Summer Fling with a Prince

by Katrina Cudmore

  ‘For yourself?’

  ‘And others.’ He had wanted to prove to his father and his brothers that there was more to him than the silent younger brother who so clearly puzzled them.

  Moving the brush stand towards her, he said, ‘Explore the different brushes.’ Pausing, he placed a small amount of ink onto the ink tray. ‘Lightly dip your brush into the ink and create shapes on the paper.’ He demonstrated some brushstrokes, using three different brushes, showing her how different pressure created shadows.

  They worked in silence, the roll of the sea on the rocks below the finca and Paco’s restless movements on the sofa the only sounds. He waited for her to speak but instead she focused on her brush strokes, swirling patterns filling her paper. He drew out another blank sheet of paper from the cupboard, fetched a sculpture of a tern from the bookshelf. With his hand hovering over the sculpture he talked to her about the flowing shapes of the bird, moving his hand over to the paper to illustrate how she could capture its shape by curving the lines and playing with the space between them.

  Her nose wrinkled unhappily with her first line that was to capture the curve of the tern from its head down to its proud, elongated tail.

  Placing his hand on hers, he said, ‘Have confidence, hold the brush more freely, feel the curves, don’t think...just feel.’

  He guided her hand, creating the breast of the bird and then the beak.

  And when he drew back, he got why she looked away from him. Something unnerving was beating between them.

  ‘Toni...’

  She turned, those huge brown eyes troubled but also unable to hide the same spark of attraction that was in him.

  ‘This is all...’ He breathed deeply, hating how inarticulate he was.

  She waited for him to speak but eventually said, ‘Complicated... I know,’ she dipped her head, her fingers running over the handmade rice paper, ‘I’m here to do my job, but please know that when we’re not recording the interview...everything is off the record. I hope you can trust me on that.’

  He resisted the temptation to laugh and tell her that he hadn’t truly trusted anyone for decades. Always attuned to other people’s judgements, always knowing that when push came to shove people would always serve their own interests over his. He should call it a night on the painting and go and walk the dogs, but for reasons he didn’t fully understand he wanted to turn the tables and see just how much Toni trusted him. He knew of some of her background, thanks to overhearing conversations between Kara and Alice, but would Toni share her past with him? ‘You said that you used to be an associate producer, so why are you now doing podcasts?’

  She grimaced at his question, running a hand over her cheek and back over her hair, which was tied back into a ponytail. ‘When Dan broke it off with me, I left the production company we both worked for, as it was too awkward to stay working together. I became a freelancer working for a podcast advertising firm—I still work with them occasionally. Part of my job was researching podcast content and advising clients on their appropriateness as an advertising platform.’ With a sigh she continued, ‘Personally I wasn’t in a good place. I felt overwhelmed by how my life had changed so utterly. But listening to podcasts, often when I went for long walks, really helped. I loved their immediacy... I’m naturally curious about people, not in a nosy way, but I love hearing their stories. Giving them a voice. There’s so much power in sharing our stories. We can make the world a better place by connecting...’ she held his gaze for long seconds ‘...in wanting to understand one another.’ For a moment she paused and frowned before giving a disbelieving laugh. ‘I say all that but sometimes I battle with the fact that I have a tendency to overshare. I’m a born chatterbox. My mum used to have to ask me to stop talking when I was a child. I was a nightmare at school. I know it has its downsides, oversharing, and believe it or not I’m trying not to be so open...but admittedly I’m not doing a particularly good job right now, telling you all of this.’

  They stared at each other for long moments, the air in the room vanishing, his heart beating faster. It would be so easy to reach out and touch her hand, move even closer towards her. ‘I’m sorry he hurt you.’

  She nodded, her slow, grateful smile catching his heart. ‘When Dan left me, it felt like I had been hit by a truck. I suppose, like any relationship, ours had changed over the years, but we were friends. We made each other laugh. One night after he had left me I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a walk. I listened to a podcast given by a singer who spoke about her marriage ending and she said that she had been too scared to end the marriage herself, even though she knew it wasn’t right for her.’ She picked up one of the paintbrushes, idly drawing a circle onto the page, its circumference growing wider and wider. Not breaking her attention from the drawing, she added in a low voice, ‘And I realised I had been too scared to even contemplate leaving Dan, never mind doing it...even though I knew deep down I wasn’t truly happy.’

