Arranged: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella

by Lexi Blake

  “Because he’s not truly interested in being the one holding the crop,” Chelsea said with a smile. “He likes to watch and fantasize about those heavy scenes, but I would bet real money he’s not the Dom in his head.”

  Day breathed in the steam of the room, letting it relax her. “I could run a test, I suppose. If I know my future mother-in-law, she’s going to want all the bells and whistles a Loa Malian wedding can have. One of those is the Palm Ceremony.”

  “Do you get hit in the face with palm fronds?” Phoebe asked. “That’s still better than fish.”

  She had to chuckle at the thought. It was obvious Phoebe had never been hit with one. They could be sharp. “No, it’s a ritual to honor the first king of Loa Mali. Supposedly, he found his bride wandering on a beach. He would hide and watch her from a copse of palm trees. He asked her father for her hand in marriage, but he refused because she was from another island. The king decided to steal his bride. He rode onto the beach and scooped her up on his stallion and whisked her to the palace, where he made love to her for the first time. Her father, seeing how happy he’d made the daughter, acquiesced and the couple was married one week later. So you see, the whole fish ceremony is silly because most married couples get it on after the Palm Ceremony. We might be one of the only cultures in the world that actively tell engaged couples to take a test drive.”

  “I like it.” Chelsea stood. “I’ve got a massage in five. I think we should help the Mistress plan.”

  Phoebe winked her way. “You know I’m always up for a good plan.”

  It was probably a horrible idea, but sometimes a woman had to take a chance. Perhaps when her king stole her away, he would find he was the one who was claimed.

  Yes, she liked the sound of that.

  Chapter Four

  “You’re sure you want to do this?” Chapal moved a palm frond, sneaking a peek at the beach where Dayita would soon be walking.

  Kash sighed and tried not to step on anything the horse decided to leave behind. “It’s considered good luck.”

  His cousin looked somewhat ridiculous wearing traditional clothes. His chest was on display and he wore a pair of lightweight pants that reached just below his knee. On his head rested a headdress made of shells and palm leaves.

  On Chapal’s skinny, never-hit-a-gym-in-his-life, how-was-a-brown-man-so-damn-pale body, it looked a bit silly.

  Kash rather thought it made him look dashing and romantic. Otherwise, he looked like an idiot douchebag about to reenact a bit of history almost no one gave a damn about.

  Except for all those crazy people on the beach waiting to watch the ceremony. They lined the beach and the road that would take them back to the palace. Weston had the route guarded by a number of the new guard he had hired in the last week. He’d doubled the amount of palace guards and was working with the small police force and military to get them trained.

  Even his old bodyguard Rai had agreed to come back for the royal wedding. He stood outside the staging area, his back to Kash and his eyes moving across the crowd.

  “Do you really want good luck?” Chapal asked. “You want this marriage to work? I ask because I like Day. I’ve known her for the last few years and she’s a lovely woman. I would hate to see her get hurt.”

  Days had passed and this was all he’d heard. It had been a solid week since he’d agreed to the arrangement and every moment he spent with Day made him think it wouldn’t be so bad. Every moment he spent away from her made him wonder if he was a monster.

  “Why would she be hurt? Have you ever once known me to hurt a woman?”

  Chapal turned, crossing his arms over his chest and then uncrossing them because he was wearing a horrible necklace made of the aforementioned itchy palm fronds. “You would never physically hurt a woman. I know that. I’m talking about her tender heart.”

  He had to smile at that one. “Tender heart? Have you seen what she does to members of parliament who don’t get on board with her education plans? She can eviscerate a man with that sharp tongue of hers.”

  Day had been keeping her appointments as the head of education despite the fact that the last week had been a whirlwind. He’d gone with her to an advisory meeting with the parliament’s committee on schools. He’d stayed in the background as she’d requested, watching from the back of the balcony seats. They’d given her a rough interrogation about her budget and why they should increase it. At two points in time he’d nearly stood up and gone after a few of the bastards for the way they’d spoken to her. Day had been cool and calm, explaining everything patiently and then threatening to go straight to the press with a story about how the Loa Mali parliament had spent three hundred thousand dollars on a party to celebrate their own anniversary, a party the public wasn’t invited to, but they refused to spend a paltry seventy-five thousand to update computer software for their children. They’d sputtered and cursed and Day had gotten her way.

  And Kash had gotten a hard-on. A really massive, wouldn’t-go-away-for-a-long-time hard-on.

  That had felt good. It had been a long time since he’d wanted more than sex, since he’d wanted one particular woman, and for more than to prove he could have her.

  Maybe he was a bit of a monster, but he never lied to the women he took to his bed.

  And he wasn’t going to lie to Day.

  “She doesn’t date often,” Chapal continued. Why his cousin believed he had to also be his conscience, Kash had no idea. “The whole time I’ve known her she’s dated two men. One was a setup and she never saw him again. She spends all of her time on work. When she goes on vacation, she goes alone.”

  That didn’t seem right. “Where does she go? And what happened with the other man?”

