Royal Opposites

by Crawford, Lori

  He braced himself with one hand and undid his belt with the other. He dropped to the roof next to her and didn’t even notice the shards of glass slicing up his palms and knees.

  “Joan, sweetheart, talk to me.” He shoved the upended bags out of the way and rolled her over to pat her cheek, but her eyes remained closed. Panic threatened to overcome him for a frantic moment. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”

  Tom shook glass free from the blanket he kept in the back seat and draped it over the sharp, jagged fragments which were the remains of his back window. He crawled out to make sure they were on the ground this time. Seeing that they were, he looked up.

  He could just make out the bridge. They’d dropped almost seventy meters from where they’d been on the roadway. He fought back a shudder and returned his attention to getting Joan out of the wreckage.

  As gentle as he dared with the sound of a car braking in the gravel above them, he eased Joan from the car. Once in the cool night air, she opened her eyes. They darted about in a near panic.

  Tom held her close and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay. I’ve got you, but we’ve got to go. Can you walk?”

  She sucked in a couple breaths of air then nodded. He gave her a reassuring smile. With an arm around her waist, he started to lead her away from the car. She pressed against his chest. “The camera.”

  “We can do without it.”

  “Just a second.” she pulled away from him and reached back in the car. Tom checked the road in time to see the shapes of two men with flashlights searching the area.

  “We’ve gotta go, Joan.”

  He looked back at her and saw she was trying to tug her canvas bag loose from the car. It wasn’t budging. “Leave it.”

  Her fists clenched around the straps for a brief moment before tossing them aside. She reached in the bag.

  “I’ve got it.” She backed out of the car and held the camera up. She swayed on her feet, but Tom was quick to catch her. She smiled up at him and giggled.

  “The handsome prince to the rescue. My hero.” She sighed.

  “How hard did you hit your head exactly? C’mon.” Keeping her steady, Tom and Joan picked their way through the broken trees. They kept ahead of the flashlight beams.

  “There. It’s their car.” The exclamation broke the silence of the night above them.

  They froze and crouched in the bush when they heard the men.

  “It’s going to be a nightmare getting down there to it.” The man paused. “You got any rope in the car, Freddie?”

  “Yes. Rentals come standard with a length of rope nowadays. Give me that.” Tom held Joan close while he watched the beam from one of the flashlights jerk to the side. “Get down there and check it out.”

  “Why me? Why don’t you go?” The beam jerked the other way.

  “Somebody has to keep a look out up here. What if somebody comes by?”

  “I’ll keep a look out and you climb down there.”

  “You’re wasting valuable time. It won’t take you but a moment to get down there, grab the camera and climb back up.”

  Tom frowned. He wiped it from his face when he felt Joan start to tremble. Gave her a reassuring smile instead.

  “What if they’re… you know? I don’t see nothing moving down there, do you?”

  “Just makes our job easier. The sooner you get down there, the sooner we can get back to Los Angeles and forget about all this.” “You really think he’s going to let us off the hook just like that? After everything. I mean, there ain’t much that scares me.

  He’s not only on the list. He is the list.”

  “That’s why you gotta be smart like me. Get an insurance plan. Anything happens to me and a whole mess of evidence gets delivered to the Feds.”

  “Yeah, but you’ll still be dead.”

  Tom held his breath and waited for the silence to dissipate between the two men before he dared exhale for fear they’d be able to hear him. He felt Joan go still, too. They exchanged a look. Even in the dark, he could see in her eyes she understood that whatever they were in was a lot more complicated than an erroneous accusation of attempted bank robbery. Despite the shared danger or maybe because of it, Tom found he didn’t want to drop her gaze.

  Having never been this close to her he’d never noticed how gorgeous her eyes were. He could stare into them forever.

  “Fine. We’ll both go.”

  Forever just arrived. Both Tom and Joan looked up in time to see the flashlight beams sweep the ground then bounce around uselessly. Dirt rained down upon them and branches cracked when the two men began their descent from above.

  With an arm around Joan, he urged her away. Using the guard’s noisy scramble to cover their movements, they pressed through the undergrowth along the side of the hill. They made it to the bridge where Tom paused to check the guards’ progress. His eyes swept up. Joan followed his gaze then shook her head.

  “No way can we get up there.” She swayed on her feet at the movement reminding Tom how desperate the situation was.

  “I’ll help you.”

  She raised an eyebrow and stared at him. “In case it’s escaped your attention, I’m not some ninety pound debutante you can sweep off her feet.” Her hands swept the air in front of her lush curves and Tom had to agree with part of her assessment. She wasn’t some tiny little thing waiting to be rescued, but he had noticed. If the tightening in his groin was any indication, he was still noticing. At a completely inappropriate time.

  “We can do this, Joan.” He checked the guards’ progress over his shoulder. They were almost on top of the car. “We have to.” She stared at him a moment longer then sighed. “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She reached for whatever hand hold she could find on the hillside which would take her up to the bottom beam of the bridge. She couldn’t quite reach the wood and Tom had to rethink his offer to help. The one thing he could think of to do was give her boost on that nicely rounded behind of hers.

