The Princess and the Duke (18 page)

“Your mother openly adored Edwin. Penwyck openly adored your mother. His Majesty never wanted her to be hurt by learning the truth. He didn’t want the truth to escape and harm her public image. Everything the King ordered was always done in order to protect the Queen.”

“It would devastate her,” Meredith whispered, nodding. “All over again.” She sat up straighter. “This could all have been avoided, you know.”

He stopped dead still. “What are you talking about?”

“My looking into Edwin’s death. I only grew curious because of the expression you always got whenever someone mentioned his name.”

“He’d become a lunatic.”

“I think you wanted me to find out.”

He stared at her. “That’s ridiculous.”

“I think it’s been weighing on your conscience all these years.”

“I’d do it again,” he said flatly. “To protect your family. In a heartbeat. And as you’ve plainly discovered, I’m not the only one who knew the circumstances of that night ten years ago.”

“Did you mean it, Pierce? That you love me?”

“Yes.” He was incapable of lying about that.

She slowly rose. Moved the few feet to stand in front of him. “I think you believed your secret would always separate us. But the truth—”

“The truth is worse. There is no future for us, Meredith. Whether or not I love you. I killed your
uncle.
”

Her fingertips grazed his forearms. “You killed a madman set on destroying my family.”

“Dammit, Meredith—”

“Stop blaming yourself,” she whispered. Her gaze, like wet emeralds, searched his. “I agree that there is no useful purpose for my mother to ever learn of this. But even if she did, she wouldn’t blame you, Pierce. There is nothing my mother values more than her husband and her children. She’d be devastated to know what her own brother had been capable of doing, but she’d never blame you for doing what you had to do to stop him.”

“I had nightmares.” The words came out before he could stop them. “For years. I’d wake in a cold sweat because I’d failed to stop him in time.”

“But you did.” Her voice was impossibly gentle.

“Alex Corbin slowed Edwin just enough. But it was close. Too damned close. We never had a chance to interrogate him. Was he working alone? Was someone else in on the plot? It’s still a mystery.”

She looked a little green. “A mystery ten years gone. If he hadn’t been working alone, there would have been some follow-up…efforts…by his partners.”

A little green, he thought. But not fearful. She was a Penwyck. And Penwycks were made of stern stuff.

“That was the conclusion the King and the rest of us ultimately came to.”

“And your nightmares went away.”

His jaw tightened. “Eventually,” he lied.

She tsked. “Pierce.”

The clock on his fireplace mantel chimed melodically. He focused on it like a drowning man. “It’s nearly midnight. How did you get here? Do you have a car down there waiting for you? I’ll drive you back.”

“I drove myself,” she said. “I stopped at the base on my way down from North Shore and was told you’d returned here for the night. Are you going to send me away?”

“Would you go if I tried?”

Her eyes were serious. “If you really don’t want me with you, Pierce, then I will go. I won’t stop loving you. Not now. Not ever. But I will go because the last thing I want in this world is to cause you pain. You’ve been causing yourself enough pain all these years by blaming yourself for what you had to do. If being with me makes that worse for you, I will go.”

He walked to the door.

Looked over his shoulder to see her standing there. Tears glazing her eyes. Elegant. Strong despite the pain etched in her face.

He reached for the knob.

And he flipped the lock.

Then he turned to her, seeing the way her eyes closed for a long moment in stark relief. And then she looked at him again. And whether or not he believed there was a future for them, in her eyes it seemed he could see forever.

He took her hand and led her down the hall.

M
eredith stretched, her eyes slowly opening to the sensation of sunshine on her face. She pushed up on her elbows, looking around Pierce’s bedroom. Flushing a little at the items of clothing scattered about the room. “Pierce?”

There was no response, and she felt a dart of unease work through her. She pushed back the bedclothes and realized he’d left his robe for her at the foot of the bed.

Sliding into it, smelling the faint, seductive scent of him, made her immediately feel closer to him, and she padded out of the bedroom. In the kitchen, she found the note. He’d attached it to the carafe of coffee, and she slowly tugged it free, smiling to herself.

Called to meeting. P.

“Nobody knows more about a life of duty than the
child of a king,” she murmured. Whistling tunelessly, she poured some coffee into the mug that he’d left out for her and carried it to the bedroom where she began gathering her clothes.

Then she headed for the shower, and clean and dressed, she rode the elevator to the lobby, not caring in the least who saw her leave Pierce’s flat. She loved him, and he loved her, and the paparazzi could make of her actions whatever they wanted.

She drove straight to the RII, sailing over to Lillian’s temporary desk. “Good morning.”

“I think someone had a good night.”

