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“Well, you can tell Jacob that I resent his intrusion into my private life!” she snapped. “I don’t need anyone’s charity.”
“You’ll lose your house. You’ll be on the street,” Thomas said calmly.
“The hell I will.” She flashed her eyes at him.
“If accepting a gift isn’t your preference, consider the money a short-term loan.”
She glared at him, but couldn’t stay angry. She’d always liked him. What amazed her about Thomas was that he never seemed to think of himself. He was always doing things for Jacob—bringing him documents, keeping him on schedule for his appointments, driving him here and there, protecting him from outsiders. He seemed on duty twenty-four hours a day. And now he protected her sister, nephew and niece as well. He was a little scary sometimes—because of his size and booming voice. But he was, she believed, one of the most honorable and dedicated men she’d ever met.
He continued calmly, his dark eyes fixed on her face. “You have to be reasonable, Diane. If not for your own sake, then for the children….”
She felt silly, turning down gobs of money. Giddiness took over. She did what every first-grader learns to do when confronted with adult logic. She covered her ears, closed her eyes and belted out “The Star Spangled Banner” as Thomas continued his argument.
Halfway through the first verse, Diane was struck by a steamroller of male flesh. She let out a gasp of shock as Thomas forced her up against the kitchen counter, seized her by the shoulders and kissed her fiercely on the mouth.
Diane struggled for precisely two seconds, then went limp against him. Do men really kiss like this? she wondered dizzily, all other concerns driven from her head. His lips were warm and full. He didn’t just kiss her, he consumed her. The faint scratchiness of morning stubble added heat to his mouth against hers. His big hands released her shoulders, but only to allow his fingers to rake through her tousled hair. His palms clamped either side of her head and pressed her toward him again, increasing the pressure on her lips.
It felt so good, she thought she would die.
When Thomas finally relinquished his claim to her lips, he pressed her blazing cheek against his shirtfront and breathed heavily for several seconds. She felt the rise and fall of his immense chest beneath her cheek. Heard his heart thudding strongly.
“Is that supposed to satisfy my banker? Or just you?” she asked, her voice unusually husky sounding.
“Both of us—you and me.” He ground out the words.
“Uh-uh.” She had to catch her breath and refocus her thoughts before she could come up with anything more to say. Through the window over the sink she glimpsed Tommy, Annie and Gare. They’d been joined by two neighbor children and all were now busily digging in the sandbox.
“You started it,” Thomas said at last.
“What?” She tried to pull away, but he made no move to release her. “Me? I believe all I did was tell you I didn’t want Jacob’s money!”
“Last night, woman,” he said. “You kissed me.”
“But…but that was just an innocent peck on the cheek!” she protested, although she remembered the electricity she’d felt zap between them at the touch of her lips. “It was a gesture of thanks, that was all.”
“It was more,” he said, sounding irritatingly sure of himself.
“Was not.”
Was too, her Tommy would have replied.
But the Englishman said nothing more for another moment. At last he sighed and moved a step back from her, his hands dropping to his sides. “I’ve never met a more maddening woman in my life.”
She decided it would be safer to pretend smugness than to let him see how thoroughly he’d shaken her. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she retorted, flashing him a chipper smile.
“It may well be,” he murmured, gazing down at her with more intensity than she had ever seen in any man’s eyes. “It may well be…Diane.” His hand rose from his hip to the level of her chin. She didn’t pull away as his thumb caressed the fragile line of her jaw, then touched her lower lip before retreating.
“Did Jacob tell you to offer physical as well as financial consolation?”
For a fraction of a second he looked hurt. Then his expression hardened and he took three stiff steps back from her. “His instructions were to find out what, if anything, was wrong and offer help if that seemed prudent.”
“Prudent.” She couldn’t help chuckling dryly at the old-fashioned sound of the word. “I don’t believe what we were doing just now would be considered prudent by Jacob, especially in his present status as reformed-playboy king.”
Thomas cleared his throat, looking more uncomfortable by the moment. “I’m sure it wouldn’t, Mrs. Fields.”
She shrugged. “Please…we can’t very well revert to courtly etiquette, not after that kiss.”
Oddly enough she felt stronger, in better possession of her mental facilities in the aftermath of Thomas’s amorous onslaught. She was puzzled by this unexpected side effect. Maybe the brief taste of pleasure had syphoned off pent-up energies that had been interfering with her effective analysis of the situation. At the very least she’d been reminded that men and women did, under the right circumstances, interact with passion.
