Royal Playboy: The Prince's Choice

by Leila Haven

  She wasn’t making fun of me or mocking me in any way, it seemed the queen did actually want to know the answer. I guessed I had nothing to lose, I may as well be honest with her.

  I took a deep breath. “I’ve just finished my university degree, I majored in humanitarian issues. I want to get out there and help people. I want to make the world a better place by getting my hands dirty and into the trenches. Being a baby factory for the royal line is not in my plans for the future. I hope I haven’t offended you in any way, I just want to tell the truth.”

  “I understand, my dear. Maybe I can explain a little better about what exactly it means to be a princess. You see, being a member of the royal family is one of the most challenging jobs one can do. Sure, you are expected to have children. One at least, two is better. But that is all and only when you are ready for that stage in life.”

  She paused, taking a sip of her tea. It had to be cold by now. I waited patiently until she was ready to continue her story.

  “Being a royal also means being a humanitarian. I have eleven charities that I actively run, did you know that? They cover everything from childhood diseases to looking after the elderly. In amongst them is a charity that deals with domestic violence that I spend a great deal of time with. Nearly every week I go out there and talk with the women, trying to do everything I can to help them.”

  I did not realize that. Sure, I’d seen the news reports about the royal family opening a building in their name or something guaranteed to get media attention. But I had never heard about their charities, not like this, before.

  “I could talk your ear off all day about the work I do for humanitarian issues, but I’m sure you get the point. Being a royal is the greatest privilege in this country, and being able to help people is the most important thing we do. Believe me, my dear, your life doesn’t stop when you become a princess. It just opens up your opportunities.”

  The queen was dangerous. She was making me question everything I thought about them. I had this vision of a princess sitting in her tower and just watching the world go by. I had never occurred to me that I could actually use the position to do good in the world.

  She insisted we have a fresh cup of tea together after her speech. The conversation continued as she told me more about all her charities. If the media knew how much she did, they would have a field day trying to report on it all. The queen of our country put everyone else to shame. She was practically a saint.

  I left the elegant room and the elegant woman when it was almost dark. It was one of the best moments I’d ever had in my life and I was beaming from it. How many other people got to have tea with the queen and a conversation that was so interesting it would keep replaying in their mind afterwards?

  I’d reached the gates of the palace without even remembering how I got there. My mind was so alight that I barely noticed my surroundings.

  “Just hang on a moment, ma’am,” the guard said from his booth. He picked up a phone and spoke for a few minutes before returning his attention back to me. “I can’t let you out. Prince Richard will be here in a minute to explain.”

  Great.

  More of his charm and sexiness.

  I wondered what he wanted with me now. Another quickie in the royal linens? Perhaps he would tell me to get down on my knees and repay the favor from earlier. Whatever it was, I was certain it wouldn’t be something his mother would approve of.

  I knew better than to argue with the palace guards. They only followed instructions from the royals so it would have been a waste of breath. The wait gave me time to seethe over the nerve of Rick to request my detainment. That man knew no boundaries.

  He finally turned up, all smoldering good looks and oozing charm. His smile shouldn’t have been allowed to affect me like it did. “Miss Parker, so good of you to wait for me. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to meet you personally.”

  “What do you want?” I asked bluntly.

  “I want to show you the crown jewels, of course.” His smile only grew bigger as he held his elbow out for me to take, as if we were in some eighteenth century courtship.

  “I’ve seen your crown jewels, I’d rather leave. Please.”

  Rick looked me up and down, no doubt remembering the time when our bodies were writhing together and his crown jewels slapping against me. Just the memory made me wet all over again.

  Which was why I needed to get out of there.

  “I promise these ones are much less impressive,” Rick said, wiggling his elbow at me. I sighed and took it, not having much choice.

  We walked into the palace and through all the winding corridors. There was a ramp that led downwards to a steel door that resembled a safe. Rick typed on the keypad and the sound of huge locks opening filled the corridor.

  Rick put all his weight into opening the heavy door. Inside resembled a safe, too. The walls were made of steel, as was the roof and floor. Masses of sparkling jewelry were in glass cases lining the walls.

  The door thudded closed behind us, trapping us inside. “It’s always to remain closed,” Rick explained to my panicked expression. “Don’t worry, it’s easy to open the door from this side, you don’t even need a pin code.” That was a relief.

  I’d never seen so many diamonds in one place before. They were everywhere, from the scepters to the crowns, to the necklaces and earrings. The entire room lit up in a jeweled wonderland.

