Title: Ruling the
Princess
Series: The Sexy
Misadventures of Royals 2
Author: Christi Barth
Release Date: March 23,
2020
Published By: Entangled
Amara
Category: Contemporary –
Romance – Comedy – Royals
Type: Digital –
Paperback
Blurb:
I’m thrilled that my first trip back to my
homeland, after years in exile, is for an assignment from the prime minister.
Even better, the job's to put Princess Genevieve in her place...by cutting off
her cash flow. Spoiled royals—even drop-dead gorgeous ones—don't do anything to
deserve their wealth and status. Hell, they don't do anything.
She's fighting me tooth and nail, of course. The only way to stop her arguing
is, well, to kiss her.
And I can't seem to stay away from her. Now, I
see a whole different side to the princess—and not just because I've gotten her
clothes off. But I was put on this assignment for a reason… There are those
outside the castle who want to see the princess discredited and push their own
agenda, and I may have just given them all the ammunition they need.
By reading any further, you are stating that
you are at least 18 years of age.
If you are under the age of 18,
please exit this site.
Favorite Lines:
“Because once with you
won’t be enough, Genny. Ten times, a hundred, won’t be enough. I’ve tasted your
sweetness. I know I’ll crave you for the rest of my life.” ~ Theo
Flashing the grin that
turned women into simpering idiots all across the realm, he said, “I can’t dim
my natural ability or my awesomeness. It wouldn’t be right.” ~
Christian
“I’ll always show up for
you. Whatever you ask for, whatever you need. You can count on me, Your
Highness.” ~ Theo
“You’re giving me numbers
in a spreadsheet? There’s nothing that could rick my world more. I may have to
throw you down on the floor and have my way with you.” ~ Theo
Excerpt:
There she was. The princess, the self-centered, spoiled princess he’d anticipated. Theo was shocked it had taken five whole minutes for her true self to pop out. “Did you read my letter?”
“Yes. Although I wouldn’t call it a letter so much as a list of demands.”
“Then, as I told your secretary, we have nothing further to discuss.”Theo deliberately looked down at his laptop.
Ignoring the princess, to her face, was something he’d dreamed of doing. Satisfaction pumped through him. Almost as much as when he’d summited his first fourteen-thousand-foot mountain in Switzerland. Almost as much as the first time he’d removed a girl’s bra with one hand.
Because it was thanks to the frostily furious woman in front of him that Theo had been evicted from his country at age ten. Ostracized from his family, at first at a boarding school in England, and then university in America. She was the reason he’d been yanked away from everything and everyone he knew.
So no, Theo didn’t give a rat’s ass about the princess’s wants or needs. And it gave him a ridiculous amount of pleasure to upend both her day and her mood.
Not to mention her wasteful, over-the-top spending habits.
He heard the scrape of a chair against the floor. Huh. She was sitting down? Theo damned his curiosity and glanced up.
The princess stroked the thick mass of gold chains and green stones that filled the neckline of her blouse. “You might have heard that my sister, Princess Kelsey, has recently rejoined us at the palace.”
Theo doubted that any news outlet in any country, let alone here in Moncriano, had yet to stop playing clips about the missing princess who’d been found after twenty-four years. “Indeed. I’m very pleased for your family.”
Which was true. He wasn’t a monster. He could set aside his own deep-seated personal grudges against the House of Villani to recognize what a tremendous relief it must be to have her back.
“Well, Kelsey hasn’t entirely come around to the many protocol aspects of being a princess. A keen observer might even say that she’s doing her best to not just buck, but break the system. Bring her notions of equality and democracy into a centuries old monarchy.”
Theo shook his head, looking up at the stuccoed ceiling. Mostly to get away from the pull of those striking violet eyes. “Oh, those pesky Americans, polluting the world like missionaries of freedom.”
“All subjects are free in Moncriano,”the princess snapped back. “Kelsey just prefers that we not go around rubbing our royal status, wealth, and privilege in people’s faces.”
That sentence smelled as American as the hot dog street cart on the corner of 45th and Broadway. “Is that a direct quote?”
