Authors: Maureen Child
He snorted an unexpected laugh. “That was your first bet?”
No one but her brothers—and they didn’t count—ever made bets with a princess. It would be considered tacky. A tiny sigh escaped her before she could stop it. How much she had missed just because of how things might “look.” “You’re my first—outside my family of course. And I did pretty well, I think, don’t you? I did earn five dollars.”
“So you did,” he said, clearly amused. “Okay then…” He took her pen, scrawled a message, signed it and handed both the pen and the money to her.
Alex looked down and read, “Payment in full to Alex from Garrett.” She lifted her gaze, cocked her head and said, “I still don’t know your last name.”
He nodded. “Don’t know yours, either.”
“Seems odd, don’t you think?” Her gaze dropped to his signature. It was bold, strong and she had no doubt that a handwriting analyst would say that Garrett was confident, powerful and even a little arrogant.
“I’ll tell you my name if you tell me yours,” he taunted.
Her gaze snapped to his. Tell him her last name? She considered it for a second or two. Wells was common enough; maybe he wouldn’t think anything of it. But then again, if he put her first name with her last, it might ring a familiar bell that she’d rather remain silent.
She was having too much fun as “just Alex” to want to give it up this early in her holiday. So why risk it? Why insist on last names when it didn’t really matter anyway? After all, when her holiday was over, they’d never see each other again. Wasn’t it better for both of them to keep things light? Superficial?
He was still watching her. Waiting. She couldn’t read his expression and she really wished she could. Alex would have loved to know what he was thinking about this…whatever it was between them. If he was as intrigued, as filled with a heightened sense of anticipation as she was.
“So?” he asked, a half smile curving his mouth as he waited for her decision.
“First names only,” she said with an emphatic nod. “It’s more fun that way, don’t you agree?”
“I think,” Garrett said as he stood up and held one hand out to her, “the fun hasn’t even started yet.”
“Is that a promise?” she asked, slipping her hand into his and relishing the rush of heat and lust that immediately swamped her.
“It is,” he said, “and I always keep my promises.”
Garrett looked down at their joined hands then lifted his gaze to hers as the buzz between them sizzled and snapped like sparks lifting off a bonfire. “Fun. Coming right up.”
They spent a couple of hours in Laguna, wandering down the sidewalks, drifting in and out of the eclectic mix of shops lining Pacific Coast Highway. There were art galleries, handmade ice cream parlors, jewelry stores and psychics. There were street performers, entertaining for the change dropped into open guitar cases and there were tree-shaded benches where elderly couples sat and watched the summer world roll by.
Alex was amazing. She never got tired, never got bored and absolutely everything caught her attention. She talked to everyone, too. It was as if she was trying to suck up as much life as possible. And he knew why. Soon she’d be going back behind palace walls and the freedom she was feeling at the moment would disappear.
Hard to blame her for wanting to escape. Who the hell didn’t occasionally think about simply dropping off the radar and getting lost for a while? He’d done it himself after—Garrett shut that thought down fast. He didn’t want to relive the past. Had no interest in wallowing in the pain and guilt that had ridden him so hard for so long. There was nothing to be gained by remembering. He’d learned his lesson, he assured himself, and that was why he was sticking to Alex like glue.
It had nothing to do with how she looked in those mile-high heels. Or the brilliance of her smile or the damn sparkle in her eyes.
He could tell himself whatever he wanted to, he thought, but even
he
didn’t believe the lies.
“You’re frowning,” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts. He was pitifully grateful for the distraction.
“What?”
“Frowning,” she repeated. “You. Do I look that hideous?”
He shook his head at the ridiculousness of the question, but dutifully looked at the drawing the caricature artist was doing of Alex. The guy had an easel set up under one of the trees along the highway and boxes of colored pastels sat at his elbow. Garrett watched him drawing and approved of the quick, sure strokes he made.
Alex was coming alive on the page, her smile wider, her eyes bigger and brighter and her long blond hair swirling in an unseen wind.
“So?” she asked.
“It looks great,” he muttered, not really caring for how the artist had defined Alex’s breasts and provided ample cleavage in the drawing.
“Thanks, man,” the guy said, layering in a deeper blue to Alex’s eyes. “I love faces. They fascinate me. Like you,” he said to Alex, “your face is familiar, somehow. Like I’ve seen you before. But with that accent no way you’re from around here.”
Garrett’s gaze snapped to her in time to see her face pale a bit and her eyes take on a wary sheen.
“I’m sure I’ve just got one of ‘those’ faces,” she said, trying to make light of the guy’s statement. “You know they say we all have a double out there, wandering the world.”
