Claiming the Royal Innocent (Kingdoms & Crowns)

by Jennifer Hayward

  Soon? She was too tempting beneath his hands not to touch. Too tempting to touch. A couple more minutes, he told himself. Max.

  Sinking his hands into her waist, he lifted her up so her knees came down on either side of his thighs. It gave him access to all of her. Perhaps not so smart.

  Moving his lips to the smooth column of her throat, he satisfied a burning need to taste more of that silky smooth skin with lazy openmouthed kisses that revealed she tasted that good all over. Christe mou. Lust coiled low in his gut at the sweet, honeyed flavor of her. It made him wonder if she’d taste like that between her thighs...like some kind of forbidden ambrosia he’d never get to sample...but desperately wanted to.

  He traced the pulse that raced at the base of her throat with his tongue, absorbing her indrawn breath.

  “Aristos.” His name on her lips sounded so sexy with the perfect roll of the r, all the blood in his body fled south.

  “You are so perfect,” he murmured, dipping lower to the hollow between her breasts. The plunging neckline of the robe gave him easy access to the beginning of those beautiful round curves. Succumbing to temptation, he slid his fingers beneath the silk, rasping his thumbs across the twin hard peaks. Alex gasped and arched into his touch, her breathy moan kicking him low in the gut.

  He wanted to look at her, to wrap his mouth around her, to lavish his attention on her naked flesh. Instead he brought his lips back to hers in a kiss that flouted sanity, searched for it even as Alex buried her fingers in his hair, urging him on. Unable to resist those sexy moans, he rolled her nipples between his fingers, teased the aroused peaks even tauter, her answering groan heating his blood.

  This is madness. Somewhere deep inside his brain the thought registered, finally clicked with unerring precision. Lifting his mouth from hers, he pulled the silk lapels of her robe together and set her away from him on the sofa. Alex stared at him, a stricken look on her face.

  “Soon is over,” he bit out. “Soon was a bad idea.”

  “Aristos—”

  He got to his feet. Hardened his heart against the vulnerability that cloaked her like a second skin. “The storm has passed. Get some sleep.”

  Turning on his heel, he left before his common sense deserted him completely, his rules in tatters.

  CHAPTER SIX

  IT WAS NO USE.

  Alex set her laptop on the table, swiped up her espresso and sat back in the plush lounge chair, drinking in the idyllic view of an endless blue horizon from her private terrace. Perhaps more caffeine might kick-start her brain into working order, because all it could focus on right now was the kiss. Well, not just the kiss. The way Aristos had taken intimate possession of her body after the kiss.

  She closed her eyes as the memory singed her skin. How utterly and completely lost she’d been...how it had felt as if she were playing with fire but she hadn’t cared...the knowledgeable rasp of his thumbs across the peaks of her breasts igniting a need she hadn’t known existed...

  Her blood pumped through her veins at the memory, warming her cheeks. In the cold light of day she recognized her actions as foolish, inspired by the loneliness enveloping her the night before, by the need to know if that kiss the night of the ball had really been that good, that that kind of passion existed off the pages of a book. And perhaps, most of all, because uncovering the Aristos who was so much more than the ruthless casino scion he was made out to be had proved undeniably fascinating. Lethally compelling.

  She wondered at the strength of character he must have displayed to get where he was today. Wondered what could have happened in his family to drive him onto the streets. She wanted to feel special because he’d confided something to her he’d never confided to anyone else, but she knew that would be taking her foolishness to a whole other level.

  She was sure the Aegean Sea was littered with the emotional corpses of countless women who had crashed and burned in their attempts to get to the bottom of Aristos. Who’d thought they would be the one. She would not be one of them. Not when he was the same kind of philanderer as the one who had broken her mother’s heart. Stolen her dreams. Left her pining for a love that would never be hers.

