At His Majesty's Request

by Maisey Yates

  “And then you would have stayed with a man who loved the ideal better than he loved you. You don’t deserve that.”

  She laughed. “Funny you should say that. About the ideal. I always think his new wife looks too much like me for comfort.”

  “He’s remarried?”

  “Yes. And they have a baby. The sad part? I cried for two days when I found out she was pregnant. I hated her. I hated her so much. And that was so stupid. So wrong.”

  He shook his head. “Not wrong. You’re human.”

  “Yeah. I am. Too human. But you’re right. I do deserve better than him. Better than being the vehicle for his dreams. Better than being his failed dream. He was able to move on and have the exact same thing. I can’t. I am who I am. I have the body I have.”

  “You say that, that you can’t leave yourself, but that he can move on, but you overlook something.”

  “What?” she whispered.

  He cupped her face, his thumbs moving over her cheekbones. “He can’t leave himself. He’s a sad, selfish person. And that’s who he is. He won’t grow or change. He’ll never understand what he lost. His punishment is living with himself. And living without you.”

  “Oh,” she breathed, words failing her completely.

  “Come here.” He took her hand and led her into the shower. His hands slid over her curves, the water making his touch slick. It wasn’t sexual, even though it did arouse her. His touch was comforting.

  She had him turn around so she could rinse the sand from his skin. Kiss the place a rock had bit into his flesh while they’d made love. They helped dry each other off, and then they got into bed.

  He pulled her against the curve of his body, his arms so strong, his heat warming her.

  It was so intimate. It felt far more intimate than anything she’d ever experienced. Because for the first time she felt like the man in her bed understood her. That there wasn’t a secret thought in her mind she knew he wouldn’t approve of.

  Stavros felt like her ally. Sadly, most of the time her husband had felt like an enemy.

  Her pain had caused him pain, so he hadn’t allowed her to talk about it. Her escape from pain had been unacceptable to him, so he hadn’t supported it. His words had wounded her. Flayed the skin from her bones.

  But Stavros’s words were healing.

  “He really let you go through that by yourself?” His fingers grazed her scar.

  “Yes. He didn’t want me to do it.”

  He swore, a truly foul word in Greek that she knew roughly translated to something that would be physically impossible for her ex to do to himself. She laughed. “I appreciate how strongly you feel about it. But I’ve been my own champion for long enough that I don’t need your anger.” Was it so wrong that she wanted it? That it soothed her?

  He turned her so she was facing him. “I need to be angry at him. For me.”

  Her throat tightened and tears stung her eyes. “Oh.”

  “He should have been there for you.”

  “He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stand that I was killing our dreams. And without those dreams … there was no point.”

  “I don’t believe that, Jess. You’re enough to fulfill a man’s dreams all on your own.”

  His words hung between them. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t bother to wipe away the tears that were falling down her cheeks. Tears it felt so good to finally be able to cry.

  When Stavros woke up the next morning, Jessica was lying across the end of the bed, playing a game on her iPad. Her lips were pursed in concentration, her focus on the screen. She must have gone back to her room to get both the computer and a set of pajamas that consisted of a thin T-shirt and some very short shorts.

  But she’d come back to his room. That thought brought him more pleasure than it ought to. “What are you doing?” He sat up and leaned over to get a good view of the screen.

  “Oh.” She turned and looked at him, the impact of her smile carrying all the force of a prize fighter’s right hook. “Waiting for you to wake up.”

  “How do you play the game?”

  “You shoot these little birds out of the slingshot and try to hit the pigs.” She demonstrated by drawing one slender finger over the touch screen and aiming her feathered bullet at its target. “Yes!” She sat up after she hit her target, pumping her fist.

  He laughed, this moment, this one where she was so happy, so relaxed, where he felt the same things, was one he would cling to always. One he would hold inside of him to keep. To treasure.

  You are weak. You find it too easy to grow attached to this woman.

  He had always feared as much. That he was as weak, as governed by his emotions as his father, as his brother. That it would be his ruin, the ruin of his country.

  But he didn’t see how it could be. Looking at Jessica now, being with her, he felt strong. Stronger than he had in his life. More vulnerable in some ways too, but he wondered if it was good.

  Then he wondered about his sanity.

  “High score!” she said.

  He smiled. “Don’t you do a dance when you get high scores?”

  She treated him to a bland look. “I told you, you don’t get to see my dance.”

  “So, I can see you naked, but I can’t see you dance?”

  She stood on the bed and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t tell anyone about this.”

  “I wouldn’t dare.”

  She swayed her hips from side to side, her arms moving in time, her lips pulled to the left. She twirled in a circle, continuing in the same motion. He felt, for a moment, like he was watching himself from a distant place. An observer rather than a participant. Like it couldn’t be real. This snatch of happiness, this moment of pure connection and silliness with another person. He had never felt anything like it.

  His heart seemed to draw tight around itself and squeeze hard. The same heart he had professed not to have.

  She plopped back down onto her knees in front of him. “There. Now I’ve done it.”

  He leaned in and kissed her. “Amazing.”

