Chapter Five

Elias didn’t pace.

He’d learned to march in his Navy training, and learned to be preternaturally still as part of his bodyguard training. Pacing, however, was frowned on by both sectors. So he stood, hands behind his back, a full three, “I’m not at all trying to eavesdrop” paces away from the doors to the throne room.

But in his head? He was making more circles than a pup trying to chase its own tail.

Meeting a member of the royal family intimidated most people. They intimidated most citizens of Moncriano, who’d lived their whole lives seeing the Villanis on the balcony of their palace, in their box at the theatre, and waving and shaking hands at hundreds of events a year. They were a known commodity here, and still people stuttered and blushed and went all wide-eyed when a royal gave them attention.

Kelsey was not used to seeing them. She wasn’t used to even thinking about royalty. In the short time Elias had known her, it had been quite clear that she had a spine and a mouth, and the two in tandem could be formidable. Enough to stand up and be herself in front of the king?

Elias wasn’t sure. He was, in fact, worried. And full of guilt for sending her in there by herself—not that he’d had a choice. It wasn’t as if he could claim that he needed to protect her during a private audience with her own relatives.

Although he did, because Genny could be an intolerable bitch when rubbed the wrong way. And the grand duchess could be downright frightening when crossed. Elias was certain that some part of Kelsey’s very American-ness would end up making her grandmother very cross.

The doors opened. Instead of waiting for the footman to open them all the way, Kelsey twisted her body to slide through the narrow crack. Elias sprang to attention and gave a brief nod, prepared to bow if the rest of the family came out.

But the doors closed behind her.

Great. They’d all stayed behind to discuss her. Probably to judge her, given the circumstances. Hopefully, Christian would be a voice of reason.

“Your Highness.” Elias stepped in front of her.

“Hi.” The tight purse of her lips lifted into a full-blown smile. And the force of it was like a warm rain shower. “You waited for me?”

“Of course.”

“Of course?” Just as quickly, the smile fell away. Kelsey moved around him and slowly started walking down the hallway. “Oh. Because it’s your job to be my shadow.”

“To a certain extent. I’m not the only member of your protection detail.” Elias pitched his voice lower as they passed another set of footmen at the doors to the king’s private audience chamber. “But I would’ve stayed here regardless. In case you required…anything…upon finishing your audience.”

“Anything, huh? In that case, is it too early for a cocktail? Not even a fancy one. Just line up the shot glasses and keep ’em coming. There must be a bar somewhere in this town that’s open.”

“It’s not even ten a.m. yet. I’m afraid we’re not Las Vegas.”

“Ooh, way to go with dropping a geographically perfect cultural reference.” The teasing lilt in Kelsey’s voice proved that whatever had happened to her in the throne room, she was bouncing back already.

Elias gestured for her to turn into an adjacent hallway. One slightly less grand and gilded, but not by much. It led to the private wings of the palace. “Just because you’ve never heard of Moncriano doesn’t mean we aren’t well aware of all things American.”

As he’d hoped, Kelsey rose to his implied challenge. “Really? Prove it. What’s weird about the parade we have on Thanksgiving morning?”

“Giant balloons of cartoon figures. Which aren’t that odd, all things considered. Did you know that Belgium holds a Bathtub Regatta on the Meuse River every year?”

“With real bathtubs?” Kelsey’s disbelief sharpened her tone.

“Indeed.”

She paused in front of a French door. The morning sun put a halo around her golden hair. Elias had a sudden vision of it spread across his pillow.

So he looked away. Looked for anything at all to distract him from the pull of Kelsey’s beauty. The first thing that caught his eye? A painting of The Sirens—three women lying on Moncriano’s beach. Nude.

Even though it was centuries old, it was still naked women.

Elias could not catch a break.

Kelsey had turned to walk backward as she tossed him another challenge with a cocky lift of her eyebrow. “Where’s the Liberty Bell?”

“Philadelphia. I accompanied the crown prince on a tour of your Independence Hall and we marveled that your country is so young. There’s probably twelve bells older than that one within a mile of our palace.”

“Show off. Old isn’t always better.”

“Cheese and wine disprove your point.”

“Stale bread and rancid meat prove it.” Kelsey drew an oversize check mark in the air with a flair. “Check and mate.”

A laugh spun out of her, not like the tinkle of a harp, but a loud, raucous, triumphant belly laugh. Laughs like that did not erupt in the public wing of the royal palace very often. An honest laugh like that one would never be used by a woman to flirt.

See? This was just fun. This couldn’t possibly be him breaking every protocol and flirting with the princess. No flirtation in history included the words “rancid meat.” Elias was cheering up Her Royal Highness, giving her a laugh. Kelsey only saw him as a friendly shadow. A necessary evil. Perhaps even as unwanted as an ankle monitoring bracelet they put on criminals. She wasn’t flirting with him.

