The Cowboy and the Princess (14 page)

“Not if Lydia’s in the middle of a romantic interlude. No, there’s a building not far from here. At one time, there was a line shack there, but it was falling down, so I had it removed and a new structure put up. It’s a good place for the men and their wives to go for mini-vacations when they don’t have enough time or money to get away. It’s fully stocked.”

She stared at him in the deepening shadows, noting how the last pink rays of light turned his face into hard, virile lines that made her ache. Which was just too bad. It was clear that he was already regretting this outing, or at least this part of it.

“You’re good to your men. It’s nice that they have a place to go.”

“They work hard. They should have options. This is just one.”

But she had no options, and Owen had no options.

A sigh escaped her, and Owen turned to stare at her, but the growing darkness obscured his features and he said nothing. Soon they came to the house. It was small but sturdy and, as he said, well-equipped.

They set up, made dinner, cleaned up, all with a peculiar tense sort of silence. Finally, when all that was done and there was nothing left to do, she followed Owen onto the porch. He stood leaning against one of the porch rails, looking up, but she got the feeling that he wasn’t seeing a thing.

Letting the door shut softly behind her, she moved next to him. “You brought me out here to show me your ranch, and now you’re regretting it.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He slammed the flat of his hand against the rail. “I thought I could just do this last good thing, be an entertaining
host, play the good-guy friend and send you back, but you’re here and I’m here and…”

He turned to her. “I don’t want to be one of those men who knows you have a date with destiny but who still tries to take advantage of you.”

She looked at him solemnly. “You haven’t even touched me today.”

His laugh was harsh. “Yes, and I have the fingernail marks in my palms to show for it. I want to touch you. I want more than that.”

“And so do I.”

He didn’t say anything, but he came close. He cupped her face in his big palms. She knew he was going to kiss her. She also knew that he was never going to do more. He would send her home untouched despite the fingernail marks in his palms because that was the kind of honorable man that he was. He would fight his desire and wrestle it to the ground like a bull at a rodeo.

But she was different. As always. She and her future husband hadn’t announced their engagement, but they would. They hadn’t even kissed, though she knew they would do that soon, too.

So, although she still had more than a week before she had to leave, Delfyne knew that tonight was it. Once she left America she would become a bride-to-be, an engaged, committed and faithful one. And after tonight, Owen would never risk this kind of closeness again. The two of them would begin the business of disentangling their lives. All she had was tonight. This was all that was left.

“Owen,” she whispered.

He kissed her.

“Owen, I don’t want just kisses. I want to be under the stars with you. I want to make love with you.”

He kissed her again. Slowly. Sweetly. Pulling her heart from her.

“I can’t do that to you.”

“Owen…yes. Please, do that to me.”

He groaned and dragged her up against him, her body molded to his. “I can’t think of anything I want more, but I’m fighting it, and—”

She slipped her hand up and covered his lips. When he was still, she replaced her fingertips with her mouth, then pulled away.

“When I leave here, I lose my choice,” she told him. “The man I’ll marry was chosen for me, the man I’ll make love with for the rest of my life was chosen for me. I’ll be a creature of duty and only duty. That’s the way it must be. But tonight…let me choose you, Owen. Please. Give me that much. Let my first time be with a man I know and truly want. I won’t ask for more.”

“Delfyne.” His voice came out strangled and thick. “He damn well better be good to you. He’d better never mistreat you.”

And without another word, he lifted her into his arms, pulling her close as he kissed her.

She laid her palm against his chest and returned his kiss.

“Open the door,” he told her and once she had done that and he had carried her inside, he put her down.

They stood there locked in each other’s arms as he tasted her, nipping at her lips, kissing her cheeks and her eyelids and then returning to feast on her lips again.

“You have a bed?” she asked, even though she knew exactly where the bed was. “Take me there, and don’t give me any of that ‘yes, Princess,’ teasing that you do when I give you orders.”

He smiled against her lips, but he obliged by waltzing her backward to the bed. “No, Princess, I wouldn’t do that tonight,” he teased.

