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  “What variables?”

  Merrick ticked off on his fingers. “If it comes out that you were forced to the altar, his credibility is called into question. If we make it public that von Folke’s holding your mother in order to ensure your compliance. If the point is made that by forcing you to marry him, he would win the throne. All of these variables are out of his control and of substantial risk to him. No, he’ll remain silent. Instead, he’ll send men after us in the hopes of recapturing you without creating an uproar.”

  “Aren’t you concerned about that?”

  “We have a few advantages of our own. Tolken is…” He frowned, seeming to struggle for the right words. “You have state law enforcement in your country, do you not?”

  “Yes. Local police. State troopers.”

  “Tolken is like that. As von Folke’s right-hand man, he enforces the peace within the principality of Avernos. You also have law enforcement that supercedes the state level?”

  “Of course. Federal agencies.”

  “I am the equivalent of that. It would be frowned upon for Tolken to come into Celestia and attempt to enforce the law. When he comes—and he will—it’ll be on tiptoe, whereas I only have to tiptoe if it’s to my advantage.”

  “Okay, I get it. Commander tops the principality police.” She returned to the issue that worried her the most. “I still don’t see how that guarantees my mother’s safety.”

  “The only way von Folke succeeds is if you’re willing to marry him. If you return and discover your mother’s been harmed, I can’t see you agreeing to cooperate with his plans. It’s in his best interest to keep your mother healthy.”

  “And if he decides his plan is a bust?” she protested. “Don’t you think he’ll want to get rid of everyone who knows what he attempted?”

  “Including you and me?” He gave it a moment’s consideration. “All the more reason to stay well away from him until after the election.”

  “At which point he can take his anger out on my mother.”

  He fought to hang onto his patience. “I’ll find a way to free your mother.”

  “How?” she demanded.

  “Again, you’ll have to trust me.”

  She wanted to. She wanted to more than she cared to admit. Every instinct she possessed urged her to allow him to take control of the situation, to yield to his superior strength and conviction. But she didn’t dare. “I can’t,” she said at last.

  “Why?”

  She hesitated, not certain she wanted to reveal such personal information. But something in his eyes held her, demanding the truth. And she found herself telling him, opening herself in a way she hadn’t with any other man. “I spent a lifetime watching my mother run from one bad situation—and man—straight into the arms of another. Each time she trusted the new man in her life and gave up all her power and control, allowing her new husband to dictate how and what and when and why. And each one betrayed that trust, leaving her worse off than she’d been before.”

  “Hell, Princess.” He was seriously taken aback. “How many stepfathers have you had?”

  She waved his question aside. “That’s not important.”

  “I disagree. I think it may be very important.”

  She shook her head, refusing to betray her mother. “The bottom line is that long ago I promised myself I’d never repeat the same mistakes she made. I’d stand on my own two feet. Control my own life. Make my own decisions. And the main decision would be to never allow any man to tell me what to do or how to live my life.”

  “And now you have a man doing just that.” He blew out a harsh breath. “Tough break.”

  “It has been. Until now.” She paced away from the car, gazing toward the mountains that bordered Prince Brandt’s principality. “So far I’ve lived my life my way. I haven’t let any man control me. I’m tired of playing the victim. One way or another, I’m going to take control again, to determine my own fate.”

  “Good for you. In four months, you can get right back to doing that.”

  She spun to face him. “Not in four months. Right now. I’m going to find a way to rescue my mother. You can either help or get out of the way. But I’m not going into hiding for the next four months and leave my mother to Prince Brandt’s mercy. You can’t guard me every second. Sooner or later I’ll find an opportunity to escape and I intend to seize it with both hands.”

  “Thanks for the warning. I’ll make sure I don’t give you that opportunity.” He opened the car door again. “Please. Get in.”

  “And if I refuse?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t.”

  “But if I do?”

  His expression remained adamant. She could no more move him than the mountains at her back. “I plan to succeed,” he stated.

