His Forbidden Princess (10 page)

Ian didn’t know what to think about his uncle leaving. Either the man was relieved that he wasn’t the only one capable of holding down the fort, or he wanted to leave Ian and Sofie alone to see what would happen.

It wouldn’t matter. The pull toward Sofie might be close to irresistible, but as he kept reminding himself, they didn’t have a future together. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.

Entering the house with the rest of the groceries, he found her leaning on the kitchen counter, biting her thumbnail while watching the small TV in the kitchen. She’d tuned it to a local news program that was giving information about the storm and he could see from her stiff back and the furrow between her brows, that she was worried.

“If you don’t stop chewing that finger, there won’t be anything left,” he quipped.

“Sorry. I’m nervous.”

It’s going to be okay. If I didn’t think you’d be safe here, I’d move you.”

“I know that, but this is new for me,” she said softly. “And everyone is making such a fuss.”

“If they didn’t make a fuss, no one would watch TV.”

“I suppose.” Sofie flipped off the television and stood upright. “What’s in the box?”

She didn’t miss a thing. He’d placed the box with the secure phone on the top of one of the grocery bags, and she’d spotted it immediately.

“Something that should make you happy.” He had a small pen knife on his key chain and slit the top of the box. Sure enough, he pulled out what looked like a plain black cell phone.

“Oh,” she said softly. “Does this mean I can call my family?”

“Let me see.” He powered up, and once it connected he smiled at her. “Want to give them a call?”

She nodded, her eyes filling with tears. He knew it would be emotional for her, but seeing the combination of relief and apprehension on her face affected him as well. He pressed a few buttons and let the phone connect. Her father answered almost immediately. “Sofie?”

“No, sir. It’s Ian Stuart. The princess is right here. Let me give her the phone.”

Sofie lunged at the phone, grabbing it from Ian’s hand. “Papa? Oh, Papa.”

The tears fell and as much as Ian’s instinct was to comfort her, he left the room so she could speak privately with her family. He didn’t know what they would tell her, if there would be many details, but he knew this was going to be emotional for her.

Emotional Sofie
. Ian was glad she had the chance to talk to her family, if only to ease her mind, but he wondered what he was in for when she found everything he hadn’t been telling her.

“I’m so happy to talk to you, my darling girl. You’re well?”

“Yes, everything is fine. Ian has made sure I’m in a very safe place.”

“He told me. It sounds perfect. I’m very grateful to him.” Sofie couldn’t tell her father that being with Ian was both a burden and a gift at the same time.

“It’s lovely, too. But we’re waiting for a storm to pass now. It’s expected late tomorrow and will be over by the next morning.”

“How bad a storm?” Her father wanted to know.

“He said the island has seen worse.”

“Alright, but if you feel the least bit worried, you call and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

“Thank you, Papa.” There wasn’t anything he could do from another continent, but she appreciated his protectiveness. For as hard as her mother was, her father was a warm, sweet man. “How are you and Mama? And Anna? Is she recovering?”

“Your mother and I are fine. Anna is doing much better. She’s awake, alert, and eating.

We are still making her rest, but she will recover fully.”

“Where are you? I mean is the country safe?”

There was silence on the line. At first she thought she’d been disconnected because it went on longer than the usual pregnant pause. “Papa?”

“We’ve left the country. We’re in hiding and there’s a real possibility we won’t be returning until this is all sorted out.”

Words failed her for a moment. “I see. I’m glad you’re all safe. But, Papa…” Now she was the one who went quiet. How did she ask a question for which she really didn’t want the answer? “Will you be able to return?”

Her father drew a long, shaky breath. “I don’t know. Your mother is distraught. She has no idea why Parliament is not moving to support the monarchy. It makes no sense. The citizens do not want us to leave.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Her family had no home. No country.

“There’s nothing to say. We will still be able to live. We have means. We have family in other parts of the world. There are people in more dire straits.”

“Of course. You’re right, of course.”

“I am glad,” he began and then stopped. “I am glad Ian was there to keep you safe.”

