Книга - Commander’s Little Surprise

Commander's Little Surprise
Mollie Molay


A precious reminder of her one fall from grace…Baranovian royal Victoria Bernard's cherished daughter had the same dimple and sparkling eyes as her father, a man forever forbidden to Victoria. She should never have seen him again–except she was assigned to diplomatic duty at Lieutenant Commander Dan O'Hara's JAG post! She only hoped Dan would not recognize her…Dan was a commander with a five-year plan, with marriage and kids far off in the future. But something about Victoria reminded him of the mystery woman with whom he'd spent one tantalizing night. It was crazy to think this off-limits royal might be her. Honor demanded he walk away–until he saw Victoria's baby girl, and his five-year plan became five seconds to fatherhood!









“What will it take to make you forget me?”


“You’re not a woman a man can easily forget,” Dan said.

From the first time she’d met Dan again, she’d known she had to make a choice. A choice between the man whom, against all reason, she seemed to have fallen in love with, and the respectful life she’d made for herself.

She had to force herself to speak. “You must forget you ever met me.”

She glanced at the desk—and realized the photo of her and her daughter was missing! She glanced wildly around the room.

“I assume you’re looking for this.” Dan drew the missing photograph from his tuxedo jacket.

Victoria stared at the photo and felt her world turn over.

“It isn’t really me you’ve been afraid of all along,” Dan went on. “You’re afraid I’ll find out I’m your baby’s father.”


Dear Reader,

Happy New Year! January is an exciting month here at Harlequin American Romance. It marks the beginning of a yearlong celebration of our 20th anniversary. Come indulge with us for twelve months of supersatisfying reads by your favorite authors and exciting newcomers, too!

Throughout 2003, we’ll be bringing you some not-to-miss miniseries. This month, bestselling author Muriel Jensen inaugurates MILLIONAIRE, MONTANA, our newest in-line continuity, with Jackpot Baby. This exciting six-book series is set in a small Montana town whose residents win a forty-million-dollar lottery jackpot. But winning a fortune comes with a price and no one’s life will ever be the same again.

Next, Commander’s Little Surprise, the latest book in Mollie Molay’s GROOMS IN UNIFORM series, is a must-read secret-baby and reunion romance with a strong hero you won’t be able to resist. Victoria Chancellor premieres her new A ROYAL TWIST miniseries in which a runaway prince and his horse-wrangling look-alike switch places. Don’t miss The Prince’s Cowboy Double, the first book in this delightful duo. Finally, when a small Alaskan town desperately needs a doctor, there’s only one man who can do the job, in Under Alaskan Skies by Carol Grace.

So come join in the celebrating and start your year off right—by reading all four Harlequin American Romance books!

Melissa Jeglinski

Associate Senior Editor

Harlequin American Romance


Commander’s Little Surprise

Mollie Molay






www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)




ABOUT THE AUTHOR


After working for a number of years as a logistics contract administrator in the aircraft industry, Mollie Molay turned to a career she found far more satisfying—writing romance novels. Mollie lives in Northridge, California, surrounded by her two daughters and eight grandchildren, many of whom find their way into her books. She enjoys hearing from her readers and welcomes comments. You can write to her at Harlequin Books, 300 East 42nd St., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017.




Books by Mollie Molay


HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

560—FROM DRIFTER TO DADDY

597—HER TWO HUSBANDS

616—MARRIAGE BY MISTAKE

638—LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

682—NANNY & THE BODYGUARD

703—OVERNIGHT WIFE

729—WANTED: DADDY

776—FATHER IN TRAINING

799—DADDY BY CHRISTMAS

815—MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT

839—THE GROOM CAME C.O.D.

879—BACHELOR-AUCTION BRIDEGROOM

897—THE BABY IN THE BACK SEAT

938—THE DUCHESS & HER BODYGUARD* (#litres_trial_promo)

947—SECRET SERVICE DAD* (#litres_trial_promo)

954—COMMANDER’S LITTLE SURPRISE* (#litres_trial_promo)




Personal Connections


SWM 30, 6’2” blonde with blue eyes desperately seeking petite, twenty-something SWF for love and laughter Are you the green-eyed, Baronovian beauty with whom I shared an unforgettable moonlit night of passion in the palace gardens last summer? Please let me know I wasn’t dreaming! DOH







Contents


Prologue (#u2aba0e98-2285-59e4-a7b3-671703650844)

Chapter One (#u2798447a-c44a-5976-83d3-ae69ff889ff5)

Chapter Two (#u37915e8a-942c-5fe1-9fe3-419102fe3233)

Chapter Three (#u06913a73-23b9-55fa-9e2e-724cac3f6263)

Chapter Four (#ucefa04cc-c876-5f51-bd47-a98483c2db2a)

Chapter Five (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Six (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Seven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eight (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Nine (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Ten (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Eleven (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)




Prologue


Dan O’Hara couldn’t sleep. Jet lag had finally gotten the better of him.

Wide-awake, he paused in his pacing to gaze out the floor-to-ceiling palace windows at the manicured gardens that stretched into the distance. Under the dim light of the crescent moon, trees and bushes were decorated with streamers and lanterns in honor of the upcoming festivities. A three-tiered water fountain, in which tinkling cascades of water tumbled from the mouths of unicorns, occupied the center of the lawn. In the distance he caught sight of a well-tended maze. Nestled in its center was the silhouette of a white gazebo.

Dan blinked. If he didn’t know better he would have thought that before him there was a fairy-tale setting in a fairy-tale country. He’d never even heard of Baronovia before his friend and fellow JAG lawyer, Commander Wade Stevens, had fallen in love with Duchess Mary Louise—better known to him as May Baron. In two days he was to be the best man at their wedding.

He’d taken off his suit jacket and tie, and was starting to unbutton his shirt when drifting clouds passed over the moon. He was about to turn away when he caught a glimpse of a slight, shadowy feminine figure slip out of the palace. To his bemusement, she was wearing a filmy white robe and white slippers. Her long chestnut hair flowed freely down her back almost to her waist. Enchanted, he moved closer to the window and watched as she stopped to gaze up at the moon. Moments later she raised her arms over her head to the moon, twirled around, then lowered her arms to her chest. It looked as if she was trying to draw the moon down to her. He found himself smiling in sympathy at the gesture.

Whoever the woman was, she was beautiful, ethereal and intriguing. After a long plane flight and with probably a sleepless, empty night ahead, she seemed a damn good reason to stay awake.

It took him only a few seconds to make up his mind to join her.




Chapter One


The romantic atmosphere created by her cousin’s wedding this weekend stirred Victoria Esterhazy’s senses. At twenty-three, and with, as custom demanded, her own arranged marriage imminent, she yearned to experience a night of real love before it was too late. Certain she would be alone in these early-morning hours, she gave in to an impulse to dance away her romantic yearning under a new moon in the palace garden.

She bit back a gasp of dismay when a male figure materialized out of the night and strode toward her. Hugging her sheer robe about her body, she froze, ready to run.

“Are you real, or are you just a figment of my imagination?” he whispered as he came to her side.

Victoria shook her head. He might look like the romantic figure she’d conjured up in her head, but he was a stranger. What would happen if she were to be found here in the gardens in the middle of the night with him?

When she looked as if she was about to run, Dan began to feel foolish. His mystery lady had come out of the palace; she could be a member of the royal family. He was out of line, and he knew it, but somehow he didn’t care, even if the last thing he needed was to offend a member of the bride’s family. Whoever she was, she was entitled to her privacy. After all, he was no more than the best man at the wedding.

Dan knew he should go back to the palace and try to sleep, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave…not just yet. There was something magical about her that drew him to her. Something that made him want to linger by her side.

She finally whispered, “Who are you?”

