ROYAL BRIDE (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) Read online

  Isabella pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to cover her body from him. She looked toward his groin and saw no erection, which only added to her worry. “I just wanted to know—”

  “And I just wanted you to obey. But since you obviously can’t do that, or be trusted while you are alone, I will have to take other precautions.” He went to the closet and plucked out every dress and article of clothing she had hanging there, tossing them all over one arm. “Do not move,” he barked at her when she looked ready to spring from the bed.

  “I didn’t do anything—”

  “You obviously have some connection with my military or you hired your own security to dig around. Either way, you have insulted me, my military, and my country by trying to take things into your own hands.”

  She watched him stomp to the bedroom door. She opened her mouth to protest, to beg forgiveness, but he moved too quickly. The door slammed shut, and a few moments later, she heard the front door of the suite do the same. Running from the bed to the bedroom door, she half expected it to be locked. Nearly falling down from opening it with too much strength, she hurried to the front door. But upon realizing that she was completely naked, she couldn’t do anything more.

  Leaving the room wasn’t an option. He’d taken every bit of her clothing other than a few pairs of undergarments. She was stuck.

  He’d grounded her, again!

  ANTONIO

  Standing outside the door of his suites, Antonio took a deep breath, trying to calm himself at least a fraction. Never had he reacted so impulsively.

  “Your Highness?” The guard outside the door looked at him.

  Antonio looked down at the pile of dresses and other articles of clothing in his hands and sighed. He’d behaved nearly as badly as she did when she was angered. Her temper was beginning to wear off on him and not the other way around.

  “Antonio?” Silver appeared in the hallway, looking at the pile of clothes with some humor laced in his smile. “Been shopping?”

  “Not exactly,” he grumbled, shoving all of the articles of clothing into the guard’s hands. “I want these put somewhere else. Not in the suite. No one is to go in or out of those rooms.”

  “Where would you like them put?” The guard looked a bit panicked.

  “I don’t care, just not in there.” He jerked a thumb toward the closed door. “Put them in your rooms,” he said off-handedly.

  “You look like you could use a drink. I was headed down to the bar. Care to join me?” Silver winked at the guard with the bundle of clothes in his arms and gave him a reassuring smile.

  Antonio eyed him for a moment and nodded stiffly. A drink sounded like just the thing after the day he’d had, topped off by the short encounter with the one of the most infuriating women he’d ever met. “Not one delicate foot steps out of that room. If even a fingernail slips out from under the door, I want to be notified immediately.”

  “Of course.” The young guard nodded quickly, though Antonio doubted he would be up the task of keeping Isabella inside if she wanted to get out. He would need to speak to Julian about placing more experienced guards at the doors.

  Antonio joined Silver at the doors of the elevator and flexed his fingers at his sides. A strong part of him wanted to rush back into the bedroom and redden Isabella’s bottom until he was sure she wouldn’t sit for several days, but the other part of him reminded him of his vow.

  After they wed, he promised himself he would not spank her again. The spanking he gave her upon their first meeting had been well deserved, but not his place to give. Now that she was his wife—in part because he had not kept his hands to himself—he vowed he would show more patience and more understanding for his young wife. She would come around without being punished like the little brat she was.

  However, standing in the elevator, feeling the steam of his anger heating up the small space, he wasn’t positive he would be able to keep that promise to himself.

  Silver must have noticed his need for a few moments of silence to calm himself, and Antonio was grateful for it. By the time they stepped off the elevator into the main lobby, his heart had stopped pounding in his chest and his temper had simmered to a low heat.

  Once seated in the small bar off the main lobby, Antonio ordered his drink. “You haven’t been married very long.” Silver made the statement with a sly grin.

  “No. Barely a week,” Antonio acknowledged.

  “Is this your honeymoon?” Silver’s eyebrows rose up in surprise. “I would expect a royal couple to enjoy a much more exotic honeymoon than Chicago.”

  Antonio sipped his glass of brandy. “You could tell?”

  “That you’re royalty?” Silver laughed. “You have armed guards standing outside your suite, along with the security detail that follows you everywhere—although they do work pretty hard to blend in. If all of that didn’t confirm my suspicions, I was at the breakfast this morning when you gave a speech regarding the increase in human trafficking across soft borders.”

  Antonio eyed Silver carefully. “You are American?” he asked cautiously.

  “Yes. I own a security company that contracts with the American military. We do the work they aren’t really allowed to do.” The ice-cube in Silver’s glass clanked as he drank the last bit of the amber liquid.

  “Ah.” Antonio relaxed a bit. “Does Isabella know what you do?”

  “No. We truly did meet her for the first time at the elevators last night, and as you heard over dinner, we all seemed quite comfortable staying away from any truth in regard to our careers and political status.”

  Antonio had considered it a blessing that the conversation never turned to talk about their positions in life, but he hadn’t thought that Sliver would be just as happy about it as he was. “Well. I would consider it a personal favor if you did not let her know about your security company.” He took another sip of his brandy. “She would probably try to hire you,” he muttered into the glass.

