by Rita Herron
“Stefan?” her voice squeaked.
“Yes, Jane, it is me, love.”
Love? Her heart melted. “What are you doing?”
“Cleaning the stall. I have chosen two beautiful specimens for us to ride.”
“But—”
“Are you going to shoot me or join me?” He quirked his head toward her drawn weapon.
“I…” Her pulse clamored. “I thought this might be a trap.”
Laughter gleamed in his eyes, and she realized that in some devious sexual way that it was, although she hadn’t exactly figured out what Stefan was up to.
He shrugged, lifted a gloved hand and pushed the gun downward, then led a stallion from the stall. Speechless, she stowed her weapon in her purse and followed him, then stood watching in awe as he saddled up the black horse and a white palomino.
“What are you doing? They have stable hands who would have saddled the horses,” Jane said in a weak voice.
Stefan turned to her, his eyes serious and intent. “I am proving to you that I am not a spoiled prince. Well, maybe I am a bit spoiled,” he teased. “But I am also fit and capable. I am intelligent, have military experience, can ride a horse as well as your Wyoming cowboys, and I am totally smitten with you, Jane.”
Smitten? Had he heard that expression from some ancient American-made movie?
“I know you’re intelligent, Stefan. I saw your environmental package. It’s brilliant.”
He arched a brow, obviously pleased with her compliment. “So perhaps you are smitten with me as well?”
She clamped her teeth over her lower lip. God, she wasn’t smitten. She was head over hells in love. In fact, he had both horses literally and figuratively eating out of the palm of his hand, and if he kept talking in that seductive voice and looking at her with those bedroom eyes, she would be, too.
“Stefan…”
A tender smile tilted his lips, and he gestured for her to climb on the palomino. “You do ride, Jane? You are not afraid of horses, too, are you?”
She tensed at the barb, but stuck her chin in the air. “Of course, I ride. And no, I’m not afraid of horses.”
He mounted his own horse, and gave her a teasing look. “But horses can be dangerous, Jane. They can throw you then move onto another rider with no remorse.”
She frowned. “Why would you say a thing like that?”
At the shadow in his eyes, she realized he knew about her mother.
Of course, he’d researched her past. His security team probably had dossiers on everyone at the ranch and on the police force.
Dammit, she wished he couldn’t see through her so well.
Desperate to avoid the conversation, she gave the horse a firm kick and sent him galloping from the barn. Stefan followed, and for the next few minutes, they rode in silence, enjoying the peace and quiet and beauty of the resort.
Antelope and other wild animals roamed freely, cattle grazed inside acres and acres of pasture, and birds flocked to the gardens and numerous birdfeeders scattered throughout the land.
Freshly cut grass, trees, and flowers scented the air while a falcon soared above, graceful and elegant against the sky, and the creek gurgled feeding into the river nearby.
Stefan rode with poise and ease and command of the animal beneath him, just as he did everything else in his life. Her body stirred, hungry for him, heat rippling through her as she watched the gentle way he stroked the horse’s neck and murmured appreciation.
Finally he guided his horse to a pond where he slowed, then stopped and climbed off. Jane followed his lead, and they let the horses rest. But she felt unsettled, her body humming to life as Stefan took her hand and coached her to the pond. To her surprise, a picnic basket sat in the midst of a blanket, waiting. Stefan must have set it up earlier.
Jane watched, her nerves skittering with awareness and anticipation as he uncorked a bottle of wine, opened it and poured them each a glass. When he handed it to her, his fingers brushed hers, igniting a fiery heat through her.
Damn. He was sexy in a suit, and naked, but dressed in those tight jeans and that Stetson, he was a tempting sight.
“What are you doing?” Jane asked.
He chuckled and sipped his wine. “Trying to seduce the woman I love.” He quirked a brow. “Is it working?”
The woman he loved?
His words stirred her innermost feelings, feelings she’d desperately tried to avoid. He couldn’t mean it, that he loved her. He was only caught up in the moment.
Feeling jittery, she sipped from her own glass, warmed by the heady taste of the merlot. “Stefan—”
“Shh. I am not the man your mother married, and you are not her.” He slowly walked toward her, his eyes intent on her face. “Now that is settled. This is a bottle from my own country of Kyros,” he murmured in a sex-laden voice. “There are so many beautiful things there that I wish to show you, Jane. That I wish to share with you.”
Jane’s heart pitched. “Stefan, this is incredibly romantic, and you look sexy as hell—”
“I am sexy to you?” He tilted his head with a lazy swagger that made her smile in spite of herself.
“Of course you are.” She threw her hands up in frustration. “But that’s not the point. The point is that I would never fit into your world.” She gestured toward herself. “Just look at me. You’re a prince. You deserve a princess, someone—”
“I am a prince,” he said gruffly. “I cannot change that, Jane.” He tilted his Stetson, then gestured toward his body. “But with you, I am just a man.”
