by Amy DeLuca
Cinda hesitated a beat and then surrendered. It was no use. She couldn’t fight it any longer.
She gave in to the longing, deciding to satisfy her hunger to learn about his life in the years they’d been apart.
This unexpected interlude would be all they’d ever have, but she would take advantage of it and do her best to reclaim every minute of the time they’d lost.
“Yes,” she called to him. “That bottle of wine you mentioned last night? And two glasses.”
They spent the rest of the day in front of the fire, talking as the wind whipped outside and rain lashed the floor-to-ceiling windows, catching up on the past five years—with one major omission of course.
Cinda encouraged Alex to talk about himself—his plane, his wild-child brother and scholarly college-aged sister, his life and duties as a prince.
For some reason he seemed fascinated by her mundane life as well, asking endless questions about AJ, her business, her friends, and her stepmother and stepsisters.
“I can’t believe you’re employing them. I remember you saying you’d never met two more entitled, lazy, selfish girls. I always thought they were complete brats. I hope they’ve changed.”
She laughed and took another sip of the delicious white wine. “Not exactly. Well, I guess they’re too old to be brats now.”
“But the other adjectives?”
She laughed again. “If the shoe fits… Anyway, I like my work. It’s fulfilling to help other people, and more importantly, it pays the bills for AJ and me. The hours are a bit longer than I’d like, but we all have to work, right?”
Then she snickered and performed a bow with an overly elaborate hand flourish. “Well, unless we’re born into royalty.”
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Believe me, I work. It’s just not the kind of work I’d prefer to do.”
“What would you rather do for a living, if you weren’t too busy prince-ing, that is.”
Alex chuckled at the made-up word but then got serious. “I’d be a full-time pilot, travel the world, go where I wanted to go and do what I wanted to do instead of being controlled by duty. How about you? What if you could do anything? Would you still run your cleaning company?”
She thought about it a moment. “I wouldn’t want to dissolve it and let my clients down. But honestly? If money were no concern, I’d turn the day to day running of it over to someone else and spend a lot more time with AJ. I’ve never told anyone this, but… I’d even kind of like to homeschool him. Does that sound crazy?”
“Not at all. My siblings and I were all homeschooled—well, we had tutors who came to the palace—but it’s a brilliant way to do things… leaves a lot more time and opportunity for travel.”
There was a gleam in Alex’s eye she didn’t necessarily like, but he moved on to other topics, and Cinda happily answered his questions about AJ’s favorite activities, toys, and friends.
She told him about her son’s favorite teacher at preschool, a young woman named Angelina whose gentle demeanor and long platinum locks fit her name perfectly.
“He wants to marry her when he grows up,” she informed Alex. “I’ve given my blessing, though she says she plans to be a nun.”
“An actual nun? As in a habit-wearing, no-marriage-or-love-life nun?”
“Yep. She says that’s what she’s always planned to do with her life.”
“Well, he’ll find the right girl one day,” Alex said. “Though sometimes, the first one to move into your heart simply refuses to vacate the premises.”
For a moment they held searing eye contact.
Cinda’s heart squeezed almost to the point of bursting, but she chose to ignore the palpable tension. And his loaded remark about first loves.
“In Angelina’s case, I’m afraid he’ll have to find a replacement. What do we have around here for dinner?”
Alex seemed to pick up on her reticence. “Let me go see. Want me to help you to the kitchen? You could sit at the island and keep me company while I attempt to work culinary wonders with crackers, tuna, and jarred peppers.”
“Sure.”
As he prepared the food, Alex continued to ask about AJ. “What kind of baby was he?”
“Not every minute was perfect, of course, but he was easy compared to most babies,” Cinda said, picturing her son’s cherubic baby face.
“I have a friend whose daughter cried every naptime and bedtime until she was three. When I’d put AJ down for the night, he smiled up at me and closed his eyes. I was almost embarrassed to tell people he started sleeping through the night at three months.”
“That must have made his father happy.”
Cinda’s ease vanished. Alex was fishing again. She could tell by his tone of voice.
“He was already gone by then.”
“Idiot,” Alex muttered to the bowl in front of him, then more loudly he asked, “What happened with you two? Why did you break up? I can’t imagine what would make a man abandon his newborn, not to mention a woman like you.”
An attack of nerves made Cinda’s hands shake to the point she had to put them in her lap to hide it.
“I’m not used to talking about him,” she said cryptically. “I’d really rather not.”
Alex was clearly not thrilled at her evasion but nodded his agreement, still looking angry as he turned around and set her dinner plate in front of her.
“I’ll say this one more thing… whatever happened… he was a fool to let you go. And I certainly hope he never develops the gall to show has face again, demanding some kind of parental rights.”
You and me both, sweet prince. You and me both.
Nineteen
Rainbows on Demand
Jealousy was eating Alex alive.
