Chapter Thirteen

Isabella sat in her seat squished between a fifteen-year-old boy with attitude and chips coating his fingers and shirt, and a sixty-year-old man with a serious gas issue, who had stopped apologizing after the fifth time in a row he’d managed to gag her and the people around them. They’d been sitting on the tarmac for well over two hours due to a mechanical delay.

She’d been worried at first that Robert had somehow found out about her departure and was the reason behind the delay, but then she’d seen men working on something in the luggage compartment. Even he wasn’t good enough to break a piece of the plane and get away with it. Or maybe he was.

It had taken a while but her anxiety had soon faded. If he was behind the delay, he would have shown up by then. There was the tiniest part of her that had been disappointed when he hadn’t rode up on his black steed and proclaimed his dying devotion to her.

Even if she knew it was a foolish thought, it wasn’t her brain inspiring the thoughts, it was her heart, and there was no explanation for what the heart demanded. A tear ran down her cheek, and she couldn’t turn away and hide herself since she was stuck in the middle seat. That’s what she got for booking last minute.

Robert had given her items he’d collected from her hotel room weeks ago, including her passport and credit cards. She’d known when he’d done that, he was setting her free. She just hadn’t been ready to fly yet.

Another thirty minutes passed and the captain came over the intercom with an announcement.

“I’m sorry about the delay folks, but we don’t want to get into the air until we know we’re safe. The mechanics have given us the green light, and we’ll be taxiing out in five minutes. Thank you for your patience, and we’re giving everyone a free drink as a thank you.”

A cheer went up as the passengers spirits were renewed. They had a twelve-hour flight ahead of them, and it would have been nice to have stretched their legs, but since the mechanics hadn’t known how long it would take them, they hadn’t cleared the plane for passengers exiting.

When the engines started up, Isabella felt more tears spill down her cheeks. This was it. Her time in Rubare Virgina was over. She knew it was the right choice, but now that she was actually leaving, the pain was unbearable.

Her fingers caressed her flat stomach as she looked across the old man who’d fallen asleep and gazed out the window. The plane began to move forward and Isabella felt panic stirring in her gut.

She should have told him goodbye. She shouldn’t have snuck away like a thief in the night. All he’d remember was her betrayal. She didn’t want that to be his last memory of her. Her body was trembling as she fought to contain the deep sobs of anguish wanting to spring from her.

She’d been too afraid to face him to say she was leaving. She wouldn’t have been able to bear it if he smiled, gave her a polite goodbye, and then walked away. At least this way she would imagine his reaction anyway she chose. Maybe on days like today, she’d picture him dropping to his knees and begging her to stay. Or maybe on her stronger days, she’d imagine him cold and disinterested. She’d do whatever it took to make it through the next seven months, and then she’d let him go as she became a mother and had someone more important than herself to focus on.

The plane was moving steadily when suddenly the brakes slammed, causing all the passengers to jerk forward in their seats before being thrown back into the hard cushions behind them.

“What the hell?”

“What now?”

“This is an omen. We need off this plane.”

Several voices rang out all around her, and Isabella was pulled from her depression as the sound of whirling blades could be overheard outside the plane. She leaned over the old man and her heart stalled in her chest at what she saw.

Suddenly there was the slightest bit of hope as she watched the flashing blue lights far down the road. It appeared as if there were a couple dozen cars racing toward the airport. She was so focused on the lights she failed to see the rapidly descending helicopter until it was practically on top of them.

Dust rose from the pavement as a huge black chopper drew closer to the ground. It landed a bit ungracefully and before the blades stopped spinning, the pilot door was thrust open and a man stepped out. Not just any man, but Prince Robert Phillip Demande.

As if he could sense her, his eyes zeroed in on the very window she was looking out. His eyes were covered with aviators, and his mouth gave no indication of what he was thinking or feeling. But his chin rose, and he lifted a hand and pointed at her window. Then he crooked his finger as if he wanted her to come out.

Heat infused her cheeks as people began chattering all around her. The old man woke up and blocked her view of the window as he looked out and gasped.

“That’s Prince Robert,” she heard several people gasp.

“What is he doing?”

“Who’s he pointing at?”

“Is there a criminal on the plane?”

“I think I saw Isabella Shell in the boarding area.”

“No way. Why would she be on this plane?”

“Oooh, this delay was so worth it . . .”

The comments continued as Isabella sank into her seat so no one would notice her. She could no longer see out the window, and that frightened her. She wasn’t sure what was happening.

“We’re sorry folks, but it seems His Highness, Prince Robert Demande, has requested to board this plane,” the captain announced with reverence in his voice.

And just like that Isabella looked down the aisle and saw Robert standing at the entrance to coach. There was applause as he made his way down the aisle, people reaching out to touch him and bow their heads.

His eyes were glued to her, and there was no way she could turn away. Fresh tears fell down her face at seeing his square jaw, his deep blue eyes, and his rumpled hair. She knew he’d been running his fingers through it all morning. It only looked like that on his most stressful days.

His fingers were clenched, and he was focused only on her. The walk seemed to take forever, but then he was there, only one person away from her.

“Move,” he told the fifteen-year-old boy. Robert was always so kind and conscious of his subjects, so Isabella was slightly taken back by his briskness at the child who gazed at him in awe and with a little fear. The boy stumbled with his seatbelt because his fingers were shaking so badly.

Robert reached down and flicked the latch, and the boy vaulted from his seat, getting out of Robert’s way. His expression was so intense Isabella was afraid to move. She sat gazing at him, unable to control her falling tears.

