But before she could come up with something, Landon turned his furious gaze in her direction and she wilted like a flower – the complete opposite of how she was taught in etiquette class.
“Please tell me that isn’t you.”
Chapter Six
What do you do when you feel your world crumbling around you? Landon had once thought he had lost it all once before, but as the woman he had spent one incredible night with and an equally amazing last few minutes had her face plastered on the news screen, he felt his feet pulled out from beneath him.
It had to be wrong. There was no way this princess, no, soon-to-be queen, was the same woman that had given herself to him over and over. She fit him unlike anyone else. Somehow she felt like a missing piece of his soul.
But as he turned around, hearing the door to the bathroom close, Landon could tell by the look on her face that the picture on the screen was of her.
Princess Karolyna Albertine.
He actually knew about her small and peaceful country, having grown up in Ireland. Not many people in the United States could even find the country on a map.
He drowned out the voice of some Lord concerned for Karolyna’s safety, apparently, the two of them were an item, thought Landon was certain that she could do far better than the media seeking douche.
“Please tell me that isn’t you,” Landon said as he crossed his arms against his chest defensively. He hated the look of utter defeat growing on her features, the way her shoulders slumped and her eyes only peeked at the screen for a moment before dropping to the floor. There wasn’t a need for an answer, he could already tell, but he wanted to hear it from her directly.
“Yes, that’s me.”
Something in the way she said it had him rethinking about lashing out at her for lying to him. He thought back to the news report and how they be
lieved she left on her own, and how he felt like he knew more about this woman before him than the fancy fellow claiming to be her boyfriend.
It almost broke him to see her fall in defeat. Her confidence had been one of the things that drew him to her, to begin with.
“What did they do to you?”
No sooner was the question from his mouth when he heard the faintest of sobs escape from her chest.
“Come here, sweetheart.” Landon beckoned her forward with his arms spread wide. Kerry launched herself at him and collapsed as she let the tears run free. Holding her in his arms was the only comfort he could give. It seemed to be all that she wanted to take from Landon as she squeezed her arms around his waist, clinging to him for dear life.
Landon let her cry it out for the next few minutes knowing that it was something she had kept buried inside for far too long. He didn’t care that his shirt was soaked through. He didn’t care that he had a million things to do at the bar. He didn’t care that he probably needed to head to Amy and Joseph’s house for the barbeque. All that mattered to him was this woman clutching him as if he could solve all of her problems.
He wasn’t sure how many minutes had passed, but finally, Kerry’s cries seemed to dissipate. She took a step back, but not far enough that the arms he had wrapped around her fell.
“Want to tell me all about it?”
“I don’t know if I should. Or honestly, if you’d even want to hear it all. It’s very woe is me. Princess of a country, soon to be queen on her thirtieth birthday, running from said country.”
“You can talk to me. What made you run? Was it something with the boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend?” she asked in pure confusion.
“I believe he said his name was Lord Donoveaux.”
An unladylike snort sounded from her and Landon couldn’t help but grin. “He wishes he was my boyfriend, but he does have something to do with it.”
“Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll get you a soda or something.”
“A Dr. Pepper would be nice. Thank you, Landon. I can see how bad this looks.”
“Beautiful, as long as you’re safe, I’m not worried about the trouble.”
He spent enough years incarcerated to care very little about trouble.
Filling up a glass with her request, Landon skid the glass across the bar to her waiting hand.