Royal Rebel: A Royal Romance (The Haldonia Monarchy Book 1)

by Laramie Briscoe

  “About two miles. It sits far enough off the road to be completely secluded. One of the reasons I love it so much. We’re about eight miles from town, so it’s easy to get there.”

  I’m about to ask him something else, but that’s when I get a good look at the house I’m going to be living in. My family is well-off and I’m familiar with luxury. But this house? Takes my breath away. It looks like it was literally situated here by God himself. Like it’s been here since the beginning of time. It sits in the place it was meant to be for eternity.

  “Amazing, isn’t it?” His voice is quiet in the awe filling the Range Rover.

  It appears to be about three stories high. The outside is dark blue with weathered shingles and a massive porch. To the left looks to be a five-car garage. “It is.” I badly want to know what the other side of the house looks like and the inside. I need a complete picture.

  “Wait until you see the rest of it.”

  He parks and we’re quickly out, him grabbing my hand. Mine are cold, like normal, and feeling his strong warmth is a relief. “Wait, what about our stuff?”

  “There’s a small staff here.” He entwines our fingers together. “They’ll take care of it while I show you your new home.”

  As we enter, I’m literally rendered breathless by the view. While this side of the house had few windows, the backside? It has nothing but windows. We walk slowly through the foyer, in my peripheral I see staircases, but my gaze is dedicated to what’s in front of me. The living room is manly, all leather and dark colors. What’s got my attention, however, is the fact I can see the ocean through the window.

  “I can’t believe you have this view,” I whisper.

  “This,” he whispers right along with me, pulling me into his side. His arm wraps around my neck, causing me to lean into his side. “Is my happy place. There’s something about sitting in either here or on the back deck and watching the waves, listening to them, and just enjoying the quiet. There’s so much noise in my life, so many people who need me for something, or want me to make some sort of decision. My father, telling me what I should do, or what I shouldn’t do. Here, it doesn’t matter. I can be me, and more than anything, that’s why I love it, and why I hope you love it too.”

  “I think I’m going to,” I tell him, feeling the sense of peace he talked about as I look out over the water.

  Like a scene from a postcard, snow is softly falling, coating portions of the rocks that lead to the beach. How I got dropped in the middle of a fairytale, I’ll never know.

  “This is my other favorite part of the house,” Tristan says as we get to the lower level. “This pool is where I spend most of my time during the winter. It’s not big at all,” he moves to the side to allow me to look.

  He’s right, it’s a small square with a waterfall, but it’s got a beautiful view of the ocean.

  “When I have anything to think about, I come here, sit in the water and contemplate life. Water calms me more than anything else ever has, maybe that’s why I feel so comfortable here. I want you to love this place as much as I do.”

  I look down, noticing he hasn’t let go of my hand since we arrived. I like it, but I don’t make a comment about it. If he knows he hasn’t let me go, it may startle him and ruin the easy friendship we’re coming to have.

  “I’m sure I will. I can see the appeal, and I can’t wait to view it all through your eyes, Tristan. Show me the rest?”

  He takes me through an amazing kitchen, a library, workout room, shows me a couple of bathrooms, a pantry, and two guest rooms. We’re about to head up the last set of stairs to the top floor when he stops, turning to face me.

  “This is the master.”

  As we climb the stairs, I hold tightly onto his hand. My heart is pounding, mouth is dry, because he didn’t mention more than one. When he opens the door, I gasp again. The bedroom is the length of the house. There’s a huge bed, with windows looking out over the ocean again. Only here, you can see so much further because it’s higher. There’s a verandah with what looks to have outside furniture, and I can’t wait to sit out there, hopefully with him.

  There’s a sitting area on one side of the room, situated around the focal point of a fireplace. It’s cozy, and everything I would want if anyone asked me what I imagined my home as an adult would look like. Carpet on the floor looks plush and like it would sink between my toes I took my shoes off.

  “Wanna see the bathroom?” he asks.

  If the bedroom looks like this, the bathroom is going to be amazing. “Oh my God, yes.”

  He laughs at my enthusiasm. “Come on.”

  When he opens the door, I’m totally in love. There’s a tub so big I can probably lie down in it, a shower large enough for at least five people, and the largest makeup vanity I’ve seen in my life. “This is…” I don’t even have words for it.

  “I’m a guy,” he laughs. “This means nothing to me, but I’m really glad you like it.”

  Turning to him, impulsively I throw my arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “I do like it, I can see why you love it here.”

  He wraps his arms around my waist. “I hope you’ll come to love it as much as I do.”

  “I can’t wait to see it through your eyes,” I tell him. “Can’t wait for you to show me why you’d rather be here, instead of at the Palace.”

  “Oh you’ll see that very quickly, trust me.” He laughs as he pulls me back through the room and has a seat on one of the sofas around the fireplace. “There’s a few things I need to talk to you about.”

  And that’s when my stomach drops. I’m unsure of what he’s going to say, don’t know him well enough to be able to gauge what he may say by his facial expression.

  “While we’re here, we’re going to become comfortable with one another. We’re going to learn all the things other people learn about each other while dating. Together we’ll figure out what it is to run this country.”

