Bad to the Throne

by Gardiner, Jenny

  She’d nearly finished half her book by the time the church bells began to peal, announcing that the royal marriage had been consecrated. By then the crowd had swollen, and all stood up, many proudly waving the flag of Monaforte. Andi hadn’t even thought to get one. In fact, she had no idea how she’d attract Zander’s attention in the throng. If she ran up to him, maybe she’d get tackled by Monaforte’s version of the Secret Service.

  The crowd grew louder as the parade of pomp and circumstance commenced, and everywhere people tossed flower petals and confetti each time anyone of some import passed by. The parade included many horses, their manes braided and flower garlands draped over their necks, and honor guards and color guards carrying the official flag.

  Soon the extended family paraded by, first with young children who must have been distant relatives, and then the king and queen. Then Andi finally spotted him: a few hundred feet away from her strolled Zander, so handsome in his dress blues. For once he was clean-shaven, and he’d even trimmed his hair for the occasion. The blue of his uniform highlighted the deep sapphire of his eyes, and he simply stole her breath away. He’d lifted up one of the little boys in the parade and was dangling him upside down to the delight of the crowd, though not so much his mother, who kept motioning for Zander to put him down. But it gave Andi an idea.

  A sweet little girl of about three with soft white fairy-floss hair paraded by, as angelic a child as could be. Atop her head she wore a halo of flowers and ribbons that draped down the back of her embroidered white organza flower girl dress. She was so perfectly precious Andi almost hated to use her to get to Zander. Nevertheless, she shouted out for her.

  She cupped her hands around her mouth to try to amplify her voice against the noise. “Can you get your cousin Zander? Tell him a very mean girl wants to talk to him.”

  The girl scrunched her brow in concern, and soon her face took on a look of stranger danger as she ran off toward Zander, just as Andi had hoped. The child reached her cousin, who was picking up lots of children in the group, and tugged at his pants, trying to get his attention. Finally he looked down and reached for the girl and pulled her up for a kiss on her cheek.

  The girl pulled his head toward her and, cupping her hands over his ear, whispered something to Zander, then pointed toward Andi.

  Zander squinted in her direction, trying to discern what the child meant, then his eyes widened. As he lowered the little girl to the ground, he grabbed her hand and they both ran toward Andi, the girl giggling with delight.

  Just as Zander got near to Andi, a policeman in full dress regalia came by and ordered the crowd back, which pushed her farther from Zander. But Zander overruled him, forcing himself past the policeman and toward his destination.

  Andi wanted to run up to him but was afraid there might be secret service snipers at the ready, so she let Zander come to her. It wasn’t exactly fair under the circumstances, but it was all she could do.

  ~*~

  Zander stopped for a minute and stooped down to eye level with the child. He motioned toward his sister Isabella and told the girl to run to her. He wanted no distractions. And then he was there—first clasping hands face-to-face with Andi, just staring at her, then lifting her up off her feet in a giant bear hug, then planting a kiss on her mouth that seemed to last forever as crowds gathered around and cheered and tossed flower petals and confetti at them.

  Andi looked with appraising eyes at the saber hanging from Zander’s uniform. “Is that a royal weapon or are you just happy to see me?”

  “Perhaps a little of both,” Zander said as he continued to stare into her eyes, a wide grin spread across his face. “My God, you’re a sight for sore eyes. I can’t really believe you’re actually here.” He pinched her cheek, just to be sure.

  “What are you doing?” Andi said.

  “Making sure it’s you and not a dream,” he said, winking at her.

  They held hands, facing each other, and he kept squeezing her hands as if to keep her from slipping away into the crowd.

  “How did you end up here?” Zander asked.

  Andi shook her head. “I was being so pigheaded, Z,” she said. “Instead of following my heart, I was following my stubborn head, which I should have known was a bad plan. I guess I got so spooked with everything. We went from being in a little bubble to having photographers hunting me down at dinner in about five hours’ time. It frightened me. I didn’t think I could be that person for you. I didn’t think I was brave enough to even deal with it, to be honest.

