The Lost Prince Read online

  And then her hands were on his skin, and he forgot all about anything but the wonder of her. She slid her palms across his chest, measuring the width of his shoulders, her murmur of approval stealing his breath clean away.

  Tentatively she leaned forward to kiss his throat, and he delighted in the butterfly softness of her mouth. He shrugged out of his shirt and kicked off the rest of his clothes in a rush. He rolled over and literally stopped breathing when Katy’s silk-clad body pressed against his. The sensation was exquisite. He closed his eyes, enthralled. She made a tiny movement that brought their bodies into even more perfect alignment with each other, and he thought he might burst on the spot.

  His body screamed to be joined with hers, to be buried deep inside her softness and warmth. It was all he could do not to rip the silk fabric off her and take her that instant. She was his wife. He owed her his sanity, his life, his future legacy, everything. He most certainly owed her a full measure of pleasure, today of all days. Clamping down hard on his raging desire, he let his hands roam freely over her body. The silk glided beneath his fingers in a seductive slide that nearly sent him over the edge.

  He leaned down, replacing his fingers with his mouth. He explored the valley between her breasts, bewitched by the way she arched into him, offering herself for more of the same. Through the wet silk, he felt her breasts tighten and contract, the hard nubs of her nipples proclaiming her pleasure. She moaned softly. He moved lower, savoring the ticklishness of her ribs, the flatness of her belly, the curve of her hip.

  Where she ever got the notion she was average or even fat, he had no idea, because she was flawlessly shaped and proportioned for his taste. The Greek sculptors couldn’t have done it any better.

  Impatient to taste her flesh, he reached for the hem of her dress and raised it slowly, revealing her shapely legs inch by elegant inch. His mouth followed in the wake of the silk’s retreat, tasting and learning her as he went. He searched out every secret of her body, seeking each place that gave her pleasure, each touch that made her gasp in delight, until he could restrain himself no longer.

  Finally he raised himself over her, positioning himself between her soft thighs. He stroked the swollen slickness of her flesh until she sprawled in wanton pleasure and finally opened her eyes to plead.

  “Please, Nick.”

  He did not need another invitation. He sank down into her brilliance, buried himself in her heat and light, the power of the moment sweeping him completely out of himself. Possessiveness roared through him. Forever he would be her husband and she his wife. When she joined him in paradise someday, they would be as one. They would hold each other’s bodies and hearts for eternity.

  He kissed her and caressed her until her body unclenched itself around him. Then ever so slowly he began to move inside her. As eager and generous as always, she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer, flying high with him. Their bodies and souls merged, breaking free of the stone walls around them, soaring straight up toward the sun, until the glory and power of it all but burned them to ashes.

  He kissed her then, shouting the joy of his release into her mouth. He shuddered with the violence of it, humbled by the gift she’d given him.

  Panting, he opened his eyes to gaze down at Katy. The wonder on her face was surely the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. A single thought pierced his dazed and awed mind.

  Thank you, merciful God, for answering my prayers.

  Chapter 7

  Katy finally remembered to breathe as she looked up at Nick. Her husband. The words felt foreign on her tongue but were sweet ambrosia nonetheless. Her relief was profound that he found her attractive and hadn’t had to force himself to make love to her.

  If she called anyone she knew back in the States and told them she’d just secretly married a handsome prince who was trapped in a castle dungeon by an evil dictator, they’d laugh their heads off. Absolutely no one would believe her. It was too hokey, too fairy taleish for words. But the reality was so much more than she could ever have imagined. It was wonderful and magical and made her reassess everything she’d ever believed about Cinderella and Snow White and all the other fairy-tale love stories she’d ever heard. Maybe there was an element of truth to them after all!

  “Nick,” she murmured, unable to keep a smile off her face, “I sincerely hope you enjoyed that half as much as I did.”

  He laughed and gathered her close. He dropped a kiss into her hair. “I enjoyed you twice as much. You are a miracle, my darling.”

  The depth of feeling in his voice was real. Katy’s spirits soared, her bubbling ecstasy finally set free. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly on the mouth. “You’re the amazing one, Nick Ramsey.”

  His exultant laughter mingled with hers as they shared a leisurely kiss.

  She lurched as a quiet knock sounded on the door. “Please, ma’am, you must go now. Your companion, he asks for you.”

  The prison’s walls slammed back in around them. Nick pulled her down on top of him for one last quick hug and then he jumped up.

  “Coming, Riki,” Katy mumbled.

  The lock began to rattle, and she fumbled with her clothes, clumsy in her haste to don them again. Nick threw on his pants and shirt and helped her. He was just tucking her face scarf in place when the door creaked open. His laughing gaze met her panicked one.

  She scowled and shook her finger at him as she swept toward the door. Out of sight of the young guard, he grabbed her wagging finger and placed a quick kiss on her fingertip. Katy yanked her hand away, smiling widely.

  She followed the young prison guard down the gloomy hall toward the exit, dazed by her abrupt return to the real world. She squinted as she stepped out into the glare of sunset directly on her face.

  “Where in the hell have you been?” Larry Grayson growled. “I was about to send in troops after you.”

