Claimed: Gowns & Crowns, Book 3

by Jennifer Chance

  “I do, your highness,” the chief adviser said carefully. “It might be advisable for the yacht to dock at Asteri for a few days. We can send a medical team there. If there’s a reason to bring Ari to the mainland, we can. If there’s a reason for him to remain, it’s a comfortable location.”

  Stefan nodded. Asteri was the private island owned by the royal family but rarely used except as a getaway for esteemed guests seeking safe haven in the tiny country. The king and queen had long preferred to remain in the thick of the action in the capital city, but the island was isolated, pristine, and the facilities there—while more than suitable—were not as elaborate as the palace.

  “It’s a good idea,” Stefan said. “Whether you recruit Miss Simmons or another psychologist, I would advise you to keep the circle of the informed quite tight. This is not something we want in the news.”

  “No,” Catherine spoke before Jasen could. “No, we do not. We’ll—we’ll find someone we trust,” she said. “Take him to Asteri, Stefan. Thank you for bringing him home.”

  He let his mouth soften into a brief smile. “I’m not the only one you should thank.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Nicki stiffened as all attention focused on her once more. “Hey, I simply followed orders,” she said, lifting her hands.

  “It was an excellent decision, your highness, to insist that Nicki accompany us on this mission,” Stefan said over her protest, his words impossibly polite and neutral, which somehow increased the impact of what he said next. “She was instrumental at every turn, from fulfilling her requirements as a travel videographer to stepping in where needed with the windsurfing community in Alaçati. She interacted capably with the Turkish officials and made suggestions that enabled us to complete the mission quickly and effectively.” He paused. “Without her, the mission would probably have been completed, but I’m not certain we would have recovered Ari as seamlessly.” He turned to her. “The kingdom of Garronia is in your debt.”

  Nicki blinked, startled by the formality of his language, but the king and queen were focusing on her with renewed interest. “I have a feeling that will make a very interesting story,” the queen murmured, her brows lifted.

  King Jasen merely looked concerned. “Everyone is safe? Uninjured?”

  Nicki’s stomach knotted, but Stefan continued. “The entire team is safely aboard the yacht, unharmed. We do need to rechart our course for Asteri, but we expect to reach that port in approximately eight hours. It would be best if the team you were assembling was in place before we arrived. There are enough unoccupied villas there, I suspect, to ensure the prince’s privacy?”

  “The guests we had on the island left yesterday. No one else is scheduled?” Jasen quirked a glance toward the queen, and she shook her head, her expression indicating that her thoughts were already on a dozen different topics.

  Nicki stifled a grin. Of course the royal family would have a private island for their personal use, and of course they’d be able to staff it in a matter of hours. Poor Ari might not be walking into the palace, but she had a feeling he was going to be in for a dramatic welcome all the same. “We’ll be there before you, but keep us updated on your progress and any developments that will impact our personnel.”

  “Of course, your highness.”

  They talked for a short while further, then Stefan signed off. He spoke quickly to his men in Garronois, and they left as he turned to her. “My apologies for speaking in a language you don’t know. It’s quicker, and time is short. There’s a lot of preparation to take place in a few hours.”

  “I can totally make myself scarce—”

  “What? Oh—no,” he said. “There’s still the matter of the debrief. We’ll want to ensure our stories match before you’re interrogated by the queen.”

  He gestured her out the door and she lifted her brows. “Interrogated?” she asked, though she obligingly exited in front of him.

  “It will probably include a liberal helping of tsipouro,” he said. “You would do well to be prepared.”

  His words were light—much lighter than the tone he’d used with the royal family, and Nicki found herself grinning in response. To her surprise, Stefan didn’t take her to another of the small conference rooms, however, but up the corridor to the main deck, then across to where the sleeping cabins were situated. He stopped at his state room.

  “The veranda here is more private and protected from the wind. We can talk,” he said, ushering her inside.

