ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13)

by Jane Keeler

  Ryan walked up to her and looked at her dead in the eye, face to face and said “I kissed Vicky. I hate to break it you, but you are nowhere near to what Vicky is as a person. There, I said it!”

  Chapter 8

  Giselle could not believe what she was hearing. She was so sure that Ryan had never been interested in any girl. He did not even show any interest in her when they met first. But he was a good looking guy and he was very successful. And he liked it that he was courteous and did not mind her late night parties. “That bitch Vicky!” she blurted out.

  Ryan could not control his temper and slapped Giselle right in the middle of the road. Giselle started crying and called up random people from her phone telling them to come pick her up from Ko Samui. She made a dash for the hotel they were staying in and checked out immediately. Ryan did not try to stop her. He instead ran towards Vicky’s hotel. He knocked on her door panting after running up the stairs because he was too impatient to wait for the elevators. Vicky was stunned to see him outside her door.

  “I love you.” said Ryan.

  “What are you talking about? Where is Giselle?” asked Vicky.

  “Don’t know and don’t care. She checked out of the hotel and is probably on her way to the airport.” said Ryan.

  “Are you mad Ryan? Have you completely lost it? How will a girl manage to go home from here all alone? Have you even thought about that? We are going to the airport now and picking her up. And you will apologise to her and we will put all of this behind us.” said Vicky.

  “I’ll apologise. I will beg for her forgiveness. I will even make sure she reaches back home safely. But I am not going back to her. It was foolish of me to marry her because I never loved her. I have never loved anyone else except you. I had thought that I can make a marriage work just like all the people all over this world. But I am sure that won’t happen.” said Ryan.

  “You do not love me. You are just reminiscing your younger days. This is not love! I am just the woman that you once had an affair when you were in high school. That’s all. Forget about me. Even if you are not happy in your marriage, I am not going to be your rebound affair from a failed marriage.” shot back Vicky.

  “You were and are the one for me. I knew it as soon as I kissed you on top of the hill today. I remember being happy once when I kissed you. I have not been happy since, Vicky. Studying business and working jobs took everything out of me. I worked harder to prove to you that I can be a successful person. Maybe you would be interested in me then. Why did you not keep in touch, Vicky?” asked Ryan while crying his heart out.

  Vicky did not know what to say. She cursed herself for staying in touch every day.

  “I am not even thinking about us before we sort out the situation with Giselle first.” said Vicky forcefully.

  “Alright. I will go the airport right now and sort everything out with her. Do you want to come along?” asked Ryan.

  Vicky nodded in agreement and both of them boarded a taxi to the airport. Giselle was sitting in the waiting area outside the airport and speaking to someone on the phone while crying. She spotted both of them approaching her and immediately disconnected the phone. Amazingly, she stopped crying all of a sudden too.

  “What do you want Ryan? I am going to drag you to court for this. For cheating on me with this whore!” shouted Giselle.

  “Say that again and I will make it my life’s sole goal to ruin you and family and make you beg for a living for the rest of your wretched life.” Ryan said without batting an eyelid.

  “Calm down Ryan” said Vicky.

  “Look I understand that you are hurt and believe me I know because I have gone through this exact same thing. Why don’t you just let Ryan speak to you?” asked Vicky.

  “I am willing to listen to Ryan, but I will not tolerate being humiliated anymore.” said Giselle trying to sound brave.

  “I know you married me for my money Giselle. I knew it and I played along because I thought I needed a family. You think I do not notice you sneaking out late at night? Do you really think that I don’t know who you “hang” out with? Believe me, you do not want me get started on what your father offered to do in return if I married you. I would have been the owner of your estate had I accepted his offer. But I am not here to discuss that. I am sorry for hitting you. I should not have done that and it is unbecoming of me. I am sorry to have to say this but we are not going to be together anymore. I will send you the papers for divorce and you keep the cars and the apartment that we were staying in. Is there anything else that you need? Shall we close this now?” asked Ryan.

  Ryan was doing his thing again. He had already figured out how he wanted to handle the situation when they were riding the taxi to the airport.

  “I will let you know how much cash needs to be transferred to my account when I reach home. That is for all the things that I have ever bought for you and the hurt that you put me through today. Then we can close this.” replied Giselle.

  “Wow! You are one shallow woman, aren’t you?” said Vicky now thinking if her worry about Giselle was misplaced.

  “Your flight leaves in an hour Giselle. I have asked my pilot to fly you wherever you want. You can talk about all the money related matters with the lawyer who will be getting in touch with you shortly.” said Ryan as he pulled Vicky and started walking away.

  “Wait, do you have a private jet?” asked Vicky.

  “Yes. I do.” said Ryan confidently.

  “So what now?” asked Vicky.

  “First we go to your room and have sex.” said Ryan shocked that he said that out loud.

  “You were never this direct!” exclaimed Vicky.

  “Yeah, being with Giselle had its side effects” said Ryan as they both laughed.