“Yeah,” the artist murmured, not really listening. “But you’re different. You’re…”
“You done?” Garrett asked abruptly.
“Huh?” The guy glanced up at him and whatever he saw in Garrett’s eyes convinced him that he was indeed finished. “Sure. Let me just sign it.”
A fast scrawl with a black chalk and he was tearing the page off the easel and handing it to Alex. She looked at it and grinned, obviously pleased with the results. In fact, she was so entranced by the drawing, she didn’t notice the artist’s eyes suddenly widen and his mouth drop open in shock.
Apparently, Garrett thought grimly, he’d finally remembered where he had seen Alex before. Moving fast, Garrett caught the other man’s eye and gave him a warning glare that carried threats of retribution if he so much as said a single word.
His meaning got across with no problem. The tall, thin man with the straggly beard closed his mouth, wiped one hand across the back of his neck and nodded in silent agreement.
Garrett pulled out his wallet and handed over a wad of cash. Way more than the price of the drawing, this was also shut-the-hell-up-and-forget-you-ever-saw-her money. When the guy whistled low and long, Garrett knew the bribe was successful.
“Thank you!” Alex said and finally looked at the artist. “It’s wonderful. I know just where I’ll hang it when I get home.”
“Yeah?” The artist grinned, obviously loving the idea that one of his drawings would soon be hanging in a castle. “Well, cool. Glad you like it, Pr—” He stopped, shot a look at Garrett and finished up lamely,
“Miss.”
Alex missed the man’s slipup. She reached into her purse. “How much do I owe you?”
“It’s taken care of,” Garrett said, stepping up beside her and dropping one arm around her shoulders. He shot another warning look at the artist. “Isn’t it?”
“You bet,” the guy said, nodding so hard Garrett half expected the man’s head to fly off his neck. “All square. We’re good. Thanks again.”
Garrett steered her away from the artist, and got her walking toward where he’d parked his car. Best to get out of here before the guy forgot just how threatening Garrett could be and started bragging about how he had drawn the portrait of a princess.
“You didn’t have to buy this for me, Garrett,” she said, with a quick glance up at him. “I appreciate it, but it wasn’t necessary.”
“I know that. I wanted to.”
“Well, I love it.” She turned her head to study the portrait. “Whenever I look at it, I’ll think of today and what a lovely time I had. I’ll remember the ocean, the ice cream, the tide pools, the shops…”
She came to a stop and the people on the sidewalk moved past them like water rushing around a rock in a fast moving stream. She looked at him, reached up and cupped his cheek in her palm. He felt her touch all the way to his bones.
Her blue eyes shone with the glitter of promises when she said, “And I’ll remember
you
most of all.”
He knew with a soul-deep certainty that he’d never forget her, either.
Five
Decker King looked more like a beach bum than a successful businessman. And that was just how he liked it.
Garrett only shook his head while Decker flirted like crazy with Alex. Decker wore board shorts, flip flops and a T-shirt that read, Do it With a King.
And in smaller letters, King’s Kustom Krafts
.
The man might be annoying, but his company built the best luxury pleasure crafts in the world. His specialty was the classic, 1940s style wooden powerboats. Decker had customers all over the world sitting on waiting lists for one of his launches.
“You sure you want Garrett to take you out?” Decker was saying, giving Alex a smile meant to seduce.
“Yeah,” Garrett interrupted. “She’s sure.”
Decker glanced at him and smirked. “Okay, then. My personal boat is moored at the dock out back.” He tossed the keys to Garrett. “Don’t scratch it.”
“Thank you, Decker,” Alex said with a smile as Garrett grabbed her hand and headed for the dock.
“My pleasure, Alex,” he called back as she was hustled away. “Anytime you get tired of my dull cousin, just call me!”
“I don’t think you’re dull,” Alex said on a laugh, her hand tightening around his.
“Decker thinks anyone with a regular job is dull. He’s talented but he’s also a flake.”
“But he runs this business…”
“Yeah, like I said, talented. He’s like a savant.”
Alex laughed again as they stepped out into the sunlight, leaving the airy boat-building warehouse behind. “Oh, come on. He’s very sweet.”
“All women like Decker.” Garrett looked down at her and smiled. “None of the cousins have figured out why, yet.”
“None of you? How many cousins do you have?”
“I can’t count that high,” he said with a half laugh. “We’re all over California. Like a biblical plague.”
She laughed and Garrett let the sound ripple over him like sunlight on the water.
“Must be nice, having that much family.”