  “Long story,” she murmured as they walked past a dozen or more Army soldiers.

  They passed through the outer wall of the palace and headed down the hill toward their hotel. She thought fast while they walked. She needed to come up with a good cover story for spending so much time with Nick. A story that would let her go back and do the same again.

  She stopped just in front of the hotel, placing a restraining hand on her partner’s arm.

  Larry looked at her expectantly. “What gives, Katy?”

  She looked around and saw no Army uniforms. She leaned close to him to talk under her breath. “One of the prisoners has become an informal spokesman for the rest. He gathers reports on how everyone’s being treated…the kind of stuff the prisoners won’t talk to us about with a guard listening right outside their door. I’ve been talking to him about what’s really going on.” The lie tasted awful on her tongue, but she had no choice. Extraordinary situations called for extraordinary measures.

  Larry’s eyes lit up with interest. “Really? Are you finding out things InterAid needs to know about?”

  She nodded conspiratorially and embellished her tale even more. “He’s working on getting me the names of all the guards who are violating the Geneva Convention protocols. The prisoners are hesitant to complain themselves for fear of reprisals.”

  Larry nodded. “Of course. Maybe I should take over visiting this guy if he’s got this much information.”

  Alarm sliced through Katy. “No! He wouldn’t talk to you. He’s just now coming to trust me.”

  Larry looked skeptical. “You don’t have the experience to do something like this. The information you gather may well end up in an international court of law, and you have to know what you’re doing to collect it impartially so you don’t compromise its worth as testimony.”

  Katy’s alarm escalated into desperation. “I’m telling you, Larry. He won’t talk to you. We won’t get anything at all unless I continue seeing him.”

  Larry looked unconvinced.

  “Besides, if you start spending lots of time with him, as well, that’ll dra
w way too much attention to him. We’ll put him at risk of being discovered and then we’ll lose our source altogether.”

  A disgruntled look settled on her partner’s face. “Damn. I suppose you’re right.”

  Katy sighed in relief. “Tell you what, Larry. Once I get the names of the guards and the specifics of what’s going on, would you be willing to help me put it all together into an organized format to show to Don Ford?”

  His expression cleared. “Absolutely. My pleasure. You know, I’m quite experienced at this kind of thing. In Kosovo, something similar happened to me….”

  She restrained a laugh. Somehow she doubted a Slavic prince had asked Larry to secretly marry him and have his baby. Katy stepped inside with him, nodding dutifully in response to the war story he launched into.

  Although her ploy bought her the chance to continue seeing Nick, it also brought her unwanted attention from Larry Grayson. He nodded significantly at her the next day as she headed for Nick’s cell, and the surly guard caught the look. He frowned, looking back and forth between the two of them.

  Crud. Now the guard was suspicious, too. She had to distract him. She racked her brain for an idea. As he wrestled with the huge rusted lock, she murmured to the guard, “Sheesh. These American men. So forward with women. Give me an Arab man anytime over one of those gorillas.”

  The guard looked up at her in surprise. He looked back over his shoulder at Larry Grayson’s retreating back.

  He grinned wolfishly and growled, “Want me to kill him for insulting your honor?”

  Katy lurched. “Uh, no. That’s okay. But thank you for the offer. I’ll let you know if he ever truly insults my honor.”

  The guard nodded conspiratorially and patted the pistol at his side. “Say the word and I’ll blow his head off.”

  Katy blinked and did her best to smile back at the goon. “Uh, thanks.”

  What was she turning into? She was lying to everyone she met these days. First the Baraqi woman, then Larry and now the prison guard. She slipped into Nick’s cell. And all of a sudden the lies were worth it. He took her breath away just to look at him.

  He was standing on the far side of his cell, looking up the air shaft, apparently. The door closed and he turned. She pulled off her veil.

  In three swift strides he crossed the cell. Their bodies met and they kissed greedily. His tongue swept inside her mouth the same way his presence swept inside her heart, in a rush of heat and passion. He picked her up in his arms and spun her around slowly, kissing her all the while.

  “I missed you,” he murmured.

  She smiled back. “I missed you, too.”

  He reached beneath her robe and pushed it off her shoulders. Nick smiled at her vibrant yellow dress. “Rebelling against the dress code, are we?” he murmured.

  She laughed up into his warm gaze. “I thought you might enjoy a ray of sunshine in this gray prison.”

  “Aah, my darling, you are all the light and warmth I need.”

  “We don’t have much time,” she whispered. “The nasty guard’s on shift. Plus, my partner’s been asking some questions. He’s noticed how much time I’m spending with you.”

  Nick reached down, pulling up the hem of her loose sleeveless sundress. He backed her against the wall, kissing and sucking at her breasts through the dress and her bra until she moaned in abandon.

  “What explanation did you give your partner?” Nick asked as his hands divested her of her panties and began to play their magic on her already throbbing flesh.

  “I, uh…” Her knees went weak and she clutched at Nick’s powerful biceps. “Uh, told him you had information about guards violating…” Her breath failed her as he knelt before her and his mouth closed upon the most sensitive parts of her.

  “Uh, violating, uh… Oh, my…the Geneva Conventions.”

