Prince's Pleasure

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‘Please don’t talk about that any more!’ Tyler practically shrieked, picking up from the table all the articles Zak had emptied from her pockets the night before.

‘I really think you should take advantage of the bathroom facilities before you leave, Tyler,’ Zak reiterated as he once again took in her appearance.

Her eyes flashed as she looked up. ‘I don’t—oh, no!’ she groaned as she caught sight of herself in a mirror, reaching up a hand to her hair as it stood up in the best likeness to an annoyed porcupine Zak had ever seen. ‘You could have told me!’ she growled as she marched past him into the adjoining bathroom.

‘I thought I just did,’ he called out over the sound of water running, grinning unabashedly as she came back from the bathroom, her hair now wet and spiky. ‘Not much of an improvement, really,’ he teased.

‘You—’ Tyler broke off, drawing in a controlling breath before speaking again. ‘I didn’t notice my appearance putting you off a few minutes ago!’

‘No. Well, a woman in your bed is worth two that aren’t,’ he deliberately misquoted.

Her eyes flashed deeply brown. ‘I wouldn’t have thought you were that desperate!’

Zak’s smile widened at her attempts to insult him, easily guessing the reasons behind it—embarrassment, mainly—but having no intention of helping her out. The fact that she didn’t appear in a very good light either should be enough to discourage her from writing about it. Should be…

His mouth firmed as he straightened away from the doorframe. ‘I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know I’m not even the slightest bit desperate,’ he assured her. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, I have to shower and change before my luncheon appointment.’

‘I—of course.’ Tyler looked flustered now. ‘Can we meet up again later today?’

‘Okay,’ he said, wondering now about her personal life. Did she have parents still alive? Did she have siblings? Where had she gone to school? Was there a current man in her life? Those thoughts were immediately followed by the question, why did he want to know?

He had been forced into agreeing to have Tyler Wood in his life for a week, and when that week was over he had no intention of ever setting eyes on her again. So why should he care about the answer to any of those questions?

He sighed. ‘I’ve been invited to a party later this evening, so you may as well come with me.’

‘If you’re sure I wouldn’t be intruding—’

‘I thought you were already doing that,’ Zak responded with brutal honesty.

Tyler winced. ‘I’m sure there must be someone in your life at the moment—’

‘If there is I can assure you that you aren’t ever going to meet her!’ Zak cut in harshly.

‘If you resent my being here so much, why did you agree—?’ She broke off as he steadily returned her gaze, blond brows raised. ‘You didn’t agree, did you?’ she acknowledged with another wince.

He gave a derisive smile. ‘You already know that I didn’t.’

Tyler grimaced. ‘I thought your initial—lack of cooperation was because I wasn’t the man you thought you had agreed to be interviewed by. But now I realize it’s much more deep-rooted than that.’

‘Much more,’ he confirmed grimly. ‘Although that doesn’t change the fact that the agreement was made, with or without my consent,’ he continued as she frowned. ‘Now, I suggest you come back to the hotel about eight o’clock this evening. That way I can be sure that you have dinner before we go on to the party. God knows what the speculation would be like if you were to faint halfway through the evening!’

Her cheeks coloured furiously. ‘I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself, thank you—’

‘Really?’ Zak was deeply sceptical. ‘I haven’t seen much evidence of that so far!’

Her eyes flashed. ‘I told you, it was the brandy that made me ill; the fact that I hadn’t had dinner yesterday evening had nothing to do with it!’ She glared across at him.

His gaze narrowed on her speculatively, taking in the hollows of her cheeks, the slenderness of her body, her wrists so delicately thin they looked as if they might break if any pressure was exerted on them. In fact, Tyler Wood was altogether too slim.

‘Tyler, I gave you the brandy because you almost fainted, presumably from lack of food. Which brings us back to the fact that you still haven’t told me why you didn’t eat dinner yesterday,’ he probed.

‘There wasn’t time.’ Once again her gaze seemed to be avoiding meeting his.