  “But I learned so much when I was gone. Not the least of which was that you’re the prince in the Prince’s Trust.”

  Zander nodded. “Yeah. So? I could’ve told you that.”

  Andy cringed. “But I didn’t give you the credit for being that person. I assumed it was your brother who was performing all those philanthropic acts. Not only did I assume that, but I hadn’t a clue that you actually got your hands dirty with the many organizations you sponsor. I had a little talk with Josiah. He set me straight.”

  Zander beamed. “My little man, J. How’s he doing?”

  “Amazing, thanks to you,” Andi said. “He’s thriving now, he’s with his family, and he goes to school, and he’s healthy and happy. Zander, I’m sorry I didn’t think that you were somber enough to be that man. I figured since you were the one who horses around and strips naked in public swimming pools that you didn’t have a serious bone in your body. Obviously I was a complete and total fool. Because right here in front of me is this complicated man, this person who has great goals to help those less fortunate, who also happily leaps from airplanes and shows the world his birthday suit. Not at the same time, mind you.”

  “Oh, I dunno,” Zander said. “Might be sort of fun to skydive naked. Though you’d have to ace the landing or you’d be in trouble.”

  Andi laughed, but then she looked over and saw that the parade had passed him by, and even the royal newlyweds, the last of the entourage, were well on their way to the palace. “Oh Zander, you’d better catch up to your family. You need to get to the reception.”

  Zander frowned. “You were to be my date for this thing, but you’re hardly dressed appropriately,” he said, scratching his chin, thinking of options, then raising a finger. “But I have an idea. Come on!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the parade, she in her blue jeans and backpack, he in his dress blues with that sword dangling between them as they ran.

  The wedding procession arrived at the two very tall palace gates, each bearing an enormous crest in gold leaf, featuring images of dueling griffins. They continued up the pebbled drive to the front of the palace. Andi could only stand for a moment, breathless and awestruck.

  Royal guards stood on either side of a grand marble staircase, their long red coats and sky-high beaver-fur hats so regal.

  The bride and groom were now ascending the steps, he holding her arm while a team of servants spread her spectacular twenty-foot train as she mounted the steps. Andi could barely believe she was witnessing this. In patched-up jeans and lugging a backpack.

  Zander pulled Andi in a different direction. “I’ve got a side entrance we can use to get past and avoid all this.”

  They ran down what seemed an alleyway but was simply an alcove where Zander opened another door.

  “Servants’ entrance,” he said with a smile. “It’s how I’d try to sneak out when I was little.”

  “Oh, I bet that worked well for you. No one would notice you missing or anything.”

  Zander shrugged. “I was young and impetuous.”

  “Aren’t you still?”

  “Maybe I am, doing this with you,” he said, kissing the top of her hand.

  They climbed a back staircase and came upon a long hallway with royal-blue carpet with gold fleurs-de-lis woven into it. Flanking either side were walls filled with old oil paintings. Corners housed suits of armor and busts of long-dead ancestors atop pedestals.

  “This is like your very own museum,
” Andi said, awestruck.

  “Or my home,” Zander said.

  “I’m never showing you my home.”

  “But I bet your mother will.”

  “You’ve been talking to her again?”

  “Peggy and I are tight,” Zander said, holding up his hand and crossing his pointer and middle fingers.

  Andi rolled her eyes. “I don’t even think I want to know.”

  “Your mama loves me. I made sure of it. Come along, we’ve got to hurry.”

  Soon they turned a corner, and he opened a pair of double doors into what Zander called his apartment but looked more like a penthouse. The main room was surrounded by walls of glass so he could see everything going on outside the palace, and even over the palace walls into the city.

  He barely gave her a chance to see the place though as he tugged her back into his bedroom, a large, warm space with a sofa in Burberry plaid and coordinating black and red chairs in front of them. And then he could wait no more.

