Royal Secrets (The Hidden Kingdom Romances Book 1) Read online

  “She’s here then?” Quinn dropped his voice and the teasing.

  “Yes, and she’s … incredible.”

  Quinn’s dark eyes sparked with interest. “This could be what we’re hoping for.”

  Bodi nodded. He didn’t need to say more. They loved and trusted their family members and everybody in the castle, but the walls had ears and some would oppose their forward-thinking ideas. Better to see if Bodi’s idea was even feasible before they stirred the hornet’s nest. Bodi felt strongly enough about it that he’d asked Quinn for some of the precious dollars he’d saved working nights as a waiter while he was at Cambridge. Dollars and a job the king and Uncle Zoltan didn’t know about.

  “Prince Bodi.” Zara’s voice came from the open doorway and from behind Quinn. “Oh, excuse me, your highness. I didn’t know you were here.” Zara’s naturally tanned skin seemed to get darker. Even as the royal family’s assistant who was around Quinn every day, she always got a little awkward and unsteady when she spoke to him. Most women did. Quinn was not only next in line for the throne but was supposedly “devastatingly handsome.”

  “I was just leaving.” Quinn gave Zara a wicked grin and stood back, ushering her into the room. “Oh, well … hello.” Quinn’s voice got all deep and husky, but for the first time in his life, he sounded befuddled.

  Bodi knew immediately that his Miss Red was in the doorway. He sprang forward, seeing the gorgeous Julia Adams in the full light of day and understanding exactly why Quinn was awed. The marketing expert had been stunning in the pre-dawn light wearing a T-shirt and shorts, her hair pulled back. Now she wore a fitted button-down shirt and tight skirt with her dark reddish-brown hair framing an even more exquisite face, her blue eyes and appealing lips were the focus for Bodi.

  She was breathtaking.

  He couldn’t let his too-handsome, charming brother push his way into Miss Red’s affections. Neither of them had any right to even look at an outsider as a viable dating option, but Julia Adams was far too attractive and fun to tease with.

  “Miss Adams,” he said, embarrassed that his voice had also gone deep and husky. “This is my brother Quinn, the Crown Prince. He was just leaving.” He took liberties he shouldn’t, wrapping his arm around Julia’s waist and ushering her through the door. Heat and happiness filled him. He had to release her to shove at Quinn, pushing him toward the door.

  Quinn held his hands up, not fighting him, but his dark eyes were filled with challenge. The high-dollar tourism packages featuring the medieval reenactment and fair was Bodi’s idea and Quinn didn’t have the time to worry about the details, but Quinn was financing Julia being here and it was obvious he was intrigued by Miss Red as well. “I believe as Crown Prince I have the right to be in this meeting.”

  “We’ll fill you in later on what we decide.” Bodi gave him a final shove and slammed the door behind him. Turning, he straightened his suit coat sleeves, pasting on his best smile for the woman he hadn’t been able to get out of his mind since early that morning. His grin became genuine as he looked over her fine-boned features. Her gorgeous deep-red hair was incredible, thick and long, but it was the challenge sparkling in her blue eyes and the smirk on her pretty lips that really tugged him in. “It’s wonderful to see you again.”

  “Hmm-hmm.” A throat cleared before Julia could answer. Zara didn’t even try to hide her smile. “I’m assuming you don’t need me for this meeting if even the crown prince isn’t invited.”

  “Oh, thank you, Zara. No, we’ll be fine.”

  Zara laughed. “Miss Julia Adams, allow me to introduce Prince Bodi Magnum.”

  Bodi put out his hand. She looked at his hand, looked at him, and then shook her head. “PB, eh?”

  He grinned, hoping she wasn’t too upset at him.

  She put her hand in his and the world became bright again. He saw things in full color and saw exactly how vibrant reddish-brown hair could be and what it could do to his senses. He didn’t even notice Zara walk past until the door opened and shut behind her.

  “Hello, Miss Red,” he said huskily.