  Hearing him talk about us like a couple is comforting. “Together?”

  “Together, I’m not going to let you go about this alone. Sometimes, the media will be harsh. I watched my mother go through it, watched her hate it, and sat by while my father did nothing. I swore to myself that when it came time for me to be one in charge, I wouldn’t allow my wife to shoulder the responsibility of being the face of our nation.”

  He grabs hold of my hand, twisting his wrist so that he strokes my palm. “I appreciate that, Tristan. While I do have some training, and obviously Shannon will be with us, nothing will help more than the two of us standing strong.”

  “Which brings me to my next point,” he continues running his fingernail along my palm. “Obviously this is the only master suite. There’s two options. I can stay in one of the guest rooms, or we can stay here together. The decision is yours, whatever you want to do, I’ll stand behind.”

  My breathing increases as I think about the implications.

  “I don’t want to pressure you,” he continues.

  “You’re not,” I assure him, closing my palm around his finger, biting my bottom lip as I think about what sharing a bed with him means. “In a few months we’ll be doing it anyway, right?”

  “Is that you saying you want me to stay here with you?”

  This may be the worst decision of my life, but we have to become comfortable with one another and the best way to do that is spend time together. Here, in this room, at least we’ll have complete privacy. Even if my heart does pound at the prospect of sleeping in the same bed with him.

  “Yes,” I answer. “Yes, I want us to share this room together.”

  “To share the bed?”

  “Yes.”

  He shifts so he can move his palm to my neck. “To share our bodies?”

  “Yes, when the time comes.”

  I’ve got to set a few boundaries, and that’s the biggest.

  “Understood, Amelia. I’ll have them bring both our bags up here.”

  He gets up to go let them know
and as I watch his retreating back, I sigh. My life – is about to get way more interesting.

  Chapter Six

  Tristan

  The next morning, I awake with her in my arms. Sometime through the night, even though we started out on separate sides of the bigger-than-king-size bed in the suite, we came together in the middle. She’s snuggled up with her back to my front, and I have my arm wrapped around her, my legs tangled in hers. It feels good, waking up with someone there. Hardly any of my other conquests would spend the night with me.

  It was mostly my doing, but they didn’t push. If they had, I’d probably have pushed back and never spoken to them again, but it strikes me as a learning experience. None of them wanted to push. They really didn’t want the life, they wanted the status for the one night.

  This woman? She seems to want then life. At least I hope she wants the life.

  As I’m trying to awaken against the last pull of sleep, Amelia situates herself more fully against me, and I take note of where my arm actually is. Wrapped around her chest, her unbound breast resting in the palm of my hand. She snuggles back against me, her softness rubbing against the part of me that’s hard.

  This is hell, I decide pretty quickly, but at the same time, I can’t seem to stop myself. Dropping my lips to her neck, I smear them against the exposed skin, kissing softly in the sleepy grogginess of the early morning.

  “Tristan?” Her whisper is a question in the silence of the room.

  “Right here, Lia,” I answer, pressing my palm against the firm peak of her nipple. “I won’t go too far.”

  She whines as she extends her neck farther, allowing me room to move against her soft skin. Nipping slightly, I allow the few-days growth of beard to abrade her flesh.

  “Mmmm, don’t stop, Tristan,” she reaches behind her, grasping my neck with her fingers, pressing her ass against my dick.

  With my free hand, I hold her hips still as I grind into her from behind, the clothing providing a layer of modesty that I wish wasn’t there right now. With a growl, I twist her around so that she’s laying on her back, me halfway covering her body. Her arms go around my neck, pulling me down to her. Our mouths open, tongues duel, and hands fight with one another as I reach down to lift her shirt up over her stomach.

  Just as my fingers feel the soft heat of her skin, my phone rings loudly. It’s the phone number that comes directly from the palace.

  “Fuck,” I groan as I let my head drop against the pillow. “I have to get that.”

  She moans loudly, her fingers gripping the waistband of my pajama pants. “Really bad timing,” she groans as she rolls away from me.

  Flat on my back now, I scrub my hands over my face, bring my palm down to adjust my hard on to a more tolerable level. The phone is still ringing. “Yeah,” I answer, not worried about custom, or politeness. The raging erection in my pants has made me lose all my humor.

  “Tristan.” I hear my father’s voice on the other end of the line. “That’s not how you answer the phone.”

  “Sorry, I was asleep. Is there something I can help you with?”

  “I was just calling to see if you’d seen the news this morning, but since you just woke up, I’m assuming you haven’t. You and Amelia are the talk of the world-wide tabloids. You’ve put Haldonia back on the map, people are already planning to come here for the wedding. Be sure the two of you are able to put on a good show.”

  Immediately my mood is soured. I’m feeling a friendship with her, I never expected to feel. He’s making it into almost a business transaction and it doesn’t sit well with me, but I have to realize to him that’s what this is. Six months I have to determine what this is - six months to make sure we’re compatible, six months to fall in love, six months to become the ruler I want to be.