“A figure from your imagination—a phantom,” he answered softly. There was no point in giving her his name, he thought. He had the strong feeling that they were living a fairy tale, and might never meet again after tonight. When she still lingered, he hesitantly gathered a few strands of silken hair that fell over her shoulders and let it fall through his fingers. “You have beautiful hair,” he murmured, when she gazed wide-eyed at him. His gaze drifted lower to her lips. “Tell me, moon sprite, who are you?”

Victoria glanced back at the dark windows of the palace looming behind her and shook her head. She might yearn to experience the kind of love her cousin May had found during her state visit to the United States, but she couldn’t afford to give away her true identity. Not when it might embarrass her family. Aware of his sensuous gaze sweeping her, she drew the low neckline of her sheer robe more closely together and turned to flee back into the palace.

Dan reached to stay her. “Don’t go,” he murmured as he gave in to an impulse to brush the soft skin on her cheek. To confirm that she was real, he told himself, but he knew better. She was real, and in her sheer nightclothes looked to be the most desirable and enchanting woman he’d ever met.

He smiled his pleasure when she remained frozen in place. Her skin was as soft and velvety as a fragile rose petal, her scent sweet. “Since you might turn out to be someone out of a fairy tale,” he added with a wry smile, “I suppose I could call you a fairy princess or my mystery lady.”

The silence drew them together. Crickets chirping in the background and the water splashing down the tiered water fountain were the only sounds to break the stillness of the night. He was right, Dan thought as he gazed down at her. Under the dim light of the cloud-covered moon that shone over them, she did look like a figure out of a romantic fairy tale. To make matters even more intriguing, if not downright sensuous, the faint scent of gardenias clung to her.

Driven by a deep and unexpected emotion, Victoria felt herself responding to the yearning in her phantom’s gaze. Her skin tingled, her heart beat faster and a glow spread throughout her middle. Soon to be married to an unknown man of her father’s choice, she was all too aware no mere mortal man could have affected her so.

“If I’m your princess,” she murmured shyly, “then you must be my phantom prince.”

Her phantom was a tall, masculine man. His blond hair was tousled and his white shirt was partially unbuttoned as if he’d started to undress. After a closer look at his chiseled features, she found herself aching to explore his tanned skin just as he had touched hers moments before. She wanted to wind her fingers through the light, curly hair she’d glimpsed on his chest. To feel his arms around her and, heaven help her for her runaway thoughts, to taste his lips on hers.

Drawn to her phantom as if to a magnet, Victoria gazed into his warm blue eyes and the questioning smile that curved his lips. A thought came to her like a whisper out of the night; this man could be her destiny, sent to her by the gods she thought had passed her by. Hers, to have and to hold, if only for tonight.

Carried away by the crescent moon and the romantic setting, she gave in to the need to have him hold her, caress her, to make her his. To have, for at least a few precious moments in her life, a chance to create a memory to last her a lifetime. A memory of a love chosen by her for herself. Gazing into his warm blue eyes, she shivered at the thought of how it might feel to be held in his arms.

“Cold?” Drawn by the longing he saw in her eyes, Dan couldn’t help himself. He put his arms around her shoulders and gathered her to him.

“Not anymore,” she whispered a moment later when she burrowed closer into his warmth and closed her eyes. A moment later, his open shirt drew her gaze. Before she realized what she was about to do, she ran her fingers through the blond curls on his chest. It was the first time she’d touched a man so intimately, she thought as she felt the stirring of desire. “You make me warm all over.”

Dan gasped as his body responded to her touch. Of all the things he might have expected to happen to him tonight, finding this enchanting woman in his arms and responding to his desire so honestly wasn’t it.

He turned her chin up with a forefinger until their eyes met. He intended to give her one last chance to turn away, but the yearning he glimpsed in her blue-green eyes melted any reservations he might have had. They were two actors in a scene that had to be part of the fairy tale in the fairy-tale country he’d found himself in. Considering the rising mist and the surreal darkness surrounding them, he was half-afraid he was bound to wake up in the morning and find it had all been a dream.

Tomorrow would have to take care of itself, he decided as he drew her back into his arms.

He caressed her warm, silky skin and felt himself responding to the yearning in her eyes. Driven by an impulse that had come over him the moment he’d caught a glimpse of her dancing in the moonlight, he smiled down into her eyes. “I have to kiss you.”

Kiss her? Victoria sensed that if she agreed to a kiss, one kiss would not be enough. Not for him, and certainly not for her. This was a moment like none other she’d experienced before in her sheltered life. Considering her pending arranged marriage, this might be a moment like none she would experience again. She nodded, raised her lips to his and put her arms around his neck.

She was right about the kiss, she thought; he held her so tightly her breasts were crushed against his chest. She moaned softly at the bittersweet pain.

“Sorry.” He took a deep breath and held her away from him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Shaken by the magical sensations rushing through her, and sensing they were just a prelude, Victoria shook her head. “You haven’t. Just love me.”

“I will,” he promised and lowered his head to hers. Gently, back and forth, his lips moved, teasing her lips into opening for him. When his tongue brushed the inside of her mouth as he deepened his kiss, Victoria’s world tilted on its axis. When he moved on to her throat and down to the slant of her exposed breasts, she experienced shocks of sweet sensation. And when he lowered her gown and teased her sensitive nipples with his tongue, she melted in his arms.

She heard him sigh, felt his hands tighten around her, pulling her closer. “This may sound crazy, but I can’t get enough of you,” she heard him murmur. “Who are you, moon sprite? Where have you come from? Where can I find you in the morning?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. “We have tonight.” She glanced around her, searching for a more private place where she could show him how real she was without revealing her identity. A place where the world couldn’t intrude on her new-found happiness.

Tonight would be the night of passion she had dreamed of all her adult life, she mused as she slipped across the lawn, drawing her phantom lover with her. She would make love with him until the dawn, then slip away into the real world. For surely such a man could only exist in a dream.

Victoria drew him deep into the heart of the maze until they reached the white lattice-work gazebo. Cushioned benches rimmed the walls; luxurious rugs carpeted the floor and sweet-smelling vines crept through the latticework. “This used to be one of my favorite places to hide when I was a little girl and came to visit my cousin,” she said happily. “I used to sit here hoping no one would find me, and I’d invent all kinds of fairy tales.”

“And now?” He stroked the sides of her face with gentle hands. “Is it still your favorite place to hide?”

“Not since I grew up,” she said, “but it is as long as you’re here with me.” She raised her lips for his kiss.

Her phantom lover murmured his pleasure at her answer. Grasping her around the waist, he drew her to a cushioned corner of the gazebo. He ran his hands over her shoulders, her swollen breasts that ached for his lips. And slowly, sensuously down her hips to the place that cried out for his touch. She couldn’t get enough of him, couldn’t wait to belong to him.

“Love me,” she said impulsively, not recognizing herself. She felt alive, wanton and needy for him. Her hands plucked at his shirt until he drew it over his shoulders and, chest bare, pulled her into his arms again. She tongued his nipples as he had tongued hers and found his bare skin salty to the taste. Flames ran through her as her desire to become his grew. “Love me as if you mean it,” she whispered.

“I do,” he said into her lips, his voice shaking with desire. “So help us both, moon sprite, I do.”

“My turn,” he finally said and drew her robe and nightgown all the way off her shoulders. She stepped out of the garments and he tossed them onto a bench, held her away from him for a moment, then smiled. “You’re even lovelier than I thought you would be.”

In a few heated moments her phantom became everything she had wished for, dreamed of and had despaired of ever finding, Victoria thought dimly as she lost herself in a storm of passion. Skin to skin, lips to lips, he drew her deeper and deeper into a fantasy world that knew no end of desire. She forgot everything but the man who was making all of her yearnings come true.

“I love you,” she heard herself whisper when her release began to ebb, leaving her floating in a warm sea of sensations. “I will love you forever,” she whispered into his closed eyes.