“Definitely. So you can thank her influence that I’m not still standing, insisting that you pay proper, due deference to a princess royal. Not demanding that you bow to me, kiss my hand, and profusely apologize for your utter contempt.”
What would she do next—threaten to make him stand at attention? Although, to some extent, the damned beautiful woman was right.
He should have acknowledged her royal status properly when she entered his office. Should’ve stood, nodded his head, and only then proceeded to snap at her. Respected the office, if not the person in it. As the son of a duke, he knew the rules of protocol inside and out.
Fuck.
Her Royal Hotness was right. He’d let his many years of banked fury get the best of him and erupt at finally being in the same room again with his nemesis.
He’d lost the high ground in this battle.
That left two options: surrender or fight twice as hard.
Which really meant there was only one option.
So Theo snorted. “You want to talk about contempt? Because that’s exactly what you dished out to me.”
“You’re either petty or pouting.” She crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. Much more gracefully than Simon had. “Because I’ve done nothing of the kind.”
“Maybe you’re just so used to it that you don’t realize how high-handed you are.”Theo splayed his palms on the desk and half-stood to lean over. To force her to look up at him. “I’m not a dog to be summoned at your whim. I’m a person. A professional. My time is valuable. Your time is consumed with shopping. Getting your hair done. Collecting bouquets and compliments. So tell me, Your Highness, which one of us sounds more inconvenienced by this unscheduled meeting?”
That pair of perfectly pink lips dropped open. Genuine shock blanked out her eyes. “You think that’s all the royal family amounts to? Standing around, looking pretty?”
“I didn’t call you pretty.” That had slipped out. And it sounded hurtful, even if unintentional.
Theo wouldn’t call her pretty. Not to wound her, but because it was a gross understatement. International headlines didn’t exaggerate. The princess was stunning. Breathtaking in her perfection.
Even her name flowed lyrically off the tongue. Genevieve.
What was wrong with him? He’d dated actual models in New York. Theo was a player. He took pride in it. Not in using women. Nobody got hurt.
But it seemed far more practical, more of a cost to benefit ratio, to…appreciate as many fun, beautiful, interesting women as possible. There wasn’t just one flavor of gelato. Not just a single sauce for pasta. Women were best enjoyed like food—in a wide variety. And he had a big appetite.
So why the hell was this woman getting to him? Distracting him from his loathing? Turning him into a bad imitation of a romantic poet?
He did know, however, not to lash out against a woman’s appearance—or even seem to. That’d been an accidentally low blow. As he took in a breath to, God help him, apologize, the princess laughed.
Laughed!
“I don’t need you to tell me what the mirror—and millions of people around the world—do. My ego isn’t bruised, Lord Theo, because you and your opinions don’t matter to me. Not one bit.”
Damn it, he respected her spine. Her sense of self-worth. The way she hadn’t burst into tears at his seeming insult.
That was no way for him to win this battle.
Highlight:
Shit. The moment the words left his mouth, Theo regretted them.
He didn’t know Princess Kelsey. He didn’t know her story besides as a drunken laugh in a bar. Raised as an American for her entire life, the princess didn’t deserve his automatic ridicule.
It had been a petty, rude thing to say. Beneath him.
“How dare you insult my sister?”Princess Genevieve pushed on the arms of her float chair to sit upright, her legs kicking. The kicking combined with the abrupt surge upward upset her balance. She rolled into the water with a splash and a shriek.
Hell.
That shriek sent Theo into auto-pilot. Didn’t even bother to kick off his shoes. He just shoved out of the chair, took one step to the pale pink concrete decking, and dove into the water.
Two hard strokes brought him to the center where the float bobbed. Letting his weight carry him down, he reached out and put an arm around the princess’s chest. A flutter kick carried them both back up to the surface. The whole thing took mere seconds.
Once their faces were in the air, he shifted sideways, so one arm circled behind her shoulders, and the other went beneath her legs like a chair. “Are you okay? Can you swim?”One hand swept the wet mass of hair off her face. Furious violet eyes blazed at him. “Of course I can swim, you fool. Why would I be in a pool by myself if I couldn’t swim?”