  She pulled her hand from his and walked on her high heels to a table in the middle of the room. It was then he noticed how nicely fitted her skirt was and how those high heels made her calves defined, lean, and long. The room seemed to tilt. Women on Magna dressed a little more conservatively, not particularly because of law, tradition, or because they wanted to, but because the island lacked the funds to import fabric from Spain, the closest mainland port.

  Turning, she pinned him with a glare that could’ve frozen ice. Dang it was appealing. “So Prince Bodi has been described as, and I quote, ‘incredible—kind, hard-working, smart, charming, handsome.’” She arched an imperious eyebrow. “It appears you think very highly of yourself.”

  He felt a twinge of chagrin. “I wanted you to look forward to your meeting with the prince.” He spread his hands wide. “Are any of those things not true?”

  “I have no idea if you’re kind or hard-working. You could be smart as you hired me to set up and market your tour packages, but I’d say definitely no on the charming, and the handsome … hmm.” She looked him up and down. “I guess some might find you handsome. If they’re into the tall, dark, and exotic thing.”

  He chuckled. She wouldn’t be easy to woo like the girls who wanted him simply because he was a prince. “Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, Miss Red.”

  “I’d appreciate you calling me Miss Adams, PB.”

  He smirked. “You can call me anything you want to, Miss Adams.”

  She didn’t respond to his line, setting her pink bag on the table and pulling out a laptop computer. Bodi was instantly enthralled. He almost forgot his attraction to the computer’s owner as he sprang across the room. Pressing his arm against hers, he was reminded of the attraction in full force as her hand brushed his and a sweet scent of coconut drifted from her.

  She startled. “Excited?”

  “I’ve never seen a laptop in real life before.”

  Her eyes widened but then she teased, “Just like a redhead?”

  He stared at her, his mouth going dry at the spark of intelligence in those blue eyes and the way they captivated him. “The redhead is much more enchanting than the laptop.”

  Pink tinged her cheeks. She looked down at the computer and murmured, “No compliments please. We are not that friendly.”

  He laughed. He couldn’t help it. No woman teased him like this besides his sister Adelaide, and with his sister it was obviously much different.

  She glanced up at him again. “Do you not have computers?”

  “We do, but they’re sadly outdated and the internet here is something awful.” He felt a rush of shame. He’d easily volunteered to her this morning that their veins of gold had dried up twenty years ago, but in the light of day it was harder to admit to this beautiful and accomplished woman just how deeply in trouble their nation was. It felt like a personal defect on his part.

  “Oh. Slow internet might make things a little more difficult, but we’ll make it work. I guess a hot spot and using the data on my phone won’t help much if you don’t have cell towers?”

  “Sadly no, but we do have a booster in the castle library so we can work in there tomorrow.” He pulled out a chair. “Please sit. I can hardly wait to hear your ideas.”

  “Thank you.” She sat and he sat next to her. Their shoulders brushed as she clicked on something on the laptop. Bodi leaned in close, brimming with excitement to see what a laptop computer could do. Simply being close to her lit a fire in him. He needed to tamp down these feelings. She was only here to help him put together and market tourism packages and then she’d be gone, back to America and whatever life she had there.

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked, then immediately realized that was too personal. She was here to work with him, and hopefully he and Quinn could convince their father King Kendrick and their uncle Grand Duke Zoltan to go for their tourism ideas. Everyone in th
e family was brainstorming ways to increase industry and help their people. Tourism should be an easy sell, but the Hidden Kingdom had enjoyed privacy and had been kept unspoiled from the outside world for many years. Tourism was a swear word in some circles.

  She looked at him with that perfect eyebrow arched. “I don’t think that has anything to do with our meeting today.”

  She was right, and he’d already upset her by not telling her who he was this morning … and he was supposed to propose to Grace sometime in the future. He’d better focus on Julia’s marketing plan and developing his ideas with her. He needed to think of the people of Magna and what was best for them. His personal desire to get to know one beautiful redhead shouldn’t factor into the equation. But it did.