Once she was beneath him on the bed, however, he braced his arms so that he wasn’t touching her at all.

“If this is our only time, I intend to make it right. I’ll be careful,” he promised.

But she was already rising up and kissing as much of him as she could reach. “Don’t be careful. Be you.”

His response was to sweep his hand slowly up her side, tracing her curves. Every nerve ending she possessed went wild. “If you change your mind, tell me,” he whispered. “I mean it, Delfyne. You scream, you push, you yell, you swear at me if you must or use those fancy new self-defense moves you’ve learned. Whatever it takes to get my attention, you do it and don’t worry about hurting me. If you decide you don’t want this after all, I’m stopping no matter how far gone I am.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he shut her up with one kiss. Then he unfastened the first button on her blouse. For several seconds he just stared at the flesh he had revealed. Then he kissed her right where that button had been.

Her heart skipped more than one beat.

He slipped another button from its place, kissing farther down. And then another. And another. Slowly, with heat and incredible patience. He drove her mad.

Then, still not finished, he stopped. She looked up to find his gaze on her as he studied her. She knew what he was thinking.

“No, I haven’t changed my mind and I won’t,” she somehow managed to whisper, though her entire body was trembling.

“Good. If you did—” he flicked open the last button “—it just might kill me to stop.”

With that, he lifted her high against him. He kissed her body as he removed every remaining stitch of her clothing.

She ripped at his shirt, much less careful than he. “Help me,” she said, so he shrugged free of the cloth. He unzipped his jeans and stepped out of them. Then he slipped his big palms around her sides, his skin sliding against hers as he lowered her to the bed.

Delfyne placed her palms on his chest, feeling his racing heartbeat. “Kiss me,” she commanded. “Kiss me everywhere.”

He kissed her belly, and she felt his smile against her skin.

“I’ll kiss you everywhere. We’ll do everything,” he promised. And he proceeded to kiss her in places she didn’t know a person could be kissed. She was half out of her mind when he paused.

“What?” she demanded, her breath coming out ragged. “What?”

“I’m not going on to the next stage unless you’re ready.” His voice was so rough and halting that she could barely make out his words. The cords in his arms were standing out, but he was holding back. “You have to give the command.”

“Yes. I want you to,” she said, clutching at him. “I’m ready, and, oh, Owen, I ache for you. Show me the next stage. Show me now.”

Without a word and gazing into her eyes the whole time, Owen came inside her, his breath hitching. He held himself still and closed his eyes for a second. Then he brought his mouth to hers. “This is the next stage, Princess. I’ll stop the ache. I’ll make everything right.”

Then he stopped talking. He just…loved her, completely, and he was as good as his word. He was just plain amazing.

Delfyne wrapped her arms around him. She gave kiss for kiss. She had thought she knew what making love was about, but then he sent her toppling over a cliff into a world of brilliant stars and heat and sensation she’d never imagined. And when he went rigid in her arms and cried out her name, she felt powerful and special and cherished as never before.

What’s more, when her breathing finally became less shallow and she was lying satisfied and happy and contented, with Owen’s big body wrapped around hers, Delfyne knew that nothing in her life would ever again be as right as this one moment.

She’d fallen in love with Owen, a man forbidden to her. Life had suddenly changed…and yet it hadn’t changed at all. Owen
still had demons that kept him from committing, and she still had her duty to tend to. She couldn’t stop being a princess just because she was in love.

O
WEN
woke with sunlight streaming in through the window, the knowledge that he had touched heaven and that he was in love with Delfyne.

Maybe he’d known that before, but this morning, raw and too aware that he had crossed a line he shouldn’t have crossed, one Delfyne would surely someday regret crossing, he acknowledged the truth. He had no defenses to help him hide from it.

He had fallen in love with a princess, the one woman he could never have.

And now…

“I’ll take you home,” he said.

She was already up, sitting by the window looking out at the creek that ran by the cabin. She turned when he spoke and just…gazed at him.

“Thank you,” she said. “For everything. But yes, I must go home now.”

And that was that.

