It was the very fact that these things were so foreign to him that grounded him to the reality that he shouldn’t get used to them. In two years all this would be gone.
For the first time, he understood why Ginny had campaigned to make this marriage real. They’d never, ever have this again. He’d be a divorced prince, eventually king, who’d take mistresses while he ran a country and raised a son. And she’d be the king’s ex-wife, mother of the heir to the throne.
“You know it’s really going to be hard for you to get dates after we divorce.”
She turned with a laugh. “Excuse me?”
“Nothing.” He walked back to the section of the dressing room that held his clothes and pulled out a pair of swimming trunks. He couldn’t believe he’d thought of that. What she chose to do when they separated was her business. But he knew it might be a good thing for her to start thinking about that. Not just to remind her that this wasn’t going to last but to get her realizing the next stage of her life wouldn’t be easy.
* * *
They spent a fun, private two weeks on the yacht, with Dom called away only three or four times for phone calls from members of parliament. Otherwise, he’d been casual, restful and sexy.
When the royal helicopter touched down on the palace grounds, Dom and Ginny were greeted by the whir of cameras and a barrage of questions from reporters who stood behind the black iron fence surrounding the property.
Stepping out of the helicopter, helped by Dom, who took her hand to guide her to the steps, she smiled at the press.
“You look great! Very suntanned!”
She waved at them. “Don’t worry. I used sunblock.”
The reporters laughed.
Dom said, “We had a great time.”
Ginny watched the reporters go slack jawed as if totally gob smacked by his answer. Then she realized they weren’t accustomed to him talking to them outside of the press room or parliament.
As they walked to the palace behind bodyguards dressed casually in jeans and black T-shirts—with leather holsters and guns exposed—she turned to him. “That was kind of you to talk to them, Your Majesty.”
He sniffed. “I’m rested enough that I threw them a bone.”
She laughed. “You should rest more often.”
They reached the palace. A bodyguard opened the door and they stepped into the cool air-conditioned space.
She took a long breath of the stale air. “I miss the ocean.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “The yacht is at your disposal anytime you want.”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No.” He stopped walking and caught her hand. He kissed the knuckles. “No.”
When their gazes met, she knew he thought the same thing he did. Two years would be over soon enough. But she couldn’t be happy, be herself, make this relationship work, if it was permanent. And neither could he.
They’d been granted a very short window of time to be happy, but two years of perfection was a lot more than some people got.
So she raised herself to her tiptoes, kissed his cheek and said, “Go visit your dad. Get the rundown on what happened while we were away and I’ll be waiting for you for supper tonight.”
CHAPTER TEN
THEY SETTLED INTO a comfortable routine that was so easy, Dominic forgot this was supposed to be difficult. Dressing for the royal family’s annual end-of-summer gala, he held out his arms to Ginny as naturally as breathing and she locked his cuff links.
“I heard your mother made it in this afternoon.”
Ginny glanced up at him, then shook her head. “She didn’t want to miss too much class time, so she only took two days off. Your father sent the jet and she got here about an hour ago. She almost got here too late to dress because she keeps forgetting that we’re seven hours ahead of her.”
He grunted. “She’ll get used to it.”
Her tummy peeped out a bit when her dress flattened against it as she turned to walk away. He caught her hand and spun her to face him again, his hand falling to the slight swelling. “What’s this?”
She laughed. “I thought the flowing dress would hide the fact that I’m starting to show.”
Emotion swelled in his chest, but he held it back, more afraid of it than he cared to admit. “You shouldn’t hide it. Everybody’s waiting to see it.”
She groaned. “Everybody’s waiting to see me get fat? Thanks for the reminder that I’ll be getting fat in front of the world.”
He grabbed his jacket and motioned her out of their bedroom. “That’s one way of looking at it. The other is to realize that since everybody’s so eager to see you gain weight, you now have full permission to eat.”
She stopped and pivoted to face him. “Oh, my gosh! I never thought of it that way. For the next five months I can eat on camera.”
“Subjects will love seeing you eat on camera.”
She rubbed her hands together with glee. “Bring on the steaks.”
He opened the apartment door and led her into the echoing foyer. “Should I tell them to give you two from now on?”
She inclined her head. “Might not want to start big. I should work my way up to the second steak.”
They entered the elevator. As it descended she slid her arm through his. The door opened and they made their way to his father’s quarters, where her mother was holding court. He thought it odd for the real royal, his dad, to be letting Ginny’s mom monopolize the conversation. Still, he walked into a room to the sound of his brother laughing and his dad trying to hide a laugh.
“Mother, please tell me you’re not telling off-color jokes.”
Rose gasped at the sound of her daughter’s voice. When she turned and saw the same thing Dom had seen that evening—the slight evidence of a baby bump—her eyes misted. She raced over and put her hands on Ginny’s tummy.
“Oh, my gosh.”
As she had with him, Ginny groaned. “Great. Just great. Everybody’s going to notice.”
