by T. K. Leigh
“You somehow find the ability to look past all his imperfections, all his faults.” She pauses, then adds. “All his regrets.”
I nod, swiping at the tears sliding down my cheek.
“At the end of the day, those things don’t matter. All that does is the understanding in your heart that you’ve finally arrived. That you’ve finally found peace. That you’ve finally found a home. And no matter where you go, no matter the miles you travel, as long as you’re together, you will be home.”
She raises her glass, and everyone else follows suit, this mishmashed group of people that has somehow become my family toasting us.
“I’m thrilled beyond belief you’ve finally found your way home. To Nora and Anderson.”
“Nora and Anderson,” everyone repeats.
I look at Anderson, who tips his flute toward mine. He curves into me, his breath warm on my lips.
“Here’s to our next adventure, love.”
I clink his glass. “To our next adventure.”
Chapter Three
Anderson
“Nora, darling,” I murmur into her neck, rousing her from sleep.
“We can’t be there already,” she replies in a scratchy voice.
“Almost. We’ll be landing in about an hour. I thought you might want to take the opportunity to freshen up beforehand.”
She groans, her eyes remaining closed. “It’s frowned upon to step off a plane with bedhead, isn’t it?”
I chuckle, brushing my lips against her temple. “You’re still gorgeous. While I doubt there will be many reporters at the airfield when we land, being in this life means always looking the part.”
She rolls over in the bed in the rear cabin of the private jet, her gaze meeting mine. “I’d prefer to play the part of an unknown New Yorker a little while longer.”
“Wouldn’t we all?” I smooth a few of her waves away from her face, cupping her cheek. “Are you nervous?”
“What do I have to be nervous about? It’s not like I’m flying in the royal family’s jet and moving to a country I’ve never been where I’ll have to trade my privacy and anonymity for the spotlight as the crown prince’s girlfriend, and eventually fiancée once you speak with your father.”
“Exactly,” I retort playfully. “You have absolutely nothing to be nervous about.”
Her laughter fills the space before her expression turns serene. “Even so, one thing is certain.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re worth any nerves I may experience.”
“I’m glad you think so.” I place a gentle kiss on her lips before standing and buttoning my suit jacket.
When she sees I’m already dressed, she furrows her brow. “How long have you been awake?”
“Not too long. I’ll give you some privacy to freshen up. I’ll have breakfast waiting when you’re ready.” I bend down and kiss her once more before walking toward the door.
My hand on the knob, I pause to appreciate her beauty one last time while she’s still the woman I met on Route 66. I can’t shake the premonition that the second this plane lands at the airfield in Belmont, everything will change. Nora will change.
On a long sigh, I slip out of the bedroom and into the bright cabin.
“Sir,” a voice says once I close the door.
I look up as Creed strides toward me, his dark eyes urgent. A military man with special ops training, he’s typically calm and collected, nothing usually causing him concern. Immediately, I know something’s wrong. Something I won’t like.
“What happened?”
He licks his lips, an uneasiness about him. “This just hit the wires about fifteen minutes ago.” He holds out his tablet.
I take it from him and read the headline. A wave of nausea pummels through me as I waver on my legs. I quickly place a hand on the top of a nearby seat, attempting to steady myself.
“Are you okay, Anders?” Creed asks in a low voice, shifting from my chief protection officer to childhood friend.
“Fuck,” I hiss under my breath, jaw tightening. “We were careful. I didn’t think anyone would even recognize me.”
“It appears it was simply a case of right place at the right time,” he answers, all business once more. “Or perhaps wrong place at the wrong time.”
I swallow hard, staring at the photo below the headline announcing to the world something I’d hoped to keep to myself a little longer. But that’s impossible now, especially when the photographer was able to capture the perfect angle, Nora’s left hand cupping my face as I kissed her on the sidewalk in front of our Upper West Side apartment building, a large diamond ring on a very important finger.
She’d started to take it off before we left our apartment, but I insisted she keep it on, give her a few more minutes to wear it before we needed to keep it a secret again.
I should have known better.
“Do I want to know what kind of backlash we’re facing?” I give the tablet back to Creed.
“Public perception is mixed. Some people aren’t thrilled at the idea of you being engaged to a foreigner. The American press is positive, so that’s a good thing. Unfortunately, Europe is a different story.”
“I figured as much.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and squeeze my eyes shut. A muscle in my shoulder twitches, so I shift my stance, trying to shake it off.
“Sir, are you sure—”
“Anything else I need to be concerned about?” I interrupt before Creed can finish his question. I don’t want to hear it. Don’t want him verbalizing my own fears. That he’s noticed more and more signs of a potential flareup in my MS. Or worse, that my condition is deteriorating.
“There’s also the matter of the media.”
“The media?”
“A media contingent has assembled at the airport and is awaiting your arrival. I have a team handling it as we speak.”
I run a hand over my face, cursing myself for being so careless. I just wanted one last moment of feeling like a normal couple. But we’re not even on the ground yet and are already in the thick of it.
