Page 58 of Some Like It Royal

“Yes.” One word. Just one. And he stood and lifted her into his arms, kissing her. He heard her laughter, tasted her tears and did his absolute best not to whoop. But the wild applause breaking out around them forced him to lift his head. Most of the ballroom had followed them out to the secluded corner, including the man nursing a faintly reddening bruise.

“Well done, Mr. Voldakov. Well done.” The man, it seemed, was also leading the applause. He stepped toward them and held out his hand. “Armand Dagmar.”

Well, that explained Martin’s apoplectic expression and the niggle of recognition. He’d slugged the grand duke.

“Call me Daniel, Your Highness.” He accepted the man’s firm handshake.

“It would be my pleasure.” The grand duke glanced over his shoulder and security moved in to usher the crowd back to the ballroom, leaving them in relative privacy. “I would be honored if you would call me Armand.”

Alyx held tightly to Daniel’s arm and he leaned over to brush a kiss to her forehead. “I’m going to guess you two have already introduced yourselves.”

“Um, yeah.” It was her turn to laugh. “Armand was just apologizing to me that the family never came for me. They’d never known my father married, much less had a child.”

The grand duke inclined his head, genuine sorrow turning his mouth down. “Precisely. Your grandfather and mine were brothers, but they quarreled over a woman, of all things. My grandmother, as it happens. Your grandfather moved to the States in a fit of pique. We knew he’d married and had a son, but he moved frequently and refused to call the family. My grandfather was equally stubborn and wouldn’t pursue the matter. A few years ago, when my grandfather passed, my father tried to locate your family, only to learn both were deceased.” Armand sighed. “Had we known you existed, we would have taken every measure to bring you back to our family. If you believe nothing else, please believe that.”

He held out his hand and Alyx took it, her smile sad, but without any regret. “I do, and thank you. As grateful as I am for the idea, I have to say I’m glad you didn’t.”

Daniel raised his eyebrows and swung a look down at his fiancée—fiancée sounded almost as good as wife. “Sweetheart…”

“No.” She shook her head and looked between them. “Seriously, if I had been rescued and taken back to Europe, I wouldn’t have met you, Daniel. I wouldn’t have been in my car when you knocked on the window and… No…I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Armand chuckled softly and, with a half-wary glance at Daniel, leaned in to kiss her cheek. “You have my heartiest congratulations, cousin. A determined man, indeed, you’ve found. I have a feeling he will do well in our family. Contracts notwithstanding.”

“About the hit earlier…” Daniel began.

Armand waved away his apology and if he had any problem with the other bit of information, he didn’t share it. “What are a few bruises among family? Trust me, my brothers have hit me harder—and with less cause. Although I’m afraid your story will make quite the splash tomorrow.” He glanced over his shoulder at the press being wrangled back. Daniel didn’t care. They could print anything they wanted. He had Alyx.

The three fell silent and Armand squeezed her hand. “For now, I will leave the two of you to your private celebration. Feel free to take the suite upstairs, I will let security know you may have it.” He straightened his tie. “It’s time for me to shock the locals and see if any of the local celebutantes have shown up.”

With a rakish wink, he spun on a heel and marched away.

“He’s not bad for a prince.”

“No,” Alyx agreed and slipped her arms around him. “But I prefer my regular Americans with their software billions to any old-fashioned European playboys.”

“Good to know.” He stared down at her. “Why did you leave?”

“Because I’m an idiot?” She shook her head slowly. “Martin called and said the grand duke was here and he was ecstatic that their attorneys were beginning the slow dance to hire Spherecast and he was overwhelming in his compliments about the success of your ‘plan.’“

He’d thought as much, but hearing the forlorn note in her voice, he wished they could go back to that moment the phone rang. He would have smashed it for her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because we had a deal. You wanted a princess to get a business contract.” She sighed, a note of impatience in her voice. “Of course, I overreacted and I was going to make it up to you by having the deal all in place and then offering to stay on, permanently. You know to keep it going. But not as a princess—as just me. This is the role of a lifetime, one I wanted for me. Not just to play. Everything we did—it was all working to that goal.”

“Everything?” He lifted his brows.

“Well, almost everything. I didn’t really care about your contract in Napa Valley.”

“Glad to hear it. I don’t think I’ve worried about it in weeks.” He laughed, pulling her close and resting his chin against her hair. Music drifted out of the ballroom and the security guards drew back to a nice distance, keeping away the onlookers, but letting them have their privacy.

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“Pride? Stubbornness? Who knows? I’m stupid?” He grinned. “I’m just glad I didn’t wait too long.”

“Me too.” She squeezed him. “Although, I had a plan.”

“You did?”

“Hmm-hmm. Victor told me that if I wanted my happily ever after, I had to keep kissing my toad?—”

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