“Subjects are eagerly waiting for this,” Dom’s father said, sounding happier than Dom had ever heard him.
“That’s what I told her.” He nodded to the bartender to get him a Scotch but stopped midnod and shook his head. He didn’t need a drink. Didn’t want a drink. Not out of respect for her sensitivity because of her dad’s alcoholism. But out of a sense of unity. This child was both of theirs, but technically she was doing all the work, all the sacrificing. He walked to the bar, got two orange juices in beautiful crystal and handed one to Ginny.
Alex laughed. “You’re drinking orange juice?”
He glanced at his brother’s double Scotch. “Maybe I’d like to have a clear head in case we go to war?”
“Bah. War!” The king batted a hand. “That miserable old sheikh who’s been threatening had better watch his mouth.”
Ginny spun to face him. “A sheikh’s been threatening?”
“Rattling his saber.” Dom took a sip of his orange juice.
She stepped back, tugging on his sleeve for him to join her out of the conversation circle. “Is that what the orange juice is about?”
He looked at the glass, then at her and decided to come clean. “No, as my dad said, the sheikh is just being an idiot. I realize you’re doing all the heavy lifting with this pregnancy. I thought I’d show a little unity, if only in spirit.”
“Oh.” She kissed his cheek. “Now, there’s something you should tell the press.”
“Are you kidding?”
“No. If they like baby bumps, they’ll love hearing that you’re sacrificing your Scotch.”
“This sacrifice isn’t permanent. It’s only for tonight.”
“Still, it’s charming.”
“Oh, please. It took me decades to lose the Prince Charming title. I’d rather not go there again.” He pointed at his brother. “Alex lives with it now.”
“Still...” She sucked in a breath and caught his gaze. “Thank you.”
He displayed th
e glass. “It’s a little thing. Not much really.” Yet he could see it meant a lot to her, and knowing that gave him a funny feeling inside. Add that to his ability to see her baby bump every time she shifted or moved and he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her.
His father led them to the ballroom, where they entered to a trumpet blast. After an hour in a receiving line, he noticed Ginny looked a little tired and was glad when they walked to the dais. His father made a toast. As minister of finance, he gave a longer toast.
The press was escorted out as dinner was served and, relieved, Dom sat back. Watching Ginny dig into her pork chops with raspberry sauce served with mashed potatoes and julienned steamed carrots, he laughed.
“You’re going to be finished before I get three bites into mine.”
“Everyone said pregnancy would make me hungry all the time. They should have said ravenous.”
He chuckled.
She eyed his dish. “You got a bigger serving than I did.”
“Wanna switch plates?”
She sighed. “No.”
“Seriously. I’ll save some. If you’re still hungry you can have it.”
“I’m gonna get big as a house.”
“In front of the whole world,” he agreed good-naturedly. But when she was done eating, he slid a piece of his pork to her plate. “I don’t want you to faint from hunger while we’re dancing.”
But as he said the words, he got a funny sensation. A prickling that tiptoed up his spine to the roots of his hair. He glanced to the left and right, not sure what he was looking for. He saw only dinner servers in white jackets and gloves. People milling about the formal dining room.
Calling himself crazy, he went back to the entertainment that was watching his wife eat and didn’t think of the prickling until he and Ginny were on the dance floor an hour later. With everyone’s attention on his father and Ginny’s mother, who were doing their own version of a samba, he felt comfortable enough to enjoy holding Ginny, dancing with her. He’d spun her around twice, then dipped her enough to make her laugh, and there it was again. A tingling that raced up his back and settled in his neck.
Still, he didn’t mention it to Ginny. They danced and mingled with the dignitaries invited to their annual gala, including the sheikh currently giving them trouble.
She curtsied graciously when introduced. “I was hoping you could settle your differences tonight.”
The sheikh’s gaze bounced to Dominic’s. Dominic only shrugged. She hadn’t really said anything too bad.
The sheikh caught Ginny’s hand and kissed it. “We don’t talk business at the gala.”
She bowed apologetically. “I’m so sorry. But since I was hoping that settling this agreement might get me two weeks on the yacht with my husband I guess I didn’t see it as business.”
The sheikh laughed. “I like a woman who doesn’t mind asking for what she wants.”
Ginny smiled. Dominic took the cue and said, “Perhaps we could meet first thing Monday morning.”
“If your father’s schedule is free.”
“I’m sure it will be for you.”
An hour later, seeing that Ginny was tired, Dominic excused himself to his father who—along with Ginny’s mother—thought it was a good idea for her to leave.
He took her hand and led her down a few halls to their elevator. When they were securely behind the door of their apartment, he tugged on her hand and brought her to him for a long happy kiss.
“You do realize you just accomplished what diplomacy hasn’t been able to get done in three weeks.”
“Does this mean I get my three weeks on the yacht?”
“I thought it was two.”
“I want three.”
“You’re getting greedy.”
She curtsied. “I just like my time with you, Your Majesty. And your undivided attention.”
He scooped her off her feet and carried her to their bedroom. “I’m about to give you all the undivided attention you can handle.”