Too late, she realized her phantom lover had drifted off to sleep. She smiled sadly as she realized he hadn’t heard a word she’d said. She shouldn’t complain, she told herself. After all, he’d taken her into a place every woman dreamed of. A place she’d longed to be in without knowing why.

And now she knew.

She moved closer into his warmth and closed her eyes. The return to reality would inevitably come with the dawn, but the night belonged to her.

CUDDLED UNDER the blankets in her room in the palace’s guest wing later that day, Victoria opened her eyes when she heard her name. The lasting sweet sensations of last night’s stolen hours still lingered. A new tender sensation between her thighs reminded her of last night’s passionate embraces.

“Time to get up, my dear.” Lydia Monsour, Victoria’s long-time elderly friend and companion, glanced at the small gold watch pinned to her blouse. “It is well past noon.”

“Not now, please,” Victoria murmured, reluctant to let go of a dream that had come true.

“Now,” Lydia said firmly. “Today is a very important day. The wedding rehearsal for your cousin’s wedding is to take place this afternoon.”

Victoria smiled dreamily. The romantic wedding ambience of her cousin’s marriage had been part of the reason for her restlessness last night. A restlessness she wouldn’t have been able to explain before, not even to herself. But now she knew it had been the desire of a woman to be held in the arms of a man who loved her back. Last night had turned into the most wonderful night of her life.

She glanced over at Lydia. If there were anyone she could tell of meeting her phantom lover last night without hearing recriminations, Lydia was the one.

“I met someone late last night,” she began dreamily. “Out in the palace gardens.”

Lydia froze. “Alone? At night? It isn’t done! If you wanted to go out to get some fresh air, you should have called me. I would have gone with you.”

“Yes, alone.” Victoria stretched and turned over on her back. “He was wonderful.”

“Obviously.” Lydia glanced uneasily at her charge’s glowing face. “Who was he?”

“An American. Probably one of the groomsmen over here for May’s wedding.”

Lydia relaxed. “Good. Then we don’t have to worry about your meeting him again once the wedding is over. He will undoubtedly return home.”

“I have to find him, Lydia,” Victoria said. She threw back the covers. “First, I’m going to take a shower.” Dream or not, real or not, and no matter what Lydia might think of her, Victoria had to find her phantom. “I have to know if last night was a dream or real.”

Lydia tightened her lips. “I don’t understand what drove you to do such an outrageous thing, my dear; certainly not after your convent upbringing. Did you stop to think of possible consequences?”

Victoria shook her head.

“I thought not,” Lydia sighed. “Your mother has told me that your own wedding will be announced soon.”

Victoria smiled. “Not when I tell her I have found the man I love.”

“You said it was in the middle of the night. How will you be able to recognize the man in daylight?”

“I’ll know him from the sound of his voice,” Victoria said as she headed for the shower. “He has an American accent, the same as Cousin May’s bridegroom. He must be here as a member of the groom’s party. That should make it easy to find him.”

Lydia sniffed and hung up the dress Victoria had worn last night. “Easier said than done, my dear. Americans all sound alike to me. From what I hear, the groom has invited six of his fellow naval officers to serve as groomsmen. With the men in uniform, how will you be able to tell one from another?”

With her phantom’s face in her mind’s eye, his low, melodious voice still sounding in her ear, Victoria blew Lydia a kiss. “I’m sure I will be able to find him.”

Lydia smiled sadly and watched Victoria disappear into the bathroom. First as Victoria’s childhood nanny, and now her close companion, she understood her charge all too well. Young blood, a royal wedding and a romantic, uniformed hero were a potent combination not easily cooled by a convent upbringing and the prospect of an arranged marriage. Victoria was no different than other young women of her age.

As she looked under the bed for Victoria’s shoes, Lydia mulled over the coming wedding. May, Victoria’s royal cousin, had managed to escape the stringent customs of the royal family as practiced in the twenty-first century, but there was a difference. This was to be May’s second wedding, her first, an arranged marriage, having ended with her husband’s untimely death.

As a member of the extended Baron family, Lydia knew that no matter how Victoria felt about the archaic custom, her charge’s marriage, like May’s first, would be determined by her father.

She muttered her dismay at what might happen if Victoria did somehow manage to find the man she’d encountered in the palace gardens last night. The only peaceful thought she had was in knowing that whoever the man had been, he would be gone forever in a matter of hours.

When Victoria returned, they were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Excuse me, ma’am,” a palace footman said politely, “I have a message for Miss Esterhazy.”

Victoria caught her breath. Was it possible her phantom lover had found her before she had a chance to find him? Her heart raced as she took the envelope Lydia handed her and tore it open. Seconds later, her face whitened.

“Something is wrong?” Lydia dropped Victoria’s slipper on the bed and hurried to her side. “Have you had bad news?”

“My father wishes to see me. At once,” Victoria murmured as she dropped the message to the floor. She glanced at her watch. “With the rehearsal only hours away, what could Papa possibly want that is so important?”

“Oh, dear! You don’t suppose he knows about last night, do you?” Lydia shuddered. “I blame myself. It would never have happened if I had kept a closer watch over you.”

Victoria patted Lydia’s ample shoulder. “I’m a grown woman now, Lydia. Papa couldn’t possibly know about last night. I’ll tell you what Papa wants when I come back.”

Victoria squared her shoulders and made her way to a suite set aside for wedding guests. In spite of what she’d told Lydia, her thoughts were uneasy as she knocked on the door. “Papa? You wished to see me?”

Basil Esterhazy, tall and stately, with the famous Baron cleft in his chin, smiled down at her. “Come in. Come in and sit down, my dear. Your mother and I have good news to share with you.”

Victoria dutifully kissed her silent mother’s cheek and took a seat on the velvet upholstered couch beside her. “Good news?”

“Yes.” Her father beamed at her and cleared his throat. “Weddings seem to bring out the romantic nature of people, do they not?”

Smiling, Victoria agreed as her thoughts flew to her mystery man and the precious hours they had spent together. “Yes, Papa, I suppose they do.”

“With May getting married to her American suitor, it appears you are going to be the next bride in the family,” he said as he gazed fondly at his only child.

“I am?” A cold premonition passed over Victoria’s shoulders. Her worst fears seemed about to be realized as her mother took her hand and squeezed it gently.

“Yes, my dear. Because you are our only child, I’ve put off arranging your marriage until now. However, you are now twenty-three. Accordingly, I have accepted Rolande Bernard’s suit for your hand in marriage.” He paused to let the announcement sink in. “You will no doubt be happy to know he wishes the marriage to take place as soon as arrangements can be made.”

“Rolande Bernard?” Victoria’s head swam, a hollow feeling grew in her middle. “He’s much older than I am, Papa. I scarcely know him. Why would he wish to marry me?”

Her father frowned. “Bernard is a smart man. He recognizes your worth and your position in the family. We both agreed that the marriage will be an asset to our country and to him in his new position as our ambassador to the United States.”

Victoria’s mother, Clara, generally too docile for Victoria’s own peace of mind, spoke up. Clad in a blue velvet cocktail suit for the upcoming wedding rehearsal, she put an arm around her daughter and frowned at her husband.

“As usual, Basil, you are being obtuse and thinking as a man. Our daughter wishes to know if Rolande cares for her, not that she will be an asset to him.”

“Of course he does, or he wouldn’t have asked for her hand in marriage,” her father huffed. “Furthermore, the reason he wishes to marry immediately is that he is about to present his credentials to the United States State Department. He will become Baronovia’s first ambassador to the United States in a matter of weeks.” He turned his annoyed gaze on Victoria. “Rolande feels, as I do, that at his side, you will make a fine showing for our country. I would remind you that it is your duty, Victoria.”

Victoria nodded faintly. She’d always known that she would eventually marry the man of her father’s choice. It had been that knowledge as well as the romantic wedding of her cousin to her American naval officer that had prompted her to accept her phantom lover last night. But now? Just when she’d tasted love, her world was about to fall apart.