Had Gary even once embraced her with such fervent desire? She couldn’t remember. She thought not. No, definitely not. She certainly hadn’t felt her body respond as it had when Thomas kissed her. Which was somewhat in excess of cataclysmic.
“I-I’m truly sorry for overstepping my bounds,” Thomas muttered, avoiding her eyes. “I was out of line.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “You definitely were.”
He adjusted his shoulders, ran his tongue between his lips and seemed to make up his mind to meet her gaze again. “I’ve never forced a woman. It wouldn’t have gone further than the kiss. I wouldn’t even have kissed you if you were still married. Please, forgive me if I’ve embarrassed you.”
“I forgive you, Thomas.” Why did everything he say send teasing vibrations through her? “I suppose you might have been misled by that silly thank-you kiss. I’m not focusing very well these days on other people’s feelings. There are so many things still to be resolved, even though Gary’s been gone for over six months.”
“That long?” He looked surprised.
“Actually, it seems longer. For the past two years, maybe more, he hasn’t been around much at all.”
“I am sorry…truly I am.” Even now he looked as if he wanted to touch her, but she didn’t understand why that should be. Allison had told her something of Thomas’s taste for glamorous women.
Nevertheless she stepped around the kitchen table to the other side. Furniture made good defensive fortifications. From this distance she thought she saw a shadow pass over his eyes. It occurred to her she might have hurt his feelings or touched on some hidden injury without realizing it.
“I’m sorry I’ve been so rude,” she said apologetically. “I have been very short with you, and I know it. But it’s totally against my nature to accept help. I’ve always been able to fend for myself.”
“Isn’t that what your sister was trying to do by keeping her baby to herself?”
Diane remembered as if it were yesterday. She smiled. “At the time, it seemed unlikely the father of Allison’s child would ever come back into her life. Who could have known the college boy she’d fallen for was a prince—complete with royal palace and a country at his bidding?”
Thomas smiled, too, looking a centimeter less tense. “At one time I didn’t believe Jacob was other than a spoiled rich boy who needed looking after while he was in an English school away from his family.”
“You started working for him that long ago?”
“Yes,” Thomas said, pulling out a chair, then motioning for Diane to sit in it.
She sat, then picked up the scone she’d dropped on the table and took another bite. He spotted the pot of coffee on the countertop and poured each of them a cup.
“I’d just come out of the British army after serving overseas. I wanted to stay home for a while in London, see if I could find a decent job….” He winked at her. “Talk a few girls into bed while I was at it. Those were my only goals. Simple ones.”
“Simple but laudable for a young man,” she commented with a hint of sarcasm.
“Well, they didn’t work out. Instead, I acquired a young lad who always seemed to be getting himself into trouble. The first time I saw Jacob, he was at the wrong end of another man’s fist, getting beaten to a bloody pulp by a couple of what you Americans call longshoremen. I stepped in to even up the sides, and we managed to walk out of the pub alive.
“He was still in school at the Crenworth Academy and headed, he informed me, for more years of formal education in the United States. His future had been mapped out by his family. He hated not being able to make his own decisions about what to do with his life.”
Diane nodded. “I understand.” Hadn’t so much of her own life been determined by chance?
“To make a very complicated story short,” Thomas continued, “Jacob attached himself to me. I don’t know why. Maybe because I didn’t keep reminding him of who he was, because I really didn’t know.” He smiled. “But it wasn’t long before a crotchety royal chancellor cornered me and filled me in. You could have knocked me flat with a teaspoon. A crown prince. Being prepped to take over the throne of one of the wealthiest little countries in Europe—Elbia. And there I was taking him out to pubs, pulling him out of fights and walking him home, both of us drunk as skunks. I was shocked. I apologized and promised the man I’d never meant Jacob any harm. It was just that I liked him, I really did. And I sort of felt sorry for the lad.”
Diane was amused by Thomas’s tale. “Then what happened?” she asked, as he polished off his first scone and reached hungrily for a second from the sack.
“I told the old man I’d make myself scarce. But he says in this German accent you could cut with a knife, ‘You vill continue to go everywhere with Jacob. You vill not let him out of your sight for as long as you or he lives. The king vill pay you vell to continue protecting his son.”’