  That he was fast becoming an anchor for her, that Aristos Nicolades, notorious playboy and ruthless take-no-prisoners force of the business world, was serving as a fountain of wisdom on this new road she was traveling, seemed a rather bizarre development. But last night she’d seen he was far more than the image he presented to the world. She had a feeling it had been only the tip of the iceberg. So perhaps not so crazy after all...

  Still, even if all that were true, even if she wanted to know that kind of passion for real in this new, more-daring version of herself, Aristos was the last man she should do it with. The way he’d dumped her on the sofa and left last night should be more than enough incentive to convince her of that. It had been vastly...humiliating.

  She took another long draw on the espresso, attempting to drown her mortification in the dark eye-opening brew. She would be far better off doing what Aristos had suggested, working on her future, taking back control of her life in constructive ways, than fixating on a kiss.

  She spent a couple of hours doing just that, looking at literacy organizations that not only appeared as if they were doing good work but also might benefit from her support as a spokeswoman. She jotted down the names of a couple of charities that looked interesting, then put her research aside for her more pressing task.

  Typing in Dimitri Smirnov and wife, she searched everything she could find on the oligarch’s significant other, Galina Smirnov, a glamorous London-based socialite. The oligarch himself seemed to be of questionable reputation, some of his interests on the shadier side, it seemed. It made her wonder why Aristos did business with him, but that wasn’t her mission here.

  Working her way through the articles, she unearthed a profile from a glossy magazine. It was rife with information. Skimming her way through the stories of the Smirnovs’ legendary soirees, weekend residences and politically notable connections, she found a paragraph about the hostess’s not-to-be-missed London dinner parties.

  Galina Smirnov entertains with a glamour that harkens back to a golden age, when the jazz greats dominated and the making of a superior cocktail was an art. Cocktail hour at the Smirnovs’ is sacrosanct, vodka-based, of course, Galina’s collection of the jazz masters incomparable, enjoyed by the guests on an antique gramophone.

  Jazz music. Her lips curved. This she could work with. Her mother just so happened to be old friends with the retired jazz legend Nina Karvelas, who had once come to Stygos to sing for their guests at the hotel’s grand reopening.

  Could she convince Nina to come out of retirement to sing on Larikos as a birthday present for Galina Smirnov? Perhaps the singer would do it if a donation were made to one of the charities she’d spent her retirement working with.

  Exhilaration flooding through her, Alex threw on shorts and a T-shirt and went in search of Aristos at his office. His PA, Carin, told her he was booked solid until nine that evening with conference calls. Cooling her heels with difficulty, she headed to the beach, read a classic, took a surfing lesson from the water sports instructor, Diego, then ate dinner by herself. Still no Aristos.

  She rose the next day only to be told by Carin that Aristos was in Athens for meetings. Diavole. Was he avoiding her because of that kiss? Was he going to avoid her forever?

  Humiliation dogging her footsteps, she buried her head in another book to fill the day. By the time dinner rolled around, the thought of consuming another meal by herself didn’t appeal. She wasn’t even hungry. It felt as though all she’d done was sit around and eat.

  She went for a hike up into the cliffs instead, the early-evening air still hot and humid. Sitting on a rock at the top, she took her time enjoying the view, then walked back along the beach toward the Great House.

  Passing the tiny little cove off the main resort, a slice of heaven with its pristine white sand crescent bounded by th
e walls of the cliffs, she was irresistibly tempted. What she wouldn’t do for a swim right now, her body grimy and sweaty from the hike. But Diego was off for the evening, Aristos nowhere in sight, the helicopter pad empty. She couldn’t even swim by herself.

  Frustration coursed through her, tightening her fists by her sides. She was a prisoner...a damn prisoner on this island. In this fortress Aristos called paradise. She was an excellent swimmer, there was no risk.

  Heat pushed through her, egging her on. She glanced around the deserted little cove. There was no one to see her...

  Mouth set, she stripped off her T-shirt and shorts to the bathing suit she had underneath, waded into the heavenly water and sighed. It was perfect.

  * * *

  Aristos landed on Larikos just before nine, the resort sparkling with light against a sky full of stars. Retrieving his briefcase, he thanked the pilot, jumped to the ground and propelled his weary body toward the Great House.

