§ § § -- June 26, 2001

They parted only when Arnulf coughed suddenly, reminding them that they weren't alone after all. Christian held Leslie possessively close, regarding his brother with some unreadable expression. "Do you still think I'm gay?" he finally asked, a teasing note in his voice that surprised both Leslie and the king.

Arnulf laughed, weakly and breathily, but it was still a laugh. "No, I am convinced you are not," he assured Christian. "I have not yet finished. Please, sit here and let me say the rest of my piece." He watched Christian and Leslie return to their chairs, and when they had sat again, he drew in a long, faintly labored breath. "I can never make up for what Father and I did to you through the years. We both believed we were acting in your best interests. I see now that we had too heavy a hand with you. Perhaps you hate me, Christian, and if this is so, I cannot truly blame you. I can only extend to you my sincerest apologies. I also apologize to you, Leslie, for causing the misunderstanding between you and Christian when I enforced the marriage contract. After I did, I could see that Christian had become different somehow…his demeanor was colder, and though he was always popular with our people, I sensed that his warmth toward them was no longer genuine. If I had merely listened to you, Christian, when you told me that you had developed an interest in another woman…"

Leslie looked at Christian. "When was that?" she asked.

"The day I asked you to dinner for the first time," Christian told her. "It was when you caught me returning to my bungalow from the beach. I was running off my frustration over Arnulf's announcement that I must return here to be married off. I told him to cancel the contract, because I had an interest in a woman already—namely you."

"I see," she said very softly and smiled, reaching for his hand again.

"I can see now that it was a great error on my part," Arnulf said, his voice now so weak that they had to strain to hear him. "In my blindness I caused you to waste four years of your lives that you could have spent together." He focused on them and smiled sadly. "Christian, Father and Mother would both have adored Leslie."

"I know they would," Christian agreed softly, turning to Leslie and kissing her forehead. "I wish you could have met them, my darling, especially Mother."

"I received word the day before my heart attack," Arnulf said then. "The paperwork voiding your title has garnered most of the ratifying signatures it needs to become official, and I estimate perhaps two to three weeks further before you become Christian Enstad, private citizen. Of course, since you are no longer living in this country, you realize that as soon as you cease to be a prince, you will lose your citizenship here."

"I understand that," Christian said calmly. "I knew it would happen when I realized I wanted to marry Leslie and decided to go to her, rather than making her uproot her life. Perhaps you think I am throwing away a great deal, but in my eyes, I'm gaining far more than I lose. I love her, Arnulf, so much that I'm willing to do anything for her."

"So I see," Arnulf said, staring at them. "I believe I have never seen a love like yours. I wish you both everything good in life. And Christian, whatever you think of me, please know that I may yet live to regret it. If I do not, I hope that you believe me when I tell you I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused you."

Christian hesitated. "Arnulf, before I say anything…I just want to know. Whom did you threaten on Mr. Roarke's island in order to get the telephone number to the house where Leslie and I were honeymooning?"

Leslie giggled softly; he looked serious! "Those promotional overseas trips," she said to Arnulf, "those were another attempt to remind Christian of his 'duty', weren't they?"

"Yes, they were," Arnulf admitted. "I must apologize for that too. Ahhh, perhaps it is no use…" He turned away and closed his eyes.

Leslie took in Christian's torn expression. "My love, talk to me, please…"

He turned to her, regarded her with open love, then smiled ever so slightly and closed his eyes too, dipping his head till it rested against hers. "I have two minds," he murmured, so low that only she heard. "Part of me wants to deny him that last absolution, and part of me is appalled at how selfish I am when it comes to him." He opened his eyes again and looked at her. "You forgave Michael Hamilton once, didn't you?"

"Once," she said softly, smiling wryly. "I understand how you feel, my darling, believe me. But it was very strange how I felt…set free…when I forgave him. I think you will too."

Christian drew in a breath, as if bracing himself. "Let's see if it works for me as it did for you," he whispered, and she grinned. He kissed her softly before releasing her, rising and moving to the side of the bed. "Arnulf…"

Slowly the king rolled his head back around on his pillow till he was looking up at his youngest brother. "Yes, Christian?"

