Royal Opposites

by Crawford, Lori

  So much for trusting him. “You think we should run? From the police?”

  “Joan, it’s not just the police.” His eyes narrowed and he rested his index finger along his top lip until he spoke again. “I keep thinking about the fact that the guards broke into our places.

  Both of our places. How did they know how to find us?”

  “They have our addresses on file,” Joan supplied, not quite following his logic.

  “Are you friendly with any of the employees? They know you by sight?”

  She snorted. “Oh, yeah. Pushing a person into serious debt is a perfect friend-‐-winning movement.”

  “Precisely. I know how they knew who I was. I’d swiped my card.” He looked at her. “But how did they know who you were?

  You were still at the back of the line.”

  Her eyes widened when she understood his line of reasoning. “That’s why we’re running. You don’t think we’ll be safe in police custody.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be safe–”

  Warming to the subject she talked over him. “You think they have someone at the station waiting to… kill us if we were to show up?” She gripped the seat belt in her rising panic. Someone wanted her dead. How did this happen? She was boring little Joan Smith who never did anything to rock her nice, safe, little boat outside of schooling an inept cashier here or there. Until this morning, anyway. The moment she’d decided to videotape her transaction with the teller she’d signed her fate. She stared at the camera nestled in her lap. Worst forty-‐-nine cents she’d ever spent in her life.

  “Joan, stay with me, now. No one is going to kill you. I’m not ready to go quite that far. I don’t want to take any unnecessary chances. I prefer to be wise and get out of town. We’ll find a place where we can deal with the authorities on our own terms.”

  Joan nodded, but kept her eyes on the camera. “It’s not like we don’t have proof what really went on in there, right?”

  Tom smiled. “Exactly.”

  “Once we’re out of the bank’s reach, we’ll go to the authorities, turn over the memory card, and they can protect us.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s all so simple.” Joan relaxed her hands and stretched her legs out in front of her. Yes, simple. Wasn’t it?

  Chapter Five

  Simple. That was what Joan had said hours ago. However, it was becoming anything but. She fell asleep once they hit a stretch of highway free from bumper to bumper traffic. They cleared the vast metropolis of Los Angeles County and he began to look for a place where they could rest overnight. While he was searching the GPS in his phone for suitable lodging, the traffic slowed again.

  Trying to ascertain the reason for the slowdown, he was dismayed to note it was due to an alert posted on the huge amber signs above the freeway. His heart clenched a bit to note that the license plate displayed was his.

  He checked out the drivers surrounding him and was relieved to note they didn’t seem to be in the least interested in him. Instead of sticking around, he decided their best course of action would be to keep going. He wasn’t about to let Joan fall into the hands of the authorities before they had a leg to stand on. True, she had the footage, but it was just the original copy. He knew they would grill her and disbelieve her until it was verified.

  Even then, there were many little ‘accidents’ it could sustain, rendering it useless before corroborating her story. If that happened, she’d be in for the fight of her life and on her own. Even though he had diplomatic immunity, he would be deported and the full brunt of this mess would fall on Joan’s shoulders. All because she tried to help him. The only honorable thing for him to do would be to stick around and help her out of this mess.

  Not to mention the fact that Joan’s videotape was solid proof he hadn’t embarrassed his country by exhibiting poor personal financial management skills. The backbone of his nation’s economy was based on the loans they made to other nations around the world. If they got wind of a chink in his armor, so to speak, all of those deals could be put in serious jeopardy.

  However, remaining in the United States put a bit of a crimp in his plans. He needed to return to Rafferstonia where a million and one things awaited his attention before his marriage and coronation. He needed to act upon the investment opportunities he’d developed during his year away. Hearing about Marlachina’s upcoming nuptials took a bit of the urgency out of his need to enact the plans right away. He no longer feared she was out to upstage him. However, his coronation was only a short time away and he had no less than seventy-‐-eight new business partnerships he intended to enter into before then. There was the little matter of his finding a bride within that same time span. Delaying his return home would impact the task more than any of his other concerns.

