Melody Anne - Scorched

Before River could finish his sentence, blood spattered from his mouth as a bullet went through the back of his head.

“No!” Shane screamed, jumping up and firing in the direction the bullet had come from, wiping out the shooter, who had just rounded the corner of the warehouse.

“Shit! Where did he come from?” Doug yelled as he jumped up to look around, shooting down another man running from the same direction.

“We need to go now!” Shane yelled, gathering the girl.

But it was too late.

River was dead.

Their mission had just failed in all their eyes, even if they did get the girl to safety. They’d let down one of their own and Shane took the full burden on his own shoulders. It was his team — his mission to keep that team safe.

The men grabbed their fallen brother, who lay at their feet, his eyes empty. Doug threw him over his shoulder and they made their escape to the booming sound of gunfire. Three of their guys covered their backs, returning fire as they exited the industrial area.

Once they were all out of the danger zone, it was a solemn journey back out of the field as they carted the girl away. Yes, they’d completed their objective, but they’d lost one of their own.

There was no victory for them today.

“You did what?”

Adriane stood frozen as his mother berated him, making him feel like a child once again, a child who had just been caught undoing the straps on the guards’ horses for the third time. It had been amusing to watch the men fall off their steeds in front of the king when they’d been so determined to look and act worthy of guarding the royal family.

His mother, Queen Octavia, hadn’t been amused back then.

And she wasn’t too thrilled with him now, though he didn’t understand exactly why.

“I told her we would be wed — that there was no other way,” he said again. Maybe his mother had misunderstood him. Surely she could understand and support his refusal to let Rachel go. After all, Rachel carried the royal heir, his mother’s first grandchild.

“Oh, son. Where exactly did I go wrong in raising you?” she asked, shaking her head in disapproval and bafflement.

“I don’t understand why you are upset. Rachel cannot leave. Surely you can see that,” he said, raising his voice just the slightest in his frustration.

The withering look his mother sent him calmed him immediately. He was speaking disrespectfully not only to his mother, but also to Corythia’s queen. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

“Hmm, if you are talking to me this way, I shudder to think how you have been speaking to poor Rachel. No wonder she is less than enthusiastic about your proposal,” his mother told him.

“Do you think that I should let her leave?” he asked, with his fingernails biting into his palms.

“I think you should try courting her instead of giving her orders,” Octavia replied.

“I am doing that!”

“Really? From what you have told me, you have kidnapped her, demanded she marry you, and not even allowed her to speak to her family.”

“I have just let her know that there’s no other choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Adriane. This isn’t the old days; things need to be done a bit more diplomatically now. Yes, I understand that you don’t want your child to grow up elsewhere. I agree with you on that. What I disagree with you about is the way you are going about it. If you want this woman to stay loyal to you, you will have to give her a reason to be so.”

Adrian turned and looked at his mother. What was she trying to tell him? He was lost. Was his courting not up to snuff? If not, what exactly did she mean by the word? He’d never had to woo a woman before; they just naturally wanted to be with him. Of course they did; he had been a prince of Corythia, and since age seventeen, the future king. Now that he was king, there was a line of women who would be more than willing to be his wife.

A line of women that didn’t include the one who carried his child.

It was exasperating!

“How did you and my father come together?” Adriane had never cared to ask such a question before now.

“Now, that is a good question.” She sat back with a soft smile on her face. “I’m surprised that I haven’t told you this before. Your father was visiting the United States to get advice on improving Corythia’s economy, and he was a featured guest at a glittering fundraiser. I and a number of other American actors and actresses were there, and when I met him, his dark eyes, his stature, and his strong personality swept me off my feet.” Octavia stopped for a minute or two, and sighed. “Yes, a very strong personality. He did the barbaric thing that you’ve done: he kidnapped me. Not smart.”

“But you married him, Mother.”

“Yes, I did. But his actions almost turned me completely against him, attracted to him as I was. I let him know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t an object, a treasure he could add to his collection. When he calmed down and actually courted me, I fell in love almost instantly. The story is longer, of course, but the bottom line is that he didn’t win my heart until he showed me he had one of his own. Once he did that, I didn’t leave his side.”

“Why do women need this? I don’t understand. I will provide well for her, give her a life most women would envy. Why isn’t that good enough?”

“Because women should be cherished, son. A good woman at your side will complete you, make you the ruler you are meant to be. She will be strong when the rest of the world has abandoned you. She will know you better than anyone else. She will embrace you when the weighted decisions of this country hang heavy upon your shoulders. You need to cherish her, love her, and give her a reason to hold you tight even through the strongest of storms.”

“How do I do that?” Adriane could figure out his country’s problems, but he didn’t know how to open his heart to Rachel. Hell, he didn’t feel a need to.

“How did you win Rachel’s affections in the first place? You must have done something right if she carries your child.”

