by A. C. Arthur
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Who knew all that time I had to myself where I had spent reading books would make me smart enough to receive a full scholarship.”
“Smart and cute. You were a deadly combination before you were even trained to be one,” she said.
“I guess that’s what got me onto the wrestling circuit. Two years in the professional league and I made more money than I had in all my life. I paid off my parents’ house and those medical bills a week before my father died. The day after we buried him my mother told me to put the house on the market, that she couldn’t live there without him. So I bought her a one-bedroom condo newly built closer to town and the river. A month after that I received my first book contract.” He shook his head at the memory.
“Looking back now, I wish I’d had the nerve to submit my book for publication long before my dad became sick. Maybe if I had, I would have been able to use the book money to get him better medical treatment.”
“I didn’t know you were a writer,” she said. “There’s so much more to you than I originally thought.”
“I could say the same about you,” Gary admitted. “I had no idea how involved you were with the young ladies on the island. Helping to shape their young minds is commendable.”
“Thank you,” she said with a nod. “I enjoy it. But not enough to let you use that as a way to change the subject. What type of books do you write?”
“You caught on to that, huh?” he asked jokingly. “I’m a mystery writer. I write under the pen name Sampson Christopher. It’s my mother’s last name and my father’s first name.”
She tilted her head and grinned. “My brother hired a mystery writer to come to the palace and solve the mystery of who was trying to hurt us. That was very clever of him.”
Gary shook his head. “Kris doesn’t know about my writing. Not many people do. My mother knew and now you and, of course, Tonya.”
“I have to say I do not see what attracted you to her. I mean she’s a pretty woman but she seems awfully vindictive.”
He didn’t feel good talking about one of the biggest mistakes of his life. But from the way she was looking at him, she wasn’t going to let this go, either.
“I married Tonya because my mother always wanted to see me happily married so that I could give her grandchildren. That was a colossal mistake. I should have known that when I met Tonya while I was on the wrestling circuit. Six months in, she started accusing me of sleeping around and lying to her. I don’t know where it came from or why it started. In the end, I told her it was best that we go our separate ways because all the drama was much more than I could stand. She was happy with a hefty financial settlement, thanks to my first publishing contract.”
“You know you don’t have to keep proving how great a guy you are. I get it now,” she said after staring at him for a few moments.
“Now?” he asked and then grinned. “You didn’t think I was a good guy before?” The question was meant as a joke but Gary knew there was more he needed to explain to her.
“I know you heard me telling your brothers that I planned to leave as soon as my job was done. That wasn’t a lie. It was my plan. But somewhere along the way I knew that plan was beginning to change. I knew that there was something more between us than the fake affair or the job. I should have said something to you sooner, should have let you know how I was feeling.”
She shook her head. “In the last couple of weeks I’ll admit that I’ve been thinking you were a special kind of demon sent to destroy the last shreds of the woman I thought I was. But the more I look at you, the more I see what you do and how you do it, and then I hear why you do it... I just can’t continue to feed that illusion.
“In the beginning,” Sam continued, “I was so together, so busy believing that I’d found the answer to being hurt in relationships. I had a great job and a big bank account. I lived in a palace and had people around who loved and cared for me. I could even provide my own sexual pleasure. There was nothing I needed from a man. Nothing. Until I realized that it wasn’t about what I needed from a man but what I wanted in my life.” She shrugged then, a smile wavering on her lips. “So if you were a demon, I must have been a total bitch these past few years.”
Gary touched her cheek. “I think you’re a pretty wonderful lady,” he told her.
She sighed. “Because of my title?”
“No,” he answered immediately. “That’s just a word. Born with or without it, you would have still been beautiful and special. And I would have wanted nothing more than to sit on a blanket in the middle of the night, beneath the stars with you.”
She smiled, slow and sexy as hell, and the hormones that had settled minutely while he’d been talking about his parents and his past resurged.
“What else do you think we could do beneath these stars?” she asked him.
He could say nothing. He could remind her that she was a princess and that they should consider her privacy. But they weren’t on Grand Serenity anymore. Nobody knew who she was here, or didn’t immediately recognize her, not while she was dressed like a normal woman and on his arm. Besides all that, this was his property and it was private.
“So many things,” Gary replied.
He moved his hands farther up her legs before grasping her by her waist. In one quick motion he had her straddling him.
“But we could start with a kiss.”
* * *
Sam remembered that first kiss the second Gary’s lips touched hers. She wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck and leaned in for the ride. He was kissing her so deeply, holding her so tightly, she thought at any moment they would both simply float away with the euphoria of the moment.
When she’d been lying back on the blanket she’d seen the stars, tiny pricks of light creating a dazzling landscape of the sky. There was the scent of the sea in the air, different than what she was used to but familiar enough to offer a sense of comfort. It was quiet and Gary was there. It hadn’t taken her long to realize how important that was.
