Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

by Gardiner, Jenny

  “I suppose we ought to,” she said. “Let’s start with you. You’re obviously a prince. What does that mean? What do you do?”

  Zander laughed. “Do you want the truth or the public perception?”

  Caroline shrugged. “Either or. As long as I’m being entertained.”

  “I tend to do whatever I want, really,” he said. “Sure, there are those things expected of me—ribbon cuttings, visiting hospitals, nursing homes. Sometimes I attend meetings and events promoting commerce, but a lot of that is left to Adrian since he’s the figurehead of the future monarchy. I’m sort of the afterthought, which is fine. I couldn’t care less. When I’m not doing the dog and pony show, I travel. Play football—I suppose you’d call it soccer. Ride some horses. Meet gorgeous ladies like yourself. Try not to piss my mum off too much. The usual sort of thing. How about you?”

  “Oh, God, you don’t want to hear about my life. You might need a really strong cup of coffee to wake you up afterward.”

  “Believe me, I know my life is the exception to the rule. And honestly, I like going to all those events with everyday people because I like to be reminded that they are the reality, not me. I live in this quasi-gilded, odd little fantasy universe. Granted, I have the world at my fingertips and I want for nothing. But that’s not all there is to life.”

  “That’s a healthy perspective,” she said. “Perhaps even healthier than mine.”

  “What, are you running some sort of crime syndicate? Stealing food from hungry children, are you?”

  “Yes. You’ve figured me out. I’m actually wanted by Interpol for my work undermining the underprivileged. It’s really quite criminal.” She giggled.

  “Well, we can’t all be do-gooders, now can we?”

  “I’m so glad you see my point of view,” she said. “But really, if you want my truth, I kind of do a whole lot of nothing. Though I try to look as if I’m busy while I do it.”

  “My God, you’d make a perfect royal then! You’ve got all the steps down perfectly! Welcome to the club. I’ll show you the secret handshake.” He extended his arm and did some five-step hand maneuver that she couldn’t follow.

  “Oops! Sorry—no handshake, no membership.” He finally pulled his hand back after she fumbled for a few minutes as he repeated his pretend insider’s shake.

  “That’s okay,” Caro said. “Truth is, those red velvet, ermine-lined robes would clash with my hair anyhow.”

  “You could change up the color, you know,” he said. “There’s no rule in the Royalty Handbook that you must wear coronation red.”

  “Well, phew! That’s a relief as I’d hate to break with protocol. In that case, let’s work some more on that handshake because I would love to have a custom green velvet cape made to order.”

  “One bespoke royal robe, coming right up,” Zander said, his eyes catching a couple descending the steps toward the pool. He reached over and pulled Caroline up against him, startling her.

  “Are you trying to be my robe?” she said, squirming a little at his unexpected advance.

  “For the time being, how about you wear me like a body glove?” Zander said. “Because don’t look now, but coming down the steps would be your man of the hour, accompanied by a lovely young woman I know nothing of.”

  Of course Caroline looked right away and saw him holding hands—holding hands!—with a beautiful, suntanned woman in a halter-top sundress that showed the world she was going braless. The fact that her hair was perfectly styled in a flattering dark bob was just the proverbial cherry on the sundae.

  “What the hell is that?” Caroline said. “I mean who the hell is she?”

  “Precisely what I’d like to know,” Zander said with perhaps a hint of a leer.

  “Hey, hey. Down, boy,” Caroline said, smacking at Zander. “You’re my man today, remember?”

  “So if I’m to be your man, you’ll need to follow my instructions very closely,” he said. “On the count of three, I will plant my lips on top of yours, and you are not to smack me away or act as if a stranger is mashing faces with you. If you want to play this game well, you’ll pretend you and I are alone on a desert island, scrabbling about the beach like a couple of sand crabs.”

  “So romantic sounding.”

  “Might I remind you that your goal isn’t romance with me,” he said. “Although I have to say you’re missing out, because if I were a bird and had to choose between me and Darcy... Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist there.”