  So much for his vow to keep his hands to himself. Enjoying the situation far more than he should be, he cupped her backside with both hands and gave her a hoist.

  She flinched at the contact, but pulled herself up to the beam. Trying to forget the firm feel of her buns in his hands, Tom pulled himself up after her. His forearms were going to feel this in the morning since it had been forever since he’d been climbing.

  When they were face to face again, her lips parted like she was going to speak. Whatever she had to say was interrupted by a sudden exclamation from the vicinity of the car.

  “Son of a…they ain’t here!”

  “What do you mean, they ain’t here? Where could they have gone?”

  Tom wrapped an arm around Joan and pressed them both into the shadows of the bridge while the flashlight beams swept past them. They watched when one beam returned to the mangled car. “They can’t have survived that in good enough shape to get very far.” The second beam returned to the car, too.

  “Can you see the camera? We get that video footage and we can be done with them.”

  Joan sucked in a breath next to Tom’s ear. They’re trying to kill us over this stupid video?”

  It was so inappropriate, but there was nothing Tom could do to stop himself from going hard. He was thankful they were crouched in a position so his thigh acted as a sentinel between his erection and Joan’s soft body. It was just unfortunate that she was facing him on her knees which meant her breasts were pressed into his side since he had an arm around her. He began to wonder if she’d picked up on his state when she shifted in his embrace. He was surprised when her attention seemed to be on her camera case.

  Joan unzipped it and freed their wad of cash from the confines. What was she planning to do? Try to trade their lives for a few hundred dollars? Granted, she was the bargain queen, but this was ridiculous. She bit her lip and focused on him.

  “We can’t risk losing this.” Tom sucked in a surprised breath
when she stuffed the money inside her bra. In the dark, he didn’t get a very good look even though he had the best seat in the house.

  Still, that didn’t stop his imagination from working overtime. To compound matters, she opened the camera and ejected the memory card. That lucky little piece of plastic found a new home in her other cup. Tom couldn’t believe he was actually jealous of computer memory.

  He could feel Joan looking at him, but it took him a moment longer than it should have to drag his eyes back up to her face. She gave him a wry grin. “And no cheating, either. Just ‘cause you know where the money is doesn’t mean you get to spend more of it.”

  Yeah. Like that’s what he’d been thinking. He gave her a lopsided smile. “You’ve got me all figured out, don’t you?” He checked the progress of the guards. Even with all the groceries in the car, it wouldn’t take them long to figure out they still had the camera. They needed to get far away from this place and now.

  Tom studied the side of the bridge. Once they conquered the first beam, it should be a pretty easy climb for both of them. At least he hoped it would be. If he had to put his hands on her again he wasn’t sure he’d be able to end with a simple boost.

  “Let’s go.” He stood and pointed out the inadvertent ladder.

  “You up to it?” Joan followed the beams up to the road with her eyes. When she returned her gaze to him, she gave an uncertain nod. “I’m right behind you,” he reassured her.

  Careful to stay out of the sight of the guards, they made a stealthy climb. Tom could see Joan’s arms tremble when she got to the final beam, but she worked herself up and over onto the bridge itself. Tom hoisted himself up after her and offered her a smile.

  “You did it.”

  Her breasts heaved with the exertion from the climb trying to distract him. “Never again.” She peeked over the side. “Oh my goodness. We were all the way down there?”

  He joined her and gestured to where the guards were still searching the car. Tom could just make out the shape of the big one when he stepped back in a huff. “Yep.”

  “It ain’t here. Son of a…we gotta find them. They must still have it.”

  Tom and Joan exchanged a look. Joan started off toward the freeway, but Tom caught her arm. Pulled her the other direction.

  She gave him a questioning look then smiled and nodded.

  Together, they hurried toward the guards’ car.

  Tom tried the driver’s door and cringed when the door beeped. He was sure the guards had to have heard the sound. Then he smiled when the realization dawned. The keys were in the ignition. “Get in.”

  “Did you hear that?” The guard’s voice travelled up to the road. Joan hurried around the car and jumped in while Tom climbed behind the wheel. He fired up the engine and raced back toward the freeway leaving the men behind.

  Once on the highway, he glanced over at Joan expecting to see her looking as smiley as he was. They’d ditched the men at last.

  Instead, she was resting her head against the seat with her eyes pressed closed. Concerned, he reached over and squeezed her hand. “Are you okay?”

  “My head hurts a bit, but I’m fine.” Tom’s mind flashed back to the memory of her lying motionless on the roof of his shattered car. Of course her head hurt. His first instinct was to put as much distance between them and the guards as possible, but he wasn’t sure that was such a good idea anymore. Not at the risk of her injury being serious.

  “My phone is still in the car. You?”

  “Yeah. And the coupons and the groceries.”

  “Don’t worry about all that now, sweetheart. We’ll be fine.

  People went for centuries without a cell phone. Or coupons. I’m sure we can do the same.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “I know.”

  Tom kept her talking in quiet tones until he spotted a sign for a town just a few miles off the highway. Hoping they could hole up there for a little bit, he took the exit. Driving through the sleepy little town, he was sure he wouldn’t find a place quite like the Ritz, but he would have to make due. He remembered their low funds.