Though he knew it was ridiculous, though he knew Cinda’s life hadn’t simply frozen in place the minute he left America five years ago, it killed him to think of her with another man.
To know that he was out there, somewhere, and that one day he’d come to his senses and return to reclaim her and his child.
It was inevitable. No one could be stupid enough to walk away from this woman for good.
Once upon a time Alex had been certain he’d be the one to father her children. But he’d left, and some other man had claimed the honor. As much as he’d like to, he didn’t own her.
Alex worked to suppress the envy he felt for this unnamed, absent fool of a man and focused on taking care of Cinda. He did everything he could think of to make her comfortable, kept up with her pain reliever doses, prepared whatever meals he could scrape together from the non-perishables that had been left at the house, and monitored the weather updates on the radio.
For most of the day, the gale continued to howl outside, the rain pelting the windowpanes like pebbles.
As far as Alex cared, the wind could pick up the house and set them down in Oz. He was with Cinda again, and it was the only place in the world he wanted to be.
The warmth and soft, orangey glow from the fireplace made the room feel like the safest place on earth, and he was steeped in a sense of contentment he hadn’t felt in oh… five years or so.
At one point in the evening—he couldn’t be sure what time because the power was still out, and both their phones were dead—the storm moved off-shore.
Standing at the window, Alex could still see the rain falling over the water and the ocean churning beneath the dark clouds, but rays of late day sun made an appearance.
Before long, the combination of the lingering precipitation and the setting sun created a magnificent rainbow. It seemed to stretch from one end of the island to the other.
He practically ran to the couch where Cinda was reading and swept her up into his arms, cradle style.
“You’ve got to see this.”
Cinda had always been in love with rainbows. He’d seen her literally dance with happiness once when one had appeared over the beach club.
“What is it?” she asked as he moved toward the door t
o the back porch.
“You’ll see. Can you reach the doorknob there? Yeah? Good.”
When she’d pulled the door ajar, Alex kicked it the rest of the way open and carried her out onto the porch. The rainbow was even more vibrant, now joined by a dazzling sunset. Alex had never seen anything more beautiful.
Until he turned and looked at Cinda’s face.
The glow in her eyes was more than an effect of the remarkable natural light show. It came from within, and it was proof positive the girl he’d loved was still there, just a bit older and even more breathtaking.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Alex said softly.
She nodded, looking almost too astonished to speak. “It’s… incredible. Talk about the calm after the storm.”
Now her gaze shifted to meet his. “Thank you, Alex.”
“You’re welcome. Cooking, porter service, rainbows on demand—we aim to please.”
She laughed. “You’re still just as goofy as you used to be.”
“True, unfortunately. And you’re still just as entrancing.”
Darting her eyes away, Cinda squirmed in his arms, clearly uncomfortable. “I must be getting heavy. I’d suggest putting me down on the bench so we could keep watching the sunset, but it’s soaking wet.”
“No worries,” Alex said. “I’ll take you back inside and dry the bench off with some bath towels. Then we can come back out and stay until dark.”
“Okay.”
He carried Cinda back into the house, intending to leave her on the sofa until he’d gotten the bench seat dried off.
But as he set her down on the cushions, the bounce caused their foreheads to collide with an audible thunk.
“Ow,” they said in unison then laughed together.
Alex’s laugh died as the eye contact between them stretched out and became more intense. Both of them remained absolutely still except for their rapid breathing, which sounded loud in the quiet room.
Alex could practically see the sparks firing between their bodies. He certainly felt them.
Slowly, very slowly, he leaned forward and placed his lips on her forehead. Pulling back, he checked her eyes.
“Is that better?”
She nodded, her eyes wide and dark.
Encouraged, Alex leaned in and kissed her again. This time his target was her mouth. Every muscle in his body was tense as he braced for her rebuff. But it didn’t come.
Their lips met, and raw emotion charged through him as Cinda returned his kiss.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Finally, he was with her again in the way he’d been imagining non-stop since running into her at the mansion.
As their mouths moved together and her hands sank into his hair and caressed his nape, it was better than he’d dreamed, maybe even better than it had been all those years ago.
She was everything he’d been missing and feared he’d never have again.
His passion for life hadn’t disappeared after all—it was still there, as strong as ever. It had simply been lying dormant these past few years, waiting to be reawakened by the inexplicable power of this one small woman.
The difference between this relationship—tangled and uncertain as it was—and the impersonal, political marriage he was expected to share with Audrey deRamel was night and day.
Oh. Audrey.
Alex forced himself to pull back before he lost all awareness of anything outside this room and this incredible woman in his arms. The last thing he wanted to do was stop kissing her—he felt like he could spend every moment for the rest of his life kissing Cinda.
But if he was anything, he was honorable. He’d had the attribute drilled into him since he could first understand the meaning of the word.
It was only that he was a little shaky at the moment on what the honorable thing to do in this situation was.