Then he shocked her when he sat down and buckled the seatbelt. That hadn’t been at all what she was expecting. He grabbed a magazine out of the seat in front of him and leaned back as if he were planning on staying for a while. His legs were crammed into the small space, and he didn’t look at all comfortable, but he didn’t say a word.

“Wh . . . what are you doing?” she asked after at least twenty seconds of silence had passed. Not a single person on the plane was speaking as they all tried to hear what was going on.

“I’m trying to get comfortable, but there’s not much room,” he told her.

“Why are you trying to get comfortable?” she asked. This wasn’t quite what she’d imagined when she’d hoped for him to not let her go.

“You’re leaving Rubare Virgina so I’m coming with you,” he said in a conversational tone.

“You’re coming with me?” She was so confused. She imagined many of the people around them were as well.

“I won’t live without you, so where you go, I go,” he told her. Then he finally set the magazine down, giving up the pretense of reading the stupid thing, and his gaze captured hers.

“You swore you wouldn’t sneak off like a bandit,” he said, anger flashing in his eyes.

She cast her gaze down in shame. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you dismissing me.”

His fingers clasped her chin, and he forced her gaze back to his. There was fire and passion in his eyes and something more she couldn’t possibly understand.

“What would ever make you think I could let you go?” The words were spoken so simply, and yet they were the most beautiful words she’d ever heard.

“You haven’t been here lately. I figured you were done,” she admitted. “And you gave me back my things. You gave me my freedom.” She wasn’t going to tell him how much that had hurt. She had given herself over to him, and he hadn’t wanted her.

His gaze widened, and he leaned over her and the old man, whose face was red and sweaty as he stared at them. Isabella realized his foul odor hadn’t permeated the air since Robert had stepped on board. She was a little irritated he’d hold in his nasty gas for the prince but not the other three-hundred passengers.

Robert made a hand gesture out the window that Isabella had no idea what it meant, but he sat back in his seat and faced forward. After several moments palace guards stepped on board the plane and the passengers didn’t know which way to look. There was just too much going on at once. Give them a little popcorn, and they’d be mighty happy people.

By the time the guards had filed onboard, twenty of them lined both sides of the aisle. What Isabella hadn’t realized was there were a dozen more who’d just come in the back door. The people onboard were deadly silent as they looked around in awe and a bit of fear.

Robert undid her seatbelt before flicking his own and then he stood and held out his hand. Isabella wasn’t sure her legs would hold her so she didn’t move, which made him smile.

“Isabella Shell, by command of His Royal Highness, King Heinrich of Rubare Virgina, you are being taken captive to serve at the will of His Royal Highness, Robert Phillip Demande, who will do with you as he pleases.”

There was a gasp in the room as the guard closest to them presented a royal parchment paper with the seal of the Demande family and the signature of the king. Isabella had only seen one of those in her time with Robert, and it had been for the arrest of a dangerous criminal. She felt heat suffuse her cheeks as she looked around at the passengers and noted they were all now gazing at her.

“What is going on?” Isabella asked as quietly as possible.

“Are you refusing to obey?” Robert asked, not showing what he was thinking.

“I don’t understand,” she told him.

“It’s very simple. You are being kidnapped . . . for eternity.”

“For eternity?” She was confused.

And then, in the tight space of the aisle in the coach section of the United plane, Prince Robert Demande dropped to his knee and pulled out a velvet box. He opened it, showing a ridiculously huge diamond that transmitted a rainbow to the ceiling as a ray of sunlight ran across its surface.

“I have your chain right here,” Robert said.

The guard holding the paper signed by the king smiled, but he continued facing forward, never relaxing his posture. They were treating this as official palace business. Robert was kidnapping her all over again.

And this time she knew she’d be his willing captive. Forever couldn’t possibly be long enough.

“What’s my crime?” she asked him, tears pouring down her cheeks.

Robert smiled at her. “You’ve cast a spell over this royal family member’s heart,” he told her. “I was looking for adventure, and I kidnapped the right girl in the process. I also fell in love, and if you want to go back home, then I will go with you. You can kidnap me,” he said as he reached for her trembling hand and slipped the heavy diamond into place.

Finally she stood and fell into his arms. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said in between sobs. “I was so devastated to leave you.”

“Don’t ever do it again,” he begged before gently kissing her lips.

“Never. I will never run again.”

“Ahh, you can run sometimes, just make sure I know so I can catch you,” he said with a wink that had her cheeks heating.

The crowd of passengers began clapping as they congratulated the newly engaged couple. Robert pulled her close to his side and looked both ways on the plane.

“I’d like to introduce all of you to your future princess of Rubare Virgina: Isabella Marie Shell.”

The passengers clapped even louder and then Robert kissed her until his closest guard cleared his throat. He pulled back but not before she felt his excitement pressing against her.

“Are we staying or going?” he asked.

She looked at him in shock. “You’d really come with me?” she said. She didn’t believe him.

“Where you go, I go,” he said. There was only love and honesty in his expression. And the joy that filled her was so overwhelming she wasn’t sure she’d ever breathe normally again.

“I love you, Robert Phillip Demande,” she said, hugging him one more time. “And I wouldn’t dare take you away from this beautiful country. Can we go home now?”

The people cheered again, and Robert rewarded her with a kiss and a beaming smile before he led her from the plane and straight to the chopper.

Tonight was just for them. Tomorrow she would tell him about their baby. She was sure he’d be filled with even more joy. Their story was only just beginning, and she didn’t see an ending in sight.