  It had been quite the day. Still no word from Dimitri, and a score of meetings with suppliers in Athens persuading them to hang tight, that the ground-breaking for the casino would not be delayed long.

  His thoughts turned to Alex as he climbed the stairs toward his suite. He had been ignoring her ever since that kiss, hoping the cloud of vulnerability that surrounded her would fade along with his instinct to comfort her and spill pieces of his past while he was at it.

  Kissing her was one thing, a mistake he never should have made, but revealing so much of himself had been worse. If he pretended his past had never happened, refused to acknowledge it, it held no power over him; others couldn’t use it as a weapon against his undeniable success. Telling the story to Alex, however, had established it as fact. Brought it into his present. And even though he trusted her and knew it would go no further, it still felt like a chink in his armor.

  He climbed the final set of stairs, mouth flattening. The problem was, now he felt guilty. Alex must be lonely. Perhaps she hadn’t eaten? Perhaps they could have dinner together? Dinner was safe.

  He dropped his things off in his room and knocked on her door. When there was no response, he knocked again. No answer. Turning the knob, he pushed the door open and called her name. Nothing. Strange. The dining room had looked empty on his way up.

  He went downstairs and found Yolande. “Do you know where Alex is?”

  “I haven’t seen her since this morning. I thought she might be having a rest.”

  “She’s not in her room. Could she be using the spa?”

  His manager made a call. Frowned as she hung up. “She’s not there.”

  Then where the hell is she? An uneasy feeling slid across his skin. Alex had mentioned the cliffs the other night, how she’d thought the view would be amazing. He’d told her the rocks could be treacherous, unstable; it was a hundred-foot drop to the water below; better to do it together sometime.

  His unease intensified. Had she gone and done it anyway? Even if she had, it was a short hike; it wouldn’t take hours.

  “Go ask the staff,” he told his manager curtly. “Find out who saw her last.”

  When Yolande reported back to say no one had seen Alex in hours, a web of apprehension snaked its way around him. His brain flipped to the Carnelians, a thought he immediately dismissed. The island’s perimeter was unbreachable. But it remained in the back of his mind, eating away at him, as he called his head of security and ordered a search of the island.

  The cliffs worrying him the most, he jumped into a Jeep and headed toward them, his progress hampered by the darkness and the rutted track. Had she fallen? Hurt herself? There were venomous snakes up there...scorpions that could incapacitate a person in seconds.

  His brain spun in a million directions. If anything had happened to her...she was his responsibility...under his care.

  He hit the gas and the Jeep jumped ahead. This was why he hadn’t wanted her here. Why he never wanted to be responsible for anyone. Because every time he had been he’d failed, too caught up in himself to be there when the person he was responsible for needed him.

  He had exhausted every possible scenario in his head, his insides in knots as he neared the cliffs, when his pilot called him. He had located Alex. Swimming. In the cove below the cliffs.

  What he had strictly forbidden her to do.

  He slammed on the brakes, a red mist descending over his vision. She would not have done that. She would not.

  He sent his pilot home, pulled his security team in, turned the Jeep around and headed back along the track. By the time he reached the path to the cove he was beyond furious; he was apoplectic.

  Pulling the vehicle to a screeching halt, he jumped out and headed down the path toward the beach. There, lying on her back, floating in the water, was Alex, illuminated by the light of the moon.

  * * *

  A choked sound alerted Alex to the fact that she was not alone. Flipping onto her front, she trod water, eyes widening when she saw Aristos in a designer suit standing on the shore. Her heart hammered in her chest as he headed toward the water. Surely he wasn’t going to... Thee mou. Her hand flew to her mouth as he stalked into the sea, a lethally dangerous expression on his face.

  She was in so much trouble.

  Her tongue, cleaved to the roof of her mouth, could manage only a helpless “Aristos—”

  He pushed through the water, sank his fingers into her waist, picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and headed for shore. She gasped, fingers grasping his jacket. “What are you doing? Put me down... You’re ruining your suit.”

