Page 13 of The Princess and Her Mercenary

He shook his head. “Not interested. I’ll just give them to my sweetheart.” When she frowned up at him, he added, “Which is you, of course.”

“Of course,” she giggled. “So, what do you want from me then?”

His face froze and she felt the sudden intense sobering of his mood. She sucked air into her lungs, feeling both scared and excited for his next words.

“Told you, Princess, I want everything,” he said gruffly, smoothing the hair off her forehead. He kept his hand on her head, cupping her, holding her. “I want your loyalty, your smiles, your humour, your kindness. Everything I saw in you when we were in Jakarta. Everything you shared with Jaya and that damned kitten of hers.”

Ndari couldn’t help herself; a slow, satisfied grin spread across her face. Who knew this psycho mercenary was capable of saying everything right, of melting her heart with his words? “Some of those smiles were for you too.”

“Not enough,” he complained.

She smiled up at him and pulled him in for another kiss, then gave him a shove. “Get off me, the stars are coming out now. If you’re going to make me stay out here and stargaze then I want to see them, not your big head.”

He moved off her, but kept his hand spread across her belly, sending a flurry of butterflies through her. They looked at stars, commenting, laughing, and kissing. She was in heaven. This was the best moment of her life. When they finished all the food and wine Keane dragged a blanket over her. Her eyes were starting to grow heavy. She yawned widely and snuggled against his side. He tucked her against him and held her in a way that made her feel safer than if she were in a palace full of guards.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I can honestly say, I never thought the most romantic thing to ever happen to me would occur while I was stranded in the desert.”

“You aren’t stranded,” he argued. “I know exactly where we are, and I have the means to get us out of here whenever we want to go.”

She thought about it, thought about making their way to civilization, ending their little interlude. “Can we stay here forever?”

He gave her one last kiss before closing his eyes and murmuring, “I will give you whatever you want, Ndari.”

She wanted to explore that statement some more, because ‘whatever she wanted’ could encompass a lot of things, like the Crown Princess Catalina of Holland’s jewels. It’s not like the too-serious Princess needed them. She was not one to join in any kind of pomp and ceremony, preferring to live in a cabin in the forest and paint. As far as Ndari was concerned, if a Princess didn’t use her jewels then she should lose them.

But instead of asking for her rival’s jewels, Ndari said, “I think I only want you.”

Her declaration fell on a silent night though as he was already asleep.

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