Invitation to the Prince's Palace (18 page)

‘I wanted to avoid that at all costs.’ Why hadn’t Rik understood sooner that his drive to pull Melanie into exactly that long-term relationship had not been fuelled merely by the need to protect his position and that of his brothers, in the knowledge of this unknown brother? It had been driven by need of
Melanie
. And yet he felt no warmth towards this unknown man. ‘I cannot find soft emotion in my heart for him, Marcelo. Even now when I realise how I feel about Melanie—’

‘One thing at a time,’ Marcelo advised. He drew the car to a halt in a no stopping zone in front of the airport. ‘We all need to get to know this man. Good luck, brother.’

Rik met Marcelo’s gaze as he threw the car door open. ‘Thank you.’

Rik drew a deep breath and strode quickly into the airport terminal.

* * *

I’m not going to feel guilty about the money.

Melanie thought this as she twisted her hands together in her lap. She’d packed all her luggage, half dreading that Rik might appear at any moment. Then she’d summoned palace staff to carry it all downstairs and put it in the cab she’d ordered. A real cab this time, with no mix-ups.

She’d bought an airline ticket to get back to Australia. The flight wasn’t going directly there. She’d asked for the first one that would get her out of the country and she’d used the money Rik had given her that day in Paris, to pay for it.

It was almost time, just a few more minutes and she would be able to board the plane, and…fly away from Braston, and from Rik, for ever.

Her heart squeezed and she forced her gaze forward. Other people in the boarding lounge talked to each other or relaxed in their chairs, at ease with themselves and their plans. Mel just wanted to…get through this. She felt she was letting down the people, but Rik would find someone else. Prince Rikardo Eduard Ettonbierre of Braston would not struggle to find a woman willing to marry him for life.

Mel couldn’t be that woman. Not without love.

‘Melanie!’

At first she thought she’d imagined his familiar voice, a figment within her mind because her heart hurt so much. It was going to take time to get past those raw emotions and begin to heal.

Could
she heal from falling in love with Rik?

‘Mel. Thank goodness you’re here.’ Rik appeared in front of her. Ruffled. Surprisingly un-prince-like with his tie askew and his suit coat hanging open.
Real.

Mel shot to her feet. She wasn’t sure what she intended to do when she got upright. Run? Faint? Throw herself at him and hope against hope that he would open his arms and his heart to her?

Get real, Melanie Watson. You’re still a cook and he’s still a prince and he doesn’t love you and that’s that.

‘I don’t have a glass slipper.’ His words were low.

And confusing. ‘I—I don’t understand.’

Words came over the airport speaker system. French and then English. Her flight was being called. Mel had to get on the flight. She glanced towards the gate, to people beginning to go through. Her heart said stay. Her survival instincts said go. Go and don’t look back because you’ve done that “love people and not be loved in return” thing and it just hurts too damned much to do it again. ‘I have to go, Rik. I paid all your money to buy the ticket. I can’t buy another one.’

‘I will buy you another ticket, Mel.’ He lifted his hand as though he would take hers, and hesitated as though uncertain of his welcome. ‘If you still want to go.’

Oh, Rik.

‘Please. I left out something very important when I asked you to marry me.’

‘Another bargaining chip?’ She hadn’t meant to say it. She didn’t want to spread hurt, or reveal her heart. Mel just wanted…to go home and yet, where was home now? Could home be anywhere when her heart had already decided where it wanted to be? ‘I didn’t mean that.’

‘You had every right to say it.’ Rik gestured to a room to their left. ‘There’s a private lounge there. Will you give me a few minutes, Mel? Please? You will still be able to make this flight if you want to, or a next one. Anything you want, but please let me try—’

‘All right.’ She led the way to the room, pushed the door open and stepped inside. Somehow it felt important to take that initiative. To be in charge even if she was agreeing to stall her plans to speak with him.

It was a small room. The lounge suite was quintessential airport “luxury”. Deep red velvet with large cushions all immaculately kept. There were matching drapes opened wide and a view of runways with planes in various stages of arrival and departure.

