by Merry Farmer
The porter wheeled her to an elevator, and she lost sight of Mack. With a sigh, she nestled back against the pillows, trying not to replay images of those last, terrifying moments as her plane crashed and flipped.
“You’re lucky Prince Mikael was on hand to rescue you,” the nurse said with a knowing smile as they entered the elevator. “He knows his stuff.”
Gloria opened her eyes. “I got that impression.”
“There was a whole thing in the papers a couple years back about the time he spent on a fishing boat,” the nurse went on. “My girlfriends and I all swooned over the way he worked side by side with the common man. It’s a shame his royal duties kept him from doing more, although I hear he supports a lot of causes that promote Aegirian fishermen.”
“That’s nice of him.” Now that her adrenaline high was wearing off, the aches and pains she’d suffered were catching up to her. She was eager to get to her room so she could have as much peace and quiet as a hospital could offer, which she knew wasn’t much. The exhaustion was getting to her so much that she asked, “Does he have a girlfriend?” before she could think better of it.
The nurse laughed. “Not that the public knows of.” She glanced to Gloria with a twinkle in her eye.
Gloria kept her mouth shut for the rest of the short journey to her room. She was surprised to be given a private room with a spectacular view of the harbor, and wondered if Mack had anything to do with that. She wasn’t used to people doing nice things for her, and she certainly wasn’t used to perks. The military wasn’t exactly perk-friendly.
“Is it all right if I make an international call?” she asked once the nurse had her tucked into bed. “My family will need to know what happened.”
“Of course.”
As soon as she had a little privacy, she picked up the phone in her room and dialed home.
“Hello?” her brother, Antoine, answered, confusion in his voice.
“Hey, Antoine.”
“Gloria? Where are you calling from? This is an Aegirian number.”
“About that.” She sighed. “I’m in hospital in Solrighavn. I, uh, sort of crashed my Cessna into the Baltic.”
“What?” Antoine’s reaction was so loud she had to hold the phone away from her ear. When she brought it back, Antoine was on a tear. “What happened? Are you all right? How did you get there?”
“I’m all right,” she assured him. “I managed to control the crash as much as I could. I dislocated my shoulder and have a lot of bumps and bruises.” She paused. “My plane sank.”
“Aw, sis. Sorry. I know you worked hard for that plane.”
“I was rescued by Prince Mikael,” she went on.
“You were what?”
“Prince Mikael, one of the royal family. He was out on his boat, he saw me crash, and he rescued me.” That was all she could think to say. There was no way to explain how grateful she was that Mack had been there or how safe she had felt in his hands. And there was certainly no way to tell her brother that, in the middle of being twisted up and slammed in the crash, in a situation where she could have died, she’d met someone with whom she felt an instant spark.
“Stay right where you are,” Antoine said, authority in his voice. “I’ll take the next flight to Aegiria.”
“I’m in hospital, Antoine. I’m not going anywhere,” she told him, her mouth pulling into a smirk. “You don’t have to come. I just wanted you to know I’m all right.”
“I’m coming, little sister, and that’s final.”
“Okay,” Gloria sighed. She wouldn’t have been able to stop Antoine any more than she would have been able to stop the tide from coming in. “I’m tired and want to sleep now,” she went on. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“You will,” he assured her.
They said goodbye, and Gloria hung up, sliding the phone to the other side of the bedside table. Then she nestled back into the pillows and closed her eyes. She fully expected images of the crash to assail her, but instead, her imagination conjured up Mack’s smiling face, the confidence in his body as he treated her leg, and the way he smiled at her when she skated so close to losing her nerve. Maybe princes had a special kind of magic to them after all. Whatever it was, she had the unnerving feeling that crashing and almost dying might have been the luckiest thing that ever happened to her.
3
“Let’s get down to business,” Marina said across the round table in the family dining room at the palace the next morning. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, since this wedding is only ten days away, and since Viktoria insists on a tiny, private affair—” She sent a flat stare at the queen sitting next to her. “—we need everyone in the family to take something on.”
“I’ve been dealing with the press,” Alek said, still eating his omelet, a couple paper files strewn around his place. He glanced to Toni, who was seated at his side. “They’re not happy that only a handful of journalists will be allowed on the yacht for the wedding, but the press event next Monday seems to be going a long way to appease them.”
“Yes, the press party.” Marina nodded. “That’s the other thing I wanted to talk about. Kristoff, I’m putting you in charge of overseeing the catering staff.”
“Me?” Kristoff blinked in surprise, sharing a baffled look with Cassandra, who had inched her chair close to his and was refilling his coffee mug. “I don’t know anything about arranging catering or planning for parties.”
“I’ll help you,” Cassandra said with a bright smile.
Mack’s mouth twitched into a grin. He liked that Kristoff and Cassandra were together now. But those warm feelings weren’t enough to fill the hollow in his chest from feeling like he didn’t belong in his own family.
“So that brings us to decorations,” Marina went on. “Viggo, Johannes, I’m putting the two of you in charge of flowers, bunting, artwork, whatever you want to decorate the hall for the event.”
