“You told them I was maitre d’. You told them that I organized the party.”
“You are maitre d’, and you did organize the party. Should I lie and tell people you’re a high-priced whore from Sydney?”
She didn’t answer.
“I asked you a question, Veronica. What would you prefer I tell them?”
“Will you tell them anything else if I say I prefer it?”
“No, I’ll tell them exactly what I please.”
She lowered her eyes to the carpet. “I thought so, sir.”
The chopper touched down, and three men in expensive suits got out. They raced into the veranda and mobbed around the Prince. They all talked at once in a language Veronica didn’t understand.
The Prince waved toward Veronica more than once, and the men gabbled to each other and to her, but she couldn’t understand what they said. She couldn’t fail to understand their appreciative glances, though. The Prince had to step between her and them more than once to stop them from touching her. One of them made a grab for her breasts, and the Prince batted his hand away before shooing them all into the salon.
Her cheeks blazed with embarrassment, but she could do nothing except stand there and wait for the next guest. Who would it be this time? Another chopper already approached from the islands. Its powerful propeller wash blew her dress in every direction. She clutched one hand over her breasts and welded one arm down her leg to keep it in place. If it flew up, she would be exposed for all the world to see.
The next guests were an elderly couple Veronica didn’t recognize. They passed their pleasantries with the Prince, but he didn’t mention her or draw their attention to her. Once, she noticed the man glance at her. Then he turned his attention back to the Prince. He never acknowledged her existence again.
Nervous tension gnawed at her guts. That old man, and his wife, too, almost certainly assumed she was some floozy for hire off one of these islands. How many cheap skanks had they seen on the Prince’s arm over the years? None of them was worth mentioning or even talking to. Now she was one of them.
What was she doing with her life? How could she throw her self-respect in the gutter like this, like so much trash?
Tim’s eyes widened when he saw her in the dress, but that was nothing compared to his surprise at her behavior. He kept expecting her to move around, to supervise the service, and to communicate with the guests about their wishes and desires. That was her job, to intercede between the guests and the staff, to make sure every guest got exactly what they needed and wanted.
She didn’t do any of that. She shadowed the Prince wherever he went, and she spoke to no one but him all night long. Tim saw a lot of strange things on board the Diamantina , but never anything like this.
Her complete failure to do her job, her willingness to turn herself into a floozy for the Prince’s sake, galled her more than anything. How could she do it? How could she stand here and prostitute herself, after slaving for so many years to build a spotless reputation?
Harvey’s reaction, d isturbed her far more. He responded exactly the way she expected. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He stared at her breasts swaying free under a thin layer of silk and at her bare leg gliding out through the slit in her skirt. He followed the gentle rhythm of her voluptuous ass when she walked and the slithering snake of her spine when she passed him. He undressed her with his eyes, and he didn’t have to go very far to imagine every detail of the body underneath that dress.
After all the guests arrived, Prince Said took a seat in a wicker arm chair in the salon and held court with all his guests. Veronica stood at his shoulder for everyone to see. She was his show piece, his trophy, his prize.
While he bantered with his guests, she stared across the room, straight at Harvey. His eyes roved up and down her body. He touched every inch of her with his gaze. He flicked her nipples to hard little nubs. He caressed her naked back. He glided his hands under the silk top to cradle her pendulous breasts. He slid his fingertips up her bare leg to the top of the slit where her hips lay bare and waiting.
Behind the guests’ backs, Harvey put his hand down behind the bar to adjust the erection in his pants. Prince Said showed no sign of seeing him, but while he talked with his guests about Pacific Rim politics and other subjects of general interest, he waved his hand over the arm of the chair and put it around behind Veronica’s back. He rested his hand on her round ass and moved it up and down.
None of the guests reacted, but Harvey stared with his eyes hanging out of his head. He pumped his hard cock against his hand and bit his lower lip. Veronica kept her gaze locked on Harvey’s face. He wanted to fuck her. He wanted that to be his hand fon dling her ass in front of room full of notable people. He wanted to be the one to take her back to his cabin and nail her into the mattress.
Prince Said and all his guests kept up their conversation for hours. Prince Said never touched Veronica again, but he kept her at his side throughout the evening, his display piece. Everyone in that room, including Tim and Harvey, knew for a fact he would take her back to his room that night and have his way with her.