  Chapter 9

  Emma, Christie and Michelle were waiting for the couple downstairs ready to rock the night at the full moon party since the last hour or so and they still were waiting. Emma got really impatient and stormed towards the elevator to go fetch them by their necks if she had to. As soon as the elevator door opened though, Vicky and Ryan walked out.

  “Took you long enough. Are you sure you guys are satisfied? Maybe you would like to go another round? We’ll wait. What are you, like rabbits?” asked Emma inquisitively.

  “No, we are like normal human beings who get horny. Not like you lot who have forgotten how to have sex.” said Ryan mischievously.

  “Some people have to go to places like a full moon party to get laid. Can we make a move now?” asked Emma.

  “Yes, let’s!” said Ryan as the five of them headed to the beach near the hotel.

  The sound from the speakers was blaring as they approached the beach and there were a sea of people all over the beach. It took them by surprise to see so many people here. They had heard about the famous full moon parties but to see so many people dancing together and making merry was a sight to behold. People from all across the world seemed to have converged on that beach that night and the atmosphere was electrifying. Vicky held on to Ryan’s hands as they made their way to the bar. They danced all through the night and by the time the part got over it was already sunrise. They were barely able to move but Ryan made sure that they reached back to the hotel safe and sound and caught some sleep before they headed to Bangkok.

  They woke up in the afternoon that day and packed up and left for Bangkok on Ryan’s plane. They met with Matt and Ethan as they had promised to do and Vicky saw that both Matt and Emma looked like long lost lovers that day – something that she had a very good idea about. They were speeding on the open sea on a yacht when Ryan called her name out. She went towards the back of the boat and saw everyone taking a selfie with one of those selfie sticks that Matt carried everywhere he went. Vicky rushed over to the group just in time for that perfect shot. Everyone looked really happy in the picture. They all moved to the deck in the front and lined up along the railing will their feet hanging from the edges just a few feet above water. A cool wind was blowing through
Vicky’s hair and beside her Ryan was making a joke about the weather in Thailand. It was the perfect setting for their last night in Thailand – a trip that Vicky will never forget for the rest of her life.

  *** THE END ***

  Book Eleven

  Back to Contents

  FORBIDDEN LOVE

  By Jane Keeler

  There wasn't a thing Luke couldn't do. He was a polo player, horsemen, and huntsman, primarily. He was a nobleman, through and through.

  "I don't expect there to be any delay on my carriage to Portenaw next weekend," he told the groomsman that came forward to take his horse after a practice melee match. He had just fought his heart out, as he always did, and was interested in something else he was passionate about: travel. He wanted to get as far away from the castle sometimes and liked to do it in style. He was of he upper echelons of family status and could simply do whatever he wanted. He chose to go to new places.

  But, there was a new and burgeoning reason behind the desire to leave. He thought about it as he had his armor removed. He thought about his arranged marriage. It was to the dun-haired meek and modest woman from a neighboring noble family. It would secure an added level of safety, but if it was worth it, he didn't think so.

  He was capable of separating his needs and his family's needs. He knew that what the family wanted wasn't always what he could do. Still, he didn't say a word and knew the time would one day come where he needed to make the real choice to marry her or not.

  Now, beforehand, he liked to leave the castle where she was staying and shirk the duties of getting to know her any further. It was something he had tried, but also was something that he never wanted to happen to him. Getting to know her was anything but what he wanted.

  Because he was confined to the castle walls per her family's request, he never did go down to the markets or the lower bottoms of the castle, which was huge and surrounded a small town as well as the mansion-like fortress on top of the hill within it. There was a small wheat town underneath the hill, full of thatched houses. Above that was what was called the lower bottoms, then there was the soldier housing projects made of stone and wood shingle roofs, and then the main housing of the servants and castle workers. Then there was the market section of the castle where all of the town's patrons seemed to coalesce together.

  Above all of those stone buildings and shingle houses was the main castle that stood atop the hill like a spire. He lived within it where the servants worked and looked down on the rest of his town with a low level of respect. He decided that the poor were lazy or simply weren't made of the right stuff.

  It wasn't his fault for thinking this way. He had lived the life of his class and was surrounded by those ideals. He never needed to do anything outside of work on his polo playing.

  He went down from the castle and traveled down below the lower levels of the castle and went to the edge of the wall that surrounded the entire town. That is where the stables and fields were.

  One day on one such journey, a pickpocket was able to run into him on what looked like an accident. They both buckled at the knees. He remained unscathed, but had found his jeweled dagger missing when he got back up. The thief went missing in the crowd.

  "I've been robbed," he said into the crowd, hoping someone would offer help. The mass of people at the market moved around him and nobody responded, until a silver haired, curvy, and eccentric woman appeared to come towards him.

  "What did you say?"

  "I've been robbed," he told her, woozy with adrenaline.

  "Well we have to get you walking around." She said, "Show me the way he went."

  He pointed and she quickly followed the direction of his finger. They began to run fast in the crowd and she asked, "What was it?"

