To Kiss a King

To Kiss a King
Maureen Child

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“I’ve been thinking about that kiss.”

Oh, he’d been thinking about it, too. About what he would have done if they’d been alone in the dark.

Garrett looked at her and knew instantly thinking about it had been a mistake. Desire glittered in her eyes. He recognized it, because the same thing was happening to him. He couldn’t seem to fight it. More, he didn’t want to.

He hadn’t asked for this. Didn’t need it. But the truth was, he wanted Alexis.

The worst part? He couldn’t have her.

He was working for her father. She was a princess. He was responsible for her safety. In the real world, a holiday romance was right up his alley. No strings. No complications. But this woman was nothing but complications.

Good reasons for avoiding this situation, he told himself. For keeping an eye on her from a distance.

And not one of those reasons meant a damn thing in the face of the need clawing his insides.

Dear Reader,

I love old movies. From romantic comedies to thrillers to ghost stories. The old movies—and I’m talking really old movies from the forties and fifties—all had a kind of magic you don’t see very often today.

And one of my absolute favorites has always been Roman Holiday, the story of a princess who runs away from her royal duties for a day of freedom.

In To Kiss a King, I was able to change that idea up a little and give it the romantic happily ever after it deserved. My royal princess, Alexis, escapes palace life to experience real life. And she starts out with her dream trip to Disneyland. Which, of course, since it’s my book, is where she meets Garrett King.

Garrett’s a security expert, and when he discovers that Alex is a runaway princess, he’s torn between protecting her and seducing her.

And that, I think, makes for a whirlwind romance filled with secrets, lies, seduction and—I sincerely hope—a wonderful love story.

I hope you enjoy To Kiss a King and I’d love to hear from you! Find me on Facebook or Twitter and e-mail me at maureenchildbooks@gmail.com.

Happy reading!

Maureen

About the Author

MAUREEN CHILD is a California native who loves to travel. Every chance they get, she and her husband are taking off on another research trip. The author of more than sixty books, Maureen loves a happy ending and still swears that she has the best job in the world. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two children and a golden retriever with delusions of grandeur. Visit Maureen’s website, www.maureenchild.com.

To Kiss a King

Maureen Child

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To Susan Mallery, a great writer and an even better friend. For all of the shared dreams, all of the good laughs and all those yet to come.

Thanks, Susan.

One

Garrett King was in Hell.

Dozens of screaming, laughing children raced past him and he winced as their voices hit decibels only dogs should have been able to hear. Happiest Place on Earth? He didn’t think so.

How he had let himself be talked into this, he had no idea.

“Getting soft,” he muttered darkly and leaned one hand on the hot metal balustrade in front of him only to wrench his hand back instantly. He glanced at his palm, sighed and reached for a napkin out of his cousin’s bag to wipe the sticky cotton candy off his skin.

“You could be at the office,” he told himself sternly, wadding up the napkin and tossing it into a trash can. “You could be checking invoices, keeping tabs on the new client. But no, you had to say yes to your cousin instead.”

Jackson King had pulled out all the stops getting Garrett to go along with this little family adventure. Jackson’s wife, Casey, was apparently “worried” because Garrett was alone too much. Nice woman Casey, he told himself. But did no one ever consider that maybe a man was alone because he wanted to be?

But he still could have begged off if it had been just Casey and Jackson doing the asking. But Garrett’s cousin had cheated.

He had had his daughters ask “Uncle” Garrett to go with them and frankly, when faced with three of the cutest kids in the world, it would have been impossible to say no. And Jackson knew it, the clever bastard.

“Hey, cuz!” Jackson’s shout sounded out and Garrett turned to give him a hard look.

Jackson only laughed. “Casey, honey,” he said, turning to his stunning wife, “did you see that? I don’t think Garrett’s having any fun.”

“About that,” Garrett cut in, lifting his voice to be heard over the raucous noise rising from the crowd, “I was thinking I’d just head out now. Leave you guys to some family fun.”

“You are family, Garrett,” Casey pointed out.

Before he could speak, Garrett felt a tug at his pants leg. He looked down into Mia’s upturned face. “Uncle Garrett, we’re going on the fast mountain ride. You wanna come?”

At five, Mia King was already a heartbreaker. From her King blue eyes to the missing front tooth to the dimple in her cheek, she was absolutely adorable. And not being a dummy, she knew how to work it already, too.

“Uh…” Garrett glanced behind Mia to her younger sisters Molly and Mara. Molly was three and Mara was just beginning to toddle. The three of them were unstoppable, Garrett told himself wryly.

There was just no way he was getting out of this day early. One girl pouting was hard to resist. Three were too much for any man to stand against.

“How about I stand here and watch your stuff while you guys go on the ride?”

Jackson snorted a laugh that Garrett ignored. For God’s sake, he owned the most respected security company in the country and here he was haggling with a five-year-old.

Garrett and Jackson had been good friends for years. Most of the King cousins were close, but he and Jackson had worked closely together over the years. Garrett’s security company and Jackson’s company, King Jets, fed off each other. With Garrett’s high-priced clients renting Jackson’s luxury jets, both companies were thriving for the loosely defined partnership.

Jackson’s wife, Casey, on the other hand, was one of those happily married women who saw every determined bachelor as a personal challenge.

“You going on the Matterhorn with us?” Jackson asked, plucking Mara from his wife’s arms. The chubby toddler slapped at his cheeks gleefully and Garrett watched with some amusement as Jackson practically melted. The man was a sap when it came to his family. Funny, because in business, Jackson King was a cutthroat kind of guy that nobody wanted to cross.

“Nope,” Garrett told him and lifted the baby out of his cousin’s arms. With the crazed population explosion in the King family, Garrett was getting used to dealing with kids. Comfortably settling the tiny girl on his hip, he said, “I’ll wait here with Mara and the rest of your—” he paused to glance down at the stroller and the bags already piled high on it “—stuff.”