by Leanne Banks
An image of Bridget floated through his mind and he got an itchy, unsettled feeling inside him. Trying to dismiss it, he went to the kitchen and glanced through the mail for the day, but that itchy feeling didn’t go away. Ryder rubbed at his gut, but it didn’t do any good. A sense of dread that started in his stomach climbed to the back of his throat.
Ryder swore under his breath. He’d fallen for the woman. Worse yet, he’d begun to rely on her. He, who relied on no one but himself. Shaking his head, he called himself ten kinds of fools. A princess? Putting his trust in anyone was dangerous, but a princess. Talk about impossible situations.
He ground his teeth. She was leaving. He needed to get used to the idea immediately. He needed to cut every thought of her from his mind.
Bridget felt ripped apart at the prospect of leaving Ryder and the boys, but she couldn’t stall any longer. She’d completed her assignment and it was time for her to return to Chantaine before she took her long-delayed gap year in Italy. Somehow, she couldn’t work up the same kind of excitement she’d felt during the last two years about finally taking a break.
She didn’t know which upset her most: leaving Ryder and the twins or the fact that Ryder had ignored all of her calls. Desperate to make arrangements to see him one last time, she took matters into her own hands, went to the hospital and parked herself in his office when his assistant was away from her desk. She wasn’t going through any gatekeepers this time.
After forty-five minutes of waiting, she saw Ryder finally open his office door. He looked at her and his expression registered shock, then all emotion seemed to vanish from his face. “Hello, Bridget. Sorry, I don’t have time to visit.”
His remoteness stabbed her. “I understand. I just didn’t want to leave without seeing you and the twins again.”
“Why? We won’t be a part of your life anymore. There’s no need to pretend we were anything more than a phase.”
She dropped her jaw, surprised at his evaluation of the time they’d shared. “A phase?” she repeated in disbelief. “Is that all I was to you? A phase?”
Ryder gave a bitter laugh. “There’s no need for drama. Both of us knew this was coming. It just came a little sooner than expected. I appreciate everything you did to help the twins. You provided a needed diversion for all three of us.”
“A diversion,” she said, feeling herself begin to shake.
“Don’t get so upset. We knew from the beginning that there was no future to our relationship. I sure as hell am not the right man to be a princess’s husband and you’re not the type of woman to put up with a doctor’s demanding schedule.”
She felt as if he’d slapped her. He made her sound like she was a selfish, high-maintenance shrew. She bit the inside of her lip. “I had no idea you thought so little of me.” She swallowed over the lump in her throat. “You really had me fooled. I’ve spent the last few days searching for ways to continue to see you and be with you. I realize it would be the ultimate long-distance relationship, but I couldn’t bear the idea of not being in your life. I fell for both you and the boys.” Her voice broke and she looked away, shaking her head. “At least, I fell for who I thought you were. I thought you felt the same way, but clearly I was—”
“No,” he said, gripping her shoulders. She looked up and saw in his eyes that he was as tortured as she was. “No, you weren’t wrong. I fell for you, too, much more than I intended. I’ve spent the last days telling myself to forget you. I know that’s impossible, but I have to try.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want you to forget me. I don’t want you to speak about us in the past tense. You—you’ve become so important to me.”
He winced as if in pain. “But it can’t work. Our lives are just too different. We need to make it easy for each other to get used to the facts. The fact is you have to return to your country. You have responsibilities there. I have mine here.”
She tried hard to hang on to her composure, but she couldn’t. It hurt too much. She dropped her forehead against his chest. “This is so hard,” she said, feeling tears streak down her face.
“It is,” he said, sliding his hand through her hair and holding her close.
“Promise me you won’t forget me,” she said and lifted her gaze to look at him. “Give me that much.”
“Never,” he promised. “Never,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers for a kiss. Their last kiss.
Ryder couldn’t remember a time when he had felt like his guts had been ripped out and put through a grinder. Every waking moment, he was aware of the breathtaking pain. He tried, but couldn’t block the sight of Bridget’s tears from his mind. The way she’d felt in his arms. He would never feel that again. He would never feel that sense of unexpected joy just by seeing her smile or hearing her tease him.
Swearing under his breath as he arrived home, he ripped open the top few buttons of his shirt. Not only was he in mental hell, but the hot Dallas weather seemed to be determined to put him in physical hell, too.
“Hey, big guy,” Marshall said as he held one of the twins while Suzanne changed the diaper of the other. “You don’t look too good. Did you lose someone on the table today?”
One of the babies squealed at the sight of him. The sound gave Ryder a slight lift. He walked over and gave each baby a hug.
“No, I didn’t lose a patient. Just got some things on my mind. Sorry I’m late. Tomorrow should be better.”
