A short trip on the motorboat took us out to a yacht where we would spend the day. A pair of security guards for Honoré were already on board, but other than those guys, it was only the crew and us.
Honoré and I lay on the tanning deck for hours, sipping fruity drinks and soaking up the sun’s rays.
“This really is like a normal honeymoon, I think,” Honoré said with a laugh. “Not that I've ever had one, but this is what I think it should be like.”
“Not scaling down the pyramids?”
She broke out into laughter. “You really didn't want to do that.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to do that, and when you got halfway down, you didn't want to do it either.”
We both laughed, but she looked over and said, “No, but you really helped me get through it. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn’t been there with me.”
“You would've been fine, but you know what? That's not something you have to worry about anymore. Because I’m here with you.”
Her face grew more serious, and I wasn't sure why.
The conversation had taken a more serious turn, and I was the one who had taken it in that direction.
But I wasn't sure how committed Honoré was to leaving this marriage after the honeymoon was over.
Something compelled me to continue. “Honoré, I know we got forced into this, and we agreed we would part ways at the end, but I've got to tell you—I don't think I want to do that.”
She tilted her head, and I had no idea what she was going to say, but I couldn't stop myself.
“I want you in my life. I think I’ve fallen in love with you.”
She sat up and looked at me with those beautiful, big brown eyes and said, “I’ve fallen in love with you too. And I can't imagine my life without you in it, Leo.”
I closed my eyes so I could sit with her words in that moment.
This was it. This was the kind of love I’d been writing songs about for years.
The kind of love that up ’til now I had to experience through other people, or through movies and books.
It had finally happened to me.
Through a weird twist of fate I’d found my soulmate, and it felt amazing.
I pulled her to me and brushed my lips over hers.
She tasted delicious, and she was mine.
Neither one of us could stop smiling for the rest of the day. We lounged a lot, and at one point the crew dropped anchor so Honoré and I could do some snorkeling.
Honoré informed me that she was an experienced scuba diver, which told me I needed to up my game because I was only versed in snorkeling. I told her I’d get certified, and we started planning a diving trip for as soon as I was qualified.
But even just snorkeling was amazing. It was so fun going underwater and swimming with the different colorful fish zipping through the water. We saw a string ray gracefully flapping his big wings. Numerous schools of fish swam by, and I decided that next time I’d bring one of those underwater cameras so we could remember all the cool things we saw.
It felt awesome that there was definitely going to be a next time.
That night we decided to go ahead and eat on the yacht. They prepared us a special dinner of lobster tails with delicious vegetables. Honoré and I both switched to drinking water after the sun and day of too many umbrella-clad cocktails zapped us of our energy.
As we sat across the table from each other, I gazed at Honoré. The sun had dotted her face with a few new little freckles, and she glowed with a bit of pink. Her shoulders, and just under her cheeks, were turning red, and she looked stunning.
“You got a little sun today,” I remarked.
“Yes, you did too. Your chest was red, boy.”
“You’ll have to rub some aloe on me later,” I teased.
“I’ll be happy to.” And she would. This girl made my life so much better than it could ever be without her.
She cared for me and took care of me better than my own mother ever had. It was amazing to have someone care for me like that. “You're so good to me, Honoré.”
“You’re good to me too. I just want to make you happy.”
“You're so sweet. Hey, there is one thing that I've really been dying to do.”
“Really? What’s that?”
“Remember when we got married?”
She nodded.
“You were wearing this tiara. It was so pretty. You looked absolutely amazing in that, and it gave me an idea. Do you have one with you?”
“Like on the boat? No, but I might have one in my bags somewhere. Not like the fancy one, but I think I do have a simpler one. Your mom asked production to have me wear them on occasion to remind the audience about the whole royalty thing.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
I leaned over so that only she could hear, and I whispered roughly in her ear, “Because I'd really like you to wear it so I can fuck it right off you.”
26
Leo
The day we wrapped Honeymoon with the Royals, I was telling my assistant, Arnold, about the amazing island where Honoré and I stayed before they all got to St. Lucia.
“Weren’t you afraid that would give Lucinda evidence that you two really wanted to stay together?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you know. That clause in your contract. The one that would tie you to Lucinda.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Arnold stared at me like I had two heads. “Did you even read your contract?”
“Yeah,” I lied, trying to remember if I had actually read the last one. I knew I read the first one, even had my own attorney look at it. But Lucinda was always adding addendums for me to initial. And I might have only glanced at one before signing. Now I wanted to kick myself.
Bile rising in my throat, I managed, “Why? What are you talking about specifically?”
“There’s a clause in there that says that if you and Honoré stay together after the show, you forfeit your freedom from your contract with Lucinda’s management company.”
“What the fuck? When did that get in there?” I railed.
