Chapter One: The Inevitable Happens
Sarah Hale
Three Months Earlier
Sarah Hale sighed happily as she cuddled up against Luke with her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head while his fingers absently twirled strands of her hair.
"How is it," he began with that sexy huskiness in his voice that she had grown to love, "that every time I make love to you, it just gets better? I never think we can top the last time, yet here we are, over a year later."
She grinned and trailed a finger down his chest. "We're just lucky that way."
He pulled her head back so he could kiss her. "I think it's because we're soulmates. Our flames burn brightest when we're together, and we've only yet started the exploration of what we can accomplish."
"Someday, hopefully," she replied sadly. "We have so many hurdles to jump. Hopefully your father doesn’t get any more suspicious about where you go. My family gave up asking."
"Shhh…" He laid a finger across her lips. "Forget about everyone else. Let's just pretend that everything is as perfect as it is right this second."
There was nothing that she would rather do. "I love you, Luke."
He kissed her deeply. "And I, you. So very much."
The hotel telephone rang and broke their happy little bubble. Sarah sat up on her elbow. "Who could that be?"
"No one knows we're here," Luke answered as he reached for the phone. "Yes?"
Sarah felt him tense before he hung up without another word and threw the covers back. "What is it?"
"My father's men. Get up."
Fear spurred Sarah to leap out of bed and grabbed her bra from the bedside lamp. "Shit!"
"Shit, exactly," Luke agreed as he grabbed his jeans. "We don't have much time."
Within minutes, the pounding on the penthouse door echoed around them, demanding and volatile. Luke and Sarah were racing around the bed and frantically grabbing their clothes that were scattered around the room from their frenzied undressing.
"Open up, your highness. By order of your father." The voice was deep and booming, but Sarah detected the slight quiver in the man's voice. He obviously wasn't used to barking orders to the crown prince.
"Allow me to dress," Luke hollered across the room. He nodded to Sarah. "Hurry up. I don't know how long they'll listen to me."
"What do you think I'm doing?" Sarah snapped back in a hushed whisper as she struggled to pull on her jeans. "What are they doing here?"
"I think we both know the answer to that." Luke slipped his T-shirt over his sculpted chest. "It was only a matter of time."
They had discussed his father, the king, becoming antsy with Luke's disappearance on weekends to spend with her. Unfortunately, they hadn’t talked about it enough.
Sarah’s family got mad at her when she wouldn’t tell them where she was, but this was over the top. "I just never really thought it would come to this."
"Yeah, me either. Can you make it off the balcony?"
She hissed at the silly question. "Of course, I can. But how am I supposed to get away when they'll obviously see a dragon flying off?" As always, they had rented the penthouse on the top floor of a luxury resort, so if they were being watched by the king’s men, a dragon on the roof would be easily visible.
"You don't have to fly off." He ran a hand through his hair as another loud pounding echoed through the hotel room. "Just get down to a lower floor and act casual. Blend in with the other guests. They don't know who you are."
"How did they find us, Luke?" It was a lame question as soon as she asked it, but panic was setting in. She didn't want to hide, but she knew she couldn't stay. And she was scared. It didn't take a wild imagination to know that things were about to change. “When will I see you again?”
"Hold on!" Luke yelled toward the door as another round of banging sounded. "I don't know," he answered while lowering his voice. "And apparently I was followed."
"A danger to dating the crown prince, I suppose." Sarah pulled on a tennis shoe. "Not how I saw our afternoon going."