  “Of course.” She pointedly did not glance toward the doors that led to the bedchamber, and instead headed outside.

  Stefan was right. The small sitting area was wonderfully comfortable, open to the sky but with walls high enough to cut most of the stiff breeze coming off the ocean. Nicki ducked under the shade to sit at the table, and Stefan joined her, their chairs angled to make the most of the view.

  The view and decided proximity to each other.

  Stop it, Nicki reminded herself again. Her time with Stefan was rapidly nearing an end, and she needed to focus on what was real, not what was wishful thinking.

  “So,” she said, leaning forward to put her elbows on the table. “What do I need to change about the story? Or is it a matter of not giving specific details?”

  “The queen is cagier than that,” Stefan said. He also leaned forward, and Nicki fought her shiver. He was so—competent. Strong, vibrant, masculine. She was going to miss that.

  She was going to miss a lot of things.

  “Primarily, though, it’s a matter of what you should omit.”

  “Yeah?” she asked, refocusing. “Like the part where we broke laws, or the part where we had sex?”

  His gaze remained unperturbed. “I think she will be unfazed by either of those revelations. In fact she’ll give herself full credit for the latter.” He shook his head. “Specifically, though, the accounts of the squatters on the nature of Ari’s arrest—the timing, the details. Those can be forgotten. The queen will learn easily enough that he was rounded up as part of a work detail, but she would take issue with the way the Alaçati authorities handled Ari’s incarceration, and that’s not useful at this juncture.”

  “That makes sense.” Nicki said. “Anything else?” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you going to tell her about me passing out? Because I certainly won’t.”

  “I won’t share that directly with the queen, but with Cyril and King Jasen,” Stefan said. “What they choose to tell the queen, I cannot say.”

  “Well you could choose not to tell Cyril and Jasen anything either. That would solve that problem.”

  He shrugged, “I could, but there is the matter of the medical tests we’ll be running. I’ve already set those arrangements in motion, and they aren’t secret.”

  “Fine,” Nicki said, sitting back in a huff. “I’m still not bringing it up.”

  “There’s no need to do so,” he quirked her a glance. “Unless you’re feeling poorly?”

  Irritation crested. “I’m feeling fine. I told you that. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about this.”

  Stefan lifted his brows. “Because you nearly died?”

  She scowled at him. “I didn’t nearly die. I passed out! That’s it.”

  “Which begs the question. Why did you willfully keep such a vital piece of information about your health hidden?”

  “Gee, Stefan, maybe so I could avoid this exact conversation?” Nicki found herself dangerously close to tears, so she converted her irritation to anger. “Maybe so we could focus on the mission and not on something that might or might not have been a concern—and even then, only for me?”

  “Only for you?” he snapped, and she watched him visibly struggle with his temper. He looked away, his jaw working as he stared out to sea for a long moment. Then he spoke again. “If I had known you might be put at risk because of an adrenaline spike or dehydration, or that your body might not respond well to stress, you are correct. I would not have put you at risk.”
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  “You wouldn’t have taken me on that last mission, for sure. And I helped! You said yourself that I helped.”

  He gave her a curt nod. “You could have helped in other ways, though. Just because you’re not on the front lines doesn’t make your role any less vital.”

  “But the front lines is where I belong. It’s where I’ve always been. And I was fine—right up until I wasn’t. There was no way to predict that.”

  “There were ways to work around it though. Ways to manage through it. If I’d not reached you in time and your heart truly had stopped…” his words trailed off and she saw the tightness to his jaw, the way his hands clenched.

  “You did reach me, though,” she said. “It all worked out and I’m here. I’m fine.”

  “You’re fine.” He sighed heavily and turned to her, and to her surprise he lifted his hands to either side of her face, drawing her close for a long, searching kiss. “You’re fine.”

  His voice trembled with emotion, and Nicki’s heart trembled in her chest—not with anxiety, but with a surge of excitement that swept through her like a cleansing fire. Stefan desired her—still. She held on to that realization with both hands. He wanted her.