  “Thanks for the heads up, Dad.” I clear my throat. “But right now, I have work to do, I’ll be in touch.”

  Talking to him always puts me in a weird head space. I don’t even realize he’s hung up on me until I hear the beeping of the dial tone.

  Throwing the phone down, I growl, noticing for the first time Amelia’s gone.

  “Are you okay?” Amelia asks as she makes her way back into the bedroom, her hair wet, wearing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt. She’s just as beautiful in a pair of jeans as she is in an evening gown.

  “Other than having the worst case of blue balls I’ve ever had in my life, I’m good.” I push myself off of the bed, swinging my legs over. “My father called to let me know that we’ve made the world-wide tabloids. Many people are already planning to make their way to Haldonia for the wedding. He says we better put on a good show when the time comes.”

  She wrinkles her nose up in disgust. “That’s a vulgar way of putting it.”

  “He doesn’t believe in a happily ever after anymore, doesn’t think that love can conquer all. He’s lonely, and the loneliness has made him a cynical bastard.”

  “And you do?” she asks, curling up next to the fire, tucking her legs under her on the couch.

  “I saw the way my mother looked at him when she was alive. I saw the way they laughed and talked together, the little things they did for each other. Love is alive and well, but it has to be nurtured, it has to grow.” A part of me feels stupid telling her these things, but if we’re to have a relationship of any kind, I can’t be scared to be honest.

  “Then I look forward to finding out what love means with you, Tristan of Haldonia.”

  I give her a smile as I go into the bathroom and take my turn.

  “If we walk over that hill, there’s a place we can sit,” I tell her, my breath puffing out in white blasts of air.

  It’s snowing today at the beach, angry waves are crashing into the shore and the wind is bitter as it whips around us, but neither one of us have complained about the fresh air.

  “Okay.” She nods, grabbing hold of my hand tightly as we navigate the beach.

  Once we get over the hill, there’s a small sheltered picnic area. Looking behind me, I see Parker following not far behind, and I know that no matter what, we’re safe.

  “We should be able to sit here and talk for a little while without freezing to death.” I give her my hand to help her sit.

  “What is it you want to talk about?” she asks, hooking her arm in mine, snuggling in close.

  “Have you seen the pictures from yesterday?”

  “No.” She shakes her head. “I haven’t had a chance to look.”

  I put my arm around her, situating my phone so we can both see. “Then let’s look together.

  “We honestly look like a newly engaged couple, with stars in our eyes,” she reaches out to touch the picture.

  “We do, but we don’t know the basics about one another,” I remind her.

  “Like favorite color?” she supplies.

  “Favorite foods,” I add.

  “First kiss.” She raises her eyebrows at me.

  “Favorite sexual position,” I tease as I lean in, capturing her lips with mine.

  “That’s why we’re here.” She pushes her hair behind her ears. “To become comfortable with one another, to learn all the things about each other that we don’t already know.”

  “Which is everything,” I remind her.

  “No, that’s not exactly right. We know that we have chemistry, we know that we like to kiss, and we know that during the night, we’re drawn to one another.”

  I clear my throat as I think about how good she’d felt pressed up against me, how responsive she had been to me. “That’s more than many people ever have, much less what I imagined we would have when I was told about you.”

  “I’m looking forward to building it with you.” Amelia grasps the edges of my jacket, pulling me to her. Her lips press against mine in a kiss I’m unprepared for.

  The same heat we felt this morning is there, and before it gets too far out of hand, I put a stop to it. “We always have to be aware there may be cameras watching,” I caution her.
“And we should be getting out of here, the temperature seems to be falling.” I can see my breath, even in the shelter we’re in.

  She shivers. “Then maybe we should go back to the house?”

  “We’ll have some lunch, and learn about those food preferences.” I pinch the inside of her thigh slightly, causing her to giggle.

  “Are you ticklish there?”

  I do it again and the throaty laugh washes all over my body. She tries to keep her response in check, but as I do it one more time, she laughs so hard she cries. Before she gets up, backing away from me. “Stop!” she giggles. “You’re going to wish you had once I throw up on you from laughing too hard.”

  “Where else are you ticklish?” I question as I get up and start to advance on her.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know, Tristan?”

  She gives me a look that says she’s daring me, as she takes off at a run back to the house.

  “I would, Lia. I definitely would.”

  Finding out the things about her that only lovers know, will for sure be one of my new favorite pastimes.

  Chapter Seven

  Amelia

  We're standing in the kitchen right beside one another, facing the pantry. It's time for lunch, and it's also a great time for us to learn something about one another.

  "If you had to pick your favorite guilty pleasure to eat from in here, what would it be?" I look up, asking Tristan as I watch his dark eyes survey the contents in front of us.

  “This is interesting." He runs his palm down his stubble-covered chin. "I kind of thought we'd sit around and quiz one another on questions."

  Turning to face him, I grab his shirt between my fingers, pulling him slightly toward me. He seems surprised, but for the life of me I can't stop touching him today. Maybe it was sleeping beside him last night, maybe it's the fact we're pretty much alone today - I don't know. But I feel more comfortable with him than I did even yesterday.