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

“Hello again, Darrell Collier. In case you’ve forgotten, my name is Alex.” His deep male voice resonated to her insides.

Speechless and feeling light-headed, she held on to the door for support. “I—I’m sorry, Alex.” She stumbled over her words. “But I never expected to see you again.”

He studied her upturned features for a moment. “You made that abundantly clear when you flew out of my cabin a little while ago.”

Her heart thundered in her chest. “Didn’t you get the ring?”

His eyes glinted with a mysterious light. “It’s in my pocket.”

“Then I don’t understand. If you’re here to give me hush money or some such thing, I wouldn’t take it. I swear before God I could never do that to you or anyone else.”

He said nothing.

She shook her head, causing her hair to swirl a silvery-gold. “You shouldn’t have come,” she said in a shaky voice. “Phillip will be home soon and see the limo. If he finds you here, he’ll ask questions and it won’t take him long to notice certain…similarities.”

Her unexpected visitor straightened to his full, intimidating height. “Then I guess I’ll have to take that chance because you and I still have things to discuss. May I come in?”

She couldn’t sustain his penetrating glance and averted her eyes. “I—I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I happen to disagree with you,” he came back with a strong hint of authority in his voice. “If you prefer, we can sit in the limo.”

“No—” she blurted. With her bare legs showing and no shoes on her feet, the thought of being confined with him sounded far too intimate.

“Are you going to make a grown king beg? It’s a position I don’t recall having been in before.”

Everything he said and did was getting under her skin, confusing and exciting her when she shouldn’t be having any feelings at all!

She moistened her lips nervously. “I didn’t mean to be rude. Please—Come in.”

“Since you put it so nicely, I think I will.”

His male mouth twitched, revealing a charm that was lethal. No wonder Melissa had fallen for him. Of course he’d only been twenty or so at the time, but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Some men were just endowed at an early age with a raw, virile charisma few women could resist.

When Melissa had talked about lying in his arms beneath the stars, Darrell had absorbed the revelation on an intellectual level. To see her sister’s lover in the flesh was like coming too close to a solar flare that scorched the body and filled her with a strange envy.

Melissa may have only been a teenager, but she’d known rapture with this exciting man who ruled a kingdom. She’d carried his son to term. Those joys were something Darrell had yet to experience for herself, if she ever did.

Her front door opened into the small living room with its traditional decor. His presence dwarfed the interior.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back.”

She felt his appraising gaze on her legs as she darted up the stairs. By the time she returned wearing a pair of pleated white sailor pants and leather sandals, she felt a little more presentable.

Darrell found him studying some framed family pictures. He appeared deep in thought.

When he heard her enter, he put down the picture of Phillip and turned in her direction. His eyes roved over her trembling figure, silently acknowledging the change in her attire.

“By the way you answered the door just now, I take it you haven’t seen Phillip since you arrived back.”

She smoothed her damp palms against her hips, a gesture he also noted. “Actually I have. But while we were eating dinner, I said something that upset him. He flew out the door and went off on his bike. I was hoping he’d decided to come back.”

He frowned. “You seemed unduly anxious. Does he often blow up like that?’

Already he was sounding like a concerned parent. She hardly knew what to make of this remarkably handsome stranger from another continent.

“I said something that frightened him.”

“What was that?” her guest persisted.

“The three days away from him let me see how depressed he has become. I told him I was going to take him to a counselor to help him deal with his issues of abandonment. He yelled that he wasn’t crazy before he charged out of here like a torpedo.”

She rubbed her arms with her hands. “On the flight home from Switzerland, I made up my mind I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get help for him. I knew he would fight me on this, but I’m committed. In all honesty, I should have taken him to a doctor long before now. He’s showing the same pattern Melissa did.”

He moved closer, his gaze intent on her face. “Tell me about your family.”

“My parents met at Denver University. Mother would have been a teacher. Dad was studying to become a geologist. Melissa had barely turned two when they were killed in a car accident and my grandmother Alice took on the responsibility of raising us.

“She was a wonderful person. We both adored her, but Melissa had a harder time of it. She yearned for our parents even though she didn’t remember them. As she got older, she felt more and more sorry for herself. In time she grew petulant like Phillip and became too much of a handful for Grandma whose health began to fail.

“When Melissa had an opportunity to work at the dude ranch through a close friend’s family, she didn’t hesitate. She knew a lot of famous VIPs vacationed there. She’d made up her mind she was going to meet an important man who would take her away and give her the kind of life that would make up for her deprivation.”

His eyes studied her intently. “What about you? A teenager burdened with sorrow and a new baby to raise. How did you do it all?”

“Grandma’s house was paid for. I took a night job I could do at home for the airlines making reservations. Eventually I was able to start taking college classes and graduated in communications.

“The company gave me a promotion, so I sold the house and bought this condo, which is closer to my work. Everything seemed fine, but it wasn’t fine to Phillip.”

Darrell’s eyes filled with liquid. “It’s a tragic irony Melissa met you, a real prince. There’s a lesson to be learned here in getting what you wish for…” Her voice trailed.

He trapped her gaze. “I can’t do anything about your sister now, but it’s not too late for Phillip.”

Her thoughts reeled. “It is where you’re concerned,” she said in a dull voice.

She heard his sharp intake of breath. “He’s my son. It’s high time we got to know each other.”

“You don’t really mean that. You couldn’t—” she cried. “It will change your whole life.”

“That’s what children do when they come into the world. He’s a precious gift.”

“But you’re a king! This is going to complicate your life in ways I can’t even begin to imagine, starting with salacious reports from the press.”

“What else is new. I’m a man first, Darrell. When I fathered Phillip, I wasn’t yet a king. I’ve already missed the first twelve years of his life. As my mother keeps telling me, a grandmother needs grandchildren. After she gets over the shock, she’s going to be thrilled.”

Darrell was afraid to believe him. But when she looked deeper into his eyes, she knew instinctively he believed what he was saying.

She swallowed hard. “You haven’t even met him yet. He’s very complex.”

“You mean he’s damned difficult most of the time, but sweet as honey at unexpected moments?”

“That’s exactly how he is,” her voice shook.

He put his hands on his hips in a wholly male stance. “He’s a Valleder all right. Our genes don’t lie. After we meet, he might never grow to like me, but we share the same blood. That makes us family, sight unseen.”