“I would like to have time to think about this, Papa,” she murmured.

Her mother patted her on her shoulder. “Not too long, my dear, your father wishes to make the announcement soon. All will be well, you’ll see. Rolande Bernard may seem to be a little too old for you, but he is a fine man with a bright future. I’m sure you will be happy.”

When Victoria managed a weak smile, her mother went on as if everything was settled. “You will enjoy living in the United States. And just think! Your cousin May will be living nearby.”

Evading her father’s frown, her dream of finding her phantom lover in ashes, Victoria excused herself and made her way back to her suite. Her heart broken, Victoria wanted to hide from the world. May’s wedding rehearsal, the following dinner and the wedding would have to go on without her.




Chapter Two


Eighteen Months Later

Victoria Esterhazy Bernard stood on the balcony overlooking the gardens of the new Baronovian embassy in Washington, D.C. Dusk had fallen; the bright lights around the perimeter of the embassy grounds had yet to come on. The scene, reminding her of the palace gardens in Baronovia, only added to her uneasiness.

Newly arrived in D.C. after a year spent with her husband in his diplomatic post in England, she was filled with pain, longing and loneliness at his unexpected demise in an automobile accident. The time in London hadn’t brought her the happiness in her marriage she had hoped for. The only bright light in her life was her baby daughter, Caroline.

She glanced at the card inviting her to her cousin’s housewarming one more time. If ever there was an invitation to disaster, this had to be it, she thought sadly. What if she accepted the invitation and ran into the man with whom she’d shared that forbidden night in the garden almost two years ago? Even now she knew nothing about him other than that he’d been an American and a friend of the groom.

What she did know was that as the widow of Baronovia’s ambassador to the United States and her appointment to the position herself, she couldn’t afford to be involved in a scandal. Especially when the suspicious circumstance surrounding her husband’s death remained unexplained. She sighed and handed the card to her long-time friend and companion, Lydia Monsour.

Lydia read the engraved invitation. “At last,” she said slowly. “If your cousin’s American friends are invited, you will be able to solve the mystery that has plagued you. You might find Caroline’s father.”

Victoria wandered around the room, listlessly picking up and discarding her hairbrush, her comb. “What good would it do? I’m a widow now with a diplomatic position to uphold.”

“At least you would know the man’s name.”

Victoria shook her head. “It would only cause more heartache. Rolande was my husband and therefore my baby’s father.”

Lydia clucked sympathetically as she handed back the invitation. “You’ve been hiding in the embassy since we arrived here. Go. Your cousin May will be unhappy if you don’t show up.”

“I hesitate to go to the party so soon after Rolande’s death.”

Lydia paused and peered over her glasses. “If you keep a low profile, everything should be fine. Unless you’ve forgotten your phantom. Have you?”

Victoria shrugged as if it didn’t matter, but inwardly she knew she still cared for the man. How could she forget the man who had taught her what it meant to be a woman? To fall in love.

How could she forget the bittersweet memories of the man who had changed her life forever?

“Go, my dear,” Lydia said quietly. “You will never know peace until you do.”

Victoria reached for the large quilted bag that had become part of her wardrobe. “He didn’t try to find me in Baronovia, why would he care to see me now? Besides,” she said with a shiver, “what if he doesn’t want to remember me? What if our night together never meant anything to him?”

“He didn’t find you because once your father told you he’d arranged your marriage, you didn’t want to be found,” Lydia reminded her. “Once you see the man again, you can close the book on the past.”

“I can’t, Lydia. It would only break my heart.”

“So you still care for this man?”

Victoria smiled sadly. “More than you’ll ever know,” she said softly, as if to herself. “But the fact remains, that whoever he was then, or whoever he is now, he is forever out of my reach.”

WHEN Lieutenant Commander Dan O’Hara entered the headquarters of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps, it was abuzz with excitement over a newspaper account of the upcoming party that had been pinned to the office bulletin board. It wasn’t every day a member of the JAG corps married a European duchess, he heard someone say. Or that he had brought her home to set up housekeeping in the United States.

Dan stopped to glance at the newspaper clipping. He had received an engraved invitation for the party. Wade and May Stevens had also invited the JAG and his staff to celebrate the purchase of their first home in the United States.

Lieutenant Lester Howard whistled as he glanced over O’Hara’s shoulder. “To tell you the truth, sir, I wouldn’t have bet a nickel the commander’s marriage would have lasted this long. After all, his wife is a duchess and Stevens was her bodyguard.”

The comment, uttered into a sudden silence, quickly drew an audience. To his dismay, a dozen pairs of eyes focused on Dan.

Dan shrugged. The Stevenses’ courtship had had its ups and downs in the early stages when Wade had been the duchess’s bodyguard. But judging from the look on their faces, things have never looked better. “Why not?”

“Heck, his wife is a duchess, that’s why. How’s she going to settle for living like the rest of us?”

“Maybe because Stevens saved her life,” Dan said dryly as he turned to go to his office.

“It’s just like a fairy tale,” Lieutenant Linda Kimball, the junior officer in charge of administrative affairs, said enviously. “You were the best man at their wedding, weren’t you, sir?”

“Right.” Dan took a last look at the invitation and headed for his office. Just remembering his stay in Baronovia and the woman he’d met at the Stevens wedding made his body warm and his heart ache. He might have come up empty when he’d tried to find her before he left, but forget her? Never.

“Wait up a minute, sir,” Howard called after him. “So what’s a real palace like?”

A barrage of questions filled the air.

Dan tried to focus on Howard’s question. He thought of the ornate guest room with its lush wine-colored velvet drapes, upholstered furniture to match and the lace curtains at the windows. There had been a bed large enough for a family of four to sleep in. And a portrait of a dour Baron ancestor that had looked down on him from over the large fireplace where a fire smoldered. As luxurious as the setting had been, he hadn’t been able to sleep.

A glance out the window had taken him outside to a woman he would never, in this lifetime, forget.

“Nice, but formal and a little intimidating,” he finally answered. “I couldn’t wait to get home where I can put my feet up and have a cold beer.”

“What’s the duchess like?” Linda Kimball asked wistfully. “Is she as beautiful as they say?”

“Let’s just say she’s not like the girl next door,” Dan said wryly. He waved off any more questions and backed into his office.

What continued to surprise him after all this time was that eighteen months later he still thought about the ethereal woman he’d encountered in the Baronovia palace gardens. He’d wondered on and off why he hadn’t been able to find her the next morning. Maybe, he thought as he stared into his blank computer screen, she had been just a dream.

A burst of laughter outside Dan’s open door distracted him. He glanced up in time to see a female junior officer being kissed under a giant spring of mistletoe left hanging after the recent office Christmas and New Year’s parties.

Cheered on by laughing bystanders, the kiss was lasting longer than Dan thought necessary. To make him really uncomfortable in his nostalgic state of mind, the kiss served to remind him of a night that, by all logic, he should have forgotten long ago.

He wasn’t a ladies’ man, but he hadn’t been a hermit, either. His mystery woman hadn’t been the only woman in his life, but she was the one he couldn’t forget.

There had been something so special about her that he had searched for her among the guests. On the chance she was a member of the bridal party, he looked for her during the wedding rehearsal and at the dinner that followed. To add to his frustration, the pomp and circumstance of the wedding had prevented him from actively searching for her. He couldn’t have exactly asked if anyone knew a woman of her description; young with long, auburn hair and a body that had been made to fit in his arms, could he?

“Commander?” A knock on the open door broke into Dan’s reverie.

It was Howard again. “Sorry to bother you, sir, but we were trying to decide what kind of gift would be appropriate for the commander’s housewarming. We figure it has to be something special for someone like the duchess.”

“Suit yourself. I’m planning on giving them a toaster.” He motioned for Howard to close the office door so he could get back to work.