  She was amazing. What she made him feel was amazing. He felt different. He wanted to fight against it. He wanted to embrace it, and all the changes he could feel her making inside of him.

  Just take this time. Just this time.

  He put everything into the kiss, into losing himself in it. In her.

  For once, he didn’t want to think. He only wanted to feel.

  They spent the next week in Greece. Jessica handled clients remotely, and Stavros went to work in the city, or worked from his office in the villa. And mostly they had a lot of sex.

  Jessica was pretty sure she had a perma-grin from all the ecstasy she’d been exposed to over the past seven days. She was a little worried, though, because she didn’t seem to be getting tired of him. Worse, she missed him a lot when he was working, or when she was working. And if he got up to work on his computer at night, she would wake up, feeling his absence almost immediately.

  She’d been sleeping in her own bed since well before her divorce, but it had been so easy to get used to having someone again. No, not just someone. Because even after eight years of sharing a bed with Gil he hogged the covers and pushed her to the edge of the bed.

  Stavros hogged the covers sometimes. And he certainly took up more than his half of the king-size bed. But she was content to curl around him and let him hold her. And she didn’t really mind that he kept most of the blankets. Because she liked having him there. Liked waking up and seeing his face first thing. Liked having him be the last thing she saw before she went to sleep.

  That was a bit of a problem. Because this was temporary. They had three weeks left.

  That sucked big-time.

  They were also going to have to figure out how to make it work in Kyonos, which would be its own problem.

  She walked into Stavros’s—now their—bedroom just in time to see him walking out of the bathroom with a white towel slung low on his lean hips, his muscles sh
ifting pleasantly as he ran his fingers through his dark, damp hair.

  “Hey, stranger,” she said.

  He turned and looked at her, his smile making her heart stop beating for a moment. “Did you get any work done?”

  “Uh … yeah. I had a woman from India contact me. She’s from a very wealthy family and she wants to use my contacts to find someone better than the guy her parents are pushing her toward. She seems fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

  She was looking forward to matching anyone except Stavros, really.

  “You sound excited.”

  “I am.”

  “I understand if you have to travel once we’re back in Kyonos,” he said. “If you need to go and meet this client.”

  “I probably will.” She didn’t really like to think about it. To consider wasting nights away from him when their time was already so limited.

  “You can use my plane.”

  “Oh, no, I don’t want to do that.”

  He put his hands on his hips and her eyes were drawn to the cut lines that ran down beneath the towel, an arrow to an even more interesting part of his anatomy. “Jessica, don’t be difficult.”

  Annoyance coursed through her, battling against the arousal being near him all damp, fresh and half-naked had caused. “Tough luck, Prince Sexy, I am difficult, if you hadn’t noticed. And I’m not going to take advantage of you. My expenses are all worked into the fees I charge my clients. I’m a businesswoman. A very successful one. Maybe not quite on your level, but I do very well for myself.”

  “I know that. But if you use airports, it will all take longer. I can have you flown any time, day or night, in superior comfort in half the time.”

  “Well. Yes. But still, it’s not my plane.”

  “Then I’ll sell you a ticket.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “For?”

  “If I say sexual favors will you knee me in the groin?”

  She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling and offered him a deadly glare. “Yes.”

  He named an insultingly low figure.

  “No dice,” she said. “I’ll be flying out of Kyonos International. Deal with it.”

  He reached out and grabbed her around the waist and tugged her to him. “You are a pain.”

  “Yeah, so? You like it.” She grabbed his towel and tugged it, letting it fall to his feet.

  He smiled down at her, then kissed her nose. “Maybe.”

  “What time are we headed back to Kyonos?”

  “This afternoon.” His tone said what his words didn’t. That it was too soon. That even though they still had time together, the real world would be intruding. That he didn’t want that.

  She didn’t, either. She wanted to freeze time and live in the bubble for a while. Where reality wasn’t such an intrusive force. Where chemistry was enough of a reason to be with someone. Where her ability to produce children, to be a figurehead and not just be Jessica, wouldn’t be essential to her being with Stavros.

  But that wasn’t real. That couldn’t last. And they both just had to buck up and deal with it.

  “All right. I guess I should get packed then.”

  He kissed her lips. “Later.” He kissed her neck, her shoulder.

  “Yes. Later.”

  Reality could have a turn later. She’d spend another hour in the fantasy.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  STAVROS idly wished he felt a sense of homecoming when he walked into the Kyonosian palace. He didn’t. It felt like the walls had started to close in. A sensation he wasn’t very fond of. Somehow, even the high ceiling seemed to reach down to him, as though it was trying to crush him.

  Apt indeed.

  He walked down the empty corridor and to his father’s office. He pushed the door open. “Your Highness,” he said, inclining his head.

  “Stavros.” His father stood, his hands clasped behind his back. “How was Greece?”

  “Everything is in order. My hotels there are doing well.”

  “And your marriage?”

  “Have I arranged it? Is that what you mean?”

  “For all the money you’ve spent on that matchmaker I should think it would be settled by now,” his father said, his voice gruff, his focus turned back to the papers spread over his desk.