  ‘Why were you scared?’

  ‘It meant stepping into the unknown.’ She put down the brush. ‘I like to feel secure...the unknown scares me.’

  Dio! She disarmed him. Her beauty, her forthrightness, the endless unnerving chemistry between them. He needed to be blunt...he had no idea what the next few days would bring, but he knew he had to make sure Toni knew exactly what she could expect from him. ‘I’m not good at relationships. I like being independent, living on my own.’

  Again she shrugged. ‘Given that I don’t think I’ll ever have the courage to trust someone again, I’m trying to embrace independence too.’ Her attempt at a smile did little to cover her vulnerability.

  Without thinking he placed his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him, and placed a kiss against her hair.

  Just as quickly he pulled away. He stood up. What was he doing? He should be keeping all of this strictly professional...otherwise the boundaries between them would become a tangled mess. ‘There will be fireworks in Laredo later—it’s the feria week in the town. I need to walk Paco and Lore before the fireworks start.’

  She twisted in her seat. ‘I’ll join you.’

  He shook his head. Needing distance. ‘Stay and paint.’ He turned away from her disappointment, alarm bells that he was lowering his defences overriding every other desire in him...for her company, for her.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  SHAFTS OF LIGHT from the closed shutters fell across the bedroom. Outside came the frantic barking of dogs. Throwing back the bedcovers, Toni opened the terrace doors and flung open the shutters, squinting in the glare of the already hot morning sun. The stone of the terrace was warm under her bare feet. Following the barking, she ran down the path towards the beach. Were the dogs in trouble? She cursed as she stubbed her toe on a rock, hopping on one foot but still continuing her journey, unable to see what the crisis was, as wild and fragrant shrubs obscured her view of the beach.

  She raced down and out onto the golden sand. Paco and Lore were scampering along the gently lapping waves, barking out to sea. Her gaze darted to the calm blue expanse. Was it Ivo? Was he okay? She called out to the dogs, who calmed for a few seconds before charging once again up and down the beach, their barks even louder than before. She followed them into the water, a hand shielding her eyes as she searched for him. Should she run and get her phone...even run to the security lodge and alert Ivo’s staff? Was he even out there? Maybe he was still in bed? Maybe his dogs just barked at the sea for no particular reason. Her chest tightened. She knew she needed to stay calm, but she could feel her pores start to sweat, her heart race. What if Ivo really was in trouble? And then she saw a movement on the sea. An arm slicing into the water. And then another. A splash of feet. She backed away, collapsed down onto the sand further up the beach, relief wiping her out. She breathed in deeply, thrown by how panicked she had felt.

  Both dogs quietened as Ivo swam closer to the beach, their tails swishing in anticipa
tion as he stood and waded out of the sea. He was wearing dark green swimming trunks, his body a series of rock-hard lines of muscle emphasised by his dark golden skin. At the shoreline he paused and shook his head, a spiral of water arcing through the air, smoothed his tousled hair into order and then lifted a warning finger to both dogs, who instantly sat as though thoroughly chastised, but their wagging tails on the sand gave away their true feelings of glee to have their master back safely.

  She stood as he approached, trying not to give away just how giddy she felt at his near nakedness, her fingers itching to follow the path of the water droplets slowly oozing down from the light dusting of hair on his chest, down over his pronounced six pack and disappearing into the band of the trunks that hung low on his narrow hips. Her pulse thundered in her ears. Did he have to be so disarmingly gorgeous? How was she supposed to breathe, never mind think straight when faced with so much testosterone?

  He came to a stop a few feet away from her, his gaze briefly flicking down over her body. ‘I’m sorry if they woke you.’

  There was an intimacy to his voice that had her fiddling with the thin strap of her pyjama top and adjusting the legs of her shorts. ‘I was worried something was the matter...’ She trailed off, now embarrassed by her panic.

