Escaping A Royal Wedding (19 page)

Ana knew that her father assumed that everything was okay. But for some reason, Ana was angry. She wasn’t exactly sure why though.

Pulling her hand out of Erik’s she turned away as if in a trance, ready to follow her father’s instructions but not sure what they were anymore. Oh yes, the gardens! She should show this man the gardens. “Yes, of course,” she said, wondering what was wrong with this situation. She turned as if in a dream and led Erik out of her father’s office. “I’d be delighted to show you the gardens,” she said but her words weren’t directed at anyone as her mind whirled through the scene.

She felt odd as Marcus…no Erik, tucked her hand into his arm and started walking out the door. She heard him speak but the words were foreign to her ears which were ringing right at the moment. But it wasn’t just her hearing that was off. Her whole world had tilted and she had to find her way back to something sane, something that made sense because Marcus, or Erik, or whatever he was calling himself today, was not supposed to be here. He was supposed to be marrying some other woman. But that other woman was…her? Could it be true?

Erik guided her out of the office and down the hallway. It wasn’t until he turned the corner and knew that they were out of sight that he stopped walking and turned her into his arms.

Ana understood his intentions quickly enough, was somehow anticipating this move even though she couldn’t quite grasp the whole situation. She stepped out of his arms and glared up at him. His smiling face just angered her more. And as she watched his confident smile and dancing eyes, she understood exactly why she was so upset. “You were cheating on me in Washington, D.C.!” she said and her hand reached up to slap him. Unfortunately for her wrist, her hand didn’t even come close to his face and he used her momentum to pull her into his arms. He held onto her wrist with one hand and pulled her hard against his body with the other, wrapping his other arm around her waist and holding her there easily despite her wiggling.

“I missed you too,” he laughed.

Ana struggled, determined to not give in to his charm or the heat surging through her body with his touch this time. “You arrogant pig!” she hissed. “How dare you touch me after you cheated on me!”

Erik chuckled, delighted with her temper. For the past few minutes, ever since he’d figured things out for himself, he’d been wondering what her reaction would be. He was glad it was anger. He could deal with that. He smiled down at her lovely face, enchanted by her all over again. “I cheated on you with you. Doesn’t that count for something?” he asked, enjoying her wiggling body as it moved against his.

“No!” she said emphatically, smacking his rock hard chest with her fist since her efforts to escape his embrace were futile. “You didn’t know it was me. That doesn’t count in my book.”

He laughed, watching in fascination as her eyes changed from a misty blue to sparkling saphire. “True. But now that I’ve found you, I can guarantee that I’m going to enjoy our marriage. Admit it, you were pleasantly surprised as well, weren’t you?”

Ana pushed against him again, wishing she could hurt him in some way but the man was just too big and too muscular. “No,” she said emphatically. “I was dreading this day and now I think I’m going to be ill,” she said, pushing against his hard chest in her efforts to escape. “I can’t believe you flirted with me in the coffee shop the very day you were supposed to be getting ready for our engagement dinner!” She gasped again, “And you didn’t even show up for that dinner! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I was that night? Your father had to escort me in to dinner! That was the ultimate humiliation,” she said. “Everyone was whispering about how pathetic I was, standing there trying to keep a stiff upper lip when my future husband didn’t even show me the courtesy of showing up for our engagement party! That was the epitome of rudeness.”

He bent down and kissed her soft, porcelain cheek, careful not to touch her lips yet. With her current state of mind, he suspected she might bite him. “Don’t be offended. I was searching for you all night,” he said, his voice turning husky as his eyes looked at her lips. “You ran down the street and no one could find a trace of you. I was beating my security team up for losing sight of you and then not being able to find any trace of you. No other woman has ever gotten under my skin to the point that I would allow them to interfere in my obligations, Ana. You’re the only one that has ever done that and I couldn’t believe I wanted, needed you, so much after just a cup of coffee and conversation.”