Diane laughed at his imitation. This was a piece of palace lore she hadn’t heard from Allison. But she couldn’t help noticing that Thomas mentioned surprisingly little of his own background before he’d met Jacob, and she made a mental note to ask him about that later. She was curious.
Diane finished her own buttery scone and sat back to lick delicious crumbs from her fingertips while Thomas finished a third pastry. They drank another cup of coffee slowly, in companionable silence. For some reason she had the distinct impression that Thomas’s mind wasn’t as quiet as his body.
At last he looked across the table at her.
“What now?” she asked. “No more Mr. Nice Guy?”
He frowned. “What?”
“I think it comes from a movie, or maybe a TV show. Don’t know which,” she murmured, automatically taking in the sounds of play from the backyard. She’d learned to read them so well she could tell the children were safe.
Thomas folded his hands and observed her over the wide knuckles. “Learning to accept help when it’s necessary to one’s survival is an important life lesson,” he said solemnly.
His eyes felt as if they were driving an opening through her body to her heart, making way for his message. She lifted her gaze to the ceiling and sighed. “I see. So what you’re telling me is that Jacob intends to help me whether or not I want his help.”
“That’s right,” Thomas said. He reached across the table, lifted a strand of hair from over her eye and tucked it behind her ear. “I’d say you’ve had a rough six months, at least. You deserve a rest and time to think about what you want to do. It’s not just your own life, it’s your children’s future that is in the balance.”
Tears suddenly threatened. She willed them away and swallowed over the tightness in her throat. This was the one argument that had a chance of swaying her. Her children’s welfare. She could insist that everyone leave her alone, as long as she risked only her own security. But as soon as Thomas put the situation that way, she couldn’t let her pride make decisions that might hurt her babies.
Thomas nodded as if he understood the shift in her mind set. “Good. Your immediate finances can be dealt with in the form of a short-term loan from Jacob,” he said calmly, his hand rising to stave off an objection she no longer had the strength to make. “I’ve already deposited money into your checking account. And—” he rushed on “—please don’t make so much of this. You have no idea how insignificant a few thousand dollars is to His Majesty. Think of it as a fistful of pennies taken from Fort Knox.”
Diane let out a deep breath. Viewed that way, she was probably being foolish to make such a fuss. “All right. But it’s just a loan.”
“Agreed.” Thomas looked quietly pleased with the negotiations, though he didn’t risk setting her off with a full-blown smile. “Next of concern—your health and emotional well-being.”
She laughed dryly. “Believe it or not, money can do nothing to repair a heart that’s been stomped flat.”
“I suppose not,” he admitted, his huge dark eyes lingering compassionately on her face. “But a change of venue and a break from work might.”
“You mean, a vacation?”
“I think it’s time you visited your sister. She misses you, you know. It’s not as if a queen can dash halfway around the world whenever she feels homesick or wants to see her family.”
Diane stared at him. “Fly to Europe? Talk about throwing away mon—”
He reached across the table and laid his hand on top of hers. The heat of his strong fingers closing over hers silenced her. “Stop thinking about money. I told you, it’s nothing. You sound like your sister.”
Diane couldn’t help smiling at that, just a little. “Our parents were very thrifty people. New Englanders generally are. Sorry.”
“Nothing wrong with being sensible,” Thomas allowed. “But there are times when cash spent is wisely parted with.”
She rolled her eyes. “I have a feeling this is going to cost Jacob more than the proverbial few pennies. Go on.”
“I have arranged everything. All you need to do…is agree,” Thomas said with almost painful slowness, as if this was a difficult part he’d rehearsed. “Before I came to your house this morning, I contacted your parents in Florida.” Barreling onward, he paid no attention to her gasp of outrage. “They would be thrilled to have the children join them for the rest of the summer. I’ve arranged for Jacob’s private jet to take us to Vienna tomorrow night. From there, his helicopter will carry us to Elbia. I felt you might need a day to prepare and pack.”
“Generous of you,” she commented, not bothering to hide her sarcasm. The nerve of the man! Taking her life into his hands as if he was planning one of Jacob’s diplomatic jaunts. “But I could never put my children on a plane and watch them fly off alone.”
“That’s been taken care of. Allison told me you often employ a young lady named Elly Shapiro, three doors down the street from you. I’ve spoken with her mother about the possibility of her taking the position of nanny for the summer. In return she’ll receive a generous stipend for her college fund.”