  And she wanted him back.

  Then Stefan pulled away and stared at her. “I need you to be more than fine, Nicki. I want you healthy. I want you safe. I want you completely out of danger.”

  I want you as mine. Stefan didn’t say the words, couldn’t say them. He’d monitored Nicki’s emails over the past twelve hours. He knew she was in conversation with the American windsurfing instructor. He knew she’d responded to his overture for work. And she was aware of his knowledge, he suspected, since she knew the protocols for email monitoring on the mission. She was already planning her exit from the shores of Garronia, and from him.

  “I’m never going to be completely out of danger,” Nicki said, her eyes wide, searching his. “That’s not who I am. If I can’t do the things I want to do without breaking, then what’s the point? Like now.” She leaned forward and kissed him again, then whispered against his mouth. “Stop worrying over me. We don’t have to think about the future, only this minute, nothing more. And this minute, I want you. Only you.”

  Stefan went very still, every muscle on high alert. “Nicki—you’re supposed to be resting.”

  “That’s true.” She pulled back and grinned at him. “But I have it on very good authority that what I have in mind frequently happens while the participants are lying down. So really, you’d be doing me a favor if you lay down with me, say—on your bed. And since we wouldn’t want to mess up your clothes…”

  She stood and stepped away from the table, and Stefan shook his head. Even as he did so, however, his resolve weakened. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said, but Nicki pulled him into the state room, then immediately turned and headed for the interior cabin.

  “Well, I’m taking off my clothes and climbing into your bed. You are more than welcome to join me, or if you prefer to stand watch outside, that’s also fine.”

  He watched, startled as she stripped off her tee shirt and shimmied out of her khakis before she reached the bedroom door. Without pausing, she reached for her bra-strap…

  Stefan was behind her in three long strides. “You really shouldn’t exert yourself unduly,” he said, gripping her shoulders in his hands.

  Her hands fell to her waist as he unhooked your bra. “In fact,” he murmured. “I’m pretty sure you should let me take the lead from here.”

  She gave the faintest protest as he leaned down and lifted her into his arms, but her smile was wide as she gazed up at him. “No wonder they picked you as team lead. So strategic,” she said, but he wasn’t fooled by the wry humor in her voice. Equal parts relief and need shown in her eyes, and he leaned down to kiss her softly on the forehead. She was so fierce, and wanted so much to be strong, that showing vulnerability was nearly impossible for her. She had to be in control, had to be going, had to take charge of the situation.

  But right at this moment he knew, more than anything, that she needed something more. She needed to know that someone craved her. Needed to know that someone saw her not as an invalid, but as someone who was strong and capable and intoxicating.

  She was all that and more.

  “I’m going to forego tossing you, if only this once,” he said as they stepped into the cool confines of the room. Nicki laughed, but her expression sobered as he laid her carefully on the bed.

  “I’m not going to break, Stefan,” she said. He leaned down, kissing first her collarbone, then her cheek, then softly, gently, he pressed his lips against hers, his gaze resolute. She must have seen something of what he was thinking, because her eyes widened in surprise.

  He lifted away, his mouth slanting into a soft smile. “You’re not the one I’m worried about breaking.” She blinked and he stood again, pulling off his shirt then shimmying out of his trousers. He freed the condom packet from his pants pocket and tossed it on the bed, then stripped off his shorts.

  Nicki reached for her own clothes and he lifted a hand. “Don’t move.”

  “Stefan, I can—”

  “That’s a direct order,” he murmured as Nicki froze, but he didn’t give her long to puzzle through his intentions. Reaching up, he slid her panties down her legs.

  “You missed a spot,” Nicki said, hooking her thumb into her bra strap.

  “I missed nothing,” Stefan said. He knelt on the bed between her legs, and traced the curve of the functional bra down its sleek lines, sliding his fingers under the soft swells of her breasts. Nicki’s breath caught, and her pulse jumped in her neck, but her eyelids drooped and she sighed as he teased her nipples through the fabric.