  Silver must have heard him because he threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. “Trouble in paradise already?” He put a hand in the air. “Forgive me. That was rude. It’s only… I noticed the look you had on your face when you caught up to your wife at the elevators last night. I know that feeling all too well. When you want to strangle her but there are witnesses?”

  Antonio couldn’t help but laugh at his spot-on description. “Yeah, something like that.”

  “It was her dress, I bet.” Silver accepted another drink from their waitress, giving her a polite smile in exchange for his drink but not taking any more time to notice her generous breasts or her sensual curves. Antonio had to respect a man who stayed faithful to his wife, even with his eyes. “Maria’s dress didn’t make me very happy last night, either.” His shook his head and let out an exaggerated sigh. “No matter what I say, she does as she pleases anyway. Perhaps I should do as you did this evening and take away all of her clothes. I wouldn’t mind coming home to a naked wife every evening.” He winked across the table.

  “I didn’t take her clothing because of last night’s dress.” Antonio realized he had never gotten around to discussing his displeasure over the strip of clothing she had worn the night before. After they’d returned to the rooms, it was nearly two in the morning, and she’d fallen asleep before he finished in the shower. “I didn’t want her to leave the rooms.”

  Silver let out another laugh. “And you took her clothes so she couldn’t, unless she wanted to walk around Chicago in the buff! I love it.” He saluted him with his drink. “I may have to take a lesson or two from you. Maria only rolls her eyes at me when I try to keep her from doing what she wants. Stubborn woman, that one.”

  “You’ve been married long?”

  “Two years.” Silver nodded.

  Antonio relaxed into the conversation, finding Silver easy to speak with. It wasn’t often he was able to have a drink or two with someone who wasn’t a politician or an organization leader looking for more money or more of his country�
��s resources.

  Two hours later, Antonio finally pulled out his phone to check the messages that had been plaguing him. He’d checked each time the phone buzzed in his pocket, but he read none that were from Isabella. She could have her temper tantrum alone. He wasn’t in the mood.

  A drink had turned into dinner, and before he knew it, the evening had flown away from them. “Your wife is as stubborn as mine.” Silver pulled his phone out of his pocket as well.

  Antonio flipped through the messages that started out angry, then softened to civil, but quickly went straight for anger again. Demands upon demands she sent him, and he deleted every one of them before tucking the phone back away. “Will Maria be upset you didn’t return for dinner?”

  “No. She went out with a friend this evening. I’m expecting her back any moment, although she isn’t thrilled. She’s twenty-five but still acts like a child at times. She wants to go to a nightclub with her friend.” He waggled the phone in the air and put it down beside his now empty plate.

  “And you’ve said no?” Antonio leaned back in his chair. He’d filled himself with steak and roasted potatoes.

  “I told her I’d rather be with her. I’m not in the mood for all that loud music and dancing right now.” His phone buzzed again, and he looked at it, eyes narrowing as he read it. Then, a large smile broke out over his face. “It appears she’s asked your wife to join her.”

  Just as he said the words, Antonio’s own phone vibrated. Give me my clothes, you Neanderthal! Antonio laughed.

  “Don’t you have security who can go with her?” Antonio turned the topic away from his wife.

  “Of course, they are with her now. That’s not the point.”

  “Of course not. I have to say, when I first met you two, I didn’t peg you for being so much like myself when it comes to women.” Antonio folded his napkin and placed it on the table. His phone danced beside his plate again, but he ignored it.

  “I love the woman to death, but she’s just so impulsive sometimes, it drives me crazy. I’ve had two security officers in the last month ask to be transferred off her detail because of her little stunts. Every now and then, she gets it into her head to lose them, and most of the time she succeeds, which leaves them spending their entire day hunting her down.”

  Antonio laughed. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for our wives to spend time together. They’d just feed off of each other’s bad ideas.”

  “Will Isabella be joining Maria?” Silver asked with a downtrodden frown. Seeing the distress in Silver’s expression over a disobedient wife made his decision easier.

  Antonio stood from the table and picked up his phone. “The only place Isabella is going this evening is over my knee.”

  ISABELLA

  Isabella managed to find one piece of clothing her husband hadn’t grabbed before abandoning her in their rooms. Luckily, it was a robe, but still not something she could wear in the public places of the hotel to search for her husband. Though, the idea held more merit as the time ticked by. It would serve the arrogant ass right to be embarrassed by having his half-naked wife calling out his name as she made her way through the extensive lobby of the hotel. Unfortunately, she would also succeed in embarrassing herself as well.

  Pacing the bedroom, she felt her ire beginning to rise all over again, only the irritation was beginning to turn its ugly face on herself. If she had just been more patient, done what he’d said, she wouldn’t have found herself in her current situation. Instead of wearing out the lush carpeting of the bedroom, she could be dancing at one of the most exclusive dance clubs in the city.

