Winter Blockbuster 2012 (55 page)

Pellea nodded. “We’ve got the capability. Heck, I could do it from my notebook. But as I understand it, it will take some time to set up the official, royal version that they can use, too,” she said. “I’ll try to have the technicians on it right away.” Then she frowned. “In the meantime, you be careful.
People have been known to do some ugly things to get their hands on a piece of jewelry like that.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got my eyes open.” He gave a simple bow to the queen and a faint smile to Kayla, and then he was out the door.

Kayla was glad to know he was now certain he had not taken the artifact, but she was not so happy with his new dismissive attitude. She was mulling over how to respond to it when Pellea walked up and leaned on her desk with both hands.

“What are we going to do about Max?” she said in a quiet voice, meant to stay clear of any eavesdroppers.

Kayla was startled. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing new. Just the usual. I’m still worried about his lack of commitment to becoming a prince. His heart isn’t in it. Not yet.”

She only hesitated a moment before taking the plunge. “I’m afraid you’re right. At least, in part. I think he’s coming around, but it’s going to take some time.”

Pellea sighed. “The others seemed to be able to make the adjustment to royal status quickly and easily. I don’t know if he’s just too rigid in his ways or what. I’m really afraid that he might not be able to do it.” She shook her head, looking worried. “There’s something wild and free in him. Something that resists rules and borders. I’m not sure he’ll be able to stay.”

Kayla knew the queen was emotionally invested in Max’s success, still, she was surprised to see she had tears in her eyes. Kayla reached for her hand and held it with genuine affection.

“Oh, Pellea, don’t give up on him.”

“Oh, I can’t. We need him. The family won’t be whole without him. Like a family portrait with one face cut out.
Can you imagine? Impossible! It will kill Monte if he doesn’t stay. Now that the war is basically won, now that Leonardo Granvilli is dead, he has such plans for this country.”

“I’m sure he’ll stay,” she said, wishing she could sound more convincing. But that was hard when she wasn’t sure what she was saying was true. “He just needs seasoning.”

Pellea dried her eyes and gave Kayla a watery smile. “I still have hope. I do have one ace in the hole, you know. You see, I have one piece of bait, one promise, one prize that just might keep him here.”

Kayla looked innocent. “What is that?”

Pellea laughed. “You!”

“Me? Oh, no, no, no, no.”

“Yes, you my dear. It obvious the two of you are in love. Or hadn’t you noticed?”

Luckily, a visitor arrived in time to save Kayla from having to answer that. She went back to work, typing as fast as she could, her cheeks hot and rosy. What Pellea was suggesting was insane. She knew Max well enough to know he wasn’t husband material. He wasn’t even father material. He was a wild man. And after last night, she was afraid there was no hope of anything taming him.

Kayla sent a message asking Max to come for dinner, and to her surprise, he showed up, despite the fact that he hadn’t contacted her all day. It was funny how lonely that had made her. In just a few days she’d become used to hearing from him constantly and she missed it when it wasn’t there. She served meat loaf and mashed potatoes and he had two helpings. Though he started out seeming a bit distant, he soon warmed up as he told her about talking to the king of Mercuria on the video phone connection.

“We weren’t exactly buddies when I was working on organizing
the air force last year,” he said. “But we did work together often and we got along well. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to remember all that.”

“What did he say?”

“He insists I have the artifact. He says he has proof.”

“Proof? What sort of proof?”

Max hesitated. Then he made a wry, apologetic face and told her the truth. “He says that Princess Nadine gave it to me personally when she knew I was leaving. She supposedly gave it to me so that it would bring me back to her.” He looked at a loss. “Believe me, I barely ever spoke to the girl. And she never gave me anything. I was hardly ever that close to her.”

Kayla nodded, thinking hard. She had no doubt at all that Max was telling the truth. But how could the princess have thought she was giving it to him when she wasn’t at all? And where was it now?

Teddy was playing about their feet as they finished their dinner. He had a large, open plastic bus and a small plastic horse and he was very intent on making the horse drive the bus. It seemed to make perfect sense to him that a horse would be driving. But at one point the horse fell out and the bus ran right over him.

Teddy gasped. Max reacted without thinking, reaching down to save the horse. “Poor little horsey,” he said, pretending to make the animal neigh back at him. “The horsey wants to go back in the bus,” he told Teddy, as though he’d understood the neigh. “Here.” He put him back in the driver’s seat.

Teddy stared up at him, eyes wide. Then, suddenly, he grinned right up at Max. It was a bright grin, a complete grin, full of joy, no holds barred. Max’s heart almost stopped. He’d never known. No one had ever told him what a baby’s smile could do. It knocked him out and then some. He felt
something explode in his chest and realized it was his heart starting up again.

Teddy had already forgotten the moment and gone back to playing with the bus. Max turned and looked at Kayla. She smiled at him.

“Wonderful, isn’t it?” she murmured.

She understood. He didn’t have to say anything and she understood. He glanced back at Teddy, at his own sweet baby. A baby who didn’t hate him after all. He could hardly breathe, he was so happy.

They talked softly for a while longer, and the euphoria faded. He still didn’t feel right about how Teddy had come to be. It had been wrong and he feared he would have to pay for that wrong, somehow.

“Are you okay?” Kayla asked.

He looked at her. She was so beautiful with the lamplight making a halo behind her beautiful hair. He wanted her—wanted her in his life and in his bed and in his dreams. Wanted her with an ache that throbbed inside and almost made him crazy. But he wasn’t ready to tell her so. He had so many things to think about and he was having trouble keeping it all straight.

He might leave. Just go. He’d done it before. In fact, it was the way he normally operated. Stay in one place as long as it pleased him, then, when things got tough, just go. He might do it again. He didn’t want it to happen. He was trying, really trying to change his ways, to find meaning in life and stick to it. But he knew himself well enough to know it might not work that way. He might just go.

He got up to leave. He had to go out on his own and figure out what was in his head and in his heart.

“Thanks for the great dinner,” he told her. “Promise me you’ll stay with Caroline tonight.”

“I will. As soon as you’re gone, we’ll go over there.” She searched his eyes. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

He avoided meeting her gaze. “I don’t know. I’ve got a lot to think about. I may go off on my own for a while.” He shrugged. “And I have to decide what to do about Mercuria. I can’t let them attack this country.” He shook his head, looking bemused. “What a concept, huh? Like a comic opera. But they are just crazy enough, they might do it.”

Kayla went up to say goodbye, then went on tiptoes and kissed him on the lips, surprising him. “I love you,” she told him.

Everything in him cried out for him to take her in his arms and give her what she deserved, but he held back. He held her shoulders and felt her lovely rounded flesh, so warm, so inviting. But he held back. She didn’t mean that she was in love with him. She loved him. She had always loved him, just as he’d loved Eddie. They had all loved each other. But that didn’t mean they were in love. Was he in love with her? That was just one more question he had to deal with.

He had to figure this out.

“Goodbye. I’ll call you.”

She nodded and watched him go, then turned to her son.

“No crying,” she told herself sternly. “We have things we have to do.”

She packed Teddy’s bag and then went into the closet to get some things of her own to take along to Caroline’s. She’d finally brought the denim jacket back from the office and then she’d forgotten to give it to him again. Even worse, it had slipped off the hanger and lay on the floor. She picked it up and pressed it to her face, reveling in the scent that reminded her of Max. Then she put it back on the hanger, noting that it was an awfully heavy jacket. And she finished packing and grabbed her son and headed out to her sister’s apartment.

The next day was unusually busy and different from their normal routine. In the morning, there was a meeting Pellea had set up that she wanted all the princes—and Princess Kim—to attend.

“I’d like all of the new princes to meet with the prime minister,” she told Kayla that morning, “and begin to get an idea of what they need to study about our history and foreign policy matters. They need to begin developing what their duties will be. That, of course, will depend a lot on each one’s individual skills and talents and how they can be used to best serve this country.”

Pellea’s face was quite serious, as though she’d given this a lot of thought. “Some of them still don’t realize that they can’t keep up the sort of lifestyle they are used to if they want to be serious about this royalty business.”

“Yes, I agree with you,” Kayla said softly, wondering if she mainly had Max in mind.

Pellea went on, completely filled with her own sense of purpose. “When you take on this way of living, you are taking on a responsibility for the lives, happiness and well-being of your people. And that means everybody in this castle, everybody on the royal side of the island, and even those rebels still siding with the Granvillis. Because eventually we’ll win them over, too, and the kingdom will be united again.”

Kayla nodded. “Have you told them all where and when?” she asked, wondering if she ought to give Max a call to remind him.

“Yes. Ten o’clock in the blue meeting room. And then, of course, we have the picnic luncheon for the French foreign minister and his family, out on the south lawn. Practically everyone in the castle will be coming to that one. Free food does tend to gather a crowd.”

The phone began to ring and the queen was soon engrossed
in one conversation after another. Meanwhile, Kayla tried to get hold of Max. She called, she sent messages, she even emailed him, but there was no response. As time went by, she began to be concerned, wondering what could have happened to him. She knew he’d planned to go off on his own for a while to think things over, but surely he was checking his messages.

Unless …

Unless he’d left the island. Unless he’d decided just to go. Her heart raced and she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“All right, I’m off to the prime minister’s meeting with the princes. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle things while I’m gone. I’ll go straight to the picnic from there. And don’t you forget to come to that. Afterward, we’ll work on the response to Mercuria.”

Kayla nodded, wondering how long it would be before she got a panicked call from the meeting telling her to find Max. When the hour went by without that call, she began to relax. Surely Pellea would have called her if he hadn’t shown up. Maybe everything was okay. Maybe she was letting her imagination run away with her.

And maybe she would go to the picnic luncheon after all. Max might even be there. She put away her work and hurried over to the other side of the castle, glad she’d worn dark slacks and a crisp white shirt rather than her usual skirt and sweater. She was dressed for a picnic.

She came out on an upper level and looked down. From where she was standing, she could see the royal platform. And there were Pellea and King Monte and all the princes. All the princes except one. No Max.

Her heart fell. Where could he be? She bit her lip and tried to calm down. There was no point running around like
a headless chicken. She had to be logical. The first place to look would be at his rooms.

Going back quickly through the halls, she made her way there in ten minutes. The usual guard was gone and when she knocked, no one answered.

Strike one. Where could she try next? Okay, he’d said he was going off on his own to think. He’d shown her his favorite place to do that, the flat rock by the stream. There was a balcony that looked right down over that area. That would provide the quickest access. She raced toward it.

There was an eerie feeling in this side of the castle today. The usually bustling halls were empty. Everyone was at the picnic. Kayla tried to calm herself down, but she was feeling a bit spooked.

Finally, out of breath, she reached the balcony, and with it, a sense of instant calm. She leaned out over the balcony railing, breathing in the fresh air and reveling in the feeling of freedom. White clouds scudded across a china blue sky. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful setting. Looking down, she didn’t see Max, but she did see a glorious view of the countryside, and she knew Max was down there somewhere. Surely he would begin to feel better about everything after a few hours walking about the grounds. She knew she would. She leaned out a bit farther and searched the hills and valleys for a sign of him.

All in all, she was glad she had brought her baby here to the castle. She had a good job and a nice place to live. No complaints. The only element lacking was a daddy for her baby. Other than that, things were coming up roses.

Finally, a movement caught her eye, but it came from right below where she was standing. Two men were struggling with a large push cart. From her vantage point, she could see a large white van parked in a stretch of trees toward the main
road. It looked like they were headed that way. But why not bring the van down to the castle and load their cargo in a convenient place? Only one reason she could think of. They were doing something illegal.

And that was certainly the feeling you got from watching them. Their movements were a little too quick, and a lot too furtive. Funny. What could they be transporting that they knew they shouldn’t be? Equipment they’d stolen? Machinery they’d found in a storeroom? The entire contents of someone’s living room?