Rebecca Winters - Wedding Vows - Say I Do - Matrimony with His Majesty / Invitation to the Prince's Palace / The Prince's Outback Bride

“Surely not at the expense of a broken neck.”

She frowned. “Am I such a lame rider?”

“Anyone can have an accident. While you’re my guest, I prefer to keep you safe.”

So saying he reached for her, pulling her off the horse before she was ready.

The momentum brought their bodies together. Helplessly she slid down his powerful physique until her feet touched the ground.

The incredible sensation caused a gasp to escape her lips. Their eyes met by accident. His blazed a hot green.

“Alex—” she whispered mindlessly, caught in a sensuous thrall where the world seemed far removed from them at this moment.

An answering moan came from his throat before his mouth closed over hers with a kind of refined savagery she would never have suspected.

She kept telling herself this couldn’t be happening. Not possibly.

Like a drowning person going under for the third time, her life flashed before her. She thought of all the reasons why this was wrong—out of the question…

He was going to be a married man within a few weeks.

But the rightness of being in his arms, the feeling that they were two halves of a whole transcended every moral objection. Fused to him like this, everything changed.

She didn’t need his hand at her waist crushing her to him because she molded herself to him of her own free will, wanting to merge with him.

His other hand cradled the back of her head, the better for their mouths to savor the intoxicating elixir while they slowly began to devour each other. Their mutual hunger wasn’t some vain imagination. It was a kind of craving she’d never known in her life, like a force beyond herself that wanted, needed everything this man had to give.

Every kiss he gave her went deeper and longer, driving her wild with desire. The increasing urgency of his demand set off an explosion of need inside her.

Feverish with longings her arms slid around his waist and she found herself melded to every hard line and sinew. All she kept praying was don’t stop this ecstasy, don’t ever stop.

Her legs grew heavy. Her palms throbbed with pains brought on by too much pleasure. His mouth was driving her mad with the things he was doing to her.

“I’m back!” shouted a voice in the distance.

Both of them groaned before she cried, “What if he’s seen us?” In panic Darrell tore her lips from his and jerked away from those strong arms holding her possessively.

The motion made her dizzy. He steadied her swaying motion.

“Are you all right?” he whispered.

“Y-yes. You go to him.”

Alex’s recovery was much faster than hers. He moved toward Phillip, giving her a chance to gain her equilibrium behind the protection of the tree. By the time they’d joined her, Darrell was astride her horse ready to go back.

She was still so shaken by what had transpired, she struggled to pretend nothing was wrong. “Did you make it in ten minutes?” she forced herself to ask Phillip.

“No, but I will next time.”

“Eleven and a half minutes isn’t bad for your first time.” Alex tousled Phillip’s hair. “Now we’d better go. I’ve discovered I’m hungry for lunch.”

Heat enveloped her.

“Me, too,” Phillip declared.

After they’d climbed on their horses, she trailed them down the mountain. Phillip did most of the talking. He couldn’t fathom that Bris was a four-thousand-year-old city built by the Romans. It was a good thing he was so eager to learn from his father. It prevented him from noticing how quiet she’d become.

Little did her son know her emotions were in utter chaos.

A line had been crossed today.

She didn’t have the power to turn back time to prevent the experience from happening. However she could make certain there would never be a repeat.

There was no excuse for losing her head. Until he’d admitted that he hadn’t been emotionally involved with Melissa, she would have assumed he’d lost his because she reminded him of her sister. Though the two of them had different coloring, physically they resembled each other in many ways.

Darrell could have understood him getting caught off guard in a small detour down memory lane, but according to him he couldn’t even remember that night with Melissa clearly. So what was the explanation?

Certainly it was a mistake! One of those heart-stopping, forbidden mistakes of unmatchable rapture she would remember for the rest of her life.

Deep in agonizing thought she scarcely remembered the ride back to the stable. Once she’d walked outside the barn, she caught sight of a cute, dark blond boy running toward Alex. He was calling out something to him in Romanche.

“Speak English, Jules.”

The boy reminded her of Phillip when he’d been a few years younger. They all bore that distinguishing Valleder stamp.

Alex put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Where’s Vito?”

“Around the front with Aunt Katerina.”

He guided him closer. “Jules? I’d like you to meet a relative from Colorado in the United States. I hope you’ll all become good friends.”

Jules looked up at Alex in surprise. “I didn’t know we had relatives in America.”

“You have one. His name is Phillip. He’s my son.”

The boy’s light blue eyes rounded in disbelief. “No, he’s not—”

For Darrell it was déjà vu because Phillip had sounded exactly like that when she’d told him his father was the king. The two boys had so much in common it was uncanny.

“Freaky, huh,” Phillip spoke up.

Alex smiled at his son. “Jules doesn’t know what freaky means.”

“Crazy.”

Jules was understandably bewildered. “How old are you?”

“Almost thirteen.”

Going on a hundred, Darrell muttered inwardly. Alex flashed her an amused glance as if he’d just thought the same thing. Her heart lurched every time he looked at her.

“Isabella’s not your mother,” Jules declared.

“No,” Darrell interjected, trying to ignore Alex. “I am. My name is Darrell Collier. I’m very pleased to meet you, Jules.” She put out her hand, which he shook politely. But it was clear he was puzzled.

Who wouldn’t be? The poor boy didn’t know Melissa had given birth to Phillip. But this was hardly the time and place for Darrell or Alex to get into the specifics.

Unfortunately it left the impression that Darrell and Alex had been lovers. One day soon the truth would come out. In the meantime she had to withstand Jules’s curiosity.

He finally switched his gaze back to Alex. “Then how come you’re going to marry Isabella?”

Darrell had anticipated his question and was ready for it. “Because she’s a royal princess and they love each other very much.”

“Isabella’s really cool,” Phillip piped up.

Jules glanced back at his new relative in fascination. “What does cool mean?”

“She’s a fox.”

Well, well, well. If her son said it, it meant Isabella was a true beauty.

Of course she would be, but the knowledge acted like a dagger plunged in Darrell’s heart.

“A fox?” Jules questioned.

Alex burst into laughter.

Jules looked so worn-out trying to figure everything out, Darrell took pity on him.

“What Phillip’s trying to say is that Isabella is a lovely person.”

Those light blue eyes studied her, then Phillip. “Do you want to come and see Great-Aunt Katerina’s dogs?”

“Sure. What kind are they?”

Jules looked to Alex for the answer.

“In English they’re called golden retrievers. Stick with my son, Jules, and your English vocabulary is going to skyrocket.”

“Go on with him,” Darrell urged Phillip. “I’m going back for a soak in the tub.”

He grinned. “You didn’t do half bad on that horse, Mom.”