All Mel could see was Rik’s blue eyes, fixed on her brown ones, searching as though there was something that he desperately needed to find.

‘This isn’t a fairy tale, Rik. I know you’re a prince but to me you’ll always be a man first. You’ll be Rik, who I—’ Fell in love with. She bit back the words.

‘No. There is little of the fairy tale about current circumstances and I confess I was shocked by my father’s announcement of a secret brother.’ Rik did take her hand now, and led her to a lounge seat.

Somehow they were seated with her hand still held in his and far too much of a feeling of rightness inside Mel’s foolish, foolish heart. ‘I hope that situation can be worked out so that nobody loses too much.’

‘I do not know what is possible. I have not had time to get all the facts together, let alone think of how to act on any of them.’ For this moment Rik brushed the topic aside. ‘Melanie, I asked you to marry me permanently—’

‘But deep down even though you have to do it, you don’t want to be tied in a relationship like that, and I…can’t do it when—’ She ground to a halt.

‘When I offered all those things that don’t matter to you, and nothing else? They never have.’ One side of Rik’s mouth lifted in a wry, self-mocking twist. ‘Everything that makes me a prince, that might appeal, doesn’t matter to you. I was too slow to think about that, and too slow to understand why I needed so much for you to agree to help me anyway.’

Was it care that she saw in his eyes? Mel didn’t want to hope. Not now. Not when she’d made up her mind to go and that was the only solution. ‘You’ll find someone, Rik. You’ll be able to marry and hold onto your job. I’m sorry it will have to be for all your life. I’m sorry for that.’

Each word tightened the ache in her chest. Each glance at him made it harder to keep the tremor out of her voice.

‘The thing is, all that has changed for me, Melanie. It has changed because I fell in love with you.’ His words were low. Raw.

Real?
Mel frowned. Shook her head. There was no allergy medication to blame now. Nothing but a hope and sense of loss so deep that she was afraid she’d heard those words only inside her, afraid to hear them at all, and so she denied. ‘No.’

‘The moment I took you into my arms and made love to you, I fell in love with you.’ This time when he said it, emotion crowded
his
face. ‘Please believe me that this is true.’

Mel had never seen that emotion, except…lurking in the backs of his eyes when he held her last night…

Could she believe this? Could Rik truly have fallen in love with her? ‘You’re a prince.’

‘As you said when we first met.’ He inclined his head. His eyes didn’t twinkle, but memory was there.

‘I’m a cook. From Australia.’ A commoner with no fixed abode. ‘I didn’t even know how to curtsy properly.’

Do you really love me, Rik?

Could he really love
her
, Nicole Melanie Watson? ‘You said you would never love.’

‘I didn’t know there would be you, and that you would come to live, not only at the palace, but that you would move into my heart.’ He took both her hands into his.

She glanced down. ‘The ring! I meant to leave it in the suite.’

‘
Our
suite. I am glad you didn’t take it off.’ He touched the diamonds. ‘It is made to be there.’ His gaze lifted to hers. ‘I know I am asking for another leap of faith, and if you cannot find anything in your heart for me then I will accept it, but I am hoping against all hope that you will agree to give me a chance to show you how deeply I have come to love you.’

‘I want to, Rik.’ Oh, she wanted to do that with all of
her
heart. ‘If you truly love me—’

‘I do.’ He didn’t hesitate. Conviction filled his tone. ‘If you can learn to love
me
, I will be the happiest man in the world.’

‘That was what you meant about the glass slipper.’ She hadn’t realised that he wanted to make her his princess truly, in every way. ‘I’m a practical girl, Rik. I like cooking and I lost my parents and grew up trying to be loved and my aunt and uncle and Nicolette didn’t, and I promised myself I would never be hurt like that again.’

But she’d opened her heart to Rik and he…loved her. ‘Are you sure? Because I don’t know how you could have overcome all that. You were so firmly fixed that you wouldn’t be able to have that kind of relationship.’

‘I thought I was incapable of experiencing those feelings. Love, commitment.’

‘Your upbringing harmed you.’ Mel didn’t want to hurt him with the words, but they were part of
his
history, of who he was.