  Availability wouldn’t be the sole reason they’d have to make due.

  A neon sign advertising seventy dollar rooms and free cable caught his eye. All of the lights were in good working condition so he took that to be a good sign. With one more glance at Joan, he wheeled the car into the parking lot. He could tell she wasn’t asleep by the way her eyes were squeezed together.

  “Joan, I need some of the money,” he said in hushed tones.

  Without question, she reached in her bra and handed over the entire wad. She must be in worse pain than he thought if she was beyond rationing their funds. He closed his hand around hers and squeezed. “I’ll be right back.” He took the money and climbed out of the car.

  ****

  Joan’s head felt like it was going to explode at any moment.

  Now that Tom was out of the car, she let the tear she’d been holding at bay slide down her cheek. Not that she thought it would help, but it was one less thing she had to worry about. She opened one eye and regretted it when the glare of a neon-‐-pink seven seemed to sear into her brain through her retina. No longer curious, she closed the eye and prayed for the monkeys to knock it off with the tap dancing inside her skull.

  A waft of cool air brushed across her face. Her eyes flew open and her muscles tensed to fight. She relaxed when she saw it was Tom.

  “Let’s get you inside.” He held out a hand to her. “You look like you can use the rest.”

  “You saying I look a mess?” She wasn’t sure why she cared.

  She just did. Especially after they’d shared the close call of the accident and subsequent escape such a short time ago. Despite the pounding in her head, she longed for him to wrap his arms around her again. She’d never felt so safe and protected before. Even in the midst of danger.

  “Of course you look a mess. We both do. But you look like you’re in a great deal of pain, too.”

  Despite the bright lights in the parking lot, she looked him over and conceded the point. He did look a mess. But he made messy look good with those broad shoulders, trim waist, and powerful thighs. How had a prince managed to get such a solid physique?

  “Joan?” Tom’s voice sounded a bit thick. He cleared his throat drawing her gaze back up to his face. She put her hand in his and allowed him to help her from the car. Under the steady beat of the tap dancing monkeys she could hardly concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Or at least she blamed them in her mind for her uncharacteristic leaning on Tom for support while he walked her to her room.

  She began to rethink her assessment of women who always leaned on men. Perhaps it was less about them being weak and more about them wanting to touch him. Heaven help her, Joan did want to touch Tom. Good thing they would be heading to different rooms in a few moments. She’d read somewhere that good sex was a cure for a headache. Giving the pounding in her head, she was more than willing to give it a whirl. Heck, even without the pounding, she wouldn’t mind giving him a whirl. What the heck was she thinking? It was obvious she was not a well woman.

  “Here we are.” Tom stopped in front of a door and slid an old-‐-fashioned metal key in the lock. Grateful to put some distance between them, but also feeling a little abandoned, Joan headed for the other side of the small room before turning to face him again.

  “Thank you.” She checked out the meager surrounding then gave him a brief smile. “I can’t imagine this is anywhere close to what you’re used to, but at least it’s clean.”

  He surprised her when he stepped in the room, closing and locking the door behind him. He took a look around. “I think it’ll be adequate.”

  “What are you doing?”

  A puzzled frown creased his eyebrows. “What do you mean?” Joan’s eyes drifted to the queen sized bed which had appeared so inviting moments before, then back to him. Now that he was inside, the room seemed a bit too claustrophobic for her tas
tes. He dropped the keys on the shiny but scarred table by the door and sank into one of the chairs.

  “What are you doing in here? I mean, where’s your room?”

  “I only got this one. I didn’t want to be too far away in case you needed me. Head injuries can be tricky, I’ve heard.” He gave her the smile that had been doing funny things to her insides since they met. “Besides, we’re trying to conserve money, remember?”

  “Yes, but…” Joan couldn’t think of a single way to articulate her concerns with any semblance of tact, so she blurted, “There’s only one bed.”

  “There are no double occupancy rooms here. Usually people who want those types of accommodations book adjoining rooms.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  “There aren’t any, Joan.” He didn’t raise his voice to her, but his tone left no question that he now considered the subject closed.

  For the first time since they’d met, she had a clear view of his royal upbringing. She wanted to be ticked off, but discovered she was a bit aroused instead. This was not good.

  “Look. We’re both adults, right? I don’t know about you, but the last thing on my mind is… What’s the expression? Jumping your bones.”

  That cooled her libido quick, fast, and in a hurry. What had she been thinking? Just because she found him attractive didn’t mean he felt the same about her. In fact, he’d never once treated her with anything other than the affection one would bestow upon a little sister or cute puppy. Even when he’d put his hands on her butt he’d been completely impersonal. The night was, indeed, going to be a long one. She summoned a smile.

  “You’re right. I’m going to shower.” She headed toward the bathroom then paused. “That is, unless you’d like to go first?”

  ****

  Tom propped his right ankle on his left knee and prayed it was enough to hide the full-‐-grown bulge he was now sporting.

  What was she doing to him? First, there was all that talk about being an adult while sharing the bed. Then he hadn’t been able to help, but hope that she’d invite him to join her in the shower.