  According to the last email he received from his mother, she had no less than thirty-‐-three suitable young ladies for him to interview upon his return. The thought of it made him cringe. Still, there was no one to blame except himself. Tom’d known almost from birth he’d need a wife before his coronation during his thirty-‐-

  fifth year. Instead of wasting his time with women unfit to meet even his staff, he should have been focusing on meeting the ‘nice women of substance’ his mother liked to call them. Women who could help him rule. Not ones whose sole interests would be the money or power their new position would afford them.

  He risked a glance at Joan’s sleeping form and wished he hadn’t. After knowing her for less than a day, he could tell she would fall into his mother’s ‘woman of substance’ category. How many people would stick their neck out for a perfect stranger like she had? Granted, it was probably because she hadn’t expected to be accused of a bank robbery and need to go on the run after helping the way she had. But overall, she’d been quite a trooper thus far.

  However, that wasn’t what surprised him the most about her. He had never once found himself attracted to any of the women his mother had approved. He could lie and try to tell himself his attraction sprang from his year-‐-long imposed celibacy.

  But that would mean he’d have to continue the lie and say he hadn’t noticed the luscious curve of her hip until just now when he knew good and well she’d blipped his radar screen months ago.

  Even though his year of celibacy was technically over tomorrow, he couldn’t act upon any attraction unless he was willing to spend the rest of his life with her. The next woman he would make love to would become his wife. That mandate was the reason behind the celibacy during the year away. It was to prevent future Rafferstonia rulers from getting swept away by the exotic women of foreign lands so they were able to make informed decisions regarding their queen. Even knowing all that didn’t help him in his present situation with Joan curled up against the passenger door, which tilted her tantalizing backside just into view.

  The dress she wore was tucked demurely around her legs, but the thin fabric, combined with gravity, caused it to drape in quite an appealing way over the exposed side of her body.

  He sighed and tried to shift his hips in the seat to get comfortable. It was still useless as it had been for more miles than he cared to admit and he remained pressed against the zipper of his jeans. The fact that the pair was tailored to be baggy did nothing to improve his disposition. She trusted him to protect her, but he was sitting here lusting after her instead. There was nothing honorable about that. He needed to get his priorities in order and fast.

  A yawn escaped catching him by surprise. And delighted him a little bit. He was tired. That had to be all it was. He was having difficulty controlling his reactions because he was exhausted. Combined with a year of celibacy, it was no wonder his body was reacting the way it was when he was on the run from the police in a foreign nation. That was his story and he was sticking to it. He’d left his horny teenage years behind and could exhibit perfect control over himself. Tom had made sure he’d scratched all his itches before his year away had begun. He’d been very good.

  He hadn’t
had to resort to avoiding all women. Ones he knew could be trouble, sure, but not women in general.

  He risked a glance at Joan in the increasing light on the Phoenix stretch of interstate. Now he was stuck in close quarters with one who was definitely trouble and didn’t even seem to know it which made her all that much more trouble. Needing to take his mind off of his raging hormones, he fished out his cell phone and punched in the name of a hotel. When the name popped up on the map he blew out a breath of relief. A couple more taps and he had directions to their accommodations for the night. Soon enough, he’d be able to put some distance between them and regain his equilibrium. He had a feeling he was going to need it to get them out of this mess.

  ****

  Joan could swear someone was calling her name. Though she couldn’t imagine who it could be. She’d gone to bed hours ago and no one had a key to her apartment. Did they? She rolled over in her queen sized bed and tried to pry her eyes open. She heard it again. They wanted her to wake up. Yeah, well forget it. It was nowhere near morning and she was determined to stay put until then.

  Cold air brushed her face sending a chill through her body.