  By the time she heard the front door of the suite unlock, she had worked herself up pretty well into a state of true anger, only she wasn’t sure which one of them she wanted to direct her temper at. By the look on Antonio’s face when he shut the door, she figured he had probably decided for her.

  His eyes were narrowed, his face tight and serious. She remembered that look well enough from the boat. He had that look just before he flipped her over his knee.

  Backing away from him, she stepped behind a chair, putting somewhat of a barrier between them. He stood in the doorway of the bedroom, removing his jacket. “Where’d you find the robe?” he asked casually as he tossed his coat on the bed. She wasn’t fooled by his easy tone. He was still upset with her.

  “You didn’t take it. It was in the bathroom.” She checked for herself that its knot was holding firm.

  He studied her for a full minute before he began to unbutton his sleeves, rolling them slowly up to his elbows. She swallowed hard, apprehension settling in her stomach as she watched him. His jaw was clenched, and she could make out the little tick in his cheek that signaled he’d reached his threshold.

  “You were gone a long time.” She decided to make an attempt at civility. Catch the flies with the honey, her mother had told her about as a child.

  “I was having dinner.” He shrugged, his hands moving to his belt buckle and resting there. “Did you eat?”

  “No.” She shook her head. At first, she had been too angry to eat, and then she decided it served him right for her to go hungry because of his boorishness. By the time sense settled in and she realized she was the only one suffering by inflicting a fast upon herself, room service had already shut down for the night, and she couldn’t bring herself to text him for food.

  “Once we are finished here, I’ll have food brought up. If you’re still hungry.” His fingers nimbly worked the buckle, pulling the thick leather strap this way then that until it was open and he slid it through the loops of his pants. She watched with such intensity, she could hear every fiber of his trousers rub against the leather as it retreated.

  “Finished here?” She forced herself not to take a step back. Her stomach clenched as he folded the leather strap in half and then half again, careful to keep the buckle tucked in his palm. “You can’t think of spanking me again, Antonio. We talked about that—”

  “No, you talked about that. I had resolved to never strike your backside again—except in fun—but you don’t seem to respond to any other method.”

  “You’d have me behaving as a trained seal if I let you.” She managed to keep her voice down, but the heat was still there.

  “I’d have you behaving like my wife. My obedient wife.”

  “I hate that word!” She wanted to turn away from him, but as long as he held that belt in his hand, she wouldn’t turn her backside toward him.

  “‘Obedience?’” His eyes widened in surprise. “Why?”

  “Because…” She looked from the belt to his eyes, and sincere curiosity met her gaze. “Because you don’t have to follow it! You don’t have to listen to someone else’s demands as though he were your owner. I’m not some slave girl. I’m not some property. For the love of all that is holy, it is 2016!” She hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but by the time she finished her rant, she was nearly yelling.

  “You think I don’t have rules that I must follow? You think I don’t answer to anyone?” His eyes narrowed as he spoke. “My entire country depends on me keeping the military a working machine that protects them not only from other small islands that surround us and want to drag their drugs and corruption to our shores, but from larger countries such as France that would easily snatch us up as one of their provinces.”

  “But no one threatens you with a spanking if you make a mistake,” she pointed out, knowing full well that his responsibilities as Prince Regent were much more important than any she held. Even as princess in her own country, she had contributed nothing. Now, as his wife, the only contribution she could make was her obedience to her husband, and she couldn’t even manage that.

  His lips curled slowly into a wide grin. He would have looked sexy as hell if he didn’t tap the belt against his thigh. “No, no one threatens to spank me.” He conceded her point. “But worse things could happen. For example, you found that information on the missing girl. Is there a leak in my military that could ruin h
er rescue? Did you hire a small security team of your own who will eventually get in the way of my men finding her or cause alarm to the people of our country? Should those things occur, it’s not a hot ass I’ll be sitting on, but the grief from knowing I caused her harm or death. All because I could not keep my wife from disobeying me!” He took a step toward her, and Isabella instinctively stepped back.

  She hadn’t thought about those things when she’d asked Elisabeth for help. “There’s no leak in your military, and I didn’t hire a security team.” She tried to soothe his worry and, perhaps, some of his irritation.

  “How did you get the information?” She should have known he would demand to know that, but she couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—give it to him. She would take whatever punishment he felt he needed to dish out to get past this, but she wouldn’t let Elisabeth’s brother get in trouble because of her. “Whatever you’re tossing around in that pretty little head of yours, understand this. I will find out, and if someone helped you—”

  “Please.” She swallowed hard, tears in her eyes. “I—I can’t tell you. But you can believe me that there is no leak.”

  His gaze never left her. “Oh, I think there is, but it’s only open to you. Am I right? You know someone in my military?”

  “No.” She shook her head. Hell, if she told him, there could be trouble between their countries. “Please.”

  The belt stilled beside him. “You would rather have me angry at you than this person who helped you?” His voice dragged across the room, sending a shiver up her spine.

  She rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “I would rather you trust me when I tell you that my resources aren’t a danger to you or your country—”

  “Our country,” he countered harshly.