Hidden Depths (20 page)
The challenge of managing spin in a brand new culture engrossed him so much he nearly forgot the problem involved him.
The three men hashed it out over breakfast and coffee. Olivia was mostly quiet, the black and white of numbers more her style. Not that she didn’t have a grasp of psychology. James was aware of her watching them. She was taking in their dynamic, making her own assessments. He found his hand straying to her more than usual: rubbing her shoulder, brushing her sleeve. He needed the touchstone. Because of what he’d done with Ty, because his and Olivia’s bodies hardly seemed their own anymore, his emotions were tumbling inside of him.
He didn’t feel able to face all that. Having Anso’s PR challenge to chew on was a godsend. That the other men heard out his opinions came as a pleasant surprise.
By the time they’d eaten the last scrap of toast and kippers, he thought they had a workable strategy. By the time the coffee had disappeared, the king’s personal clothes shopper had arrived. Anso wasn’t the one who needed a new outfit. Olivia was being prepared to create just the right impression. The long rack of gowns the consultant rolled into the blue salon caused Olivia’s jaw to drop with dismay.
By common consent, not to mention mutual terror, the men abandoned her to the competent hands of Anso’s expert.
“
Seriously
?” Olivia complained. “You’re all leaving me to my own judgment?”
“We’re leaving you to Mrs. Bonn’s,” Anso said, smiling. “She knows how you need to look.”
“I do, Your Majesty,” Mrs. Bonn assured her, her curtsey somehow combining friendliness and respect. “Once you’ve been here a while, you can establish your own style.”
Because this would be Olivia’s last ambition, James smiled to himself.
Because she disliked being rude, he wasn’t surprised she allowed the shopper to lead her away.
Twenty minutes later, Olivia stuck her head through the door of the dining room and waved frantically for him to come out. James’s wife was decisive about many things, but “dressing fancy,” as she put it, wasn’t one of them.
“Excuse me,” he said to the others.
“I could help,” Ty offered, then closed his mouth as Anso laid a hand on his arm.
James looked at them and had a completely surreal moment. Was it odder that he wanted Ty to come, or that the man who’d abducted them was trying to give him privacy with his wife?
He didn’t get an answer, but Anso held his eyes the longest. “She doesn’t need to look perfect. As long as Mrs. Bonn approves, any outfit she’s comfortable in is fine.”
“I’ll ... make sure Olivia knows that,” James said.
Olivia had already retreated back to the salon. James found her sitting on a silver loveseat in a pair of flowing trousers and a gorgeous Victorian-style bodice top. The pants were gray and the bodice black, the pieces united by a matching embroidered pattern of coral branches. Mrs. Bonn, who stood by the fireplace looking worried, had stuck real diamond pins into Olivia’s red hair, securing it away from her face. The freshly brushed waves glowed against the creamy perfection of her skin. Once he got over the extravagance of the diamonds, which weren’t tiny, James had to admit her new eyes went with her hair even better than her old ones.
“Wow,” he said as she jumped up nervously.
As far as he was concerned, Olivia’s figure had been great before. Now, either the boning in the top or the wereseals’ infectious genes had worked some extra magic. He swallowed, feeling like a guy from high school who sees his prom date in her ball gown for the first time. The boy parts between his legs were definitely going
sproing
.
Naturally, his speechlessness made his wife more uptight.
“This outfit isn’t me,” she babbled, her hands fluttering over it. “I mean, it’s pretty, and it’s less fussy than the others, but it isn’t me at all.” Recovered from his temporary paralysis, James crossed the carpet to her. He took her by the shoulders to give her a onceover. She looked as amazing close up as she had from the door, but Olivia wouldn’t be satisfied unless he pretended to critique her. He guessed Anso’s super-respectful consultant hadn’t pulled off this balancing act.
“Turn around,” he said, waiting until she did to wink at Mrs. Bonn.
“There was a plainish blue dress,” Olivia nattered, “but I’d have to wear heels with it.”
“Well, that would be too much. Suppose we had to swim somewhere.”
“Those trousers flow beautifully underwater,” Mrs. Bonn interjected.
