A hint of a smile twitched the corner of her mouth. She looked down at his outstretched hand and then met his eyes again. “I don’t want to encourage your bad behavior.”
She brought out a playful side of him he didn’t know he had. “Should I apologize? It’s not something I’m good at, but for you I’ll give it a go. I sincerely regret my obsession with wanting to rip your jeans off and kiss my way up those delicious thighs of yours. It’s inappropriate for me to keep imagining how wet you’ll be for my cock after I’ve made you come again and again with my tongue. Forgive me?”
He loved the flush his words brought to her cheeks and how she smiled as she placed her hand in his. Her words, however, took him by surprise. “I hope you don’t apologize to my grandmother in such a manner. You’ll give her a stroke.”
“You’re evil. Pure evil.” He pulled her hand to his lips and nipped it gently. “But you’ve found a quick cure for a boner.”
She laughed. “You deserved it.”
“I did.” He laced his fingers with hers. The SUV in front of them turned onto a driveway, and Magnus sighed. “We’ll have to continue this conversation later, because we’ve arrived.”
“Where?”
The long dirt driveway wound through a thickly wooded area that opened to a grassy field and a small, stone building he knew well. “I thought you might like to meet my mother’s sister.”
“You’re taking me to see your family?” Rachelle looked down at her jeans. “Like this?”
“I’m the one who is not correctly attired. You’ll understand once you meet her.”
Magnus only had time to open Rachelle’s door before he heard his aunt exclaim, “Magnus. You’re early. I thought you were coming tomorrow.” As she approached, she wiped her hands on a towel tied to one of the belt loops on her jeans. She was a tiny, slender woman, with a short mop of salt-and-pepper curls. She could have chosen to live in any of the palaces in the country, but she preferred the simpler life of tending to her flower farm. She and her botanist husband were the reason Vandorra was known for exporting hardy and richly colored flowers. The science as well as the beauty it produced was a labor of love for her. She waved to Magnus and called for her husband, Aiden.
She approached quickly and gave him a hug so full of love he felt his mother was there with them, if only for the briefest of instants. When she released him, his uncle Aiden took her place with a back-thumping hug. Just under six feet, his uncle looked healthy and fit despite his sixty-plus years.
“Change of plans,” Magnus said after his uncle released him. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought a friend. Aunt Nissa, Uncle Aiden, this is . . . my friend Rachelle Westerly.”
His aunt looked Rachelle over from head to toe, and Magnus was surprised by how much he wanted her to like Rachelle. He could marry a woman his father didn’t approve of, but if Nissa didn’t like someone, neither would his people.
Rachelle held out her hand in a shy greeting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Yes, a pleasure, and an unexpected one at that.” His aunt shook her hand but continued to look her over. “Aiden, she’s American. I did not see that coming.”
His uncle ducked his head down and offered his hand to Rachelle. “Don’t mind my wife, Rachelle. Magnus doesn’t bring women around for us to meet.”
Rachelle shot Magnus an odd look. “He doesn’t?”
“Westerly. You aren’t related to that movie star, are you?” Nissa asked.
“He’s my brother.”
“Are you an actress, too?” A frown wrinkled Nissa’s forehead.
“No, I’m a first-grade teacher. I took time off, though, to visit with my brother.”
A smile lit Nissa’s face, and she put an arm around her husband’s waist. “She teaches young children, and she’s close to her family. I like her already.”
Magnus added, “Her grandmother is staying with Father’s friends the Wimbleys. You may know her. Delinda Westerly.”
His aunt’s eyes widened, and she looked Rachelle over again. “Your grandmother has caused quite a buzz in our social circle. I’ve heard her name several times in the last few days. She’s a woman of strong opinions, isn’t she?”
“That’s an understatement,” Rachel said.
The smile returned to his aunt’s face. She turned to Magnus. “How did you manage an unchaperoned outing with Delinda Westerly’s grandchild?”
Magnus wiggled his eyebrows. “She doesn’t know I have her yet.”
His aunt patted her husband’s arm. “Isn’t he funny?”
His uncle smiled politely. “I don’t believe he’s joking.”
Rachelle rolled her eyes skyward. “I am an adult, and my grandmother has never had a say in what I do or who I do it with.”
“Oh,” his aunt said with rounded lips.
Uncle Aiden waved toward the house. “How bad are our manners? I’m sure Magnus didn’t bring Rachelle here to see our driveway. If you haven’t had lunch yet, why don’t we eat overlooking the main field? It’s in full bloom at this time of year.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Magnus said.
“We’ll gather up the food and meet you on the patio. Show Rachelle around, Magnus. We won’t be long,” Nissa said as she began to step away, pulling her husband with her.
“Would you like any help with it?” Rachelle asked.
Nissa paused and looked up at her husband. “She’s sweet, too.” Then to Rachelle she said, “Run along with Magnus.”
As they walked away, Rachelle said, “I feel bad about not helping,” under her breath.
Magnus took her hand and began to lead her up a steep path toward a spot his aunt had always said had the best view of the farm. “They’ll be fine. When Aunt Nissa says she’ll gather up the food, she means she’ll run into the house and send her kitchen staff scrambling to prepare something.”
“Kitchen staff. Of course,” Rachelle said. “She just looked so—I thought—I guess I should have known, considering she’s part of the royal family.”
“Aunt Nissa doesn’t consider herself anything but a regular person. Her husband, however, made a fortune before they met. He owns a lucrative shipping company but gave up that life to live here with her, with the stipulation that they would always have a fully staffed kitchen. He says the one time he tried her cooking was enough.”
“That’s awful,” Rachelle said with a smile.
They reached the top of the hill, and he knew the exact moment she raised her eyes to take in the view. Her hand tightened on his. “I’ve never seen anything like it. There must be thousands of rows of flowers. It looks like it goes on forever.”
Magnus moved to wrap his arms around her from behind. “And not a vegetable in sight. My mother would have hated it. Well, not all of it. My aunt is passionate about educating people about the declining global honeybee population. This is not only a floral garden, it’s also a working laboratory for university students seeking natural ways to control pests and weeds without harming the bees. Since you can’t normally grow vegetables without bees, my aunt argues she’s doing her part to keep my mother’s vision alive.”
Rachelle leaned back into his embrace. “It’s absolutely breathtaking.”
Her body fit so perfectly against his. He couldn’t be this close to her without his imagination going into lusty overdrive, but it wasn’t the time or the place, so he didn’t allow himself to act upon it. “Did you like the flowers I sent you this morning?”
“I did.” She smacked her forehead lightly. “I didn’t thank you, did I? I’m sorry. I forgot.”
He nuzzled her neck. “Understandable. I took a chance that if you liked a bouquet, you would love this place.”
“I do.” She turned in his arms and looked up at him. “Is it true that you don’t bring women to meet your aunt and uncle?”
He ran his hand up and under her hair, then combed it down through it. “You’re the first.”
“Why am I here?”
There wasn’t a simple answer to that. “Nissa is all I have left of my mother.”