A Prince For Sophie (2 page)

“If you will excuse me, Your Highness, I’m being negligent in my duties as bridal attendant. I need to go see to them now.”

The sudden retreat took him by surprise. Still, she’d held on to her poise, despite her extreme irritation with him. Rather than an ice princess, Sophie de la Croix appeared to be a woman of deep passion.

He suddenly was quite intent on tasting the lovely Princess Sophie. The sooner, the better.

* * * *

The nerve of that man!
Sophie stalked over to stand beside her sister, Rachel, joining the circle that surrounded the bride-to-be, Catharine.

She tried to focus her attention on female conversation, but was still simmering from her encounter with Stephan
Benet
. She had heard vague rumors about his wastrel life style. She would
die
before she admitted to anyone that she’d seen his exploits reported in various European newspapers. They called him the playboy prince, and from what she had read, the man must have the stamina of a bull and a revolving door on his bedroom.

That thought exploded into full-blown, colorful images, and Sophie felt her face heating in shame. She needed to close Stephan out of her thoughts immediately. Besides, he had only flirted with her because she was the sole unattached female of legal age in the vicinity.

She turned her attention back to the important business at hand. The day after tomorrow, her younger brother was going to be married.

This was, she mused, the largest collection of women she’d ever been a part of. The amazing thing was that she
did
feel as if she belonged. She already loved her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Catharine was warm and loving, a good mother, and a welcome addition to the family. She had only just met Catharine’s sister-in-law, Pam, two days before when the rest of the Jones family had arrived. She liked them all. They would be doubly related since Sophie’s sister Rachel was going to marry Peter, Catharine’s brother and their own security chief, and if that wasn’t a perfect match, she didn’t know what was.

If she hadn’t determined years before that there would be no husband or children for her, she could almost be jealous of her siblings’ good fortune.

“No, really, Alex told mom she couldn’t leave the country unless she agreed to marry him!”

“They are so much in love,” Rachel added to Catharine’s summation. “It hurts my heart to see them not speaking.”

“Oh, my goodness.” Pamela turned so that she automatically included Sophie in the circle. Nurturing, caring and inclusion seemed to be second nature to these new relatives. Sophie gave her a smile she knew looked timid. She couldn’t help it. She’d been painfully uncomfortable with new acquaintances for as long as she could remember.

“I have never seen Papa as happy as he has been since meeting your mother-in-law,” Sophie added. “We can only hope they resolve this difficulty between them, soon.”

At just that moment, Hannah, with a hand held each by Jamie, Catharine’s son and Michelle, Pam’s daughter, came into the chapel. Sophie nearly laughed, because Catharine and Pam immediately looked guilty, and turned so that Hannah could not see their faces.

“So,” Catharine said brightly to Sophie. “I noticed the newly arrived heartthrob seemed quite taken with you.”

Sophie had to struggle not to let her discomfort show. She was very fond of Catharine, but the woman was far more frank in her conversation that she was used to. “I think he was taken with the fact that I am of the female persuasion,” she said, unable to stop her blush.

“Hmm, it would seem, from that color on your face, that you noticed he was of the
male
persuasion,” Catharine teased.

“Not at all. I actually found him rude and forward.”

She was saved from further potential embarrassment by the arrival of her father and Archbishop Drapeau, who would perform the marriage ceremony.

Sophie paid attention to the cleric as he gave a small homily about the importance of family in these modern times. She smiled when he frowned at Philip and told him in no uncertain terms that he was to ensure that Catharine visited her family overseas on a regular basis.

“A matter I wanted to broach. It would be fitting if the wedding ceremony was performed in both French and English. Will this be a problem, madame?” he asked Hannah.

“Heavens, no. We’re Canadian. We’re used to that.”

“Wonderful. Now, who is escorting the bride? I hesitate to say ‘give away the bride’ because so many of today’s brides are quite insistent that they are not property to be bestowed.”

Sophie laughed with everyone else, even as Craig, Catharine’s oldest brother, raised his hand.

“Now you sir, preceded by these lovely ladies, will come down the aisle and stop here, by the first pew. Not the lovely ladies, just you and the bride. Here,
maman
will kiss the bride’s cheek, as will His Majesty. Then sir, once you have placed your sister’s hand upon his royal highness’, you will be seated. Your Majesty, Madam Jones, you will come out from your seats, and each stand here, about four paces behind your individual child. Before the vows, you will walk together to light the candle, which is a symbol of the blending of two into one. Now, if the attendants will please line up, in order, we shall go over the ceremony.”

Sophie didn’t realize what had happened until Archbishop
Drapeau
beamed at them, his hands spread wide, telling them how wonderful they looked.

Catharine and Philip had chosen to have as simple a wedding as possible. In the annals of royal weddings, Sophie knew it would likely win the prize as being the smallest. There were only two attendants on each side, not counting the ring bearer and flower girl. Rachel, as maid of honor, would be escorted from the church, to the limousine, then from the car to the palace, and out onto the balcony by Peter, whom Philip had chosen as best man. That was sweet, all things considered. But it left Sophie with the realization of a harsh reality.

She looked over just in time to intercept a smug smile and cheeky wink.
Wonderful
. Her escort for the proceedings would be the Crown Prince of Montgermane.

Alex could see Hannah just out of the corner of his eye.

It had been too many days since he’d held her, too many nights since she’d shared his bed. He ached for her the way he imagined a man might ache for an arm or leg that had been severed.

They had both lost their tempers, both said things they never should have said. He’d never been in this position before, and he didn’t know how to take them back to where he wanted them to be. He regretted the rift between them, but not his proposal. And it shamed him, while he stood in this house of God, to admit that a part of him, a prideful part, was
damned
if he would be the one to apologize, or relent.

