His Royal Prize (10 page)

Bebe’s parents were at her house for their weekly dinner. Amelia had always envied her friend’s close relationship with her family. Carlotta and Davis were both in their late fifties, and were a very attractive, romantic couple. They still held hands when they were in the same room, and she and Bebe had on more than one occasion walked in on them smooching.

“Do you have time for a drink?” Bebe asked.

“I’d love one,” she said.

“Good. Dad’s just mixed a pitcher of martinis. And they are pure perfection.”

Bebe poured her a cocktail and then sat down next to her on the love seat in the sitting room. The walls were decorated in a soft blue with creamy white accents.

“Tell me about your date last night. And then I want
to know what he has planned for tonight,” Bebe said. “This is exciting.”

“Exciting?”

“Because you’ve never dated a man like Geoff Devonshire before.”

“Geoff Devonshire,” Carlotta said. “Is that who you’re going out with? He’s not your usual sort of man, is he?”

“Mom, not now. I want to get the details first.”

“I know his mom, Amelia,” Carlotta said.

Suddenly Amelia had a chance to learn everything she wanted to know about Geoff and his family. An unexpected feeling of relief washed over her. “I think I might meet her this weekend.”

“Then it must be serious,” Carlotta said. “He isn’t the kind of man to bring home the women he dates.”

“We’ve only been out once,” she said, not wanting them to read anything into a relationship that she wasn’t sure would last.

“And they are going out again tonight,” Bebe said.

“And he already wants you to meet Louisa? That’s encouraging. When Davis was courting me, I wanted to spend every second with him. When we were apart, I missed him desperately.”

“That was, like, thirty years ago, Mom,” Bebe said.

“But love doesn’t change,” Carlotta said.

“I don’t know that this is love. We’ve only had one date.”

Carlotta nodded. “But it feels different, right?”

“What feels different?” Amelia asked.

“Being with him. Don’t you find that he’s different from all the other men you’ve dated?”

“He’s very different,” she admitted. And that was part of why she was so enamored of him. But love? She wasn’t ready to accept that. It was too soon. Everything was happening too fast.

She took another sip of her martini and realized that coming here and talking like this—about love—was making her nervous. What if Geoff couldn’t love her?

Did that matter? Did she want him to fall in love with her? She had never dreamed of marriage because her own parents had made such a mess of it. But every once in a while, she’d thought that it would be nice to have a relationship like Bebe’s parents had.

“I’m sure you two will make a good match. What time do you need to leave? Davis is ready to play chauffeur for you.”

“Thank you, Carlotta. I’m ready to go now,” Amelia said.

“Not so fast. I haven’t heard any of the juicy details,” Bebe said.

“I’ll leave so she can tell you,” Carlotta said. She patted Amelia on the shoulder as she went by, then stopped and looked back. “Being in love is the most wonderful feeling, Amelia, but it can also be very scary. It sometimes feels as if you’re losing yourself.”

Carlotta left and Bebe scooted closer to Amelia on the love seat, wrapping her arm around Amelia’s shoulders. “Does it feel that way?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do. A part of me wants him to love me and would do anything to make that happen. I mean, look at me, I’m sneaking around and changing cars like a spy in a James Bond movie.”

“And the other part?” Bebe asked.

She shrugged. How could she put it into words? She felt just the way Carlotta had described—scared and euphoric at the same time.

“I just don’t know. I’ve never felt this way about a man before.”

“I think that’s a good thing, darling. Let’s decide that it is.”

“And deciding will make it so?”

“Yes, it will. If things get serious I get to be your maid of honor,” Bebe said.

Amelia shook her head. “Don’t even talk about marriage. I’m not sure I can handle falling in love. What if I do but he doesn’t? Or what if he wants me to change even more? He already has me trying to avoid photographers, which I’ve never done.”

Bebe hugged her close. “You wouldn’t do any of that unless you wanted to. This man isn’t changing you, he’s allowing you to be different. That’s not a bad thing.”

Amelia wasn’t too sure about that. “I hope so.”