  Ah, yes, his matchmaker. His lover. The woman who held his body and his soul captive. The woman who made him feel more than any one person had ever made him feel in his life. The woman who made him question the core of his existence. That matchmaker.

  He tightened his jaw. “Ms. Carter introduced me to several outstanding candidates.”

  “And?”

  “And I’ve selected one.” The words threatened to strangle him.

  “Name?”

  “Victoria Calder. She’s English. Beautiful.”

  “Fertile?”

  That made his stomach clench. “According to all of her paperwork, yes. That’s part of why I hired Jessica. She handled that unpleasant pre-screening process for me. No potential scandals. No nasty medical surprises.” It galled him to say the words. Because it made him feel no better than Jessica’s ex. A man looking for a woman who met his terms. A man choosing a woman who was a mere placeholder, rather than a person.

  Was that what he was? What he was doing?

  Yes. It was.

  “Excellent. When do you announce?”

  “Not for a while.” Not until he had to. Not until he’d taken the chance to draw out every possible moment with Jessica. “We’ll make an appearance at Eva and Mak’s ball.”

  “Excellent. I’m looking forward to it. This will be a good thing for, Kyonos. I’m certain of it.”

  “Yes,” Stavros said, feeling no certainty at all.

  Stavros nodded and exited the office. And fought the urge to punch the stone wall. Of course he was the only one to never disappoint his father. To never dishonor the Drakos name.

  No, but his father had. His father had given up. Receded behind a veil of grief after his wife died. After he drove his oldest son away.

  Stavros had never had the option of letting anyone down. He’d had to fix everything. Had had to pretend that everything in him was fixed because someone had to stand firm. He’d never had the luxury of feeling. Of falling apart.

  He wanted to now. He wanted to give in to himself. He wanted to follow the emotions Jessica had brought back to him. Wanted to hold on to them forever.

  He strode out of the palace and got into his car. He liked to drive himself whenever he could. He needed it. Because it was one of the few times he was able to be alone. When he was able to stop putting on a show.

  Alone and with Jessica. Those were the only times that was possible. He shook his head and started the engine.

  The streets in Thysius were crowded, but it didn’t take long for him to get to his penthouse apartment. It was fortified with security, of course, but for the most part he didn’t worry. Kyonos was a small country, and he’d always felt safe there.

  He parked his car in the underground garage and touched his fingerprints to the scanner on the elevator. He would have to move into the palace eventually. But for now he would relish his freedom.

  The doors to the lift slid open and revealed his penthouse, open and stark. It was a man’s home, for sure. And it was modern in the extreme, his rebellion against the ultra old-fashioned stylings of the castle. One of his many small rebellions. Rebellions that, he could see now, were the lingering bits of a man he’d thought long banished. The man Jessica made him feel like again.

  He looked on the couch and saw a cream-colored chenille blanket draped over the black leather. He smiled and picked it up, running his fingers over the soft fabric. There was a romance novel on the glass coffee table. He picked it up and flipped through a few pages, careful to save the spot it had been left open to.

  “You’re home.”

  He looked up and saw Jessica standing in the entryway of the living room and his breath stopped for a moment. She was so beauti
ful. She added something to his home, something soft and feminine, something it had been lacking. Something he’d certainly never thought it lacked before.

  “Yes. How was your day?”

  “Great. I spoke with Harneet on the phone for a while, and that was nice. Got an idea of the type of man she was looking for. I think I’m going to fly out and have lunch with her sometime during the weekend.”

  “The ball for Mak and Eva is coming up in a couple of weeks.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  “Will you be there?”

  “I … Probably not.”

  He nodded. “I wish you could be.”

  “Gee, not to hurt your feelings or anything, Stavros, but watching you make your public debut with Victoria ranks right up there with shoving glass under my fingernails for fun.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and cocked her hip to the side.

  “That isn’t why I want you there.”

  “No? But that’s what you’ll be doing there. I know … I know that’s what’s going to happen. We both know. But that doesn’t mean I want to watch it.”

  She turned away from him and he caught her arm. “Why are you suddenly mad at me?”

  “For having all the sensitivity of a bull elk.”

  “I want you with me. If I could, I would fly to India with you and hover around the lunch table while you talked to Harneet. But I can’t do that, can I? Because that’s when the press would wonder, and since I am about to try and show that I’m making a move toward marriage we both know that can’t happen.”

  “I know. So what do you want me to do at the ball? Hover around the edges and stare longingly at you?”

  “No, I want you to hover around the edges so I can stare longingly at you.”

  She frowned. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “None of this does. None of it. It hasn’t from the moment I met you. You make me want things, Jessica. And I can’t have any of them.”

  She closed her eyes. “Neither can I, Stavros.”

  “Jessica …”

  “You know? I think I’m going to call Harneet and ask if I can meet with her earlier. I might leave tomorrow. I should be back in to help arrange any future endeavors with Victoria.” She opened her eyes, her resolve clearly set, her chin pushed out at a stubborn angle.