  “She dated the minister of transportation for about six months. They seemed well suited, but then she broke things off with him and he was married to another woman within six weeks. She won’t talk about what happened. I think he asked her to marry him, but only if she gave up her job and came home. I think she comes up against this quite a bit. As for her vacations, she goes to Europe. Ben and I asked if she would like company once, but she said she was fine alone.”

  He didn’t like the thought of her roaming around Europe by herself. Not because she couldn’t take care of herself, but rather because he didn’t like the thought of her being lonely. He could see her wandering about museums and soaking up all the history, perhaps meeting with friends she’d made, but she would be essentially alone. There would be no one holding her hand or ensuring she had everything she needed. No one would bring her coffee in the morning or cuddle with her at night.

  “I want to make this marriage work.” He was saying the words aloud for the first time and they felt right. “I do not intend to do anything that would break my bride’s heart. If I do this, I’m going to do my best to be a good and faithful husband.”

  Chapal’s jaw dropped and he stared for the longest moment.

  “You don’t have to look at me like I’ve grown two extra heads,” Kash complained. “I can say the word faithful. Listen to this one. Monogamy. See. It rolls off the tongue. Don’t you back up, you ridiculous ass. Lightning is not going to strike.”

  “You have to admit you’ve never used those words unless they were accompanied by a vomiting sound.” Chapal stepped closer. “I think you could hurt her if you aren’t careful.”

  No one cared if she hurt him, of course. “Leave that to Day and me. We’ve been talking things through. We’re going about this in an intellectual way, determining the best way to handle things. We’ve decided to make a contract between us and if and when we choose to have sex, we will be faithful to each other. If things seem to be difficult, we’ll be honest and revisit the contract to allow more freedom.”

  He hadn’t liked that thought. She was surprisingly open to…well, to being open if things didn’t work. She said she would rather they had a healthy, happy friendship and partnership than put the country and whatever children they might have through a di
vorce. No married king and queen of Loa Mali had divorced before. He didn’t intend to be the first, but he didn’t like the thought of some passionless friendship between them.

  “She’s a sensible woman and it appears she’s being realistic about this marriage, so I’m going to completely back off.” Chapal held his hands up as if they were proof he would interfere no more.

  He should leave it there. He wasn’t some lovestruck idiot who needed to talk about his feelings. He didn’t have feelings. He had responsibilities that he tried his hardest to forget about. Of course, they were the same responsibilities that Day had been bearing some of the burden of. He didn’t need to talk this out before the evening came around.

  It was simple. The tradition was that the groom and bride-to-be spent the evening together, getting to know one another. The groom attempted to seduce the bride.

  That was one tradition he intended to keep up.

  “Prince Chapal, it’s time to do your part. Ms. Samar is about to start her stroll along the beach.” Weston stepped out of the copse of trees, his three-piece suit completely pristine somehow, despite their walk in the forest.

  Chapal shook his head. “I truly never thought I would have to do this. I’m so glad Ben and I eloped.”

  His cousin sighed and proceeded to step out into the clearing. He would be the king’s “eyes,” the servant who first saw the long-ago queen and told his sovereign about the beauty on the beach.

  Kash heard a loud shout go up, the royal watchers all cheering as the ceremony began.

  “I want you to move quickly when you get to the road approaching the palace,” Weston said matter of factly. “The police are having some issues. I advised them that I believed the crowd would be quite a bit bigger than their estimates. They chose to disagree with me and now we’re understaffed there. Smile and wave and move through quickly. It’s the only place I worry about. I’ve got Michael and Boomer here, and Jesse and I will monitor the road.”

  “All right.” He wanted to see her. He wanted to be done with all this pageantry. Which was odd, because usually the pageantry was what he craved.

  “We’ve also had an issue with a woman claiming she needs to see you.”

  He sighed. Yes, he’d gotten several phone calls from Tasha Reynolds. “She’s the only woman I dated for more than a few days in the last several years. She’s an actress and she’s very aggressive.” He’d found her aggression, her take-charge personality, attractive in the beginning. He’d enjoyed having a strong woman who was capable of making decisions. Until she’d proven that all her decisions were based on what was best for Tasha and only Tasha. She’d been mean to her staff and rather cruel to him as well. He’d walked away after a terrible fight and refused to take her calls even after she’d threatened to go to the press. “Ignore her. It’s best not to feed into her neuroses.”

  It was after Tasha that he’d taken to finding his gentle “flowers.” Even the thought of how he’d called them that made him think of what Day would say. Likely she would roll her eyes and walk away, shaking her head and calling him a douchebag. She called him on his douchebaggery at every turn and yes, he liked that, too.

  Day was take-charge, but without the hard aggression. Day made decisions based on what was best for the people who depended on her.

  Day was the kind of woman he could depend on.

  He wanted to see her. Why did Chapal get to see her first? Chapal couldn’t even appreciate her curves. Chapal didn’t want to let his hands skim her hips while he kissed her gently. He would have to be gentle with her. Like his cousin had said, she probably didn’t have a lot of experience. He would have to treat her with the respect she deserved, but in a way that let her know he could take care of her. Herd her gently toward their bed. Once she was there, he would keep convincing her to stay there.

