Carrying the King's Pride

by Jennifer Hayward

  The princess had a reputation for being a fashionista, too. The photographers swarmed to get a shot of her and Sofía, their flashes going off like mad.

  “Stella. Is it true you are dating Aristos Nicolades?” a photographer yelled.

  What? Sofía angled a look at Stella. “Tell me you’re not.”

  The princess lifted a brow at the reporter. “Where do you get these ideas?”

  Sofía’s gaze flew to Nik, who stood at the bottom of the steps with the gathered contingent, his eyes fixed on his sister. His furious eyes. They glittered an electric blue in the sun, set off by his dark suit, crisp white shirt and ice-blue tie. When he turned them on her she went a bit weak at the knees at the banked intensity in them.

  It took her right back to the night in New York at the Met when he had looked at her like that, the night that had set in motion a chain of events that had landed them here. And still she didn’t know how it was going to end.

  “Fabulous dress, Sofía,” a photographer called out. “Who’s it by?”

  She lifted her chin, her heart swelling. “It’s mine. I plan to launch a new line in my New York boutique next year.”

  “Would that be for a maternity line?”

  She opened her mouth to fluff it off per usual, with the official announcement to come next week and who knew where she and Nik would be by then? Nik broke away from the crowd and climbed the steps to her side before she could find an appropriately evasive response.

  “Yes,” he said, slipping an arm around her waist. “Sofía and I are thrilled to say we are expecting our first child.”

  Stella choked out a sound beside her at the breach in protocol. The paparazzi went crazy with their cameras.

  “What did you do that for?” Sofía demanded beneath her breath. “Now they’re going to be a pack of wild animals.”

  “Because we are having a baby, agapi mou. It was getting painful watching you try to skirt the question.”

  She forced a smile to her lips as the flashes continued to go off. “Don’t you think a press release is a better idea if we’re not going to be together?”

  He turned that ice-blue gaze on her. “I’m never letting you go, Sofía. Ever.”

  “You don’t have a choice,” she pointed out, maintaining her smile. “I told you I’m leaving after this if you don’t let me in.”

  “That gives me twenty-four hours to change your mind.”

  She forgot about the cameras entirely, her heart tumbling to the concrete. “Nik—”

  “Later,” he growled, releasing her. “Unless you would like an audience for this.”

  No. No, she wouldn’t.

  They moved on to lunch. In the afternoon the leaders sat down once again to hash out a solution to the issue at hand. The palace PR person was called in to handle the communications crisis that erupted around the coming royal baby. By the evening news, the story was splashed across every news outlet on the planet with all kinds of sensational taglines attached to it. Jumping the Gun seemed to be a favorite, followed closely by Out of Wedlock Shock.

  But the coming baby wasn’t the only headline news. The fashion press went mad about Sofía’s dress, calling it “ultrachic maternity wear” every design house would be duplicating by week’s end.

  After pouring through the masses of coverage the PR person gave her on her tablet, Sofía lifted her head, dazed. Finally she was a hit. Just in time for her and Nik’s relationship to implode.

  * * *

  Nik walked out of the National Assembly as early evening fell, the political and military support of the international community behind him. If Carnelia acted against Akathinia, the world would respond. But Nik knew it wouldn’t come to that. Not after the consensus of today made the news. Not after Idas realized his games were over.

  He stopped to speak to the scrum of media waiting outside the Assembly. His PR person intercepted him on his way to the podium. “The news of the royal baby has gone viral. It’s everywhere.”

  Tell him something he couldn’t have predicted. He wasn’t thrilled with himself for his impulsive move, aware his need to lay claim to Sofía could backfire badly on him if the media chose to focus on a royal baby rather than his country’s political issues. But it was done now.

  “Tell me some of the coverage has included the summit.”

  His PR person nodded, a smile curving her lips. “One of the big news channels was interviewing a pundit on the announcement. He joked Carnelia could hardly touch Akathinia now with a royal baby on the way. Sacrilegious, he called it. The clip was picked up everywhere.”

  His mouth slackened. “You’re joking.”

  “I would not joke about something like that, Your Highness. Your fiancée is also being hailed as the next savior of fashion. They loved her dress.”

  That pulled a smile from him. Sofía had such high hopes for her maternity line but she wouldn’t admit one of them.

  He did the scrum alongside the superpower leaders, then headed back to the palace to change before the dinner and dance scheduled for that evening. The meeting had run long, which meant he had just enough time to change into formal wear before he and Sofía left for predinner cocktails in the palace ballroom.

  His fiancée was standing in their dressing room putting a necklace on when he walked in. Her back was to him, her voluptuous body covered by a black, ankle-length gown that hugged every delectable curve. It left her entire back bare, the drape of the dress swooping to almost her waist.