Instead of opening the file on his desk, Dan decided it was time to get his mind off the past. He needed to map out his New Year’s resolutions and stick to them. And they didn’t include daydreaming about a woman who might not have been real. Who, if she had been real, hadn’t been interested in seeing him again.

With a last look through the glass door of his office at the celebration going on outside, Dan turned on his computer and drew up his first New Year’s resolution. After all, he told himself with a glance at the waiting file, it had to be smarter to plan for the future than to wait for his future to come to him. A methodical man by nature, he spent the next half hour drawing up a five-year plan.

Bottom line, he mused when he finally checked the printout of his plan and closed down his computer, he was in his thirtieth year and it was time to settle down. Ergo, he would marry when he turned thirty-five and have two children by the time he was forty—that is, if his wife were willing. At that age he would be old enough to choose a wife wisely. As for children, he assured himself as he mentally flexed his arm muscles, he would still be vigorous enough to play baseball without looking like a complete fool.

In retrospect, he should have known fate had a way of laughing at the plans of a mere mortal man.

TWO WEEKS LATER, Dan stood on the doorstep and admired the Stevenses’ new address. The redbrick house on the outskirts of D.C. had green-and-white shutters and showed its distinguished lineage.

Bushes flanking the green doorway were lit with ropes of tiny bright lights. A welcome sign hung over a large wreath of apples, pears and pinecones woven with red and green ribbons and giving off a tart, sharp scent. As he started up the steps, music and laughter drifted through the open windows.

Dan grinned and crossed his fingers. With both the duchess and Mike Wheeler’s wife, Charlie, present tonight, he hoped the evening would go without a mishap. Or if it didn’t, that he wouldn’t be asked to help clear it up. He’d already been chewed out by Admiral Crowley, the JAG, for getting involved with the duchess’s and Charlie Wheeler’s life-threatening problems. The memory of Crowley’s flashing eyes and hard language on both occasions still stung.

His friend Wade Stevens had eventually married his duchess, and Mike his free-spirited concierge, but Dan intended to stay clear of anyone even associated with Baronovia.

Relieved to find the door guarded against unwelcome visitors, he handed over his invitation and sauntered inside.

To the left of the entry hall was a room filled with guests. Waiters were circulating with trays of hors d’oeuvres and champagne. To his right, a large room with a polished wooden floor had been cleared of furniture to make room for dancing couples. A string trio was playing in a corner.

“O’Hara! Over here.” Wade Stevens motioned Dan to join him. Dan nodded and made his way through the crowd.

Pretty as a picture in her short black cocktail dress with a single diamond hung on a slender gold chain at her throat, Wade’s petite royal wife held out her hand. “We are so happy to have you and all of our friends here to help us celebrate our good fortune. The night is wonderful, no?”

“Wonderful, yes,” Dan agreed, amused at the way her syntax still remained old-country. It was a habit that endeared the duchess to everyone who met her.

“I have someone I would like you to meet.” May smiled and looked over his shoulder. “My cousin Victoria. Have you met her?”

“Sorry. I’m afraid I wouldn’t recognize her if I did.”

“Are you sure you didn’t meet her at my wedding?”

Puzzled by May’s question when he’d already disclaimed recognizing her cousin, Dan turned back. “Not that I remember. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention when we were introduced.”

May smiled at him over the rim of her glass. “I’ll introduce you.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Dan said politely. Whatever the reason for May’s questions, he wasn’t particularly interested. “If you don’t mind, I could use a drink,” he said with a smile. “See you later.”

Dan made his way around the room to the bar and refreshment tables, stopping now and again to say hello to someone he knew. If he were lucky, he mused as he reached for a cold beer, May’s cousin Victoria wouldn’t show up. The last person he cared to meet was a member of the duchess’s family. May, at least, behaved like a normal woman, but most royals were a pain in the rear. Meeting this one would be a waste of time.

He was in the midst of choosing from an eye-catching tray of appetizers when May Stevens came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

“I’ve found her. Dan, I would like you to meet my cousin Victoria. Vicky, this is Dan O’Hara.”

Dan thanked the waiter and motioned the tray away. “Pleased to meet you,” he said as he turned around—then froze. One look into her blue-green eyes and a moment of déjà vu broadsided him. “I’m sorry…I know you, don’t I?”

To his surprise, she tensed and took back her extended hand. “I don’t think so.”

Dan looked to May for help. May shrugged and looked just as puzzled as he felt. He was on his own. “Perhaps we met at your cousin’s wedding last year?”

“Perhaps,” she answered, still tense.

Dan shook his head to clear the cobwebs that muddled his thoughts. He returned Victoria’s apprehensive gaze and felt his heart thud in his chest. The atmosphere surrounding them turned heavy. The sound of music and voices faded into the background.

This was a different time and a different place, he told himself. In her white silk dress and short, cropped blond hair, the woman gazing back at him looked familiar, but he wasn’t sure where and when they’d met.

He’d only met one woman before tonight who had had such an immediate effect on him. An exquisite woman with expressive eyes and a spirit that had caught at his heart the moment he’d glimpsed her from the palace window.

Was this the woman he’d met in the deep of night and made love to in Baronovia? And why was she so frightened?

He sure couldn’t ask her such intimate questions with her cousin watching them and surrounded by dozens of people.

He cleared his throat and tried to recall the image of his mystery woman on that magical night. She’d had flowing waist-length auburn hair, so soft it had slipped through his fingers like silk. May’s cousin had blond hair and it was cropped short in the irregular lengths so popular today.

As for her figure, his mystery woman had been so slender he’d been able to span her waist with two hands. Tonight’s woman not only had fuller breasts, there were subtle differences in the rest of her body. If it were possible, she looked more womanly and more attractive than the woman he remembered.

“No, sorry. I guess not,” he finally answered when the silence grew too long to be comfortable. “If we’d met before this, I’m sure we both would have remembered it.

As he spoke, he noticed an expression of relief cross her features. But not before he also caught a passing flash of regret.

Whatever was going on inside her, this Victoria’s stiff body language didn’t compute.

He recalled an announcement he’d heard last year at May’s wedding. If this was the same cousin, she’d been engaged to a future Baronovian ambassador. If the memory was true, and even if this was the same woman, she was untouchable.

He didn’t know whether to be relieved or sorry. It was damn hard to let go of the memory of his mystery woman.

“Something to drink?” he said when May smiled and drifted away, leaving her cousin behind. Even though he and Victoria were alone now, there was no way was he going down the prickly path of asking her if she had been the woman he’d held in his arms and made passionate love to one night long ago.

“No, thank you,” she answered softly. “I don’t drink anymore.”

Anymore? Dan glanced at his companion. If there was ever a word that called for a question and an answer, anymore was it. He started to speak, but there was something about the way her clear eyes regarded him that kept him from asking. His turn to find out more about her would surely come before the night was over. “How about a Perrier and maybe something to nibble on?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Dan thought of his companion as he made his way to the bar. There was something odd about the way she kept avoiding looking at him. He’d be damned if he could pass up the opportunity to find out if she was his mystery woman without at least trying. He couldn’t come right out and ask her, but there was one way he could discover the truth.

“Care to dance?” he asked after she’d silently sipped the drink he brought her. “Unless you’ve given up dancing, too?”

She hesitated. “No. I love to dance. I’m just not in the mood.”

“Come on,” he coaxed. “Just one dance?”

“Just one,” she answered. “Then I have to leave.”

Dan put their drinks on a tray held by a passing waiter, put his hand under her elbow and led her across the hall to the dance floor.

The answers to his question were going to add up without him even asking.

He knew she’d been at the palace the night before Wade Stevens had married his duchess.

She’d admitted to loving to dance.

The first time he’d laid eyes on his mystery woman, she’d been dancing her heart out.

Those clues had to mean something, Dan thought as he took her in his arms. At the same time, he couldn’t help wondering why she looked as if she wanted to run.