“Indeed, someone did.” Meredith smiled softly, pouring herself another cup of coffee. “When the colonel calls, put him right through, would you?”

Lillian smiled. “My pleasure.”

Meredith tucked her tongue between her teeth, and feeling like she was walking on air, headed to her office. Six hours later, she was heading to the palace. Pierce had yet to call her, but she refused to let that trouble her.

Particularly when she was dashing up the wide staircase toward her chambers and saw the man himself walking out of the King’s quarters. She called his name and turned on her heel, skipping down the stairs.

Pierce glanced at the door Broderick had barely kept from slamming shut in his ire. The RET had kept Broderick busy all day, and Broderick hadn’t appreciated having his own agendas turned upside down for theirs. But the door was safely shut now. The Queen knew the truth. And Broderick’s charade would be over once the alliances were signed. The
RET would slip the man back into the life of secluded privilege from which they’d pulled him.

Pierce looked at Meredith, smiling at the way she suddenly seemed to realize she was practically running and deliberately moderated her pace. Her eyes were glowing, and though he’d spent the entire day telling himself he needed to break things off with her, he couldn’t bring himself to say a single word to that effect. “Hi.”

She stopped in front of him, somehow managing to look both sexy and shy at the same time. “I missed you this morning.”

“Meetings.”

“So your note said. I don’t mind,” she said easily. She stepped closer, smoothing her palm up and over his chest. “Though I’d have preferred to share the shower with you. But maybe next time.”

“I’ve created a monster.”

Her green eyes were laughing. “Would you change it if you could?”

The only thing he’d change would be the necessity of keeping the truth about her father from her. As long as he had to maintain that lie, pursuing a relationship with Meredith was impossible. “You’re perfect just the way you are.”

She moistened her lips, and want streaked through him. “Stay and have dinner with us. Would you please?”

“With the family? Meredith, that’s not a good—”

“Please. They’re not
that
bad.”

Pierce swallowed hard when she pressed herself against him and bold as brass nibbled at his chin. “Please?”

“Using your feminine wiles?”

“Trying. Is it working?”

His hands slid to her hips, pulling her against him. Tight. “What do you think?”

Her eyes went slumberous. “Working beautifully,” she whispered on a sigh. “Stay with me.”

“I want to.”

“Do I hear a but in there?”

“Meredith, your mother—”

She pressed her lips to his, silencing him. Then she leaned up, murmuring near his ear. “She will never, ever have to know about Edwin. I told you that last night. You were right, Pierce. About everything. Knowing what he did, what he tried to do, oh, it wouldn’t serve any good purpose. And sooner or later, the public would find out, and she doesn’t deserve that, either.”

He threaded his fingers through her luxurious hair. “You are a remarkable woman.”

“Who loves a remarkable man,” she whispered. “Now, please. Stay for dinner?”

He couldn’t resist her. He’d tried for too many years, and he’d failed. And right then, with her body soft and warm against him, he couldn’t deny her again. “All right. I’ve got to clean up first.”

“That’s okay,” she whispered. “My shower is large—”

“Meredith.” He kissed her hard and quick and deliberately set her away from him before she could make him forget any semblance of common sense.

She laughed softly and headed for the stairs once more. “You’ve got three hours. Plenty of time to go back to your flat. And Pierce—”

“Yes?”

She smiled impishly. “Don’t forget your toothbrush.” She laughed at his strangled groan and darted up the stairs.

When he returned later that evening, she was still laughing. He stood in the entry to the family room where one of the butlers had showed him and watched Meredith across the room. She was standing next to Owen, her head tilted back, musical laughter bubbling from her lips. He watched her slowly look his way, as if she’d sensed him there. And her expression was so warm, so full of love, that for a minute, he couldn’t see anything but her.

Couldn’t feel anything but the wave of welcome that emanated from her.

Then she crossed the floor, tucking her hand through his arm and pulling him into the room. “Everyone will be here except the King. He doesn’t often have meals with us these days.”

Pierce kept his smile in place with an effort. How had hiding his lies ever become so difficult?

“And you know everyone, of course. So there’s no point in introductions.”

Owen stuck out his hand. “Colonel. Glad you could make it.”

Pierce shook the prince’s hand. He’d always liked Owen, but unlike so many of his countrymen, he didn’t make the automatic assumption that the young man would, in fact, one day be King. There were two sons, after all. “Thank you, Your Royal Highness.”

“Oh, please.” Anastasia laughed and, as natural as you please, brushed a welcoming kiss over Pierce’s
cheek. “We don’t stand on that much ceremony. Not in here.”

