Ann Marie James here, sitting down with King Raul Hart and Queen Tania Hart of the Kingdom of Corazón from The Way to a Man’s Heart.
Ann Marie: Your highnesses, it is an honor to meet with you today.
King Raul: Oh, the honor is all ours. I’m just happy we were able to find a moment we could make this happen. There is a lot going on in our tiny kingdom right now.
Queen Tania: That’s the understatement of the century. Between the ball, the medical conference that we are hosting later this month and the threat by a terrorist group who want to overthrow the monarchy, there is certainly never a dull moment.
King Raul: True, but at least most of the family and those we consider family will be here on the island with us, for the first time in ten years.
Queen Tania: Sniffs delicately, before replying. At least until my baby heads to Harvard to go to school. I can’t believe Katarina is eighteen and ready to spread her wings. Why couldn’t she at least go to school somewhere in Europe where she would be closer?
King Raul takes her hand and raises it to his lips, before replying: She is our adventurous child. She needs to do something Sebastian and Zia haven’t already done.
Queen Tania sighs: I understand that. Being the youngest of six, I certainly understand that. Going away to college in England was how I met you after all.
King Raul chuckles: Greatest decision you ever made.
Queen Tania rolls her eyes: Yes, dear.
Ann Marie: So tell me, what makes the Kingdom of Corazón so special?
King Raul: The Kingdom of Corazon is an island nation off the coast of Spain. We have wonderful weather and beaches for vacationers, but we also have plants and animals that are unique to our island. Scientists aren’t quite sure how it happened, but it’s lucky for us. The breed of sheep we have here has a wonderful fiber that is used in specialty clothing.
Queen Tania: There is something in the soil here that grows amazing plants that are coveted by botanists the world over. We have amazing research facilities for study of these plants and have developed many new uses for the plants from medicine to skincare.
Ann Marie: Wow that sounds like you guys hit the island lottery.
King Raul: Yes. We are very lucky.
Ann Marie: Why do people want to overthrow the monarchy? By all accounts the monarchy is well-loved.
King Raul: That is what our security experts are trying to figure out. It is a small group, but they aren’t afraid to use whatever means necessary to try and achieve this. There was an attempted kidnapping of Princess Katarina a couple weeks ago.
Queen Tania sighs deeply: Granted it was a very poorly executed and planned kidnapping attempt, but an attempt none-the-less.
Ann Marie: Sounds like you will have your hands full for a while, trying to track that down.
King Raul: Yes, but we are strong together. Now that Crown Prince Sebastian is settling into his role more fully and his best friend Christian will be on-site to support him things will be better.
Queen Tania: Not to mention Ryan coming back to take a position at the hospital. I am so proud of him. He was the head chef’s son and Princess Zia’s companion, now he is coming back a full-fledged doctor.
King Raul: He has certainly done well for himself. Doctor Guttschein is beyond excited to have him and his best friend from college coming.
Ann Marie: A ball, a medical conference, a group attempting to overthrow the monarchy, people coming home, daughter going to college. That’s a lot in the next four months. Are you ready for it all?
King Raul: Definitely. The Kingdom of Corazón greatest strength lies in its people. Together we can handle anything.
The heart wants what the heart wants…
Christian Diaz grew up as the best friend and unofficial bodyguard to the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Corazón. After an incident left him questioning his place in the castle, Christian joined the military and didn’t return for ten long years.
Now he’s been assigned to the castle as Royal Military Liaison to investigate the source of some recent threats against the crown. The annual Midsummer’s Ball is the perfect place for the anti-monarchy group to make their next move, so that’s where Christian will be too. If it gives him a chance to reconnect with his friends in the castle and make a play for the man he has compared all others to, it’s even better.
Max Ramirez is now the head chef for the castle. He started as a sous chef at age twenty when Christian was just an awkward teen. Now that Christian’s back at the castle, all grown up and interested in Max, the chef is determined not to let an opportunity with Christian pass him by.
When someone tries to sabotage the Midsummer’s Ball, Max and Christian need to work together to track down the people determined to make this event their last.
Warnings: This book contains mentions of drug use, obsession, references to parental abuse, drink spiking, violence, attempted rape, and attempted murder.
About the Series:
There’s evil brewing on the Island of Corazón. While the ruling monarchy is almost universally well loved, both at home and abroad, there are rumors of a group who believe the monarchy needs to be eliminated, by any means necessary.