Last time he had, for he had clearly been at fault.

But this time, he could not see how wanting to marry the woman he loved put him in the wrong.

He directed his attention to the matter at hand as the archbishop began to outline the wedding ceremony to be performed the day after tomorrow.

“I’ll give a brief homily as to the purpose of marriage in these modern times. Under the circumstances, I think I can get away with talking about God’s will bringing two souls from different continents and different walks of life together. After all, half a world separated you, and yet here you are, perfectly suited, each half of one whole. How special is it that of all the people in the world, you found each other? There can be no doubt that you were meant to be together.”

Alex couldn’t prevent his gaze from going to Hannah. He knew the archbishop was speaking of the children, but the man’s words could so easily apply to Hannah and himself, as well.

As he watched, she returned his gaze. Only a few feet separated them, so he could see the emotion etched on her face and swimming in her eyes. Longing and regret, love and pain.

Perhaps some of the responsibility for the mess they were in
was
his, after all. He’d known all along that Hannah simply hadn’t been thinking in terms of forever. Knowing her and loving her, he knew her expectations had nothing to do with what lay between them, and everything to do with a previous marriage in which she had been denied the simplest desire, the most basic need. Her life before they met had taught her not to reach out, or expect anything more than what was at hand. This was why she thought she wasn’t ‘queen material’, as she’d said. He’d understood she believed they were only having an affair. He’d allowed her to go on thinking so, even when he had plans, hoping that time would be his ally and she would see how they were meant to be together.

My God, I can’t do without her
.

“Does anyone have any questions?”

Alex had dozens, but not for the archbishop. He turned to Hannah, not sure what he would say to her, but knowing he needed to say something.

The expression in her eyes held him back. Looking around, he understood. Here and now belonged to Catharine and Philip. He nodded, ever so slightly. Her smile warmed him. He watched her as she moved off to give her daughter a hug. They would all be returning to the palace for dinner.

Perhaps there would be time, after, to speak privately with her.

* * * *

Hannah’s heart proved to be divided.

It was filled with joy, surrounded as she was by all of her family, seeing the happiness in her daughter’s eyes. It was also broken into tiny pieces, being so close to Alex and yet so very far away from him.

How could something that had felt so right suddenly have gone so wrong?

In one corner of the family salon, Michael, Craig and Peter were having an in-depth conversation. Seeing her two sons together after so many years of separation warmed her down to her soul.

“You look misty.”

She turned to her daughter-in-law, Pam.

“I am. Just looking at my boys.”

“Craig was ecstatic when he heard you’d found Peter. Then he wanted to wring his brother’s neck.”

Hannah laughed. “He wasn’t the only one. Catharine nearly let her long-lost brother have it for being so long-lost. Jamie came to his new uncle’s rescue.”

Dinner was announced, and she entered the solarium with her family, listening to the banter between the siblings—the Jones siblings and the de la Croix ones—pleased to be part of it all, yet feeling separate. Alex, she noted, was also quiet. A tension hummed between them, growing more taut with each passing hour.

When Stephan proposed a toast to the bride-to-be, Catharine and Philip exchanged a look so tender it brought a lump to her throat.

As soon as she could, when the dinner was over, she excused herself. Merriment filled the air and she wanted to cry. There was no way she would do anything to dampen anyone’s celebration. Catharine deserved every drop of happiness and Hannah would in no way detract from that. She needed the air, the evening breeze from the ocean, the soft beat of waves, and the warmth of sand under her feet. She needed for there to be no walls around her, and no people near her.

The night opened its arms and took her in, surrounding her in a cloak of soulful darkness and the sounds of silence. The air was fresh and alive, and Hannah knew she’d made the right choice. It didn’t matter that tears tracked down her cheeks, here. Within the sanctuary of the night she was free to just
be
, and to feel. She made her way to the back of the grounds, and the stairs that led to the beach.

Her eyes had adjusted, and she could see there were several chaises stretched out over the sand, waiting. She nearly sat, but then, kicking off her shoes, walked to the edge of the water instead. The gentle waves lapped over her toes, a constant rhythm like a heartbeat, calming and soothing her.

The echoes of the scene in the Chapel rolled through her. While she knew the priest had been instructing Catharine and Philip when he’d spoken of destiny, he could just as well have been speaking to Alex and her.

As if pulled by an unseen force, she had turned to him in that moment, and the power of the emotions she’d felt from him had left her shaken.

The one thing she had no doubt about was that he loved her. He loved her more deeply and completely than she had ever dreamed of being loved.

She loved him, too. And as the day approached when she would have to get on a plane and return to her home, the reality of that move—the finality of it—was eating at her soul.

She knew she
could
live the rest of her life without him. But that life would have no joy in it.

A joyless existence is what she’d had all of the forty-eight years she’d been on this earth before coming to this almost magical kingdom. Was that the future she wanted?

A soft sound alerted her. Not unlike that first time, sensing she was no longer alone, she turned her head slightly. Her heart pounded just as hard in her chest as it had those few weeks ago. The only difference was she knew the whole of the man now, the strength and the heart of him. Her body craved, and her soul languished.

* * * *

She seemed more a goddess to him at this moment than she had that first time he’d encountered her on a lonely stretch of beach. For now he knew her heart and her soul. Now her body was as familiar to him as his own, and oh, how the flavor of her had invaded him completely.

He had told her their affair was over unless or until she agreed to marry him. But under the cover of darkness, here on this beach, how could he not go to her? How could he not touch her?

Words, he knew, would only complicate what their bodies deemed so simple and so true. They didn’t, either of them, need more words.

They needed each other.