  Chapter Three

  Julia finished her presentation to Prince Bodi. PB indeed. She was hardly able to think straight or talk knowledgeably with how handsome and incredible he was. She had to keep reminding herself she was a professional and the twinkle in his dark eyes should not distract her. The problem was, every bit of him distracted her. He was a hundred percent man all the way through, but he had a boyish innocence and excitement about him that appealed to her like no other man had done. His dark eyes were shadowed by dark lashes and brows and he looked exactly how she’d imagined a royal prince would look—handsome, charming, slightly intimidating, but kind and understanding as well.

  Her friends would all go crazy over him and his brother, Crown Prince Quinn Magnum. Wowzers. These were men.

  Bodi had loved all of her ideas, from the renaissance fair—which he said they already did each Saturday, but they called it “market day”—to the reenactments of jousting, sword-fighting, shooting arrows at targets, and racing on horses. He explained that the Magnite military still used horses, since vehicles couldn’t reach many remote mountain locations. They regularly did all those activities as training, and on certain days throughout the year those who were trained could participate, one of those days being this Saturday. Bodi wasn’t sure how his cousin, General Kingston Magnum, would respond to making the activities “safe” and enacting them with tourists. She sensed as they talked that not everyone in the royal family would be on board with bringing outsiders to their very private island.

  “I can sell package deals that include staying at the castle, the fairs, tours of the island, watching the knightly activities, and paying extra to participate, if you can get the approval from the king, the duke, the general, and the rest of the royal family,” she explained. If he didn’t get the approval, her stay here might be short-lived. “But the travel will be rough. I have contacts with United and we could set up the flights to get them to Spain, but that four-hour puddle jumper plane isn’t going to fly with the high-dollar clientele we need to cater to. The women would like smiley, friendly Treck, but he wouldn’t be enough of a draw for them to forget about their discomfort, and to stop worrying for their lives.”

  Bodi nodded, his mouth pulling into a frown. “We don’t have the means.” The words seemed to pain him, even though he’d admitted to her first thing this morning that their ‘gold had run out.’ “As you can imagine, upgrading the transportation to get them from Spain is a major undertaking. Boats would take too long, so air travel is the only way, and our runways can’t handle anything bigger than Treck’s plane. I could talk to my father, but any level of tourism is already going to be a stretch for all of them. If I try to take any of the little money left in the country’s banks—money that is used to import essential medicines and goods—they’ll really fight me.”

  “Okay.” She hadn’t realized how many barriers she would be up against. She had assumed Prince Bodi had the approval of the rest of the royal family before he’d contacted her brother’s agency. It wasn’t just setting everything up with the fair, the medieval experience, the tours, and making a section of the castle into an all-inclusive resort. From what she understood, she—or rather Prince Bodi—would be fighting against the other members of the royal family to even make this happen. Maybe even against the rest of his people. Who knew if they even wanted advancements?

  If they could barely pay for essential medicines, maybe they didn’t have a choice.

  She was tempted to call him out about not informing her what she’d be up against, but she didn’t know him well enough and she really wanted to make this happen. She focused on the positive. “Let me talk with my contacts at United. If I can book the trips and fill up the flights, it would be worth it for them to get a smaller plane to fly here. Then we’d only be dealing with updating the airstrip. If we have vehicles waiting to bring them to the castle, they won’t care there’s no Uber. Actually, they’ll be thrilled to not deal with security checks and baggage claim.”

  “Security checks? Uber?” he asked.

  She laughed. “Uber’s like a taxi. Security checks happen at all airports.” At his almost wistful look, she asked, “Have you never flown into an actual airport?”

  “Never left the island.” He shook his head. “Quinn left for four years to attend Cambridge University and Kingston left for seven to learn and train with the British and American military forces, and my … friend Grace just returned from medical school at Texas Tech, but the rest of us are educated here—very well, I might add.” He flashed her a charming grin that made her stomach do an unexpected happy dance. Who was his “friend” Grace? “Our society has preferred to stay closed off to the world for many years. It will be an uphill battle to change that.”

