Leopold: Part Five (9 page)

He stands and smiles at me for a moment. “Paintings.”

“Excuse me?”

He nods, motioning to a painting over the fireplace on the other side of the room. “The artwork in the hallways. It’s how I learned the rooms. Your room is three doors past my tenth great-grandfather.” He shrugs. “That’s how I remember them. Because you are correct—every door does look the same.”

He holds his hand out to me and I take it. We walk back to my room in silence.

Leo swings the door to my room open and I step through, but he doesn’t. He stands on the other side of the entryway.

“I’m not inviting you in, Leo. My dinner will be here shortly, remember?”

He nods and smiles. “I remember.”

“Good.” I reach out, running my hand over his chest, across the crest on the pocket of his jacket. I have to force myself to ignore the pull I’m already feeling—the white-hot energy coiling up inside me again. “If you can be
discreet
, Your Highness, you may come to my room.” I pull my hand away when I see his eyes close. My voice drops to a whisper. “Later.”

His eyes flutter open and he presses his lips into a line. I can see how difficult it is for him not to reach out to me—how he’s forcing himself not to touch me right now. His eyes are dark, probably a mirror of my own.

But he takes a step back into the hallway and nods at me. He stares at me for a long moment before he nods again. His voice is only barely above a whisper, too.

“Later.”

T
he last thing
I want to do right now is speak to my father, but I have little choice. My body aches with unspent desire, and my head throbs at the thought of dealing with my father tonight.

It’s your own fault for losing control
, I remind myself. It hasn’t even been a night, and already I’m having trouble keeping to the conditions of my arrangement with my father. In my defense, though, I thought I was about to lose her again. That does things to a man.

God, I wish Elle had let me punch Stephan.
That man could use a good fist right to the jaw.

When I reach my father’s suite, I straighten my clothes once more. While I’m not ashamed of what happened with Elle, I know better than to walk into my father’s presence flaunting any evidence of my indiscretion. I rap lightly at the door and wait.

A moment later, Stephan opens the door for me, looking as sour as ever. I flash him my best grin as I stride past him. I have no intention of letting him win this little power struggle between us.

My father is sitting on a small sofa next to the fireplace, my mother beside him. Though each of my parents has their own suite—another one of those traditional palace customs that my father is loath to give up—my mother often spends the night here, and I’m grateful for her calming presence tonight. Personally, I much prefer being as far across the palace as possible from the man.

“Good evening, Father,” I say, giving a shallow bow. “Mother.”

My father doesn’t look the least bit pleased.

“I warned you, Leopold,” he says, his eyes hard. “I gave you a chance to prove yourself, and you’ve already broken the terms of our arrangement.”

“Actually,” I say lightly, “I believe the terms of our arrangement dictated that I would stay out of the tabloids and avoid causing any scandals. Which I have done.”

My mother gives a small shake of her head, probably warning me that cocky impudence will get me nowhere. She’s right, of course, but I refuse to let my father—or Stephan—know how much the events of this evening have shaken me.

My father’s frown has deepened. “That settee was over two hundred years old. This isn’t a brothel, Leopold. I won’t stand for you indulging in licentious acts in places where we entertain foreign dignitaries.”

My mother places her hand on his. “I think Leopold understands the inappropriateness of his actions.”

“I do,” I say. “And I apologize for my impropriety.”
As much as it pains me to ask for forgiveness from this man.

But my father just shakes his head. “It’s been one night, Leopold.
One night
, and already you’re showing me that you have no intention of changing—”

“Change takes longer than a night, darling,” my mother says to him. “Have patience with the boy.”

My father’s eyebrow twitches. “We had a bargain—”

“And I’m sure he is doing everything in his power to keep to that bargain. Come, Edmund—he’s young and very much in love. You know quite well what that can do to a young man.”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear my father’s cheeks redden slightly.

“That’s not an excuse,” he sputters. “He still should know better.”

“I believe he’s learned his lesson,” my mother says. She looks up at me. “Haven’t you, Leopold?”

“Yes,” I say, bowing my head. “I assure you, Father, it won’t happen again.”

“It had better not,” my father says.

I straighten my shoulders. “I promise I will be the picture of propriety from this moment forward.”
Or at least make damned sure we’re not caught next time.

My father’s brow is still wrinkled, but my mother’s gentle touches on his arm seem to be calming him.

“I’ll not stand for such shameless, wanton acts under this roof, Leopold,” he says. “I cannot control your behavior when you are on the other side of the world, but while you are within this palace, you will obey my rules.”