  She wrapped her arms around herself, refusing to get up to turn the heat on. She was way too comfy. Except, she wasn’t. Her neck felt like she was sleeping on it wrong. She tried to stretch out, but her feet hit something hard. That’s funny. There was no wall at the foot of her bed. Someone called her name again while she tried to puzzle it out. Warm, soft hands rubbed her arms. She smiled. That felt nice. The smile dropped away in favor of a frown. Whose hands were those?

  Joan pried her heavy eyelids open and stared up into Tom’s face. His frown melted away into relief, then to that devastating smile of his. Wait. That can’t be right. Surely, she hadn’t let him smile his way into her bedroom. Joan sucked in a breath and sat up.

  The moment she did, Joan came to full alertness. It hadn’t been a dream. She stared out the front windshield at the parking lot outside. Joan blinked at Tom.

  “Where are we?”

  “At a hotel. I couldn’t go any further tonight.” Now that she was awake, she noted lines of fatigue pulled at his eyes. Of course he was tired. He’d been driving for…

  “We’re out of Los Angeles?” Joan asked while he helped her from the car. She took in the surroundings. Her gaze caught on the magnificent building sprawling in the middle of the lot. Stunned, she barely noticed when Tom closed the door behind her and tucked her hand in the crook of his elbow.

  “This is Phoenix.”

  Under normal circumstances, Joan’s mouth would have dropped open, but she was too busy contemplating how she was going to pay for a night at the Ritz Carlton. True, she had eight hundred dollars tucked in the camera case she was now clutching for dear life. Even if she had a coupon in her binder, she couldn’t imagine either would go very far if they had to hole up here for very long.

  “I can’t stay here, Tom.” She pulled him to a stop just before they entered the lobby. She needed to keep all the cash she had available to fight off the bank people. That plan couldn’t include giving half of her available reserves to a five-‐-star hotel chain.

  He looked genuinely puzzled when he turned his gaze on her. “Why not? It’s an excellent facility.”

  Joan blinked. He thought she was being snobbish? She leaned in to whisper. “No. You don’t understand. I can’t afford to stay here.”

  To her surprise, he seemed relieved. “Don’t worry about it.

  I’m picking up the tab.” Before she could protest further, he opened the door for her. She rubbed her arms. The desert sure was cold at night. Besides, she could argue her case inside as easily as she could out.

  Except, he didn’t give her the chance. Tom strode straight to the front desk to begin the check in procedures. She couldn’t let him keep paying for her like this. How long would it be before he expected something in return? How would she be able to say, ‘no’

  in such intimate quarters as a hotel room no matter how luxurious that room was? She hurried to his side.

  “This is really not a good idea,” Joan protested. He ignored her. Scribbled his name on some papers and accepted the keys from the attendant.

  “Do you want 2816 or 2818? I’m fine either way.” He held the keys in his palms.

  “What?” Joan didn’t understand. “You got two rooms?”

  He frowned at the question. “There are two of us.”

  Was he for real? He got them both rooms? At however many hundred bucks a night? Maybe she wasn’t a complete idiot to trust him. He didn’t want anything more than to help her. For some inexplicable reason, that made her sad. It would be nice for once in her life to have some guy salivating over her. Who was she kidding? Guys who looked like him wouldn’t ever be attracted to girls who looked like her. Then there was the variable of his finances. No doubt he wasn’t hurting for money. There was nothing he could ever see in her. Not when her main currency was coupons.

  Joan sucked in a breath and straightened her spine. No need to dwell on it. Not when they had so many other pressing issues to sort through. She picked the key in his left hand. “Lead the way.”

  They rode the elevator up to their floor and parted ways at their respective doors. Joan had the strange notion she might never see him again. That would pretty much kind of suck because she was stranded in a different state. Sure she had her coupon binder and her wits so she could survive. After all, she’d done it for many years now. But still, it would suck if he were to slip out on the sly.

  He made no secret he had the resources to do so.

  “Thanks, Tom.”

  He paused in his doorway to look at her. “Thanks for what?

  Totally disrupting your life? Yes, I can see how one would appreciate that.”

