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Her mother eyed her shrewdly. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.”
She seemed to buy that, but Eva’s breath gave a funny catch. What was it going to feel like not just meeting Dominic, but meeting the woman who had stolen him right out from under her?
A member of the palace guard arrived and escorted them to the king’s private quarters. The king himself and his new wife, Queen Rose, greeted them.
King Ronaldo took Eva’s hand and kissed it. “It is such a pleasure to meet you as an adult, Princess.”
Eva smiled graciously and curtsied. “The honor is mine, Your Majesty.”
“This is my new wife, Rose. She’s Princess Ginny’s mom. She and Dominic aren’t here yet, but you know how new babies are. They don’t always adhere to schedules.” He laughed. “Anyway, Queen Rose, may I present Princess Eva Latavia of Grennady.”
Eva curtsied again. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Queen Rose, a tall blonde with just a hint of pink in her hair and a very obvious Texas twang, waved her hand in dismissal. “Oh, none of that for me.” She suddenly enveloped Eva in a hug. “This is the way we welcome people into the family in Texas.” She pulled back and looked Eva in the eye. “You’re familiar, right? You were educated in the US?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Eva said, mimicking the Southern drawl she’d heard the entire time she was at Florida State.
Rose laughed. “That’s my girl!”
King Ronaldo turned to Eva’s mother. “And this is your mom? Queen Karen, correct?”
Eva’s heart swelled with gratitude when the king mentioned nothing of her father’s potential abdication of the throne and still gave her mom the respect of the title Queen.
Her mother curtsied. “Your Majesty.”
He bowed. “It’s my honor to meet you.” He motioned to Rose. “And this is Queen Rose.”
Karen curtsied again. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Rose chuckled. “I know you people like your official greetings, but I’m just a hugger.” She gave Karen a big squeeze.
The king directed everyone into a drawing room with a bar.
Eva looked around in unabashed curiosity. She knew some royals were wealthier than others. Xaviera’s location alone gave them access to oil money. But this palace was amazing. The art so casually displayed on the walls was probably worth the gross national product of Grennady.
Her mom leaned in and whispered to her daughter, “So, the mom of the last princess ended up married to the king. Maybe this won’t be such a bad deal after all?”
Eva couldn’t stop a giggle that escaped. “Behave.”
“Rose doesn’t.”
“She’s the queen. That gives her license to be eccentric.”
“Right.”
The king motioned to the bar. “Can I get anyone anything?”
Karen said, “I’d love a wine spritzer.”
“Princess Eva?”
“I’d like—”
But before she could name her wine choice, Alexandros rose from behind the bar. Dressed in the royal uniform of their country, black trousers with a red jacket filled with medals, he looked totally different than the guy in the riding breeches, white-and-tan shirt and scuffed helmet.
His dark eyes met hers, and the bottle of wine he held fell to the bar top.
She smiled.
King Ronaldo said, “I understand you’ve met Alex in school.”
Holding the gaze of his dark eyes, she said, “And we met this afternoon. Accidentally. At the stables.”
Rose said, “Oh! You ride.” She winced. “Of course you do. It was probably part of your training. I’d love to go out with you one of these mornings.”
Polite and proper, Eva faced Rose. “I’d like that too.”
King Ronaldo said, “Funny. Alex didn’t mention seeing you this afternoon.”
Feeling her pride return, Eva spared Alex a glance before returning her gaze to the king. “I don’t think he knew who I was.”
* * *
Alex felt his face redden like a teenager’s.
“He handed me his riding crop and told me to make sure his horse got the star treatment.”
The king gasped. “Alexi!”
“Well, she didn’t look like this,” Alex said, pointing at her red gown and dark hair pinned up just enough to get it off her face while the rest spilled over her shoulders and fell in thick curls down her bare back. He thought of all that black hair fanned out on a white pillow and almost dropped the wine again.
Eva casually said, “Perhaps he was just preoccupied.”
The king said, “Perhaps,” but Alex stared at her red dress. The strapless top hugged her breasts and cruised to her tiny waist, before it flared out in a skirt made up of yards and yards of some kind of filmy material. It didn’t bell out. It just flowed smoothly, effortlessly with every one of her graceful movements.
He didn’t know what he’d expected from this woman he’d met when she was little more than a child, but it wasn’t this grace. Or this sensuality. It was as if she was telling the world that she might someday be a queen, but she was also a sexy woman.
Her lips lifted into a knowing smile.
She had him stumbling all over himself, and she liked it.
No. She reveled in it. And he supposed he couldn’t blame her. His family had yanked the good prince away from her and forced her to take him or nothing. Only a week after her own father had disgraced their crown, the Sancho family had decided it was time to make good on the terms of their treaty, forcing her to marry a lesser prince, then he hadn’t recognized her at the stable that afternoon. She wasn’t insulting him by telling everybody he’d thought her a stable girl. She was repairing her royal pride.
The door of the drawing room opened and Alex’s gaze shifted as his brother and his wife arrived, and for the second time that evening he was struck speechless. Princess Ginny walked in on Dominic’s arm, wearing the same gown as Eva, except Ginny’s was a soft, romantic gray.
Dominic said, “Sorry we’re late.”
King Ronaldo and Queen Rose immediately shifted in their direction.
Rose said, “Is something wrong with Jimmy? Is he sick?”
Ginny laughed. “No, Mom. Your grandson is fine.”
Princess Eva stood in front of the bar, motionless, as if stunned into silence, watching the happy couple.
