His Undercover Princess (Tempt Me) (14 page)

The image of him bleeding all over the castle steps flashed in her mind. That was how she had always pictured him. Not the games of tag in the formal gardens or the late-night discussions about Elskovian history in the library or the songs they used to make up and sing on the way to royal appearances. She’d been so focused on the bad that she’d blocked out the good. Well, now she had a second chance with him, and she wasn’t going to lose it.

Glancing down at their intertwined hands, she swallowed past the emotion making her throat tight. “Will you stay in Elskov?”

Sadness and regret dimmed the blue of his eyes. “You know that can’t happen. In a few hours, you’ll be queen. Those loyal to the Fjende would have eaten up the sweet seventeen-year-old girl you were, but they’ve got a much stronger enemy in the woman you’ve become. You are Elskov’s best choice.” He squeezed her hand. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be part of your life. If you’ll allow it, I’d like to be as much a part of your life as I can. Believe me, if I could go back and do it differently, I would. I was so focused on my duty to Elskov that it blinded me to my duty to my daughter. It is my greatest failing. Can you ever forgive me?”

“I shouldn’t.” Her voice shook.

“I understand.” He started to get up.

She refused to let go of his hand. “But I do.”

He wrapped his arms around her, and they clung to each other as she let the tears she’d been holding back fall freely—they both did. He wasn’t perfect, but he was her father, and he’d done what he’d thought was the best thing for her and for Elskov. She couldn’t hold on to the anger that had twisted her up, not when she was making the same choice when it came to Dom.

He pulled back and wiped the tears from her cheeks before standing. “I’ll be watching the Kronig from the jet. I have to go back to Spain. If I stay here any longer, I could ruin everything for you.”

“I understand.” She stood, her legs a little wobbly but not enough to stop her from walking her father to the door.

He paused, his hand on the knob. “You’re more like your mother every day. She was strong and dedicated to Elskov, but she understood the importance of balance when it came to royal duty and love. I hope you’ll follow her example as a ruler rather than mine.”

“You mean Dom.” Her heart fluttered at the taste of his name on her lips.

Her father nodded. “He didn’t have the choice to tell you about me. No one knows what that’s like more than you. Don’t let the crown and your duty blind you like it did me. He loves you.”

“How do you know?”

Her father gave her an indulgent smile. “Don’t you?” He walked through the door, a wall of guards surrounding him and blocking him from view.

Elle closed the door and surveyed the room she’d never thought she’d occupy in a country she’d never thought she’d see again. Being queen wasn’t a choice, it was her destiny, her duty, but it wasn’t all she was. She was still Elle, and she wasn’t alone anymore. She flung open the door.

“Major Bendtsen,” she called.

He appeared immediately. “Yes, Your Royal Highness.”

“I have a mission for you.”

…

Dom glanced down at his watch. The jet should have taken off ten minutes ago. Instead it was frozen on the airstrip, and damn his mutinous heart, he was more than a little glad to still be breathing the same air as Elle, knowing that as soon as the plane took off he’d nev
er see her again.

The pilot opened the cockpit door and headed toward Dom.

“What’s the holdup?” Dom asked.

“Sir, you might want to look out the window.”

Annoyed at the cryptic response, he shoved up the shade covering the window next to his seat—a line of Humvees bearing the royal seal surrounded the jet. Fear twisted his heart in two. Elle. The Fjende. He should have stayed. He should have watched over her.

Major Bendtsen got out of one of the Humvees, a bullhorn in his hand.

“The princess requests your presence at the Kronig. She says…” Bendtsen paused, a smile curling his normally taciturn expression into one of humor. “One kidnapping deserves another.”

Chapter Sixteen

The garden was filled with Elskovian aristocracy, dripping with diamonds and the finest bespoke tailored tuxedos, drinking champagne in honor of the country’s new queen, but the one man Elle wanted to see wasn’t there. Standing on the dais, the Elskovian crown firmly atop her
newly blond hair, she listened with half an ear to a foreign diplomat paying his respects.