  He stalked up onto the shore and set her on her feet.

  “While you were enjoying your swim, which I expressly forbade you to do, my search team, the entire island, has been looking for you.”

  “The entire island? Why?”

  “You didn’t show up for dinner. No one’s seen you in hours. You didn’t deign to tell anyone where you were going.”

  Her heart sank. “I was on my way back. I was just going to be a few minutes more. It’s—” she waved her arm around them “—it’s so nice here. I told you I’m an excellent swimmer. Isn’t this a bit of an overreaction?”

  He stepped closer, his powerful body a wall of heat that bled into her skin, sending her heart racing in her chest. “You forget, you are a target, Princess. You are under my care. How do you think I’m going to react when you disappear? Do a whistling little stroll around the island calling your name like my dog’s gone missing?” He raked his gaze over her face. “There are poisonous creatures on this island. A hundred-foot drop from that cliff. I was worried you’d fallen, were lying somewhere in need of help.”

  A tight band wrapped itself around her chest. She pressed her palms to her cheeks. “Lypamai. I’m sorry... I wasn’t thinking right. I was so bored, I didn’t—I didn’t think to tell anyone.”

  “Bored?” His breath rasped across her cheek, the intimidating bulk of him pushing her heart rate from fast to furious. “I’ll tell you who isn’t bored. My pilot, who was finally settling down to dinner... My security team, who’ve already had a full day’s work... Yolande, who is frantic about you.”

  Tears burned the backs of her eyes. “I said I was sorry. I’m just trying to explain.”

  “Why?” he demanded. “Why would you disobey my direct request not to swim?”

  “I was...frustrated.”

  “About what?”

  “About being here. I have nothing to do. You won’t let me help.”

  His lip curled, wisps of pure fury coiling in his gaze. “You know what you need to do, Princess? Grow up. Stop whining about being here and thank your lucky stars people care enough about you to want you safe. Some don’t have that luxury.”

  She flinched. Knew he was right, but the humiliation blanketing her lifted her chin. “What about you, Aristos? How grown-up are you being? We share one kiss and you go running for the hills.”

  “I was working, not running for the hills.”

  “And you couldn’t
spare five minutes to say hello?” She shook her head. “What are you afraid of? That I won’t be able to keep my hands off you? That in my naive, vulnerable state of being, I can’t resist you? Because I promise you, I know that kiss was a bad idea.”

  A smoky, sultry edge laced his furious expression. “Quite the opposite, Princess. I am afraid I won’t have the discipline to walk away the next time you throw yourself at me. My next move after that kiss would have been to carry you to my bed, remove your clothes and explore every inch of your beautiful body with my hands and mouth to see if you tasted as sweet in all the places I’d fantasized about. And then where would we be?”

  Thee mou. Heat uncoiled under her skin, a soft, sinuous unfurling of something molten that scalded her insides. Swallowing hard, she lifted her chin. Halted the insanity. “I know the kiss can’t happen again. I would have told you that if you hadn’t been avoiding me. As for tonight, I am truly, truly sorry for the mess I’ve caused. It was thoughtless of me.”

  “Hurricane Aleksandra,” he murmured silkily, watching her with a hooded look. “Blows in and sweeps everything up with it.”

  Her lashes lowered. A shiver moved through her as the breeze swept over her wet skin. Aristos stripped off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders, the brush of his fingertips against her collarbones sending electric shocks of awareness through her. She clasped the lapels together, refusing to show how much he affected her.

  “I did,” she ventured carefully, “have something I wanted to discuss with you.”

  He lifted a brow.

  “I did some research on Galina Smirnov.”

  The dark look reappeared on his face. “No, Alex.”

  “Hear me out. I read a profile piece on her. She’s a big fan of jazz music.”

  “And this is relevant why?”

  “My mother is old friends with Nina Karvelas.”

  “The Nina Karvelas?”