  "A jeweled dagger," he said.

  "Why do you have one of those?" she asked, slowing her pace.

  "I have one for safety."

  "I don't believe in the use of knives,"she said.

  "And why is that?" he said, slowing to her pace, as well.

  She replied, "I've known too many children that got hurt by them."

  "Then I'm sorry to make you chase after one."

  She batted the air with her hand, "No problem, I wish you hadn't been robbed, though."

  "You and me both," he said.

  "Don't carry around jewelry next time you're under the noble's area."

  "That's not jewelry," he said.

  "Gem encrusted? It might as well be."

  "Then what is it you're carrying around a pretty, ornate dress on your body?"

  "Because I can afford one," she said.

  "Then you're not above wearing nice things," he said.

  "Well, true."

  "Where do you live?"

  "The lower bottoms," she said indignantly.

  His eyes widened as he said, "Then how do you live above your class?"

  "I have put in a lot of hard work," she said defiantly.

  "But still you have to live down in squalor?"

  They moved together out of the busy marketplace and sat instead on a bench that viewed it.

  "I live there for my parents' sake."

  "Then you should leave them and go to place of housing more suitable to you."

  "Why do you believe I am suitable for a better class?"

  "Because you live so well in your current one."

  "Why do you assume I'm rich?"

  "Your dress," she said. "You're appeal. Your long, silvery hair and your dignified face. All of those beautiful things when added up doesn't equate to squalor."

  "But it is squalor where I live."

  "Then do me no wrong but accept that I want to show you what it is to be not there."

  "Not there?" she asked. "But not there is not where I would like to find myself."

  "Then take caution going back there," he said.

  She laughed, "I need not take caution."

  "Then what have you?"

  "I need instead humility, which you lack."

  "But I have said nothing of myself."

  "You need not."

  "I need not? What have I, then?"

  She tucked a smile under her upper lip before she said, "You have shown me just who you are and what you seek and it really does put me off."

  "Off?"

  "I would like to tell you just who you are," she told him.

  He put his hand on her leg and said exuberantly, "But that's just it. Who I am is a nobleman."

  "How quickly you seem to fall in love."

  "How quickly, indeed. But only for you, the virtuous one I see before me."

  "Not so virtuous," she said.

  "How so?"

  She told him, "Not so virtuous is all."

  "I would love you despite it," he said.

  "And how do you come to think that?"

  He told her, "I think that because it is true."

  "Could you say you love me now?" Harper asked.

  Luke said, "I love you now."

  A small smile rose slowly on her lips and then she seemed to say, "Thank you."

  "But could you?"

  "The question of if I could remains to be seen, but I do not fall in love as easily as you, as you have gathered."

  "I have gathered."

  "I'm Harper," she said. "Harper Pitall."

  "Harper Pitall, I'm Luke Winchester Peril the second."

  "Well, my goodness," she said, looking away.

  "I want to see you again," he said to her.

  "I want to see you," she said.

  "Tomorrow, at the market at this time."

  "This time," she said.

  He left her company and returned to the castle, elated. He fell onto his goose down comforter and took an early nap.

  "What did you do after I left?" he asked her the next day. He had gone down during polo time in the morning and was elated to see her waiting at the bench before he got there.

  "What, yesterday?"

  "Yes," he said.

  "I
work at a shop. A bread shop."

  "Yes," she said.

  "That's beautiful," he said

  "Why is that?

  "Well, it's one of the first things I've gotten to know about you," he said.

  "I actually feel elated that you would want to draw your attention to me," she said. "But why?"

  "But why?" he repeated.

  "For you, you are a nobleman."

  "Aye," he said.

  "And I am anything but," she said.

  "From the first moment I saw you, I knew there was something different about you than any other woman I have ever met. Is that so strange?"

  "For me, yes."

  "And why is that?"

  "Because," she said hurriedly. "Because of pars of my past. Parts that don't need no telling."

  "Parts of you that would make me offended to you are far and few, if any at all."

  "Oh, there are some."

  "Have you killed or maimed?"

  "No, sir."

  He said, "Then there is nothing."

  "Something."

  "Shhh, it is nothing, I'm sure."

  "Something to me, perhaps."

  "I hope not to have now offended you," he said.

  She waved her hand, then said, "No not a bit. Go on, m'lord."

  "I would like to take your hand for a walk," he told her.

  She smiled demurely and nodded in acceptance and took grasp of her hand. They went for a walk, talking about all sorts of things and hitting on several subjects at once. They talked of themselves and asked about one another.

  "I love hearing about you," he said.

  "I do, as well."

  "It feels late to me, too late to be out."

  "What, is there some rule against noblemen being beneath their fort after dark?"

  He thought of his wife and sighed, realizing he too had mysterious secrets that he was keeping from her.

  He shook his head and said, "I may have secrets of my own."

  "As long as you know I don't need to tell mine."

  "You don't need to let go of yours."