  “Mmm,” Nick murmured. “Clever. I’ll see if I can find out anything for you.”

  He rose to his full height before her, his gaze an inferno of desire that matched the ferocity of the one blazing inside her. He fumbled at his own clothes for a second and then his arms went around her.

  “I can’t get enough of you,” he growled as he backed her up against the wall again.

  He lifted her, and Katy’s legs wrapped around his waist. He settled her down onto his heated flesh, and she gasped at the pulsing fullness within her.

  The wall was cold at her back: Nick was answering fire before her. She clung to his broad shoulders, riding the storm between them as it grew wilder and more powerful, surging within her, until finally it tore her completely apart and scattered her before its fury.

  She collapsed against Nick’s muscular chest, breathing hard.

  He buried his face against her neck, laughing quietly. “I haven’t been this crazy over a woman since I was seventeen and in love for the first time.”

  Katy hugged him close. “Was she beautiful?”

  “Who?” Nick asked.

  “The woman you were in love with.”

  He grinned down at her as he eased her onto her feet but continued to hold her close. “Indubitably. She was also about twenty years older than me. It turns out she took great pleasure in initiating young men into the ways of love.”

  Katy smiled up at him. “Then I guess I owe her a thanks someday if I ever meet her.”

  He returned her smile. “No, sweet Katy. You owe her nothing. There has never been another woman who does to me what you do. You drive me out of my mind. What we have between us is not about technique. It’s about passion and generosity and love.”

  Katy stared. “Love?”

  The smile faded from his amber eyes, leaving them glowing like quiet embers. “Yes, Katy. I feel like I have known you for a lifetime. You have opened my heart and filled it with your spirit. You have made me happy.”

  “How can you be happy? You’re about to die!” As soon as she blurted out the words, she wished them back. “Oh! I’m so sorry—”

  Nick laid a finger over her lips. “No need to apologize. You speak the truth. Never be afraid to do that with me.”

  “But—”

  He stopped her again. “But nothing. You don’t owe me any response to my, er, declaration. I don’t expect you to return my feelings in so short a time. Maybe I feel this way so soon because I am about to die. But that doesn’t make the feelings any less real for now.”

  Katy looked into her heart. Did she honestly care why he loved her? It didn’t matter, really. If falling in love with her was his mind’s way of distracting him from the horrors awaiting him, so be it. She could live with that. Scary thing was, she had a sneaking suspicion that she did return his feelings, at least to some degree. He was handsome, romantic and oh so tragic. Prince Charming, indeed. How could a girl not love him just a little?

  Of course, the whole idea of truly being in love with Nick was ridiculous. That desperate, giddy hunger she felt every moment they were apart was just infatuation, and it was most certainly intensified by the drama of the situation. Nonetheless, it hit her like a semitruck every time she left him. No doubt about it—she was dangerously close to being in love with him, too.

  He continued, “I know it sounds absurd. But I’m not some teenage kid anymore who thinks the first big crush that comes along is true love. Hell, I’ve been in and out of more relationships than I care to count.”

  He pushed a strand of hair back from her brow and gazed down at her earnestly. “Maybe because my death is near, I’m more aware of what a privilege it is to be alive. I’m more aware of my feelings. Of the people around me. These few extra days I’ve been given have been unexpectedly enlightening. Thankfully I’ve learned to really live before I die.”

  Katy nodded in perfect understanding. Knowing Nick had stripped away everything but the essentials for her, too.

  He continued, “It all boils down to living joyfully. To loving with all your heart. To savoring every moment.”

  Katy reached up to stroke his face where the ugly red of his
bruises was turning dark purple and green. “You are an amazing man, Nick Ramsey. To find meaning in life even in your situation…”

  “Don’t pity me, Katy,” he whispered. “Appreciate being alive with me. Share this joy.”

  Tears filled her eyes as she gazed up at him. The irony of such words in the mouth of a condemned man tore her heart in two. She flung her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. She choked out, “No pity. Only joy between us. I promise.”

  He hugged her so tight she thought they might melt into one person.

  A fist banged on the door. “Let’s go,” the guard called out irritably.

  Katy wiped her eyes hastily as Nick retrieved her abaya from the floor. He threw it around her shoulders and tucked in her veil for her. Before he stepped back, he wiped away a last tear clinging to her eyelashes and brought his fingertip to his mouth to kiss it off his finger.

  The poignancy of the gesture nearly caused her to break down sobbing again.

  “Go,” he urged.

  She touched his cheek and turned to leave.

  Nick sagged against the wall as the door shut beside him. He raged and grieved at the four silent stone walls for the time they’d never have together, for the child he’d never know, for all the happiness he was going to miss out on.

  And finally, when he had no more anger or pain left, he rejoiced for what they had found with one another. He didn’t know if his feelings were real or not, and frankly he didn’t care. He was perfectly happy to wallow in the euphoria Katy brought to him instead of dwelling on the inevitable.

  After a long time, he pulled himself together and went to the air shaft. There was still a little light left to see by. He retrieved the paper and pen he’d hidden on the ledge outside and began to write.

  I, Nikolas Hassan Akeem el Ramsey, being of sound mind and body, do declare the following to be my last will and testament….