The knock came at his office door. Cort had just finished another futile meeting with his advisors who had nothing new to really show him. It was all more of the same. He really felt like he was just kicking a dead horse here. There was no way out of this without playing their game. If he wanted to be King, if he wanted to continue to lead his nation in a prosperous fashion instead of letting it be mismanaged by the hands of his foolish uncle then he was going to have to grin and bear it. He was getting married.

The only person he wanted to marry was Teegan. And she would not return his calls. He’d placed two of his best advisors on the case to track her down. Hopefully they would have something soon, but it might take a while. He was not going to hold his breath. A girl like Teegan was a free spirit and appeared to be very hard to track down.

Besides it was quite possible and probable that she would tell his advisors to get lost. She would tell them that she was not interested. She wasn’t even from this country and she hardly knew him. Besides if she did believe his advisors were telling the truth it was quite logical she would be very angry with him. Cort had lied to her about who he was. He would explain everything to her if she would give him the chance to do so, but that was a long shot. Once you broke that trust with a woman it was over.

The knock came again. He didn’t want to see anyone but he still had duties to perform after all. If he was awarded the crown or not he was still Prince.

“Yes?” He answered.

His secretary Nora came in the room just then. She’d been his secretary for many years. She was beautiful and madly in love with him, but she hid it well. He’d been tempted many times to have a rendezvous with her but Cort knew such a thing was never wise. He did not get romantically involved in any way with his staff. That was just asking for trouble.

“Sir, you have a message.”

“Ok,” Cort said. “What kind of message?”

“A young woman came by very insistent on giving you this.”

Nora handed him a light blue piece of paper.  He opened the paper up and almost fainted at what he saw in front of him. This had to be a dream, or at the very least some sick joke. But who would dare pull a joke like this on him? Certainly no one in his service who valued their lungs on the inside of their body.

Cort bolted up out of his chair almost knocking over his desk in the process.

“Is she still here?” he demanded.

“Um, no sir. I told her we would contact her if interested.”

“There is no contact number!” Cort yelled. His blood was boiling.

“She declined to leave one. She said she would be back this afternoon.”

Cort tried to calm down. “Ok, great. Make sure she is shown in directly to me. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Nora said. From her tone he got the impression she was calling him a bunch of dirty names in her mind.

Cort paced back and forth in his office for a few moments. The stress of everything coming together was hell bent to slowly bury him but he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. And her name was Teegan. Why did she insist on driving him nuts though? Why didn’t she just call him? Instead she shows up out of the blue to offer him her yoga services. Was she playing some sort of game with him? Did something happen with her phone?

He started to reach for his phone to call her and quickly stopped himself. A chuckle rumbled out of his chest. He needed to just step back a moment and breathe. Everything was going to work itself out. He could not get Teegan out of his mind. Ever since that night he met her she’d been in the front of his mind. It was distracting him from the job he had to do. But at the same time it was giving him something to shoot for, just a bit of happiness.

He was going to drive himself nuts if he just sat around waiting for the next few hours until Teegan arrived. His schedule happened to be wide open for the rest of the day. Usually on a day like this he would grab his buddies and they’d head off to do some mountain biking or if they were in a more relaxed mood they would play a few rounds of golf. It was perfect weather for it too.

But he didn’t really have that kind of time. And thinking about Teegan would have distracted him on the course anyway.

He decided to head to the gym and lift. He hadn’t had time to really get a good grueling workout in the past few days and he could feel it. He had less energy and he was starting to not want to work out. So off to the gym he went.

He called up his personal trainer Danny and the man put him through his paces until he was so tired he could barely stand under the weight of the barbell. Afterwards he cooled down with a good stretching program and then heated back up with a relaxing dip in the Jacuzzi.

By the time Teegan arrived he would be feeling better than ever. That was the key. He wanted her to see the real him, the guy she’d met the other night. Not the man who’d been pining over her for days and fighting for the crown that should have been his with no delay.

Before he knew it the time had come.

His secretary knocked on the door of his home gymnasium which had been equipped with several luxury designed yoga mats. Soft music wafted down from the speakers in each corner of the room. And the sweet smell of honey glazed potpourri mingled in the air. He’d made sure that everything was perfect.

It was crucial to set the right ambience. It needed to be romantic, but still conducive to a productive yoga session. It was important that she see he was serious about learning a new skill that might take his physical, spiritual, and his mental health to even greater heights.

“Yes?” He answered.

She walked into the room with an almost annoyed expression on her face. Cort wasn’t sure exactly what her issue was, but he figured it had something to do with the news of his possible pending nuptials, although he’d mentioned nothing of it personally to any member of his staff. He knew that his secretary had always had a thing for him. She was sexy and just the type of woman he usually went for, but he was not about to break his rule and date someone he worked with. It was a bad idea all around.

“The Yoga instructor is here to see you. Teegan Norton,” she said.

Cort smiled. He felt a wave of giddiness wash through him that he found difficult to ignore. His lungs filled with a slow deep breath and he kept his composure light yet professional.

“Great,” he replied as he went into a slight stretch. “Send her in.”

He couldn’t believe this time had really come.