“I understand.”

“Consider this your only warning,” he continues. “If you step out of line again, our arrangement will be forfeit.”

I give another nod. “Understood.”

I’m almost suspicious of how easy this is—normally my father would never come around this quickly. But my mother gives me a smile of encouragement as she squeezes his hand. This is mostly her doing, I know—and I suspect that this will be my one and only reprieve. Even my mother can only do so much.

My father rubs his chin. Only recently have I become aware of how exhausted—how
old
—he looks these days. The weight of running a country—even a small one—is a burden I’m grateful I’ll never have to bear. But even fatigue is no excuse for his complete backwardness or his treatment of Elle.

“You are dismissed,” he tells me with a wave of his hand.

“Thank you,” I say, grateful to be able to return to Elle so quickly.

As I turn to go, though, I see Stephan standing by the door and am reminded of how we all came to be here in the first place.

“One more thing,” I say, turning back around. My mother gives me a look of warning, but I refuse to let that weasel get away with what he’s done. “Andrew has already said he would speak with you later, but I wanted to let you know why Elle and I were on that side of the palace in the first place. Apparently, before we came to dinner, Stephan paid a visit to Elle. Even though she is here as a guest of our family—even though he knew you and I had made an arrangement—he called her a courtesan and told her she wasn’t welcome here. In fact, he arranged for a car to meet her outside the servants’ door. You aren’t a man to go back on your word, Father, so I can only assume he did this without your knowledge or permission.”

My father’s lips have flattened into a hard line, and even my mother looks slightly shocked by my words.

“No,” my father says after a moment. “I gave him no such orders.” His eyes slide over my shoulder to Stephan. “Is this true?”

“Not as he said it, Your Majesty,” Stephan says. “It is true I arranged a car for Miss Parker, but only because she asked me to. She said she’d changed her mind about being here and wished to return home.”

“That’s a lie,” I say, spinning toward him. “You insulted her and tried to force her to go.”

“I would never insult a guest of His Majesty,” Stephan says.

“You did,” I say, growing angrier by the second. “You’re just trying to cover your ass.” I spin back toward my parents. “He’s lying to you. Ask Andrew. Ask Sophia. They know. And talk to Elle—she’ll tell you everything.”

“I assure you, Your Majesty,” Stephan says, stepping forward and bowing his head to my father, “I only did as she asked me to do. If she says differently now, it’s only because His Highness, Prince Leopold has asked her to.”

“You have some audacity to stand here and accuse
me
of lying to my own father,” I say. “Why would Elle ask to leave when we fought so hard for the opportunity for her to stay?”

“Forgive me, Your Highness, but I would not know,” Stephan says. “I simply assumed she was overwhelmed and realized she had no place here. I sought only to serve her wishes. She is a guest here, after all.”

I’m going to strangle the weasel
, I think.
He’s worse than a cockroach.
I can’t believe he’s pulling this shit—but on the other hand, I shouldn’t be surprised. It is Stephan, after all.

My father is rubbing his forehead.

“We’ll address this later,” he says. “I don’t have the patience for this tonight.”

“Speak with Andrew,” I say.
Please let my brother have my back.

“We can continue this discussion in the morning,” my mother says, rising. “I think it’s time for us all to retire for the night.” She comes toward me and gives me a peck on the cheek. “Goodnight, Leopold.”

“Goodnight, Mother. Father.” I want to stay here and see this through—I can only imagine what Stephan will tell my father the moment I’m out of the room—but I think better of it. Losing my temper will not help my case—or Elle’s. I can only pray my parents see through Stephan’s bullshit.

As I turn toward the door, I give the valet a look to let him know this isn’t over. To insult Elle and convince her to leave is one thing, but to lie about it… I will be keeping a very close eye on the man—that is certain.

Stephan sneers at me as I stride toward the door.

Don’t punch him
, I tell myself.
Don’t punch him, don’t punch him, don’t punch him.
Still, my fingers curl into fists at my sides.

As I march back across the palace toward my room, I try to talk myself down.
You caught a break
, I remind myself.
Your father is giving you another chance. Don’t let your temper spoil it.
But it’s hard to do. I almost lost Elle. And now I know there’s someone in the palace actively trying to drive her away. We haven’t seen the end of this, that much is certain.

My fists are clenched so tightly that by the time I reach Elle’s room, my hands are aching. I’m just reaching up to knock when my mobile buzzes in my pocket. With a deep breath, I pull it out and look down at the screen, expecting Andrew to be calling with another riveting lecture. By now I’m sure he’s heard all about the settee. Instead, it’s a number my phone doesn’t recognize.