“It can be,” he admitted. “It can also be a pain in the ass from time to time.”
They stopped at the end of the dock, and Garrett helped her into the sleek boat waiting for them. He untied the rope, tossed it aside then jumped in beside her. The wood planks of the hull gleamed a dark red-brown from layers of varnish and careful polishing. The red leather bench seats were soft and the engine, when Garrett fired it up, sounded like the purr of a mighty beast.
Alex laughed in delight and Garrett couldn’t help grinning in response. In a few minutes, he was out of the harbor and headed for open water.
“I love this boat,” she shouted over the engine noise. “It’s like the ones in that Indiana Jones movie!”
“I love that you know that!” He grinned and gunned the engine harder, bringing the bow up to slap at the water as they careened across the surface.
When they were far enough out that Garrett was convinced that Alex was perfectly safe, he eased back on the throttle. The roar of the engine became a vibrating purr as the sleek powerboat shifted from a wild run into a lazy prowl.
Garrett slanted a look at her. “So, action movie fan are you?”
“Oh, yes.” She turned her face up to the sun, closed her eyes and smiled. “It’s having three brothers, I think. They had no time for comedies or romance, so movie night at our house meant explosions and gunfire.”
“Sounds like my house,” he said, remembering the many nights he and his brothers had spent reveling in movie violence. Garrett and Griffin especially had enjoyed the cops and robbers movies. The good guys tracking down the bad guys and saving the day in the end. Maybe that was why he and his twin had both ended up in the security business.
“You have brothers?”
“Four—one of them is my twin.”
“A twin! I always thought it would be wonderful to be a twin. Was it?”
“Wonderful?”
He shook his head. “Never really thought about it, I guess. But yeah, I suppose so. Especially when we were kids. There was always someone there to listen. To play with and, later, to raise hell with.”
Being a twin was such a part of who and what he was that he’d never really considered what it must look like from the outside. Griffin and he had done so much together, always right there, covering each other’s backs that Garrett couldn’t imagine
not
being a twin.
“Did you? Raise a lot of hell?”
“Our share,” he mused, lost briefly in memories of parties, football games and women. “When we were kids, being identical was just fun. Swapping classes, tricking teachers. As we got older, the fun got a little more…creative.”
“Identical?” She took a long look at him. “You’re exactly alike?”
He shook his head and gave her a half smile. “Nah. I’m the good-looking one.”
She laughed as he’d hoped she would.
“Must have been nice,” she said, “raising a little hell once in a while. Having someone to have fun with.”
“No hell-raising in your house?” he asked, though he couldn’t imagine her and her brothers throwing any wild parties when the king and queen were out of town.
“Not that you’d notice,” she said simply, then changed the subject. “Decker seemed very nice.” She ran her fingertips across the small brass plaque on the gleaming teak dashboard.
King’s Kustom Krafts.
“Decker King is his name?”
“Yeah.” He hadn’t even considered that she would learn Decker’s last name. And what kind of thing was that for a man like him to admit? Hell, he made his living by always thinking three steps ahead. By knowing what he was going to do long before he actually did it. By being able to guess at what might happen so that his clients were always safe. But around Alex, his brain wasn’t really functioning. Nope, it was a completely different part of his body that was in charge now.
And it was damned humbling to admit he couldn’t seem to get his blood flowing in the direction of his mind.
“Yeah. Decker’s okay.”
“He builds lovely boats.”
“He really does,” Garrett said, relaxing again when she didn’t comment on Decker’s last name. “So, you’ve heard about my family, tell me about these brothers of yours.”
She looked at him and he read the wary suspicion in her eyes. “Why?”
“Curiosity.” He shrugged and shifted his gaze to the sea. No other boats around. But for the surfers closer to shore, they were completely alone. Just the way he preferred it. Giving her a quick glance he saw her gaze was still fixed on him as if she were trying to make up her mind how much to say.
Finally, though, she sighed and nodded. “I’ve already told you I’ve got three brothers. They’re all older than me. And very bossy.” She turned her face into the wind and her long blond hair streamed out behind her. “In fact, they’re much like my father in that regard. Always trying to order me about.”
“Maybe they’re just looking out for you,” he said, mentally pitying the brothers Alex no doubt drove nuts. After all, the king himself had told Garrett that Alex managed to lose whatever bodyguards were assigned to her. He could only imagine that she made the lives of her brothers even crazier.
“Maybe they should realize I can look after myself.” She shook her head and folded her arms over her chest in such a classic posture of self-protection that Garrett almost smiled.