“Darling, you know that you haven’t been the scandalous heiress in years. The most daring thing you’ve done is jog around Hyde Park in a skimpy running outfit.”

“True. I have changed. With Geoff, I’m going to have to give up the last part of that heiress I used to be.”

“Used to be,” Bebe said. “Don’t be afraid to be the new you.”

She’d never liked the old her and she wasn’t sure who the “new” Amelia would be. But being with Geoff felt right, and as Davis dropped her off at the hangar, she didn’t feel like this was a second date. She felt like this was the start of her new life.

G
eoff had brought a picnic dinner and set it up in the hangar. When Amelia walked in, he felt a rush of emotion he couldn’t identify and didn’t even try. He had never met anyone who affected him as strongly as she did. She looked sexy and unsure as she paused in the doorway—it took every ounce of willpower he had not to go to her.

She glanced at the blanket he’d spread out on the floor. “We’re having a picnic.”

“I hope that’s okay,” he said.

“It’s…perfect. Thank you,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she took in the blanket, the food and the roses.

“How did you get here?” he asked, wondering if their picnic would be interrupted by paparazzi. He wanted privacy and the chance to enjoy himself with this beautiful woman he was coming to care deeply about.

But by the same token he didn’t want her to have to jump through hoops to see him.

“Bebe’s father drove me after the paparazzi left, figuring I was spending the night there. I was going to drive myself but everyone knows my car. And I don’t like to drive in the rain.”

“Why not?”

“I had an accident. I was fine but it shook me up. I hit another car when mine hydroplaned. It made me realize I couldn’t control anything.”

“How old were you?”

“Twenty-five. It’s funny because, at the time, my life was kind of spiraling out of control. That was right about the time that the video hit YouTube and I was just acting out a lot. Wearing outrageous clothing and making sure that everything printed about me was titillating. And then the car accident happened,” she said.

“But you were okay?”

“I was. I was taken to the hospital because of a scrape on my forehead. I had a concussion and the papers said I’d been drinking, of course.”

“Had you been?” he asked.

“No. And I learned the hard way that the media just made up what they wanted to in order to sell more papers. I disappeared for a few weeks and came back with an agenda. Then I started really working for the Munroe Foundation. That accident changed my life,” she said.

“I’m glad,” he said. “And very happy you were okay.”

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her close. Though she’d talked about the accident like it was no
big deal, he realized that he might never have met her if things had seriously gone wrong. What would it be like if he didn’t have Amelia? What if something took her away from him?

His thoughts turned to his phone call with Edmond. He had planned to tell her about it tonight, but he decided that business could wait. They could put out all the fires tomorrow. Tonight was about them.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest right over his heart. And though the self-protective part of him wanted to believe that this was just about lust and obsession, he knew deep inside that there was something more at work here.

He stepped back from her and led the way to the picnic he’d laid out.

“I hope you like chicken marsala.”

“Love it. My mom’s Italian, as you know.”

“Can she cook?” he asked, pulling her down next to him on the blanket.

Amelia laughed. “Yes, but she doesn’t. She has a chef. Though to be honest, she never did much cooking, even before she was ‘Mia Domenici, famous fashion designer’.”

“Wasn’t she always famous?” Geoff asked.

“She was a model first. She started designing when my brother and I were toddlers. She attributes her success to being home with us.”

“That’s nice. She made you a part of her business then.”

Amelia smiled. “I’d never thought of it that way before. I always thought she was bored with us.”

“Or she didn’t want to just be a stay-at-home mum.
Maybe she wanted you both to have something else to aspire to,” Geoff said. He handed her a plate, sat down next to her and uncorked the wine.

“And look how that worked out. We both spend most of our time jet-setting around the world.”

“And working for your father’s company,” he added. “I think you sell yourself short.”

“It’s easier to do that than to have someone else tell you that you don’t measure up.”

“You measure up very nicely, Amelia,” he said.

He handed her a glass of wine and lifted his own for a toast.

“Salut!” she said.

“Salut.”

They both took a sip. “What kind of car is that?” she asked, eyeing the sports car he’d parked in the hangar.