Zak didn’t buy that explanation; there had been plenty of time for her to eat in between their parting yesterday morning and meeting up again in the evening. Unless she had been expecting him to give her dinner yesterday evening? That would certainly explain why she looked so uncomfortable about the subject…

‘Just be back here, and dressed for an evening out, by eight o’clock this evening, Tyler,’ he ordered. ‘If you’re not, then I will have already left without you,’ he warned as she would have protested.

She bit down on her bottom lip, looking as if she would like to tell him exactly what he could do with both his dinner and his evening out, but at the same time that impulse obviously warring with the consequences of doing so, namely losing the interview.

Maybe it was a little unfair of him to take advantage of her obvious wish to do the interview, but at the moment, impatient with the situation, puzzled by some of her behaviour, and—yes—frustrated as hell from their passionate kiss earlier on, he wasn’t in a mood to be fair!

Worse, he had a distinct feeling this was only the beginning of his feelings of frustration where Tyler Wood was concerned…

CHAPTER FOUR

‘WHERE have you been all night? Or need I ask?’ Perry scowled at Tyler darkly as he got up from where he had been sitting on the staircase to the next floor of her apartment building.

Tyler frowned, slightly out of breath herself after having just staggered up the two flights of stairs to her apartment. She had been ill last night, didn’t feel a hundred per cent now, a fact not enhanced by a journey on the hot and claustrophobic London tube; the last thing she needed at the moment was to be asked about last night. Anything about last night!

‘Perry,’ she greeted lightly, putting the key in the lock to her apartment and opening the door, at once feeling soothed by the untidy comfort of her sitting-room, the furniture old, the sofa sagging slightly, books taking up every conceivable piece of space. But it was her own little world, nonetheless.

A world she would have preferred to retire to alone, after that second run-in with Zak this morning, in order to lick her wounds in private, if for no other reason. Something she knew wouldn’t be possible as, without being invited to do so, Perry followed her inside.

‘Tyler, I asked you a quest—’

‘Perry,’ she cut him off, her look of quiet intensity enough to silence him, for the moment. ‘As you can see, I have just got home,’ she continued softly, ‘so do you think we could possibly delay this conversation until after I’ve at least showered and changed into some clean clothes?’

Not that she really owed Perry an explanation; no matter what he might wish to the contrary, their relationship had only ever been a working one. But it was that working relationship, and the fact that he had also been hauled over the coals a couple of weeks ago, with the threat of dismissal if they didn’t come up with something sensational, pictures included, where Zak Prince was concerned, that made her feel an obligation to him.

‘Fine,’ he accepted tersely. ‘I’ll just sit here and wait for you.’ He dropped down onto the sagging sofa. ‘Tyler, you do know that Zak Prince is—’

‘Not now, Perry,’ she warned—very much at the end of her tether when it came to the subject of Zak Prince. ‘Help yourself to coffee,’ she invited before turning in the direction of her bedroom. ‘I’ll try not to be too long.’

‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he assured her.

Tyler breathed a sigh of relief once she reached the relative sanctuary of her bedroom, the first time she had really been able to relax since waking up this morning and finding herself in bed with Zak.

In bed with Zak!

Just the memory of that was enough to make her drop down weakly onto her bed.

It was bad enough that she had woken and found herself in bed with him, but it was what had followed that disturbed her the most: Zak Prince very thoroughly kissing her.

And her kissing him right back…

If the woman from Housekeeping hadn’t interrupted them when she did…!

Then what?

What did she think would have happened? That the two of them would have carried on making love?

Tyler gave a groan of self-loathing. What a stupid, stupid thing for her to have allowed to happen. Zak had made it more than obvious that he had very little respect for her as a reporter as it was. After she’d fallen into his arms like that, he probably had none at all for her as a woman now, either.

‘Tyler?’ A knock on the bedroom door accompanied Perry’s query. ‘Are you all right in there? Only I can’t hear the shower running.’