Murmurs of surprise lifted above the chatter, drawing her attention toward the entrance guarded by men in full royal dress uniforms of blue and silver. Thirty men and women in black fatigues walked through, looking as deadly as she knew them to be. Some she recognized from the chalet. Others had been passing figures in the crazy moments after Dom had burst into her room and killed the Hulk twins and Walther. The Resistance, her guardian angels watching over her even when she hadn’t known they’d been there.

The crowd parted for them as they made their way to the dais, a silent testament to the bravery and determination of her people. They’d fought for a decade to restore the monarchy and return her to Elskov. She owed them her loyalty and her life. Major Bendtsen stood at the head of the line, his face a neutral mask, but Dom wasn’t anywhere in the group.

Her stomach folded up inside itself. She’d been too late. He was gone.

Another rustle of chatter, then Dom walked past the royal guards and into the garden. Even though he was dressed in his personal uniform of a dark blue suit that set off the crisp blue of his eyes and his light blond hair, he couldn’t disguise the Viking warrior hidden inside. He’d fought for her. Now she’d fight for him.

As soon as he joined the other Resistance fighters in front of her, she withdrew the ceremonial sword from the silver sheath slung around her waist.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Elskov, before you stand the bravest among us. Today marks a new beginning for me as your queen and for Elskov as a country, thanks to the actions of these dedicated few who sprang into action when I was threatened.”

There was more, so much more that they’d done, but she’d agreed with the major to stick with the cover story of an assassination attempt instead of the whole truth of ten years of lies and royal impersonators. “In honor of their courage and valor, I bestow upon these citizens of Elskov the rank of silver knights. It has been centuries since our fair country has had a council of knights watching over her, and we are in good hands with these protectors.”

Starting at the opposite end from Dom, she walked down the line of Resistance fighters, tapping each on the shoulders with the sword and granting them admittance into the circle of aristocracy. When she got to the major, she paused.

“Of course, every council needs a leader. There is none I can imagine as being a better one than you, Major Bendtsen, the Earl of Moad.” The title came with a country estate north of the capital and the responsibility of being in charge of the country’s security.

Her hand shook as she lowered the sword to her side and walked the final two steps to stand in front of Dom. While the others had bowed before her, he stood tall and powerful with those thick lips that begged to be kissed, sucked, devoured, and the muscular body of a man who could stand up to any challenge and win. She could look at him all day and never grow tired. Even in front of all of these people, she couldn’t help but drink in her fill. His blue-eyed gaze clashed with hers, and he gave her a slow wink that made her thighs clench.

“Queen Eloise.” He executed a perfect bow before standing straight again. “That won’t work on me. I’m not a citizen.”

Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders. They’d had their Roman Holiday, but she wasn’t about to let him gallantly walk away like the reporter had done. This was their destiny, and together they’d seize it.

“True, but being queen has its privileges—conferring citizenship and titles being one of them. It hasn’t happened since my great-grandmother Queen Margriet bestowed the honor on the man who would later become her king.”

He raised an eyebrow, cocky as always. “And is that what you had in mind for me?”

“Yes,” she said.

“I’m afraid I cannot accept such an honor.” Dom shook his head. “That’s not the title I want.”

The world dropped from beneath her feet.

…

The crowd gasped, but Dom ignored them. They didn’t matter to him. Only Elle mattered. She was the only one who really ever had, and she looked like she was about to faint or chop off his head with the sword in her white-knuckled grip. He needed to get talking fast, or she just might pick the more
old-school route of the two choices.

“You see, I’m in love with a girl who wants me to wear casual clothes and likes to challenge my every move. She’s stubborn and impulsive and even tried to shoot me.”

Her lips twitched, and her death grip on the sword loosened and she sheathed it. “It was just the once, and you deserved it.”

Soft chuckles from the glitterati surrounded them.

“You see, I’m not in love with the queen.” He took her free hand in his, that familiar spark whenever he touched her turning his dick to stone. “I’m in love with Elle.”

Realization dawned in her eyes, and her cheeks turned that distinctive rose that was all Elle. “And she’s in love with you.”