"I…" Again Christian hesitated; he cleared his throat, shoved his hands into his pockets and began to rock back and forth on his feet, hanging his head. Leslie, amused, got to her feet and came up beside him, peering impishly up at him and grinning when she caught his sheepish look.

"Come on, my love, I'm right here," she said, stepping behind him and slipping her arms around his waist. "I promised I'd stand behind you."

Christian half twisted around and growled, "You little tease." She laughed softly, and when he loosed a reluctant chuckle and turned back to face Arnulf, he saw a broad smile on the king's face.

"Once I had that with Kristina," Arnulf remembered. "Do not lose it, lill'bror."

"I hope I never do," Christian said quietly. He closed his eyes again for just a moment, gave a quiet sigh, then focused on Arnulf and spoke as if he had to unglue the words from his tongue. "I…I forgive you, Arnulf…and your apologies are accepted."

Arnulf stared at him, as if unsure he should believe what he heard, and then a new smile, faint but sincere, broke forth. "Thank you…"

"Only one thing," Christian suddenly said with light exasperation. "Arnulf, for the last time, please—stop calling me 'little brother'!"

Arnulf grinned, and Leslie half collapsed with laughter, making Christian turn in her embrace and playfully grab a fistful of her hair. "Watch it, Leslie Susan Enstad, or you're going to pay later."

"I'm looking forward to it," she said wickedly, giggling. "There, it wasn't so hard to say after all, was it?"

"Of course it was difficult for him to say," Arnulf remarked, surprising them both. "In view of that, I appreciate it all the more." He lifted a shaking hand and grasped Leslie's. "I am grateful to have had the chance to meet you at last. Thank you for bringing so much light into Christian's life."

"I'm happy to have met you too, Your Majesty," Leslie said. "And thank you for your effort. I think it's really helped Christian to truly forgive you."

"I have my hopes," Arnulf murmured, amused. "I see by that clock that I am due for some medication. I do not wish to make you run away, but I can see you prefer to be elsewhere. Please, be happy, Christian and Leslie, both of you, for all your lives. It is the wish I should have given you years ago."

Slowly Christian and Leslie left the room, brushing past the nurse who came in with the medication Arnulf had mentioned, and returned to the waiting room, arm in arm and quiet, both reflecting on all that had happened in the last hour. The other Enstads arose as one when they saw the couple come into the waiting room. "How did it go?" Carl Johan asked, looking faintly anxious.

Christian focused on him with genuine surprise. "It went…well," he said, sounding a little stunned. "It actually went well. Something I never expected."

Anna-Kristina smirked at him. "That's because you had Aunt Leslie there," she said. "I knew she'd soften up Pappa. You look different somehow, Uncle Christian."

Christian looked curiously at her, let his gaze drop out of focus as he contemplated her remark, and then turned to Leslie with wonder in his hazel eyes. "You were right, my Rose," he said softly in amazement. "I do feel free…and I never expected that either."

The nurse Christian and Leslie had seen came in and said, "His Majesty has requested to see you, Princess Anna-Kristina, Princess Gabriella and Prince Elias…if you please."

Gabriella turned to Gerhard and Liselotta and said something to them in jordiska, and they both nodded and sat down again. Christian watched Arnulf's daughters and son-in-law leave together, then looked at Carl Johan. "Since Gerhard and Liselotta will be staying to see Arnulf, what do you wish to do?" he asked.

Anna-Laura broke in, "Why don't you return with us, Carl Johan—I'll go back with Christian and Leslie to the castle. There's something we must give him."

"That's right, I had forgotten," Carl Johan said, snapping his fingers. "Very well, I'll come with you also." He told Gerhard and Liselotta as much in jordiska, and the four of them made their way out to the long black car that still waited for them.

"Something you must give me?…like what?" Christian asked when the car was winding through the city streets, heading back for the coastal route.

"A birthday gift," Anna-Laura said.

