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“I’m so sorry, Alicia.” He came forward another row, patting a beaming child on the head as he went. “I’m sorry for everything I said, everything I didn’t say, and everything I’m about to say right now.”
“I—” She swallowed hard, her heartbeat echoing in her ears and almost drowning his voice out. Nervously, she glanced around the plane—and found every freaking set of eyes on either him, her, or darting between them both incessantly. Knowing his dislike for causing a scene, and his unwillingness to let people know who and what she was to him, she lowered her cuffed wrists in front of her waist. “There’s a crowd here. Let’s go somewhere quiet and private, and we can—”
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“No. I’m not hiding you from the world anymore. I ran all the way to this plane, and I didn’t give a damn who saw it, or me, and I still don’t.” He gestured to her wrists. “Please remove her restraints.”
The Air Marshal undid them immediately, offering her an apologetic smile as he turned back to Leo. “Do you need any assistance in getting her off the plane?”
“No, thank you. I won’t be forcing her off the plane,” Leo said slowly, passing another row of seats and smiling absentmindedly at the crowd. The woman in the aisle seat gaped at him. “Do you mind if I delay your flight for a bit?”
The crowd all shook their heads, or offered verbal encouragement.
“Thank you,” he said, bowing slightly. “I appreciate that.”
Alicia rubbed her wrists and let out a little laugh. “We can just get off the plane, and you can tell me whatever—”
“I’m going to say this one more time, and for the love of God, please believe me. I never got your letters,” he said. “I swear it. I didn’t mean—”
“I know.” She forced a smile, admitting what she’d been too afraid to admit before. She’d needed that barrier between them protecting her heart. “I believe you.”
“And I—” He cut himself off, his forehead wrinkling. “Wait. You do?” he asked, looking surprised. “You believe me?”
“I do,” she said, nodding.
She should have long ago.
She shouldn’t have been so scared.
“But you don’t know yet why I never got them.”
She gripped her hands together in front of her. “And you do?”
“I found out today that my father took them. Hid them. And Harry was the one who wrote to you,” he said, pressing his lips into a tight line as he moved forward another row. “I’ll explain more, if you want, but I think those details are best left for a more private moment. Perhaps email, or over the phone once you’re back home. But…I wanted to tell you the truth before you left for good.”
So that’s why he was here.
To say his piece and then send her on her way.
It was sweet that he came all the way out here, literally running across an airport to tell her something he could have done via mail or a phone call…but it was more bittersweet than anything. She forced a smile, though, because he had enough on his mind, and he didn’t need to know how close she’d been to throwing herself at him and telling him she wanted to love him with all her heart.
That she wanted to be with him, even though she couldn’t.
Because he was a king.
“Thank you for that.” She widened her smile, clasping her hands in front of her so she didn’t reach for him. “It’s nice to know what happened. Closure and all that. I didn’t know he disliked me so much as to go to all that trouble, though.”
“He didn’t dislike you. I think he just felt I was too young to be in love with someone as deeply as I was. Afterward, he felt bad, though. Not that this makes up for what he did, but he’s the one who paid your tuition,” he said slowly, still staring at her with a desperation she couldn’t quite ignore or deny, despite the rational thoughts she was trying to cling to. “And he requested Baker send you here, too.”
Blinking, she clasped the seat in front of her, letting that all sink in. When she’d gotten the scholarship for struggling kids, she’d been shocked—mostly because she had only applied for it on a whim. But she’d gotten a full ride to college.
Food. Boarding. Books.
The whole nine yards.
And then when her boss insisted she be the one to go on this trip…suddenly, it all made perfect sense. “So he brought me here…why?”
“To make it up to you, and to bring us back into the same country together.” Another row closer. She could feel that invisible pull he’d talked about, urging her to step closer to him. To grab him and never let him go, no matter the consequences. “I’m guessing.”
