Authors: Maureen Child
“Wrong again,” she said, a half smile curving her mouth. “I just did.”
“Alex—”
“I think you should go,” she said, though the words tore at her.
This was over. He couldn’t have made himself plainer. He didn’t want her—he saw her only as his responsibility—and she wanted the magic.
The gulf lying between them was wider than ever.
“Fine. I’ll go. But I’ll be back in the morning,” he said. “Don’t leave the hotel without me.”
She didn’t answer because an order didn’t require one. She simply stood, alone in the dim light and listened to the door close behind him.
First thing in the morning, though, the plan changed.
Griffin needed some backup with a client and Garrett had already dumped so much of the company work on his twin lately, he couldn’t turn him down. Besides, he figured it might do both he and Alex some good to have some space.
He’d been up half the night, reliving that scene in her penthouse suite. He could still feel the chill in the room when he told her he wouldn’t love her. Could still see her eyes when she told him to leave. A low, deep ache settled in his chest, but Garrett accepted it as the price he had to pay for screwing this up so badly.
And he knew that the pain was going to be with him a long, damn time. He was halfway to San Diego when he thought it was late enough that he could call Alex without waking her up. Punching in the phone number, Garrett steered his car down the 405 freeway and waited for what seemed forever for Alex to answer the damn phone. The moment she did, the sound of her voice sent another ping of regret shooting through him.
Mentally, he explained it away. Of course he regretted that she’d be leaving. Why the hell wouldn’t he? He’d spent practically every day with her for more than a week. Why wouldn’t he be accustomed to her smile, her laughter? It was only natural that he’d listen for the sound of her accent and get a buzz when he knew he was going to see her.
Didn’t mean he cared. Didn’t
mean
anything. When she was gone, things would settle down. Get back to normal, he assured himself. Which was all he wanted. The regular world that didn’t include runaway princesses.
“Alex, it’s me,” he said shortly, changing lanes to pass an RV moving at a snail-like speed in the sun-washed morning.
“What is it, Garrett?”
Her voice was clipped now, as if anger was churning just below the surface. He hated to hear it, but it was probably best, he told himself. If she was mad, then she wasn’t hurting. He’d never meant to hurt her, God knew. But it had happened anyway and now the best thing he could do was keep up the wall he’d erected between them the night before.
“I won’t be able to come over this morning,” he said tightly. “Griffin needs some help on a case, and I—”
“No need to explain. I’m sure you’re very busy.”
The words might be right, but her tone said differently. He scowled at the phone. “Yeah. Well, anyway. You won’t be alone. I sent one of our best agents over there. Terri Cooper. She’s in the lobby now, waiting for a call from you to the front desk. She’s the best in the business, so I know she’ll keep you safe.”
“Garrett, I don’t need a babysitter.”
“She’s a bodyguard, Alex, and until I get back, she’s sticking to you like glue.”
“And I’ve no say in it.”
He frowned to himself and downshifted as the flow of traffic picked up a bit. “If you don’t want to see Terri, don’t leave the hotel. I’d prefer that anyway. I should be able to be back before dinner.”
“I see,” she said, her accent a little sharper, “and I’m to await you at your convenience, is that it?”
He punched the accelerator and swung around another car, which had no business driving in the fast lane. “Alex, don’t start with me. We’ve been over this. You know it’s not safe.”
“No, Garrett,” she argued, “
you
know it’s not safe. But I’ve a mind of my own and am in no way burdened with your overwhelmingly cautious nature.”
“Damn it, Alex.” He thought about hitting the first off-ramp and heading back. Then he realized his twin was in La Jolla waiting for him, and Garrett was stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
And he did
not
have a cautious nature.
Made him sound like some old lady afraid to leave her house. Nothing could be further from the truth. He faced down danger every damn day of his life. It was
Alex
facing danger he couldn’t bear the thought of.
“I’m in charge of your safety.”
“No, you’re not. You said yourself last night that you’re no longer working for my father. That makes you nothing more than a bossy ex-bed partner. And I don’t take orders from my exes.”
“You’re making me crazy, Alex. Terri will be with you if you leave the hotel.”
Someone cut him off and Garrett honked at them. Didn’t do any good, but made him feel a little better.
“I won’t promise anything. And if that makes you crazy, then I’ll admit to enjoying your misery as a side benefit.”
She was enjoying it, too. He heard it in her voice. God knew what she would do today just to prove to him that she could take care of herself. He didn’t even want to think about it.
The stream of traffic was slowing down. Brake lights flashed ahead and cars were stacked up behind him, too. Just another day on Southern California’s freeways. Once he was stopped dead, he muttered, “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Just—be careful, okay?”
There was a long pause and, for a moment, he half wondered if she’d hung up on him and he hadn’t noticed. Then finally, she said only, “Goodbye, Garrett.”
Car horns blared, the radio in the car beside him was set to a volume probably audible in space and the only sound Garrett really noticed was the hum of the dial tone, telling him she was gone.
“She’s making me nuts.”
“In her defense,” Griffin said helpfully, “she didn’t have far to go.”
“Thanks for that.” Garrett gave his twin a dark look. “You’re supposed to be on my side, remember? Blood thicker than water and all that?”