Viggo shrugged, which Johan mirrored. “Okay,” Johan said. “Do you have any preferences for colors, styles?”
“A sea theme would be nice,” William said, smiling at Viktoria. “Blues and greens, fish, coral.”
“That sounds lovely, darling,” Viktoria grinned, leaning over to kiss him.
Marina coughed, frowning and, if Mack wasn’t mistaken, rolling her eyes. “This is a royal wedding, not a grammar school dance. It’s bad enough that you’re insisting on it being small.”
“Intimate,” Viktoria corrected. “Which is entirely appropriate for a second wedding. And a sea theme fits with our national color scheme and the importance of marine life to Aegiria,” she smiled at Dr. Hayes. “I think it would be lovely.”
“I think you’re lovely,” William sighed, his eyes hazy with affection.
“This has to be a sophisticated event,” Marina argued. “We must put our best foot forward.”
She went on, but Mack’s attention drifted. He sipped his coffee and stared out the window opposite his place at the table. The sky was a clear, crystal blue that morning, and the sea reflected sunlight on each dazzling wave. But for a change, it was the sky that held his attention, not the water.
Gloria had come out of the sky and into his life. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her for more than a few minutes on end after leaving the hospital the evening before. He’d texted her several times after Ivan let him know the cell phone had been delivered, and even called before going to bed to make sure she was comfortable and receiving the best care possible. She assured him that she was fine, just a little sore. After all she’d been through, Mack was certain she was either putting a good face on a bad situation or that she was so hopped up on painkillers she really thought she was fine.
He’d texted her a few more times that morning to see if things were still good. She’d taken a while to respond at first, saying she’d been asleep. That message had conjured images of her nestled in a cloud of white sheets, a sleeping princess waiting for a prince to come along and wake her with a
kiss. He’d almost texted her as much before reminding himself that he was nearly thirty, not thirteen, and that women didn’t like it when guys came on too strong.
But he couldn’t deny the fact that he was intrigued, or that he wanted a chance to find out if his initial attraction could go anywhere.
“So that leaves the official photo shoot,” Marina said with a note of finality in her voice, shaking Mack out of his thoughts. “I’ve scheduled that for Saturday, which means that everyone will have to be sure they’ve visited the royal tailor to have their new dress uniforms fitted before then. Arne, you’re in charge of coordinating with the photographer.”
“Sure.” Arne nodded.
“If any of you are planning to get a haircut,” Marina went on. “I want to approve it first.”
Mack sat straighter, a bite of resentment in his gut. Maybe he was just thirteen after all if he had to have his aunt approve of his appearance. Not that he’d been planning to change anything. Although part of him was suddenly curious about whether Gloria preferred clean-shaven men or ones with a little scruff.
“That’s it,” Marina finished with a relieved sigh. “And now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a million things to do before the end of the day.”
Brunch was officially over. Viggo and Johan had already leapt up from the table and marched away, talking. Alek and Toni had their heads together, grins on their faces. Arne was texting, probably with his new flame, Emma, who had flown back to Aegiria a few days before, and was still settling into her new life here. His mother and William had turned to each other, Viktoria dabbing something from the corner of William’s mouth with her napkin. Mack was the only one who had no one to talk to and nothing to do.
“Hold on.” He pushed back from the table and jumped up in time to stop Marina as she walked past on the way to the door.
“Yes?” She paused and turned to him with an impatient look.
Mack instantly second-guessed getting up, stopping her, or saying anything at all. He hated sounding like his feelings were hurt, even if they were, but that didn’t stop him from saying, “You didn’t give me a job.”
“Didn’t I?” Marina blinked at him, her lips pursing. “I suppose you could….” She tilted her head to the side, her gaze losing focus. “Or….” Still nothing. At last, she let out a breath and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Everything is taken care of at this point, really. But if I think of anything that could use your particular…skills, I’ll let you know.”
She walked on without a backward glance. Mack forced himself to take a slow breath. Marina never had cared much for him. Arne was her baby. She approved of Alek too. But him? He was the royal who had begged to work on a fishing boat, and she would never forget that.
Well, he wasn’t going to stand around, waiting to be insulted by his own family. Not when a beautiful pilot was lying in a hospital bed nearby, waiting for him. He started toward the door.
“Oh, Mack, hold on a second.”
Mack turned just as he reached the doorway to find William pushing aside his chair and standing. If it had been anyone else, Mack would have pretended not to hear them, but he admired his future father-in-law.
“Have you read the latest study on fishing yields in Aegirian waters?” William asked, concern etched on his face.
Few topics could have kicked Mack out of the funk that the family brunch had left him with, but that was one of them. “I did,” he said, matching William’s concern as the two of them stepped into the hall. “It was disconcerting.”
“That’s a mild word for it,” William said, shaking his head. “Fish stocks have been going down around the world for years now, but something about these latest numbers isn’t right.”
“It’s almost as though there’s an additional factor contributing to their decline that we haven’t explored yet.”
William nodded. He paused, and Mack stopped with him. “You wouldn’t, by any chance….”
