“Robert, what are you doing here?”
“It’s good to see you again too,” he said, the edges of his eyes crinkling in a smile that would have seemed friendly if she didn’t know him so well. “Though I would prefer the use of my title, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Prince Robert, what are you doing here?”
“I’m the king now, my sweet.”
My sweet?
“I don’t see how you could have missed the ten-day funeral festivities that were held in honor of my dear mother’s passing.” His tone was light and the steps he took toward the window casual, but the tension in his words was clear. Something was bothering Robert, something more than her lack of respect for his title or position.
“She was a wonderful woman, I was sorry to hear of your loss,” she said sincerely. The former queen had been wonderful, though too ready to think the best of her louse of a son.
“It was past time for her to step aside and allow me to ascend to my rightful place. Her death was as much a celebration as a time of mourning.”
“Wow. I thought Cindy was ungrateful, but even she had the decency to grieve her father’s death,” Edna said, her limited patience with Robert already exhausted. “You disgust me, Robert. Now tell me why you’re here, or get out.”
“Watch your mouth,” he said, the muscle in his jaw jumping though he didn’t turn to face her. Instead he took another step toward the window, eyes fixed on the city lights, hands gripping his coat like a lifeline. He was definitely on edge, and Edna doubted it would take much pushing to topple him over.
“This is my place of business. I don’t have to watch anything except my whip descending on your ass,” Edna said. “If you’re here for a session, get back in the dressing room and get dressed appropriately. Otherwise, I’ll ask you one more time to leave before I call security.”
“If you’re talking about the men at the front, they’re gone. I gave them the night off.”
“You what?”
“I thought we would enjoy this time more if we were alone.”
“Those are my employees. You had no right to give them orders.” Edna did her best to ignore the small, frightened voice inside that said the men really were gone, that they had fled upon the order of their king and left her to suffer alone. She didn’t know the men, didn’t know if she could trust them, but she trusted Frank. He wouldn’t abandon her; she knew he wouldn’t.
How do you know? You’ve only known him for a few hours. You don’t know anything about him, not even his last name.
“You’re going to be punished, Robert. No man who comes here as a slave takes liberties with my staff, no matter his position in the outside world.” Edna forced away the fear that threatened to consume her. She had to trust Frank. She’d already made the choice; it was too late for second thoughts now.
“The only person who will be receiving a punishment here today is you, Emily,” Robert said, turning from the window. Slowly, he pulled out a revolver almost identical to the one Cindy had whipped out a few minutes before.
Maybe they had been a wedding present—his and hers weapons of destruction.
“It’s you. You’re the one who’s been writing the letters,” Edna said, trying to look as if she were only just now realizing the truth.
“I always thought you were too attractive to have a name like Edna. Once we get you settled in your new home, I will always call you Emily.” Robert smiled. “It’s a soft, pretty name, and you will learn to be soft and pleasing to me, won’t you, Emily?”
“Robert, you’ve been threatening to kill me. I’m not going anywhere with you, and I’m certainly not going to—”
“That was only to lead the authorities to assume your death when you disappear. I won’t hurt you, unless you give me no other choice. If you come quietly and do your best to please me, I will reward you as I reward my other mistresses.”
So he had other mistresses.
Edna wondered if Cindy knew about that, and was half surprised not to hear a scream of outrage from the other room. Her stepdaughter had to be watching, didn’t she? Unless, of course, everyone had left and she was alone with Robert, foolishly thinking that the cavalry would come riding in at any moment.
“You’ve always hated me, Robert. I can’t believe you really want—”
Robert laughed a fond—and crazy—laugh. “I never hated you. I find you a delightful contradiction, Emily. So strong, but so vulnerable. I’ve seen the way you look at me. The invitation has always been clear.”
“I’m not sure what type of invitation you’re talking about.”
“You were jealous of Cynthia. You wanted to be the object of my interest and that’s why you did your best to stand in the way of our marriage.”
“You’re crazy.” Edna laughed. She would rather spend a few years in the dungeon than sleep with Robert.
“Laugh all you like, Emily, but haven’t you secretly wanted to be taken by the ruler of the realm?”
Edna shuddered. “Get out. I wouldn’t sleep with you for all the money in the treasury.”
“I’m the one holding the gun,” he said, anger creeping into his tone. “I’ll be giving the orders from now on. Put this coat on and find some sensible shoes. We’re leaving.”
“I’m not going with you. I don’t want to be your lover, Robert. You repulse me, and you’re my stepdaughter’s husband. Aren’t you concerned with how Cindy will take this?” Edna backed away from Robert and the coat he held out toward her. He had said more than enough to incriminate himself, where the hell was the Queen’s guard?
“She’ll never know,” he said, continuing to advance.
“Don’t you think she’ll suspect something?”
“Cynthia doesn’t have a suspicious bone in her body. I adore that about her. I adore everything about her, but she bores me in the bedroom. She doesn’t like to play the games we like to play, Emily. You know what it’s like to ache for something more.”
Edna cringed, bile rising in her throat. “I don’t know anything about my stepdaughter’s sex life, and you don’t know what I ache for.”
