The Accidental Heir (2 page)

CHAPTER THREE

O
H
,
THIS
WAS
great. This was wonderful. This. Was. Hell. On. Earth.

And to make the polar storm they were currently braving even less amusing, she was being forced to help Mountain Man pitch their tent. Shouldn’t he have one of those ones that popped up fully constructed with the push of a button?

‘A tent is only as good as its anchors,’ Karl yelled across the screaming wind. ‘Once this is secure, we need to erect a tripwire alarm for polar bears,’ he continued.

Could she have one? She had just bumped into Karl whilst shielding her face against a particularly ferocious blast, and while the seismic effects he had on her had sizzled their way through every layer of polar protection as well as her semifrozen body, Karl appeared completely immune.

‘Cold?’ He shot a keen glance at her. ‘You’ll be fine when you get inside the tent. It’s quite sophisticated. We even have a bathroom.’

A bucket and a heater?

Karl proved to be right. By the time she crawled inside, the tent was toasty warm. There was a metal snow-melter in one corner, which he informed her would produce piping-hot water 24/7 if required.

‘I’ll bet it’s the same or warmer than the palace, Princess.’

Cheek. She shot him an icy look and refused to answer. She hadn’t forgiven him for blackmailing her to come here in the first place, so no way was she going to admit he was right about anything. Yes, she had inherited a kingdom in a mess and a palace that was a hovel if you took away the sheer size and grandeur of the ancient building. And yes, the old king had only seemed to care about watching the latest high-tech TV and keeping the fire lit in the giant cinema room he had created, but all that was going to change. And if she had to build bridges with Karl in order to learn about her Arctic territories and become a better ruler, then that was what she was going to do.

‘This is quite a sophisticated set-up,’ she finally admitted, intent on buttering him up in order to get the most out of this trip and make her suffering worthwhile. ‘And maybe I do have a couple of things to learn.’

His huff of derision was hardly a promising start.

‘Why don’t you begin by stirring these beans?’ he suggested. ‘Try not to let them burn.’

So...that went well. Karl was charm personified. He was also red-hot and built like a gladiator without the sweat. She kept sneaking looks at him as he left her side to arrange their sleeping bags. Thank goodness he was putting space between them. She wouldn’t want to sleep close to
that.
Much.

‘I said, don’t burn the beans,’ he gently scolded, taking over bean patrol. ‘Can I trust you to put a hot-water bottle in your sleeping bag? You’ll find them in my pack.’

‘You’ll need one,’ he insisted when she hesitated. Just do it, Princess.’

Well, as he wasn’t going to warm her. No chance of that, Astrid mused wryly, flashing a glance at Karl’s powerful back before setting to the task at hand.

‘How long does it take to pour water into a bottle, Princess?’

‘Just doing it,’ she huffed back.

As Karl dished up the beans, she filled said bottle. In fairness, it
would
be nice to have a hot-water bottle to cuddle up to. Especially in the absence of anything else....

‘So,’ Karl began as they sat opposite each other, eating quietly, ‘this is how it’s going to work. You’ll get washed first. There’s a curtain,’ he explained, glancing across the tent at the ‘bathroom.’ ‘Then it’s bedtime. Early night and early start, Princess.’

‘That’s fine with me.’ Just a curtain? What about...?

Would he whistle?

So she’d go outside to do anything more than take a wash. No big deal. She’d be quick. It wouldn’t be a problem.

The water was hot and soothing, just as Karl had promised. She waited until he was behind the curtain before creeping outside the tent to complete her ablutions before settling down for the night.

‘
What the...?’ Karl’s next words were definitely censored. Covering her naked backside with his huge bulk, he dragged her back into the tent. ‘Do you really want frostbite on your butt, princess? What the hell were you thinking? You could have killed yourself.’

All this time Karl was rubbing her vigorously—and not in the way she might have fantasised about back at the palace, but roughly and, okay, effectively. But her teeth were still chattering as if she’d never get warm.

‘Strip down to your thermals,’ he commanded, ‘and give me those wet clothes.’ Flinging a blanket around her shoulders, he left her side to make her a drink.