“You always have choices, Elle, even now that you’re queen.” He dropped down to one knee not because she was his queen, but because she was the woman he loved, worshipped, and adored. “Will you, Elle, choose me, Dom, not as a member of the Resistance, but as the man you love?”

For too long his life had revolved around revenge, around keeping control. He’d had no idea it could be different, it could be more until he’d kidnapped the woman who’d turned out to be the love of his life. She’d changed everything.

“Elle, I have billions in the bank, people at my disposal, and countries I can influence, but the only title I want is husband—to be your husband. Will you marry me?”

Tears made the blue of her eyes brighter, but her smile was anything but sad. “Yes.”

Dom stood and wrapped his arms around her, aligning their bodies, and brought his mouth down to hers in a kiss that promised she’d never be alone again. It wasn’t the beginning for them. It was forever.

Epilogue

Two weeks later Major Lucas Bendtsen got out of his BMW roadster parked in front of the three-story manor house and surveyed his new home. The title of Earl of Moad had come with a country estate on one hundred acres of prime land. The manor house stood on a fjord overlooking the North Sea crashing against the ro
cks. It wasn’t the bright lights of Harbor City or the constant crush of people in London, but he could get used to it. After growing up on the streets of the capital and doing whatever it took to survive, he’d learned the hard way that he could get used to anything and rise above it. The millions in his bank account proved that.

A gentleman spymaster, that’s what the addict’s son had grown into, with a country house and a title. An aristocrat. His mother would have died of surprise if the needle hadn’t gotten to her already.

His phone vibrated in his suit pocket, a reminder that while he might be lord of the manor, he was also the head of Elskov’s silver knights, an elite intelligence and fighting arm answerable only to the queen herself.

He took out his cell and glanced at the caller ID. It was the agent heading up Operation Family Jewels. Whoever had picked that name deserved a kick in his.

Lucas pressed the talk button. “Yes.”

“Sir, we have her. She’s on her way to you now.”

Adrenaline spiked in his system, and he began pacing in front of the manor house. “Does she know why?”

“Negative. She thinks you are interested in having her design a jeweled family crest befitting of your new station in life.”

God. That made him sound like a total knob. People actually did that? He shook his head. “And the brother?”

“He’s in custody.”

“Good. Don’t let him go.” The scumbag deserved a nice long stay behind bars for bringing two kilos of cocaine into Elskov, but the asshole was still useful, so instead he was sitting in comfort in a safe house on the isolated south shore. “He’s our best leverage to get her to do what we need.”

“Are you sure this is the best plan? There are risks in blackmailing the daughter of one of Europe’s most notorious crime bosses with a side business as an arms dealer.”

Lucas stopped in his tracks. This wasn’t the best plan. It was the only plan. They had one shot, and he wasn’t about to let the sexy little jewelry designer get away without agreeing to his terms. The number of men who ended up the victims of jewel theft, murdered during a robbery, or never heard from again after tangling with the mobster’s daughter was in dispute, but fifty was probably in the conservative range of possibility. The only question was did the bombshell lure the men into her father’s web or do the dirty deeds herself?

“You’ve read the same reports as I have,” he said, not bothering to keep the icy clip out of his voice. “Walther Henriksen’s son came out of hiding just long enough to put the word out that he wants to buy enough weapons to take over a small country. Three guesses about which country that is. Forcing Ruby MacIntosh to be our mole in her father’s operation means we can stop an attack before it happens.”

“Just be sure you don’t fall under her spell. She has a reputation.”

“So do I.” He grinned. If the man on the other end of the phone could have seen it, he would have taken three steps back. “Be at my office at six tomorrow morning for a briefing. This operation is a go.”

Lucas hung up the phone and turned toward the mile-long driveway. Ruby MacIntosh would arrive within minutes, and then, one way or another, her life would change forever. He’d see to it.

Did you love this Indulgence? Check out more of our category romance titles
here
!

And for exclusive sneak peeks at our upcoming books, excerpts, contests, chats with our authors and editors, and more…

Sign up for our
Newsletter

Be sure to like us on
Facebook

Follow us on
Twitter