скачать книгу бесплатно
“You say that like it’s my fault.”
“It is,” he said, whirling around to face her. His dark gaze slid down to her breasts and her own followed.
She looked back up at him. “Elaborate,” she said, teeth gritted.
“You expect that you can show up in that dress, and I can focus on other women?”
“What’s wrong with my dress?” She gripped the full, tulle skirt reflexively.
“Other than the fact that you’re showing off much more of your breasts than any straight man could be expected to ignore? It also shows your legs. This was a formal wedding. Every other woman, including the ones I was speaking to, had on long gowns. You … you …”
“This dress comes to my knees. And I didn’t realize you were a fourteen-year-old boy masquerading as a prince.”
The insult rolled off her tongue, because what he was saying felt far too good. She wanted to turn it over in her mind, to savor it. To pretend that it was for her and that it mattered. To bask in being seen as pretty instead of broken.
The thought made her so annoyed with herself she wanted to scream.
He took a step toward her, and she sucked in a breath, holding her ground. He leaned in, his face close to hers, dark eyes intense. “I can assure you, I am not a boy.”
She swallowed, fought the urge to put her hand on his cheek and see if the faint, dark shadow there was rough yet. “I believe it.”
“Then do not test me.” His eyes held hers, her heart threatening to beat clean through her chest. She pulled away, her breathing shallow.
Stavros turned away from her. She stood in the middle of his office as he paced, each movement languid and deadly. Her heart was pounding, her body shaking. She’d known that he couldn’t possibly be so easy, so relaxed. Beneath that charm lurked the soul of a predator. The deadliest sort, because he knew how to portray an air of complete and utter harmlessness.
Stavros Drakos was anything but harmless. How had she not seen it? How had she assumed he was all flirtation and ease?
And had he … had he really just confessed to finding her cleavage distracting? She looked down again and felt a small flush of pride creep into her cheeks. It had been a long time since she’d been able to feel anything overly positive in connection with her body.
It was nice to have a man look at her and simply see a woman.
It might be a facade, a trick, but it didn’t really matter. Stavros would never have to get closer. Would never have to know the truth, or deal with the fallout of it.
But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t enjoy it. Just for a moment.
“I wasn’t intending to,” she said.
He stopped moving. “You cannot be ignorant of how you look. You outshone the bride.”
She couldn’t believe that. Not seriously. Princess Evangelina was a great beauty. Olive skin, long dark hair and a slender figure. In her wedding gown, she was unsurpassable. Plus, the princess was only twenty-one. She didn’t have the years Jessica had on her body. Didn’t have the scars.
“I doubt that,” she said.
“My eyes were on you most of the time.”
Heat rushed up her neck and into her face, then spread down over her breasts. “We should not be having this conversation.”
“We should. Because if you’re going to be present at all of my meetings with potential fiancées, you need to dress more suitably.”
“I will dress how I please, Prince Stavros,” she said, feeling her hackles rise. She really didn’t do backed into a corner well, and, at the moment, she felt backed into a corner.
Stavros felt his pulse pounding in his neck, all of his blood rushing south of his belt. He’d been fighting to urge to go and pull Jessica into his arms and kiss her lips, kiss the swells of her breasts where they rose up over that gown. That ridiculous gown that made her look like every man’s midnight fantasy.
He’d tried to focus on the women, the bridal candidates. But they’d seemed … insipid. Young. They hadn’t interested him. They certainly hadn’t stirred his body. Not in the way Jessica did. And that was not part of tonight’s plan.
But when she’d walked into the ballroom tonight, it was as though a switch had flipped inside of him.
Lust had ignited in him like fire, the need to see her curves, those gorgeous curves, without a dress covering them. It made him want to press her against the wall and push all that frilly netting aside. To make her scream with the kind of desire that seemed to be actively trying to eat him alive every time she was around.
He was better than this. He mastered his desires. He directed them where he wanted, when he wanted to express them.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are very stubborn?” he growled.
“It’s probably been said to me as many times as it’s been said to you. Actually, I imagine I’ve heard it more, since people probably don’t stand up to you very often.”
That much was true. But she stood up to him, and she did it without compunction. Yes, she had a reputation for being this bullheaded, but he hadn’t expected she would truly treat him in the same way she did every other client.
His expectation had been wrong.
“Fair enough then,” he said. “But I do expect you to do as I ask.”
“Then I expect you might find yourself disappointed.”
“You are supposed to be working for me,” he said, not sure where this urge to push her was coming from. But that was what he was doing. Pushing her. Daring her.
“If that’s how you feel, you can hunt for your own wife. But we both know you don’t want that.”
“I’m not sure I want this.” The closest he’d ever come to voicing the truth to anyone.
“But you will.” She was so certain. And she was right. Emotion had no place in this. It had no place in him.
He crossed his arms. “You have other candidates?”
“You still haven’t met Victoria. And there are others.”
She shifted and so did her cleavage. A flame licked at his body, igniting desire. Arousal.
“We can discuss it further later. Shall we go back to the wedding?”
“Yes.”
She pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow. “And will you be civilized?”
A loaded question, and one he was certain applied to more than just tonight. An answer he wasn’t certain of. “I suppose you’ll have to take your chances. Are you willing to do that?”
He extended his arm and she didn’t move for a beat. Then she took a step to him and looped her arm through his. “You don’t worry me too much, Stavros.”