‘Here.’ Karl’s voice was brusque as he held the cup to her chattering lips. ‘It’s only lukewarm, but you’re chilled through, so it might feel hot. It won’t burn you, Princess. Just take your time. And while you’re drinking, let’s recap: inside the tent: good. Outside the tent: bad. Unless I’m with you,’ he roared. ‘Is that clear now? I’m going to be watching you every second from now on.’

Oh, great.

Sadly, it was impossible to scowl while her face was flash-frozen. Or complain when Karl wrapped her in a bear hug the moment she had finished her drink.

‘Don’t get any ideas, Princess,’ he warned as she wriggled closer into him, enjoying the sensation of his arms around her and her cheek on his chest. ‘This is the fastest way I know to get you warm.’

Charming. Just charming. And she was holding out for a hero? Note to self:
don’t hold your breath!

‘That’s better,’ Karl said finally, holding her in front of him to stare into her face. ‘You look warmer.’

Warm? Try white-hot, Astrid mused as she stared without expression into Karl’s steely eyes.

‘If you’re really that self-conscious, I’ll whistle next time you’re behind the curtain, but please don’t go outside the tent again.’

‘Just so you know, I am not self-conscious around you. We’re only here because you’re supposed to be teaching me about my northern territories. So—’

‘So
thank you
wouldn’t go amiss?’ Karl suggested, the beginnings of a smile on his mouth.

Maybe he
had
saved her bacon—or at least her butt from getting frostbite.

‘Thank you,’ she managed tight-lipped, which wasn’t as easy as it sounded when faced by a curving smile and wicked eyes. The worst of it was Karl made her want to smile back.

She broke eye contact first. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like you to turn around while I get ready for bed.’

‘Be my guest, Princess.’

She might have to be, Astrid realised in horror when she unzipped her polar sleeping bag.

‘What’s wrong now?’ Karl demanded when he heard her dejected sigh. ‘Not another accident, I hope?’

He came to look over her shoulder. ‘Oh, that’s good, Princess,’ he said, attempting to curtail the choked laughter that threatened to escape his tantalising mouth.

‘Good? How do you work
that
out?’

‘It gives me a chance to teach you another lesson.’

‘Why, you patronising—’

Karl held up a warning hand, and in the interest of having somewhere to sleep, she braced herself for another lecture.

‘Fill the bottle. Tighten the bottle. Wait. Then invert the bottle and tighten again. Repeat.’

Repeat!
How could he make even that sound sexy?

Her mind was all over the place. ‘Now he tells me,’ she muttered, rolling her eyes to try to mask her sudden and very violent arousal. ‘But what am I supposed to do?’ she demanded, staring at her sodden bed.

‘There’s only one thing you can do.’

‘And what’s that?’

She didn’t like the way Karl was thumbing his stubble as he attempted to hide his smile.

‘You’ll have to sleep with me, Princess, or risk freezing to death. It’s your choice.’

CHAPTER FOUR

O
H
,
THIS
WAS
fun, This was the best fun ever. This was at least twice the fun of erecting a polar tent in a polar blizzard, Astrid sarcastically thought to herself. She had squeezed into half of the sleeping bag and now Mountain Man was going to try to shoehorn himself in too?

‘I don’t think so,’ she snapped as he moved to climb into the sleeping bag next to her. Turning her back on him, she huddled in a ball with the bag zipped up to her chin.

‘We’ll have to spoon,’ he growled.

Spoon with a man who rumour said was a raging sex maniac? Oh, yes. That was likely. ‘Over my dead body,’ she grumbled, wondering if she had ever felt quite so hot with embarrassment or so consumed with lust, and at the same time.

‘That can be arranged, Princess. One thing’s for sure, we’ll both be dead if the water heater fails and we don’t keep each other warm tonight.’

She didn’t have much choice, Astrid concluded as Karl wrenched the edge of the bag out of her death grip and unzipped it. She held her breath as he climbed in. Ignoring her muffled squeaks of shock and growls of warning, he lost no time throwing one arm around her and arranging her in a position that best suited him.

And, okay, it wasn’t all that bad. In fact, it was shockingly wonderful. It didn’t matter that she had her back to him. Her body was rampantly overeager for his touch. And it was cold outside the bag. So there really wasn’t an alternative, she consoled herself. Forget polar freeze. This was polar meltdown. Global warming had definitely reached their tent.