And even if she was? It was absolutely forbidden for a member of the RPS to date a member of the royal family.

Also very, very frowned upon for a commoner to date a member of the royal family.

And his father’s reaction—well, that’d be another problem entirely.

She was in the friend zone, nothing more. It was normal to enjoy a friend’s laughter. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

That laughter certainly was an improvement over the pale and tightly drawn cast to her face when she’d left the throne room. And he wanted to do whatever it took to keep that light in her eyes, that smile on her lips. On an impulse, Elias veered to the right and opened the French door.

Kelsey didn’t walk through. Eyes narrowed, she shot him a look of confusion. “Why are we going outside?”

“I thought I’d take you on a walk in the gardens.”

The upper half of her body canted forward, but her feet stayed planted on the carpet. “I can’t.”

“Are you allergic to grass? Roses?” Damn it. Talk about an oversight. What if the bouquets in her room were making her sneeze? Or worse? “That should’ve been in your file.”

“No.” Kelsey let out a long sigh. Not one of satisfaction. No, this had a distinct tinge of dissatisfaction to it when coupled with the slump in her shoulders. “No, your crack dissection of every inch of my life before ever actually meeting me didn’t miss anything.”

Elias most certainly did not miss the thick sarcasm frosting her words. “What, then?”

Biting her lip, Kelsey thrust a folder at him and shook it back and forth. “It isn’t on the schedule. I’ve been ordered to adhere to the contents of this folder. Admonished, even.”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

He should’ve known the old lady would immediately start throwing her power around. From what Christian had told him, King Julian was in no shape to control the situation. He was in shock. The official, barely responsive kind of actual shock that had sent his valet sprinting to get the palace physician.

Christian said his father hadn’t been much better this morning than when he’d broken the news to him last night. As though the king refused to let himself give in to hope. So however horrid his mother-in-law might have been to Kelsey, the king probably hadn’t done anything to rein her in.

Elias grabbed the folder. He beckoned to the nearest footman. “Please take this to Miss Wishner’s suite. Give it to her sister.”

“Right away, sir.”

Foot still propping open the door, Elias swept an arm out toward the vast expanse of manicured lawns, ruthlessly trimmed hedges, and more flowers than he could name. “I believe your schedule has cleared, Your Highness. Would you care to stroll in the gardens?”

“Why yes, I would.”

The key to this brief escape for Kelsey was to keep her out of sight of, well, everyone. So he quickly led her past the dual strips of reflecting ponds edged with rows of white flowers. The fast click of her heels dulled as they switched from pavement to the crushed shell path that took them past the fountain. Elias only slowed once they were—mostly—out of sight and under the trellis sagging under drooping purple jacaranda.

Kelsey raised her arm to trail her fingers amidst the blooms. “When I agreed to a walk, I didn’t know it would be a speed walk.” From beneath heavy-lidded eyes, she pinned him with a glare. “Were you hazing me? Initiate the newest royal by giving her a blister?”

Was that a glare? Or a flirtatious glare?

When the hell had he lost all ability to read women?

And why the hell did it matter when Elias could not, should not, would not date a princess? “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to give anyone the chance to stop us. Being truly alone is more difficult than you’d think in a palace with more than six hundred rooms.”

“Thank you.” She pulled down a branch and sniffed deeply. “I…I did need a break.”

“If it makes you feel better, everyone walks out of their first formal audience a bit worse for wear. Honestly? Your grandmother scares me, to this day. And I met her years ago, when I was just a boy.”

“How did you—” Kelsey broke off and started taking the pins out of her hair. “She is scary, the grand duchess. Can you tell me something? Does she hug anyone? Because I didn’t get the vibe she was particularly thrilled to see me.”

Elias had to tread carefully. Not insult her American expectations, and also not insult the Villanis. All while holding back a good-sized rage that the grand duchess had stayed so true to form. This woman had been missing for twenty-five years; a lifetime. For God’s sake, that didn’t earn her a hug?

“Each generation of royals has a different approach to public displays of affection.”

“We weren’t in public,” she quickly countered.

“You were. As far as the grand duchess was concerned.” God, he hated that he had to explain this to her. Explain the strictures of royal life to a woman who just wanted to give and receive what would be—to the rest of the world—a standard amount of affection. “Any grouping of more than two people is public. There are expectations to be lived up to. I don’t even think she accepted hugs from her family the day her daughter was buried. So no, it isn’t you, Your Highness.”

Kelsey propped her elbow on a wooden column as she pulled out the rest of the pins. “That’s sad. Truly. I wonder—”

“Stop right there. If you’re wondering if you could change her once you get close, don’t bother. She’s not only content in her ways, but she’ll fight to her dying breath to preserve them.”

