“But you can’t help thinking if we’d never been together that leaving would be easier.” His arms tightened. “And you might be right. But for the rest of my life I will cherish every second we’ve spent together.” And now he had to be strong enough to let her go. Only knowing that their child would connect them together forever gave him the courage to set her free. “There’s no getting you out of my system,” he said. “Or my heart.”
r /> “I love you.” She kissed him one last time. “Now let me go.”
Twelve
“You let her go?” Gabriel Alessandro, crown prince of Sherdana, was furious. “What the hell is the matter with you?”
From her seat behind the ornate writing desk, Olivia watched her husband storm around the living room of their suite, her expression a mask of sadness and resignation.
“Why are you yelling at me?” Nic demanded, pointing at Gabriel’s princess. “She’s the one who arranged to have a car take her to the airport.”
It was shortly before lunch and Brooke’s flight had departed Carone International over two hours prior. By now she would be over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to New York’s JFK airport and her connecting flight to San Francisco.
“It’s not my wife’s fault that she was leaving in the first place. You were supposed to stop her before she ever got into the car.” Gabriel raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture of acute frustration. “Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I did what the country required of me.”
Silence greeted his declaration, but Nic refused to feel bad that he’d at long last addressed the elephant in the room. He’d let Brooke get away because Gabriel hadn’t acted in the country’s best interest when he’d married Olivia.
“For the first time in your life,” Gabriel shouted back. “How the hell do you think I felt having to carry the burden of responsibility for both you and Christian all these years? Maybe I would have enjoyed being an irresponsible playboy or playing at an impossible dream like building a rocket ship.”
“Playing at—”
“Enough.” Olivia’s sharp tone sliced through the testosterone thickening the air and silenced both men. “Tossing accusations back and forth is not solving our immediate issue.”
Gabriel was the first to back down. He turned to his wife and the love that glowed in his gaze made Nic’s heart hurt.
“She’s right.” Gabriel’s attention returned to his brother. “I know you were doing amazing things in California and I wish you were still there doing them. I really don’t begrudge you any time you’ve spent chasing your dream.”
Nic was seeing a different side of his brother. Never before had Gabriel spoken so eloquently about what he was feeling. The crown prince could speak passionately about issues relating to the country and he had a fine reputation for diplomacy, but he’d always been a closed book with regard to anything of a personal nature.
“I’ve lost my nerve.” Since Gabriel felt comfortable sharing, Nic decided it was only fair to give a little in return. “Since the accident, I am afraid to even think about what went wrong with Griffin. Five years of my life went into designing the fuel delivery system that caused the rocket to blow up. I killed someone. There’s no coming back from that for me.” Nic’s voice was thick with regret as he finished, “It’s part of the reason I let Brooke go. Her life is in California and there’s no place for me there anymore. I belong here where I can make a difference.”
“Oh, Nic.” Olivia was at his side, her soft hand gentle on his arm. “I’m sorry you are in so much pain. And what happened to your rocket and that man’s death are a horrible tragedy, but you can’t let that get in the way of your happiness with Brooke.”
Gabriel grabbed his other arm and gave him a shake. “And you really don’t belong here.”
“Yes, I do. The country needs an heir to the throne.” But his protest was cut short as Olivia and Gabriel shared a moment of intense nonverbal communication. “What’s going on?”
Olivia shifted her gaze to Nic and offered him a sympathetic head tilt. “We can’t get into specifics...”
“About what?” There was obviously an important secret being kept from him and Nic didn’t like being left out.
The crown prince’s lips quirked in a wry smile. “What if as the future leader of your country I order you to return to California, resume work on your rocket ship and marry the mother of your child?”
Nic spent a long moment grappling with his conscience. He’d come to grips with sacrificing his happiness for the sake of the country and although it had torn him apart to let Brooke go, he’d known it was for the greater good of Sherdana and his family.
Now, however, his brother was offering him a way out. No, Nic amended. Gabriel was directing him to forsake his duty and chase his dreams all the way back to California. The walls he’d erected to garrison his misery began to crumble. He sucked in a ragged breath. Permission to marry Brooke and raise their child with her. The chance to complete his dream of space travel. All on a silver platter compliments of his brother. It was too much.
But as he scrutinized Gabriel’s confident posture and observed the secret smile that lit Olivia’s eyes, he sensed that whatever was going on, these two were well in control of the country’s future.
Nic offered Gabriel a low bow, his throat tight. “Naturally, I’d do whatever my crowned prince commands.”
* * *
On her way to the Mojave Air and Space Port to visit her brother, Brooke took a familiar detour and drove past the house Nic had rented for the past three years. The place looked as deserted as ever. Nic hadn’t spent much time there, sometimes not even sleeping in his own bed for days at a stretch because the couch in his workroom was within arm’s reach of his project.
Still, when she could get him to take time off, they’d often had fun barbecuing in the backyard or drinking beer on the front porch while they stared at the stars and Nic opened up about what he and Glen hoped one day to accomplish.