Well, he could go off on a diatribe about entitled people not thinking through consequences of their actions. But Theo went with the simple truth behind his automatic rescue.
“You screamed when you went under. So I didn’t want to take the time to wonder that, Your Highness. It seemed prudent to act, for safety’s sake.”
Her wriggling immediately stopped. “You thought you were rescuing me?”
“I’m fully dressed. I didn’t dive into the water to play Marco Polo.”
Rather than pushing at him, one arm crept around his neck. “Oh. Well. That was very gallant. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Awareness shot through him. Awareness of the soft roundness of her breasts against his chest. The pucker of her nipples was noticeable. As was—probably—the tenting of his trousers from noticing her nipples.
Not just her breasts. The smoothness of her legs over his arm. The heat of her sun-warmed abdomen searing his fingers.
Actually touching the princess was a hundred times better than looking at her and a thousand times better than he’d imagined.
“I wouldn’t have overbalanced and fallen in if you hadn’t riled me by saying such a hateful thing about my sister,” she said in a prim, factual tone. “Kelsey and Elias are in love. The fact that he started out as her bodyguard was only a hindrance, trust me. Do not presume to be glib about their relationship.
”It’d been a shitty thing to say. Nodding, Theo admitted, “It was wrong. Unthinking. Inappropriate. I sincerely apologize.”
“Good. Because I made the mistake of judging my sister at first without knowing her. And I regret that beginning immensely. It turns out that she’s pretty great.”
Theo didn’t know what to say. Mostly because he was so distracted by holding the princess. And why was he, still?
For that matter, why was the princess still hanging on to him?
Theo flutter-kicked toward the shallow end. “Has it been a rough transition for her? Going from being an independent American to a rule-following royal?”
Laughter burbled out of the princess. It sounded genuine. Contagious. Just the trill of it made Theo want to smile. “When Elias first found her, Kelsey didn’t want to be a princess. If you’d given her a choice of a hundred jobs—including washing dishes or picking up trash on the highway—she would’ve ranked princess as dead last.”
“You’re joking.”
“Not one bit. But as she’s been introduced to the true function of royalty, our responsibility to be role models and inspiration, caretakers to our people, she’s come around. She still fights against protocol and tradition, but she wants to do a good job. And I’m trying to help her get there.”
That was…not the description of royalty Theo expected from the princess. It for damn sure wasn’t one he’d thought of himself. Although it was the way he thought of the relationship between his family and the people of their duchy.
It made sense.
But he didn’t want her to make sense. He didn’t want to agree with her.
He didn’t want to enjoy holding her.
It pissed him off. A lot.
When he stood in belly-deep water, Theo released her legs. But the princess didn’t take her hand from his neck. The length of her body lined up against his now. His erection notched between her legs, keeping her somewhat afloat.
No way to ignore it. For either of them.
Her eyes widened, latched on to his. Her lips parted, about to ask a question.
Theo didn’t want to hear it. Didn’t want to fight about whatever it was.
So he kissed her.
He started by licking off the drop of water that hung off her bottom lip. Half wondered if she’d bite him or bring her knee up to squash his balls. But at the first touch of his tongue, her lips parted even more.
Theo didn’t need to be told twice.
His teeth nipped at that juicy lower lip. Her whole body jolted against him. Angling his head to the side, Theo took her open mouth. From that first kiss, annoyance no longer drove him.
No, it was the sweetness of her response that lured him back for kiss after kiss. For the contrast of her water-cooled lips to the heat as they tangled tongues. He kept kissing her to draw out more of those quiet moans that hardened his dick to pure steel.
One leg curled around his hips. Theo plunged a hand into the water to grab her ass, lift it up. He miscalculated, and his hand went under her suit.
#noregrets
Review:
Genevieve is in a tough spot. Her small
country is on the brink of joining another which could be a positive step in
the right direction. But before the merger is even brought to the table, an
accounting of the expenditures of the royal family must take place. And lucky
Genny, she’s been picked to have her accounts gone through at great length.