Their encounter that night in the palace gardens had been a natural encounter between a man and a woman. She’d been a woman so beautiful, he’d gone down to her to see if she were real. When he’d taken her in his arms, felt her vibrant body and tasted lips as sweet as honey, he’d been lost.

He’d been attracted to that woman, and he was attracted to this one. As he held her in his arms, all his senses told him the woman he remembered was the same woman he was holding in his arms tonight.

If this Victoria did turn out to be her, he silently vowed, he’d take it from there. If not, one dance to be polite, an apology, and he’d find a way to be out of here.

He gazed in wonder at Victoria’s blond hair and tried to envision her as a brunette. Outside of the difference in hair coloring and her more womanly figure, she had to be the same woman.

Maybe his mystery woman had a double.

Maybe…then again, he wondered, how could he account for the same, familiar faint scent of gardenias that clung to the woman in his arms?




Chapter Three


When Dan O’Hara took her into his arms, Victoria’s heart skipped. The very meeting she’d feared had happened and her worst fears had come true. Not only had she found her phantom lover tonight here at her cousin’s housewarming, she now found herself in the last place she should be if she had any sense—in his arms! There was no doubt in her mind that Dan was the man who had made love to her on that magical night eighteen months ago. Even then, with the afterglow of his embraces lingering long after she’d left him and gone back to the palace, she had thought he could be her destiny. Instead, he was dangerous.

“Enjoying yourself?” Dan asked.

“Thank you, yes. But I do have to leave.” Even as she spoke, she prayed for the music to stop long enough for her to excuse herself to her cousin and leave.

“Too bad,” he said, and signaled the band leader to go on. “It would be a shame to waste such beautiful music.”

As she automatically followed Dan’s footsteps across the dance floor, thoughts ran through her mind as swiftly as a cold wind blows on a March day. No matter how sweetly her cousin May had begged her to come here tonight when she’d called to decline the invitation, she should have listened to her heart.

Tonight, from the moment he’d started to speak, she’d recognized Dan as her phantom lover. She’d tried but she’d never forgotten the sound of his deep, melodious voice with a hint of teasing laughter in it. No other man’s eyes had warmed her so—a lifetime ago—and now again. And now that she was in his arms again, to her dismay she remembered his gentle strength and the taste of his lips.

It would never do. As the widow of a diplomat and Baronovia’s new ambassador to the United States, she had to keep up appearances. Any hint of scandal could bring shame on her family.

Maybe it had been different for Dan. Maybe she’d been one of the many woman in every port that seamen were known to boast about. Had she only been a diversion, a pleasant way to spend a sleepless night?

Held in Dan’s arms, Victoria remembered his earlier embrace, the taste of his lips, the sound of his voice murmuring words of assurance as he made love to her. And the way she had never been able to put him out of her mind.

She fervently prayed he wouldn’t start to ask questions for which she couldn’t give answers. At the same time, she had to bite her lip to keep from asking questions of her own.

If their encounter had meant something to him, why hadn’t he tried to find her after their magical encounter, she wondered as she averted her face and forced a smile at a passing couple.

The music changed to a two-step, to the same romantic melody she’d hummed to herself when she’d danced alone in the palace garden that long-ago night. The night she had known true love for the first and only time in her life.

She closed her eyes and instinctively leaned into the arms that had once held her so possessively, so lovingly. Leaned into the arms that reminded her of stolen tender moments under a crescent moon, embraces that had awakened her pent-up desires long dreamed about and never experienced again.

Arms that reminded her of a night of rapture that had ended too soon.

To her growing dismay, Dan began to gently caress the small of her back. She shivered as electricity followed the path where his warm hand had passed. When he swept her across the dance floor, his hand on her bare skin sent mental images of tangled limbs, heated kisses. Bursts of unwanted raw sensation ran through her.

In spite of her misgivings, Victoria found herself softly humming the song’s haunting lyrics under her breath, reliving the moments when she’d danced on a grass carpet under a moonlit sky. For a moment she was happy again, until he spoke.

“You may think I’m a little crazy, but you remind me of someone who…” Dan began softly. He needed time. Time, with Victoria in his arms. He’d been puzzled when they were first introduced, but he was pretty sure now she was his mystery woman.

His voice trailed off before he started again. “The truth is that when I saw you I happened to remember a night when I saw a woman dancing alone in the moonlight.”

Wordlessly, Victoria gazed up at Dan. To her dismay, she remembered that same night too well. She couldn’t admit being that woman even if she had wanted to. The time for the two of them to reveal themselves had passed long ago.

“Are you usually so quiet?” he finally asked with a smile and a quirked eyebrow. “Or am I boring you?”

Boring her? Not when the friction of his hand brushing across her bare back and the warmth of his hard body against hers were sending jolts of desire running through her.

Her mind in turmoil, Victoria couldn’t speak. The woman he spoke of was gone. Victoria was a widow and a mother now. Besides, if she were free to admit who she had been on that night, what would he think of her?

“Victoria?”

No matter what she remembered, or how she felt about Dan, she knew the past had to be forgotten. She knew she had to get away from Dan, now, tonight and forever.

“Victoria?” he repeated, obviously puzzled at her silence. “Are you all right?”

“I’m sorry,” she finally answered. “I’m afraid my mind was a million miles away.”

“Ahh.” To her dismay, he smiled down at her. “To a palace garden in Baronovia? Maybe even to a crescent moon and a vine-trimmed white gazebo?”

Victoria drew back. But not before Dan saw the vein at the side of her throat began to throb visibly.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” she answered. To his chagrin, she looked as if she was about to pull out of his arms and leave him alone on the crowded dance floor.

“I was hoping you might remember,” he went on before she could make up her mind to leave. “After holding you in my arms here tonight, I was silly enough to think you were the woman I met in Baronovia over a year ago.”

Dan gazed at Victoria when she remained silent. Could he have been mistaken about her, after all?

When she shook her head again, he finally gave up and set his mind to the music. What made tonight so puzzling was that he kept thinking that no other woman could have been made to fit so perfectly into his arms like this woman. No other woman could have made such tender, yet such passionate, love with him that night so long ago. Nor had he ever forgotten her beautiful and expressive eyes that revealed her deepest thoughts, just as they were doing now.

If she wasn’t his mystery woman, why was she so reluctant to look at him? “Did I say something to offend you? If I did, I’m sorry.”

“No!” she said firmly. “It’s just that I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve already told you, you have the wrong woman.”

Dan wasn’t prepared to give up, not yet. And certainly not when every one of his clamoring senses told him Victoria could be the very woman she’d denied being. Why else had he felt her heart beat wildly against his chest a moment ago? And why had she stiffened when she’d realized she’d actually allowed herself to melt into his arms?

He was about to apologize again when Victoria pulled out of his arms and rushed through the French doors onto an outdoor patio. Tables and chairs had been set out to accommodate guests. A crescent moon hung overhead, just as it had almost two years ago. An omen, he thought as he caught up with Victoria.

“Hold up! Was it something I said?” Dan asked when he caught up with her. “All I really meant to say was that you remind me of someone who meant a lot to me.”

“I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you, but I’ve already told you I’m not the woman you are looking for.” She took a step away from him. “It is true my home was in Baronovia, but I haven’t lived there for some time.”

Dan looked into her expressive eyes and at lips that were surely meant to be kissed. Desire ran through him. Victoria might not be his mystery woman, but he was as attracted to her as he had been to her double. He had to kiss her.

“Don’t go, stay here with me,” he said. He couldn’t hold off any longer. Not only for the proof she and the woman he remembered were one and the same, but for the kiss he ached to take from her tantalizing lips.

He held her face in his hands and lifted her face to his. “Victoria,” he whispered when their eyes met. “I’m not sure if you were the woman in the palace garden that night or not, but I’m still hooked. I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

“What are you doing?” Victoria gasped as she tried to pull out of his grasp. “I…”

“I only want to show you how I feel,” Dan said, his lips only inches away from hers. “I have a feeling that tonight has to be one of the most important nights of our lives.”

