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‘It doesn’t matter—’
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll bloody—Tell me his name.’
‘No.’
His rage ran unrestrained and he shouted into the phone. ‘Tell me his name, Eleni. I’ll have him—’
‘Call off the hounds, Giorgos. Or I swear I’ll never return. I will disappear.’
His jaw dropped and he was stunned into silence by her interruption. Eleni never interrupted him. Never swore or answered back. And she sure as hell never made threats. What had happened to his sister?
Again a reprise echoed in his head—of his own headstrong argument with his father, his own defiance that had led to such destruction. Recklessness and impulsive action like this led to chaos and calamity. The last thing he wanted was for her to suffer a lifetime of guilt and regret. He knew too well how heavy that burden was.
‘It doesn’t matter who it was,’ she followed up firmly. ‘He didn’t seduce me. I was a fully willing participant. I made the mistake, Giorgos. And I need to fix it. Tell Prince Xander I’m sick. Tell him I ran away. Tell him anything you like. But I’m not marrying him. I’m not coming back. Not yet. Not till I’ve sorted it out.’
Shock at her rebellion almost made him stagger. ‘Are you with him now?’
‘I’m not marrying him either,’ Eleni said.
Giorgos muttered a series of swearwords through gritted teeth. She was so damn naive.
‘This child is mine. Pure Nicolaides,’ she said. But then her tone softened to include the gentle plea he’d rarely been able to resist. ‘And please don’t blame Tony for losing track of me. It wasn’t his fault.’
‘Your protection officer has no idea where you’ve gone. He’s clearly incompetent. He has been dismissed.’
‘But it’s not his fault.’ Eleni’s voice rose, returning to that uncharacteristic tone of opposition. ‘I told him—’
‘Lies,’ Giorgos snapped. ‘But it is his fault that he lost track of you. His employment is not your concern.’
‘But—’
‘You should have thought through the consequences of your actions, Eleni. There are ramifications for all the people of Palisades.’
He closed his eyes again. This hurt so much. He needed to make her see sense and stop this foolishness before even more damage was done.
‘How do I stop a scandal here, Eleni?’ he asked as gently as he was able, making himself focus on her and not his own tortured past.
The past he could not change. But the future? That he could help to forge. He would care for his sister however he could. He owed her that, given it was his fault she had no father.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said dully. ‘I take full responsibility. I’ll be in touch when I can.’
Giorgos kept his back to the man in the room long after she’d ended the call, realising how close he was to losing her. That simply was not an option. His sister was all that remained of his family and he’d vowed to protect her—and their family name.
‘His name is Damon Gale...’ his head of security ventured quietly.
Giorgos drew in a deep breath before turning to take on the battle.
‘Everything,’ he said firmly. ‘I need to know every last thing about him. I want all records of him entering and exiting the country. I want to know who he is and what he does—down to what he has for breakfast and what detergent he uses. I want everything. Nothing is too small or too trivial to know.’
‘We’re already putting together a dossier.’
‘I want it in less than an hour.’ He wanted it now.
‘Yes, sir.’
Alone once more, Giorgos paced the room as he waited for the vital information to arrive. How had this man got to Eleni? When had he had the chance to seduce her? He’d arranged a perfectly suitable engagement. She would be going from this palace to another nearby. And she’d been pleased—hadn’t she? She’d always understood the expectations of her.
He turned as his security chief finally re-entered the room fifteen minutes later.
‘We’ve been running all palace footage through facial recognition software,’ he started.
‘And?’ Giorgos prompted him curtly.
‘It seems Mr Gale was a guest at last month’s hospital ball.’
‘The hospital ball?’
Giorgos was so surprised he dumbly repeated the man’s statement. But then he looked at the open laptop the man had carried in. There, frozen on the screen, was proof that this Damon Gale had breached the gates of Giorgos’s own damn palace.
A series of four images had been captured from the security footage. The ball—a masquerade—was an annual fundraiser for the hospital, and yet Damon Gale hadn’t bothered with a mask even then. He’d walked in with one woman, but had then been caught on camera promenading in the ballroom with another. A tall, slender woman in blue—and even with the mask and the wig she wore Giorgos knew it was his sister.
So the arrogant jerk had seduced Eleni in her own home, under Giorgos’s very nose. He’d had the gall to ditch his date while he went princess-hunting.