And that was the other question that had been running around in her head. How did he know that Ian would be in the position to protect her? “How did you know about that? That he worked for the government. I would have thought you wanted that part of my life erased.”

He chuckled. “My dear, you are under the impression that we didn’t like the young man.

That’s not true. Just because you couldn’t be with him because of your station, doesn’t mean we thought he was unworthy. The two are very different.”

“I see.” The lecture her mother had given her in the car after they left Ian’s flat that morning was exactly the opposite. Her mother chided her for ruining herself. That she may not be able to marry because she’d given up her virginity. Even when she was twenty-one, her mother had been trying to make a suitable match. It still hadn’t happened.

The sexual revolution and gender equality had missed many European royals. The men

still wanted virgin brides.

“I’d been keeping tabs on Mister Stuart. I knew he was part of their law enforcement community and that he was heading up your protection detail while in the United States. When you were in danger, I called upon him.”

“I wish you hadn’t done that, Papa. Putting Ian in this position—it hardly seems right after the way I hurt him.”

“What do you think I asked of him?” Her father inquired. “I went to him for advice. He volunteered to look after you the minute I got him on the phone. I said it might not be the best idea, that I wanted you to come home, but once he shared some of their intelligence, I knew you would be safer in the US.”

“He volunteered?” He hadn’t told her that. “I didn’t know…”

“He didn’t want you to know, but I told him I wasn’t about to keep you in the dark. I’ll be honest; I felt better knowing he’d be with you. The connection you to have to one another has to be driving him. If it keeps you safe, that’s all that concerns me.”

“He’s been very kind. He’s also been insufferable, but mostly kind.”

“He knows what’s at stake, Sofie.”

Damn, Ian. Why did you have to do this? Someone else—anyone else—could have

protected me. I could have gone home…

“I know what you’re thinking, Sofia. You couldn’t have come home. We were on our

way out of the country in twelve hours. There was no home to go to.”

No home to go to…
The words echoed in her head.

“Oh, my God, Papa. What’s going to happen?”

He paused again. “I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

Silence dropped between her and her father as the gravity of the situation consumed her.

There was nothing left to say.

“Please give my love to Anna and Mama. I will call again soon.”

“Yes,” her father said sweetly. “Soon. Stay safe during this storm. I will be anxious to hear about it.”

“Good-bye, Papa.”

Once the call ended, Sofie placed the phone gently on the kitchen table. Ian insisted he be the one to protect her. He discouraged her father from letting her go home.

She didn’t know if she should throttle the man or kiss him senseless.

Sofie ran her hand across her chest. The ache for him was so very real. It had never completely gone away, but it had been quieter when they were apart. Now, though? Since they’d been thrown together? She wanted him so badly.

Her heart called for him. It always had. From the first moment she met him in the offices on campus. It was always Ian, with his soul deep, dark eyes, his blazing intelligence, and his sweet smile.

Sofie had been miserable without him. She’d functioned. She’d had a life, such as it was, but she’d never been able to
feel
the way she had with Ian. Her brother had been angry with her for a very long time, constantly chiding her for being flat and uncaring toward their mother, but it was hard to be happy about anything.

Anna would crawl into her bed at night, holding Sofie while she cried for the man she’d lost. Her sister was the only one who had openly comforted her. Her father was kind to a fault, but he didn’t know what to do for her.

Now after working so hard to stop missing him, Ian threw himself back into her life and more than likely setting her on the path to missing him once again.

Throttling was definitely looking like a good idea. Thinking about what she should say to him, she heard voices in the front hall and then, John called her name.

“Sofie? Want to say goodbye to the old man.”

Goodbye? She walked through the house, leaving the phone in the kitchen and saw John, duffle bag slung over his back, hugging his nephew. He was leaving, now? “Make sure the homestead is still in one piece when I get back.”

Ian slapped Uncle John on the back. “I will. It’s going to be fine. You be careful. Make sure you take breaks, old man.”