  “No matter who gets sacrificed?”

  He didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. “Please. Get in the car.” He waited until she’d reluctantly complied before leaning in to fasten her seatbelt. “In case it hasn’t occurred to you, if you’d married von Folke you’d have given up even more control than you have with me. He’d have seen to that. This solution may not be much better. But it is better.”

  She had no response to that.

  “And, Princess?”

  “What?” she whispered.

  His expression softened. “Welcome home.”

  Alyssa turned her head and stared out the front windshield while Merrick watched in concern. She’d done a fair job at concealing her thoughts from him, but her mouth quivered ever so slightly. He remembered her looking just like that when he’d studied her through the binoculars the day before. At the time he’d thought of her as a lifeless doll, that betraying quiver a result of either nerves or triumph. He knew better now. She might be trying to hide the fact, but he could tell that being in Celestia, knowing her roots were here, had made an impact.

  She flicked a swift glance in his direction and then away again. “Where are we going?”

  “I have a place nearby where we can spend the night. We can’t stay there longer than a day. Tolken may figure out where we are.” He grimaced. “It depends on how good his memory is.”

  “What is this place?”

  “A farm that belongs to my grandparents. The place is vacant while they visit my brother in Mt. Roche. That’s the capital city of Verdonia.”

  “So you have both a brother, as well as your sister, Miri. What’s his name?”

  He hesitated. Would she recognize it? He couldn’t afford to take the risk. “It’s not important.” Before she could comment, he changed the subject. “You’re not going to like this next part,” he informed her.

  “Really?” She lifted an eyebrow. “And which part up to now have I liked?”

  Score another point for the princess. “For the rest of the time we’re together we’ll be sharing a bed, the same as last night.”

  “No,” she rejected the plan. “I can’t do that. Not again.”

  “Why?” Fool. He knew damn well why. They’d only spent one night in bed together and he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her even for the space of those few hours. How was he supposed to succeed in leaving her untouched for weeks…months? “Was it because of that kiss?”

  Her gaze jerked up to meet his and he read the answer without her saying a word. Her eyes were an incredible shade of blue, startling in their intensity, even more so with memories of the previous night darkening the color. Her lips parted and he could hear the quickening of her breath. He leaned closer, drawn to that mouth, that amazing, lush mouth. He’d never sampled anything like it, anything so addictive, so intoxicating. He wanted more. He wanted to drink her down until all he could taste was her, until his hands knew her body more intimately than his own, until the air filling his lungs was saturated with her scent and the sound of her voice became the only music his ears could comprehend.

  The confines of the car seemed to close in around them, shrinking until only the two of them existed. He reached for her, cupping h
er head in his hands. Her hair slid through his fingers, the curls knotting around them, anchoring him in place. Not that he wanted to go anywhere. He leaned in until their lips brushed. Parted. Brushed again, harder this time. Sealed. She moaned, a rich, helpless sound that rumbled deep in her throat, like a cat’s purr. She didn’t even seem to realize she’d made it, a fact he found unbelievably erotic.

  Her hands slipped to his chest and she gathered up fistfuls of his shirt. For an instant she relaxed into the embrace, welcoming his touch. Her head nestled into the crook of his shoulder and wayward strands of silky hair clung to his jaw, giving off the faintest aroma of exotic flowers mixed with tangy citrus. And then she released his shirt and her arms encircled him. He could feel her urgency, one that fed his.

  Her kiss was filled with a desperate passion, as though snatching life-giving sustenance before the onslaught of a drought. She consumed him with abandonment, greedily drinking in everything he had to offer. And that’s all it took to set him off. The combustion was as violent as it was immediate, a flash fire sweeping through him and igniting the overwhelming compulsion to make this woman his on every possible level. He pushed her against the door, angling her mouth for a deeper kiss. Their tongues joined in a sweet, hot duel. Tangling. Warring. Caressing.