He shrugged. “I dunno. We thought you knew. She’s been paying people to spy on you guys to discover if there’s anything real going on between you two.”
“Unbelievable.” I sat on the nearest chair, and picked up my phone.
“What are you doing?” Arnold asked.
“Getting in touch with my lawyer.” As I scrolled through my phone, I stomped my foot and screamed, “That fucking bitch!”
A number of people around us stopped and stared at me.
Arnold waved a hand at them, like don’t mind him, and they went back to what they were doing.
A brief conversation with my lawyer confirmed what I feared. According to my contract, if Honoré and I were to stay married for longer than a month after our honeymoon was complete, my contract with Lucinda would remain in place. However, if Honoré and I divorced, I would be free as a bird—able to do whatever I wanted. Make my own decisions.
It should have been an easy decision. I should have chosen love.
But my hatred for my mother was stronger.
There was no way in hell I was going to let her win.
And if that meant hurting Honoré, cutting out my own heart, I would fucking do it.
It might kill me, but I would do it.
I wanted to go drown myself in bourbon, but Honoré was waiting for me in our room.
The next day we would be leaving St. Lucia.
And even though I’d rather stick a needle in my eye, I needed to tell Honoré that we had to separate.
My attorney assured me that we’d be able to get a divorce without much of a problem.
That would take care of the legal side of things, and I’d be free from Lucinda.
The unthinkable part was going to be losing Honoré.
I paused, my hand on the door handle outside our
room.
I hated to do this to her. To us.
Maybe it was better if I just waited until the next day to tell her.
She might throw a huge fit, throw things, scream.
I had no idea how she would react. Honoré and I had never had a big fight before. At the beginning of our relationship we bickered. We had spats, but never a huge argument.
I considered what Honoré might look like angry, and I imagined she’d be beautiful.
As much as I’d like to see her fiery side, I didn’t want it to be tonight.
Because then she wouldn’t want to sleep next to me, and tonight I needed to hear her breathing. I wanted to watch her sleep, because this would be my last chance.
Once I told her I’d chosen my freedom over her, that would be it. She’d be done with me.
I’d be shunned by her and her family. Probably the entire country. Hell, I’d probably be banned from entering Martinovia.
And I wouldn’t blame them one fucking bit.
I was a selfish bastard, and she deserved better than me.
This way she could find it.
Bitterly, I relished the fact that I would always be her first. That was the small piece of comfort I could hold on to.
My stomach tightened, and I braced myself for what lay ahead with Honoré as I passed my key card and opened the door.
There was no way it was going to be pretty.
When I entered our room, I found Honoré lying on the bed waiting for me, naked.
Her skin shimmered in the pink light of dozens of candles placed all around the suite.
She had to be the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she said, her voice thick with desire.
As much as I wanted to climb on top of her and love her until dawn, I stopped myself.
I needed to tell her we couldn’t be together anymore.
I had to break her heart, the way mine was breaking.
“Come here,” she said, holding out a hand to me.
“I can’t. I, um…”
She didn’t seem to notice my reluctance as she reached for something on the bedside table.
“I have a surprise for you,” she said, slipping a sparkly crown on top of her hair.
Aw fuuuuuck. She had on the tiara.
I pulled my shirt over my head in record time and started unbuttoning my pants.
I was going to hell, but I had to have her one last time.
27
Honoré
“Meet you upstairs,” Leo said. We’d just checked in at a hotel in L.A. after flying back from St. Lucia.
The trip had been uneventful, and I was tired and dying to get into my pajamas. Room service, maybe some binge watching—that was what was on my agenda.
“All right. See you upstairs.”
I turned to be sure he had the baggage taken care of, but before I could say a word he read my mind.
“I got the luggage. Don't worry. I'll be right up.”
We had traveled together so much that maybe it wasn't amazing that he knew exactly what I was thinking, but I liked to think that we were turning into one of those married couples who finished each other's sentences, knowing what the other wanted before they even knew it themselves.
On the way up in the elevator, I pressed the PH button and wondered if Leo and I would talk about our future tonight, or if that would wait until tomorrow when we were well-rested.
Tomorrow sounded like a better idea.
Travel always made me a bit out of sorts. I loved going to new places, but the getting there was the rough part. I was looking forward to being on terra firma for at least a week. Getting my bearings, getting back into a normal pattern of eating, sleeping, working out. Vacations were great, but this one had lasted three months, and I was ready for a vacation from my vacation.
Before the whole thing started, I had no idea how much work a reality show was.
I still needed to complete some of my confessionals, but I hoped that would be something we could wrap up this week.
If Leo was up for it, I planned to suggest we go to Martinovia for a couple of weeks. It all depended on where we eventually wanted to land.
