Read To Kiss a King for Free Online Page B

anyway? That he didn’t want to handle the situation—he wanted to handle Alex? Yeah, that’d be good.
     
    “She must be something else.”
     
    “Y’know? She really is,” he said tightly. “And she’s going to stay safe.”
     
    Memories flew around him like a cloud of mosquitoes. Nagging. Irritating. He couldn’t stop them. Never had been able to make them fade. And that was as it should be, he told himself. He’d made a mistake and someone had died. He should never be allowed to forget.
     
    “Garrett,” Griffin said quietly, “you’ve got to let the past go.”
     
    He winced and took another drink of his beer. As twins, they had always been finely attuned to each other. Not exactly reading each other’s minds or anything—thank God for small favors. But there was usually an undercurrent that each of them could pick up on. Clearly, Griffin’s twin radar was on alert.
     
    “Who’s talking about the past?” Bristling, Garrett pushed haunting memories aside and told himself that Alex’s situation had nothing to do with what had happened so long ago. And he would do whatever he could to see that it stayed that way.
     
    “Fine. Be stubborn. Keep torturing yourself for something that you did. Not. Do.”
     
    “I’m done talking about it,” Garrett told his brother.
     
    “Whatever. Always were a hard head.”
     
    “Hello, pot? This is kettle. You’re black.”
     
    “Hey,” Griffin complained, “I’m the funny one, remember?”
     
    “What was I thinking?” Garrett smiled to himself and sipped at his beer.
     
    “Look, just keep me posted on this. Let me know what her father has to say and if you need backup, call .”
     
    “I will,” he promised, even though he knew he wouldn’t be calling. He didn’t want backup with Alex. He wanted to watch over her himself. He trusted his brother with his life. But he would trust no one with Alex’s. The only way to make sure she stayed safe was to take care of her himself.
     

    Alex couldn’t sleep.
     
    Every time she closed her eyes, her mind dredged up images snatched from her memories of the day. Mostly, of course, images of Garrett—laughing, teasing his nieces, carrying a sleeping baby…and images of him as he leaned in to kiss her.
     
    Oh, that kiss had been…well, way too short, but aside from that, wonderful. She could still hear the water sloshing against the boat, the singing from the pirates and feel the hot wind buffeting their faces. Still feel his mouth moving over hers.
     
    It had been, she told herself with a small smile, magic .
     
    She picked up her hot tea off the room service cart and stepped onto the balcony of her suite. A summer wind welcomed her with the cool kiss of the sea. She stared up at the night sky then shifted her gaze to the ocean where the moon’s light danced across the surface of the water, leaving a silvery trail, as if marking a path to be followed. In the middle of the night, everything was quiet, as if the whole world was dreaming.
     
    And if she could sleep, Alex knew her dreams would be filled with Garrett.
     
    She took a sip of the tea and sighed in satisfaction.
     
    Alexis knew she should feel guilty for having left Cadria the way she had, but she just couldn’t manage it. Maybe it was because of the years she had spent doing all the “right” things. She had been a dutiful daughter, a helpful sister, a perfect princess. She was always in the right place at the right time saying the right things.
     
    She loved her father, but the man was practically medieval. If it weren’t for her mother’s restraining influence, King Gregory of Cadria would probably have had his only daughter fitted for a chastity belt and tucked away in a tower. Until he picked out the right husband for her, of course.
     
    Alex had had to fight for every scrap of independence she had found over the past few years. She hadn’t wanted to be seen only at state occasions. Or to christen a new ship or open a new