ANDI sometimes wondered why she couldn’t just throw caution to the wind when it came to her emotions. Especially when she was so good at doing it with her life. After all, she’d chucked it all and gone off traveling, no safety net. Why did this thing with Zander feel so different? It was just a new adventure on an uncharted course. She could’ve done it had she given herself enough credit. More like had she given Zander more credit to protect her from the anxious moments that inevitably accompany a royal assignation.
Pippa had given her plenty of opportunity to come back for the wedding, even to surprise Zander, which would have been the best thing she could have done, but she hadn’t been able to pull the trigger. What the hell? How stupid was that?
And yet here she sat, wishing deep down that she were there with Zander, able to share his happiness. Instead, she was sitting in a room with the barest of essentials, a naked lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, a few dozen flies dive-bombing her head, and a hole in the ground that served as an outdoor toilet ten feet away from her room was the biggest luxury she had going.
The time had come: now or never was upon her.
She picked up her phone and called the airport to see if there was any way she could get herself to Monaforte in time for the wedding at this point. She had no idea how she was going to pay for a plane ticket—or a hotel, for that matter; she wasn’t about to bother Pippa at this point. She figured this was what emergency credit cards were made for. And maybe she could still find a place to sleep in Monaforte. Surely the royal wedding guests wouldn’t be roughing it in a backpacker’s hostel.
She threw her things into her backpack, bade a teary yet hasty farewell to Josiah and the rest of the children, and was en route to the airport in Nairobi in a matter of hours.
~*~
This trip, instead of the train station, she arrived at the most posh Monaforte Royal Airport, which in itself could have been mistaken for a national museum it was so opulent. Going in style this time, she thought. When she got a shuttle to Porto Castello and found her hostel, it was well after midnight. She was completely exhausted after so many hours of traveling, so she laid her head on her flimsy hostel pillow, closed her eyes, and passed right out.
She heard from others the next morning that she’d need to get situated along the viewing area immediately if she wanted to be able to see the wedding parade pass by following the official ceremony, which meant many hours waiting curbside. She put on her pack, grabbed a pastry, a sandwich, and a liter of water from a nearby shop, and found a spot along the route from which she’d hoped she could see Zander pass by.
She’d nearly finished half her book by the time the church bells began to peal, announcing that the royal marriage had been consecrated. By then the crowd had swollen, and all stood up, many proudly waving the flag of Monaforte. Andi hadn’t even thought to get one. In fact, she had no idea how she’d attract Zander’s attention in the throng. If she ran up to him, maybe she’d get tackled by Monaforte’s version of the Secret Service.
The crowd grew louder as the parade of pomp and circumstance commenced, and everywhere people tossed flower petals and confetti each time anyone of some import passed by. The parade included many horses, their manes braided and flower garlands draped over their necks, and honor guards and color guards carrying the official flag.
Soon the extended family paraded by, first with young children who must have been distant relatives, and then the king and queen. Then Andi finally spotted him: a few hundred feet away from her strolled Zander, so handsome in his dress blues. For once he was clean-shaven, and he’d even trimmed his hair for the occasion. The blue of his uniform highlighted the deep sapphire of his eyes, and he simply stole her breath away. He’d lifted up one of the little boys in the parade and was dangling him upside down to the delight of the crowd, though not so much his mother, who kept motioning for Zander to put him down. But it gave Andi an idea.
A sweet little girl of about three with soft white fairy-floss hair paraded by, as angelic a child as could be. Atop her head she wore a halo of flowers and ribbons that draped down the back of her embroidered white organza flower girl dress. She was so perfectly precious Andi almost hated to use her to get to Zander. Nevertheless, she shouted out for her.
She cupped her hands around her mouth to try to amplify her voice against the noise. “Can you get your cousin Zander? Tell him a very mean girl wants to talk to him.”
The girl scrunched her brow in concern, and soon her face took on a look of stranger danger as she ran off toward Zander, just as Andi had hoped. The child reached her cousin, who was picking up lots of children in the group, and tugged at his pants, trying to get his attention. Finally he looked down and reached for the girl and pulled her up for a kiss on her cheek.