“I will,” he said with a smile that sent a chill down Edna’s spine.
He was completely insane, and nothing she could say would convince him that she didn’t crave the privilege of being his mistress. It was time to run—she’d wonder why her captain had failed her later, after she was safe.
Edna turned and did an ungraceful half-gainer over the couch, landing in a crouched position that she hoped would afford her cover if Robert decided to fire the gun, and bolted for the west dressing room. She needed to get out of the line of fire. Then she could lock the door behind her and make a run for the rear staircase. From there, it would only be a few—
She screamed and hit the floor as the gun fired behind her.
“Freeze, Queen’s Guard, you’re under arrest.”
Before Edna could lift her head, Robert landed on top of her with enough force to take her breath away. For a small man, he was still damned heavy. Gray spots bloomed in front of her eyes as she rolled over and grabbed for the gun he was now aiming at her face.
“I’ve got her subdued, good work, men,” the king shouted, pressing his pistol to her throat.
“No, I’ve got you subdued, sir.” If she’d thought Frank’s voice intimidating when she’d first met him, she’d been sadly mistaken. Now, as he gripped the king by the neck and pants and pulled him into the air, the man’s every word radiated pure, unadulterated menace.
Edna opened her mouth to ask him what took so long, but was shocked into silence when Frank let loose a roar and hurled the king against the wall. Robert slammed into the plaster with a sickening thud and then bounced equally roughly to the floor, where he lay absolutely still.
“Oh my god,” Edna breathed, every muscle in her body starting to tremble.
“Are you all right?” Frank turned to her with wild eyes. For a second, Edna shrank from the intensity of his gaze before she realized
that it was concern, not anger, that burned so brightly there.
“I’m fine, but I was beginning to worry.”
“We had dissension in the ranks, someone who thought we should heed the orders of a madman. He’s been taken into custody, but it distracted our focus. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m okay, I just—”
“You could have been killed. There’s no excuse . I never should have allowed you to be in that kind of danger in the first place.” The look in his eyes was still fierce, wild, but now Edna could see something else there as well. He cared for her, had been afraid for her—and not only because he had promised to protect her.
“It’s all right, Frank,” she said, taking the hand he offered and rising to her feet.
As soon as they touched, need began to pulse through her veins all over again. Even in the wake of being scared for her life, she wasn’t immune to the powerful draw of this man.
“But what are you going to do?” she asked. “If Robert’s dead, won’t that make it—”
“He isn’t dead.”
“He looks dead.” Edna glanced over to where the man lay crumpled on the floor. Blood seeped from the place where his dark hair touched the white carpet.
Obviously time to consider a new color floor covering.
“He isn’t, he’ll live to stand trial. Armand, Thomas, take the king into custody. You can allow the royal physician to attend to him, but don’t leave him unguarded. We’ll need to keep him under constant supervision until Parliament can decide how to house him until trial.”
The two officers Frank had spoken to crossed the room and scooped Robert unceremoniously up from the floor. The king moaned and shifted as they hoisted him into the air, but his eyes didn’t open and his skin remained a ghostly shade of white. Based on her own observations, Robert wasn’t in very good shape, but Frank’s confidence was contagious and Edna felt the knot in her chest begin to ease.
“Not on your life. I refuse to go!” Cindy was screaming and struggling in a very flustered-looking Nate’s grasp as the door to the dressing room slammed open.
“Captain, she’s refusing to be taken into custody.”
“How can she refuse, Officer? She’s half your size, and I believe you’re armed,” Frank said. Nate flushed bright red in response and reached for the handcuffs on his belt.
“But, Captain Frank, please, it wasn’t even a real gun! I was just going to use it to scare Edna into leaving so I could be here when Robert arrived and confront him myself. I never intended to hurt her, I don’t deserve to be arrested.”
“It’s true. The gun was a fake, sir,” Nate supplied, though he held onto both Cindy and the handcuffs.
“I’m sorry, my queen, but I only know that the law was broken. Threatening a citizen with a weapon—”
“But—”
“Even a fake weapon, is a crime,” Frank continued impassively. “Take her into custody. Keep her and the king separated. We want to be sure their testimony remains as pure as possible.”
“You can’t do this! I’m the queen!” Cindy sputtered. “I’ll still be the queen, no matter what happens with Robert. You know Parliament won’t impeach me. I’ve done nothing, Frank, nothing!”
Frank ignored her while Nate snapped the cuffs on and led her from the room. Considering how long a part of her had wished to see this very sight, it still made Edna sad to see Cindy taken away. True, she’d only helped raise her stepdaughter for four years, but Edna had never wanted to see a kid who had been in her care taken away in handcuffs.
“Frank, you know she’s probably right,” Edna said, “and I don’t want you risking your position for me. I’ll be fine as long as—”
“I’m not doing anything but following the letter of the law,” Frank interrupted before striding after the rest of the guards. He was nearly to the door before Edna realized that he really intended to leave without a word of goodbye, without even so much as an “I’ll call you to discuss the way we nearly made love on your couch later.”
“Frank?” Edna called after him.