  He shook his head, glancing back at the dogs. ‘They go crazy like that sometimes,’ then, pausing, he gave her the smallest of smiles, ‘but thanks for being concerned.’

  She grinned back, buoyed by the soft glimmer of laughter in his eyes.

  An internal dialogue was screaming, You are standing in front of a near-naked Prince Ivo—do you know how lucky you are? Make the most of every second of this. Memorise every detail of his body...memorise every smile, every look. You’ll cherish these memories in the months and years ahead. An extraordinary weekend to look back on wistfully.

  ‘Can I interview you again this morning?’

  Moving away, he grabbed a towel from the row of beach sunbeds behind them. They hadn’t been there last night when she had come down to the beach for her swim. The door of the yellow wooden summer house perched against the cliff face was open, so she was guessing that Ivo had taken them out from there. ‘I have to work—I spend Saturdays catching up on emails and paperwork.’ He gestured to the sunbeds. ‘I thought you might like to spend the day here on the beach. The summer house has a well-stocked kitchen. Help yourself to any drinks or snacks you might want.’

  She got the distinct feeling work was just an excuse to avoid another interview. Her usual approach to interviews clearly wasn’t going to work and instead she needed to adapt to Ivo’s closed personality. ‘How about we cut a deal—I won’t interview you again until Monday if you agree to hanging out with me for the next two days?’

  ‘Hang out?’

  She laughed at the dubious way he said it. ‘Yes, hang out. We can chill out here on the beach, go for a swim, chat, get to know one another. Sunbathe.’

  As he walked towards her his eyes worked their way down her body and back up again. ‘There are sun umbrellas in the summer house. Use them. Your skin is way too delicate for you to lie directly out in the sun.’

  Something crazy stirred in her stomach at the heat in his voice. ‘Well, I guess that’s why sun cream was invented...and I like the heat. It’s therapeutic.’ She had no idea how to deal with the seductive chemistry that kept popping up between them...but, for now, light-hearted flirting instinctively seemed like the safest way to defuse its dangerous potential. ‘I guess it’s a good job that you’ll be here to rub it on all those hard-to-reach spots.’

  He held her gaze, a hint of a mischievous smile growing on his lips. ‘If I’m going to forgo a day’s work then it has to be for something worthwhile, not idling on a beach.’ Shifting away, he moved towards the path back up to the finca.

  She followed. ‘Worthwhile...what do you mean?’

  ‘I’ll call the outdoor sports shop in Monrosa town—they can deliver everything you need within the hour. We can leave straight after to ensure we aren’t hiking in the warmer hours of the day.’

  Hiking! It was already baking hot. His towel slung over his shoulder, Ivo was powering up the path ahead of her, his long legs making short work of the incline. There was no way that she would be able to keep up with him. Her idea of a long walk was the ten minutes it took her to reach her nearest bus stop...this was going to be so embarrassing. She had to persuade him that it wasn’t a good idea. She really should chase after him...and she would, but right now she just wanted another few seconds of watching his magnificent body at work, the pull of tight muscles across his upper back, the indent at the bottom of his spine, the hard round shape of his bottom... What would he be like in bed? Would he be gentle or demanding? Would she see a true glimpse of who he was beneath the closed veneer he showed to the world? Would the true man reveal himself to her?

  * * *

  A shriek cut through the air. Paco and Lore, who had been trailing close to his heels, bolted ahead, their tails between their legs.

  Whipping around, he raced back to Toni, who was flapping her arms wildly and leaping in the air like a gazelle. ‘Snake! A snake just slithered across the path. It went in there.’

  He studied the dense undergrowth she was pointing back towards. ‘Snakes play an important role in keeping our natural ecosystem thriving.’

  Toni pushed past him, making a disgruntled sound. But then, coming to a halt, she twisted back to him, yanking off one of his old baseball caps. A trail of dirt smeared her cheek. ‘You said the hike would be a short one—we’ve been walking hours.’

  He checked his watch, holding back a grin. ‘We’ve been walking less than an hour.’

  ‘Uphill all the way, in the baking heat.’

