Chapter 9

Veronica woke in the silent hours before dawn. Prince Said slept at her side, but she slipped out of bed without waking him. She gazed down at his face, so relaxed in sleep. His shoulders rose and fell with his steady breath. If only she could give him one kiss, she could let him go in peace, but she hadn’t even earned that. She was a brief dalliance for him—nothing more. He took three whole days to get around to kissing her. He wouldn’t stoop to kissing her good-bye now.

She let herself out of the cabin on bare, silent feet. Of everyone on board, she knew best how to move through the ship without making a sound. She ran down the companionway. She still wore that flimsy dress, and the cool morning air chilled her.

She broke into her quarters and locked the door. The dress fell away from her and left her bare and exposed. She hung it on its hook while she took a shower.

When she came out, she was her old self again. She could concentrate on the task at hand with no distracting attachments to something that could never be. She laid out her clean uniform on the bed she didn’t sleep in last night, but she didn’t put it on.

She got out her suitcase from under her bunk. Inside, she found the casual civilian clothes she wore when she first came to work on the Diamantina. She put them on.

She laid the dress carefully inside the suitcase and zipped it up. She would keep that as a memory of her experience here. Maybe after she got home to Fresno she would decide to burn the dress. Maybe she would purge that memory from her mind. For now, though, she wanted to keep it, to cherish it.

All the rough sex faded in the light of last night, in the blessed belonging of Said’s kiss. He wasn’t a prince anymore. He was just a man with feelings and needs and dreams. He gave himself to her as a man last night. He didn’t dominate her or tell her what to do. He simply gave himself into her arms in the purity of his being.

She caressed that perfect skin of his. She gazed into his eyes where the stars shone against his gleaming pupils. She kissed his chest and stomach until he gasped and groaned. He held her head against his heart and ran his fingers through her hair.

So this was what it all came down to. All the spanking and yanking and fucking and sucking came to this. He exposed his secret desires to her, and she earned his love by accepting them. He trusted her with his deepest being, and she cradled his heart in her hands.

At long last, she understood. She was no floozy for his pleasure on a short Pacific cruise. She was so much more than that. She was his long-lost desire. He never let anyone hold him like that. He didn’t have to tell her how he felt about her. She read it in his face and eyes.

She worshiped him more than ever when he made himself vulnerable like that. He was her god, her king, her everything. She bowed before him and gazed up into her eyes. She protected his heart with her flesh, and she would never see him again.

She took one last look around her quarters. She would probably never see them again, either. She prepared herself through many months of anticipating this day never to see her quarters again. She even prepared herself not to see any of the staff again. But what about him?

She spent so much time in the last few days wishing this day would hurry up and arrive. She wanted to get away from him and forget him. Now, everything changed. She couldn’t watch him walk down the gangplank onto the Honolulu docks and walk out of her life while her heart bled for him. She had to get off the ship first, before he woke up.

Never, in all her years as maitre d’, had she failed to wish the guests a pleasant journey when they disembarked. She shook their hands and received their thanks for her service. Not today. She couldn’t see him again, or she was finished.

She closed the door behind her and carried her suitcase up on deck. The Port of Honolulu lay stretched out before her, just starting to wake up, the way she knew it would be, the way it always was when this leg of their journey ended.

The skipper put out the gangplank when they docked during the night. Nothing stopped her from making her escape into her own territory—nothing but Said. He stood next to the gangplank in his black suit and his briefcase in his hand. He surveyed the port until his eye rested on Veronica.

The morning sun shone over the mountains and touched his black hair. It made his skin gleam like gold. He didn’t smile. “Are you leaving now, Veronica?”

She nodded. So much for getting away unnoticed.

“Weren’t you even going to say good-bye to me?”

“No, sir. I thought I would get away before you woke up.”

“Why would you do that? Didn’t you want me to kiss you good-bye?”

“No, sir.”

“Why not?” His voice lilted in a way she couldn’t understand. She never heard him sound like that before.

“You don’t have to kiss me good-bye, sir. I know you have more important things to do, and I have to get to the airport. Thank you for a nice time on board, but if you don’t mind, it’s over now. I’m not bound to serve you any longer.”

His eyes searched her face. “Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”

“I won’t serve you any longer. You’ll leave the Diamantina, and I’ll go home. We’ll probably never see each other again.”

“I asked you a question, Veronica. Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”

“I couldn’t serve you any longer even if I wanted to, sir. Don’t torture me by suggesting that I could. Our time is finished.”

“Did you enjoy serving me, Veronica? Tell the truth.”

“You know I did.”