* * *
The next morning Ginny awakened as she had every day since their marriage, wrapped in his arms. At six, Dom rolled out of bed and used the bathroom. He slid into a robe and, from seeing his daily routine, Ginny knew he’d gone to their everyday dining room. Sliding into a pretty pink robe, Ginny followed him.
“Not sleepy this morning?”
Rather than take her chair, she slid to his lap. “I feel extraordinarily good.”
“So maybe we should do what we did last night every night.”
“Maybe we should.”
The sound of the servant’s door being opened brought Ginny to her feet. As she walked to her side of the table, a young girl wheeled in a cart containing his breakfast of bacon and eggs, plus bowls of fruit, carafes of fruit juices, and plates of pastries and breads.
She smiled at Ginny expectantly. Knowing she was waiting for her breakfast order, Ginny said, “I’ll just eat what we have here.”
Dom glanced over. “No bacon? No eggs?”
“Wait until you see now many bagels I eat.”
He laughed as the serving girl left.
As always, their meal was accompanied by fourteen newspapers. She grabbed USA TODAY as he took London’s the Times. Their table grew quiet until Dom flipped a page and suddenly said, “What?”
Busy putting cream cheese on a bagel, Ginny didn’t even look over. “What’s the what for?”
He slammed the paper to the table and reached for the house phone behind him. “Sally, get up here.”
Ginny set down her bagel. “What’s going on?”
He shoved the paper across the table. She glanced down and saw a picture of her and Dom with their heads together as their dinners were served, a picture of her and Dom dancing, a picture of Dom leading her out the back door of the ballroom. All beneath the headline: The Affectionate Prince.
“At least they didn’t call you Prince Charming.”
He glared at her.
“Dom, I’m sorry. Your picture gets in the paper almost every day here in Xaviera. I’m missing the significance of this.”
“First, no press is allowed in that ballroom once dinner starts. So one of our employees got these pictures.”
As the ramifications of that sank in, she said, “Oh.”
“Second, look at that headline.”
“‘The Affectionate Prince’?” She caught his gaze. “When you want to be, you are affectionate.”
“No ruler wants to be thought of as weak.”
“Weak? It’s not weak to love someone.” Instantly realizing her mistake in saying the L word, Ginny shot her gaze to his. For a few seconds they just stared at each other, then he bounced from his seat, almost sending it across the room.
“This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen!”
Ginny said, “What?” not quite sure if the unexpected anger coursing through her made her bold or if she was just plain tired of skirting the truth. “Are you mad that your happiness shows? Or are you really that surprised or that angry that we fell in love?”
“I can’t love you.”
“Oh, really? Because I think you already do.”
There. She’d said it.
Their gazes met again, but this time his softened. He took his seat again. “Ginny. I can’t love you.”
Since she’d already made her position clear, she said nothing, only held his gaze.
“My dad loved my mother.”
“Oh, damn him for his cruelty.”
“Don’t make fun. When my mother got sick, my dad slipped away, let our country flounder because he was searching the globe for someone, something that could save his wife.”
“And you think that was weakness?”
“Call it what you want. Weakness. Distraction. Whatever.”
“How about normal human behavior?”
“Or a lack of planning.”
“You think your dad should have had a contingency plan in case his wife got sick?”
�
�I think he let pirates get a foothold because he put my mother first.”
“Oh, Dominic, of course he put his sick wife first.”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what she’d just said. “A king cannot put anyone ahead of his country. At the first sign of those pirates he should have involved the military.”
“Even though his wife, the woman he obviously adored, was dying? How could he have avoided scrambling to save her?”
His gaze rose until it met hers. “By not falling in love in the first place.”
Something fluttered oddly in her stomach. The conversation was making her sick and sad and scared. But the feeling went away as quickly as it came. “I see.”
“The stakes of this game, my life, are very high, Ginny. We don’t govern or rule our people as much as we protect them. I can’t afford a slip, a lapse.” He combed his fingers through his hair. “When I’m king I won’t get two private weeks on a yacht. I’ll get vacations that include video conferencing and daily briefings. I’ll get two hours, at most, in the sun. A twenty-minute swim.” He sucked in a breath. “And this is why I warned you. Even if I wanted to love you. Even if I fell head over heels for you...coming in second to a country isn’t like being second to a hobby. You would get very little of my time. It wouldn’t be worth loving me.”
Stunned, Ginny watched him toss his napkin to the table. “Where is Sally?”
Then he stormed out of the dining room because he didn’t have anything to give her.
And that was the truth he’d been trying to tell her all along.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GINNY SAT STARING at her bagel when there was a knock on the apartment door. She expected it to be Sally, so when her mom walked into the dining room and said, “I thought we were going to swim this morning,” Ginny dropped her bagel to a plate.
“I’m not much in the mood.”
Her mom took a seat, grabbed a Danish pastry and popped a bite into her mouth. “First fight?”
Harlequin Romance February 2016 Box Set Page 29