“I’m taking you in my own plane. Don’t even consider arguing with me,” he told her. “I promised Andreus that I would protect you and I’m going to do that. Once you’re back on Xenoran soil and I’ve explained to Andreus why you’re home early, then we’ll say our goodbyes.”

She opened her mouth, probably to let him know that she was capable of taking care of herself, but in the end she nodded.

It was amazing how quickly things could move forward once a man’s mind went on autopilot and he turned off his emotions. Before the day was out, Delfyne was packed. She had said her goodbyes to everyone on the ranch. She’d called Nancy and Molly and even Angus and wished them well. She’d curried Kitty once more, given the reluctant Timbelina a kiss and Jake and Alf a nice scratch behind the ears. Then she and her bodyguards had climbed on board Owen’s airplane.

Owen didn’t allow himself to think or feel. He walled off his emotions and closed his mind to everything except making sure Delfyne was comfortable on the airplane. He concentrated on getting there and not on anything beyond or behind.

Only when the plane touched down in Xenora and they were escorted to the royal palace did his emotions begin to play games with him.

“This is where you grew up,” he said as the car pulled up to the palace drive and he saw the huge, imposing white stone structure situated on a hilltop with the blue and white Xenoran flag waving. “I’d forgotten how very…palatial it is.”

She touched his hand. He fought the urge to grab her, toss her back in the airplane and fly away with her to someplace where only the two of them existed.

“I don’t think I realized how different it was from everyone else’s life until I was much older,” she admitted as two servants stepped forward and threw open the doors and they entered the palace. “I thought that everyone lived in rooms that were stiff and pristine and…”

“Exquisite,” he said, supplying the word. “You don’t have to apologize for who you are or try to make things seem less regal
than they are. It’s a beautiful palace.” It wasn’t stuffy, either. The crystal and gold that was everywhere was still understated. The priceless tapestries were awe-inspiring.

And Delfyne’s parents, King Fyodor and Queen Melaina, who joined Andreus to greet him, were stately but warm individuals who remembered Owen from his only visit.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Melaina said, holding out her hand. “Our Delfyne can be quite a handful, so we appreciate your taking the time and trouble to see to her safety.”

“Yes, and you’re looking very lean and fit, Owen, isn’t he, Andreus? Delfyne must have kept him running,” Fyodor said.

Andreus laughed. “Owen always did stay in shape,” he said, but he kept looking from Delfyne to Owen. Delfyne had yet to say anything other than hello to her parents and brother. Ah, she was already back in regal mode, Owen supposed. Maybe already regretting what had happened between them in the cabin. He wasn’t going to let her beat herself up about that or worry that he would ever reveal her secret.

“Delfyne was a treasured guest,” Owen said. “We all enjoyed her visit and we’ll miss her.”

He had meant for his words to reassure Delfyne and her parents, but he was so aware of Delfyne just a few feet away and yet lost to him forever that the pleasantry came out stiff.

“Owen was the perfect host,” Delfyne said, but her words, too, sounded wrong. Almost as if she didn’t mean them.

Owen couldn’t stop himself from looking at her, but she was looking away. Of course, that was as it should be. The days at the ranch were past, and they had to move on. The fact that he felt as if he had been ripped apart inside couldn’t matter.

“Well,” Melaina was saying. “Let’s let Owen go to his rooms and get settled in. Later tonight, we’re having a gathering to celebrate Delfyne’s homecoming,” she told him. “As soon as we
got word that you were coming, we sent out invitations. And don’t worry if you didn’t come prepared for a celebration, that’s all taken care of. Andreus has seen to it. It will be small, anyway. Only about two hundred guests. Family, of course, and Prince Arian and his family and various other dignitaries and friends.”

Delfyne hadn’t actually gasped at Prince Arian’s name, Owen didn’t think, but in some strange way, he seemed to feel her reaction. Or maybe he just knew that she hadn’t had time to prepare herself. He turned in time to see her look of shock.

“I hadn’t realized I would be seeing Arian so soon,” she said, her voice calm, her eyes anything but.