“A Veyron,” he said. “They’re very fast.”

“They’re also very hard to come by. You have to wait for them to be made, right?”

“Yes. But I put my name on the list a long time ago so when they started producing this model, I got one of the first ones.”

“Why do you want a car like that?” she asked.

“I like to go fast. I’ve always had a thing for cars and planes.”

“Let me guess. Probably because when you’re at the controls of a plane or behind the wheel of a car, no one knows who you are,” she said.

“Exactly,” he said. “Driving is the closest I get on the ground to the feeling flying brings me.”

“Truly?” she asked. “Just driving?”

“Well, until recently. I’ve found something else that makes me feel like I’m flying.”

“What is that?” she asked.

“You,” he said.

She looked up at him with those wide blue eyes of hers and he felt his heart skip a beat. “Me?” He nodded.

She bit her lower lip and he reached across the blanket to stroke the side of her face. “What is it?”

“I just realized that I’m afraid to believe you.”

“Don’t be,” he said.

“What if I fall?” she asked.

“I’ll catch you,” he said. And those words were more than reassurance, they were a promise that he knew he never wanted to break.

Amelia had never been in the cockpit of a plane before. She liked watching Geoff ready the small aircraft for takeoff. He showed her what he was doing as he did it, including her in every aspect of the preparations. She sat next to him as they taxied down the runway once they were given the all clear, and then they were in the air.

The cloud cover that had produced the rain earlier was gone and it was a clear night. They had headphones on so they could speak to each other, and Geoff gave her an aerial tour of the city, pointing out different neighborhoods and landmarks.

Some of it she could easily identify, but other parts were a mystery to her, as if she were seeing London for the first time. In the air, she heard the excitement
in Geoff’s voice. She could easily see why he’d had a successful career in the RAF. He was made to fly.

“I love this,” she said. “I’ve never seen London like this.”

“Up here you can see the entire city from a new perspective.”

“It’s beautiful at night. I’ve always liked the nighttime the best,” she said.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I think because at night, no one expects anything from you.”

He laughed. “It’s okay to mess up at night, is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes, it is. Think about it. During the day, everyone has claims on you. But at night no one has any designs on what you should be doing. They might wish you were at home or perhaps doing something respectable, but no one expects you to be working.”

“I think you’re right to some extent. There are still obligations at night but you can beg off and the host won’t think less of you,” Geoff said.

Amelia knew that while she saw the evenings as a time to play and relax, Geoff and polite society saw things differently. For them, it was a time to shine.

“How did you get out of your dinner tonight?” he asked.

“By promising to have brunch with Cecelia in two weeks’ time,” she said. “She really is a dear friend of Mom’s so I felt bad canceling. But she suspected that I might be canceling to spend time with you, so she was okay with that.”

“She was? Why?”

Amelia got uncomfortable. Why had she brought this up? Everyone thought that Geoff was different from the usual men she dated. People like Cecelia and Carlotta thought that meant that she might settle down. But Amelia worried that she was Geoff’s last wild fling before he found himself a respectable wife like Mary Werner—a woman who would never make waves and always say and do the right thing.

“She thinks you’re a nice man.”

“Nice?”

“Yes. That’s a good thing, you know.”

“It sounds boring. No man wants to be boring, especially when he’s with you.”

“I don’t think you are boring,” she said. “How could I?”

“Good. Now, do you want to take the controls?”

She shook her head. “No way. I like watching you do your thing.”

“But I can’t touch you if I’m flying,” he said.

His words sent a pulse of desire straight through her body, making her moist at her center. She wanted his hands on her again. It felt like ages since last night.

“I definitely don’t want to be in control of the airplane if you’re going to touch me. I’d probably make us crash.”

“Do I have the power to do that?”

“Yes, you do,” she said. She took a deep breath. “You have more power over me than any other man ever has.”

“And how does that make you feel?” he asked.

“Scared,” she said. “Because I have no idea how you feel.”

He banked the plane and started heading back toward the city. “You make me feel alive, Amelia. In a way that nothing has before—not even my fast cars and jet planes.”