  Caroline laughed. “It’s good you’ve been blessed with enough confidence for two men. As much as your charms are practically irresistible, right now I want to teach that man a lesson.”

  “In that case—one, two, three.”

  Before Caroline could even react, Zander had clutched her so closely she felt spliced to the man. With one hand spread possessively across her bottom and the other wrapped around her back—with roaming fingers creeping presumptuously close to her left breast—Zander settled his mouth on Caroline’s and his tongue took over, sweeping across hers and tangling in desperation. After a few seconds, Caroline relaxed into the kiss, even joined in the fun, her hands roaming up and down his back like she had a vested interest in the grope. Which she did, in a way.

  When they finally came up for air, Darcy and his date were walking right in front of them. Darcy sort of squinted his eyes and stared, looking almost confused, as if asking Caroline how she could betray him.

  Betray, schmetray, Caroline thought as she pulled Zander in for another kiss, completely ignoring Darcy and leaving him knowing in no uncertain terms she was not going to be his patsy.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  DARCY was ready for a break. His brain was fried, having spent so many weeks submerged in such an exhaustive speed-education about his family business heaped atop the emotional exhaustion of losing his father, not to mention that niggling little detail of having basically cut his brother out of his world for the time being. He was not in a happy place, that was for sure. This last week had been spent trying to understand the Weltenham Trust, and he was working alongside Lady Catherine Allemande, a friend from university days who was managing the trust nowadays.

  He’d gotten Pippa’s invitation to her beach party and at first hadn’t the energy to muster up to attend. But finally, his eyes too bleary from going over figures, he decided to close up the books and suggest to Kate that they call it a day and instead head to the beach.

  They made a quick stop at her hotel where she changed into a sundress and grabbed her swimsuit, then took the scenic ocean road to Pippa’s family villa.

  By the time he arrived, Darcy was happy he’d decided to mingle with people a bit. After all, he was a people person and was beginning to feel like quite the shut-in, holed up as he was in the barn, barely knowing if it was day or night.

  “Let’s go down by the pool,” Darcy said, leading Kate out toward the patio and the steps descending to the beach, holding her hand because of the steep stairs. “They’ve got a great swim-up bar.”

  It wasn’t until he got to that stunning, luminous, multicolored glass-tiled pool deck that he saw that telltale red hair out of the corner of his eye. He was just about to call out to Caroline and bring Kate over for an introduction when the unbelievable occurred. His best friend’s brother, the Heartbreaker of Monaforte—another tabloid nickname for Zander—started sucking face with Caroline. His Caroline. Well, what-could-have-been-his Caroline was more like it.

  “You all right?” Kate asked him. “You look as if you’ve witnessed an accident.”

  Darcy shook his head, remembering he’d brought a guest to this thing. He felt like he had witnessed an accident, and he wanted nothing more than to leave the scene of the carnage.

  “I’m so sorry,” he said, grabbing her elbow and steering her toward the beach. “The bar here will be far easier to get to than at the pool.”

  By the time he’d scurried to the beach to escape that unpleasant tableau, Darcy thought hi
s jaw would hit the sand and he’d be eating grit any minute. Sure, he had no claims on Caroline. For that matter, he’d pretty much told her he wasn’t available. But Zander? Talk about a wicked rebound. And what the hell? Zander?

  He’d have just as soon expected to see her making out with Gareth, and everyone knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  What the ever-loving hell was going on? He certainly wouldn’t have pegged Caroline to be the type to trade up so quickly. And no mistaking it, from a financial and image perspective, it was indeed trading up—from lord to prince, without even batting an eyelash. Maybe Edouardo was right after all. Maybe Caroline was just a gold digger.

  Darcy sidled up to the bar, got Kate a flute of champagne, and went straight for the amnesia-juice. “A shot of tequila, please,” he told the bartender. “Make that a double.”

  He had no idea how he was going to get through this any other way.

  ~*~

  “Well, that ought to put the fear of God in him,” Zander said. “Wasn’t a bad kiss at all, if I do say so myself.” He buffed his nails on his chest.