Alex leaned forward, across the gleaming wooden surface. “Well, now. What have we here? You and Ginny in the same gown. Except yours is red and hers is a pretty gray. Very innocent and sweet. While yours is...well, on the trashy side. It’s kind of like looking at those devil and angel pictures.”
He saw her back stiffen and knew he’d struck a nerve. Good. She hadn’t even tried to tell him who she was at the stable that afternoon. She’d taken his crop. Led him to believe she’d be caring for Thor. Let him walk away. And then embarrassed him in front of his father.
“Shut up.”
He watched the muscles of her bare back shift as she straightened, composing herself. But he still saw the tension and knew his golden opportunity for getting even wasn’t over yet.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind one bit being the brother to marry the devilish princess. I’m just not exactly sure this was the first impression you wanted to make on the guy who dumped you.”
“He didn’t dump me.”
“He isn’t exactly marrying you.”
“He’s already married.”
“And to somebody who looks like your polar opposite. Isn’t that interesting?”
He saw vulnerability flicker in her gray-blue eyes as Dominic and Ginny approached her. He didn’t really know Eva, but he did know what it was like to be second best. To be the one not chosen. To be the one who stood behind his brother and dad, a king and a man who would be king.
His chest clenched. She might be educated. She might be a tough crusader who could speak up for those who didn’t have a voice, but nothing could have prepared her for meeting the woman who’d stolen her fiancé from her.
She was too damned pretty to be Dominic’s second. Alex wasn’t anybody’s knight in shining armor, but he did know a thing or two about fooling people into believing he was fine. Happy. That his life was perfect. And that was what Eva needed right now. To be rescued from an embarrassing situation that befuddled her so much that even the royal pride she’d just gathered was sinking fast.
He raced around the bar. Sliding his arm along her waist, he whispered, “Here’s the story...when we met at the stables this afternoon there was an instant attraction.”
She met his gaze. “Really?”
“Would you rather be somebody who unexpectedly found herself crazy about me, or the woman left behind by my big brother?”
Her head tilted in confusion.
“Don’t be the one left behind in the dust. Leave him behind.”
“Oh.”
“You don’t have a lot of experience with men, do you?”
“I’ve been engaged since I was four.”
“And I guess now you’re going to tell me you’re a virgin.”
She said nothing, just held his gaze.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“You’ll absolutely be damned,” Dom said as he reached them. He held out his hand and Princess Eva presented her hand to him. He kissed the knuckles. “Princess Eva. It’s nice to see you. I’m so sorry we’re meeting again under awkward circumstance.”
Like a champ, she slid her arm beneath Alex’s and stepped closer to him. “There’s no reason to be concerned. We’ve barely spoken to each other. Besides, I was lucky enough to meet Alex this afternoon at the stables.”
Alex winked at her. “Love at first sight.”
Dom said, “Really?”
Alex laughed. “All right. Maybe lust at first sight.”
Eva shifted her attention to Ginny. “And you must be the woman who stole Dom’s heart.” She smiled. “You have lovely taste in clothes.”
Alex had trouble stifling a laugh. Still, from the way she’d put him in his place for not recognizing her, he should have expected she could hold her own. She’d simply needed help getting over the awkwardness of seeing Dom.
Ginny laughed and glanced down at her gown. “You have good taste too. Maybe better. That red is divine.”
“Alex told me I looked like a devil in this dress.”
“And that you looked like an angel,” Alex said to Ginny. He kissed Eva’s cheek. “But you know I’d always rather have the devil.”
“So,” Dom said, looking from Alex to Eva, appearing not quite convinced. “Things worked out for the best?”
Alex tightened his arm around her waist. “We think so.”
A servant quietly shuffled into the room and whispered something in King Ronaldo’s ear. He nodded once. When the servant was gone, the king faced the two couples at the bar.
“Dinner is served. If you’ll all follow me to the dining room.”
Dom and Ginny immediately got in line behind his father, but Eva caught Alex’s arm to hold him back. When the room was empty she said, “I owe you.”
He couldn’t help it. He grinned. She might be able to hold her own, but she’d needed him to get over that awkward introduction. “Yes, you do. I just saved you months of embarrassment—maybe years if the press decided to make an issue of Dom marrying someone else—and I have the perfect way for you to pay me back.”
CHAPTER TWO (#ue9928694-95db-580a-9426-a3b4bdf84ff0)
EVA’S HEART CHUGGED in her chest. After Alex’s good guess about her virginity, she couldn’t imagine what he had in mind as payback, but she did know she owed him. So when he asked her to meet him at the stables at midnight, she hadn’t argued. She’d simply enjoyed the dinner, keeping up Alex’s pretense that their chance meeting that afternoon had sparked an instant attraction. Then she’d said polite goodbyes to the king and his new wife and Dom and his wife, before she walked her mom back to their quarters, changed into jeans and a lightweight sweater and headed for the stable.
The moon rose high in the sky. A faint ocean breeze lured her down the cobblestone path. An island in the Mediterranean, Xaviera had January temps that were much warmer than the climate of her country, which was nestled between Finland and Russia. If she were home right now, she’d be wearing boots and a parka and battling a winter wind to get to her stables.
She reached the big stone-and-wood building and entered through a door on the side. Though the stable was the cleanest she’d ever seen, the earthy scents of horse, hay and leather hit her. She glanced down the long row of stalls and saw Alex standing in front of the last one, petting the nose of his Arabian, Thor.
She strode down the aisle.
Alex heard her and smiled. “So you’ve come to dicker.”
“I didn’t come to negotiate anything. I came to see what my payback will be for you saving me tonight.”