He was prepared for her anger, but he wasn’t prepared for the stricken look that came into her eyes. He should have known she was too vulnerable to try to seduce into a confession. “How can I make it up to you for being so rude?” he said against her sweet-smelling hair—hair that was shorter and lighter than the auburn tresses of the woman he remembered, but just as beautiful.

“Victoria,” he murmured when he couldn’t wait any longer. “Victoria,” he said again. “Look at me. Look at me and tell me the truth. Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you.”

Slowly, as if she were reluctant to answer him, let alone have him kiss her, Victoria ran her tongue over her dry lips. “What…What did you say?”

“Only this.” He held her head between his hands and slowly lowered his mouth to hers. “You were meant to be kissed tonight—let it be me,” he murmured as their lips met.

To her dismay, Victoria felt a surge of desire at the pull of his lips. His warm breath was tinged with the pungent scent of wine, his tongue eager to invade her mouth. The tender look in his eyes as he gazed at her and the hands that tightened around her waist as he drew her closer to him were too magnetic for her to deny. Reality vanished as Dan drew her deep, deep and still deeper into a sea of sensuality.

She fought the desire to loop her arms around his neck and kiss him with all the frustrated passion pent up inside her. How could she continue to deny him when she had yearned for him so long?

Would she be admitting she was his mystery woman if she did kiss him? More important, how could she continue to deny herself the truth? She had unwittingly fallen in love with him long ago and, heaven help her, she was in love with him now.

Just as Dan moved on to the sensitive place between her breasts, Victoria heard a small voice whisper caution in her ear.

She whimpered a protest, placed her hands on Dan’s chest and pushed herself out of his embrace. She’d gone down that exciting, sensuous path eighteen months ago, but she couldn’t afford to go down that road with him again. Not only for her sake, but for her daughter’s.

Dan sensed Victoria’s emotional withdrawal. He ached to kiss her again and yet again, but the anxious look in her eyes stopped him. Reluctant to let her go, he murmured a protest and held her against him long enough for his arousal to pass.

“Under the circumstances,” he said wryly, “it might be wiser to keep my distance from now on, but right now I need a moment or two.”

“Well?” he finally said softly. “Now do you remember me?”

Victoria shook her head and touched her lips with trembling fingers. “No. I’m still convinced you have the wrong woman.”

“Coward.” He gently outlined her lips with his thumb. “Is it because you really don’t remember me? Or is it that, for some reason, you’re afraid to admit it?”

Victoria shook her head. “I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, distracted by the yearning in Dan’s eyes but firm in her resolve to keep him from guessing the truth.

“Victoria! There you are!” Wade Stevens called through the French doors. “Lydia just called. She’s worried that your first social outing since your husband died is going okay. I told her you were fine.”

Dan clasped his hands behind him to keep from reaching for Victoria again. “Why didn’t your cousin introduce you as a married woman?”

Victoria shrugged to hide the way her heart was breaking at the reminder she had been married to the late Rolande Bernard. “It was only a social introduction. There was no need to tell you I have recently been widowed.”

He looked shocked, but there was no other way to get him to back off and leave her alone.

Dan knew he had to let Victoria go. A recent widow, he had no right to be attracted to her. Even if it was damn clear he was on the verge of falling head over heels for her again. She not only didn’t fit into his five-year plan, she was part of royal family. Wade, he thought again, had been lucky in his choice of a wife, but he didn’t intend to take the same chance.

But what did bother the hell out of him was that he was jealous of a deceased man.

“Under the circumstances, it was gracious of you to come here tonight.” He tried but he couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice.

“It’s more of a family thing. I didn’t want to disappoint May, so I came here tonight.”

She straightened the neckline of her dress, smiled politely and turned away to leave. But not before she paused a long moment and glanced back at him.

Shivers ran up and down Dan’s spine again as he read the unhappy message in her eyes. She was trying to tell him they would never meet again.

He was sure Victoria had been about to say something to him before she left. Instead, there had only been that brief flash of sadness in her eyes before she disappeared through the French doors.

Dan’s mental antenna tingled. He was ready to stake his life on the fact that she was hiding her true identity. She had to be afraid of admitting they had been together.

Afraid? God, he thought and raked his fingers through his hair. Why would she be afraid of him? All he’d wanted to do was to prove she had been the woman he’d made love to in Baronovia. To show her how much he’d cared for her then and even now.

Widow or not, he made up his mind not to let her leave before she told him why she had looked at him that way. Muttering to himself, he made his way through the ballroom and across the hall. Waiters were still passing trays of canapés, champagne was flowing freely and May Stevens was greeting latecomers. He drew her aside.

He’d never been the kind of man to mince words and he didn’t intend to start now. “Sorry, duchess, I know you set me and your cousin up, no…don’t deny it. What I want to know now is, why. And when you’re finished explaining, I would like you to tell me where Victoria has disappeared to!”

May looked surprised. “I don’t know what you mean. I only thought that since Victoria was here tonight without an escort, you could keep her amused.”

Dan wasn’t satisfied, but he wasn’t prepared to force the issue. This was, after all, May’s home and Victoria was her cousin.

“I don’t know where she is now,” May went on as she looked around the room. “She didn’t say goodbye. Why don’t you ask Wade?”

Dan eyed May’s flushed features suspiciously. “That’s it?”

“Of course. Victoria is a widow. I was only trying to make her feel at home.”

Dan apologized, then headed over to Wade, who was busy helping tend the bar. When he got close enough to be heard over the noise, he leaned over the bar and asked, “Do you know where Victoria is? She’s disappeared.”

Wade shrugged and poured a whiskey on ice. “Beats me. Have you asked May?”

“Yep. Unfortunately, May says she’s clueless,” Dan answered dryly, “but between me and you, I have my doubts.”

“Tried the ladies’ room?

Whatever May might have known of the reasons for Victoria’s disappearance, Wade wasn’t in on it. Dan shook his head.

Wade poured a beer for another guest and wiped his hands on a towel. “My guess is Vicky was tired and went home.”

Dan nodded and turned away. He had no right to ask any more questions, or to go after Victoria.

Maybe she hadn’t been his mystery woman after all.

THERE WAS a light knock on Victoria’s bedroom door. She lay curled up in the center of her bed, a book lying unread beside her. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Come in, Lydia.”

Lydia entered her bedroom. “I saw your light under the door, my dear. I wanted to say good-night.”

Victoria smiled sadly. Dear Lydia seemed to know how much she missed her husband. He had been almost thirty years older than her. Rolande had had steel-gray hair at his temples and a trim body of a much younger man. A twentieth-century man in the twenty-first century, he had been courtly and respected. “You don’t have to have permission to enter my bedroom, Lydia. You know you’re always welcome here.”

Lydia smiled. “I know. I just didn’t want to disturb you. I wanted to see if you had actually fallen asleep with the light on.”

“I was only thinking,” Victoria said.

“Of Rolande?”

“Yes.”

Lydia smiled sadly. “How could I forget such a fine man? It is a shame he had to die under such circumstances.”

Victoria studied Lydia and sensed it hadn’t only been the light that had attracted her. There was a questioning expression on her dear face. She stirred uneasily. “Is there something wrong?”

Lydia laughed. “I was about to ask you the same question, Vicky. You know me too well.”

“As you seem to know me. What is it?”

“I am still troubled by your reaction to the invitation to your cousin’s housewarming. I also noticed you appeared unhappy when you returned home.” Lydia paused and studied her for a long, deep moment. “You look disturbed now, my dear. Did you meet someone tonight out of your past?”

Victoria smiled ruefully. “How did you guess?”

“I’m no fool, Vicky. Only such a meeting could have left you looking so unhappy.” Lydia studied her for a long moment. “You haven’t forgotten your bargain with Rolande, have you?”