  “Come here,” he said, relieving her of her cumbersome backpack, tossing it aside, then unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them off in record time. He tugged at her shirt while he lowered his mouth to hers, unwilling to surface for air as he moved his mouth to her neck. “God, I want to bite your neck. I need you so badly, but I don’t want to bring you to the wedding with a huge mark on your throat.”

  Andi ran her hands over his face. “At least you’re clean-shaven so I won’t show up with a razor-burned face.”

  Her hands scrabbled all over his body as they both gasped for air, and he pressed her back against the wall. In one move he dropped his sword, unzipped his pants, and lifted her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist.

  “God, I love a man in uniform,” Andi said between gasping breaths. “Better yet, a man out of uniform.” She grabbed him and eased him into her, where for a few long seconds they remained, unmoving but for Zander licking and sucking on her breasts. But then he began to pulse in and out of her, holding tight to her bottom while pushing her to the wall as her hands raced up and down his back and they practically devoured each other’s mouths.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” he said to her between frenzied kisses.

  “What?”

  “Leave me,” he said. “My heart can’t take it. I’ve been a wreck without you here.”

  Andi nodded despite being caught up in the moment. “I’ve hated being away from you. It’s like my life went from color to black-and-white even though I was in a place I normally love. But I think I’d love it more if I were sharing it with you.”

  “We’ll talk later,” Zander said, “But for now, I need to focus on you and me, here and now.”

  With that he thrust hard into her, once, twice, and the third time he released into her as she followed him over the edge with a loud sigh.

  They stood in silence, savoring the moment. Until Zander realized the time.

  “Quick,” he said, tugging up her pants and taking her into his large walk-in wardrobe. “Your dress is here.” He pointed to where it hung from the wall, obscuring the mounted mirror. “Your shoes are in the bag over here.”

  “Pippa brought them to you?”

  “She wanted them to go to the rightful owner,” he said.

  “Pippa knows best.”

  “Certainly about us. Now scooch,” he said, swatting her butt. “Before I take you again, this time on my bed. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for. But right now my mother is going to kill me for being missing in action.”

  “Oh God. I definitely don’t want to be responsible for anything that will make your mother angry.”

  Zander leaned over and kissed Andi on her nose. “My mother will love you.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  ANDI looked like a princess. An elegant, contemporary, very stylish princess. She was lucky she could pull her long blond hair back into a ponytail and have it immediately look classic. She’d unearthed her minimal makeup from her backpack and fixed up her face, then felt as ready as she’d ever be to quasi-crash a royal wedding, resplendent in her once-in-a-lifetime evening gown.

  “You sure this isn’t a mistake?” she said to Zander in the next room. He came up from behind to see her standing at the mirror, inspecting how she looked. And then he draped a beautiful pink-diamond lariat necklace around her neck and Andi gasped.

  “Oh, Zander, I don’t deserve this.”

  “I want you to have it,” he said. “With these.”

  He handed her pink-diamond drop earrings that coordinated with the necklace. “You’ll be my princess tonight.”

  Andi caught her breath. She couldn’t go there yet. Right now she had to just let it all unfold and see what happened.

  Zander turned her around and pressed his forehead to hers. “So we’re going to be late to this thing, and you need to expect that people will wonder where we’ve been.”

  “Can I tell them we went back to your place for a quickie?” she said with a wink.

  “Probably not a good idea, even though we’d likely be stating what people are thinking.”

  “Oh, man, it’s that obvious?” Andi checked herself in the mirror.

  Zander shook his head. “Of course not. But what else would two people do who are so happy to see each other?”

  Andi shrugged. “Okay, so we keep mum on the facts. What do I do when all the paparazzi start flashing their cameras at me?”

  “Just pretend for the most part that they’re not there. I know that is easier said than done. If we give them one good picture, they’ll be thrilled. As long as we aren’t trumping the newlyweds. After all, we don’t want to steal their thunder.”