When her accountant sends her a list of places to begin cutting expenses, she
balks. He lunges, she parries, and so their relationship goes. But the sizzling
attraction they both felt at their first meeting only turns their battle of
wills into a form of foreplay. Hooking up is inevitable at some point, but the
thrill that Genny feels each time she and Theo are at odds is like nothing she’s
ever experienced before. He obviously strongly dislikes the royals and isn’t
afraid to push back. Their verbal spars become addicting and soon so does their naughty pleasures. But Theo has old feelings of spite that he’s nursed over the
years and Genny doesn’t remember him from their much younger years. She’s
unsure why he seems to hate her, but she is determined to bring him around and
show him that she’s all about her people. Most unfortunate is that there seems
to be a traitor in their midst and when the heat is suddenly thrust upon Theo,
Genny breaks everything off with him. She’s been burned so many times before and
the very idea that he could have betrayed her is more than she can handle.
Theo is finally right where he’s wanted
to be since childhood – back home where he belongs and, in a position to stick
it to the Royals. A damned nuisance if there ever was one. They spend frivolously
and care for only their selfish little selves. He ought to know, having been on
the bad end of one of their debacles, which ultimately cost him everything he
loved. To says he’s been harboring a grudge is putting it mildly. But his
reputation is a solid one and even if he ends up turning in a glowing report,
it will be because that was what the evidence provided; even if it’s the last
thing he wants to do when he arrives on assignment. While Theo definitely hates
the Royals, he is also internally at war with himself. He desires Genny to the
point of distraction and is quickly befriending the other younger members of
the family. Never would he have imagined himself in this position; defending
and protective of the Royal family. But he’s honorable above all and as tough a
pill as it is to swallow, he comes to grips with his mistakes and owns them. When
a plot against the family which is tied directly to his position makes itself
known, Theo knows it is up to him to keep the threat from harming the
unsuspecting family. His role has shifted in what seems like the blink of an
eye from punisher to protector. What’s even more astonishing is that he’s
perfectly fine with it. But he and Genny have so much working against them that
he’s unsure this won’t be anything more than temporary despite how much he wants
permanency. When Genny rejects him, he is at a loss of how to fix it. Before
he can get back to wooing her, he has to save the family and he’s going to need
some help with pulling it off.
I have to preface this review by
explaining that I have not read the first book in the series. However, there
was enough included within this book that I didn’t feel that I had to, or that
the deficit was harmful in any way. Within this book, I was still allowed to get
to know Kelsey and Elias a bit and with enough to basically piece together
the first book with little effort. However, I did not feel a great connection
with either Kelsey or Elias and didn’t come away with a need to go back to the first
book to find out what I had missed. I did, however, fall completely in love
with Christian! Good grief I cannot wait until I can read his book. And I am proud
to say that I successfully guessed who his romantic interest would be. Given a
couple of enlightening scenes in which little to nothing was said, but behavior
gave me every indication, I am thrilled to place the third book in the series
on my TBR list in anticipation of reading Christian and Mallory’s story. And
no, I do not consider this a spoiler as it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out –
plus the first chapter of the book was included at the end of this story, which
is how I knew my powers of deduction were on point. Cristian is an absolute joy
and had lines that were so perfect, they almost bested Theo’s. Almost. He’s really in a tough place with everything his family has suffered
and the weight of the crown resting on his shoulders, even though it is not yet
official. He juggles the brotherly, friendly, Kingly duties with flawless
ability … at least it appears so to any outsider but takes its toll emotionally.
And with that, I will leave Christian until I am able to read his story. Never
before have I included a paragraph about a secondary character within a book. To
say I was enchanted by him would be an accurate description.