John turned and reached out to Sofie. “Come here, Princess.” Sofie walked into his arms and was crushed by his powerful hug but it felt warm, and good…like she was family.

She loved that.

“Don’t be too tough on him, okay?” he whispered in her ear. “He loves you. That’s all that really matters and don’t forget it.

Glancing over at Ian and then back at his uncle, she kissed the elder Stuart on the cheek.

“I’ll remember,” she whispered back. “Be careful, and do as Ian says and don’t drive tired.”

“For you, I’ll take several breaks, okay?”

They walked out the door with John and watched and waved as he put his duffle in the backseat and pulled out of the driveway.

That left Sofie and Ian to deal with the next two days of being together without Ian’s uncle as a buffer. Depending on what she wanted, that could be a good thing, or a very bad one.

The problem was, Sofie wasn’t sure herself.

Ian awoke before the sun and as he lay in his bed, with a hard-on raging, he thought about the woman in the next room whom he’d just dreamed about. It shouldn’t be a surprise—he dreamed about Sofie pretty much every night.

She’d barely said anything after she spoke to her father. He’d learned that her sister was recovering, but that was pretty much it. If she’d been told anything about the fate of her family in Aubonne, she was keeping it to herself. And if that was the case, it meant one thing.

She was pissed at him.

Really pissed.

He got out of bed and contemplated a cold shower, but instead went to the window and looked out toward the bay. The waves were kicking up a little, even though the storm was still hundreds of miles away, but in the grey light he saw Sofie sitting in the lawn, with her back against a tree, facing east.

She might have been waiting for the sunrise, but Ian didn’t think so. He grabbed a hoodie from his bag and pulled it over his head as he trotted down the stairs and out to her.

The grass was dewy and there was still a chill in the air, and he worried about Sofie, sitting outside in wet grass in what appeared to be her pajamas.

Her hair was pulled back in a clip, and she was staring out at the horizon. Her pink t-shirt and pajama pants were too thin—so that, along with being wet—and she was shivering. “I don’t know where they are,” she finally said. “He didn’t tell me. Just that they are all together. I’m assuming they aren’t in Aubonne anymore.”

“I don’t think they are,” Ian replied.

“He didn’t tell me much. My sister’s going to be okay, so that’s good news.”

Easing himself onto the lawn near her, but not too close, the droplets on the grass immediately soaked through his sweats. He wanted so badly to get Sofie inside, but he sensed how much she needed to talk. So, he was going to let her, and they’d dry off later.

“I know you were worried about her. I’m glad to hear it.”

“Did you know that, Ian? About my sister?”

“I hadn’t been given that information, no.” That was the truth. Anna’s condition was well-guarded. Everything about the royal family was now highly restricted. The only information he’d had access to directly affected Sofie.

“Did you know that my family will probably never be able to go home again?”

He didn’t say anything. How could he tell her that had been made aware of the situation before they left two days ago?

He thought about that. Two days. If felt like a lifetime had happened in forty eight hours.

“You aren’t saying anything so I’m guessing you know the truth, then. I am officially homeless, and jobless.”

“Sofie…” He didn’t know how to comfort her. There was nothing fair or right about what was happening.

She was calm. So calm it worried him a little. “I don’t know where my family is. I’m in a strange country. And now I have no home.” She wiped at her eyes, before turning her head to him. “Am I still a target for the terrorists?”

He nodded. “We believe so, yes.”

“Okay. There’s that, too. I mean just to round it out.”

“It’s all going to sort itself out. The terrorists are not going to get away with this.”

“Maybe not, in the long run,” she said. “But my country is so tiny, Ian, and they have no stomach for violence. They’re going to want to save lives, and I can’t blame them.”

Everything he was hearing made sense. She’d thought about it, and with that big,

wonderful brain of hers, knew the safest course of action. He didn’t agree with it and wished he could help her fight.

“I just don’t know what that means for us. Will we be in hiding forever? Are we always going to be at risk, even when the new ruler is in place?”