Victoria bravely met Lydia’s gaze. They had always been honest with each other. She would be honest now.

“No, of course not. Rolande meant too much to me.”

Lydia hesitated, then went on. “I also would like to remind you how important it is you let someone know if there is a problem.”

Although she smiled her agreement, Victoria felt guilty when she recalled the way she’d reacted when she’d been introduced to Dan. “I know. As I said a moment ago, you know me too well. The meeting tonight meant nothing to me.”

“Then, you have nothing to fear, Vicky,” Lydia said. “Just remember, you’ve always had me to watch over you. Even now.”

“I know, and I love you all the more for it,” Victoria replied. “You’ve always been more than a friend to me.”

Lydia nodded. “Then I will say good-night, my dear. Sleep well.”

Victoria sank back against her pillows. If Rolande had been alive, she would have asked him to stay the night with her. She would have thrown back the bedcovers and invited him to join her. To stay and hold her in his arms. He had always made her feel so safe.

Victoria closed her eyes. If Rolande had been able to make love with her, she would have welcomed him. Instead, they both had had to be satisfied with their situation and with the strong bond they’d forged between them.

Her thoughts turned pensive.

She had discovered, and only by chance, that her anxious parents had arranged her marriage to Rolande because he had been a man old enough and wise enough to ensure her safety and happiness in a world that, in their opinion, had gone awry as proven by her cousin’s marriage to an American naval officer.

When she had come to Rolande with the truth before their wedding, he had been honest with her. He, too, had a secret to share. They would do well together, he’d told her as they made their bargain. Impotent, a child to carry on his name had been his dearest wish.

There was no way she would betray the trust Rolande had placed in her.




Chapter Four


In the morning, Victoria awoke to find sunlight streaming through the lace curtains on the bedroom windows. The distant sound of a vacuum cleaner outside the door told her she’d overslept.

She’d been exhausted from worrying over her reaction to meeting Dan O’Hara again.

Poor Rolande, she mused guiltily as she turned over and stared at the carved ceiling above the bed. Even knowing he hadn’t been able to meet her needs, he’d always tried to be kind and compassionate. He’d deserved so much more from her than her gratitude then. Even in death he deserved her loyalty.

How loyal could she be to his memory when she wasn’t able to put her long-ago encounter with Dan in the past where it belonged? How loyal could she be when just the memory of Dan’s tongue tracing her lips and his hands stroking her breasts caused molten heat to engulf her?

A knock on the door saved her from her runaway erotic thoughts. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It was long past the time when she was usually up and around. “Come in, Lydia!”

Her long-time companion entered the room carrying Caroline, Victoria’s baby daughter. To Victoria’s dismay, tears had formed in the baby’s velvety blue eyes. One look at her mother and the baby held out her arms.

“It’s almost ten o’clock and this little imp has been crying for you for the past ten minutes,” Lydia said. “I tried to distract the little darling, but she doesn’t want her nanny or me. She wants only her mama to give her her bath.”

Right on cue, Caroline babbled what sounded like mama.

Tickled that Caroline was beginning to talk, Victoria reached for the baby. “Come here, sweetheart,” she said with a wide smile to cover her aching heart. There was nothing better to chase away her unhappiness than holding her baby daughter.

Victoria rubbed noses with the babbling little girl and kissed the tiny hands that pulled at her face and hair. It was true. Whenever it was possible, Caroline’s bathing ritual was kept for her, at her request. She looked forward to the moments when she would wash Caroline’s soft baby skin, dry her with a warmed towel and rub her tiny body with sweet-smelling baby powder. It was in these moments that she could forget the disturbing moments in the past and allow herself to enjoy the present.

“I’m sorry,” she told Lydia with a wry grin. “I’m afraid I was worn-out after May’s housewarming party last night.”

Victoria hid her face in Caroline’s tummy and blew air bubbles. If ever she needed to remember what she could lose if she allowed the past to intrude, these precious moments with the baby were a reminder.

Lydia busied herself with hanging up the dress Victoria had worn last night. “Have you forgotten May invited you to tea this afternoon?”

“No, I haven’t.” Victoria pulled a lock of her hair out of Caroline’s fist and kissed each dimple on each tiny knuckle before she threw back the bedcovers. “In fact, I am particularly eager to speak to my cousin—the sooner the better.”

“So?” Lydia peeked out from the closet. “Something did happen at the housewarming to upset you?”

“I’m afraid so. Please stay for a few moments, Lydia.” She gave Caroline a hairbrush to distract her. “I met a man at May’s housewarming last night, Dan O’Hara. You were right. He’s the American I met at May’s wedding.”

Lydia gasped and covered her lips with her fingers. “He recognized you?”

“Maybe. I honestly don’t know. I insisted I wasn’t the woman he thought he remembered before I left. I think I managed to discourage him, but I didn’t remain long enough to find out.”

Lydia shook her head and took the brush out of Caroline’s mouth. “I sensed you were upset when you came home last night, but I never imagined anything like this. What are you going to do now?”

“Do? Nothing,” Victoria answered firmly. As if she needed a reminder of who she was today, she glanced at the lace curtains embroidered with the Baronovian coat of arms. The symbols reminded her she was a member of the royal family and had been married to her country’s ambassador before she had assumed the post upon his untimely death. “I made a bargain with Rolande and I intend to keep it,” she said softly. “I will never do anything to hurt his memory.”

Guilt flooded her again. She had to forget Dan. She had to forget the touch of his lips against her throat out on the patio last night and the thrill of having his hand caress her bare back.

Lydia wiped a tear from the corners of her own eyes. “It’s my fault for urging you to go to May’s housewarming last night!”

“Please don’t blame yourself. I knew that once I came to Washington, meeting Dan was bound to happen sooner or later. He is my cousin’s husband’s best friend, after all. Please, don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Lydia didn’t look convinced. “Perhaps, but you are young. I pray no harm comes from this meeting.”

Victoria threw the bedcovers aside, put on her robe and slippers and plucked Caroline out of the bed. “Time for your bath, sweetness,” she told the baby. Before she left the bedroom, she glanced back at Lydia. “Nothing bad is going to happen. I intend to make sure that it doesn’t!”

“IF YOU SUSPECTED Dan O’Hara was the man I met in Baronovia how could you have introduced us last night?”

Her cousin, the Duchess Mary Louise of Baronovia, now May Stevens, gasped. “Oh, Victoria! I never knew who the man was, any more than you did. I just wanted you to have company and to enjoy yourself during the evening. What can I do to make it up to you?”

“Nothing now,” Victoria replied. “I’m afraid it’s too late. Somehow Dan tied me in with a woman he said he met at your wedding. He asked questions, but I pretended not to know what he was talking about. I only hope I was able to convince Dan I’m not his mystery woman.”

“Is there nothing I can do to help?”

“You can back me up if he comes back to question you.”

“I’m not very good at telling white lies. At least, that’s what my Wade tells me. But I promise to try. I hate to see you so unhappy.”

Victoria crumbled the blueberry scone on her plate and studied the tea leaves at the bottom of her cup of cold tea. In spite of her brave words to Lydia, and now to her cousin, she still felt an ache around her heart.

“Happy? What is happiness?” she finally asked. “It’s a different thing to different people. As for me, I have never regretted my bargain with Rolande. Besides, nothing good could possibly come of my meeting with this Dan O’Hara.”

“Don’t mistake me, Vicky,” May answered slowly, as if she debated the wisdom of what she was saying. “From the few remarks you’ve made about your husband, I know the truth about him. I was fond of Rolande, but I am more fond of you,” she went on, compassion shining in her eyes. “You may call me a romantic, but I believe in true love, in destiny. A destiny where even unlikely lovers such as Wade and I were fated to meet and marry,” she said as a tender smile curved at her lips. “I only feel you are much too young to remain a widow.”





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