He felt a kick in his gut, a purely masculine part of himself taking her words as a challenge. He stopped, turning to face her. Her green eyes widened, lips parting.
“You trust me?” he asked, his heart thundering.
Her eyes drifted to his mouth before raising up to meet his. “Yes.”
“Ah, but, Ms. Carter, I’m not certain I trust myself. You certainly shouldn’t be putting any trust in me.”
It was nothing. Just a little lust. Nothing deeper than any other attraction he’d felt. It was a direct result of his long bout of celibacy. He would meet more women. Find the one he was supposed to marry, and then he could focus all of his desire on her.
But Theos help him if he could think of marriage without feeling like he was choking. The attraction to Jessica at least made him feel … well, he could breathe.
“I’m going to be in Greece for the next few weeks and I want you to arrange my meetings with prospective brides there. I have business to attend to.” Flexible business, but he needed to get out of Kyonos. Now.
Jessica blinked. “I … I can do that. But I have other clients and I …”
“Not right now you don’t. I need you to put everything else on hold. I need you with me, organizing meetings and whatever else I might need so we can simply get this done.”
“What will people think if we just up and go to Greece the day after your sister’s wedding?”
“Perhaps that we’re embarking on a wild affair?” The idea made his body harden. The idea certainly had merit. Merit he might have to seriously consider. Just the idea of lowering her dress, revealing those luscious breasts …
She laughed. “Oh, I doubt that. More than likely they’ll wonder if you’re looking for a Greek wife.”
“I’m not opposed.” Not any more opposed than he was to the whole idea.
“I guess it doesn’t matter if we operate from Greece or Kyonos.”
“Good. Then we’ll leave for Greece first thing tomorrow.” He opened his office door and held it for her. Tomorrow he would get out of Kyonos, get his head on straight.
For now, he was determined to go back to the reception and enjoy the happiest day of his sister’s life.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_278b2f15-b508-53c2-9eb3-35127d714e8f)
WHAT did one wear on a private jet headed to Greece? With a prince as cabin-mate. That last part was important.
That had been the first question in her mind that morning, and it was still plaguing her even as she boarded the private jet, decked out in a yellow halter-top sundress and a matching wide-brimmed hat.
Because seriously, dwelling on anything more important than that might make her head explode. And she didn’t want to risk it. Aside from the fact that the interior was far too swanky to chance getting brain matter on it, she had too much work to do and she couldn’t function without said organ.
Stavros was already on the plane, lounging in one of the spacious leather seats, hands behind his head. It was like his go-to mess-with-her-composure position. Exposed bulge at the apex of his thighs? Check. Hard, muscular chest on display? Check. Washboard abs on show? Double check.
He was going to drive her insane.
And what would you do about it? Even if you could act on your attraction to him?
Nothing. The answer was an absolutely nothing, because while attraction, flirtation and sexual desire were all fine and fun, going any further than that would only result in pain. Emotional pain if not physical pain.
Probably both.
“Good morning,” she said.
He stood, his posture straight as she moved into the cabin and sat down in a chair that was positioned as far from his as was polite. He didn’t sit until she had settled herself.
“I like that,” she said. “Very chivalrous.”
“Etiquette is, of course, important for a prince to learn,” he said, humor lacing his tone.
“It’s a dying art form these days, trust me. With both men and women.”
“I imagine you would have a greater insight into that than most.” He buckled his seat belt and she followed suit as the plane readied for take-off.
“Probably. I deal with people on a pretty regular basis. And I have to ask a lot of … intimate questions. But people also tend to be on their best behavior when they’re looking for a relationship, or just beginning one. So I see a lot of the polished squeaky clean veneer, too.”
He nodded. “I suppose I do, too.”
“I’ll bet not many people let loose in front of royalty.”
“You don’t seem that bothered by my position.”
The plane started down the runway and a bubble of excitement burst in her stomach. It had taken a while, but she liked flying now. She liked how free it made her feel. If she wasn’t happy where she was, she could hop a plane and escape for a while.
It was liberating; providing some of the few real moments of freedom she felt. It was superhuman to fly, and it took her mind off the fact that she really was just human. With all kinds of shortcomings.
“Well, unlike my clients, I don’t see the point in hiding who I am.” Lies. She absolutely hid who she was. Behind a suit of armor that was a lot tougher than she was. But what was the point of armor if you admitted you had it on?
“Really?”
“Really.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said, his dark eyes far too perceptive for her liking.
What was he? A mind reader? “Why is that?”
“Because you have secrets. You won’t tell me why you’re prickly.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I told you not to flirt with me.”
“You tell me that when I start to get close to things you don’t want to talk about,” he said, leaning over slightly. He was still across the aisle from her, but she felt the move. Felt the increased closeness.
She shifted the opposite direction. “Having secrets is normal. I imagine you have them.”
“Not one. Every detail of my life is published in the archives and kept in my father’s office. My more public exploits are in the news, in tabloids, on royalty stalker websites.”
“So that’s it then, you’re an open book?”
“I have nothing to hide. More to the point, I can’t have anything to hide. If I did, it would be put out in the public eye. I’m a public commodity,” he ground out, a bitterness tingeing his words. “I exercise discretion in certain areas of my life, naturally. I don’t announce when I take a lover, for example, though all tabloids will imply it. You, on the other hand—you have secrets.”
“You think you have me figured out?”
A smile curved his lips. Wicked. Dangerous. “No. Not at all.”