It seemed as if they’d been through so much in such a short amount of time. That with everything going on around them, there should have been no time for this connection between them to grow and become stronger. No time for pleasure.
He pulled at the hem of her shirt, his teeth nipping along the line of her jaw. Sam did the same, removing his shirt with a giggle after he’d already removed hers. He unsnapped her bra and tossed it to the side, leaning down to catch one nipple between his teeth while rubbing the other with his palm. She needed more. The contact of skin on skin, the complete connection, was what she desired.
So Sam didn’t hesitate to unsnap the button of her pants and unzip the zipper. As if the sound was like a beacon, his head shot up and he gazed at her.
“Who would have ever guessed the princess was really a vixen?” he asked and pushed her off his lap so that they both could stand to remove their pants.
It was the craziest thing Sam had ever done in her life and it felt exhilarating. He pulled her close, kissing her again as they stood naked, behind a huge tree and just a few feet away from the water’s bank. When she slipped her hand between them to cup his length, he pulled back from the kiss.
“Wait a minute, just...wait...wait,” he was saying.
Sam grinned as she continued stroking him. “That’ll teach you to call me a vixen,” she teased. “That’ll teach you good and plenty.”
He groaned long and loud until Sam felt as if the sound stroked something deep inside her. Seconds later he was grabbing her wrists and gently pushing her hands away.
“Wait a second, just let me...” he tried to say, but was interrupted.
“Oh, no, Mr. Montgomery. You’re the one who said there were so many things we could do beneath the stars. Don’t bail on me now,” she said.
/> “No, not bailing,” Gary told her before dropping to his knees and picking up his pants.
He dug into the pocket and found his wallet where he yanked out a condom packet. Going to the ground beside him, Sam took the packet and ripped it open. She rolled the latex over his length, an act that had him groaning once more. She was grinning again when she pushed him onto his back and straddled him.
“I’ll go first this time,” she said as she angled herself over him. “After all, I’m a guest here, so I should get to call the shots.”
His hands came up to grip her hips. He was strong and hard, and she found that she really did enjoy looking at him. All of him.
“You definitely get to call the shots,” Gary told her as he held her hips until the tip of his erection fitted against her entrance. “Especially if it entails a long, slow ride.”
Sam lowered herself slowly, loving the way he filled her with every thick inch of him.
“Oh, it’s going to be a ride all right. A ride you will never forget.”
* * *
Later that evening—or was it early morning? Sam had no idea—she’d felt chilly as she lay in Gary’s bed where he’d carried her after their tryst outside. After a shower that turned into another mind-blowing love-making session where Gary was determined to pay her back for the fast and deliciously arousing ride she’d given him outside, they’d fallen onto his king-size bed and fallen asleep.
Sam recalled thinking how safe and special she felt right there in this strange country wrapped in arms that felt so familiar. Now, she didn’t feel that and she was worried. She opened her eyes and bit back a gasp as she saw Gary staring down at her.
He wasn’t touching her, but still lay beside her, his head propped up on his elbow as he watched her.
“I thought it was a dream,” she said and rested her hands over her midsection. “But I’m really here in the United States, in your bed.”
“I can’t believe it, either,” he replied.
Sam gave a little nod. “I thought what Miguel did to me was going to scar me for the rest of my life. I mean, even when I got that email from him a few weeks ago, I just knew my past was coming back to haunt me.”
“Miguel emailed you?” he asked. “When?”
“The night we went to the View. Four days before the Founder’s Day celebration. I just knew he was going to say he had more pictures or something. I figured that because I was feeling a little bit of happiness, it had to happen. You know, the bad interrupting the good. The balance of life.”
“What did the email say?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “I didn’t open it until a day or two later when I remembered it again, and there was no message, just a link. I figured his email account was hacked, so I just deleted it.”
For a moment Sam thought Gary was going to ask another question. She thought he would want to know more about her relationship with Miguel, but he didn’t. Instead he lifted a hand to cup her cheek.
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore,” Gary told her. “I’m not going to let him anywhere near you.”
She moved her hand until it gripped his wrist as she stared up at him. “I’m not worried about Miguel. I’m not worried about anyone or anything right now but us.”
He smiled and she warmed all over. She loved his smile. And his scent. And the small scar on his shoulder. She loved this cabin with all its rustic charm and the soft cotton sheets that slipped farther down her body as she turned on her side to face him.
“There is an ‘us,’ isn’t there, Gary?” she asked.
His answer was to run his hand down her side, pushing the remainder of the sheet completely away. He lifted her leg, bringing it across his hip as he scooted closer to her. Before she could speak he was slipping his length deep inside her and Sam was melting in his arms.