Mack swayed closer. “Wouldn’t what?”
“You wouldn’t consider helping me investigate,” William went on. “After the wedding, of course. There’s too much to do now.”
A burst of relief swelled in Mack’s chest. “I’d love to help with that.” Finally, someone was asking him to do something important that aligned with his interests. “I’d get started right away, but….” He glanced down the hall, indicating he had somewhere else to be. Or rather, that he had someone else he wanted to be with right then.
“Understood.” William sent him a lopsided grin. “We’ve all got so much going on with this wedding.”
Mack started making a face but stopped himself. Chances were that William hadn’t noticed he was the only prince not directly mired in wedding planning. “Right,” he said instead.
“I’ll let you get on with it, then.” William nodded, glancing back to the dining room. “I’ve got plans with your mother this afternoon.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Mack laughed, but the last thing he wanted to know was what those plans are. He waved to William, then continued down the hall. When his mother had first made the announcement that she would be marrying Dr. William Hayes, he’d been the only one to immediately throw his support behind the match. His enthusiasm had been proved right too. The last few weeks had proven that his mother was smarter than the rest of them. And in an odd way, William had done more to make him feel like part of his own family than anyone related by blood ever had.
That thought put a smile on his face as he continued through the labyrinthine halls of the palace and down to the garage, where the family cars were lined up and ready to go. It seemed as though all the things that made him happy these days had come as unexpected surprises and bolts from the blue. He just hoped he could keep all of those surprises in his life.
“What was the first indication you had that your plane was in danger?” the energetic, American reporter, Tracy Minhall, asked from her chair beside Gloria’s bed.
Gloria narrowed her eyes, searching back through her admittedly patchy memory of the crash. She wasn’t sure she wanted to remember it in too much detail, but Tracy had been interested in writing a story about the event for Aegirian news sites, and she figured the insurance company would need to know all the details of the crash eventually. Besides, there was something about the American woman that Gloria liked.
“I suppose it was the thump I heard right before the engine failed,” she said.
Tracy blinked. “A thump? Like a bird or something inside of the engine?”
Gloria shrugged. The gesture brought a twinge of pain with it from her injured shoulder, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. Or rather, it was nothing the painkillers she was on couldn’t dull. “I thought it was a bird at first, but now I’m not sure. It could have been something breaking or coming loose. I don’t know if they’ll be able to tell what it is unless they raise the wreck from the sea.”
“Is that something you’re going to pursue?”
Gloria sighed, resting back against her raised bed. She rubbed her eyes with her good hand, ignoring the sting of the cuts that littered her brow. “I don’t have the money to do it on my own. It’ll all depend on whether the insurance company demands it.”
Admitting out loud that her beloved plane was lost was a whole different kind of pain from the bruises and lacerations across her body. Without a plane, what was she? She was an unemployed former soldier with only her family’s money to her name. And while they would give her whatever she wanted gladly, even buying her a new, fancier plane, that wasn’t the point. She didn’t fit.
As if thoughts of her family had summoned him, her brother Antoine appeared in the open doorway of her hospital room. “There’s my brilliant, little sister,” he said. His smile was as wide as always, standing out against his dark skin and impeccably trimmed goatee. True to form, he wore business casual, including a tie, instead of dressing down to visit her. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ll just leave the two of you alone,” Tracy whisper
ed, standing, her notebook in hand.
“That’s okay,” Gloria assured her. “Tracy, this is my brother, Antoine Swann. Antoine, this is Tracy Minhall, a reporter here in Aegiria.”
Antoine turned to shake her hand. “An American reporter in this beautiful little country?”
“It’s a long story,” Tracy laughed. “I’m following some interesting leads and writing…. I won’t bore you with those details. Enjoy your time with your sister.” She smiled and turned to Gloria. “I’ll call you if I have any other questions.”
“You have my number.” Gloria waved to her.
As soon as Tracy was gone, Antoine marched up to Gloria’s bedside and raked her with a scrutinizing glance. “How are you really?”
“Really, I’m fine,” she said, meeting his eyes with all the strength she’d gained through her military training. “You didn’t need to come.”
“Of course I needed to come. That’s what family is for.” He leaned over and kissed her bruised forehead.
Gloria grinned in spite of herself. As inadequate as they made her feel sometimes, she did love her family. She and Antoine had always had a special bond.
“Tell me what happened,” he said, standing straight.
With a sigh, Gloria recounted everything she’d just told Tracy, everything she’d told her doctors and even a representative from Aegiria’s aviation authority that morning. Antoine listened patiently, but his eyes grew wide several times, hinting at how worried he was.
“But I’m fine,” she finished at last. “I managed to control the crash so that it wasn’t worse, and the plane’s safety features did everything they were supposed to do.”
“Your shoulder.” Antoine nodded to her bandaged arm. “And your knee. How did you swim away from your plane in that condition?”
The truth shuddered through her, throwing her back to the fright she’d felt immediately after the crash. “Mack was there. He pulled me to safety before the plane went under, and brought me to his boat.”