To Kiss a King (Kings of California #11)(25)
Author: Maureen Child

The anger that had filled her since she had found his website spiked and roiled inside her. It had cost her every ounce of her self-control to keep what she was feeling locked within. She’d waited, half hoping that he would tell her the truth spontaneously. But then, why would he, when he was such a consummate liar?

King Security.

Alex felt like an idiot.

She’d believed everything.

Had trusted him, when all along, it had been nothing more than a game. He’d pretended to like her. Pretended to be attracted to her. When all along, he had known that she was a princess. God, she was a fool.

Garrett and his company had actually been to the palace. Had done work for her father. She hadn’t recognized him because when he was in Cadria to provide security for the crown jewel celebration, Alex had avoided the whole situation. At the time, she and her father had been feuding over her involvement with the women’s shelter. She’d been so furious with her father that she’d refused to have anything to do with the palace goings-on. Including, it seemed, meeting the security man brought in for the occasion.

If she had, she would have noticed Garrett. Looking at him even now, she could admit that he was most definitely a hard man to ignore. And if she’d met him then, she would have recognized him at Disneyland.

None of this would have happened. Her heart wouldn’t be bruised, her feelings wouldn’t be battered and she wouldn’t now be wrapped in what felt like an icy blanket from head to toe.

She never would have found something with him that she could convince herself was real. She never would have believed that she, too, had discovered the same kind of magic her mother had found at the famous amusement park.

Instead she was left feeling the fool and staring into the eyes of a man she had thought she knew.

“How long?” she demanded, keeping her voice low enough that no one but him could hear her.

The strains of the music rose up and swelled around them, and the irony of the slow, romantic sound wasn’t lost on her. She had hoped for so much from tonight. She’d wanted to seduce Garrett. Now all she could hope for was that she wouldn’t get angry enough to cry.

She hated crying when she was furious.

Tilting her head to one side, she watched him. “Did you know at Disneyland?”

“Not right away,” he admitted, and the iron bands around her chest tightened another inch or so until every breath was a minor victory.

That statement told her that at least part of what she had thought of as a magical day had been colored with lies.

Betrayal slapped at her. Was it before he’d kissed her in the dark during the pirate ride? While they laughed with his nieces on the carousel?

She looked into his blue eyes and searched for the man who had been with her on his cousin’s boat a few days ago. The man who had touched her, shown her just how amazing two people could be together. But Alex didn’t see him. Instead, she saw a cool-eyed professional, already pulling back from her. A part of her wondered how he could turn his emotions on and off so easily. Because right at that moment, she’d like nothing better than to be able to do the same.

“I didn’t know you at first,” he was saying. “Not until you and Molly were standing at the castle, talking about being a princess.”

She nodded, swallowed hard and said, “So that’s why you insisted on taking me home that night.”

“Partly,” he admitted.

She laughed shortly, the sound scraping against her throat. “Partly. It wasn’t about me that night, Garrett. Not me, Alex. It was about protecting a princess. And you’ve been with me every day since for the same reason, haven’t you?”

Scraping one hand across the back of his neck, he said, “I called your father that first night.”

“Oh, God…” Just when she thought the icy cold enveloping her couldn’t get worse…it did.

“I told him where you were. That you were alone and that I was…concerned.”

“You had no right.”

“I had a responsibility.”

“To whom?” she demanded.

“To myself,” he snapped. “I couldn’t walk away leaving you unprotected once I knew who you really were.”

“No one asked for your help.”

“Your father did.”

She shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. But she knew that was a futile hope.

“That’s wonderful. Really. Your responsibility. Your decision. Your phone call.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “But my life. This was never about you, Garrett. This was about me. What I wanted. And it never mattered, did it? Not to you. Not to anyone.”

“Alex—”

She looked around the restaurant as if searching for an exit. But all she saw were couples sitting at tables, laughing, talking, easy with each other. They were enjoying the restaurant, the music, the romance of the place, and Alex suddenly envied them all so much it choked her.

“I never intended to hurt you.”

“How nice for you then,” she said, looking back at him. “Because you haven’t hurt me. You’ve enraged me.”

“Now who’s lying?”

That snapped her mouth shut and all she could do was glare at him. Yes, she was lying because she was hurt. Devastated, in fact, but damned if she would show him how much his lies had cut at her.

“There’s more,” he said.

“Of course there is.”

“Like I said before, your father hired me to protect you.”

His words sunk into her consciousness like a rock tossed to the bottom of a lake. The sense of betrayal she had felt before was nothing compared to this. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she struggled to speak past the hard knot of something bitter lodged in her throat. Finally, though, she managed to blurt, “Yes, he’s paying you to spend time with me.”

Garrett huffed out a breath and glanced to each side of him before he spoke again and a small part of Alex’s brain chided her for dismissing just how careful he was. For thinking that he was simply a cautious man. She remembered thinking not long after they met that he was acting a lot like one of the palace guards. Foolish of her not to realize just what that actually might mean.

Then she pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated solely on what he was saying.

“Your father hired me as a personal bodyguard. We were both worried about what might happen if you were on your own.”

“Yes,” she said tightly, amazed that she could form thoughts, let alone words. “Can’t have Alex out and about behaving like an actual person. No, no. Can’t have that.”