Ana shivered as his hand smoothed the small of her back and she leaned back in an effort to put just a small amount of space between their bodies. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she gritted between her teeth. “In other words, you had so little respect for me that you would search for another woman when you were supposed to be meeting me?” she snorted in disgust. “I can tell you aren’t very well versed in the romance department,” she said and relaxed against him, hoping a new tact would gain her freedom.

“Prince Erik!” a deep voice behind them said crisply.

It was Ana’s brother Max and she had no idea how much he’d heard. “Could I have a word with you?” he asked formally.

Ana stepped out of Erik’s embrace and turned around. “Go ahead. I have nothing further to say to this man,” she said and walked calmly down the hallway toward her suite of rooms. She didn’t want to hear anything her brother or Marcus…Erik…whatever name he wanted to be called…had to say, she told herself.

Erik watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked regally down the hallway. He was proud of what a beautiful and graceful woman would someday become his queen. And he was equally excited about the woman who would become his wife. Fortunately, both were the same woman and it was a heady realization.

Belatedly, he remembered the man standing behind him and turned to face his future wife’s brother. The look on the younger man’s face showed his anger. “What can I do for you?” he asked, knowing Max had heard almost the entire conversation. At least the incriminating part, he grimaced inwardly.

“I understand you’re a black belt and I was wondering if you could show me some of your moves in the gym?” Max said, his eyes never leaving Erik’s face.

Erik smiled and nodded. “I’d be happy to oblige,” he said. “Lead the way.” Erik understood Max’s message. The man was angry about the way his sister had been treated, both currently and previously in Washington, D.C.

In the gym, Erik and Max both took off their suit jackets, perfectly pressed shirts and ties, then dispensed with their shoes, socks and belts. The two men, bared to the chest, then moved onto the exercising mats and bowed to each other.

Once the formalities were over, the men immediately started circling each other, one waiting for the other to make the first move.

Max bent low, trying to determine the best way to get the man on the mat and in pain. “So you’re the man who caused so much ruckus last week?” he asked.

“Ruckus?” Erik questioned, knowing he needed to track both the conversation as well as the angry man’s movements in front of him.

“Let me rephrase that,” Max said as he went on the offensive with a wide kick. “You’re the man that hurt Ana.”

Erik ducked from the kick and swung low, tripping Max onto his back. The man didn’t stay down long, he swung up instantly and knocked Erik flat with a smack to his chest.

“I didn’t mean to,” Erik said, reeling from the good blow but instantly alert and waiting for the next kick or jab. Max had immediately shown Erik that he was a force to be reckoned with. Erik also knew that he needed to tread carefully. Max was out for blood because of a perceived hurt to his little sister. But Erik couldn’t put the man down, since it would probably hurt Ana. What a predicament.

Max thrust to the left and caught Erik on the arm with a hard thud but both men remained standing. “What exactly did you mean to do? Just leave her hanging?”

“That’s between Ana and me,” he said, blocking the next swing and lashing out backwards.

Max flashed back instantly, ignoring the pain from the jab to his ribs. “And her family and her country. What you did you did to all of us and left her humiliated. I’m guessing you’re also the man who took her away from the security of her family. Am I right?”

Erik ducked from Max’s lunge and swung with a leg arching to the man’s middle section. “Ana came away with me, yes. But she was perfectly safe with me. I had my body guards there as well.”

Max circled the older man, searching for a weakness, considering all the angles before kicking out for a spot to his legs. “Don’t kid yourself. Your body guards were there for you. If anything had happened to Ana, they would have been protecting you first and her second. Did you think of that when you flew off to who knows where?”

Erik jumped over the leg maneuver then swung around, wishing he could just end this confrontation but also enjoying the outlet. He had a lot of frustration pent up over the past week and this was as good as any. He swung out, knocking Max onto his back again. “Not true. Tim understood how important she was to me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Max demanded. “Are you saying that, while you were supposed to be meeting your fiancée, you were actually taking another woman away for the weekend? Was Ana right about that?”

