” she told him. “It’s who you are.”

  “Too late. I already did.”

  “I’m sure the king would be more than happy to reinstate you,” she said with a laugh.

  “Yes, his king never accepted his renunciation.”

  They both turned to see Xander walking up to them with Reanna by his side, both looking beautiful and regal and impressive in the extreme.

  “You can’t do that,” Chris said.

  “I had a feeling the woman wouldn’t be able leave you, brother. Welcome to our land — this time of your own free will,” Xander said to Adara before leaning down and kissing her cheek.