Adriane stood silent for a moment as he thought back to his time on the beach. “I didn’t do anything different from what I normally do. She was swimming. I thought she was drowning and I ‘rescued’ her, though when she stopped laughing at my valiant attempt to save her life, which irked me just a bit, there was an obvious connection. I invited her for dinner. She didn’t leave for a week.”

“What did you do that made her want to stay with you for the week?”

Why all these questions? He didn’t want to think about the past. It was time to move forward, think of their future. But he knew his mother wouldn’t stop interrogating him until he gave her something.

“We just got along well. I spoke to her more than any other woman I’ve taken for the night. I wasn’t expecting to be with her all week. It was just that one day melted into the next.” Adriane threw up his arms.

“Then be that man again — the man who made her choose to stick around for a while,” she said, as if speaking to a young child.

“I don’t know how to do that. At that point in our relationship, we were both just looking for a good time; neither of us was worried about the future. Now, I need to persuade her to marry me willingly,” he said. “Besides, if she would fall back into bed with me, maybe I could persuade her more easily,” he mumbled under his breath, grateful when his mother didn’t hear.

Everything had been easier, though, so much easier. When they’d spent their week together in Florida, they hadn’t fought. That must have been because they’d been in bed half the time.

“You will have to give her something, Adriane, or she won’t stay, no matter what threats you issue.”

“What do I give her? What will make her stay?”

Why did his mother need to talk in riddles? This was important. She needed to guide him, not sidetrack him with silly talk of love. This wasn’t about love — this was about a child the two of them had created together, a child who deserved a mother and father in his life. A child he desperately wanted.

“That, my son, you will have to figure out on your own. And, I fear, until you do, you won’t ever earn her heart. You will never truly hold her. Yes, you can refuse to let her go, but at the first opportunity, she will be gone, taking your child with her. It is a privilege to hold a woman’s heart, and you had better figure out how to take care of it properly, or it’s never going to be yours, no matter how much you demand it of her.”

Women. His mother couldn’t be right. There were other, better ways to make a marriage work besides this love so many spoke of. He and Rachel had laughed together, spent passionate nights together, gotten along swimmingly. Love was simply an emotion that people professed to feel in order to get something from someone else. He’d never been in love. He never would be. They had something far better than love — they had companionship.

Many couples married with less in common. If Rachel would just open her eyes, she would see that they would be good for each other. They would never be miserable, not with the attraction burning so strong between the two of them.

Women were to be appreciated. He could understand that. They were pleasurable to hold in your arms, pleasurable to sink deep inside, and they filled an ache that had to be met, but this sugary, hearts-and-flowers emotion, love, that so many spoke about was nothing more than a myth, a meaningless fantasy.

His mother meant well. She believed what she said. But she didn’t understand his relationship with Rachel. The two of them had passion — which was so much greater than mere words of love.

Their marriage would work and it would be excellent. He would show Rachel and his mother. Love didn’t need to be in the equation.

However, maybe he could change his approach just the slightest. If Rachel believed she had a choice, then she might possibly soften toward him.

It was worth a shot. Everything else so far had failed.

“Thank you for your time, Mother. I appreciate it,” he said as he sat down next to her and kissed her cheek.

“I just hope that it wasn’t wasted, that you will listen to me,” she said, but there was doubt in her eyes.

“Of course I will listen to you,” he replied. And he had listened.

He’d learned that he needed to be a lot more savvy in the way he spoke to Rachel. She had to be playing some sort of game. And she was sure to lose.

She hid from their passion together, pushed him away, but he wouldn’t give up. The prize was too valuable.

His child.

And, of course, Rachel in his bed again.

Rachel poked her head through the doorway, peeked around the corner and made sure the path was clear. Today was the day.

She was getting off this damn island if it was the last thing she did.

After creeping down the endless hall, she peered around the next corner, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw no one about.

Adriane must be supremely confident if he’d taken away his security detail. She wasn’t so foolish as to believe the guards were no longer there, but he was getting lax.

Since she’d heard the helicopter fly out an hour ago, she knew he had left the island. All she had to do was get ahold of her brother, Rafe, and she was home free. He’d trace the call and have a rescue party here quicker than Adriane could blink.

That would teach the king he wasn’t lord and master over all.

Rachel checked inside a few doors but had no luck finding a phone. Did this castle lack a single connection to the outside world? This was ridiculous.

Finally, she entered a large parlor with a writing desk in it. There had to be a phone there! It wasn’t possible that Adriane would have no communication with the rest of the world. He might be king of Corythia, but he was also a businessman with properties all over the world. He would need to stay in touch with them.

With an ear cocked for the sound of anyone approaching, Rachel slunk to the desk and smiled when she saw the large black telephone.

Bingo!

She picked it up and nearly shook with happiness at hearing a dial tone. Freedom was within her grasp. When she heard ringing, showing she’d made a connection, she was so grateful that her knees started shaking. She quickly plopped down on her butt in case anyone happened to look in the door.