“The king?” she asked in a quiet voice.

Her questions weren’t getting any easier. Elias thrust his hands into his pockets. “King Julian’s struggling right now. But he’s a good man who has been known to hug his children. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“Oh good.” Kelsey’s voice was down to a mere whisper. As though she wasn’t holding her breath for that to ever happen to her.

He gathered her handful of pins and put them into his breast pocket. “So, to sum up, I gather this morning was rough?”

“Yes.” She dragged her palms down her cheeks. “Very rough. They were…relieved, I guess? Not thrilled. Not doing cartwheels of joy. Relieved to have Valentina back. Oh!” Kelsey thwacked him on his upper arm with her palm.

Elias almost laughed. Good to see her energy rebound, even if it was to attack him. “While technically there must be some ancient law that allows you to hit me, do I at least get to know why?”

“You didn’t tell me.” Kelsey accentuated each word by drilling her index finger into his biceps.

“I’m quite sure there are a million and five things I didn’t have the time to brief you on. Which one is worth bruising me?”

“You didn’t tell me my name. My other name. My real name. Valentina.” She arced her wide-spread hand through the air as though turning it into a banner.

Shit.

That was…horrible. Unforgivable. So, so, so damned stupid of him.

He’d been so caught up in using her title, in insisting that she get used to hearing her title, that Elias had forgotten the most basic fact of all.

“I’m sorry. Your Highness—Kelsey—I’m truly sorry.”

“I know it was just a slipup. But I felt…stupid. At first, when the king said it, I didn’t realize it was my name. How could it be? I already have a name. And Valentina is so fancy. So foreign. Like something out of a Renaissance poem.”

“It suits you.”

“Omigosh, Elias, it so doesn’t.” She sank onto a wooden bench and gripped the edges as if to keep from falling over. “That isn’t even funny. I spend my life in yoga pants, with no makeup, hunched over a computer working for my clients. There isn’t a single fancy thing about me.”

Elias had to fix this. He knew the speech to give. He and Christian had debated it over the years as the prince figured out what his contribution to the country could be. Christian, absolutely, should be the one to explain it all to her.

But he couldn’t let Kelsey wallow in her self-doubt for another second, especially when his thoughtlessness was partly to blame. He sat down next to her, peeled back her tight fingers, and cradled her hand in his.

As a friend would, of course.

“True royalty has nothing to do with jewels and coaches. It isn’t about thinking you’re better than everyone else. Or even wanting them to look up to you. Being royal means helping all your citizens to be proud of their nation. They do look up to the Villanis as an example of the best of Moncriano. Aspirational. Inspirational. To be a force for good for the country.”

After giving a weak laugh, Kelsey said, “That’s a million times harder than dressing up in pantyhose every day.”

“Indeed. You have to care.” Which she obviously already did, or she wouldn’t be so concerned about doing a poor job of it. “And I have a feeling you will be excellent at that, Your Highness.”

She looked at him sideways from beneath slanted, long-lashed eyes. “If that’s the first qualification—having a big heart—then yes, I’ll admit I could rock that part of being a princess. Is all that written down in a job description somewhere?”

“On the back of your birth certificate, I believe.” Trying his best to keep a straight face, Elias continued. “There’s a naming ceremony held over your bassinet where it’s all explained to you within twenty-four hours of your birth.”

Kelsey snorted out a laugh. Then her hand flew to cover her mouth. “Oh God, you were kidding, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Her laughter continued, muffled, from behind her fingers. “Thank goodness. I mean, I thought you were kidding. Ninety-five percent sure. But things are so different here. So formal. I don’t want to accidentally laugh at a centuries-old tradition.”

Elias patted the hand he still held. “You will.”

Kelsey gaped at him. Indignation even colored her cheeks a little. “Oh, thanks for all that faith in me.”

He looked through the drooping vines at the high hedges of the maze, wracking his brain to come up with just the right examples. “When we were nine, Prince Christian filled balloons with holy water out of the baptismal font in the Palace Chapel.”

“That’s sacrilegious, in any religion.”

“When Princess Genevieve was twelve, she pulled off the keffiah, the headscarf, worn by the Emir of Bahrain.” Elias leaned in close enough to feel her soft puffs of breath on his cheek. “On a dare,” he whispered.

Turning so that her lips grazed his jaw, Kelsey whispered conspiratorially, “Who dared her?”

“If you manage to pry that secret out of the princess, I’d love to know.”

Leaning back and putting space in between them again, the playfulness slipped from her eyes. “They were just children.”

“Technically, yes. But more to the point, the prince and princess were still unschooled, unpracticed in affairs of state. That’s where you are now. You’ll undoubtedly make a mistake. Or ten. It won’t matter, Your Highness.” Elias tightened his grasp on her soft, slender fingers. “As long as you keep learning, keep trying, and remember to lead with your heart, you’ll be fine.”