‘I’m fine,’ she answered sharply, glaring at the closed door. ‘But I could be a while, so why don’t you—?’

‘I’m staying right here, Tyler,’ Perry informed her doggedly.

She got wearily to her feet, still frowning her irritation with Perry’s badgering as she grabbed some fresh clothes and went through to the adjoining shower-room.

Not that she felt too much better half an hour later, freshly showered and dressed in a clean white tee shirt and faded denims, her hair washed and moussed. All surface dressing in an effort to boost her bruised morale, knowing that, after what had happened between them this morning, Zak was going to be more obnoxious that ever when she met up with him this evening.

And she still had a disgruntled Perry sitting in her lounge!

‘Coffee?’ she offered as she came through from the bedroom and saw that he hadn’t made himself a cup after all.

‘No, thanks,’ he refused tersely, standing up. ‘I really wasn’t exaggerating, was I, when I said Zak Prince can’t be alone with a woman for five minutes without trying to seduce her into his bed? Only in your case it doesn’t seem to have taken even five minutes!’ He looked at her scornfully.

Tyler felt the colour drain from her cheeks. ‘Perry, you have absolutely no right—’

‘No right!’ he exclaimed, shaking his head in disgust. ‘Tyler, I stood outside the hotel last night for over five hours waiting for one or both of you to come out. Then I tried calling you when I got home. Then again at two o’clock. Then again at six o’clock this morning.’ His mouth twisted derisively. ‘The fact that you were still wearing your clothes from yesterday when you arrived home, and looked as if you had just fallen out of bed—literally!—is more than enough reason for me to have added two and two together and come up with the appropriate answer of four! Wouldn’t you say?’ His eyes glittered with accusation.

Tyler drew in a sharp breath. It was probably as well Perry hadn’t been inside the hotel when Zak had swept her up in his arms and carried her away to his hotel suite! ‘Perry, I think you had better leave before you say anything else you’re going to regret,’ she warned.

He dismissed the warning with a wave of his hand. ‘Is that all you have to say to me? Tyler, I thought the two of us meant something to each other. As friends, if nothing else,’ he added as she would have argued that point.

‘Oh, Perry, of course we’re friends.’ She groaned. ‘But nothing happened between Zak Prince and me last night,’ she told him heavily, knowing that wasn’t quite true of this morning, but having no intention of sharing that humiliation with anyone—including Perry.

‘I hope for your sake that it didn’t,’ he snapped. ‘We’re supposed to be digging up the dirt on Zak Prince—I would hate for you to be part of it!’

That was the choice her editor had given her after Tyler had effectively blown the story on Jinx Nixon; deliver as much scandal on Zak Prince as she could, or else she could look for another job. Having walked out on her home and family six months ago with the brave declaration she was perfectly capable of making it on her own, she had no intention of getting fired from her very first job as a reporter.

Although that didn’t stop her inwardly cringing at the knowledge that this interview with Zak was intended as lurid fodder for the tabloids, rather than the restrained Sunday magazine supplement article that she had told Zak it would be. This type of journalism was not exactly what she had had in mind when she’d made those grand announcements to her family!

‘I was ill last night, and Zak Prince was kind enough—’

‘You were ill?’ Perry moved to her side to look down at her with concern. ‘What happened? Why were you ill? Do you need to see a doctor?’

A head doctor, maybe—for being stupid enough not to have rebuffed Zak this morning when he’d kissed her!

‘No.’ She gave a humourless laugh. ‘I don’t need to see a doctor. I—inadvertently drank some brandy—’

‘Oh, no,’ Perry groaned in sympathy, well aware of her allergy to alcohol. ‘But how on earth—?’

‘It was an accident, okay?’ she told him sharply. ‘I drank it. I was ill. And Zak Prince took care of me. End of story.’ As far as explaining herself to Perry it was, but she had a definite feeling that Zak would have other ideas on the subject!

