Jill Shalvis - A Royal Mess and Her Knight To Remember

“Well, so am I.”

“Children,” Amelia broke in, stepping between the two of them as they came together nose to nose. “Let’s not squabble. I’m sure we can settle this reasonably. After all, you’re both after the same thing.”

Annie’s breath clogged in her throat. “Amelia, I know you’re always right-”

“Oh, dearness, I do like a sentence that starts that way,” Amelia said with a smile.

“But-”

“Now Annie, you know how I feel. Butts are better-”

“-covered than discussed,” Annie said with her in unison. She had to laugh. “Yes, I know. But-”

“Stop.” Kyle lifted a hand to his head as if afraid it was going to fall off. “Please, just stop.” He took Annie’s shoulders and lifted her clear off the ground so that they were indeed nose to nose. “Answer this. Do you care about me?”

His eyes were dark, deep and full of many, many things, but it was the uncertainty that reached her. So much so that she reached out and cupped his face. “After last night, I should be insulted you have to ask.”

“I don’t mean physically, damn it. I know you care about me that way.” Before she could take offense at his confidence, he was solemn again. “I mean do you care about me…emotionally.”

She didn’t hesitate. “I care very much.” I love you, you ignorant fool. “In fact, that’s sort of tied into what I wanted to say to you.”

“Shh, he’s not done,” Amelia admonished, still standing right beside them, unabashedly eavesdropping. “Let the poor man finish.”

“Thank you,” Kyle said, not taking his eyes or hands off Annie.

“No problem. She’s terribly impertinent, always has been.”

“I can see how that must have been a huge problem,” Kyle said.

“Must have been?” Amelia laughed. “Oh, my dear. She still is.”

“Hey! She is still standing right here and has ears,” Annie said indignantly, waggling her toes, which were still a good six inches off the ground.

“Get used to it,” Amelia advised Kyle as if Annie hadn’t spoken. “And, oh, she’s getting her temper up now, isn’t she? She might as well be a redhead, really, for all her ability to control it.”

“Amelia!” Annie glared down at her friend, at the woman who’d been a mother to her since her own had perished. “I love you, but I’m afraid you’re fired.”

“This is the sixty-seventh time you’ve said that in our time together,” Amelia said, unconcerned, studying her fingernails. “And for the sixty-seventh time, your father pays me, not you.”

Annie tipped her head back and sighed loudly.

Kyle’s eyes sparkled. “So, impertinent princess, can I finish now?”

“Oh, please. By all means, finish. Heaven forbid I try to have a say in my own life.”

His hands tightened on her. His voice came sure and strong. It was only the flicker in his eyes that gave away his nerves, and caused hers. “Andrea Katrine Fran Brunner, will you m-”

“Excuse me,” Amelia interrupted. “You have to say Your Serene Highness when addressing Annie formally.”

Kyle nodded. “Sorry. You’re right.” He turned back to Annie. “Your Serene Highness, Andrea Katrine Fran Brunner, will you m-”

“No. I’m sorry.” Amelia shook her head and tapped a finger to her lower lip. “You forgot the ‘of Grunberg’ part.”

“Okay.” Before Kyle turned back to Annie, he paused. “Is that all?” His voice was a little tense now.

“Yes. Please proceed.”

“Amelia.” Annie spoke in an oddly calm voice given that she could hardly get a word out past the lump in her throat, not to mention the hope bouncing like popcorn off the walls in her stomach. “I mean this in the nicest way. But shut up.”

“Shutting up,” Amelia said obediently.

As if she’d ever been obedient!

“Kyle,” Annie said, still watching Amelia. “Put me down.”

He actually did, but he didn’t take his hands off her. “I have to tell you, Annie. I’m getting a little frustrated here.”

“Join the club. Now.” She drew a deep breath and looked into his beautiful eyes, because God help her, she had an inkling that this could be better than even her wildest dreams. “Go ahead. I promise to kill the next person who interrupts you.”

“Not if I beat you to it.” He ran his hands down her arms to their fingers, which he entangled. “Okay, here it is, Annie. I love you. I don’t know how it happened. I sure never meant for it to, but from the moment we took on Jimmy together, things haven’t been the same for me.” He blew out a breath. “And now that I’ve said it out loud, I feel a little weak, so could you say you feel the same way before I pass out?”