This was the first event in her years on the Diamantina that Veronica didn’t wish the guests good night and see them off the ship. She served only one master now, and she stayed at his heel. She was his obedient dog.
When the last guest left, he turned back into the salon with a sigh. He walked straight past her to the bar. Harvey looked at Veronica when he spoke. “What can I get for you, sir?”
Prince Said looked up at him with a blank look. “Hmm? Oh, thanks, Harvey, I’ve had enough for tonight. Where’s Tim?”
“He’s in the galley. He’s helping clean up now. Would you like me to get him for you.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’m tired. I’m going back to my cabin.”
He didn’t say, “Come along with me, Veronica.” He just walked away like she wasn’t there. She should have stayed to help clean up. She should have seen the flowers disposed of and the trash cans cleaned out. She should have been the last person awake on board that night.
Instead, she tagged at the Prince’s heels. He left the door open for her when he went into his cabin, and she followed him into the darkened chamber. The instant she got inside, he slammed the door and closed his arms around her. His breath blew into her nose. “You were stunning out there tonight. You surpassed my wildest dreams.”
She couldn’t answer before his mouth closed on hers. She fought for breath. This was it. This was really the moment she yearned for all these nights. He was kissing her. Something half thrill, half sob ripped through her.
What did it mean? Did he really care about her? Had he broken through some impassable barrier, and now he cared about her in a way he never did before? If he cared about her, how could he treat her with such callous disregard out there? How could he humiliate her like that, and then kiss her in this room like his life depended on it?
He backed her toward the bed, and they tumbled down on top of it with their lips locked. He rolled her in his arms, but he never let go of her lips. Oh, she could kiss him forever, and his kiss would only bind her to him more powerfully than the sex ever did.
His tongue danced with hers in a swaying tango of effervescent emotion. She put her arms around his neck, and he didn’t remove the m . He pillowed his head on her breasts and trailed his lips along her neck and collarbone.
Intermixed with her mounting passion, tender affection dawned in her raw soul. She wanted him with all her heart, and not just his rigid cock plowing its way between her legs . She wanted him to ache for her. She wanted his heart to break at the thought of parting, the way her heart broke when she thought she would never see him again.
She folded her arms and legs and lips around him, and he lay on top of her in the dark. Their hearts beat together in timeless precision, never to break asunder.
Chapter 9
Veronica woke in the silent hours before dawn. Prince Said slept at her side, but sh
e slipped out of bed without waking him. She gazed down at his face, so relaxed in sleep. His shoulders rose and fell with his steady breath. If only she could give him one kiss, she could let him go in peace, but she hadn’t even earned that. She was a brief dalliance for him — nothing more. He took three whole days to get around to kissing her. He wouldn’t stoop to kissing her good-bye now.
She let herself out of the cabin on bare, silent feet. Of everyone on board, she knew best how to move through the ship without making a sound. She ran down the companionway. She still wore that flimsy dress, and the cool morning air chilled her.
She broke into her quarters and locked the door. The dress fell away from her and left her bare and exposed. She hung it on its hook while she took a shower.
When she came out, she was her old self again. She could concentrate on the task at hand with no distracting attachments to something that could never be. She laid out her clean uniform on the bed she didn’t sleep in last night, but she didn’t put it on.
She got out her suitcase from under her bunk. Inside, she found the casual civilian clothes she wore when she first came to work on the Diamantina . She put them on.
She laid the dress carefully inside the suitcase and zipped it up. She would keep that as a memory of her experience here. Maybe after she got home to Fresno she would decide to burn the dress. Maybe she would purge that memory from her mind. For now, though, she wanted to keep it, to cherish it.
All the rough sex faded in the light of last night, in the blessed belonging of Said’s kiss. He wasn’t a prince anymore. He was just a man with feelings and needs and dreams. He gave himself to her as a man last night. He didn’t dominate her or tell her what to do. He simply gave himself into her arms in the purity of his being.
She caressed that perfect skin of his. She gazed into his eyes where the stars shone against his gleaming pupils. She kissed his chest and stomach until he gasped and groaned. He held her head against his heart and ran his fingers through h er hair.