Amelia wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged herself. This was more than she’d expected him to admit. Was Geoff falling for her? She wanted to believe that.

Almost too much. Was she making Geoff into the hero that she’d always been afraid to hope would show up?

She reached over and put her hand on his leg as he continued piloting the plane. She loved the feel of his muscular thigh.

“I like it when you touch me,” he said.

“I like touching you. I can’t get enough of you.”

“Really?”

“Can’t you tell? Last night I told myself that I’d only have one night with you. But here I am again.”

“What changed your mind?” he asked.

“You did,” she admitted. “This morning, when you stood naked in my kitchen.”

“Hmm…you can’t resist a naked man?” he asked.

She looked over at Geoff and smiled. He knew that it was much more than not being able to resist a naked man—it was that she couldn’t resist a naked Geoff. She could see that he knew he was the part that changed the equation. She wanted to build dreams around him—and that was dangerous.

Geoff landed the plane and pulled into the hangar but made no move to get out. He took his headphones off and helped Amelia with hers.

“Thank you for taking me flying,” she said. “I’ve never done anything like that before. It was spectacular.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” he said. He’d really enjoyed having her with him in the plane. “I have a biplane with an open cockpit that I’ll take you up in sometime. You’ll really like that.”

“Why?”

“Because you can feel the wind in your hair. I’ll do a couple of barrel rolls so you can get the full effect.”

“Full effect of what? Watching my life flash in front of my eyes?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t be in any danger. It’s exhilarating.”

“You might think so, Mr. Daredevil, but I think I’ll stick to a nice evening flight in a contained cockpit.”

“As long as you’re in my cockpit, I’m okay with that,” he said.

She looked gorgeous, sitting in his plane. He’d been rock hard since she put her hand on his thigh, and now that they were back on the ground, he wanted her naked.

He reached over and slowly unwound the scarf from her neck, leaving the ends hanging down her body. “Take off your jacket.”

She looked up at him and arched one eyebrow. “Am I finally going to feel your hands on me?”

“Oh, yes,” he said.

“It’s about time,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“I want your breasts, Amelia. Take off your jacket and your blouse, but leave on that scarf.”

A light flush covered her skin as she did what he asked. He watched as every inch of her torso was revealed to him. When she was naked from the waist
up, he reached over to touch her left nipple. He’d noticed last night that her breasts were very sensitive and he wanted to play with them again, to get her as turned on as he was.

He rubbed his finger lightly over her nipple and then took the scarf and drew it over the tip. She shivered a little and bit her lower lip.

“Do you like that?”

“Very much.”

He took the other side of the scarf and rubbed her right breast with it. Then he lightly pulled the scarf back and forth, teasing her breasts into taut peaks.

She squirmed in her seat and then leaned over and pulled his head to hers. His mouth met hers and she devoured him, her tongue thrusting deep into his mouth and her hands clutching at his shoulders. He moved the scarf back and forth faster and felt her fingers tighten on him.

“I want you, Geoff.”

“Not yet,” he said. “I want to see if you can come from this.”

“No,” she said. “I want to come with you inside me. Get naked.”

He smiled at her sexual demands. She shifted her hips on the seat until she could push her skinny jeans and panties down her legs. And her crotch was offered up to him. He stopped thinking of anything but touching her and tasting her.

He reached over, tracing the thin line of hair on the center of her feminine mound. She was waxed smooth everywhere else. He leaned in closer and pressed his
mouth to her, kissed her lightly and breathed in the feminine scent of her secrets.

“Geoff, what are you doing?” she gasped.

“Tasting you,” he said.

He parted her with his fingers and ran his tongue down the center of her body, tickling the bud of pleasure revealed there. Her legs shifted to let him closer and he felt her hands in his hair.

He reached up and tweaked one nipple, and heard her gasp again. With his other hand he found the entrance of her body and thrust one finger up inside of her.

She arched her back and moaned loudly. He knew she was about to come and couldn’t resist driving her over the edge. He used his mouth and hands to make her crazy until she was calling his name. He felt her core tightening around his fingers.