Wickedly Charming (29 page)

“That's really none of your business now, is it, Imp?” Charming was standing near the steel doors. For the first time in their entire acquaintance, Mellie hadn't noticed when he entered the room.

Imperia glared at him. Charming seemed unfazed. He just looked at her, calmly. His daughter's moods didn't seem to upset him.

And that was a good thing.

“I happen to care about Mellie,” Charming said.

Mellie's breath caught. She hadn't expected him to say that, particularly to his daughters. She heard the warmth in his voice.

He did care for her.

And that meant more than she could say.

“Are you going to marry her?” Grace asked, sounding scared.

Mellie winced. She didn't want to threaten these girls in any way. She had been shoved into a family before. She didn't ever want that to happen again.

“We haven't discussed it,” Charming said, his gaze meeting Mellie's. His eyes smiled at her—yet another version of that smile!—and she could sense the tenderness. “So that means the answer, at the moment, is that we have no plans to marry.”

Perfect answer. It didn't bother her at all, not the way his answer in the meeting had bothered her. This answer kept the door open—wide open, actually—to some kind of future.

And Imperia caught that.

“That doesn't mean anything,” Imperia said. “You could make plans.”

“Do you want us to?” Charming looked at his oldest daughter with great amusement. He knew she wouldn't want that, but he also didn't seem to mind teasing her.

Of course, Imperia didn't seem to know she was being teased.

“No, I don't want that,” Imperia said, giving Mellie a sullen glance.

Mellie said nothing. She didn't dare. She was going to have to be gentle with those girls, help them accept her slowly, not quickly.

Charming grinned at Imperia, then looked at Mellie. “So I see you've met my girls.”

The amusement in his voice made her want to smile. But she didn't dare. She needed to do this introduction correctly.

“We haven't met formally, no,” Mellie said.

“In the Greater World,” he said, “the Charming family does nothing formally.”

Grace clutched her book to her chest, blue eyes wide as they looked at Mellie.

“But we're formal in the Kingdoms,” Grace said. “Grandfather insists.”

So she wanted formality. Mellie noted that.

“But your grandfather's not here,” Charming said, “so we don't have to do things his way.”

Grace took a deep breath. Clearly she had grown up with her grandfather as the ultimate authority. A frightening authority. Something more to work on.

Something Mellie didn't dare tackle in this reception room. Instead, she would discuss it with Charming later.

In fact, all of this would be better discussed later, over that dinner the publisher was going to pay for, maybe. Or in Charming's room after the girls had fallen asleep.

Mellie looked at Charming.

“Did the interview go all right?” Mellie asked.

Charming shrugged. “I hope so because I'm not doing another.”

Mellie stood. It felt good to be on her feet. Imperia leapt to hers, but Grace stayed down as if she didn't want to be noticed.

“I have the evening off,” Mellie said.

“Goodie for you,” Imperia said.

“Imp,” Charming said, a warning in his voice.

“It's all right,” Mellie said. “I worry her.”

“You do not,” Imperia said.

Mellie smiled at Charming. He smiled back.

“She should worry,” he said softly.

“Why?” Grace asked, that fear still in her voice.

“Because there might be a stepmother in our future,” Imperia snapped.

Charming nodded, then raised his eyebrows, as if he had just caught himself agreeing with Imperia.

“Imperia reminded me,” Mellie said, “that you are Prince Charming. There are a million distressed damsels in need of your services.”

Imperia made a noise that sounded like strangled words. If Mellie had to guess, what Imperia had strangled was the urge to tell Mellie to shut up, and not let her father know what she had said.

“Are you a damsel in distress?” Charming asked Mellie, using that tone he'd had the night before.

When they were alone.

“Not anymore,” Mellie said.

“Then I should feel no compunction to be with you,” he said. “And yet I do.”

Her heart rose. She wanted to go to him, but she didn't. Not in front of his daughters.

“You realize this isn't how the fairy tale ends,” Mellie said softly.

“I've had the fairy tale,” Charming said. “The fairy tale sucks.”

“Da-ad!” Imperia said. Grace looked up, obviously shocked.

Charming didn't look at them. He was looking at Mellie.

“I prefer the Greater World,” he said, “with its hard-edged reality.”

“And its books,” Mellie said with a smile.

“Oh, yeah,” Charming said. “I used to think the books were the best part.”

“What's best now?” Grace asked.

“My girls,” Charming said, still not looking at her. “All three of my girls.”

Then Charming slowly and deliberately walked across that reception area, stopped in front of Mellie, and took her chin in his hand. He gazed in her eyes.

The intimacy of the movement surprised her. She thought he'd wait until later to touch her. Maybe wait a few weeks before letting the girls know exactly how he felt.

But apparently, he didn't feel like waiting.

“I don't believe in happily-ever-afters,” he said to Mellie.

Neither did Mellie. His words made her smile. “Happily-ever-afters are too easy,” she said.

“I think relationships take work,” he said.

“All the time,” she said.

He bent his head toward hers. His lips hovered near hers. He was almost—almost—kissing her. If she moved just a little, their lips would touch.

But she didn't want to make the first move in front of his daughters.

“Dad,” Imperia said. “She's the
evil stepmother
.”

“She's no more evil than the rest of us,” Charming said without looking at his daughter. “In fact, once you get to know her, she's an amazing woman.”

Then his lips brushed hers. His hands slipped down to her shoulders, then along her arms, putting them around him. He pulled her close, and kissed her, really kissed her.

Mellie melted into him. To hell with his daughters. Mellie wanted to enjoy this kiss, and she was going to.

She was.

“Gross,” Imperia said.

“Shut up,” Grace said.

“No,” Imperia said.

“Dad likes her,” Grace said.

“So?” Imperia said.

“So I do too,” Grace said.

Charming smiled. Mellie could feel the smile on his lips as he continued to kiss her.

“You're not going to marry her,” Imperia said.

Charming pulled away from Mellie for just a moment. “Not this week.”

“Next week?” Imperia asked.

“She'll still be on tour next week,” he said, continuing to hold Mellie close.

“The week after?”

“We'll see,” he said.

Mellie smiled. She couldn't help herself. She leaned into his arms. He was letting his daughters know that Mellie was going to be part of their lives, and they needed to get used to that.

“I hate ‘we'll see,'” Imperia said. “‘We'll see,' means ‘Yes.'”

“It means we'll see,” Charming said, and kissed Mellie again.

“Oh, yuck,” Imperia said.

Mellie eased out of the kiss. “They're not ready,” she said softly.

“Not yet,” he said.

“I won't be forced on anyone again,” she said.

“I know,” he said. Then he touched his brow to hers. He whispered, “I love you.”

She leaned close. “I love you back,” she whispered.

It felt liberating to say those words. She had wanted to tell him how she felt for a long time.

“That's a start,” he said.

“In a fairy tale, that's the end,” she said.

“And this isn't a fairy tale,” he said.

She laughed. “Thank God,” she said. “Thank God.”

Before turning to romance writing, award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch edited the
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
and ran Pulphouse Publishing (which won her a World Fantasy Award). As Kristine Grayson she has published six novels so far and has won the
RT Book Reviews
Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Paranormal Romance, and, under her real name, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the prestigious Hugo award. She lives in Oregon with her own Prince Charming, writer Dean Wesley Smith (who is not old enough to be one of the original three, but he is handsome enough) as well as the obligatory writers' cats. www.kriswrites.com.

Watch for the next Charming book

Utterly Charming

Coming October 2011

From Sourcebooks Casablanca