  This was wrong. Oh, so wrong. Not that he gave a damn. If they’d been anywhere other than in a two-seater with a stick shift threatening mayhem between them, he’d have taken her right there against the door and to hell with the consequences. The only thing that stopped him was the expression in her eyes. A fierce conflict raged in them, physical desire in a pitched battle with rationality. Want clashing with common sense.

  He couldn’t say how long they teetered on the knife’s edge, caught between a mindless, delicious fall into insanity and the far less satisfying retreat toward reason. He could take her, could have her body and use it until he was sated. But it wouldn’t be enough. He didn’t want just her body. He wanted far more, he suddenly realized. And he wouldn’t be satisfied until he had every piece of her. If that happened here and now, so much the better. He could convince her that what had started out as an abduction had become something else altogether. Personal. Vital. Necessary to both of them. Still, he forced himself to make it a fair fight and eased back a scant inch.

  She accepted the out he offered and pulled back, gasping for air, staring at him with glazed, bewildered eyes. “Why does this keep happening?”

  “Because I’m irresistible?”

  She disengaged herself from his embrace and the curls wrapped around his fingers tightened in protest before reluctantly setting him free. “Every time you touch me I come undone.” She glanced down at herself and the breath hissed from her lungs. She plucked at her blouse. “Look at me. This is exactly what I’m talking about. How did you manage to do that?”

  To his amusement, half the buttons were unfastened. “I don’t know how that happened. I thought I’d been cupping your head the entire time.”

  She fumbled with the buttons. “You have to stop trying to seduce me. It’s not fair. It’s only supposed to work in reverse. Not in…in…Not this way.”

  Her comment intrigued him. “You mean, it’s acceptable if you seduce me?” He could only come up with one reason why she’d attempt that. The corner of his mouth kicked upward. “You think seducing me will give you an opportunity to escape?”

  “If that’s what it takes, then yes,” she snapped. “Not that I’d have succeeded.”

  “You might have.” He opened his arms. “I’m willing to let you give it a try if you want.”

  “Oh, ha ha. Very funny. But I’ve already thought it through. It wouldn’t work.”

  “Why not?” He was genuinely curious.

  “Simple. What happens after I seduce you?”

  “I go deaf and blind?”

  Her mouth twitched before she managed to suppress it. “If I thought you would, I might be willing. Because the only way I’d manage to give you the slip would be if you really did go deaf and blind. And even then, I’d need a three day head start.”

  He snagged another of her wayward curls and twined it around his finger again, forcing her to look at him. “If I ever get you in my bed for real, if I ever make love to you—proper love to you—I’d never let you go, Princess. I’d keep you wrapped up so tight you wouldn’t know where you ended and I began.”

  She jerked back. It was too much too soon and she reacted with a feminine alarm as old as time. The female preparing to flee from the pursuing male. The scent of want mingled with the fear of domination. As badly as she needed to retreat, it didn’t come close to how badly he wanted to give chase. Every instinct he possessed urged him to take her. Now. To forge a bond before she escaped.

  She must have read his intent because her hand groped for the door handle, clinging to it as though it were a life raft. “I think we should go now.” She spoke with an authority that didn’t quite ring true. Moistening her lips, she tried again. “But I have a condition of my own before we do.”

  He buried a smile. He could guess what that condition would be. “Which is?”

  “You don’t kiss me again. No touching. No sexual overtures. I need to feel safe.”

  His amusement died, replaced with regret. Is that what he did to her? Made her feel unsafe? But then, how could it be otherwise? He’d abducted the woman. Tied her up. Forced himself on her—even if she had responded with a passion that blew him away. And he’d been unable to resolve the issue with her mother, something that left her frantic with worry.

  “You are safe,” he informed her gently. “You have my word.”

  “Fine. Then we can go.”

  “As soon as you fasten your seatbelt.”

  She groaned. “I didn’t realize I’d unfastened it. Buttons. Seatbelts. You’re a regular magician, aren’t you?”