The girl pulled his head toward her and, cupping her hands over his ear, whispered something to Zander, then pointed toward Andi.
Zander squinted in her direction, trying to discern what the child meant, then his eyes widened. As he lowered the little girl to the ground, he grabbed her hand and they both ran toward Andi, the girl giggling with delight.
Just as Zander got near to Andi, a policeman in full dress regalia came by and ordered the crowd back, which pushed her farther from Zander. But Zander overruled him, forcing himself past the policeman and toward his destination.
Andi wanted to run up to him but was afraid there might be secret service snipers at the ready, so she let Zander come to her. It wasn’t exactly fair under the circumstances, but it was all she could do.
~*~
Zander stopped for a minute and stooped down to eye level with the child. He motioned toward his sister Isabella and told the girl to run to her. He wanted no distractions. And then he was there—first clasping hands face-to-face with Andi, just staring at her, then lifting her up off her feet in a giant bear hug, then planting a kiss on her mouth that seemed to last forever as crowds gathered around and cheered and tossed flower petals and confetti at them.
Andi looked with appraising eyes at the saber hanging from Zander’s uniform. “Is that a royal weapon or are you just happy to see me?”
“Perhaps a little of both,” Zander said as he continued to stare into her eyes, a wide grin spread across his face. “My God, you’re a sight for sore eyes. I can’t really believe you’re actually here.” He pinched her cheek, just to be sure.
“What are you doing?” Andi said.
“Making sure it’s you and not a dream,” he said, winking at her.
They held hands, facing each other, and he kept squeezing her hands as if to keep her from slipping away into the crowd.
“How did you end up here?” Zander asked.
Andi shook her head. “I was being so pigheaded, Z,” she said. “Instead of following my heart, I was following my stubborn head, which I should have known was a bad plan. I guess I got so spooked with everything. We went from being in a little bubble to having photographers hunting me down at dinner in about five hours’ time. It frightened me. I didn’t think I could be that person for you. I didn’t think I was brave enough to even deal with it, to be honest.
“But I learned so much when I was gone. Not the least of which was that you’re the prince in the Prince’s Trust.”
Zander nodded. “Yeah. So? I could’ve told you that.”
Andy cringed. “But I didn’t give you the credit for being that person. I assumed it was your brother who was performing all those philanthropic acts. Not only did I assume that, but I hadn’t a clue that you actually got your hands dirty with the many organizations you sponsor. I had a little talk with Josiah. He set me straight.”
Zander beamed. “My little man, J. How’s he doing?”
“Amazing, thanks to you,” Andi said. “He’s thriving now, he’s with his family, and he goes to school, and he’s healthy and happy. Zander, I’m sorry I didn’t think that you were somber enough to be that man. I figured since you were the one who horses around and strips naked in public swimming pools that you didn’t have a serious bone in your body. Obviously I was a complete and total fool. Because right here in front of me is this complicated man, this person who has great goals to help those less fortunate, who also happily leaps from airplanes and shows the world his birthday suit. Not at the same time, mind you.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Zander said. “Might be sort of fun to skydive naked. Though you’d have to ace the landing or you’d be in trouble.”
Andi laughed, but then she looked over and saw that the parade had passed him by, and even the royal newlyweds, the last of the entourage, were well on their way to the palace. “Oh Zander, you’d better catch up to your family. You need to get to the reception.”
Zander frowned. “You were to be my date for this thing, but you’re hardly dressed appropriately,” he said, scratching his chin, thinking of options, then raising a finger. “But I have an idea. Come on!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the parade, she in her blue jeans and backpack, he in his dress blues with that sword dangling between them as they ran.
The wedding procession arrived at the two very tall palace gates, each bearing an enormous crest in gold leaf, featuring images of dueling griffins. They continued up the pebbled drive to the front of the palace. Andi could only stand for a moment, breathless and awestruck.
Royal guards stood on either side of a grand marble staircase, their long red coats and sky-high beaver-fur hats so regal.