I haven’t read all that many royal
romance books, which is surprising given how many royal romance movies I have gotten
lost in. My last couple of experiences have been fantastic and I am thrilled to
have discovered both this author and series. I was hooked purely on the blurb,
which was my only reason for choosing to read this book. Theo may have his
biases for good reason but I don’t think they are all that off from what many people
think. I, for one, never understood the whole obsession with the royal family
and all of the need for such extravagance. Meh. Never did anything for me. But
neither am I from a country that places such value on that kind of title. Maybe
some do, like Theo’s socially climbing dysfunctional parents. Maybe those who
hail from countries with royalty are much like the subjects in this book, who
look up to the families to set the standard and justify their extravagance as a
necessary consequence to keep up appearances. One example given is that Theo
wants Genny to use a cheaper brand of pantyhose and one of the citizens overhears
their conversation in a clothing shop. Theo asks her if she finds that her hard-earned
tax dollars paying for these ridiculously high priced panty hose is acceptable. The woman replies that she should have them because she is a princess. As if
that explained it all. So the views on royals was an interesting approach
within this book. Also proven in that scene was the need for the expense of
clothes being sent to the palace for Genny to try. However, seeing the ramifications
of public appearances, Theo quickly sees the error in that particular way of
thinking. He wants to cut costs but doesn’t actually understand the necessity
for much of it – until he does. Had Theo not experienced much of the effects of
his cost-cutting personally, he would have carried on without a thought to
Genny’s lifestyle and unknowingly left her quite vulnerable in several
instances. Ultimately, they end up working together in cutting costs rather than
Theo dictating to Genny about her budget. In working so closely with Genny, he
also sees where her heart lies. Whereas before he was sure that she was nothing
more than a selfish being whose world revolved around her alone, up close and
personal he sees just how much good she does for her people and how her love
for them is what drives her on a daily basis. Even to the point of denying
herself love when she slips off of her podium a bit.
Very clearly Theo comes in with his
ideas of what he will find, but ends up coming to grips with the grudge he held as not being entirely fair and has to come clean about it so he can let it go. Once
he does that, he is able to really see the big picture instead of the blinders
he’s been using to propel him through life up until this point. Likewise, Genny
has a lot of issues to work through as well. She might have successfully changed
Theo’s opinion of her and the rest of her family, but internally she still
struggles with the tragedy that has plagued their family and all of the hurt and
betrayal that followed it. She’s always been the good girl who behaves as dictated,
never veering off course of what is expected. Realizing that she is allowed some
bits of happiness for herself, she then has to make a decision about who it is
she really wants to be. Until then, she is in no position to ask anything of
Theo. As previously mentioned, there are a couple of threats to the family. The
first is a leak from somewhere within. I can’t say I was completely taken by
surprise by the reveal, but it was still heartbreaking all the same to see
someone hurt by the revelation. Also tossed in was an actual plot against the
family designed to block the possible upcoming merger. A plot that involved Theo’s
well-known bias against the family and the gamble that he would end up taking
them down with so much hatred simmering for many years. The foe becomes a friend and lends aid in thwarting the danger. Both Genny and Theo were a
pleasure to experience. Their sexy banter was a highlight for sure. Seeing both
of their transformations from the first chapter to the last was exciting to
read. Kelsey, being brand new to the whole royal thing was perfect in the
battles she chose to take on when it meant standing up for what was right
versus going along with behaving properly. And Christian – well, I was pretty
clear about how awesome he is.
This family may have gone through quite
a bit of negativity ranging from horrific events to bad press. But no matter the
subject, they always rally back … for their people and for their family. Family
remains when nothing else does and together Kelsey, Christian, and Genny are
stronger. For two of them, finding the love of their lives has only made them
stronger. I suspect the same will hold true in the next book as Christian will
finally embrace his. I also suspect that the blows will keep coming in one form
or another for this family. But as long as they stick together, they will always
be able to successfully rally back from whatever the set back is. In one way, I
wish I could speak to the first book to see if the family ties were always so
strong, or if this is a newer connection born from Kelsey’s reappearance. I
suspect the later. Either way, the bond is there now between siblings and was
definitely strengthened even more so within this story. With the added support
of Elias and Theo, I look forward to seeing what these Royals will accomplish
and conquer with such a strong and loving support system in place. You can bet
that as soon as Christian’s story is available, I will b soaking it up and finding
out for myself just how awesome this small Kingdom will become,
Kindle
version provided by NetGalley/Entangled in exchange for an honest review.
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