He loved her. “I’m sorry,” she finally managed, her voice thick. “I didn’t hear anything past the I love you part. Do you think you could repeat it?”

He actually tried. His brow was furrowed with stress, his body tight with strain, but he tried. If she hadn’t already loved him, she would have fallen in love right then and there. “I said, I never meant for this to happen,” he repeated. “But-”

“I meant the ‘I love you’ part.” She slipped her fingers into his hair because she had to touch him. She probably had to touch him for the rest of her life.

“I love you,” he said hoarsely, dropping his forehead to hers. “I want to go with you to Grunberg. I want to be with you in your setting for a change, away from all this…this…”

“Pink satin?”

“Yes. God, yes.”

“But Grunberg isn’t America.”

“You have cops there?”

“Well, yes.”

“Then I can make a living. But first I want to just be, Annie. For a little while I just want to be. With you. I want to marry you. Do you think that’s something I can talk you into?” He pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a beautiful solitaire diamond.

“Like I said.” She managed a smile in with her tears. “All I heard was ‘I love you.”’

“Is that a yes?”

“I love you back, Kyle.”

“Is that a yes?” he pressed.

“So you really thought I rescued you?”

“Annie.”

“Yes.” She threw herself at him and kissed his face everywhere she could reach. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Next to them, Amelia buttoned closed her satchel and nodded in triumph. “A job well done,” she decided, even if she said so herself.

GRUNBERG WAS GLORIOUS. Green and lush and perfect, it allowed for more adventure than a man could ever want.

Kyle lay prone on the hammock. He was surrounded by the tall, majestic mountain peaks of Austria and Switzerland. He had a soda balancing on his belly and thirty minutes to himself before a meeting.

“There’s been a breach in security,” came the hushed whisper from behind the tree off to his right. “The castle is no longer safe.”

“Never fear, I’ll rescue you, fair princess,” came a second hushed whisper.

“No. I’ll rescue myself.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re just a girl.”

“That’s right, and as just a girl, I’ve got the innate right and ability to kick some-”

“Hold it.” With a laughing groan, Kyle sat up. “I’ve got the innate right to report the both of you to Her Serene Highness.”

The two in question, lurking among the trees just before him froze, then hung their heads.

He studied them gravely, biting back his laugh, because God help him, his heart threatened to burst just looking at them. “Does Momma know you’re running wild and free?”

“Oh, yes,” reported his beautiful six-year-old daughter who looked exactly like her mother, all deep golden eyes, long gold hair and that sweet, irresistible smile. “She sent us to bother you. Said that it was time her Head Of Security trained his new recruits. But we don’t need training, Dad. Or at least I don’t.” She glared at her eight-year-old brother.

He glared right back, and Kyle didn’t need a mirror to know where he got that expression.

“I’m going to be Head of Security, just like Daddy,” claimed his son. “You’re just a princess.”

She only let out a slow smile. “Maybe. But at least I’m not a boy.” She dragged the word out as if it was five syllables long, then let out a squeak when her brother started after her.

Round and round they ran, until Kyle grabbed one kid under each arm, much to their squealing delight. “Hmm,” he said, pretending to ponder as he walked toward the pond ten yards away. “I wonder if naughty little children melt.”

“No, Daddy!” laughed his little princess. “I’m wearing my good clothes.”

“Such a girl,” her brother sneered, but screamed with laughter just like his sister as his father stopped at the very edge of the pond.

“My, my,” came the calm voice of reason behind them.

Kyle turned. “I’m sorry, Your Serene Highness. I’ve discovered a serious breach of security. I’ve got it under control.”

His beautiful wife of nine years smiled, love and warmth coming from her eyes. “My hero.” She sighed. “Then I suppose there won’t be any need for the cookies I just pulled from the oven.”

More squeals and squirming, and suddenly his two children were but a blur on the horizon as they raced each other for the kitchen.

With a laugh, Annie moved into Kyle’s open arms. “Ah, hear that? Silence. Isn’t it grand?” She snuggled in closer. “No need to thank me, really. I’ll just add this latest rescue on to your tab.”

Kyle choked a laugh into her soft, silky hair and his arms tightened on her. “You can rescue me any time. Any time at all.”