Jane wet her lips with her tongue. “You’re so much more than just a man,” she whispered.
“I am a man you like?”
Jane hedged. “Yes.”
One brow shot up. “A man you enjoy being with?”
Another smile surfaced against her will. “Yes.”
His eyes glinted. “A man who pleasured you well in bed?”
“Stefan,” Jane whispered, heat climbing her neck.
“Did I not?” he asked, serious now. “Because if there is something more you wish in the ways of pleasuring you, I am most willing for you to show me.” He trailed his fingers down her shoulder to her breast, making her nipples instantly stiffen. “I am a quick learner, Jane.”
“Stefan,” Jane said, feeling flushed. “You were wonderful. Perfect. But that’s not the problem.”
“There is no problem, Jane, except in your mind,” Stefan said. “I choose who I want,” he said earnestly, passionately. “And you, Jane Cameron, are exactly the woman I want. You are smart, independent, you fight for what you believe. And…” He paused and stepped closer, so close she felt his breath on her cheek, his erection pressing against her thigh. “And you are the woman who makes my heart throb. You are the woman I wish to share my life with.”
Moisture pricked Jane’s eyes, but she blinked it away. “But your country, your father, your people—”
“Will follow as their leader commands and will love you as I do.”
Jane’s throat closed. Her heart ached to give into him. To her own feelings and needs and desires.
“I understand you have reservations,” he said in a gruff voice. “That you may wish to continue a career.” She nodded.
“And I will respect whatever you choose to do.” He stroked her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Unfortunately we have crimes in Kyros for you to investigate. And then there is the environmental project which I need help with, a spokesperson in particular.”
She had been impressed with his plan.
He lowered his lips to her neck. “Although I could keep you quite busy in bed.”
Jane’s knees wobbled. She was fast losing any reason to deny herself. Stefan was the man of her dreams. Rather, the man she’d never allowed herself to dream about. “Stefan, I just don’t want to disappoint you.”
He brushed her cheek with his thumb with such tenderness that Jane felt weak.
“Don’t you understand,” Stefan said in
a low voice.
“You could never disappoint me.” He pressed his hand over his heart. “I will not disappoint you, either, Jane. I love you, and I will do everything in my power to make you happy.”
A tear finally trickled down Jane’s cheek. Stefan thought she was brave, but she had been such a coward with her heart. She did want him. She did trust him.
Silently acknowledging her feelings gave her the courage to speak them out loud. “I love you, too, Stefan.”
A smile filled Stefan’s eyes, and he gently wiped the tear away with his thumb. “Those words are magic to my ears, my love.” His eyes locked with hers, then he dropped to his knee, and reached inside his pocket.
Jane’s belly fluttered with nerves, her heart filled with hope and anticipation.
Stefan held out a simple black velvet ring box, his own hands shaking. “I wish to marry you, my Jane. To make you my wife.” He opened the box, and a perfect oval jade stone winked at her in the dim light.
“If you say yes, you can have any ring you select.” His voice warbled with emotions. “My mother’s, although it is ostentatious. But there are jewelers in Kyros who will design the jewel of your heart’s desire.”
Jane clung to his hand, unable to speak.
“But this stone will always remind me of you,” he continued. “Of your beauty and your home, which I hope to also make my own.”
Jane stared at the dark, jade stone, the gemstone of Wyoming, so simple in its beauty yet so timeless. And she finally found her voice again. “Oh, Stefan, this is perfect for me. Absolutely perfect.”
“As you are for me.”
More tears fell as Jane succumbed to her feelings, and he placed the jade on her finger. Then he swept her in his arms and kissed her, and she kissed him back with all her heart.
When they finally came up for a breath, she reached for his hat. “You know, I like you in your crown, Stefan. But there’s nothing sexier than a prince in a cowboy hat and boots.”
Stefan threw his head back and laughed, and she pushed him to the blanket. Desperate for each other, the picnic basket was forgotten as they rushed to undress each other, stripping and kissing and exploring each other’s bodies with frenzied need.
They made love beneath the stars glittering in the Wyoming sky with Stefan wearing nothing but those cowboy boots.
And as she nestled in Stefan’s arms afterward, contented, sated, euphoric, her heart bursting with love, she finally believed that fairy tales did come true.
After all, plain Jane was marrying a prince, and they would live happily ever after in a beautiful kingdom called Kyros…
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Rita Herron for her contribution to the Cowboys Royale series.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-7966-1
BRANDISHING A CROWN
Copyright © 2011 by Harlequin Books S.A.
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*Nighthawk Island
**Guardian Angel Investigations
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen