Dancing With the Dangerous Prince (6 page)

The next few nights were the best of Ciara’s life.  And the worst.  Every moment that she spent in his company, she felt renewed.  He took her higher than she’d ever thought possible and showed her things about her body that she never could have known.  And she laughed.  Goodness, how she laughed.  He was a horrible tease, loved to tickle her once he’d discovered all of the places on her body that were so sensitive.  And he was the most passionate, demanding lover!  He wouldn’t let her go halfway.  And she loved every moment of her time in his arms.

But much too quickly, Friday arrived.  She’d known this time was coming but she had wanted to stick her head in the sand and pretend that it was far away. 

The night was giving way to the day and she couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.  “I have to go home tonight,” she told him, laying on top of him with her cheek against his chest.  It was her favorite position because it was the best way to feel as much of him against her skin as she could. 

“Where do you live?” he asked, running his fingers through her hair.  He was leaving tonight too.  It was the end of his annual vacation and his father was already calling him back.  He’d ignored two summons already but he couldn’t ignore any further requests.

With his question, he felt her tense up. 

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she sighed.

Zoran thought about his own role and had to chuckle.  “I’m pretty hard to surprise.”  He felt her smile against his chest.

“I live in Altair.”  She turned so she could see his face. 

Zoran froze, his fingers halting in mid caress. “Altair?  You’re kidding.”  So much for being hard to surprise, he thought.  He was stunned! 

She shook her head.  “Nope.  Have you been there?  It’s beautiful.  Some say it is a bit wild, but they only hear the rumors.”

“I’ve been there.  Many times.  I’m from Larcatia.”

Ciara lifted her head, her palms pressing against his chest so she could look into his eyes.  It was only then that the hard jawline and the dark eyes struck a memory.  She tilted her head as she tried to remember the one portrait she’d seen in the Larcatia palace.  “No!  Please tell me that you’re not Zoran del Hassar Alzar, Crown Prince of Larcatia,” she whispered. 

Zoran rolled so that she was underneath him once more.  “Princess Ciara,” he mumbled.  “Where the hell have you been?” he almost laughed out loud, delighted with this discovery. 

She laughed as well, her fingers diving into his dark hair once more.  “I’ve been hiding out here at a remote summer camp.”

“And being a very naughty girl,” he said, taking her nipple in his mouth and sucking, causing her to gasp out loud and arch as the fire reignited. 

“I’ve been corrupted by an arrogant prince,” she countered and shifted against him, causing him to hiss as she’d intended. “I think that I’m going to have to punish you for all of the naughty things that you’ve done.”

Zoran chuckled as he grabbed her hands and pulled them up above her head. “I think that you should be thanking me for bringing you into the real world, princess,” he said as his head descended to her other breast. He could feel her holding her breath as he hovered right above the pink nipple. “You’re going to have to marry me, you understand that don’t you?”

She wiggled underneath him, trying desperately hard to get him to follow through on where his lips were hovering. “You’ve endeavored all week to try and get me to do what you want, but so far I’ve resisted. What makes you think that I’m going to bow down to your commands now?”

His knee pressed between her legs and she willingly opened them for his penetration.   She understood his silent message, her body waiting, desperately need him to follow through with that action but he stopped, not giving her what she wanted.  “You’re cheating,” she said breathlessly.

“Admit that we’re going to get married and I’ll give you anything you want.”

“I agree,” she gasped. A moment later she was rewarded for her agreement when he pressed into her, filling her up. From that moment on, there was no more talking. Only feeling.

Zoran stepped down out of the helicopter and quickly made his way through the palace. He barely took notice of the guards who were standing sentry outside of his father’s office before he burst through the doors.

His eyes took in his father sitting behind the elaborate desk, his eyes looking tired, slightly strained.  He thought about delaying the conversation until he understood what had happened over the past seven days, but this subject was too important.  Everything else needed to take a back seat to the issue of his marriage.  “I’m marrying Princess Ciara from Altair,” he told his father.

Sheik Patir’s mouth fell open in stunned silence for a long moment.  But as his son’s words sank into his exhausted brain, he rallied quickly, shaking his head in denial.  “The contracts for your marriage have already been signed,” his father said with a sigh, shaking his head and leaning back in the large, leather chair that had held the sheiks of Larcatia for centuries.

Zoran shook his head. “No, an alliance with Altair would be beneficial to both of our countries. With all of the increasing tensions on the borders, we will need their support in order to gain the upper hand. In fact, after this marriage, there might not be any more tensions.  There are several issues that potentially could go away with an alliance between Larcatia and Altair.”

His father rubbed his forehead, revealing more of his fatigue.  “Except that your marriage contracts have been agreed to between Princess Jalayla bin Faisal of Tularia.  The negotiations were finalized last Wednesday and all the contracts signed, sealed and delivered to the appropriate authorities, myself included, as of Thursday.  That was the main reason I kept trying to call you back.”  He looked at his son with both pride at the man he’d become and a tinge of sadness that Zoran had finally found a woman he could love and it could not be. 

Zoran shook his head, refusing to give up a life with Ciara. “Call King Busar and tell him that plans have changed.”

Zoran’s father stood up, shocked that his son would even suggest such a thing.

He leaned against his desk, his fists holding him up as he glared furiously at Zoran.  “You know that we can’t do that,” his father uttered with finality. “The repercussions of such a move might shift the tensions into total war. We cannot insult the people of Tularia with a rejection of their princess. It simply isn’t done. You know this, I shouldn’t have to tell you such a thing.”

Zoran ran a hand over his face in frustration. “There has to be something that can be done.”

His father’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Zoran, realizing there was much more to this discussion than what he’d heard so far. “What have you done?”

Zoran’s hands flexed as he put them onto his hips. He wasn’t afraid of his father. They had a good relationship with each other but this was something that he wasn’t backing down on. “I met Princess Ciara while I was away.”

The shock vibrating from his father rose into the air between the two men. “Tell me you didn’t do anything stupid,” his father demanded.

Zoran laughed, his head shifting back and forth as he remembered everything he had shared over the past week with the beautiful woman. “I did nothing stupid.” He looked at his father “I will tell you that I fell in love with her. And she’s agreed to marry me.”

There was another very pregnant moment.  “Impossible!” his father roared.

Zoran squared off with his father. “Not only is it possible, but it is going to happen. I’m marrying Princess Ciara.” He moved closer to his father’s desk. “This isn’t hard to fix,” he said to his father. “This is actually a very good thing.”

His father’s face looked almost apoplectic. “You cannot break an agreement of this magnitude. You will marry Princess Jalayla.” He moved around his desk, coming closer to his son. “You’ve never shirked your duties before like this. How can you come in here and tell me that you didn’t do anything stupid, and yet you’re telling me that you’re going to ignore a contract that commits yourself to another ruler’s daughter?”

Zoran crossed his arms over his massive chest as he looked at his father. They were approximately the same height and they also had similar personalities. In the past, that had been cause for a few clashes. Two arrogant, stubborn men arguing over things that they both believed to be right did not make for a peaceful coexistence. But over the years, they had learned to adjust to each other’s personalities and work with each other. The trials and tribulations, not to mention the enormous burden of responsibility that rested on the shoulders of the ruler, had forged a bond between these two men that was stronger than most fathers and sons.

But this was something about which Zoran was not backing down. There was no way that he could let go of Ciara in order to marry another woman. It didn’t matter about the consequences. He would deal with the consequences later. Contracts were broken all the time.  They just needed to be dealt with in a diplomatic way.

Zoran thought through the issues quickly, his agile mind coming up with several different solutions.  “Send Simon over to Altair and explain the situation. Tell him to discuss possible negotiations, and that we are sincerely sorry for any insult that might be perceived. You know that this kind of thing can be undone,” he said to his father.

Patir shook his head. “It can be done under normal circumstances but you know what has been happening on the borders over the past few months. We don’t even truly understand why it is happening. If we could understand the tensions, this might be something that we could pull out of. But because the tensions are so out of character for all of these villages, we have to act carefully. You have to marry Princess Jalayla.”

“I love her,” Zoran said with a tone that would brook no argument.

His father paused for a moment, his eyes revealing his surprise.  But then he rallied, his mind coming back to the repercussions to his country.  “You will love who I tell you to love,” his father roared.

Zoran smiled, understanding his father’s anger at the moment. He wasn’t going to give in, but he could understand the burden he’d just placed on the man. His father was a reasonable man and Zoran accepted that he needed to approach this in a different manner.

“Let’s talk about the benefits of a union with Altair versus a union with Tularia.” He paced back and forth, his mind sifting through all of the details that he knew about each of the countries. For the next hour, he and his father discussed the matter in greater detail, hashing out the pros and cons of each alliance. Initially, the discussion was heated. But as Zoran worked through all of the benefits, his father started to understand that a connection with Altair would have more benefits, both economic and political, rather than an alliance with Tularia.

By the time they were sitting down to dinner, his father was eagerly discussing ways that the contract with Tularia could be broken.

Ciara stepped out of the limousine carefully, remembering all of the lessons on deportment that she had eliminated from her mind during her summer of freedom as she was now viewing her summer camp employment. She had carefully observed the other camp counselors over the summer camp and had tried to mimic their body movements. The rest of the world was much more casual in the way they walked or held themselves. But now she was back in Altair and she needed to remember all of the ways in which she needed to hold herself. The press would be watching her, the world would be watching her. She had disappeared for three months with no word to anyone. Even the paparazzi were out in droves, tripping over each other in their attempts to catch a picture of her returning to the palace.

She laughed softly as she listened with half an ear to some of their questions. “How was your time in rehab?” one of them called out. “Are all of the bruises healed?” another one yelled. “What does the baby look like?” yet another reporter asked over the din of all of the other silly questions.

So, they thought she had either suffered a drug overdose, was battered by a lover or perhaps her father, or she had given birth to a secret child. Did any of them remember the fact that she had just run a marathon before she’d disappeared? It was pretty hard to run twenty-six point two miles when pregnant or on a drug high.

Instead of dignifying any of their off-the-wall questions, she simply walked through the gates of the palace with her head held high and a secret smile hiding the love and excitement that she was feeling.

Her first priority was to find her father and find out what had happened over the past three months. Hopefully they had figured out who had been sending all of those disgusting kidnapping threats. She couldn’t even be angry about those any longer because, first of all, she had been allowed to participate in an activity that she never would have been able to do had she been able to maintain her responsibilities for the government over the past three months. But best of all, she never would have met Zoran. Her love for that man swelled within her, and she felt in her pocket for the diamond ring that he had slipped on her finger only moments before she’d stepped onto a plane.

How he had discovered her departure time, not to mention which airport she was flying out of was a mystery. But she didn’t care. That diamond ring signified that he was serious about his question from early this morning. He wanted to marry her! And she’d said yes! As if there could be any other answer.

Goodness, what a shocking change that had occurred over the past seven days. She’d met a man, fallen in love, and become engaged all within the past seven days. Never would she have thought this was possible. Her life before last week had been so predictable, so dull and tedious. She’d accepted her role, knew that she was an important member of this government. But she’d never had any excitement in her life, not in the way that Zoran gave her excitement every time he looked at her or touched her.

Ciara almost tripped over nothing as she thought back to the nights in Zoran’s arms.  She shook her head and looked around, hoping none of the other palace staff had noticed her misstep.  It would be hard to explain how she’d tripped just thinking about a man from another country. 

She had to get her mind off of the way that she felt when Zoran was close to her. She had to be cautious about all of this in order to convince her father that it was a good thing that she was going to marry Zoran. Hopefully, he hadn’t started negotiations for any other marriage for her. If he had, she would just have to convince him that this was a better alliance.

“Hello, Father,” she said as she stepped into the salon where they normally had drinks before dinner. “Hello, Mother,” she said and bent low to give her mother a kiss on her cheek.

Her mother looked up at her beautiful daughter, knowing that something had changed. “What’s going on?” her mother asked immediately.

Ciara laughed softly as she accepted the drink that the servant handed to her. “Thank you so much for this,” she said to the servant. “Would you mind stepping out of the room for just a moment?” She turned to her mother and father with excitement in her soft, brown eyes. “I have something that I need to discuss with both of you. And it needs to be deliberated in private.”

The doors to the salon were immediately closed behind the servant who had been preparing the drinks. When they were finally alone, Ciara turned to her parents and looked at them with all of the love she felt for Zoran shining through in her eyes. “I met a man, and I fell in love with him.”

There was a tense silence for a long moment as her mother and father stared at her.  The silence stretched out, her parents looking towards each other, then back at Ciara as their mouths fell open. “Tell me you are joking,” her mother said in a choked voice.

“You can’t be serious,” her father commanded sitting up from the relaxed pose he’d been in to one of stiff horror. As his daughter’s words sunk in, his eyes narrowed and he placed his glass of scotch on the table beside him with an angry clank.  “If this is true, then I want to know the name of the man. Immediately.”

Ciara smiled gently at both of her parents. “You’re not to believe this,” she said and folded her hands on top of her knees. “It’s actually a pretty funny story. Neither of us realized who the other person was. But over the course of a week, I got to know Prince Zoran of Larcatia. He just happened to be hiking and camping in the woods near the summer camp in which I was working.  I discovered that he’s a very fascinating man. We fell in love and he proposed to me.” She slipped a hand into her pocket and came back with the beautiful diamond ring in her hand. Very slowly she slipped the ring onto her finger, staring at it with all of the love that she felt for the man glowing in her eyes.

Her mother looked down at the ring then back up at her daughter. “But you are already engaged,” she said. “We were going to announce your engagement to Prince Tasir of Lurasa.”  She hesitated for a long moment, “The announcement has all been arranged, reviewed and is set to be released to the press!”

Ciara looked from her mother to her father, wondering if this was all some sort of strange joke. “Please tell me that you’re not serious about this.” She’d known that her father would most likely arrange for her marriage at some point, but why did it have to be right now?  When she’d finally met the man who could make her body sing with happiness?  Her eyes darted back to her mother, realizing that this wasn’t a joke. This was serious.

“Has the announcement been released?” she asked hurriedly, every muscle in her body tensing with trepidation as she waited for the answer.

Her parents looked towards each other once more, then back to her. “No, we were going to get the two of you together before any announcement was released. But the contracts have been signed, the negotiations all finalized. Everything is in place except for the two of you getting together and deciding on the minor details of the announcement,” her father explained.

Ciara looked at her parents and the tension that had been growing inside of her chest eased someone with this news. “Well then there doesn’t seem to be an enormous problem.”  She breathed in a deep breath, her hand moving to her chest to try and calm her racing nerves. “We can just contact everyone and explain that the contract needs to be negated.”

Her father’s mouth opened and closed, his confusion and anger increasing at her casual words and dismissal of such an important subject. “We can’t just negate a contract. It simply isn’t done. We have been friends with this country for years, decades even!  We can’t just pretend like the contracts have not been signed.  The insult to the people of Lurasa would be intense. I cannot imagine ever breaking a contract like this.”

Ciara’s hand floated up to her mouth as she considered all of the ramifications for what she was proposing. “But wouldn’t an alliance with Larcatia make more sense?” She asked both of them, her hands floating up into the air. “I mean, don’t they have those oilfields that are very close to our border that have been causing problems for the past ten years or so?”

Her mother and father looked at each other once again. Her father nodded slightly to her mother. “Well, yes, that has been a problem. But we were going to try and figure out a different way to deal with that.”

Ciara remembered all of the benefits and, just as Zoran had done with his father, she started to list the advantages of an alliance with Larcatia. She wouldn’t relent on her arguments until she started to see the tension ease in her parents’ eyes.  By the time dinner was served, her mother and father finally agreed with her. The next step was trying to figure out how to cancel the contract between the two countries without insulting Prince Tasir.