  He found himself looking forward to the chase. He never chased any woman. They came after him. He winked their way and they fell into his arms.

  And he wasn’t so unaware that this behavior was far more about the type of woman he spent time with and how interested each of them was in his money and his fame. It was rarely about him.

  Somehow he thought Day was different. Perhaps he was being foolish, but he couldn’t help himself. Dayita was going to be his bride. His. No one else’s. Dayita was going to be at his side when he needed her. She was the type of woman who would take an interest in his job, beyond smiling for the press and spending money on shoes.

  He tried to peek through the palms but all he could see was Chapal’s backside.

  “I like your bride,” Weston said. “So does my wife. She thinks Dayita is perfect for you.”

  He wasn’t sure about perfect. He didn’t believe in perfection. Even in his happiest moments there was always a sense that something was missing, but that wouldn’t be her fault. It was because he was a fraud. Because he wasn’t Shray. “I think we’ve got a good beginning. Now I have to convince her to actually give this thing a try.”

  “I thought she was doing that.”

  He sent the Brit a grin. “I’m talking about sex. I don’t want a sexless marriage.”

  “Somehow I think you’ll find a way, Your Majesty. But you should talk about it with her,” Weston said.

  He pulled back a frond and there she was. Dayita was dressed in all white, no shoes on her feet, and her glorious hair wild and free. He felt the tug of arousal in his groin. Yes, there was the unruly beast he’d known when he was younger. His cock didn’t need any foreplay when it came to this one. All he needed to do was look at her. “I would rather show her how I feel.”

  A shadow fell over him and Rai was suddenly standing in the small clearing Kash would soon ride out of. “I hope you’ve taken all the tests, Your Majesty. Otherwise our fair queen-to-be might not last long.”

  “Excuse me?” Weston’s whole body had tensed.

  Kash put a hand up. He knew damn well what Rai was talking about and why they’d had the fight that had ended their friendship. “Don’t, Mr. Weston. Rai has a long lead when it comes to me. He’s more friend than bodyguard.” He turned to the man who’d been at his side most of his life. Right up until the moment he’d realized Kash had slept with his wife. Oh, they hadn’t been married at the time, hadn’t even been dating, but Rai had taken deep offense. “And yes, I’ve had blood work done, but you know I’m careful.”

  “Careful? You’re the single most reckless ass I’ve ever met.” Rai turned his back. “It’s almost time to move, you piece-of-shit player.”

  “You can’t allow him to talk to you like that,” Weston said.

  Kash waved him off. “He’s only doing it because we’re alone and he knows you and I are friends.” There was something he needed to know, something that had his gut in knots when he thought about it. “I need to know that you’re not taking this out on Lia.”

  Rai turned, his face red. “Don’t you mention her name, and no. She’s innocent. You’re the vile animal who seduced her. I would never harm my wife. She’s been through enough.”

  She’d been excellent at fellatio. Not that being good at fellatio was a bad thing. It was a serious plus in Kash’s mind, but apparently Rai needed a bloody virgin as his bride. Years before, Lia had come to Kash. He’d been having one of his blow-out parties. She’d wanted to spend time on the boat, and Kash had suspected she wanted a way out of her parents’ house. He’d spent a single evening with the girl years before.

  Six months before, she’d shown up on Rai’s arm and they were engaged.

  He’d barely recognized the girl when they’d been introduced. She’d been terribly embarrassed and had made him promise to never tell. God, if he’d ruined Rai’s marriage, he would never forgive himself. “I’m glad you’re happy with Lia. She loves you very much. She was young and a little wild, a bit like we used to be.”

  “Used to be? Perhaps I’ve matured, but I’ve seen none of that from you.”

  No, his actions of late weren’t those of a mature man, but h
e was trying. “I’m so sorry for that night, Rai. I know I can’t make it up to you, but I miss you, my friend. And I thank you for helping out today. Are you enjoying the new job?”

  Rai simply turned away and moved back to his post.

  “We can’t use him again. I’ll make sure he’s never on your service.” Weston had his phone out. “I have no confidence that man will take a bullet for you.”

  Once he would have. Once Rai had been his closest friend. It was probably fitting that a woman came between them. What he hadn’t expected was how much he would miss his friend, how much he wanted to talk to Rai about Day. Still, Weston had a point. “You can move him around, but don’t fire him and you can’t move him to a lower position. No cut in salary. He has a wife and mother to take care of.”

  Weston nodded, but it was easy to see he was still suspicious. “You should get ready. It’s almost time.”

  A great cheer went up and Chapal made his way back to the staging area. He was shaking his head. “I can’t believe how many people are out there. I hope you don’t fall off that horse. Good god, man, don’t step back.”

  Because the horse seemed to have an active bowel. This could all go horribly south.

  And then it did. He heard the crack of gunfire and the screams of people and Kash took off, running with one thought. He had to get to her. He had to get to Day.

  A hard arm went around him and he was being pulled back. Kash fought like hell, right up to the moment another arm went around his neck and the world went black.

  * * * *

  Kash paced the floor in front of her, still garbed in his traditional clothes. He would have made a stunning Horse King if the ceremony hadn’t gone so poorly.