Slow and languid. It was a joining that took her to someplace other than that mountaintop where she would eventually soar with pleasure. No, this was a different journey altogether. When he eased her onto her back and came over her, Sam wrapped her legs around him tightly. She held him in her arms and closed her eyes to everything but the sensations moving through her at that moment.
“I can’t think of anything but you now,” Gary whispered in her ear.
She sighed, her nails scraping along his back. “It’s just you. Nothing else.”
“Nothing else,” he said and sighed into her neck before dropping tender kisses there. “Just you.”
They moved together in perfect sync, their bodies committing to something Sam had never imagined experiencing in her life. When he looked down at her and thrust faster, pushing her further, Sam kept her gaze fixed on his. She rode that wave and he was right beside her. They climbed together, higher and higher, until falling, together, into that beautiful haze of pleasure.
For what seemed like forever...they did not move. He was still on top of her and she was still holding him there.
“No matter what I’ve done in my life...” Gary began to say. “The medals I received in the war, the book awards, the honorary Dancing with the Stars award my mother and I gave ourselves,” he said with a grin. “None of that, and I mean absolutely none of it, compares to loving Princess Samantha Raine DeSaunters.”
Sam didn’t know how to respond. He shifted just slightly as he talked so that he was now staring at her with that gaze that had been so potent from day one. A part of her still felt like she was floating while another part had sobered the instant he’d begun to speak. The tears came next, the pesky little things, filling her eyes as her breathing increased. She tried to breathe faster, to keep them from falling, but she was overwhelmed at this moment. Emotions swimming through her so fast and furiously that she wasn’t sure if she was going to be simply swept away. But when one tear slipped down and Gary hurriedly lifted a finger to stop its trek, she knew.
Sam wasn’t falling into sexual bliss this time. She wasn’t going to be swept away by the intensity of this man who had come into her life under dangerous and unsavory circumstances. She was tumbling at a very high rate of speed, not grabbing on to anything to stop the journey. No excuses. No titles. No circumstances. Nothing was in her way. The path was clear.
She reached up and cupped his face in her hands, loving the feel of the stubble along the line of his jaw. Another tear fell but Sam didn’t care. They could all fall, she could break down in sobs, none of it mattered. Not now.
“That was the best thing I’ve ever heard,” she told him. “I never thought I would hear it, never knew how much I wanted to hear it, until this very moment. My heart is so full,” she said softly.
“My mother used to say that when she hugged me,” Sam continued. “My heart is so full of love for you, Garrison Montgomery. All for you.”
Epilogue
Two months later
Today was the day.
Sam had been waiting weeks for this day to arrive. Actually, she’d been waiting all her life, she thought as she stood at the window in her bedroom looking out at the glistening turquoise sea.
It had begun that day when Sam was just four years old and she’d sat in the garden with her mother. Vivienne had taken out that blue, green and white tea set. The colors and the flowers had become a source of contentment for Sam in the years after her mother had passed away. Now, all these years later, that same tea set was the inspiration for Sam’s perfect wedding.
One week after they’d returned from Maryland, Sam had been the one to propose to Gary.
“I’ve never been in love before,” she’d told him while they’d walked along the beach.
He was holding one of her hands. In the other were her shoes. There was a warm breeze and the water was calm. It was a picturesque day and the thought had just floated into her mind.
“Neither have I,” he replied.
“Me, too,” he answered.
“I wonder if I’ll like marriage as much.”
“It’s wonderful when you’re in love,” he said. “I know because I witnessed it.”
She’d nodded and then said the very next thing that came to her mind. “Let’s do it, then. Let’s get married and be wonderful.”
He’d stopped walking and simply stared at her. Sam had looked up at him in anticipation of his answer. When he shrugged, leaned forward and kissed her forehead, she’d been sure that was an easy letdown. Her mind hadn’t had a moment to decide how she would react when he’d said, “Let’s do it.”
The planning had begun the next morning and the following seven weeks had been full speed ahead.
Now, today, Sam was ready for the biggest and best tea party ever.
“It’s time, Ms. Samantha,” Lucie said from somewhere behind her.
Sam stood at the window just a moment longer. She stared out at the sea and whispered quietly, “Thank you, Mama. For everything.”
Forty-five minutes later Sam walked down the grand staircase in the foyer of the palace. Everything around her sparkled, from the huge crystal and gold chandelier to the candles that had been lit and placed on every surface as far as she could see. Her veil was pulled down over her face, her arm entwined in her father’s.
When they made it to the bottom of the steps and the photographer continued to snap pictures, Rafe turned to her, his hands holding both of hers now.
“Vivienne would be so proud,” he told her. “So very proud of the strong and decisive woman that you have become. She would be especially happy that you have found love.”
“Thank you, Daddy,” Sam said, once again blinking back tears. This morning had been a battle of keeping her eyes dry and her makeup intact. For this reason Sam was so glad she had decided on a noon wedding. It would be over soon and the threat of tears would be thankfully behind her.