  Joan cocked her head when she heard the first traces of his accent. It reminded her he was even farther from home than she was. She couldn’t blame him if he packed it in and headed home.

  “Let’s just say…I do appreciate a good adventure.”

  He smiled, but she could see he was about to fall asleep where he stood. “Let’s hope we’ve had the adventure and are well on the way to setting things right.”

  Joan returned his smile. “Good night.” She didn’t wait for him to answer. She didn’t trust herself to. That didn’t sound like a man planning to run off and leave her behind. She pushed open the door to her room and slid inside. She knew he wouldn’t go in his room until she went in hers, further convincing her he would stick this out. She leaned against the door with her eyes closed contemplating her situation. In fact, it was just confirmation that the only reason he was still around was because they had a pretty serious problem to sort out. His reasons had nothing to do with enjoying her company or whatever. Once they got things straightened out, she might be lucky just to get a Christmas e-‐-mail from him every few years.

  Determined not to dwell on the unpleasantness, she opened her eyes and pushed off the door. Joan froze when she got her first look at the room. Room? Heck. It was a suite. There had to be some mistake. She went back into the hall and wasn’t surprised to find it empty. With the slightest hesitation, she knocked on his door. After a moment, she heard him fumble with the locks to open it.

  When he did, she almost lost all train of thought. He’d already stripped off his shirt revealing a very nice expanse of solid male chest sprinkled with the barest hint of blond hair. His stomach was sculpted into a more than adequate four pack. The top of his jeans were unfastened. They defied gravity and relied on his lean hips to remain in place. Joan swallowed hard and willed her eyes not to go any lower.

  “Joan, is something wrong with your room?” he asked. His voice caused her gaze to jerk to meet his instead of roaming around where it had no business.

  She found her voice. “Uh… it’s a suite.” And sounded really stupid. He frowned at her. “Yes.”

  She peered around him and saw a similar setup. Joan withdrew. “I’m sorry. I just thou
ght…You know what? Good night.” She fled back to her own suite. Thankfully her keys were still clutched in her fist. She didn’t think she could take the further humiliation of locking herself out, too.

  “Joan?” He called her name while she inserted the key in the lock. She got the door open before trusting herself to look at him.

  He was leaning into the hallway and watching her.

  “Yes?”

  “Meet at noon? I don’t think I’ll be awake much before then.

  We can figure out where to go from here.”

  Joan nodded. “Noon it is.” She ducked into her suite and closed the door. What was wrong with her? Lusting after him like that. She was acting like she’d never seen a man with his shirt off before. She slapped a palm to her forehead. She must be tired. Of course she’d slept almost all of the way, but how much rest could one get riding in a car? That was her story and she was sticking to it.

  To distract herself, she focused on the tiny issue of the bank she’d been accused of robbing. No, wait. Attempting to rob. That still stuck in her craw. If she ever got it in her head to rob a bank, she sure wouldn’t just attempt. With the sight of Tom’s gorgeous body pushed to the back of her mind she set out to handle more pressing issues, like washing her clothes so she wouldn’t have to wear them dirty tomorrow. She took another look around the suite.

  It was quite obvious Tom was a man used to the best life had to offer. The least she could do was not stink while in his presence.

  Happy to have a task to take her mind off things, she stuffed the camera inside her canvas bag with her coupon binder and dropped everything on an armchair on her way to the bathroom.

  Once she cleaned up and relaxed a bit, things would look much better. And she’d have better control over her traitorous hormones.

  Chapter Six

  Tom stood under the cold spray of water and willed his rebellious flesh back into submission. To think, he’d almost made it into the safety of his suite without embarrassing himself. Then she had knocked on his door for something to do with her suite. He still wasn’t sure what had prompted the visit. He knew that if she’d stood there for one more moment devouring him with her eyes, he would’ve thrown caution to the wind, pulled her inside with him, and sorted out the consequences later. The least of which being their arranged marriage and her reign as queen of a country he was positive she’d never even heard of.