  Rick had wandered over to the central case and was waiting for me to join him. “These are the crown jewels. They have been in my family for eight hundred years.” A scepter sat next to a golden crown. Diamonds, rubies, and sapphires decorated each point on the crown.

  “Does anybody ever wear it?” I asked. It looked heavy, I didn’t think I’d be able to keep my head up with it on.

  He nodded. “In coronations. I will be the next one to wear it when my father passes it to me. It’s not exactly practical for day to day use.”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “All the jewels were gathered from different parts of the country. When it was commissioned, the king of the time found the poorest silversmith in the capital and paid him to make it. He wanted to give the man notoriety so he would get more work.”

  “That was kind of him.”

  “There are many stories like that in my family. The Somersby family built this kingdom on kindness and that is still our first consideration when making decisions.”

  I’d remembered reading something about their generosity. It was usually eclipsed by Rick’s latest scandal and delegated to the back pages of the newspaper.

  The way Rick spoke of his family was endearing. They really were people he was proud of and it was nice to see that side of him.

  He took a step closer to me and stood there a moment to see what I would do. When I didn’t step backwards, he cradled my cheeks in his hands. Tipping my head upwards so my gaze could meet his, I could see the fire in his eyes. They were ablaze, completely muddling my thoughts.

  His head lowered so our lips could meet. I would never get used to the feeling of his kisses. They were sizzling, hot, and urgent; determined to take me away from reality.

  I opened my mouth to him, his tongue searching in my mouth and finding a home there. He was holding me up now as I became putty in his hands, lost to the beautiful sensation.

  The kisses deepened to something intense and powerful. Our lips locked together as if nothing would be able to separate us. That was where I belonged, his kisses were something I could no longer live without.

  Which was why I had to stop.

  I pulled back to see Rick’s confused expression. He let me go and I stepped backwards, needing to place a hand on the wall to steady myself. It was difficult to see the dejected look on his face.

  “I can’t do this anymore,” I said, still trying to gather my breathing into a normal rhythm again. I’d lost myself in his arms and now I had to piece myself back together again.

  “Do what anymore?” Rick asked.

&n
bsp; “This. No more secret meetings, no more kisses, definitely no more sex. We can’t do any of that anymore. It has to stop. Our agreement, or deal, whatever it was, it’s off. I’m not spying for you anymore.”

  “I don’t care about the agreement. That was never important to me.”

  I shook my head, he wasn’t understanding me. But, then again, I wasn’t explaining myself very well either. “I like you, Rick. That’s why we have to stop. I’m stepping up. I’m going to be a real contender in this competition. I’m a wife prospect now.”

  He looked at me with his eyebrows furrowed. I saw his face run through a myriad of expressions before he finally relaxed into a smile. “Well, then. Welcome to the competition.”

  It was a competition.

  And I was planning on winning now.

  Chapter 11

  Richard

  ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉

  “We can stop this now, Melody,” I said softly, wishing there was a way she could understand how I felt about her. “I can tell Anna I have found my wife right now and everything would be settled.”

  “No, I don’t want that. I want you to be sure. You have to go through the whole process before you choose me.”

  “So you actually want me to date those other women?”

  “Yes,” she said. There was hesitation in her voice and doubt in her eyes. “I do.” This was a game she didn’t know how to play – A game neither of us knew how to play.

  “You’re crazy.”

  “If I’m the right one, it won’t be an issue.”

  She was the right one. I knew that and no amount of time with the other ladies could change that. But, if this was what she really wanted, I would go through the remainder of the competition.

  For her.

  Even though she was nuts.

  I walked Melody to the gate and watched her step into the taxi I had arranged for her. She wanted to be in the competition now. But what she didn’t realize was that she always was.

  For some reason, she thought she was never in line to be my wife. Maybe it was me who had made her think that, maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, it made me saddened to think those were the thoughts that ran through her head.

  Just knowing she had felt like that meant I had already done something wrong. A few weeks remained in the competition. I knew there would be plenty more ways I could stuff it all up.

  I had to be conscious of my ever move. My every decision. These next weeks were going to be difficult and even more than that, they would decide a big part of the rest of my life. I would have to pretend to be open minded with my mother and Anna, plus with the other women. I would play my role and continue on, just like I had done since meeting Melody in the ball room on the first night.

  * * * * *

  My next official engagement was the following day. Anna insisted the two of us sit down and have a meeting to discuss the search for my wife.