Honestly, I was ready to live anywhere he wanted. My parents were young, and I didn't need to be the ruler of Martinovia anytime soon. In fact, I had a cousin who was dying to get his hands on the throne.
More and more I was considering abdicating and letting him have the whole shebang.
My time with Leo taught me I craved a more private life.
Being in the spotlight wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I at least needed a reprieve.
Swiping the key card, I let myself into our room.
Since I didn't have my suitcase, I stripped out of my clothes and put on one of the hotel robes. I had gotten really addicted to these things.
It wasn't long until Leo came with several bellmen and my luggage. At first, it didn't register that there was about half the number of suitcases we normally had.
Leo tipped the guys and asked me to come sit.
I expected him to come sit next to me on the couch, so when he sat in the chair across from me, his back straight, expression serious, my stomach tightened.
“Oh, Leo, why don’t you go put on one of these robes and we can relax?”
He leaned forward. “Honoré, we need to talk.”
My breath caught in my throat, and the room started to spin.
I gripped the edge of the sofa and closed my eyes to make it stop.
This was it. This was what I had been dreading for the last few months.
No, ever since the night I met Leo Barnes.
What we had together wasn't enough for me to hold on to him.
I should have known.
Hell, I did know. But I convinced myself otherwise because I wanted him so badly.
But I couldn’t will him to love me.
He was an international rock star, and even a princess couldn't tie down a man like that.
Now he was going to spell it out in words that would be like knives stabbing at my heart.
Why had I let myself believe that there could be more between us than just some arrangement on paper?
The night we met I had acted like a damn teenager. Like the cliché preacher's daughter—my first time out being corrupted by a boy.
The price I would pay wouldn’t be my reputation.
No, the price I would pay would be my heart.
I had given it to this man, and now he was giving it back.
“Are you okay?” He jumped up and got me a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. He opened it and handed it to me.
I tried to keep my voice from shaking. “Go ahead, Leo. What is it you want to tell me?”
Somehow, he could tell that I knew. Because he knelt beside me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Oh, Honoré, I'm so sorry. I do love you, but—”
I cut him off. I couldn't sit here and listen to false confessions of love. I needed a clean break.
There was no way I could sit through a tearful goodbye. That might make him feel better, but it would destroy me.
“So, this is where we part ways, is that what you're saying?”
He released me and moved back. “I guess so.”
“I get it. This is what I signed up for.”
He got up off the floor and went and sat back in the chair where he’d sat originally. “There's something you don't know. Something I didn't know until yesterday.”
“What is that?”
“Apparently there is a clause in my contract that says that if you and I were to remain married, or stay together, I will not be able to get out of my contract with my mother's management company.”
“I don't understand.”
“I'm not sure how this happened either. I did have an attorney look at the contract originally, but my mother added some things to it, and I guess I signed them without reading them carefully enough. I’m also try
ing to make sure that the attorney I was using wasn’t also working for my mother. There's no evidence of that yet, but when I spoke to the guy he said that he did not think the clause was worth mentioning because you and I had decided that we would get our marriage annulled after the show.”
“So, what are you saying? I'm not sure what this means.”
“It means that you and I can either stay together, and I have to work for my mother for the next six years, or if we break up and our marriage ends, I'm free.”
I took a sip of water. “Well, then I understand why it has to be that way.”
“I'm so sorry, Honoré. If there was anything that I could do to make this different, I would. I do love you.”
“Don’t say that.” My eyes flashed.
“I’m sorry.”
Inside I was falling apart, but I was determined to keep my composure.
There would be plenty of time for crying into my pillow later.
“Honoré, you mean so much to me. This whole experience—this marriage, the honeymoon, being with you—it has all been the best few months of my entire life. And I’ve had a pretty good life.”
Then why does it have to end, I wanted to ask, but I bit my lip.
He continued. “But I have to get Lucinda out of my life. There is no way that I can work with her ever again. She has lied to me my entire life, and look what she’s doing to me, to us, now. I want absolutely nothing to do with her, and the only way to make that happen is for us to split up. She’s a cancer, and I’ve got to cut her out, no matter the cost.”
Suddenly, my temper erupted. “Why would she put that clause in your contract? Why would she do something like that?”
“I'm telling you she's a monster. Nobody ever believes me because she looks so nice on TV. She puts on a good front, but all Lucinda cares about is Lucinda. That and being in charge of everyone and everything. She controls the purse strings, and she uses them to control every one of us. It's how she operates. And it's why I have to get the fuck away from her.”
“I see. So what will you do?”
Leo ran a hand through his hair. “I don't know. Maybe write some music, but I don't know. I don't have any plans other than getting away from my mother.”
Royal Wrecker: Barnes Family Romances Book 4 Page 14