‘We have both experienced hurt at the hands of family.’ There was regret and acknowledgement, and love shining in his eyes openly for her now. ‘But you have set all of my love free.’

Mel believed it then. She let go of the last doubt and took her leap of faith. ‘I fell in love with you, too, Rik. I thought I was going to help you to solve a problem and then go back to Australia. Instead I wanted to stay with you for ever, but when you asked me—’

‘I stupidly didn’t realise what those feelings inside meant.’ He drew a breath that wasn’t quite steady. ‘I thought I’d lost you. I couldn’t bear that thought.’ Again his fingers touched her ring as he drew her to her feet with him and held both her hands. ‘Will you marry me next week, Mel? Give me a chance to show you every day for ever how much you mean to me?’

‘Yes.’ Melanie said it and stepped into his arms and, oh, it felt right. So, so right, to be in Rik’s arms, in the prince’s arms, where she belonged. There were no sparkly shoes. She wasn’t down a rabbit hole. She had simply…come home to this man of her dreams. ‘Yes, I will marry you next week and stay married for ever, and love you every single day while you love me every single day.’

Mel knew there would be hurdles. She was marrying a prince! But she would give all of her heart to him and now she knew that she could trust it into his love and care.

He glanced out of the window and smiled. ‘You’ve missed your flight. Let’s go…home and start counting the days until next week.’

‘The wedding planner is going to be relieved that she doesn’t have to start all over again.’ A smile started on Melanie’s face and she tucked her arm through Rik’s and they left the room and made their way out of the airport to a car parked and waiting for Rik. The keys were in it, just as though it had been brought for him and left specially.

Well, it would have been, wouldn’t it? Mel thought. After all, he was a prince.

And Melanie Watson, cook, was marrying him.

For now and for ever.

And that seemed exactly right.

EPILOGUE

‘
T
HERE
is nothing to be nervous about.’ Anrai spoke the words to Melanie as they made their way towards the rear-entry door of the church. ‘And thank you for allowing me to be the one to escort you for this occasion.’

Melanie drew a deep breath and glanced at her soon-to-be brother-in-law from beneath the filmy bridal veil. Excitement filled her. This was the moment that she and Rik had worked towards, and that now would be the fulfilment of very new and special dreams for them. ‘You know that I love him.’

‘Yes. He is lucky. I do not profess to hold similar hope for myself, but I am glad that you have found each other.’ Anrai’s words were warm, accepting, and then the doors were thrown open and music started and they began the long walk to the front of the church.

Soft gasps filled the air as guests saw the beautiful gown, the train that whispered behind her. A hint of lace. Tiny pearls stitched in layers. A princess neckline for an everyday girl about to become that princess.

Mel’s glance shifted to one row of seats in the church. To her uncle, and aunt, and her cousin. Her gaze meshed with Nicolette’s for a moment. Nicolette looked attractive in a pale pink chiffon gown. But today the attention was all for Melanie.

For a moment Mel felt a prick of sadness, but she couldn’t make her cousin see that love came from within, was a gift so much more important than any material thing.

It was Nicolette who looked away, who couldn’t seem to hold her cousin’s gaze any longer.

And then there was Rik at the front of the church, waiting faithfully without glancing back until Anrai arrived with Mel on his arm and passed her hand to Rik’s arm, placing it there as Mel’s father would have done if he’d been here.

Warmth spread through Mel’s chest as she looked into her prince’s eyes and saw the love and happiness there and somehow she thought her parents might have been watching. She felt their love and warmth, too.

‘Dearly beloved…’ The priest began the service.

And there before God and his witnesses, Nicole Melanie Watson married Rikardo Eduard Ettonbierre, third prince of Braston.

He
did
have several titles and various bits of land.

His wife-to-be
was
a wonderful cook.

And they were still working on the agreement about who got ownership of any of Rufusina’s offspring should the hog ever choose to bless them with a litter.

But Rik and Mel were happy today, and they would remain happy. And Rufusina’s offspring were a whole other legend…

* * * * *

Keep reading to read an excerpt of
The Rebel Rancher
by Donna Alward!