Kelsey bit her bottom lip. Gifted him with another one of those half-hearted, wry smiles. “Is giving a gold-medal pep talk a usual qualification for a royal bodyguard?”

“My job is to keep you in one piece. You looked like you were falling apart when you left the throne room.”

“You’d be right about that. My life—the brand new life I just started—is gone. Nobody seems to care about me”—Kelsey thumped her chest as her voice cracked—“the actual person in here behind the princess title. Except for you.”

Her aching vulnerability sliced into Elias like a sword straight through his gut. It tore through the rules and protocol and every layer of common sense.

All that was left was a man watching a lost, lonely woman. It was blindingly obvious what she needed. So he wrapped his arms around Kelsey and hugged her.

She didn’t cry, or even tremble. But she did heave in a deep sigh, and when she let it out, her whole body relaxed into his. Except for her arms, which slid into a tight embrace around his waist.

They sat like that for long moments. Long enough for Elias to notice the determined buzz of a bee overhead. Long enough for a peacock to strut past them, its vibrant green and blue tailfeathers dragging on the ground like a train. Long enough for Elias to also notice how his arms wrapped so far around her small frame that the tips of his fingers grazed the sides of her breasts.

He knew he should move. Readjust.

He didn’t care about should. Elias only cared about making Kelsey feel better. Feel like herself.

Feel that he did, indeed, care for her.

Finally, Kelsey lifted her head from where it rested on his collarbone. “Thank you.”

“You’re—” But before he could finish the phrase, Kelsey kissed him.

It was just a soft, faint brush of lips over lips. Probably meant to be nothing more than a continuation of her thanks. Except that something sparked between them. The one, faint touch instantly morphed into more. Elias honestly couldn’t say which one of them consciously deepened the kiss. It felt organic.

It felt necessary.

It felt right.

They clung to each other, and that soft brush grew into a real kiss. The kind he gave after a date where everything clicked, where he and the woman connected deeply. The kind he hadn’t given anyone in many, many months.

Kelsey’s beauty had struck Elias from the moment that flimsy, splotched apartment door opened. But then, as she stood her ground with such determination, as she sassed him on the plane, as she approached every step of this journey with such bravery, the involuntary, primal acknowledgement of wanting her body had flipped over into wanting her.

The pressure between their lips, between their bodies intensified. Elias moved his lips harder against hers. Kelsey pushed right back. They kissed and kissed and suddenly their tongues were tangled, tasting and teasing.

Elias groaned. God, she was delicious. Sweet. Tantalizing. And so soft every single damn place they were touching.

His hands slid up through the silk of her hair to tilt Kelsey’s head back, to deepen his angle. But then he immediately slid one palm down her back to keep her pressed close. To keep those firm breasts rubbing against his chest as she swayed her upper body.

It didn’t make up for the fact they were seated side by side, that their hips and legs and bellies weren’t rubbing together. But it was damned sexy, especially sexy, paired with the breathy little moans she kept exhaling.

“Elias,” she murmured, as his lips moved down the tantalizing column of her neck. God, he just wanted to keep going. Push that prim and proper sweater out of the way and keep lapping at the pale skin that he couldn’t get enough of.

“Princess,” he replied.

And then froze.

His subconscious had just saved him. Tossing out that automatic title had been the necessary reminder that he wasn’t only kissing Kelsey. Elias was making out with a Princess of the Realm.

Elias almost recoiled but caught himself in time, not wanting to hurt her. This lapse in judgment fell squarely on his shoulders, and his alone. Kelsey didn’t know the rules, didn’t know they couldn’t be together. And there was no time to explain, because he had to get her back inside before the grand duchess set loose the hunting dogs to find them.

Or was it that he didn’t have the courage to ruin the moment with such a stamp of finality? Cowardice that kept him from stating just how many ways they could never possibly be together?

So he tucked only a strand of hair behind her ear, slowly tracing down below her lobe to follow the dark pink of desire staining her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

Those kiss-reddened lips parted. “For what?”

“For letting things go too far.”

Confusion blurred her eyes as she blinked, fast. “Too far?” Laughing, Kelsey waved a hand at the latticework above. “I don’t see a used condom hanging from the trellis. We kissed.”

“And that was my mistake. Wonderful, but a mistake. Stay here. You’re perfectly safe. I’ll send out Marko, your other main bodyguard, to escort you back inside.” Elias shoved to his feet and executed a sharp bow. “Your Highness.”

Disappointment mixed with hurt in those stunning violet eyes. It pouted those puffy, delectable lips. Before Kelsey could say a word, before he could weaken again and give in to temptation, Elias left.