Giorgos looked back at the first image and could hardly focus for the fury rising through him at the sight of Damon’s date. She too wore no mask, and she was stunning. There was pretty and then there was beautiful, and Giorgos had met plenty of both—models, actresses, heiresses—enough to be jaded...spoilt, even. But this was a woman in another league altogether.
Both serene and haughty, while subtly flaunting her sexy curves, her brunette hair was long and thick and hung in a seductive swathe to the narrow waist that was the cinch between her bountiful breasts and curvaceous hips. But even though she had the ultimate hourglass figure, it was her face that was utterly arresting—the pure symmetrical beauty of her wide eyes, upturned nose and pillowy pouting lips.
She was indisputably, classically perfect. Every inch of her spoke of femininity and sensuality. Her undeniably exquisite features meant she’d be a woman who understood her power and her worth. The dress she’d chosen emphasised that fact—it covered, yet clung, and he knew she’d deliberately chosen it to emphasise every killer curve.
A hot rage brewed deep in Giorgos’s belly—he was familiar with beautiful women who toyed with men. Who betrayed them. But why had Damon Gale left her side to target Eleni?
‘Get me a print-out of this picture,’ he snapped.
‘Of Mr Gale?’
‘Of them both. Who is she?’
Why had this man gone to seduce Giorgos’s innocent younger sister when he’d walked in with this woman? What part did this...this vixen...have to play in it?
‘Her name is Kassiani Marron. She’s known as Kassie and she works at the hospital.’
‘My hospital?’ Giorgos tensed as his fury burned hotter. ‘So she brought him to the palace?’
‘Actually, Mr Gale held the invitation. She accompanied him.’
Giorgos drew in a sharp breath. She was Damon Gale’s date—he’d asked her to attend with him yet set his sights on Eleni? Giorgos was stunned. This woman held such sexual allure...
‘Ms Marron is Mr Gale’s half-sister,’ the officer added. ‘She is the illegitimate daughter of John Gale, Damon’s father, an American diplomat.’
So she was Damon’s half-sister—family. Of course. It made sense. She was the feminine feline equivalent of her predatory brother. Scalding hot satisfaction rushed through Giorgos’s system, flooding his rage and turning into another emotion altogether. An emotion he had no inclination—and no time—to define.
He narrowed his gaze on her image and tried to process the revelation rationally. The vixen would have information. The vixen would have answers. The vixen would pay. Adrenalin charged his system like a lightning bolt of electricity, empowering his drive and focus.
He whipped his head up to glare at the security chief. ‘Where is she now?’
‘At the hospital. Would you like me to bring her to you?’
‘No.’ Giorgos turned away from the screen with speed. ‘I will go to the hospital.’
‘Sir?’ The officer looked startled.
Giorgos shook his head. As if he could trust any of his security team to deal with this situation, given they’d lost Eleni and not even told him for the better part of the day? No.
No.
This needed urgency, delicacy and above all control—the one thing Giorgos had in abundance. He needed to do the interrogation himself. And he’d extract every ounce of information he could from her. By whatever method was necessary.
‘Bring my car,’ he ordered. ‘Immediately.’
* * *
‘You shouldn’t be working late on a Friday night.’ The junior doctor leaned over Kassie—too close—with a winning smile. ‘You should be coming to dinner with me.’
Kassie took a breath, then answered with well-practised firm but dismissive politeness and eased back from his breach of her personal space. ‘I still have half an hour on my shift.’
And she’d be on the ward for at least another hour afterwards. She had too much paperwork to catch up on. Never mind that it was Friday night.
‘I have a booking at a very nice restaurant.’
‘And of course you don’t want that booking going to waste.’ Kassie maintained her slight smile, despite the disappointment edging into her.
The guy was probably nice enough, but already her temperature had dropped at the thought. And he was only suggesting dinner—totally tame—anything more intimate would have had her freezing in a nanosecond. Sadly, it was going to be another no from her.
‘Fortunately there are plenty of others about to end their shift,’ she said.
‘But I don’t want to go out with any of them. Only you.’
And there was a line she’d heard before. ‘You don’t even know me,’ she pointed out gently.
But he’d heard about her—she knew that.
‘You know Kassie doesn’t date anyone in the hospital,’ Zoe, one of the nurses, piped up with a smile, quickly shooting Kassie a glance of pure sisterhood solidarity. ‘Why don’t you ask Terese? She’s super-fun and a great dancer.’