  “I think you should have a new supply of lingerie as part of your payment for this job,” Stefan said, and her gaze flicked to him, sharpening with focus.

  “Lingerie?”

  “You tend toward serviceable gear—which I appreciate—but I can’t help but imagine you in something a little less…practical.”

  Nicki’s snort of laughter cut off abruptly as he snaked his hand behind her back, loosening the catch of her bra. He slid it over her shoulders and leaned down, following his progress with his lips as he traced kisses down over her trembling skin. While he drew his tongue over the peak of her left breast, he allowed a hand to close around her right breast in synchrony, the dual pressure causing Nicki to arch off the bed.

  “Yes,” she muttered, and the soft urgency in her voice was the only motivation he needed. Pulling back from her, he sheathed himself quickly, then returned to her body, leaning down for a kiss.

  To his surprise, Nicki held up a hand. “Permission to take the lead?” she asked, and when he nodded, she reached up, pushing at his shoulders until he rolled to the side, then onto his back.

  He quirked her a bemused glance. “You were supposed to take it easy.”

  “This position improves oxygen flow,” Nicki said, but what she was doing was decidedly damaging the flow of oxygen and blood to his brain, that was certain. She straddled his body, naturally coming to rest over his shaft. The compression as her body settled made his jaw tighten, but he couldn’t take his eyes from Nicki’s face. She was so intent, so beautiful—her expression focused, her eyes clear, and the soft smile on her face something he would never tire of.

  She slid over him and his attention fractured. He had the vague sense of her expression growing far more triumphant.

  “Better?” she asked, with a twist of her lips, throwing his own words back at him. His breath escaped in a tight hiss, and he lifted his hands to her hips, seating her more firmly against him as her body rocked. He found his gaze darting everywhere, her breasts, her face, the tight knot of her abs as she flexed to hold herself in place—and then further up, to where her precious heart lay safely beneath skin and bone. An unreasonable tide of possession surged inside of him, and the message traveled straight to his groin.

  Nicki’s gaze
riveted on him as she felt the difference. “Oh,” she breathed, and he grimaced.

  “Yes. Oh.” He tried to loosen his grip on her hips but then she lifted her chin, her body stretching taut as she dropped her head back, her eyes drifting shut as she absorbed the complete experience of him—and the sheer joy of her expression added exponentially to his enjoyment. They moved with increasing speed and strength, her body flexing, tightening around him until there was no way to tell where she ended and he began, the symbiosis of their movement as timeless as the sea and filled with laughter, light and sunshine, like the smile on Nicki’s face.

  The sudden orgasm rushed up on him so quickly he growled. Nicki’s eyes flew open as she fell forward, her hands bracing on his chest her lips parting as he bucked with sudden, frenzied need beneath her. She cried out too with sudden, unfettered happiness and he gripped her even harder, wanting to hold her, keep her, and make her his far beyond this moment, far beyond this day.

  Then she dropped forward into the bed and slid away from him, her body appearing as boneless as his felt.

  “See?” she murmured, curling against him. “Not stressful at all.”

  Their quiet, shared laughter flowed easily into the sea-bright sunshine.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Nicki stared in wonder as they pulled into port, the yacht greeted by a small army of workers who marched out of a bright white boathouse and trotted down an equally white boardwalk to greet their ship. The entire mini marina appeared freshly scrubbed, and as Stefan handed her off the boat, she squinted at him.

  “No one lives on this island but the royal family and their guests? It’s literally a private island? And they own it? Like…they own it.”

  Stefan glanced at her, his face a little bemused. “Technically, the country of Garronia owns it, but it’s in the royal family’s name, yes. For use as they see fit, whether for guests or extended members of the family.” His lips quirked. “If you stay in Garronia for any length of time, however, you’ll find the family extends…quite a long way.”