  “If I were, I wouldn’t bother with buttons and seatbelts. Anyone can unfasten those.” He turned the key in the ignition. “I’d find it far more interesting to unfasten you from the inside out.”

  She didn’t reply, but confusion warred with alarm. Leaving her to consider his words, he shifted the car into gear and drove to the farm. He gave her time to explore, keeping his distance so she had an opportunity to come to terms with her situation without his breathing down her neck. Dusk had settled around them when they met in the kitchen for their evening dinner.

  “Who’s taking care of the farm while your grandparents are away?” Alyssa asked toward the end of the meal.

  Had she hoped for rescue from that direction? If so, she’d be sorely disappointed. “There are caretakers who live not far away. I warned them I’d be here tonight.” Merrick topped off her glass of homemade buckthorn wine, a wine his grandparents only served to their most honored guests. Much to his relief, Alyssa had been effusive with her praise of the exotic brew, taking to the unusual flavor as though born to it. “They won’t interfere,” he added pointedly.

  She accepted the information with a stoic nod. “I’ve been wondering…What happens to Celestia when I return home? Who will inherit it after me?”

  “No one.”

  She frowned and genuine concern lit her eyes. “Didn’t my father have any relatives? Distant cousins or a twice removed niece or nephew or something? The succession can’t just end with my brother.”

  “No.” He waited a beat. “But it can and does end with you.”

  Her frown deepened. “Then, what happens to Celestia?”

  He took a sip of the golden wine before replying. “According to law, it’ll be divided in half and absorbed by the other two principalities. One portion will go to Avernos, the other to Verdon.”

  Her distress wasn’t feigned. “That seems so wrong.”

  He shrugged. “It’s within your power to prevent.”

  She started shaking her head before he even finished his sentence. “I can’t. My home is in New York. I have an apartment. Responsibilities. I start a new job in another two—”

/>   He winced as she broke off. He could tell she’d only just realized that being held by him for the next four months put more things at risk than just her mother. No doubt she’d lose her job, as well. She’d been thrust into a situation not of her choosing, her entire life turned upside down courtesy of the political upheaval in Verdonia. And there was nothing he could do to change that. At least, not until he could figure out what was behind von Folke’s desperate maneuvering.

  As much as he regretted the sacrifices her abduction created, he didn’t for one minute regret her presence in Verdonia. In the short time they’d been together he’d come to realize that she belonged here. More, he realized she belonged with him.

  Now all he had to do was convince her of that.

  One look was sufficient to warn it would take a hell of a lot of convincing. Alyssa stood, her smile strained, darkness eclipsing the brilliance of her eyes. “I think it’s time for me to turn in,” she announced in a painfully polite voice. When he would have stood, as well, she held up a hand. “Could you give me a few minutes? I need some time to myself. I promise I won’t try and escape.”

  “Of course. I’ll get our luggage from the car.”

  “We have luggage?” She laughed, the sound heartbreaking. “You do plan ahead, don’t you? At least, for most things.”

  She left the kitchen and a few minutes later he heard her enter the bedroom. The door closed with a gentle click, leaving Merrick swearing beneath his breath. Damn it to hell. He’d never meant for this to happen. The decision that had seemed so obvious and clear cut a week ago had become complicated beyond belief now that he’d executed it. What he needed was time to think, to review his options, as well as review possible alternatives he hadn’t previously considered.

  Exiting the house, he removed the luggage and delivered it to Alyssa before retreating to the kitchen. He sat in one of the ladder-back chairs, remembering the summers he and his brother had spent here. Little had changed since then. The heart oak kitchen table remained the same, with only a burn mark from one of his grandfather William’s cigars to mar the scoured surface. He could still recall his grandmother scolding her husband for his inattentiveness and the way he’d reduced her to breathless laughter by apologizing with a smacking kiss. The wide plank flooring was just as spotless now as then, as were the whitewashed walls. And every appliance had been polished to a satin sheen.