  She also insisted the meeting be at eight in the morning and I’d been up all night mentally replaying the scene between Melody and I in the vault. The look on her face when she said she was a contender was one of my favorite memories now. She was so determined, so beautiful. Especially with her lips swollen from our kisses.

  Anna had coffee waiting for me, she knew me well. “What did you think of the garden party yesterday?”

  I took a few sips before I answered. I needed that time to process. “It was interesting.”

  “You need to spend more time with the women.”

  “I’ve been spending every day with them for the last two weeks. Isn’t that enough?”

  Anna looked scary when she was annoyed. “This is a very big decision, Richard. You can’t continue to be so flippant. It’s a life changing thing we’re doing here. I have worked so hard to bring you the best ladies we have here in Illium. The least you can do is put in as much effort. I won’t have to live with the woman, you will.”

  “I understand.” It was too early in the morning to argue with her. Also too early to receive a lecture, but I wasn’t going to point that out. “What is our next event?”

  “We’re moving to individual dates.” Anna pulled out Polaroid photographs of all the women that attended the garden party. She splayed them across the desk between us. My eyes instantly went to Melody, her smile lighting up her picture. There was no way any of the others would outshine her.

  “Dates on the palace grounds, I assume?”

  “Of course. We don’t want any of these dates to be public knowledge. If they caught you on dates – actual dates - with multiple women, it would be plastered all over the media. They’d have a field day knowing we were screening for a wife.”

  “Agreed.”

  Anna gestured to the Polaroids. “We need to cut these numbers or we’ll be here for a year. Which ladies did you feel any kind of connection with?”

  Pointing to Melody first would have been too obvious. I’m sure Anna was already onto us, but I chose a few others first. I couldn’t remember any of their names and had no connection with them, but I’m sure they would be bearable for a date.

  “We’ll start with Violet first,” Anna declared. “I really like this woman, I think she’s perfect for you. Please keep that in mind when you are with her.”

  “I will.”

  I made all the promises I needed to before I could leave her office. It was Anna’s job to find me a wife so I could understand her fervor. It was everything else I didn’t like.

  I had lunch with my parents. It was nice being able to talk about something besides the wife search. We covered some of the political decisions that needed to be made and discussed the next roster of official engagements we needed to attend.

  My father’s health appeared to be in decline on a daily basis now. I silently willed him to hang on for as long as he could. It was selfish, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet.

  I wasn’t ready to rule.

  They didn’t ask about my wife prospects and I didn’t bring up the subject. No doubt Anna had kept them in the loop on a regular basis. My father wasn’t that interested in the finer details of it all, but my mother probably was.

  My first individual date was that evening. Anna had arranged for Violet to join me for dinner in the dining hall. It seemed ridiculous that the two of us were seated at a table meant for a hundred.

  “You look lovely tonight,” I said as I pulled Violet’s chair out for her.

  She giggled and blushed. “That is so kind of you, thank you, Your Majesty. May I say, you look very handsome yourself?”

  I was wearing a tux, again. Ridiculous, but Anna wouldn’t have it any other way. The laundry staff were probably damning me for wearing the blasted formalwear over and over again.

  We sat down and the first course was delivered immediately. “So tell me about yourself, Violet. We haven’t really spoken much before.”

  “Well, I’m twenty-five, and I’m a school teacher. I have a class of thirty eight-year-olds at home waiting for me.”

  “That is a lot of children. How do you handle them all every day?”

  “I bribe them to be good,” she said with a cheeky smile crossing her lips. “A five minute early mark is an amazing tool of bribery.”

  We laughed and that eased any awkwardness between us for the rest of the night. Violet was actually a very funny woman. Shy, but incredibly fun when she relaxed and let down her guard.

  Not only was she a teacher, but she also looked after her elderly parents. If she were to be the next princess, she would need to make arrangements for them. Moving them into the palace would be the obvious choice, we already had a nurse on staff and there were more than enough rooms available.

  I caught myself thinking about her as my wife halfway through the meal. I pictured her undertaking royal duties and making appearances with my parents and myself. The thoughts came completely unbidden and surprised me.

  Violet was a good choice. A very good choice. I finally understood why Anna was pushing me toward h
er with such force. She was a likable woman, supremely suited to the role we needed to fill.

  I went to bed later that night more confused than ever. Melody had wanted me to be sure she was the right one. She had challenged me to consider the other women for the role of my wife. When she said that, I had been certain it would be an easy process. The date with Violet had me questioning everything.

  Even sleep couldn’t give me some relief from the decision. My dreams showed me the faces of all the women at the garden party, rotating around like a demented carousel.