Fyodor smiled. “It was to be a surprise, but now you’re here, he’s here, and the time for surprises is past.”

“It’s been two years since you’ve really seen him, dear,” her mother said. “It is time.”

Delfyne looked at Owen as if she needed him to help her. Owen was already taking a step toward her, but then she closed her eyes briefly and raised her chin. When she opened her eyes again, determination and resignation were written in her expression. Owen could almost see her ordering herself to do her duty and to do it with the grace of a princess who had known her fate all her life. “Of course,” she said.

She would have her reunion with her prince, the man who would wed her and bed her and provide her with little princes and princesses. Her time in Montana would soon be a distant memory.

Owen forced a smile. “I—thank you for the gracious invitation, but I’m afraid I have to get back to the ranch. I only came to escort your daughter safely home.”

Immediately, a chorus of protests arose. “Please, we can’t be such ungracious hosts. One night of your time. Just one.”

Owen’s gaze met Delfyne’s, but she looked like a princess now, and he couldn’t read her expression.

Later, he didn’t remember acquiescing. He didn’t remember much except the need to end this quickly. Nonetheless, a scant few hours later, he was in a tuxedo with Andreus by his side as they prepared to descend to meet the guests below.

“Delfyne seems different,” Andreus said. “And so do you.”

“You haven’t seen me in a long time.”

“I don’t need to see in order to sense. We laughed the last time we talked. You’re not laughing now.”

“Travel is tiring.”

“And my sister can try a man’s patience. She can be annoying and a pest and a bundle of trouble.”

Owen turned to his friend. “Whatever you’re doing, stop doing it. You know I’m not going to criticize your sister.”

Andreus smiled slightly. “Maybe you’d like to compliment her, then?”

“What are you saying, Andreus?”

His friend smiled. “Just trying to figure out why both you and Delfyne have tried to avoid looking at each other and why both of you seem tense. This is perhaps indelicate but…I have a right to ask. Did you…”

“Did I what?” Owen didn’t bother to hide the edge in his voice.

Andreus shoved one impatient hand through his hair. “You’re like a brother to me, Owen, but Delfyne is my sister. If I thought you had hurt her in some way I would…”

“Not do more to me than I would do to myself,” Owen said. And then the air finally went out of him and he let the tension drain away. “I would never hurt her, Dré. This trip was a mistake. I just wanted to see her safely home. Now…I can’t stay. I mean that. I really can’t stay, so as soon as I go downstairs and meet your guests, you’re going to make sure I get an emergency call. Then I’m leaving. I can’t be here.”

Andreus moved up in front of his friend. “You’re as good as
any of the guests. At least you’re as rich as any of them and you’re a lot nicer than some of them.”

“Not happening, buddy,” Owen said. “Thank you. I love you like a brother, and your parents are wonderful people, but I’m going.”

“You have it bad, don’t you?”

Owen didn’t even pretend to misunderstand what Andreus was saying, but he wasn’t going to confirm or discuss his feelings for Delfyne with anyone, especially not Dré.

“Come on, let’s go meet the royals.”

“Owen, do not let my parents hear you call our guests by that term,” Andreus warned. “They don’t like it.”

“All right, understood. So, what do they call their royal guests?”

Andreus grinned. “They call some of them fools.”

And for the first time all day Owen actually laughed. But he knew it wouldn’t last. In less than an hour, he’d be saying goodbye to Delfyne forever.

Delfyne couldn’t help searching the room for Owen. It was all she could do to keep from pacing in the long ice-blue gown that felt too low-cut and uncomfortable compared to the jeans she had grown used to. But it wasn’t the dress that was really bothering her. Andreus had slipped up beside her and let her know that Owen was leaving after dinner. She didn’t want him to go without saying goodbye. She didn’t want him to go at all.

But before Owen could appear, Prince Arian arrived. He was much handsomer than she remembered but in a very pretty and polished way, she couldn’t help thinking. She just couldn’t imagine him in jeans, with his shirt hanging open after a hard day of work, or with the sun turning his skin golden or the moon lighting his eyes.