“I can arrange for your flight to be diverted to a different airfield.”
I vehemently shake my head. “That will look like I’m trying to hide something. We’re already on the defensive. No sense in giving them even more fodder to speculate on.”
“Agreed. So we’ll keep to our original plan, but there will be additional security present. Your private secretary, Lieutenant Colonel Bridge, will meet the plane to go over a game plan for your arrival.”
I inhale a deep breath I hope will calm me. All it does is increase my anxiety.
“What’s wrong?”
I snap my head up, my gaze settling on Nora standing in the doorway of the back cabin. She’s dressed in a knee-length, floral wrap dress, her hair in loose waves, makeup freshly applied.
How do I tell her our secret’s out? That the European media already seems to loathe her before we’ve even landed in Belmont?
“I’ll give you two some privacy.” Creed looks at Nora. “Ma’am.” Then he turns to me and bows his head. “Sir.” Spinning, he stalks toward the front of the plane, disappearing from view.
“Anders, what’s going on?”
I refocus my gaze on her. What I wouldn’t give to rewind the clocks to that moment in our New York apartment before we left. When I pinned her against the wall and kissed her like it was the last time I would. Now I fear it was. At least the last time she kissed Anderson North, the alter ego I travel under when I don’t want people to know who I am.
And the man Nora first met on Route 66 before I told her the truth.
I gesture to a nearby table. “Let’s sit.”
“I’m not sure I want to.” She pushes out a nervous laugh. “In my experience, nothing good follows a request to sit. Especially considering your morose expression. You look like you just learned someone died.”
“No one died,” I assure her, although it feels like something has.
&nb
sp; It’s not our engagement being public knowledge that has me on edge. It’s the fact it was leaked before I had a chance to speak to my father. Before I had an opportunity to go through the typical procedure required of all members of the royal family. Or at least the first five people in the line of succession.
I help her into a chair, then skirt around to the other side of the table and sit. Taking her hand in mine once more, I toy with her empty ring finger. If there’s one positive thing to come from this, she can now wear her ring all the time. At least I think she can. I’ll need to talk to my private secretary before confirming anything.
“I messed up, Nora,” I admit softly.
She blinks. “What are you talking about?”
Pulling my phone out of the inside pocket of my suit jacket, I navigate to the website Creed had shown me. Then I hand it to Nora, allowing her to see the headline and the photo of us in an intimate kiss, her ring prominent. Below that are more photos taken after she pulled out of the kiss, her face visible.
“‘An American Princess’?” Nora reads, snapping up her head to meet my gaze, confusion etched in her brow. “How? I thought—”
“It’s my fault,” I assure her, not wanting her to burden herself with even a hint of the blame. “I’d grown complacent. Didn’t think anyone would recognize me. It’s not like I’m a member of the British Royal Family or anything.”
“But some people still know who you are.”
“All the more reason I should have been more careful, shouldn’t have insisted it was okay for you to wear your ring. It was selfish of me. I hate looking at your finger and not seeing a ring.” I glance at her still vacant hand. “Once we boarded this plane, I knew you wouldn’t be able to wear it, even at home, until we went through the proper channels. When I put the ring back on your finger the other night, your face lit up, Nora. I hated depriving you of that again. Now my carelessness may cost us. This story is making headlines everywhere. Not only in my home country, but also all over Europe. And America.”
Nora sits with her spine straight, not reacting as she processes this news. I wish she would. Wish I knew what she was thinking.
“When we land, we’ll have to face the media. According to Creed, there’s already a frenzy waiting.”
She nods, glancing out the window, nothing but miles of clear, blue sky surrounding us. “I guess this is one way of ripping off the bandage, so to speak.” She laughs under her breath, but it’s laced with anxiety.
To say she’s been apprehensive about being thrust into the spotlight would be an understatement. Despite her assurances that I’m worth the lack of obscurity she once craved, I didn’t want it to happen like this.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am about this, Nora. This isn’t how I’d hoped to introduce you to my world, my life.”
“I know.” She treats me to a smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “If this past year has taught me anything, it’s that you’ll always be by my side. As long as you promise to stay true to that, we’ll get through whatever awaits us.”
“And I will. No matter what happens. No matter what people do to try to break us apart, I will always be by your side.” I bring her hand to my lips, feathering a kiss along her knuckles. “Promise.”
She swallows hard and repeats, “Promise.”
But regardless of our affirmations to one another, I still can’t shake the feeling that we’re about to set sail on unchartered waters.
That life as we know it is about to change.
That our love as we know it is about to change.
Chapter Four
Nora
My stomach is in knots.
I don’t want Anderson to worry any more than he already is, but I can’t shake off the unsettling feeling winding through me over what awaits me — us — when we land.
Is our love strong enough to endure the storm I sense brewing offshore?
Or will this life pull us into its riptide until we drown?