I frown—until I remember how many women’s numbers I’ve deleted in the past month. It’s probably an old lover of mine hoping for another hot weekend in Ibiza—and judging by the number’s code, I bet it’s none other than Lady Karina calling me again.

I shake my head as I reject the call and shove the phone back into my pocket. After the way things ended the last time I saw her, I’m surprised she’s so persistent, especially considering I ignored her call last week.
Some women just can’t get the hint.

Still, the little interruption has calmed me slightly, and I take another deep breath before giving a quiet knock on Elle’s door.

She opens the door a moment later, her smile turning into a look of concern as her gaze sweeps over my face.

“What happened?” she asks, stepping aside to let me come in. “What did your father say?”

I let out another breath as I stride into the room. “My father isn’t the issue. I mean—yes, he’s an issue, but my mother managed to calm him tonight. You’re still welcome here and our arrangement is still in place, but we’ll need to be more careful from now on.”

“You mean by not having sex on antique furniture,” she says. “In rooms where anyone could walk in and see us.” Her cheeks turn that most delightful shade of pink, and my hands uncurl as I think of how much I want to reach out and touch that flush of color.

“Yes, we need to be discreet,” I say. “But my father isn’t the problem, Stephan is. He flat-out lied to my parents about what happened. He said
you
asked
him
to arrange for a way to leave.”

Her eyes widen slightly. “I didn’t. He came here and—”

“I know,” I say, though relief rushes through me at her words. Part of me—a small, weak part—was afraid Stephan was telling the truth, that Elle really did ask to go. I don’t know what I would have done if that were the case.

“He’s trying to cover his own ass,” I say. “And while I hope my father sees through his lies, Stephan is clever. He’ll wriggle his way out of this either way.” I move closer to her and cup her face in my hands. “And I suspect he won’t stop trying to drive you away, Elle. If his first tactic didn’t work, he’ll try another.” My eyes search hers. “You do want to be here, don’t you?”

She nods. “Of course.”

“You almost left me once tonight.”

Emotions flicker in her eyes. “I thought about leaving, but I didn’t. The car was waiting for me, but I couldn’t make myself get in.”

“But you thought about it. His plan nearly worked.” I release her face and take a step back. “He’ll try again. He’ll say whatever he thinks will convince you to go. I don’t want you speaking with him again.”

She crosses her arms. “I’ve already told you that I would stay. You don’t need to order me not to talk to him.”

I run my hand through my hair. “Maybe I do. You already fell for his lies once, and I don’t want to worry every time we’re apart that you’ll find some other excuse to walk away again.” My frustration is boiling up, but I’m not sure what to do with it.

She’s silent for a long moment. Then she says, quietly, “What would you do if I left?”

“I’d come after you,” I say without even having to think. “No matter where you went, I’d find you again. We belong together. And God help me, even if I had to track you to the ends of the earth, I’d do it.”

Her eyes have gone wide again.

“Does that scare you?” I ask, stepping toward her once more.

She looks up at me. “I… I don’t know.”

She
scares me. All of this—the things she does to me, the way I feel around her—is terrifying in a way I’ve never experienced before. But I’ve never been certain of anything like I am about this.

“You’re mine,” I tell her, dropping my face toward hers. “And I don’t intend to let Stephan or my father or anyone else say otherwise.” Then I kiss her.

She seems uncertain at first, but she warms to the kiss quickly. No wonder—we both left some things unresolved during our last encounter. Without breaking our kiss, I lift her and carry her toward the bedroom, ready to put things right between us again.

Damn it, I forgot to grab the condoms again
, I think as I lower her to the bed. Tomorrow, I’ll have Matthias deliver a year’s supply to this room. I want to be able to finish inside her, to give myself fully to her again. Tonight, though, I just want to drown in her body one more time.

Afterward, as we lay tangled up in each other, I finally find a quiet sort of calm. She’s already fallen asleep against me, and I look down at her as I trail my fingers up her back. Her skin is damp with perspiration, and her hair is a mess of waves across my chest.

One day at a time
, I think to myself.
We can do this.
Tomorrow, perhaps, I’ll give her a tour of the city. Or maybe give her a few quick lessons in our customs and etiquette. There’s so much she’ll need to learn if she stays here, so much I want to share with her.

Hope begins to swell in my chest again.
This is my chance to show her my world—to show her what made me as I am.
This is my chance to win her full heart, not just the pieces that slip around the wall she’s built up.