Owen smiled crookedly. “She’s right. Would you like a drink? Sherry?”

“He likes beer,” Meredith said for him.

“Thank God,” Owen muttered. “Another male who doesn’t drink that god-awful sherry.”

He’d just accepted the cold bottle from Owen when the Queen appeared in the doorway, looking as regal as ever, despite the fact that she’d spent most of her day tucked in the bowels below ground with her comatose husband.

But then, the Queen had always been stronger than most people gave her credit for.

She walked right to him and looked him in the eye. “You love my daughter.”

“Mother.” Meredith’s hand, tucked in his, tightened.

“It’s all right, Meredith.” He wouldn’t turn away from the Queen. He’d been doing that for far too many years. “Yes. I love her.”

Marissa smiled faintly. “Then welcome,” she said gently. And, as Anastasia had done only moments before, she stretched up and brushed a kiss over Pierce’s cheek. “It is time for the secret to be shared, isn’t it,” she murmured, her gaze meeting his meaningfully.

Pierce’s throat knotted. And when the Queen continued to look at him, he knew what she was really saying. The gift she was giving. Whether he had the agreement of the rest of the RET or not, she’d given him the only approval he cared about. “Yes. It is time.”

“I don’t think it’s any secret that you and my sister can’t keep your hands off each other,” Owen drawled, and everyone chuckled. Marissa turned away, breaking that meaningful look as she accepted a glass of the dreaded sherry from her son. Only Pierce knew the secret to which the Queen had been referring was not his relationship with Meredith, but the truth about the King.

And he knew then that no matter how heinous he’d found it to kill a man with his bare hands, he’d do it again, if only to protect this family from harm.

Not because of duty.

Because of love.

“Are you all right?” Meredith touched his face.

“Yes.” He grabbed her and kissed the palm. “I think I am.”

“Good. Because dinner is ready.”

“Wait.”

Her eyes danced. “I think you should eat, Colonel,” she suggested in a low voice. “You might have reason later to keep up your strength.”

“I have something to tell you first.” He drew her over to one of the couches and nudged her down.

Her expression went wary. “What is it?”

“Nothing bad.” He’d tell her later about the King. He’d take her down to see her father himself. Give her a chance to adjust. She’d probably give him grief for not telling her sooner and then probably turn right around and make him accept the reasons he hadn’t been able to do so.

She lifted her eyebrows. “Well?”

“Marry me.”

Her eyes went wide. Soft as dawn. “I…Pierce.”

“I mean, please. Will you marry me? I wouldn’t want you to think I’m trying to order you around, or anything.”

Her eyes glistened. “You’re the only one who could order me right up to the altar,” she whispered. “I didn’t think you wanted that.”

“Because I did a damned good job of convincing you otherwise.” He started to kneel, but she shook her head, tugging him instead to sit beside her.

“I want you beside me. All the way.”

“I’m not an easy man.”

“Are you trying to warn me off now that you’ve both demanded and asked for marriage?”

“I don’t want you to regret anything.”

“The only thing I regret—” her fingers twined with his “—are the years we spent dancing around each other, when we could have been dancing with each other.”

“I’m not good enough for you. I never have been.”

“Be careful what you say. You’re talking about the man Her Royal Highness, Meredith Elizabeth, Princess of Penwyck, plans to marry.”

“Be very sure, Meredith. Because I won’t be able to let you go. It was hard enough when I didn’t really have you. It’ll be impossible once I do.”

“You’ve had me all along, Pierceson Prescott. Whether you wanted me or not. I was always yours. And yes, I’ll be your wife. I want a life with you. Children with you. But mostly—” she leaned toward him and pressed her lips to his “—mostly, I just want you.”

He slid his arms around her. “I must have done
something in this world right,” he murmured, sipping at her lips. “That you’ll have me.”

“Oh, I will definitely have you,” she said, her voice as rich with laughter and love as her eyes were filled with tears. “And you’ll have me, as well.” She kissed him, and her breath was unsteady when she stood. “Come with me.”

He stood, also, pulling her against him. Right where he wanted her. More or less. “Meredith, your family is very welcoming. But I can’t go into the dining room in this state.”

“Who said we’re going to the dining room?” She pulled him into the hallway and headed toward the grand, sweeping staircase that led to the upper level where her chambers were located. “There are better things to feast on than rack of lamb or whatever menu Chef has planned tonight.”

He caught her around the waist, drawing her close to him. “Like what?” But he already knew.

Her lips slowly met his, and at last it sank in just how much he’d been lost without her.

“Love,” she whispered, holding him. Heart to heart. Soul to soul. “Tonight, darling Pierce, we feast on love.”