“And you want it to continue?”

She clamped her eyes shut. “Don’t talk like that. It hurts too much.”

“Very well, Veronica. Off you go to the airport.”

She didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?”

“You go first, sir.”

“What for?”

“You got here first. You should disembark first.”

“Nonsense. I just told you to go. Consider this my last order for you.”

“No, sir. I prefer to go second.”

“May I ask why?”

“I want to watch you out of sight.”

He smiled. “Oh, all right. You want to torture yourself now, since I’m not around to do it for you.” He turned on his heel and strode across the gangway. He stepped on shore and walked down the quay.

Veronica watching his back recede into the distance. This was the end of five years of her life. Something else would happen to her now, but she could never erase the memories he left seared into her brain.

What kind of woman had an affair like this with a wealthy playboy, only to watch him walk out of her life without a word of good-bye, without a kiss, without even a “Take care of yourself?”

She wasn’t the person she thought she was. It would take her a long time to understand who she was and what she had become.

Down the quay, the Prince stopped and looked back at her. She stood in the same place on the Diamantina’s bobbing deck. Their eyes met somewhere in the middle. Then he turned around and walked back to her. “What are you still doing here?”

“I told you. I want to watch you out of sight. You’re not out of sight yet.”

He considered her for a moment. “Do you have an airline ticket for the States?”

“Not yet. I’ll buy one at the airport.”

He jerked his head down the quay. “Come with me to my hotel room.”

“What?”

“Come with me to my hotel room for the night, maybe even for a day or two. Then you can go to the airport.”

“Sir? You don’t really mean that. I’m sure your maitre d’ at the hotel can get you a new woman who will serve you just as well.”

“I told you, Veronica. I don’t want another woman. I want you, and I’m not finished with you yet. You said you enjoyed serving me. You only said you were finished serving me because our time on the Diamantina came to an end. I’m giving you the chance to continue serving me, at least for a little while.”

She mumbled under her breath. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on Your Majesty’s hospitality.”

“Believe me, Veronica, I wouldn’t invite you to my hotel room if I didn’t enjoy your service, too. I want you to continue, at least for a few days, maybe longer if everything works out. Who knows? You’ll never know if you don’t come with me now.”

She raised her eyes to his face. “You’re serious about this.”

“I was never more serious in my life. I’ve enjoyed the last few days immensely. I especially enjoyed last night. I thought we connected in a way we hadn’t before. To tell you the truth, I haven’t connected with anyone that way before.”

Her eyes widened. “You haven’t? I thought you had a woman in every port.”

“I do. That’s probably why I haven’t connected with any of them. I didn’t know I could until I met you. I never really wanted to hold someone and kiss someone, but last night, it just sort of happened spontaneously, without either of us trying. I didn’t want to smack you around or bang you. I just wanted to hold you and look at you and be with you. Did you feel that way, too?”

She swallowed hard, but a lump stuck in her throat. “Yes, sir.”

He glanced down at her quivering lips. His husky voice grated in his throat. “You don’t know how impossibly sexy it is to hear you say ‘yes, sir,’ to me all the time. I hear that so much, but it never meant anything until you said it. It’s hard for you to say, isn’t it?”

“It’s hard for me to say it to you. You make it hard.”

“That’s what makes is so sexy. I want to keep hearing you say it. I want to do things to you to make you say it. I want to see you on your knees while you say it.”

She gazed up into his eyes. “Yes, sir. Please, sir.”

He grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her mouth against his lips. Then he flung her away. The next instant, he wiped the kiss off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Come with me to my hotel, Veronica. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.” Her heart soared, but somewhere tangled up in the excitement of a new adventure, a gnawing worm of fear and doubt twisted her guts into knots. Her pussy yawned open, and her nectar dripped out.

What would become of her now? Would she throw away any hope of a future, and for what? To serve him and his twisted whims? She couldn’t change her mind now. She made her decision and she gave her word. She would go with him.

He turned and walked away, down the quay. Veronica followed with her wheeled suitcase. She followed him out to the street, where a limo waited with the motor running. She didn’t see the Prince anywhere. The driver got out and opened the door for her. Before she could say anything, he took her suitcase out of her hand and put it into the trunk.

The door stood open, and the motor purred. The driver came back and stood behind the door. She could see nothing inside but black leather seats. He was in there. The Prince—her prince—waited for her inside that limo. What would become of her after she got inside? She still had time to walk away and go straight to the airport.

That open door implied his wishes. She still obeyed him in all things. She was still his to command. She slid into the seat. The driver closed the door and drove away.

***

THE END

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