‘You poor love,’ Perry sympathized. ‘And all I did when you finally managed to stagger home was hurl accusations at you. Will you let me make you some coffee to make up for my boorish behaviour?’

‘Fine,’ she accepted as she dropped down into an armchair, just wanting to forget this awkwardness between them; goodness knew she had made few enough friends since moving to London without alienating Perry too. And she really didn’t need any more confrontation—she was only just starting to feel a little better.

Although, she had to admit, the thought of meeting Zak Prince again at eight o’clock this evening was enough to make her feel ill all over again!

* * *

‘You’re looking good,’ Zak complimented her as he opened the door to his hotel suite at exactly eight o’clock that evening and saw a transformed Tyler standing outside.

She did look good. Very good, in fact. The red dress she wore clung in all the right places as it emphasized pert breasts and the curve of her hips—she was obviously wearing very little clothing underneath the figure-hugging dress. Its above-knee length showed off a long expanse of shapely tanned legs, and the high heels on the matching red shoes she wore added a good three inches to her diminutive height.

His practised eye told him she was wearing more make-up than usual too—those dark lashes surrounding her huge brown eyes looking longer and silkier than ever, a delicate blush emphasizing her cheekbones, and a red gloss on her lips adding to their fullness.

‘Dressed for battle, hmm?’ he guessed.

‘A party, I thought,’ she came back lightly as she walked past him into the suite.

Zak grinned appreciatively as he turned to watch the sway of her hips. He hadn’t been quite sure what to expect when Tyler arrived this evening—the spitfire of their first and second meeting, or the young woman this morning who had seemed confused and not a little upset at their response to each other in bed; he certainly hadn’t been expecting this beautiful siren. She had obviously sat back when she’d got home earlier, regrouped, and this dynamically beautiful woman was the result.

‘You’re looking pretty good yourself,’ she returned the compliment as her gaze travelled slowly up the length of his body.

Zak frowned, finding he was uncomfortable with the way Tyler had looked at him with such feminine assessment as she took in his appearance in the cream silk shirt and brown trousers he wore this evening. As he had looked at her own changed appearance seconds ago in the red dress with complete male assessment…? Hell, yes, but—But nothing. What was good enough for him, her challenging gaze now said, was good enough for her, too.

There was more, much more, it seemed, to Tyler Wood than he had at first given her credit for…

‘Thanks,’ he accepted as casually as he could. ‘I won’t bother to offer you a drink before we leave—we both know where that could lead!’ he taunted, blue eyes challenging her now.

Tyler didn’t even blink at his deliberate reminder of last night and this morning. ‘You mentioned that we would be having dinner before the party…?’

‘O’Malley’s.’ He nodded. ‘If that’s okay with you?’

‘Oh, I think I’ll be able to cope,’ she said dryly.

The restaurant he had chosen was the in-place at the moment, a cross between an Irish pub and a superb English-cuisine restaurant. But, despite what Tyler might think to the contrary, that wasn’t the reason Zak had chosen it. O’Malley’s was more relaxed than the other fashionable London eateries, and Zak didn’t particularly enjoy dining in formal restaurants. From the brief time he had spent in Tyler’s company, he hadn’t thought she would either, but her appearance this evening told him very firmly that she would be comfortable no matter what her surroundings.

‘Good,’ he said as he opened the door for her to leave, still feeling strangely wrong-footed by this stunning woman—something that didn’t happen to him too often, he had to admit.

He caught a faint whiff of her perfume as she moved smoothly past him out into the corridor, a heady mixture of clean flesh and that elusively floral concoction.

Tyler was most definitely not his type, he told himself firmly as he accompanied her to the lift. For one thing he abhorred short hair on a woman—he couldn’t stand that almost as much as the unfeminine combat trousers Tyler had worn yesterday. Worst of all, she was that loathed of all things, a reporter!

Then why, if he disliked all those things about her, had the memory of her this morning, soft and pliant in his arms, her body warm and inviting, been intruding into his thoughts all day?