Didn’t he have anything he wanted to say? Hadn’t what they’d shared meant anything to him? The look in his eyes a moment before had made her certain that he felt the same irresistible pull that she felt. How could she have been so mistaken? It didn’t make sense, there had to be some other explanation for his sudden coolness.
“I have a job to do, Edna,” he said, looking over his shoulder without a hint of emotion in his bright blue eyes. “It was nice meeting you.”
That was it? Nice meeting you? That was all he had to say?
“Right…the pleasure was all mine,” Edna said with a tight smile, somehow managing to keep it together until the door closed behind him. She listened as the men loaded into the elevator. All too quickly, the parlor was as silent as a Sunday morning.
He was gone. Just like that.
Edna felt her face crumple, but struggled to keep from losing it. She hadn’t cried either of the two times she’d had a gun held on her tonight; she wasn’t going to cry a second time over Big Baldy. So he’d made her feel more alive than she had in two years, more treasured than she had even in the arms of her first husband.
But those feelings had obviously been nothing but the product of deception. Frank was a man looking to entertain himself, and kill some time, nothing more.
“No. He listened, he really did,” Edna murmured to herself, something in her refusing to believe she’d been that mistaken.
He’d told her about his son, worried about her safety, and looked at her as if she were the most sexy, desirable woman in the world. Surely she hadn’t imagined all that. But whether she had imagined it or not, he was gone now, and she was alone.
Frank had left, taking with him one regulation slave loincloth and a piece of her heart.
Chapter Six
Three days later…
Edna sighed and shifted uncomfortably on the throne-like chair that dominated the corner of her new sitting room. The space was easily twice the size of her old house, and only part of the large castle suite she now occupied. Every amenity was provided, and she had wanted for nothing since her arrival—from food to entertainment to a full-body rubdown from the royal masseuse.
The digs and service were fantastic, but Edna would prefer to be back in her own home.
It had been two years since she’d had the luxury of puttering about her house in the daytime. She’d always had to sleep through the morning and early afternoon to be rested for her Wicked Stepmothering. Now that all of that was behind her, she couldn’t imagine anything more fabulous than hanging out in her breakfast nook with a cup of coffee and the morning paper and watching the sunlight move across the wall.
Instead, she was here, a pampered captive in the guest quarters of the castle while the media frenzied around her house and former place of business. She’d had no choice but to accept Cindy’s kind offer of accommodation for her own protection. The sensation caused by the revelation that King Robert had been in love with his stepmother-in-law and planned to keep her captive as his sex slave was more than the average reporter could handle and still keep their manners about them.
Edna had nearly been trampled on her way from her front door to the car Cindy sent to take her to the castle. She hadn’t ventured out since, and was beginning to feel the opposite of agoraphobic—whatever that was called.
But it wasn’t all bad. Cindy had been remarkably sweet the past few days, since Parliament had decided to allow her to remain as ruler until her son or daughter was old enough to rule. Come to find out, Cindy was already four months pregnant, a condition that had no doubt contributed to her despair at finding out her husband was an insane lech. It had also contributed to Parliament’s decision to be lenient with her stepdaughter, so Edna figured the situation evened itself out rather well.
Impending motherhood had also increased Cindy’s empathy for Edna’s position. They’d had a few long, mother-daughter-type talks and had co
me to a tentative reconciliation. Cindy had apologized for her horrible behavior, and Edna had finally convinced Cindy that marrying her father hadn’t been Edna’s way of ruining Cindy’s twelve-year-old life.
For her part, the new queen seemed eager to make up for the years of hostility between them. Edna was open to being friends, but would rather have begun their new relationship from the safety of her own home. No matter how well behaved, Cindy was still Cindy, and there was only so much Edna could take before her stepdaughter started to try her patience.
All she could hope was that the craziness would fade, and she’d be able to return to some semblance of a normal life. Not that she’d know what that was at this point. It had been years since Edna’s life had felt normal. It was kind of scary to think of what she would do with herself now that her name had been cleared, and a generous sum paid to her by her stepdaughter in restitution for the king’s attempted kidnapping.
She was finally a free woman. Now, she had to figure out what to do with that freedom.
A sudden knock on the door gave her at least one idea—breakfast. A woman had to eat, and the castle chefs did their best to tempt her appetite.
“Come in,” she called, fighting the urge to spring from her chair and open the door. The castle staff didn’t like her opening doors, or in any way facilitating their work. They weren’t used to the people they served lifting a finger and it made them nervous.
“Come in!” Edna called a bit more loudly. She kept forgetting how thick and solid the castle walls were.
“Hello?” A deep male voice sounded from the other side of the door. Speaking of solid…
“Co-come in,” Edna stuttered. There was only one voice that sounded like that, one voice that sent chills racing across her skin and electricity throbbing straight to her clit.
She’d never expected to hear that voice again, let alone to see his face or be in the same room with him. Frank had left her that night, and she hadn’t heard a word from him since. It was as if the moment they’d shared never happened. It was simply a haunting, erotic dream that woke her in the night, aching for the only man who had ever made her feel so perfectly fulfilled.
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