  “I’d like to believe I had a small part in the success of that kiss too,” Caroline said. “After all, I didn’t flail or choke and gag.” She winked at him.

  “If you had, you’d have been my first.”

  Caroline spluttered a laugh. “You’re a humble one, no doubt about it.” Although looking at him, all glistening with his bare chest and strong arms, it was no wonder. He had every reason to be self-confident and then some. “Well, enough about taking credit, the question is what to do now? Are we supposed to grope each other into the evening?”

  “I’m game if you are,” Zander said with a cocky grin.

  “Why don’t we keep to playing it up when he’s nearby rather than nonstop mashing?”

  The two talked for a while and got a chance to eat as waiters in surfer shorts passed food to guests.

  As sunset approached, Zander grew quiet.

  “Hey,” Caroline said, poking him in his very firm stomach. “All of a sudden you stopped talking.”

  She followed his gaze across the pool to a table where she saw a young woman with long, straight blond hair and the palest of blue eyes. She was engaged in conversation with Pippa, whose back was to them but was immediately identifiable because her curly dark brown hair was swept into a long brown plait that fell to her waist.

  “Someone you know?” Caroline asked.

  Zander squinted as if trying to discern that what he was seeing was indeed what he was seeing. “Impossible. There’s simply no way.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Now’s time for my apology and rude exit,” he said, frowning. “You remember when I said I’d play this game until or if I happen to run into anyone in whom I might have a vested interest?”

  Caroline nodded. “Yeeesss,” she said, cautiously drawing out the word to two syllables.

  “That woman,” he said, pointing directly at the blonde, “is my vested interested. I’m so sorry to do this to you. And it’s been absolutely lovely making out with you, and I enjoyed the grope as well, but I have some very important business to attend to.” He reached out for Caroline’s hand and gently kissed the top of it.

  “I trust you’ll be fine getting home with Clementine?”

  Caro shrugged. What was a girl to do with a stud-for-hire whom she wasn’t even paying?

  “I’m good,” she said, adding a halfhearted, “Go get ’em, Z.”

  ~*~

  Night had fallen, and to Caroline’s surprise, the pool ambiance took on a whole new life. What had been simply a hot tub by day in one segment of the pool turned into a waterborne fire pit by night. The edge of the hot tub became seating for those wanting to cozy up to the fire, protected in the center within a large circular enclosure composed of tufo, a type of lightweight volcanic rock. The entire pool area was aglow with purple, red, and blue spotlights. It was all so romantic she wanted to kill somebody. But that would be awfully rude.

  In a way she wished that Zander’s kiss had aroused something in her. After all, he was an extremely handsome man with that fresh-out-of-bed hair of his and those mesmerizing blue eyes. And she’d enjoyed his company even more than she’d expected to. He had all the charm you’d expect from a man the tabloids had predictably dubbed Prince Charming. But the kiss hadn’t done it for her. Maybe she just was stuck in Darcy mode and needed to somehow trip that circuit, but darn it, she sure hadn’t warmed up to warming up to her princely faux boyfriend.

  Which was probably for the best, because while it would have been awfully fun to have hit it off and eventually become engaged—Wow, making quite a leap there, Caro, she thought—and then get to be sisters-in-law with her best friend—Would that be fun or what?—in actuality, that would never happen. Zander got around. Big-time. He was that cute, friendly dog who was busily marking every tree in the neighborhood while taking on half the bitches in town. And she could never be with someone she couldn’t trust inherently. Which was one of the appealing qualities to her about Darcy—he seemed so darned loyal. But then here he was with some other mystery woman. What the ever-loving hell was that all about? Well, since she couldn’t just go up to him and ask him—how tacky would that be?—her only alternative now was to drink.

  “Another glass of champagne, please.” She swam beneath the waterfall and handed the bartender her empty flute. All else fails, there’s fine French champagne to keep me warm at night. She guzzled the glass and passed it back for yet another.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “IF you’ll excuse me for a second, I need to have a word with my sister over there,” Darcy said to Kate, not even giving her a chance to offer to join him before he was off.