He saw Marshall lift his eyebrows. “Hey, Suzy Q, how about I help you take the boys upstairs for a while. Ryder and I can drink a beer and watch a couple innings of a ball game. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure,” she said. “I’ll play some music and read to them.”
Marshall gave his wife a firm kiss, then carried both boys upstairs.
A moment later, his friend returned. Ryder had already gotten two beers out of the fridge. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered as he sank onto the couch.
“Okay,” Marshall said and used the remote to turn on the TV. The Dallas team was losing again. Marshall swore. “They just can’t pull it together.”
“They need a different pitcher,” Ryder said.
“They need a different everything,” Marshall said.
Silence passed. “Suzanne tells me your princess stopped by today to give the boys some gifts before she returns to Champagne or wherever the hell she lives.”
His gut twisted. Tomorrow. “It’s Chantaine,” he said.
“Whatever,” Marshall said. “Suzanne said she held it together with the babies but fell apart on the front porch.”
Ryder narrowed his eyes against another stab of emotion and took a quick breath. “It sucks all around.”
“Hmm. Seems like a lot of unnecessary torture to me,” Marshall said.
Ryder shot his friend a hard glance. “Unnecessary?” he asked.
“Well, yeah, if y’all are that miserable without each other, then stay together.”
Impatience rippled through him. “Okay, Mr. Relationship Expert, exactly how would we do that?”
“Ask her to marry you. Ask her to stay,” he said and took a sip of his beer. “Nice play,” he said, nodding toward the screen.
Ignoring Marshall’s comment on the game, Ryder set down his beer. “How in hell can I do that? She’s a princess from another country and she works for her country. I work eighteen hours a day and I have twin boys. No woman in her right mind would agree to that kind of life. She deserves better.”
“I take it to mean you didn’t have the guts to ask her what she would want,” he said.
Anger roared through him. “Guts? Who are you talking to about guts? Guts is what it takes to let her go.”
“Hmm,” Marshall said. “You know, Suzanne and I are gonna have a baby.”
“She’s pregnant already?” Ryder asked.
“No. We don’t know how we’re going to have a baby. We just know we will. I told you about this the other day, but you probably weren’t listening.
There are lots of ways to have a baby these days. IVF, surrogacy, adoption in the States, overseas…” He nodded. “Yep, they’re putting in the second-string pitcher. Let’s see what happens now.”
“What’s your point?” Ryder demanded.
“There’s more than one way to crack a nut,” he said. “There’s more than one solution to a problem. You could ask Bridget to move here. You could commute for a while. Just because you commute for a while doesn’t mean you’ll have to do it forever. Hell, didn’t you say her country needed some doctors? If you really wanted to, you could move to Champagne and be a doctor there.”
“Chantaine,” Ryder corrected, mentally dismissing Marshall’s suggestions in one fell swoop.
“Well, my man, you’re going to have to make some career changes anyway,” Marshall said. “Those babies are little now, but when they get older they’re going to need to have their daddy around more than an hour or two every day. You’re gonna have to figure out what kind of father you want to be, and I’m guessing it’s nothing like the father you had.”
Ryder mused over that for a long moment. He’d been fighting change ever since his brother had died. Although he’d done his best with the twins, he’d clung to what was most familiar to him, and that was his career. Outside of the hospital, he’d felt completely out of control. For a time, Bridget had made the new responsibility he’d faced feel a little lighter. She’d even made it fun.
He wondered how she would have responded if he’d asked her to stay. If he’d asked her to marry him. His heart hammered at the ridiculous possibility. The very idea of it was ludicrous. Even more ridiculous was the idea of his quitting his position, uprooting the twins and moving across the world for a completely different life with the woman who had made him fall in love with her. She hadn’t asked for that because she hadn’t wanted it. Ryder scowled at Marshall. The man was just stirring up a bunch of craziness because he’d found and married the woman of his dreams.
“At least, we can be miserable together,” Bridget said to Phillipa, adjusting her dark, oversized sunglasses as she and her sister strode through the airport. She planned on keeping these sunglasses on her face night and day, inside and outside except when she was in her private quarters. No amount of cosmetics concealed the gutted agony in her eyes.
“It would have been nice to have the private jet,” Phillipa said.
“So true, but Stefan always gets first rights to the jet. Plus, it’s supposed to be much less expensive to travel commercial on the long-haul flights. At least we’ll be together in first class. Hopefully they’ll have a distracting movie. Although with my luck, it will be one of those dreadful tales with an unhappy ending from that American author. What’s his name?”
“Robert James Waller,” Phillipa said. “I’ve never liked sad movies. I know that some people say crying is cleansing, but I hate it.”
“Me, too,” Bridget said.