Super-fun and a great dancer. Two things Kassie wasn’t.
The doctor looked at Kassie, but she avoided his gaze by studying the chart she was carrying, happy to let Zoe rescue her.
He finally turned. ‘What about you?’ he asked Zoe. ‘What are your plans tonight?’
Zoe shrugged and her smile turned coquettish. ‘You tell me.’
He smiled back. ‘Half an hour at the main entrance. I’ll be waiting.’ He sent Kassie a smug glance and strode down the corridor.
The nurse giggled before he was entirely out of earshot and turned to Kassie. ‘Are you sure you didn’t want to go out with him, Kassie?’ she asked. ‘He’s totally hot.’
‘Dr Hot is all yours.’ Kassie sighed deeply. ‘And thank you.’
‘Oh, no—thank you! I’m delighted to take him off your hands.’ Reassured, Zoe giggled again. ‘I just don’t understand why you don’t date any of them. If I were you I’d—’
‘Be getting back to my work—which is what I’m going to do,’ Kassie interrupted swiftly with a firm smile.
But she appreciated Zoe’s assistance. It wasn’t worth the embarrassment of trying to date any more. She just didn’t feel things the way normal people did. But that was fine. She’d long since accepted it and chosen to focus on building her career.
Zoe had turned away and Kassie became conscious of the nurse’s sudden silence. In fact the entire ward was abnormally silent. The gentle bubbling hum of soft conversation had ceased. A prickle rasped down her spine and she turned around to see what the issue was.
‘Good evening.’
A man stood right in front of her. As she stared up into his face her lips parted but she remained wordless—silenced by the hard glow of his striking green eyes and the furiously cold glare he was directing her way. Dazedly she recognised that this tall, imposing figure wasn’t just anyone. She was used to the King’s sister, Princess Eleni, visiting the hospital, but not King Giorgos himself.
How long had he been standing there? Had he heard all that conversation? To be caught out talking dating by anyone was mortifying—but by the King? Why was he here at all? Why hadn’t they been notified? Why hadn’t there been the usual security sweep before anyone royal arrived?
A billion thoughts flooded her feeble brain, but the one that her mind locked on to was the most banal and the most unbelievable—so handsome. King Giorgos was so incredibly handsome.
She’d lived here all her life but never seen the King up close before—and had certainly never imagined he’d be as good-looking in reality as he was in print. Impossibly, he was more so. As he towered over her she was conscious of his physicality—of the broad shoulders and muscled body that his perfectly tailored suit hinted at. It struck her that the immaculate stitching and fabric was nothing more than a fragile veneer, masking his raw masculinity. His dangerousness.
And where had that idiot thought come from?
She mentally slapped herself. So he was tall, dark and handsome? She knew that. Everyone knew that. So what? More importantly, where was everyone? Where was her ward manager? She tore her gaze from his to see Zoe a short distance away, walking with a uniformed soldier who must have accompanied the King.
‘Don’t you know who I am?’ he asked.
Her attention snapped back to the column of masculinity blocking her path. Of course she knew who he was.
‘Yes, I do,’ she muttered breathlessly, instantly mortified by the brevity of her answer. ‘Sir,’ she added. ‘I mean, Your Highness.’
Oh, hell, was she flustered? Kassie was never flustered.
He was still staring at her. His piercing green gaze narrowed, deepening his frown to appear even more disapproving than before. Another prickle rippled down her spine—and it was not only awareness, it was edged with something else. A foreign kind of anger kindled. What was he waiting for? Was he expecting her to curtsey? Bend her knees and scrape the floor? Roll over before him?
But then a sudden image sprang to her mind—of herself on her back and him arching over her—sensual, inappropriate and so unexpected and shocking she gasped softly.
His gaze sharpened. ‘Will you show me around the ward?’ he asked with stinging sarcasm, as if he shouldn’t have had to.
The last thing she wanted to do was spend another second in his company when her dormant sensuality had decided to spark up—and malfunction.
She cleared her throat, panicking. ‘Is there anything in particular you would like to see?’
Why on earth would he want a tour, last thing on a Friday? And, crucially, how quickly could she get this over with so she could step outside and examine the fact that she’d just had a flash of an X-rated fantasy for the first time in her life—ever? A totally alien heat flooded her body.