“Yeah, we’re family, blah, blah,” Griffin said, kicking back in the leather booth seat and pausing long enough to take a long pull on his bottle of beer. “But if the princess is getting to you this badly, then I’m all for it.”
Garrett stared down at his own beer and then lifted his gaze to look around the half-empty pub. It was supposed to look Irish, but Garrett had seen the real thing not long ago when he did a job for his cousin Jefferson. Still, it wasn’t bad, just touristy. Lots of dark wood, flags of Ireland all over the place and even a bronze leprechaun crouched on the bar.
He and Griffin had finished with their client early and had stopped in here for some lunch before facing the long drive home again. He was still worried about Alex, but she’d been on her own for hours already, doing God knew what—because the damn woman wouldn’t answer her damn phone. All Terri sent him was a brief text saying everything was fine. So him taking a half hour for lunch wasn’t going to make that much difference at this point.
“And did I mention,” Griffin said with a knowing leer, “you look like
hell?
”
He had known that talking to Griffin about all of this wouldn’t get him any sympathy. And maybe he didn’t need any. What he needed was somebody to talk to.
He should have picked someone smarter.
“Doesn’t matter if she’s ‘getting’ to me or not—which she isn’t,” he added, after a pause for a sip of beer. “The point is she’s a princess, Griff. Would never work.”
“Man, I really did get all the brains,” Griffin mused with a slow shake of his head. “The way you talk about her, she seems damn near perfect. And you don’t want her because she’s a princess? What is that?”
“It’s not a question of want.”
“Then what is it?”
“Even if I did admit to wanting Alex, the fact that she’s a princess pretty much cools that whole idea.”
“Because…”
Irritated, Garrett glared at his twin. “You think her family would want her with a security expert?”
“Who better?”
“Nice try. But royals prefer royals, and everyone knows that. Her father’s probably got her future husband all picked out for her.” The thought of that made him want to break something.
“Uh-huh. And what else?” Griffin shook his head. “There’s more here, Garrett.”
“Kara.” He’d loved once and lost her. He wasn’t sure he was willing to go through that again.
“Here we go,” Griffin muttered. “You know, I’ve been hearing that excuse for years, and I’m just not buying it anymore.”
“What the hell’s that mean?”
“It means, that you’ve been hiding behind Kara. Yeah, it was terrible what happened to her. But you know damn well it wasn’t your fault.”
Garrett shifted in his seat, took a swig of beer and set the bottle down again.
“You loved her, and she died.”
“Thanks for the news flash. But I don’t need you to tell me that. I lived it.”
Griffin ignored him. Leaning on the tabletop, he said, “Somewhere along the way, though, you died, too. Or at least you stopped living, which amounts to the same thing.”
Garrett glared at his twin again, but it didn’t do any good. Nothing could shut Griffin up if he had something to say and clearly he did. Seemed he’d been building up to this little speech for years.
“Now along comes the princess, shakes you up, makes you notice,
hey, not a bad world out here,
and
boom.
” He clapped both hands together for emphasis. “You shut down. Start pulling Kara out of the past and using her as a shield or some damn thing. The problem isn’t Kara, Garrett. Never was. The problem is
you
.”
The waitress arrived with their lunch and while Griffin flirted and got an extra order of fries for his trouble, Garrett did some fast thinking. His twin might actually have a point. He had been enjoying his time with Alex. Had been relaxing the guard around his heart and the minute she got close, he’d pulled back. So was he using Kara as a shield? If that was true, then Alex had been right the night before when she’d accused him of making sure his world was small enough that tragedy would have a harder time striking.
When it was just the two of them again, Griffin noted, “Hmm. Looks like a lightbulb might have gone off in your head.”
“Maybe,” Garrett admitted, then added, “but even if you’re right—”
“Can’t hear that often enough,” Griffin said with a grin just before popping a French fry into his mouth.
“—it doesn’t change the fact that Alex is a princess and lives in a palace for God’s sake. I live in a condo at the beach—”
“No, you don’t,” Griffin interrupted.
“Excuse me?” Seriously, he knew where he
lived.
Taking another pull of his beer, Griffin said, “You don’t live there. You live out of suitcases. Hell, you spend more time on King Jets than you do in that condo.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Means you don’t live anywhere, Garrett. So what’s keeping you here?”
He just stared at his twin. Was he the only one who could see the problems in this? Alex was oblivious and now Griffin, too? “Our
business?
”
“More excuses.” Griff waved one hand at his brother, effectively dismissing him, then picked up his burger and took a bite. After chewing, he said, “We can run our place from anywhere. If you wanted to, you could set up a European branch and you damn well know it.”
His chest felt tight. The noise in the pub fell away. All he could hear was himself, telling Alex that he wouldn’t love her. That he couldn’t. The problem was, he
did
love her.
A hell of a thing for a man to just be figuring out. But there it was. He’d had to quit working for her father because he couldn’t take money for protecting the woman he loved. He had kept his distance from her because he couldn’t sleep with her knowing that he’d have to let her go.
But did he have to?
What if he was wrong? What if there was a chance a commoner might have a shot with a princess? Was he really ready to let Alex go without even
trying
to make it work? His brain raced with possibilities. Maybe he had been short-sighted. Stupid. But he didn’t have to stay that way.