  Turning to survey the mountain forest below them, his beloved Mediterranean in the distance, he said, ‘Yes, but look at the views. Wasn’t the climb worth the effort?’

  That earned him another heavy sigh. ‘Yeah, they’re fab.’

  His lips twitched. So did hers. She tugged at the collar of her new T-shirt. ‘This isn’t helping—it’s way too tight.’

  Not in his eyes. Earlier when the outdoor store had delivered the hiking gear for her, she had tried it all on, grumbling that the sizing of the white polo shirt and khaki shorts were wrong, but he hadn’t said anything, guessing that she didn’t want to hear that he thought that the tight-fitting clothes revealed the soft curves of her body perfectly.

  Reaching for the water bottle at the side of his rucksack, he offered it to her.

  ‘I don’t suppose it’s a Paradise City in there?’

  ‘Cocktails aren’t recommended for hydration.’

  She rolled her eyes and took a long sip of the water before saying, ‘You do realise that we could be out having lunch in a restaurant with air-conditioning right now, or, even better still, lying on the beach.’

  ‘Yes, but then you wouldn’t be getting to see any of the hidden treasures of Monrosa you were so keen to hear about last night. Come on, we’d better go and find Paco and Lore—they ran off when you started screaming.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Why didn’t you say so before now?’

  Before he could answer that it wasn’t a problem, as he was certain they would find them further along the trail, she sprinted up the hill away from him. He caught up with her as she found the dogs lying in the shade of a giant pine.

  Bending over, she patted them both. ‘I didn’t mean to frighten you.’

  Dio! Those shorts were tight. He dragged his gaze away and stepped beyond her, gesturing that they should move on. They walked to the peak of the hill and then as the path dropped down and twisted inland he asked, ‘Is there any other wildlife that terrifies you that I should know about? Where do you stand with lizards and spiders? The Monrosian Hairy-Back Spider thrives along this coastline.’

  Her eyes widened but then, shaking her head, s
he said, ‘You’re teasing me, aren’t you? Who knew that the Machine had such a sense of humour?’

  He laughed. ‘I reserve it for those who are close to me.’

  She studied him for a moment. ‘I guess I should be honoured in that case. Who are the people close to you? Who are your support network?’

  For a while he pretended to concentrate on crossing the wooden bridge suspended over the river that flowed down to the coast. He was tempted to change the subject. But something inside of him wanted to tell her the blunt truth. He wanted to see how she would react. Would she distance herself from him, back away from the attraction between them? Would she get that he was never going to form close attachments to anyone? ‘I prefer to fend for myself in life. I don’t have or need a support network.’

  * * *

  Toni watched as Ivo walked ahead of her. What had just happened? One minute the mood between them had been light and teasing and now it was as though she had touched a raw nerve with him. Did he really need no support...was he really that self-contained?

  She knew she should just accept what he said. Wasn’t she trying to emulate his detachment, after all? But her curiosity was too great. Her need to understand him had her chase after him and without much thought she admitted, ‘I admire your ability to be self-contained. Sometimes I wish I could be more like that.’

  He glanced in her direction, clearly perplexed. Then he shrugged and gave a humourless laugh. ‘You must be the first person who sees my preference to lead a private life as a positive thing.’

  She laughed too, raising an eyebrow. ‘Well, positive up to a certain point, of course, but I can see the merits of being self-reliant. Happy in your own skin, so to speak. In the past I have looked too much outside of myself for happiness—with Dan, in my social life, through work... I looked at all of those things for affirmation, but deep down I have struggled with truly believing in myself.’ She paused, snapshots of memories from her life when she had felt overwhelmed by feelings of vulnerability looping through her brain. The times she had run home, only to find that her dad had disappeared once again. Her mother’s withdrawal in the weeks that followed. The endless questions she asked herself as to whether there had been something she had done wrong to cause him to leave. The constant erosion of her confidence that had her cling to friendships and later Dan as though they were a lifeline of affirmation and safety. Her first year in university when everyone else had seemed so confident and she had just felt utterly lost. ‘Sometimes I wish I was tougher, less thin-skinned, that I was someone who could brush off life easily. Someone like you, in fact.’