“They’re not hard to control at all. And the slippers have water straps.”
“So you made the right choice,” James said. “Plus you look gorgeous.” Olivia turned back to him.
“
Really
gorgeous,” he said, his simple affection for her funny vulnerabilities overflowing. “You’re the picture people imagine when they think of beautiful queens.”
“It’s true,” Mrs. Bonn confirmed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if all the girls want their hair spelled to match to your color.”
Olivia covered her mouth and laughed shakily.
“I’ll leave you,” said Mrs. Bonn, offering them both a curtsey. “I’ll be outside if you need anything.”
For a minute after she left, he and Olivia simply held each other’s hands. He saw she felt foolish for her fashion panic, but also that she knew apologies weren’t required. When she’d regained her balance, she sighed out a breath.
“You sure you want me to do this?” she asked. “Aren’t we going to make Anso’s situation worse when we finally leave?”
“Not if those little dragons are back where they belong by then.”
“I’m afraid we’ll be leading his people on.”
“Some of them will be glad to see the back of us no matter how good an impression you make at this press conference. The important thing is not to make our escape look like it’s Anso’s fault.”
Wryness twisted Olivia’s mouth.
“I know,” James said. “The part of you that likes the king doesn’t want to break his heart.”
“I shouldn’t be able to. This whole situation is crazy.” James tugged her to him, kissing the hair that swooped back from her temple.
Olivia’s arms circled him. Maybe his muscles were as changed as her figure. Her weight felt as light as air.
“Look on the bright side,” he said. “We’ll be traveling out of the palace. I can’t pretend to mind that.”
Olivia hugged him and snorted. “You just want to sightsee.”
“Don’t you?”
“As long as I’m not too nervous to enjoy it.”
“You’ll be fine, Liv. You won’t even have to talk. Just stand next to Anso and bat your royal blues.”
“You have them too,” she said, craning her head at him.
“No one will see mine. I’ll be in the back, looking proud my wife got chosen by such an important man.”
Olivia rolled her eyes.
“It’s not a total lie. You could be a queen if you had to. You have the brains and the heart. And, apparently, the hair.”
They grinned at each other, a sense of humor in adversity a trait they shared.
“You’re still you,” he said. “Nothing can change that. We’ll get contacts when we’re home is all.”
Her eyes softened, and her hands slid up his robe’s lapels. “You’re still you,” she murmured back, “even if you and Ty had sex.” He hadn’t told her, but he should have known she’d guess. “Liv -”
“Sh.” Her fingers stroked the sides of his neck. “How can I begrudge you that pleasure?”
“Liv, the reason I -”
Her lips pressed his softly. He gave in and kissed her back, part of him wanting to cry with gratitude for her forgiveness, the rest caught up in the sweetness of sinking into her mouth. She kissed him like he was precious, like no one in the world was more important to pay attention to. Her love had never seemed so palpable to him, waves of nearly touchable energy rippling from her to him. He buried his hands in her hair and groaned. How could he love her this much and have wanted Ty so badly? Her body melted into his, his groin hardening strongly in response. He wanted her enough to ache. Lust was a portion of his reaction, but so was the need to express what he felt for her in every way he could. Looking back, he wished he could say lust was the only thing that had driven him to Ty. He just couldn’t convince himself of it.
Reluctantly, he drew back from her. Her cheeks were flushed prettily. “I want you to know I’ve never cheated on you before.”
The back of her fingers caressed his face. “Me either.” A little smile touched her kiss-red mouth. “I’m pretty sure these qualify as special circumstances.”
“Liv, you know how I like to say we’ve been together in other lives?”
“Sure.” Seeing he was serious, her smile faded.
James pulled in a breath. “I actually remember them.” Olivia’s eyebrows shot up. “You do?”
“Just pieces, but they’re very vivid. Do you remember how on our first date I guessed what you liked to eat?”
“I assumed you’d asked one of my girlfriends.”
He shook his head. “I remembered how you liked to be kissed as well. How sometimes you wake up after sex and feel so alone you need to be held. I know more about you than you’ve ever told me, and I used it to win you.”