  He got to Clementine and pulled her aside for a private conversation.

  “So happy to see you too, brother dear,” Clementine said with a mischievous grin.

  “Did you bring Caroline here tonight?” he asked. “And what’s the deal between her and Zander?”

  “Not sure what you’re talking about. She must’ve come with Zander.”

  “Are they dating?”

  Clem paused for a second. “Well... I heard a rumor that they’d hit it off, but I can’t say for sure. You should just ask her yourself.”

  “I can’t do that,” he said between gritted teeth.

  “Why not? Didn’t you tell Caroline you could only be friends with her? If you’re friends, then you should want the best for her, right? And if that means she dates a handsome prince, so be it.”

  “Whose side are you on here?” Darcy had hunched low, trying to keep his voice down.

  “Side? I didn’t know we were picking sides!”

  “We are if she’s going to go out with the likes of him!”

  “Darcy Weltenham! What has gotten into you? I thought you couldn’t be bothered with the woman! As far as I can tell, she’s free to date whomever she’d like. And if Zander wants to take her out and woo her, good for her!”

  Darcy scowled. “That is a terrible thing to say!”

  She looked at him with questioning eyes. “Right. So it’s terrible for me to want Caroline to be happy with a nice guy?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “Honestly, Darcy, I haven’t a clue. Please elucidate.”

  Darcy ran his fingers through his hair, though he thought about just pulling at it, instead. “Caroline and I had a thing.”

  “So I’ve heard. But I’ve also heard that that thing is over. God knows why—you’d be lucky to have her. But if it is, then take a ticket, because it’s Zander’s turn now.”

  “Zander is wrong for her.”

  “Oh my God, Darce. You have lost your marbles, haven’t you?” She started poking around his head with her fingers as if trying to examine his brain.

  “I just want what’s right for Caroline,” he said. “And canoodling with Zander is not right.”

  “Canoodling?” Clementine cackled. “Is that a word? Rea
lly?”

  “Look, I saw the two of them making out in the pool,” he said. “And pawing and groping like two dogs in heat. They were without a care in the world. But Caroline is in a fragile state, and her heart could be easily broken. And we both know that Zander will smash it into a thousand pieces the minute he is bored with her and the next flavor suits him.”

  “Speaking of breaking her heart, you might want to worry about what you did to her rather than what Zander might do.”

  Darcy stood quietly for a minute. “I know what you’re saying. But it’s more complicated than that. I can’t get into the details of it, but just understand that it is.”

  “I don’t know what you’re getting at, but my suspicion is it has something to do with our hotheaded brother. Although no one is telling me boo about it, and I’m left to figure it out on my own. But don’t think I haven’t noticed the two of you haven’t spoken in weeks. And I know it’s not just because we’re all sad about losing Daddy.”

  “It doesn’t really matter anyhow,” Darcy said. “I need to get back to Kate.”

  “Kate? You’re here with a date, yet you’re bemoaning Caroline doing the same?”

  Darcy waved his hand vaguely around his head. “Not a date. Kate Allemande. She and I have been reviewing the trust.”

  “Ahhh... I trust you’ve been reviewing the trust.” His sister smiled at him. “Sorry I can’t help you with Caroline. I guess you’ll need to figure that out for yourself.”

  “You’re all heart, my dear sister.”

  Clementine shot him with a finger pistol, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and pushed him away. “Go find your non-date. I’ve got things to do.”

  She turned and gave him a small wave as she walked away.

  ~*~

  Caroline had to pee. Badly. She’d hoped by now to find Clementine at least, but as she wandered around in search of a bathroom, she hadn’t seen a soul she knew. And she certainly hadn’t run into Darcy again, thank goodness. After poking around numerous doors on the main level of the house, she ascended a back staircase and walked down a darkened hallway until she saw a woman standing outside a room she hoped was her destination.