Carl Johan rolled his eyes. "It was Anna-Laura's idea," he said, "and frankly, Christian, I don't know how much enjoyment you'll get from it. I think Leslie will appreciate it rather more than you will, to tell the truth."

Christian aimed a suspicious stare at his sister. "I knew it," he said. "You're going to embarrass me in front of my wife, aren't you?" That brought on a round of laughter, but Anna-Laura and Carl Johan both refused to divulge any more.

At the castle, Anna-Laura said, "Why don't you show Leslie the sitting room, Christian, and Carl Johan and I will get your present." She firmly took her older brother's arm and pulled him, grumbling, along with her. Christian stared after her with a raised eyebrow, then got a wicked twinkle in his eye and turned to Leslie.

"Sitting room, nothing," he said in a low, conspiratorial voice. "Since my sister had the utter lack of sense to leave us alone, she's going to pay for it. Come with me, my Leslie Rose, and I'll show you a couple of special places." He took her hand and urged her along with him, and she snickered delightedly and followed his sudden run down a hallway, up a flight of stairs and along a still longer hallway, with door after door on either side. She was breathless by the time Christian halted; in fact he too was breathing a little hard.

"I haven't run that entire corridor in about thirty years," he realized, grinning at her and wilting against the wall. "I must be losing my touch."

"Can't…even…breathe," she managed, grinning back and pretending to be shorter of breath than she actually was. Christian rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

"Look here," he said and pushed open the door they had stopped in front of, revealing a large, surprisingly modern-looking room with an enormous bed dominating the left-hand wall, a beautiful antique rolltop desk opposite that, two huge polished wooden armoires, a couple of chairs, and plush wall-to-wall carpeting under their shoes. "This," Christian told her, "was my childhood bedroom."

"Good grief," Leslie said, taking it in, "it doesn't look much like a child ever lived here. I mean…didn't you have toys and stuff when you were little? It looks like a guest room."

"The toys disappeared decades ago," Christian said, amused, "and whatever personal belongings I had in here by the time I moved out came along with me. I have a feeling this room hasn't been slept in since I left it." He drew her fully inside and shoved the heavy door firmly shut. "There used to be locks on this door and the one on that wall there." He indicated another door almost directly opposite the one through which they had entered. "It seems those are gone now. I had a way of barricading myself behind these doors during the first six or seven years of my life, when I was angry with someone and wanted nothing to do with people. Then I finally learned that there were so many rooms in this castle, I could easily hide out in another unused corner, and it could be literally days before anyone found me if I chose." He grinned at some recollection. "I put that to the test when I was eleven. My father and I had had an unusually stormy clash about something I've since forgotten, and I was determined that I'd get revenge on him…my idea of which was to disappear. I waited till the middle of that night, sneaked to the castle kitchens and loaded two picnic baskets with food and drinks, and then went to the topmost floor where the servants have their rooms. There are more rooms now than servants, though this wasn't true in the distant past. At any rate, I found a room so dusty it must have been abandoned for years, and I shut myself in there and somehow succeeded in hiding for four days."

Leslie developed a mental picture of him even as he spoke, imagining a hurt and angry boy trying to make a statement, and smiled softly at him. "If you really want to discourage Carl Johan and Anna-Laura from finding us, you might want to show me that room!"

Christian laughed. "Undoubtedly it's even dustier now than it was when I moved into it temporarily. I remember sneezing for half an hour after I got into the bed there the first night, and I was terrified that someone would hear me and reveal my whereabouts."

"If you stayed hidden for four days, somebody must have called the cops at the very least," Leslie said quizzically.

Christian shrugged, wandering to the bed. "As a matter of fact, I missed a major press conference while I was hiding up there, something about Arnulf getting engaged to Kristina, I think. I found out from Mother later that they covered it by telling the media I was too ill to join the family. In reality they didn't know where I was, and had no wish to create a national panic over it."

"Because they knew you were somewhere in the castle?" Leslie guessed.

