The Wedding Party And Holiday Escapes Ultimate Collection. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ woman who’d spurned their favorite prince and been spurned in turn by the other one did actually leave their country.

      Joseph, the head of security, escorted her across the tarmac and up the stairs to the jet. She knew it was meant as a courtesy. It felt like she was being seen off the premises, that like the press, he wanted to make sure she really did go, that there would be an end to the havoc she’d wrought.

      She wanted that end, too, to the havoc of her personal and emotional life, though she knew the pain was only just beginning.

      On board she sank onto one of the deep cream couches and did up her seatbelt at the gentle prompting of the hostess. Lexie had deliberately chosen the couch because it didn’t face a window. She closed her eyes and waited. Finally the tone of the jet’s engines changed and they began to taxi along the runway. She resisted the urge to take one last look at San Philippe as they gathered speed and then became airborne. The wheels locked back up into the undercarriage with a thudding finality.

      She’d expected tears, but they never came. All she felt was a great, welling hollowness.

      So much for not making a spectacle of herself. She’d done that and so much worse.

      She heard a sound in the cabin. The hostess. If only she could be left alone. “I’m fine, thanks,” she said. “I don’t need anything.”

      “Or anyone?” a deep, achingly familiar voice asked.

      Her eyes flew open and she drank in the sight of Rafe as he smiled down at her and then lowered himself onto the couch beside her. “What are you doing here?” She was almost afraid to ask. “How did you even get here?”

      He took her hand, held tight to it. “The second question’s easy to answer. I took a leaf out of your book and came by motorbike. I passed you just before the airport.”

      “And the first question?” She clung to his hand like a lifeline. So much depended on his answer. Hope filled her, but she’d had her hopes dashed before now and the prospect of it happening again terrified her.

      “A, I’m not a fool and B, I’m not a martyr.”

      That was no answer. At least not one she understood. “Meaning?”

      “I said only a fool wouldn’t love you. And clearly I’m not a fool because I do—love you. I don’t know when or how it happened. I wanted you almost from the start, from the time I first saw you in the nightclub, no surprise there. I’d wanted women before, so I didn’t think it was anything I couldn’t control.” He made a derisive sound. A laugh cut short. “But the wanting that started that night has only grown stronger, become something more than I even believed existed—love.” He shrugged, but the grip on her hand tightened. “And the love is well out of my control. I’ve got no idea how it even happened and only one idea of what to do about it.” He ran gentle fingers down a lock of her hair, reverently touched her face.

      The hostess appeared, took one look at them and just as quickly disappeared.

      “I didn’t mean it to happen, Lex, but it did. And till half an hour ago I thought letting you go was the right thing to do, which is when I remembered I’m not a martyr. I’m not willing to sacrifice my happiness while you look for someone worthy of you. I want to be the one you wake up with every morning. Though I know I’m not your fairy tale.”

      She opened her mouth to argue, but he silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Let me finish, Lex. This isn’t easy for me, but I need to say it, need you to hear it.” When she nodded, he continued. “I know I’m not the one you wanted to love. And I know there are better men out there than me. But I can’t let them have you. At least not without offering myself to you first. I want to marry you, to be yours, to make you mine. I want all the things I never thought I would. Knowing you has changed so much for me, for the better. But it was only the awful prospect of actually losing you that forced me to see it.”

      He searched her face and then in a sudden movement swooped in, covered her lips with his and kissed her. And she clung to him, kissed him back, drank in the taste of him, reveled in the feel of him. She didn’t have the willpower or even the desire to deny him.

      Too soon, he broke the kiss, rested his forehead against hers. His hands cupped her jaw, his fingers threading into her hair. She held him, breathed in his scent, drew it deep within her, resented having to exhale and lose that part of him she’d captured. Her weakness for him was absolute.

      He took her hands again, folding strong, sure fingers around hers. “Say you’ll have me?”

      She was desperate to say yes and yet she couldn’t. “Rafe—” she clung to his hands, the contact imperative “—you haven’t thought this through. You once said you were trying to protect me from you. But it’s you who needs to be protected from me. Think about your father and your country. Think about what the press will say.”

      “I don’t care what anyone other than you says. And, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m still waiting for a yes here.”

      “I care what they say about you. They’ll vilify you.”

      “Not just me.” He smiled. “You, too. But not for long. And at least we’ll be in it together. I’ll get us through it. Trust me, I’ve had practice. Besides, you haven’t seen this morning’s papers, have you?”

      “No. I couldn’t bear it anymore.”

      “It’s not all bad news. Some bright spark in the press corps has realized that my father only ever said he had given permission for his son and Alexia Wyndham Jones to marry. He never said which son. So along with all the photos of you and me together, the press are speculating that this is what Dad, the master manipulator, meant all along, that he was playing them. They’re rewriting history to suit themselves. And Dad’ll be happy to go along with it.”

      “He couldn’t possibly have had any idea that we’d fall in love.”

      “So you do love me?” He studied her face.

      She paused, unable to deny this man a moment longer. “With all my heart.”

      “And do you mind if we don’t do the big royal wedding thing?”

      “I don’t mind at all.” She was still trying to process what was happening. That Rafe loved her, that he wanted to wake up with her every morning.

      “Good.” He smiled. “Because my father’s not the only wily one. I have it all figured out. The pilot’s already changed the flight plan. We’re heading to Vegas. And we’re getting married. Today. May as well give the press something to get really worked up about. We can be San Philippe’s Rebel Royals. And in tricking them and denying them all their royal wedding, we’ll have sunk so low that the only way to go will be upward in the public’s opinion. And as soon as you have my babies everyone, but me especially, will be happy. All will be forgiven and forgotten.”

      He lifted her hand, covering it with his other so that it disappeared within his clasp. “Lex, you’re a part of me that I hadn’t even realized was missing. The best part.” Tenderness shone in his dark eyes. He released her hand to cup her face, and she pressed her cheek against the warmth of his palm. “Alexia Wyndham Jones, Lexie, my Lexie. I love you. You are my Everest, my everything.”

      Finally, finally he kissed her again and she knew despite what he’d said, she had her fairy tale.

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