But damned if he didn’t feel bad for her in a way, too. He hated the idea of someone else running his life. Why should she be any different? Still, every instinct he possessed had him siding with her brothers and her father. Wasn’t he here, protecting her, because he hadn’t been able to stand the idea of her being on her own and vulnerable?
“Guys don’t think like that,” he told her. “It’s got nothing to do with how capable they think you are. Men look out for our families. At least the decent guys do.”
“And making us crazy while you do it?”
“Bonus,” he said, grinning.
Her tense posture eased as she gave him a reluctant smile. “You’re impossible.”
“Among many other things,” he agreed. Then, since he had her talking, he asked more questions. Maybe he could get her to admit who she was. Bring the truth out herself.
And then what?
Was he going to confess that he already knew? That her father was now
paying
him to spend time with her? Yeah, that’d go over well. How the hell had he gotten himself into this hole anyway?
Disgusted, he blew out a breath and asked, “So, you’ve got bossy brothers. What about your parents? What’re they like?”
She frowned briefly and shifted her gaze back to the choppy sea, focusing on the foam of the whitecaps as if searching for the words she needed. Finally, on a sigh, she said, “They’re lovely people, really. And I love them terribly. But they’re too entrenched in the past to see that their way isn’t the only way.”
“Sound like normal parents to me,” he mused. “At least, sounds like my dad. He was always telling us how things had been in his day, giving us advice on what we should do, who we should be.”
She tucked her hair behind her ears and, instantly, it blew free again. Garrett was glad. He was getting very fond of that wild, tangled mane of curls.
“My parents don’t understand that I want to do something different than what they’ve planned for me.”
He imagined exactly what the royal couple had in mind for their only daughter and he couldn’t picture it having anything to do with boat trips, ice cream and Disneyland. He knew enough about the life Alex lived to know that she would be in a constant bubble of scrutiny. How she dressed, what she said and who she said it to would be put under a microscope. Reporters would follow her everywhere and her slightest slip would be front page news. Her parents no doubt wanted her safely tucked behind palace walls. And damned if he could blame them for it.
“Give me an example,” he said, steering the boat along the coastline. More surfers were gathered at the breakers and, on shore, towels were scattered across the sand like brightly colored jewels dropped by a careless hand.
“All right,” she said and straightened her shoulders as if preparing to defend her position. Her voice was stronger, colored with the determination she felt to run her own life. “At home, I volunteer with a program for single mothers.”
Her expression shifted, brightening, a smile curving her mouth. Enthusiasm lit up her eyes until they shone like a sunlit lake. When she started talking, he could hear pride in her voice along with a passion that stirred something inside him.
“Many of the women in the program simply need a little help in finding work or day care for their children,” she said. “There are widows or divorcées who are trying to get on their feet again.” Her eyes softened as she added, “But there are others. Girls who left school to have their babies and now don’t have the tools they’ll need to support themselves. Young women who’ve been abused or abandoned and have nowhere to turn.
“At the center, we offer parenting classes, continuing education courses and a safe day care for the kids. These young women arrive, worried about the future and when they leave, they’re ready to take on the world. It’s amazing, really.”
She turned on the bench seat, tucked one leg beneath her and rested one arm along the back of the seat. Facing him, she looked him in the eye and said, “The program has grown so much in the past couple of years. We’ve accomplished so many things and dozens of women are now able to care for their children and themselves. A few of our graduates have even taken jobs in the program to give back what they’ve received.”
“It sounds great.”
She smiled to herself and he saw the well-earned pride she felt. “It is, and it feels
good
to do something to actually help, you know? To step outside myself and really make a difference.”
“Sounds like you’re doing a good thing,” Garrett said quietly.
“Thank you.” She shrugged, but her smile only brightened. “I really feel as though I’m doing something important. These women have taught me so much, Garrett. They’re scared and alone. But so brave, too. And being involved with the program is something I’ve come to love. On my own.”
She sighed then and beneath the pride in her voice was a wistfulness that tore at him. “But my parents, sadly, don’t see it that way. They’re happy for me to volunteer—organizing fundraisers and writing checks. But they don’t approve of me donating my time. They want me in the family business and don’t want me, as they call it, ‘splitting my focus.’”
“They’re wrong,” he said and cut back enough on the throttle so that they were more drifting now than actually motoring across the water. “You are making a difference. My mom could have used a program like that.”
“Your mother?”
Garrett gave her a small smile. “Oh, my mom was one of the most stubborn people on the face of the planet. When she got pregnant with my brother Nathan, she didn’t tell our father.”