  It was one of the dresses from her sketches. She looked devastating.

  Sofía glanced over her shoulder, necklace in hand, a frustrated look on her face. “I can’t get this. Can you?”

  He walked toward her and took the necklace, draping it around her slim neck and fastening it easily. When he was done, she went to move away. He closed his fingers around her upper arms, holding her there. “The dress looks amazing.”

  She kept her gaze focused straight ahead. “Nik—”

  He dropped his mouth to her smooth, bare shoulder, inhaling the heady scent of her spicy perfume. “I told you I wouldn’t let you go today because I can’t let you go, Sofía. I need you here by my side, helping me navigate my way through this. Only with you do I feel at peace.”

  She froze, so motionless, so still, he tightened his hands around her shoulders and turned her around. Her big, dark eyes were full of apprehension and a misery that kicked him in the chest.

  She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I can’t—I need more, Nik. It’s not enough for you to need me, to want me, because you can turn it off and on like a switch and it breaks my heart every time you retreat.”

  “I know. Lypamai. I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “You make me feel things that terrify me. That challenge everything I thought I knew about myself. About what I am capable of. And still I want you, because what I once was, I’m not anymore. I don’t want that solitary existence. I want you.”

  Her eyes were glued to his. “What feelings are you referring to?”

  He reached for her hand and curled his fingers around hers. “You were right when you said I knew you were in love with me and that I used it against you. I was scared of the emotion I had for you, afraid of what giving in to my feelings would do to my ability to make critical decisions. So I told myself a partnership was better for us. So I could deliver on my promise to protect you, to take care of you. But then my feelings got involved and I hurt you. I didn’t think I could offer you what you needed, so I backed off.”

  He shook his head. “I should have known it was never going to work. My feelings for you were too strong. It’s why I hadn’t broken things off with you in New York. Because I was beginning to care.”

  She frowned. “You told me you were going to cut it off.”

  “I hadn’t given myself an en
d date, Sofía. That says something.”

  “Oh, it certainly does,” she growled. “I was a possession you wanted to hang on to a bit longer. My expiration date hadn’t come up. And now you want to do the same but this time because I’m carrying your child.”

  “No. Because I love you.” He tightened his fingers around hers. “You asked me that night to figure out whether I have a heart, whether I could share it with you. I honestly didn’t know. I’ve kept myself closed off for so long I didn’t know what I had left in me. And then you threatened to walk away and I knew. I knew I didn’t want to do this without you. That I loved you. Yes, I want our baby, but it’s you I need, Sofía.”

  Her eyes darkened to almost black, a suspicious brightness forming in them. “What about the next crisis? And the next? I can’t keep going through this vicious cycle with you.”

  “You won’t have to. I exorcised some demons today. That need to prove myself to my father you pointed out? My need to live up to my brother’s memory? Everything led to that, you were right.” He shook his head. “I’m never going to be perfect, but I know now I can move on. I can focus on the present. You,” he said huskily. “Our baby. A future I never thought I’d have.”

  A tear slid down her cheek. “I have been so miserable the past couple of weeks. I thought you were done with us. I thought we were over.”

  “We are never over,” he growled. “I had to make sure my head was on straight before we had this conversation. I didn’t want to make promises I couldn’t keep.”

  “And you’re sure now?”

  He pulled her closer, his hands settling against her silky, bare back. “Sure. Take one more jump with me, Sofía. I promise you won’t regret it.”

  She drifted closer to him, her dark eyes softening into that molten brown fire he loved to watch. “Is that an order, Your Highness?”

  He shook his head. “No more orders. I just need you to love me.”

  She stood on tiptoe and brought her mouth to his. “I do, Nikandros Constantinides. More than I should.”

  He took her lips in a soft, seductive caress that promised her everything he had. When he lifted his mouth, she was breathless. “You still, however, need to be punished.”

  She frowned. “For?”

  “Your Highness...”

  She started to laugh, a sound he’d never been so happy to hear. “Later. We’re late.”

  He picked her up by way of response and deposited her on the dresser. Kissed her again. This time their kiss was needy and hot, their mouths and fingers rediscovering sacred territory. He cupped her backside and pulled her to the edge of the dresser, needing to seal their pledge with the shattering intimacy only they could produce.

  “Nik,” she breathed, “we can’t.”

  “Can’t,” he said, “is not a word in my vocabulary.”

  Her fingers found his belt buckle. Pulling it open, the button and zipper on his pants followed.

  “I love you,” she whispered as she arched her hips and took him deep.

  He rested his forehead against hers and said those three words to her again and again until her body contracted around his and she took him to heaven.