The bride and groom were now ascending the steps, he holding her arm while a team of servants spread her spectacular twenty-foot train as she mounted the steps. Andi could barely believe she was witnessing this. In patched-up jeans and lugging a backpack.
Zander pulled Andi in a different direction. “I’ve got a side entrance we can use to get past and avoid all this.”
They ran down what seemed an alleyway but was simply an alcove where Zander opened another door.
“Servants’ entrance,” he said with a smile. “It’s how I’d try to sneak out when I was little.”
“Oh, I bet that worked well for you. No one would notice you missing or anything.”
Zander shrugged. “I was young and impetuous.”
“Aren’t you still?”
“Maybe I am, doing this with you,” he said, kissing the top of her hand.
They climbed a back staircase and came upon a long hallway with royal-blue carpet with gold fleurs-de-lis woven into it. Flanking either side were walls filled with old oil paintings. Corners housed suits of armor and busts of long-dead ancestors atop pedestals.
“This is like your very own museum,” Andi said, awestruck.
“Or my home,” Zander said.
“I’m never showing you my home.”
“But I bet your mother will.”
“You’ve been talking to her again?”
“Peggy and I are tight,” Zander said, holding up his hand and crossing his pointer and middle fingers.
Andi rolled her eyes. “I don’t even think I want to know.”
“Your mama loves me. I made sure of it. Come along, we’ve got to hurry.”
Soon they turned a corner, and he opened a pair of double doors into what Zander called his apartment but looked more like a penthouse. The main room was surrounded by walls of glass so he could see everything going on outside the palace, and even over the palace walls into the city.
He barely gave her a chance to see the place though as he tugged her back into his bedroom, a large, warm space with a sofa in Burberry plaid and coordinating black and red chairs in front of them. And then he could wait no more.
“Come here,” he said, relieving her of her cumbersome backpack, tossing it aside, then unbuttoning her jeans and pulling them off in record time. He tugged at her shirt while he lowered his mouth to hers, unwilling to surface for air as he moved his mouth to her neck. “God, I want to bite your neck. I need you so badly, but I don’t want to bring you to the wedding with a huge mark on your throat.”
Andi ran her hands over his face. “At least you’re clean-shaven so I won’t show up with a razor-burned face.”
Her hands scrabbled all over his body as they both gasped for air, and he pressed her back against the wall. In one move he dropped his sword, unzipped his pants, and lifted her up so that her legs wrapped around his waist.
“God, I love a man in uniform,” Andi said between gasping breaths. “Better yet, a man out of uniform.” She grabbed him and eased him into her, where for a few long seconds they remained, unmoving but for Zander licking and sucking on her breasts. But then he began to pulse in and out of her, holding tight to her bottom while pushing her to the wall as her hands raced up and down his back and they practically devoured each other’s mouths.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he said to her between frenzied kisses.
“What?”
“Leave me,” he said. “My heart can’t take it. I’ve been a wreck without you here.”
Andi nodded despite being caught up in the moment. “I’ve hated being away from you. It’s like my life went from color to black-and-white even though I was in a place I normally love. But I think I’d love it more if I were sharing it with you.”
“We’ll talk later,” Zander said, “But for now, I need to focus on you and me, here and now.”
With that he thrust hard into her, once, twice, and the third time he released into her as she followed him over the edge with a loud sigh.
They stood in silence, savoring the moment. Until Zander realized the time.
“Quick,” he said, tugging up her pants and taking her into his large walk-in wardrobe. “Your dress is here.” He pointed to where it hung from the wall, obscuring the mounted mirror. “Your shoes are in the bag over here.”
“Pippa brought them to you?”
“She wanted them to go to the rightful owner,” he said.
“Pippa knows best.”
“Certainly about us. Now scooch,” he said, swatting her butt. “Before I take you again, this time on my bed. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for. But right now my mother is going to kill me for being missing in action.”
“Oh God. I definitely don’t want to be responsible for anything that will make your mother angry.”
Zander leaned over and kissed Andi on her nose. “My mother will love you.”