“And no doubt be thrilled with the chance to spend three months in Florida, away from her brothers and sisters,” Diane added. He seemed to have thought of everything. “And what am I supposed to do in Elbia for the whole summer?”
“You’ll have the luxury of time to do anything that appeals to you…other than work. No responsibilities. No budgeting, cooking or laundry. Just time to visit with Allison and your niece and nephew, tour whatever parts of Europe appeal to you, shop for new clothes in the best boutiques, read—”
“Eat!” Diane added, getting into the spirit of the moment, although she still had nagging reservations that she was doing the right thing. Maybe she would only be avoiding the inevitable by allowing Thomas to sweep her off to Europe. “I understand there are a few decent restaurants in Europe…perhaps even in Elbia.”
Thomas’s eyes twinkled with appreciation for her humor. “So I’ve been told. Prepare to put on a few pounds…or burn them off as Allison does by including a vigorous, hour’s walk in your daily routine.”
Admittedly, it did sound wonderful. Too wonderful?
Life just isn’t this easy, Diane reasoned sadly. Solutions to problems don’t simply fall from the sky in the form of wealth and palaces. Yet…wouldn’t she be foolish not to let her sister and brother-in-law lend a hand, just to give her breathing room? Thomas was right, in a way. If she took a short break from life, she might be able to function more efficiently and figure out what she was going to do with her future.
Besides, she mused, there was a secret part of her that had always yearned to break loose. To do something totally without consideration for what was proper or frugal. Sometimes she envisioned all the passion in her life stored up inside of her, waiting for a chance to gush forth like champagne from an uncorked bottle. Had she let Gary become the cork in her bottle? And now that he was gone…what sort of life would she live? A drab, uninteresting one? Or one that was adventurous and promised her new horizons? She imagined the next ten years flashing by as quickly and unremarkably as the first decade of her adult life.
“I…I don’t know,” she said softly, blinking away a hot, prickly sensation behind her eyelids.
“Don’t think about it,” Thomas growled impatiently. “Just say yes, and I’ll finalize the arrangements.” His hand found hers and closed over it, warm and reassuring. “You won’t regret it. I promise.”
She was trembling and she didn’t know why. Reluctance to be separated from her children for so long? She didn’t think so. She knew they would be safe with Elly as an escort and deliriously happy with their grandparents.
No, something else brought on the tremors. Something else terrified her. She met Thomas’s intense brown eyes and a shudder of realization raced through her. She wanted him to kiss her again. She wanted him to crush her in his massive arms and make her remember what it felt like to be a woman.
Was that what she feared? That he would do all these things and more if she flew away with him? Then the summer would end and she’d be left with mere memories…and a lonely life back in Connecticut where she’d started.
“Say yes,” he said, so low the words were a barely audible rumble across her kitchen.
Diane looked up at the man who seemed to fill a good half of the room. His eyes were glistening obsidian, hard with determination. The muscles in his face had turned rigid. Taut ridges ran down the sides of his neck, into the starched, white collar of his shirt. He was an incredibly strong man. She had felt the muscles of his chest and arms when he’d held her. She imagined he would have a wealth of thick, richly textured hair across his chest that would be delightful to play with.
Why in Heaven’s name was she thinking about a man’s body when she should be concentrating on her future!
Diane drew herself up in her chair. Now or never…now or never, a persistent voice whispered through her mind. Take a chance. Grab the ring. Risk your heart. For once in your life, do what feels good!
She couldn’t make her voice work for a full two minutes. “All right,” she said at last. “I’ll go.”
Three
There was more to packing Diane’s children off to their grandparents than Thomas had anticipated. All three had minds of their own, and each had specific ideas as to which clothing was “cool,” which favorite stuffed animals or toys they simply could not leave behind. In the end the three suitcases Diane had planned expanded to six. One each for clothing and a smaller one for beloved teddy bears, pillows and playthings.
Elly arrived the morning of the trip flushed with excitement, her blond ponytail swinging like a metronome in time to the music playing through the earphones of her portable tape player. As lively as she was, she was a responsible girl, and Diane trusted her implicitly.
“They are definitely going to exhaust my parents,” she said, laughing, as she waved all four of them through the boarding gate later that morning.