Automatically she curtseyed deeply. She offered her hand. He kissed it and smiled at her just as Owen and Andreus came in at the other end of the hall.

Her gaze locked with Owen’s, and for a minute the whole huge room disappeared. She could hear Prince Arian talking, but she didn’t know what he was saying. Nor did she care.

Andreus pulled on Owen’s sleeve and the two of them moved off.

“The ranching life, what was it like?” Arian was saying.

Delfyne tried to smile at the man who was, after all, only being polite. “It was an illuminating experience,” she said, veering toward the vague. The truth was that she didn’t want to share too much about the ranch with a stranger. Not yet. She needed time to hold her memories close before she let them go for good.

He wrinkled his nose. “I wouldn’t like it. All that mess. Dirt. Sweat. Smells. And all those animals.”

“Maybe you’d like it if you tried it. I had a cat,” she said, attempting to find common ground.

“A cat? No. Ugh. I hate them.
We
won’t have any, I assure you.”

Delfyne raised a brow. “Timbelina was a pretty cat.”

“Timebelina?”

“That’s what I named her.” She explained why.

He laughed and chucked her under the chin.
Actually chucked her under the chin.
“You’re such a child. I like that. It’s refreshing that you’re so naive. But no cats, no matter how sweet you are. I’ll give you babies instead. Lots of babies to keep you busy. If I give you something to do, you won’t care about animals anymore. You’ll like the babies I give you, won’t you? I remember you used to like dolls.”

Delfyne resisted the urge to hit him. As if a baby was something one bought at a store to appease a woman. “I was eight when I liked dolls. We haven’t spent a lot of time together over the years.”

“But we will,” he said with a grin. “We’ll soon be married and
you’ll learn to like me. In my bed, I’ll make you squeal. You’ll learn what pleases me.” He placed his hand over hers.

A wave of something very much like fear washed over Delfyne. She had a strong desire to use a self-defense maneuver on him. But that would be wrong. Arian was to be her husband. He had the right to say what he was saying. There was no need to feel so claustrophobic and ill and…

“I do
not
squeal,” she said without thinking. And then she turned. “Forgive me. I hope you’ll excuse me. I don’t feel well.” Without waiting for him to answer, she fled.

But to where? Where was Owen? She needed to see him. He was leaving. Too soon. Andreus had said so. Would he go without even saying goodbye? She’d never see him again after this. The very thought made her stumble, but she kept moving and searching, the panic building inside her.

Rushing out into the hall, she found him with Andreus and stopped short.

Without taking her eyes off Owen, she touched her brother’s hand. “I love you, Andreus,” she told him. “I’ve missed seeing you, and we haven’t even had a chance to talk yet, but…we’ll talk later. Right now, you need to leave. I really mean that.”

There was a long moment of silence. Finally, she looked at Andreus. He raised a brow, opened his mouth to say something.

She gave him a look they’d shared as children. It meant
I will make you pay later if you thwart me now.
Andreus had been the master of the look. He’d invented it, but Delfyne did a pretty good job now. Without so much as another glance, he whisked himself away.

“Andreus told me that you were going,” she said to Owen, rushing in, her words spilling out fast. “You’re leaving right now, aren’t you? This very minute? You weren’t even going to say goodbye to me.”

Without a word he stepped forward and brushed one finger down her cheek. He shook his head. “You’re wrong. I was determined to say goodbye. I was simply waiting for the right moment.”

“Is this it?”

“You know the answer. I can’t stay.”

“It’s because of your ranch, isn’t it? Of course. I should have thought of that before now. I shouldn’t have let you fly me home. You’re needed there.”

“Delfyne,” he said gently, and she thought her heart would break into two ragged pieces.

This wouldn’t do. Owen had known such guilt in his life. Letting him see how his departure was tearing at her would only make him hate himself. She couldn’t let him see her cry, so she struggled for a smile and even managed a somewhat tremulous one. “Besides, who knows what Ben and Lydia are up to with no one there to chaperone them?” she asked, trying to make the ending moment light.