  “I can see that. I didn’t realize when I accepted this position that it would be quite this … big of a fight.” She hoped her voice wasn’t too snippety, but this was kind of a big deal. It would be plenty of work to set up everything, arrange travel and accommodations, and advertise in the right places to get the ideal visitors here. Fighting against the royal family wasn’t on the table when she took the job.

  “I’m sorry.” He picked at the edge of a paper, not meeting her gaze. “I didn’t disclose that the rest of the royal family, apart from Quinn, knew nothing of my plans and might not support them. I was …” He focused his gaze on her. “… afraid you wouldn’t come. Despite the fact some don’t want change, we need it. We need tourism, an infusion to our economy, and the ability to upgrade everything from our computers to our military equipment to medical technology and supplies. We need your help, Julia … please.”

  It was the first time he’d said her name, and there was an allure to that she couldn’t ignore. She also couldn’t ignore his plea. This hidden kingdom needed her. She stared into his dark eyes. She saw sincerity and hope for his people there. This was an incredibly unique opportunity for her. If he could talk his family into allowing her to proceed, she would do the most incredible job she was capable of. “I’m in if you are.”

  “I’m definitely in, and tomorrow when I meet with the royal family, I’ll sell them all on the plan.” He sounded confident, but she could see in his eyes it would be a fight. He stuck his hand out. “Shake on it?”

  She placed her hand in his, feeling the rightness of his touch. Her throat went dry and her pulse raced. She could admit she was excited. For the project, not for the handsome prince. That’s what she told herself, anyway. Rationally she had to remember she couldn’t fall for some man who’d never left his beautiful island and probably never would.

  “Well, I think it’s time …”

  His eyebrows arched and he leaned closer. “Time for?”

  Julia’s heart thundered. She hadn’t meant to make the suggestion some open-ended flirtation, but the warm look in his dark eyes made her want to tell him it was time to see if he kissed as good as he looked.

  Her breath shortened as she imagined kissing this impressive man. She could swear he was inching closer by the millisecond.

  “Time for you to show me the castle, your tournament facilities, wherever you hold market, that beautiful church, the mountains and the beach in the daylight … Your entire island, really,” she said breathlessly. r />
  The moment stretched between them and his dark eyes sparkled as if he knew exactly where her errant thoughts had gone. “Of course,” he said graciously. “What would you like to see first? The beaches, the mountains, the arena for jousting, sword-fighting, and shooting, the castle, the church, or the beautiful town?”

  She laughed unsteadily and stood, shutting her laptop and sliding it into her bag. Would the slower than nineteen-nineties internet give them bad reviews when they got the people here? She’d worry about that another day. Today she would tour an island only a handful of outsiders had the privilege of seeing, and with a handsome man as her tour guide. “I want to see all of it.”

  He jumped up, rubbing his hands together. “All right, let’s do it!”

  She slung her bag over her shoulder, but he reached for it. His hand caused fire to burn through her as he pulled the bag off, his palm brushing her shoulder. “Allow me, please.”

  Julia swallowed. She had to look away from his dark gaze or risk throwing herself at him and reenacting their crash on the beach this morning. “Thank you.” She’d always loved a gentleman, but hadn’t met one to rival Bodi.

  He swung the bag over his own shoulder. The pale pink laptop bag looked out of place and hilarious on his big, muscular shoulder. She let herself appreciate the full effect of this handsome man in a suit holding her bag and then she burst out with a laugh. “That looks fabulous on you.”

  He grinned. “I’m masculine enough to wear pink.”

  “That you are.” She shouldn’t have admitted to that. She rushed toward the door, but he beat her to opening it. He swung it wide and held it for her. “Thank you,” she said, thinking she might be saying that a lot.