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What he didn’t need was a car in his driveway when he pulled his bike in. Even stranger was seeing Janel’s mom get out and meet him at the garage.
“Is this where my daughter wrecked?” She grinned and motioned to the corner of the house.
The memory hurt. “Yeah. I don’t know what to call you. Am I supposed to bow? I know I met you in the hospital, but those were extenuating circumstances.”
Janel’s mom was a stunning woman with a head full of deep auburn hair. She had it fixed simply, in the same way Janel pulled her hair back into a ponytail and then flipped it so it stuck out at all angles. It should have looked crazy, but on Janel it had been beautiful and reminded him of the way her hair looked all messy and wild after they had sex. That was probably not a good analogy to be thinking about with her mother standing in front of him.
“You can just call me Mari. I’m not much on protocol, if you didn’t know. I wish I’d grown up in a house as nice as yours. May we go inside?”
Dozer couldn’t imagine the reason for her visit. “Is Janel okay?”
“We’ll talk inside,” she said, and he followed her to the front door.
How it happened, he couldn’t really say, but an hour later, they sat down to a cubed steak with mashed potatoes and gravy dinner that they’d made together in his kitchen. It reminded him of his early days with his mom. The queen was easy to talk to, once he got past the royal thing.
She was funny and could crack a joke with ease, and sassy as well. He saw where Janel got it from. And that only made him miss her more.
Mari waited until they were finishing up their meal before she started to speak. “When I met my husband, I didn’t plan on falling in love with him. To hear him tell it, he fell hard the first time he saw me.” She smiled and looked out the window.
“He came on full force, wanting to take care of me, buy me expensive things, and make my life easier. You can imagine someone like me, like us”—she pointed first at herself and then at him—“pushed back on that amount of intimidation.”
The us in her comment hit hard. They did have similar backgrounds, but not really. If she meant poor, then yes. They definitely had that in common.
“He wanted to marry me and take me away from everything I’d ever known. And I would have gone willingly if I’d thought we could work. What did I know about ruling a country? I couldn’t even balance my checking account each month. He needed someone of the same station in life. An equal.”
Everything she was saying hit a little too close to home. He’d thought much the same about being with Janel.
“So, one night, while he was sleeping, I ran. I won’t bore you with everything that happened between the time I left and almost nine months later when he found me.”
Dozer didn’t think it would have been a bore at all. He was interested.
“I ran because I was scared. What I never took into account was the incredible team we made together. What made me forget about all my fears and insecurities was the deep and intense love this man had for me. Nothing else mattered as long as we were together. My life changed. I moved away from my home to a foreign land where nothing much made sense. And you know, I would do it all over again if given the chance. I’d always choose love.”
The queen leaned back in her seat and took a sip of tea and waited. She was very good at the waiting part. Dozer got her message loud and clear. The hows, the whys, even the wheres didn’t matter. He also saw between the lines of what she wasn’t saying. Janel needed him just as much as he needed her.
He had no idea how his membership with the club would work. Membership was a lifetime requirement, but he’d work something out. He had to.
His mind was firmly made up when he asked, “Can I catch a ride with you back to Tanistan?”
The queen grinned, pleased with herself. “Good decision and I didn’t even have to use my ace in the hole. Just so you know, Luc has been a regular visitor at the palace. He’s a very handsome and charming man.”
Dozer’s fists tightened and his jaw flexed. Oh, hell no. “Let’s go. I don’t need to pack a thing.”
CHAPTER 21
Janel
“I thought I’d find you out here.”
Janel smiled in the direction of the familiar voice. Luc had been stopping by since she’d returned home. Well… it actually wasn’t just stopping by when he had to fly twelve hours, but he’d used the term the first day he showed up.
She was glad he did. They’d had a long talk and she finally got her questions answered as much as they could be, and gained enough peace for closure.
In her heart, she knew James—or Jovani—had cared for her. He may not have loved her, but she was okay with that. He hadn’t made the decision to deceive her and her family on his own. His father had demanded it of him. The fact that James had asked his brother to always look out for her should something happen to him proved he had feelings for her. Guilt? Maybe. Love? Perhaps.
Until recently, she thought what she’d felt for James was true love. The bone deep, soul connection type. She knew now it wasn’t. Their love had grown from childhood friendship and from expectations of how a relationship would normally evolve. Or James was told to propose and connect their two families. Would he have gone through with marrying her? She would never know.
She smiled up in the direction she assumed he’d be. “Hello, Luc. Please join me. May I call for a drink for you?”