“What are you trying to say?” she asked.
“Olivia, in one of the lives we shared, you and I were both men.”
“Oh.” Her hands slid down his arms to his elbows, but she didn’t let go of him. “Are you saying that’s why you’ve had daydreams about being with guys?
Because you wanted to recreate that memory?”
“I thought so,” he said. “Now I’m not sure.”
She rubbed his biceps while she considered this. “Does it matter why you’re attracted to men?”
“Maybe. It seemed better when I thought it was because of you.” She smiled unexpectedly. “Seems to me even in your fantasies you were trying to be true to me.”
“You deserve that,” he said.
He practically heard the calculator keys clicking in her mind, his sweet little accountant with a heart. “Maybe,” she said slowly, “us being true to each other isn’t as simple as we thought.”
* * *
The press conference would be delivered underwater. Olivia’s ability to breathe that way would provide further proof that she was the king’s bloodmate.
She made the shift from breathing air to breathing water in Anso’s coral garden, to avoid her possible panic being seen in public. To her relief, her anxiety was brief. Anso squeezed her hand, nodded reassuringly, and she inhaled without more coaxing. Once she had, being buoyant and not needing air tanks was quite pleasant.
She was a little disappointed he hadn’t had to kiss her this time.
The submarine-gondola they rode in had the option of being filled with air or water. Since they’d already transitioned, water served for today. Always more of an athlete than Olivia, James caught on right away to the trick of moving around inside.
“It’s like being an astronaut,” he laughed, tugging her down into the seat next to him. “Zero G all the way.”
Ty assisted her with the roller coaster-like safety bar, his attention shifting between her and James as he did. Olivia’s body tightened as his hands brushed her, though he wasn’t trying to flirt. He’d marked her too, so would she get sex-crazed for him? Was that what had happened to him and James? For that matter, would it happen between James and her? James given her quite a buzz with that kiss back in the salon, so much that she hadn’t wanted to stop.
She ought to mind all of this. Instead, she was reckoning the minutes until the four of them could be alone again. Was it wrong of her to hope she’d have a chance to sample Ty as well? Was she like Saint Augustine, who prayed for chastity but not yet?
“You look beautiful,” Ty murmured as he checked her shoulder strap. His yellow eyes burned when they met hers. Tiny bubbles clung to the spikes of his fair lashes, though the water in the big royal sub was otherwise crystalline. She supposed they had some sort of magical filter.
“Thank you,” she said. “You look very nice yourself.” He smiled. He’d traded his pirate clothes for a crisp uniform, the same black and silver deal the other guards in the gondola wore. His had a few more doodads decorating it. Olivia hadn’t missed the fact that they called him
Captain
.
“Don’t try to remember every detail of protocol,” he advised. “No one expects you to be perfect.”
“Actually, I have a good memory. It’s the spontaneous public charm stuff that trips me up. James is the one who has everyone in stitches at parties.” Ty’s gaze cut to James and then back to her. She couldn’t guess what he was thinking as he lowered himself into the comfortable chair across the aisle from them. He had much more of a poker face than Anso.
The king sat farther forward in this aqueous equivalent of Air Force One. He was also in uniform. Guards and advisers surrounded him, plus the elegant older man he’d introduced to her as Lord Noth, the head of his King’s Council. Lord Noth’s eyes had taken her measure to the millimeter, but Olivia assured herself she’d stood firm. With the exception of Noth and the guards, who were too professional to gawk, everyone here had shot her and James worried looks, as if they were bombs about to go off. She and James had smiled calmly in return, which eventually caused the looks to stop.
She hadn’t forgotten what James had told her earlier: that their only real job today was to appear content with their lot. If they weren’t seen as a potential source of conflict, there’d be no serious reason for Anso’s people to object to him taking her as mate.
Her James had a way of cutting to the core of things.
I can do content
, Olivia told herself. She was surprisingly - and maybe shamefully - close to it anyway.
A hum vibrated through the huge gondola as it pulled away from the palace dock. From there, they entered a tunnel through which they traveled at high speed.