"Possibly, but I think primarily they just didn't want to be bothered by outsiders swarming all over the castle and grounds trying to roust me out," Christian said, grinning. "It was 'an internal matter'." He regarded the bed then; it sat up high enough that there was a little stepstool beside it. "Come up here with me, my Rose."

Leslie ventured closer and peered at the bed. "Why is it so high? My word, I think it's taller than you!"

Christian laughed loudly. "That's a challenge if I ever heard one. This bed is some three hundred years old—from a time when they were built that way on purpose for the royalty and nobility. Let me see if I can do this." He braced his back against the side of the bed, lifted his arms and flattened his hands on the mattress, then bounced experimentally a few times on his feet as if trying to build up momentum. Then he jumped as high as he could and hoisted himself backwards, managing to land on the mattress. Leslie burst out laughing, and he grinned back. "Well, come on up here!"

"What is this, 'me Tarzan, you Jane' or something?" she kidded. "Maybe I should be civilized and just use that stepstool over there."

Christian regarded her impishly, lying on his stomach with his elbows braced under him and his chin in both palms. "That's no fun," he remarked. "You're supposed to ask me to help you get up here."

"Oh, is that how it works. First let me see if I can do it myself." Well aware that he was watching her with unconcealed merriment, she stepped out of her shoes and made a show of gauging the height of the bed. She was shorter than he by a good six inches, and she knew she'd never succeed in getting up there the same way he had done. But she figured she might as well playact for his benefit; so she laid her forearms on the mattress and launched herself off her feet, landing with her body on the mattress from the waist up and struggling to work herself the rest of the way there.

By now Christian was snickering. "Give up yet?" he asked mirthfully.

"Where's that princely chivalry when a girl needs it the most?" she shot back playfully. "I thought you were waiting for the chance to help me."

"You have to ask for it, remember?" he countered.

"Oh, in that case…" She switched to a Minnie Mouse squeak and bleated, "Help me, help me!" Roaring with laughter, Christian hitched himself forward till his upper torso hung off the side of the bed, stretched one arm out and grabbed her ankle, pulling her around in a circle till she landed on the mattress. By the time she got there, she was laughing so hard the tears had started, fueling Christian's mirth in turn. Leslie rolled toward him and he caught her in his arms, rocking her as they let their glee spend itself.

"I hope," Leslie said then with a devilish look, "that you didn't have a habit of falling out of bed as a child." That set off Christian all over again, and she giggled helplessly, happy to see him this way. He'd been through so much crazy emotion since Anna-Kristina had first told him of Arnulf's heart attack, and she wanted to make things as happy as she could for him under the circumstances.

"I did fall out once, when I was five or so," he admitted when he could speak. "Of course, I landed on my head—hard enough that I got a concussion out of it."

"Oh, Christian!" she exclaimed, but he was laughing again, and she couldn't help joining in. "The stories you must have about this place!"

"Too many to count," he said, easing her down and lying beside her, propping himself up on one elbow. "I expect one day to hear some stories from your childhood, you know. It's only fair." He looked around. "I was supposed to share this room with Johanna when I was married to her, but she chose her own somewhere else, and never even set foot in here."

Leslie studied him. "Maybe I'm asking for too much information, but did you ever consummate that marriage?"

Christian peered at her for a few seconds, then quietly told her what he would never tell anyone else, before losing all resistance to temptation and making love with Leslie in a room that, under other circumstances, they might have shared. The experience sent both of them to their usual dizzy heights; somewhere in his dazed state, Christian thought he could still hear the echo of her soft voice crying out his name, as she always did.

Ten minutes passed, and then Leslie murmured drowsily, "Weren't you supposed to be getting something for your birthday?"

Christian's head shot up with startled alarm. "Herregud, I forgot completely. You do have a way of giving me amnesia, Leslie Enstad." They grinned at each other and swiftly, if reluctantly, dressed again, then left the room hand in hand. Once outside, though, he clearly got another idea; the devilish twinkle was back in his eye. "Two more places to show you, first. Anna-Laura's embarrassing moment can wait." At her laugh, he broke into another run, tugging her along in his wake.