  “Hell no! They can have the thunder,” Andi said. “I’ll take the lightning.” She grinned and cupped her hand over Zander’s crotch.

  “None of that or we’ll never get out of here.” He reached down and inserted his sword into its sheath, then offered his arm to his date. “Off to the ball, madam?”

  Andi smiled. From pauper to princess-ish in a matter of a few short hours.

  ~*~

  The wedding reception was held in the grand ballroom of the palace, a sprawling space filled with antiquities, its walls covered in oil paintings. Swaths of silk fabric was draped across the ceiling to provide intimacy to the setting, if you can have intimate with six hundred of your nearest and dearest friends in attendance.

  Luckily guests were milling about, chatting as tuxedoed waitstaff served canapés and crystal flutes of champagne on silver trays. Andi couldn’t help but imagine how mortifying it would have been had they all been seated for dinner. As it was, she assumed that she’d have a seat in the kitchen for this meal.

  Zander held tightly to her hand as he led her through a scrum of guests in the most stunning of eveningwear. Tiaras abounded, as did those sashes you never know what they mean, and medals. There were plenty of men with medals for whatever they did to earn them. This royalty thing would take some getting used to.

  Zander stopped for a moment to grab two champagne flutes from a passing waiter. He handed one to Andi.

  “Here’s to A to Z, from Z to A,” he said, tipping his glass to hers.

  Andi cocked her head and looked at him quizzically. “Huh?”

  Zander shook his head as if she was clueless. “A is for Andi, of course,” he said. “And Z is for me.”

  Andi smiled. “I like it! We’ve covered the whole alphabet, from A to Z.”

  Just then she looked over and saw the woman she feared most.

  Zander saw the look on her face.

  “I think I’m going to throw up, Z,” she said.

  “No, no, no,” he said. “My mother’s a pussycat. Come, let’s get it over with. She’s going to love you.”

  He took her arm in his, and they walked toward his mother, who was engaged in conversation with a group of people.

  “Mother?” Zander said. “I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.”

  Ariana was resplendent in a silver metallic
and Swarovski crystal gown that only served to enhance the diamond-and-sapphire tiara atop her head. Andi gulped, not knowing if she was supposed to bow or curtsy or take her hand or jump up and down and spit out wooden nickels. Good God, she should’ve researched this before she put herself on that plane. But she didn’t have to worry as Ariana reached out and gave her a warm hug.

  “So you’re the young woman who has captured my wild boy’s heart?” she asked, smiling warmly.

  Now she was talking Andi’s language. “Wild, indeed,” she said, laughing. “I’m surprised you didn’t put a harness on him years ago. You have my sympathy as I’m sure he was quite a handful to raise.”

  Zander lifted his brow at the two of them. “Uh, hello, ladies. I’m right here. If you’re going to diss me, maybe you should wait until I’m out of the room?”

  “Clearly your friend, here—Andrea? Is that right?—knows whereof she speaks,” his mother said. “Yes, we tried the conventional means of keeping the boy down, but he just fought us every step of the way. Alexander always did like a challenge.”

  Andi nodded. Maybe it made all the more sense, considering she was no easy one to pin down.

  “Trust me, Mother, the wildcat here gave me the challenge of my life.”

  Ariana nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’ve found someone who will keep you on your toes. It’s time you experience what that’s like.” She nodded toward Andi. “Now if you’ll both excuse me, I have much to do as mother of the groom this evening.” She gave them each a kiss on the forehead and moved on to talk with other guests.

  “See?” Zander said. “She didn’t even bite once.”

  And for that alone, Andi was tremendously grateful.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  PIPPA mock rubbed her eyes with her fists.

  “Do my eyes deceive me?” she said as Andi and Zander approached her. She pulled on Andi’s skirt for a minute as if a seamstress checking for a proper fit. “Damn, that looks amazing on you. See, Zander. That would have looked awful on me.”

  “You clean up pretty well yourself,” Andi said as she admired Pippa’s melon-colored chiffon halter gown.