He was within a couple of days of being engaged. His family and his duty weren’t just going to vanish into thin air.
And yet just being in the same room with Cinda was like rain after a drought.
As they’d spoken throughout the day, her voice had sunk into his pores, quenching a thirst he hadn’t realized the severity of until now. He felt full with her around. He felt complete.
How had he lived all these years without her?
How would he go on living when he had to leave this place?
For a moment they just stared into each other’s eyes, both breathing fast and audibly.
“Are you okay?” she whispered.
Alex nodded and allowed himself to touch her once more, brushing the hair back from her face then sliding the tip of his finger down her nose to her plush, kiss-swollen lips.
“You’re so beautiful. You know I’ve always thought so. But more than that, I admire you. You’ve had to be so strong for so long. You’re a remarkable woman, Cinda. And I know you’re a wonderful mother. AJ is lucky to have you.”
I wish I could.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“I’d…”
He shouldn’t say it. He knew better. What good could it possibly lead to? But Alex found himself finishing the thought. “I’d like to meet him… if you’ll allow it.”
A strange look crossed her face. It was almost like apprehension. “Why?”
“Because he’s a huge part of your life. He’s part of you. And if he’s anything like you, I know I’ll love him.”
Because I still love you.
And there it was. He didn’t say it aloud. He had some things to take care of before he was at liberty to make the confession.
But there was no point in denying it to himself any longer. Loving Cinda was something he had no more control over than that miraculous sunset outside or the wind and rain that had come before it.
Just like the previous night, Alex barely slept. He was way too keyed up from the day.
Even with all the conversation and revelations, he still felt like he’d missed so much that he never wanted to sleep again.
Instead, he watched Cinda sleep. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen—even more so than she’d been five years ago.
Alternating waves of gratitude and disbelief washed over him as he gazed at her peaceful face, convincing himself she was real and not some vivid dream born out of too many years of wanting and not having. He was tempted several times to sneak over to her side of the room and touch her to confirm it.
Of course he didn’t. What would she do if she woke to find him there, nuzzling her soft hair and breathing in its light perfume? Kissing the sweet curve of her cheek? Caressing the silky skin that had driven him to distraction?
Whoa there fellow. Better turn that ship around before you run into the rocks.
Alex fought to regain control of his charging thoughts, to remind himself how tenuous it all was.
This might be the last night he’d ever spend with her. It was foolish to get so emotionally invested.
Though they’d kissed, Cinda had given him no indication she had any lingering feelings for him beyond the obvious physical attraction they shared. Their lives were literally a world apart. Hers was filled with family and friends on this continent, a business she’d built from scratch… and a son.
He’d have to take her home tomorrow. Beyond that? Well, he just didn’t know.
He and Cinda hadn’t talked about the future. They’d just barely begun discussing the past. But deep in Alex’s soul, a new certainty had taken root.
What had happened between them years ago had been the real thing, and it wasn’t something that came along very often.
She was the love of his life, and now she was back in his life. He’d found her at long last. It wasn’t a sure thing, but there might be a future for them.
The idea filled him with a sense of anticipation reminiscent of his childhood days waiting for Father Christmas to arrive with Cam and Janey.
In fact, Alex was looking forward to every aspect of the future in a way he never had before
. He’d discovered what was missing from his life, and now that he’d found her, he would never let Cinda go again.
If he could’ve had his wish, he would have gotten down on one knee that very night and asked her the question he’d never gotten the chance to ask years ago. But there were some matters he had to address first, and he intended to do that the minute they arrived back on the mainland.
One, decency demanded that he inform his intended fiancée the deal was off.
Second, and this one would be more difficult, he’d have to talk to his family.
Alex had a feeling they wouldn’t react well to the abrupt change of plans, but it didn’t really matter. Some things were more important than duty and tradition.
He only hoped that after all was said and done… Cinda would agree.
Twenty
Someone I’d Like You to Meet
Friday
Alex helped Cinda out of the terminal at Newport’s airport. Her ankle was much better, but she was still limping.
He’d wanted Jorge the cab driver to take them to the Block Island Medical Center that morning, but she’d refused, promising him she’d be fine and would go to her own doctor in Newport if she felt it was necessary.
Finally, he’d relented but insisted she allow him to fly her home.
Knowing it would be more comfortable on her ankle than a bouncy boat ride and would get her back before AJ got out of school at three, she accepted the offer.
Power had been restored on the island late that morning, and they’d both gotten just enough charge on their phones to text and let everyone know they were safe and on their way back. Cinda had texted Kristal.
Cinda: Flying home at noon with Alex instead of taking ferry. Will catch a cab. Dying to see you and AJ!
She’d save the details for later when they spoke in person. There was so much to say. And she wanted to get her best friend’s take on when—and how—to tell Alex the truth.
She still wasn’t sure it was the smartest thing to let him see her son, though he’d asked to and she had new reasons to hope for a reconciliation.