“Why did you decide to tell me now?” AJ’s voice had an odd sound to it.
Lani swallowed. “I don’t know exactly. I just wanted to tell you the truth.”
“The truth. That’s been an elusive little… Don’t go anywhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t leave the palace.”
“Why not?” She glanced over her shoulder. She felt under siege all the time lately, with press everywhere and people taking photos of her whenever she even looked out the window.
“So I know where to find you.” His voice had a ring of command to it.
Why did he want to find her? Did he plan to come and scold her for keeping the truth hidden all this time? She’d only been trying to protect the family name.
The truth had been her enemy since she’d come to this palace. She’d danced around it, skirted it and fluffed over it so many times since she’d had the misfortune to marry Vanu. And there was one powerful truth she still kept locked tight in her heart.
She’d never told AJ that she loved him.
“Joe, you still got that jet out at Burbank?” AJ marched across the room, picking up items of clothing and tossing them into his bag.
“Do you know what time it is?” His friend’s gruff voice assaulted him down the phone. He and Joe had shared a house when AJ was in film school—two kids with too much money and no sense of direction. They’d seen each other through more than a few scrapes since. Joe was now a successful film agent with a passion for cars and planes.
“Late, yeah. I can wait until dawn to leave, though.” Every moment away from Lani was agonizing right now, but no need to torment other people with his desperation.
“Dawn? What the heck are you talking about? Where do you need to go in such a rush?”
“Home. Rahiri.”
“I thought you’d decided once and for all that L.A. was your home.” Joe’s voice softened a bit.
“It’s complicated. Anyway, I need to get to Rahiri as soon as humanly possible.”
He heard a long sigh. “Let me guess, that gorgeous almost-wife of yours is involved somehow.”
“Lani. Yes, I need to see her.” And touch her, and hold her and kiss her—if she’d let him.
Joe chuckled. “I think everyone in America wants to see her, given the amount of media coverage she’s getting. I doubt most of them had even heard of Rahiri until the two of you became such media darlings.”
“Why am I friends with you?”
“Because I have a plane, apparently. And yes, I’ll take you, but not until first light.”
“I love you, Joe.”
“And I’m not the only one you love, from the sound of things. See you on the tarmac.” Joe hung up the phone.
AJ drew in a deep steadying breath. In only a few hours he’d see Lani again. Hearing her voice had undone all his hard work of trying to move on. Not that he’d been at all successful. He couldn’t even stand to talk to her anymore. The distance between them was too agonizing and he had to see her right away. He didn’t want to exchange one more word with her until they were face-to-face. Too easy for misunderstandings and complications to arise.
It was still dark when he arrived at the airport, but he wasn’t surprised to see the lights on inside his friend’s beloved plane. Joe was outside checking out some piece of machinery and he laughed when he saw AJ. “I knew you’d be here at least an hour early.”
AJ shrugged.
“Lucky thing I came out here right when I hung up the phone—and she’s ready to go.”
“I really do love you.” AJ grinned and heaved his bag inside the tiny cockpit.
By the time dawn came they were already out over the ocean, and the tentative rays of sun illuminated the featureless plain of dark water. They stopped to refuel and grab a late breakfast in Hawaii. Another seven hours or so of empty ocean and they’d be there.
His heart rate increased as they passed the first of the green, sand-fringed islands that dotted the route to Rahiri like giant stepping stones.
Would Lani resent him for ruining all their careful plans and leaving her in the lurch?
Of course she would. She’d borne the brunt of all the insatiable media curiosity that stood his hair on end—while dealing with pregnancy and the organizational and emotional drama of preparing to become Rahiri’s official monarch.
But she’d called him. At a time when no one else would know and—as far as he could tell—with no hidden agenda other than to air the ugly truth she’d kept hidden all along.
She hadn’t asked him to come back, but right now nothing could stop him.