Now. Concentrate. She could usually forget sex and think about something else....

She could usually forget sex because the available suitors for a princess, even an impoverished princess, were about as appealing as last week’s rice pudding—and about as limp. But as Karl was more of a banana split with a double helping of chocolate ice cream...

‘Relax, princess. There are more layers between us than there are in a strawberry-cream millefeuille.’

‘Like you’d know about patisserie,’ she grumbled, struggling to find some way of disentangling her yearning body from his.

‘I would, as it happens, as I employ one of the world’s top pastry chefs in my kitchen at the palace. Hmm. I thought you’d like that.’

Could she help it if she was drooling and uttering little sounds of appreciation as she thought about wrapping her lips around a strawberry-cream millefeuille...and maybe even a banana split
?

‘Shall I soothe you to sleep, Princess?’

What?

He could only mean one thing, Astrid concluded, horror-struck at the thought that her nonexistent sexual talents were about to be put to the test. Jerking away, she found herself held firmly in place by a strong pair of muscular arms. ‘Don’t you dare get too close,’ she warned, trying to hide the effect his body was having on her.

‘It’s a bit late for that, Princess. And I have to say, your attitude leaves a lot to be desired.’

‘Not all of us were brought up with a silver spoon in our mouths!’ she flashed, growing more heated by the second. ‘I didn’t have a home life like you—royal nursery, royal nannies, royal flunkies to peel the shell off my eggs.’

‘No,’ Karl agreed mildly, easing position so that even more of her was welded to him. ‘You scavenged in the trash and picked the ice off the windows.’

‘It wasn’t quite that bad,’ Astrid confessed, thinking back to her undoubtedly genteel but impoverished childhood. ‘It was quite fun, actually. When everyone’s in the same boat, you don’t notice what you’ve never had, and with the crazy Skavanga family living in the cabin next door, life was never dull.’

‘As I thought,’ Karl agreed. ‘I didn’t learn the concept of fun until I left home, when—’

‘Thank you.’ She stopped him with a violent movement. ‘I think that’s more than enough about your colourful past. I don’t want to be lying here thinking where your body’s been.’

A few moments passed when neither of them spoke, but it didn’t last long before Karl started in on a gentle melody.

‘What the
hell
do you think you’re doing?’ Astrid exploded.

‘What do you think I’m doing?’

She pulled a face. ‘Just stop it, will you?’

Karl heaved a heavy sigh. ‘I’ve always been led to believe that I have an excellent singing voice,’ he said, mock hurt in his voice.

‘That’s because you’re a prince and everyone kisses your butt. Believe me, Prince Thorberg, you’re no Caruso. In fact, a frog would probably be more pleasing to listen to.’

‘Harsh,’ he murmured quietly against her ear, ‘even for you, Princess.’

‘But true,’ Astrid muttered, trying not to react to Karl’s warm breath brushing the back of her neck. It made her want to move closer to him, and with no assistance from her at all, her back was arching and her buttocks were lifting....

She waited a few seconds and then gently nestled her shoulders more snugly against the firm wall of Karl’s chest before releasing a languorous sigh. Slowly she moved against his warm body, her own warming in a myriad of sensitive places in reaction to the friction.

Karl remained motionless and rigid. His breathing was steady and evenly paced.

‘Are you asleep?’ she demanded, outraged that their proximity was having no effect on him.

He grunted noncommittally but she could feel the answer to her question as his physical reaction to her became evident.

Oh, he was awake. He was wide awake.

‘Was this more what you had in mind, Princess?’ he asked, wrapping his arms more firmly around her and gently pressing his arousal against her lush backside.

What...the...? Her body immediately responded to his—she could feel her nipples tightening and a surge of heat spiralling outward from her centre.

Did princesses do things like this? Have sex with a man who was almost a total stranger in the tight confines of a sleeping bag?

Apparently they did.

She sighed with pleasure as his hands began a sensuous exploration that got closer and closer to the one place she was most aching for his touch.

‘This is exactly what you had in mind, isn’t it, Princess?’ Karl murmured as he nuzzled her hair away so that he could kiss the back of her neck.