“I don’t mean to upset you, but did you ever even ask Dr. McCall if he wanted you to stay?”
Bridget’s stomach twisted. “He said our future was impossible. He didn’t even want to discuss the possibility of our seeing each other after this trip back to Chantaine.” She felt her throat tighten with emotion and took a tiny breath. “No hope,” she said.
Pippa reached over to take her hand. “I’m so sorry. You seemed so different once you met him. I’d thought he might be the one.”
Her heart stretching and tightening, Bridget squeezed her sister’s hand. “I’m lucky to have such a sweet sister.”
“Your Highness,” Raoul said, stepping to Bridget’s side. “I apologize for the interruption, but Dr. McCall has arrived at the airport. He wishes to speak to you. I must warn you that you don’t have much ti—”
Shocked, thrilled, afraid to hope, she felt her breath lodge somewhere between her lungs and throat. “I will speak to him,” she managed in a whisper that sounded hoarse to her own ears.
Seconds that felt like eons later, Ryder stood in front of her.
“Hi,” he said, meeting her gaze dead-on.
Her heart was hammering so fast that she could hardly breathe. “Hi. What brings you here?”
He took a deep breath and cocked his head to one side. “You mentioned that your country needs a new medical director. I wondered if you thought I could handle the job?”
Stunned and confused, she shook her head. “Excuse me? Are you asking for the position?”
He paused a half beat, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Torn between throwing herself in his arms and trying to keep her head from spinning, she bit her lip. “Would you like me to talk to Stefan? I’m sure he would be thrilled.”
“That’s good. How would you feel about it?” he asked. “How would you feel about the twins and me coming to Chantaine?”
Bridget was so light-headed that she feared she might faint. She grabbed the back of a chair. “I would be beyond thrilled.”
“Thrilled enough to marry me?”
She gasped, unable to register his question. “Excuse me?”
He moved toward her and took her hands in his. “I love you. I want my future with you. I want my children’s future with you. I know it’s fast, but will you—”
“Yes,” she said, her eyes filling with tears of joy. Her heart was overflowing. “Yes, yes and yes.”
Ryder took her into his arms and she hugged him tightly. The secret dream of having a man love her just for herself had just come true.
Five months later, Bridget stood in front of Ryder in the chapel of the oldest church in Chantaine and pinched herself. Her sisters dabbed at tears with handkerchiefs. Her brother Stefan beamed his approval. He was so thrilled one of his siblings had finally made a marriage that would benefit Chantaine. With Ryder as the newly appointed medical director of Chantaine, there was no shortage of residents clamoring to come to their country. Her sister-in-law Eve gave her an encouraging nod. The twins ran along the side aisle like the wild rascals they were. Her youngest brother and Raoul chased after them. Bridget had reached a new level of terror when the boys had started pulling up, and worse, walking. Not one day passed, however, when she didn’t thank God for Ryder and the boys.
The priest led them in their vows. Ryder’s voice was clear and strong. His gaze was resolute. She knew she could count on this man for the rest of her life. Surprisingly enough, she knew he could count on her, too. Ryder’s love had triggered something hidden deep inside her, something she’d hoped she possessed, but it had never surfaced. With Ryder in her life, she didn’t mind her royal duties, yet she could say no to Stefan when necessary.
Even with all the sacrifices and changes Ryder had made, he seemed happier and more relaxed. At the same time, he saw many opportunities for improvement and expansion in Chantaine’s health program. She still couldn’t believe how everything had worked out. Every day, she grew closer to Ryder and fell more deeply in love with him. She counted her blessings that she would spend the rest of her life with him and the twins. Despite her best efforts, though, he refused to reveal his honeymoon plans. As long as it didn’t involve the desert, and it did involve just the two of them, she would be happy.
With the twins squealing in delight, the priest appeared to smother a chuckle. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride,” he said.
Ryder took her face in his hands as if it were the most precious thing in the world and lowered his mouth to hers. She threw her hands around his neck and kissed him with all her heart.
Distantly, she heard the sound of laughter and applause. She pulled back and turned to the many witnesses seated in the chapel, glancing toward the twins.
Ryder’s mind must have been moving in the same direction. “Tyler,” he called. “Travis. Come here right now.”
The twins turned suddenly solemn, but made their way to the front of the church. Dressed in pale blue short suits, both boys lifted their arms toward her and Ryder. Heedless of her designer wedding dress, she
scooped up Tyler while Ryder picked up Travis.
“Ladies and gentlemen, may God bless this happy union.”
As the group in the church applauded again, Ryder leaned toward her and kissed her again. “I’m taking you to Italy, Your Highness. Tomorrow.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0803-2
THE DOCTOR TAKES A PRINCESS
Copyright © 2011 by Leanne Banks
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