Publisher | Amazon | First for Romance
Ann is giving away an Amazon gift card with this tour:
“Royal Military Liaison Lieutenant Diaz,” the herald announced. Christian caught the eye of Crown Prince Sebastian toward the end of the greeting line and his best friend’s eyes widened in surprise before his face lit up with happiness at seeing him. As the only child of the Castle Commander, Christian had grown up here, but he’d been in the service away from the castle for ten years. At thirty, Christian was the same age as Crown Prince Sebastian. They had been best friends from the time they had been in diapers, and even though Christian and the prince still got together when their schedules allowed, it wasn’t the same as seeing and being with him every day. Christian had missed him fiercely.
The royal children of the kingdom were usually paired with a young playmate from the age of about ten. Christian had started earlier than age ten as Sebastian’s companion, since he was always with him anyway. As Castle Commander, his father was the head of the guard slash castle security. He’d taken the companion idea a step further and trained Christian to be as good as he could be in martial arts and marksmanship. In his father’s eyes, Christian was to act as another line of defense for the Crown Prince. While Christian had not carried a gun—that was the role of the actual bodyguards—he was trained in case he ever had to use one.
With a nod to the herald, Christian stepped forward to greet the Queen of the Kingdom of Corazón. Queen Tania reached out both hands to Christian, and he clasped them and raised them to his lips while bowing over them. “My Queen… It is a pleasure to see you. You haven’t changed a bit.”
“Lieutenant Diaz, it is a pleasure to see you as well. Ten years is way too long. We have missed you.”
“I apologize for the lengthy absence, Your Highness. I needed a change, but I am assigned here for the foreseeable future, so you will have time to get sick of me again.”
“So my husband has told me. I am excited to have you home, although in a different capacity as the Royal Military Liaison. I look forward to catching up.”
“As do I.”
The queen turned a stern eye on her eldest daughter, who was standing to her right. “Princess Zia, isn’t it wonderful that Christian will be back with us for a while?”
Christian tried to mask his sneer as his gaze went to Zia, who was not at all happy this evening. Of course, she wouldn’t be, since she wasn’t the center of attention. She wasn’t a very nice person and never had been. She was also part of the reason he’d left and joined the military. What she did… No, he wasn’t going to think about it. It was in the past. He was stronger and even more deadly now. It was time for him to face his demons. The military had finished the training his father had started, turning him into a true weapon. At twenty-eight, Christian had hoped Zia would have grown up and stopped being so self-absorbed, but the affliction seemed to have gotten worse instead of better in the time Christian had been away.
Christian gave Princess Zia a shallow bow. “Princess Zia.” That was all he could manage. He wasn’t going to lie and say he’d missed her.
Princess Zia tossed back her hair and gave him her haughtiest look. “Mr. Diaz.”
“It’s Lieutenant Diaz, actually, Your Highness.” Christian didn’t wait for her to respond, instead turning to greet the king of the Kingdom of Corazón. A striking man, even in his fifties, King Raul Hart exuded a sense of calm authority that Christian had always admired, making him seem larger than life. “King Raul.” Christian bowed low in front of the man. When he straightened, Christian was shocked to realize that he was now taller than the king. When they had met briefly the day before, the king had been busy on a phone call and had just waved him into his office and into a chair. Christian had experienced another surprise growth spurt after he had joined the military at age twenty and was now six-three, but he hadn’t realized that made him taller than the king.
“Hello again, Royal Military Liaison Lieutenant Diaz.” The king’s eyes twinkled at him as he ignored protocol and pulled Christian into a hug. “I didn’t get a chance to do that when we met yesterday. I wanted to correct that error.”
“Yes, sir.” Christian returned the hug before stepping back and offering him a crisp salute. “Lieutenant Diaz reporting for duty, sir.”
“As you were, Lieutenant. Now I think there’s someone here who can’t wait to greet you. It was hard keeping this a secret from him.”
“I know. I talked to him earlier, and I almost spilled the beans.”
Christian moved down the line and tried to keep a stern expression on his face as he saluted before grinning at one of his best friends. “Crown Prince.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were being assigned to the castle as Royal Military Liaison?”
“I thought you would like the surprise of it. It just happened a few days ago.” Christian once more ran a hand down the front of his military uniform. “First mission, the Midsummer’s Ball. It’s a very tough assignment.”
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