  He’d been given a second chance. He didn’t intend to waste it.

  * * *

  Nik and his queen-to-be slipped into the cocktail hour with the other international leaders fifteen minutes late. Their absence and the blush on Sofía’s cheeks were duly noted, as was her gown, which was another smash hit.

  Nik stood back and watched his fiancée shine as the paparazzi flashes went mad. Her dazzling smile made his chest tighten. The king had found his heart and it was standing right in front of him.

  EPILOGUE

  SOFÍA RAMIREZ MARRIED Nikandros Alphaios Constantinides on a bright, sunny, perfect Akathinian day in October in the breathtakingly beautiful royal chapel that had blessed every set of royal nuptials since the monarchy’s inception over two centuries ago.

  Five months pregnant in her Francesco Villa strapless white satin wedding gown, featuring a three-tiered, hand-appliquéd lace overlay of different shades of ivory, HRH Queen Sofía, Duchess of Armendine, made her way down the chandelier-lit marble aisle to join her intensely handsome groom, dressed in full military regalia.

  She walked down the aisle by herself behind Katharine and Stella, her two bridesmaids, dressed in elegant ice-blue gowns. It only seemed right to leave her father’s place empty, because nothing could ever replace him. Her blossoming relationship with her mother, however, was something she had come to treasure as it grew with every day that passed. Sometimes things did change.

  The Akathinian television commentators covering the royal nuptials continued to warm to their new queen as she exchanged vows with her king.

  “Regal and stunningly beautiful, Sofía has blossomed in her role,” they said. “Clearly she has captured the heart of our king and is well on her way to capturing the heart of the people. Although I think the real show today,” the reporter added with a smile, “was watching Nikandros’s face as his bride walked down the aisle.”

  The couple left the chapel hand in hand to the uplifting strains of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, retiring to the balcony of the palace to address the massive crowds. After providing a particularly passionate kiss for the photographers, something that was becoming their trademark, they were recognized with a twenty-one-gun salute.

  It wasn’t until they were seated at the head table in the palace ballroom, surrounded by every manner of global royalty and celebrity, that Sofía took her first real breath of the day. It had been a wonderful one, her happiness with Nik a living, breathing entity that seemed to grow stronger with every day. But she would be happy when it was just the two of them back in Evangelina on the weeklong honeymoon they had planned.

  As the guests settled in, their champagne glasses full in the sparkling candlelight, Nik rose to give a toast. After thanking everyone for coming in both English and his native language, he expressed his gratitude to the Akathinian people for working through the past few trying months with him.

  Following the peace summit, the international community had thrown its full support behind Akathinia and Idas had backed off his inflammatory rhetoric in the press. Should Carnelia elect to resume its opportunistic hostilities toward its smaller neighbor, Akathinia would not be alone. Nik worried the threat from the aggressive Carnelian king was not over, but a sense of calm and ordinary life had settled over the island. And for now, it was enough.

  “To peace,” Nik said, lifting his glass.

  The guests raised their flutes and drank, a quiet gratefulness filling the air at the preservation of the independent, tranquil life they valued so deeply. Then Nik turned to his bride.

  He was eloquent in his toast to her, as a man who had addressed the United Nations was wont to be, but it was his final words that drew Sofía’s first tears of the day.

  “I did not know how love could change a man,” he said, his gaze on hers. “How much better it could make me be, until I met you, Sofía. You are my heart. Always.”

  They left the reception by helicopter in the wee hours while the guests still celebrated, the lights of Akathinia glowing beneath them as they rose high in the air. When they were close to landing on Evangelina, Nik held out his hand. “Ready?”

  Nodding, she joined him at the open doorway, a bouquet of lilies in her hand that matched the bouquet Nik carried. One for her father, one for Athamos. They had not been here, but they had not been forgotten. Timing their throw, they sent the flowers scattering across the sea.

  The tears came again for Sofía, silent and bittersweet. “Thank you,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around Nik’s neck. “That was perfect.”

  His eyes were as full of emotion as she’d seen them. “He knows,” she whispered. “He knows.”

&nb
sp; He kissed her then as the helicopter swooped toward their hideaway. Clutching the lapel of his sexy military uniform, she held on to the moment as long as she could. These days she was living for the present, knowing with Nik by her side, no matter what arrived to test them, it would never fall apart.

  Their time together in Evangelina was always perfect. She intended to make the most of every last magical second of it.

  * * * * *

  The drama and passion of KINGDOMS & CROWNS continues in CLAIMING THE ROYAL INNOCENT

  Available in May 2016

  And look out for the final installment of the trilogy coming soon!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from AWAKENED BY HER DESERT CAPTOR by Abby Green.

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