Obviously that really pissed Max off because he got in several kicks at that point. It was interesting that both siblings came to the same conclusion.

“Don’t worry about Ana. She can take care of herself.”

That infuriated Max and he swung out, nearly knocking Erik onto his back before spinning and jabbing into his ribs once again, hoping he hit the same spot and bruising it. “No, she can’t. You don’t know what she’s been going through the past few weeks. First, you forget about her for years and let her think that the betrothal was going to be put aside, getting her hopes up that she’ll have the freedom to choose her own husband. Then you and your father decide it is time for you to marry and all of a sudden she’s taken out of her routine and told she’s to marry what basically amounts to a stranger. Then she flies halfway across the world to meet that man and he’s too busy to be with her because he’s chasing someone else who just ironically happens to be the woman he’s supposed to be meeting with. You broke her heart and now you think everything is going to be fine.” With each sentence, Max either kicked or punched Erik. Erik was able to block half the kicks and jabs but some of them were too quick for him to block and he had the wind knocked out of him on several split second kicks.

Erik was beginning to understand how badly he’d messed up. Put into that context, he did sound like a cad. “I’ll make it up to her,” he promised.

Max swung around and kicked high, missing Erik who ducked. “How?” Max demanded. “By marrying her? I’m not sure that’s what she’s dreaming of exactly.”

Erik swung high, knocking Max in the stomach then swirled on his heel for a second which Max blocked. “I’ll find out what she is dreaming about and I’ll make sure she gets it,” Erik said with sincerity, blocked Max’s next swing.

Max stopped and stood still, hands on his hips as he looked at the man opposite him. “Will you ever cheat on her?”

“No.”

Max looked at the man for a long time, finally accepting that Erik was telling him the truth. “Good,”

“What are you two doing?” Ana said, rushing into the room, her hair flying out behind her.

Max wasn’t finished. As soon as Ana distracted Erik, Max took a swing at his stomach with his left foot, doubling the older man over. Max knew it had been a cheap shot but he didn’t care. “That’s for hurting her last week,” Max said and was astonished to see his little sister run over to where Erik was bent over, offering her sympathy and help.

Erik stood up quickly, still obviously in some discomfort. He put an arm around Ana’s shoulders and smiled at her brother. “Good one,” he said and saluted him as he allowed Ana to walk him over to a bench on the side of the gym.

Max picked up his clothes and put on his shoes and socks, draping his shirt over his broad shoulders but not bothering to button it up. “Don’t ever let it happen again,” Max said and walked out of the gym, his jacket and tie gripped in his right fist.

Ana glared at her brother’s back, shooting daggers into his broad shoulders. But when he just sauntered out of the room without noticing, she turned back to face Erik and check out his wounds. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking over his body for broken bones. Ana knew her brother was extremely well versed in martial arts. She wasn’t as sure about Erik’s abilities.

“I’m fine,” Erik said, but didn’t stop her tender ministrations. They were like nectar to a starving man. “You’re beautiful,” he said, pulling her shining red hair over her shoulder and letting the fiery strands slip through his fingers.

“What were you two fighting about?”

“You.”

His one word answer stopped her ministrations immediately. “What?” she asked, standing up and putting her hands on her slim hips.

Erik stood up and looked down into her delicate features. “He was defending your honor.”

Ana stepped back and scowled. “I don’t need any defending. My honor is fine.”

Erik took a fiery lock of hair between his fingers, loving the silky texture. “It is now that we’re going to be married.”

“Uh!” she said disgustedly and spun around, whipping her hair out of his hands in the process. “How could you remind me of that? I’ve been trying desperately to forget that awful fact of life.” She turned her back on him, crossing her arms over her chest as she chewed on her lower lip, her mind racing to figure out how to get out of this situation.