Perhaps I didn’t give this scenario the careful consideration it deserves. I’ve known who Anderson is from almost the beginning. Yet I haven’t been exposed to what he is. Not in this world. Isn’t that why I agreed to move here with him? To get to know that part of him, too?
Why do I feel like it’s all falling apart before I’ve even stepped foot in Belmont?
“Those are the canals I told you about.” Anderson’s voice cuts through my thoughts. He nods toward the window.
I follow his line of sight, peering a thousand feet below as the plane grows closer and closer to the ground. Everything is green and vibrant, small canals lining historic, brick buildings. Exactly like I pictured his home country and the capital city of Montrose.
“Wow,” I exhale.
It doesn’t matter how many times Anderson has shown me photos of what is now my new home, or the multitude of images I’ve looked at during another online search. Nothing could have prepared me for how beautiful it is. How different it is from the hustle of the concrete jungle we left eight hours ago.
“What do you think?” he asks. “She’s a sight, isn’t she?”
The love he has for his homeland is clear in both his tone and the small smile that tugs on his lips as he admires the ground below us. It’s the look of a man coming home. The same one my father bestowed on me whenever he returned from deployment.
“It’s gorgeous,” I tell him. “So…European.”
He chuckles, brushing a soft kiss against my knuckles. “Good thing, because this is part of Europe. There are countries besides England and France, you know.”
“I know.” I roll my eyes playfully before looking back out the window. “But this is different. It’s old, charming. And I’m only seeing it from up above.”
“I can’t wait to give you the grand tour.”
“Me, either.”
He peers down at our intertwined fingers. “Have you read up on the royal family at all?” he asks after a beat.
“Not really. I know a little, but I’m not like Chloe, who can write books about your family’s history.” I laugh nervously. “Hell, she probably knows more about your family than you do.”
“Probably.” He pauses. “Do you know how my father came to be king?”
“I assume because your grandfather passed away. Isn’t that how these things work?”
“Usually. Although in Belmont, there’s a tradition for the king to voluntarily abdicate around his sixty-fifth birthday. But you’re right. My grandfather did die. However, my father was only supposed to be ‘the spare’.”
I tilt my head, brow furrowed. “The spare?”
“It’s an unspoken obligation in the family. You need to have an heir and a spare. Two kids in case one…” He gives me a knowing look. “You have a backup. My grandmother, being the overachiever she is, had four spares.”
“Makes it sound like kids are commodities. Not living, breathing humans.”
“Welcome to my world, Nora.” He smiles, but it oozes with sarcasm. “I don’t remember much about my Uncle Theodore. I was young when he died. Only eight.”
“What happened?”
“He and his family went to Switzerland for a skiing holiday one Christmas. An unexpected avalanche came over them. Killed him, his wife, and their four children, along with several other guests and ski guides.”
I cover my mouth with my hand, shaking my head. “Oh, my god.”
“It made headlines back then, but considering you were probably only two or three at the time, I doubt you remember it. Needless to say, it affected the entire family. Hell, the country. In the blink of an eye, not only did the heir apparent perish, but so did the second, third, fourth, and fifth in line to the crown. Until that point, I was content with the fact I’d never be king. That I’d never come remotely close to being king. I got to have a normal childhood, unlike my older cousin, who had to go through all this extra tutoring to learn about our government and the monarchy. To learn how to rule. Then it all changed.”
&n
bsp; He swallows hard, a pensive look crossing his face. “This will probably come out as extremely insensitive, but when I heard the news, I cried. Not for my cousins or aunt or uncle. But because I saw their deaths as mine, too.”
“Anders…,” I sigh.
“You’ll hear the word ‘duty’ being tossed around a lot in the coming weeks. After the accident, I had it thrown at me from every direction. Their bodies were still warm when I was ripped out of my old school in the country and placed in a new one in London where I’d learn how to be an effective leader, in addition to everything else expected of me. It all happened so quickly. One day, I was just a kid most people barely recognized. The next, my face was all over the media as the future king. From seventh in line to second.” His Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “And within a month, I went from second in line to heir apparent.”
I close my eyes, my heart breaking for the boy he once was. It sounds crazy, considering the picture popular fiction paints of royalty. But I can see the truth plastered all over Anderson’s face. This life isn’t as charmed as everyone believes.
“I’m not telling you this because I want your sympathy. I’ve made peace with the circumstances that led to this point in my life. I’m telling you this because I know how it feels to be an outsider. Maybe not to the extent you’re considered an outsider, but I can relate. The first eight years of my life, I was…normal, apart from my grandfather being king. I went to a normal school. Had normal friends. Played normal sports. Then all that changed. The entire country’s attention seemed to be focused on my father and me. And, to a lesser degree, my sister, as well as the rest of my cousins. Granted, it’s not the same thing as what you’ll go through as you get adjusted, but—”
“You’re right.”
Cupping his cheek, I brush my thumb against the smooth skin. It makes me miss his usual scruff. Something else I’ll have to get used to. Anderson’s made his distaste for the rules regarding his appearance quite clear.