So this was what it all came down to. All the spanking and yanking and fucking and sucking came to this. He exposed his secret desires to her, and she earned his love by accepting them. He trusted her with his deepest being, and she cradled his heart in her hands.
At long last, she understood. She was no floozy for his pleasure on a short Pacific cruise. She was so much more than that. She was his long-lost desire. He never let anyone hold him like that. He didn’t have to tell her how he felt about her. She read it in his face and eyes.
She worshiped him more than ever when he made himself vulnerable like that. He was her god, her king, her everything. She bowed before him and gazed up into her eyes. She protected his heart with her flesh, and she would never see him again.
She took one last look around her quarters. She would probably never see th em again, either. She prepared herself through many months of anticipating this day never to see her quarters again. She even prepared herself not to see any of the staff again. But what about him?
She spent so much time in the last few days wishing this day would hurry up and arrive. She wanted to get away from him and forget him. Now, everything changed. She couldn’t watch him walk down the gangplank onto the Honolulu docks and walk out of her life while her heart bled for him. She had to get off the ship first, before he woke up.
Never, in all her years as maitre d’, had she failed to wish the guests a pleasant journey when they disembarked. She shook their hands and received their thanks for her service. Not today. She couldn’t see him again, or she was finished.
She closed the door behind her and carried her suitcase up on deck. The Port of Honolulu lay stretched out before her, just starting to wake up, the way she knew it would be, the way it always was when this leg of their journey ended.
The skipper put out the gangplank when they docked during the night. Nothing stopped her from making her escape into her own territory — nothing but Said. He stood next to the gangplank in his black suit and his briefcase in his hand. He surveyed the port until his eye rested on Veronica.
The morning sun shone over the mountains and touched his black hair. It made his skin gleam like gold. He didn’t smile . “Are you leaving now, Veronica?”
She nodded. So much for getting away unnoticed.
“Weren’t you even going to say good-bye to me?”
“No, sir. I thought I would get away before you woke up.”
“Why would you do that? Didn’t you want me to kiss you good-bye?”
“No, sir.”
“Why not?” His voice lilted in a way she couldn’t understand. She never heard him sound like that before.
“You don’t have to kiss me good-bye, sir. I know you have more important things to do, and I have to get to the airport. Thank you for a nice time on board, but if you don’t mind, it’s over now. I’m not bound to serve you any longer.”
His eyes searched her face. “Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”
“I won’t serve you any longer. You’ll leave the Diamantina , and I’ll go home. We’ll probably never see each other again.”
“I asked you a question, Veronica. Don’t you want to serve me any longer?”
“I couldn’t serve you any longer even if I wanted to, sir. Don’t torture me by suggesting that I could. Our time is finished.”
“Did you enjoy serving me, Veronica? Tell the truth.”
“You know I did.”
“And you want it to continue?”
She clamped her eyes shut. “Don’t talk like that. It hurts too much.”
“Very well, Veronica. Off you go to the airport.”
She didn’t move.
“What are you waiting for?”
“You go first, sir.”
“What for?”
“You got here first. You should disembark first.”
“Nonsense. I just told you to go. Consider this my last order for you.”
“No, sir. I prefer to go second.”
“May I ask why?”
“I want to watch you out of sight.”
He smiled. “Oh, all right. You want to torture yourself now, since I’m not around to do it for you.” He turned on his heel and strode across the gangway. He stepped on shore and walked down the quay.
Veronica watching his back recede into the distance. This was the end of five years of her life. Something else would happen to her now, but she could never erase the memories he left seared into her brain.
What kind of woman had an affair like this with a wealthy playboy, only to watch him walk out of her life without a word of good-bye, without a kiss, without even a “Take care of yourself?”
She wasn’t the person she thought she was. It would take her a long time to understand who she was and what she had become.
Down the quay, the Prince stopped and looked back at her. She stood in the same place on the Diamantina’s bobbing deck. Their eyes met somewhere in the middle. Then he turned around and walked back to her. “What are you still doing here?”
“I told you. I want to watch you out of sight. You’re not out of sight yet.”
He considered her for a moment. “Do you have an airline ticket for the States?”
“Not yet. I’ll buy one at the airport.”
He jerked his head down the quay. “Come with me to my hotel room.”
“What?”
“Come with me to my hotel room for the night, maybe even for a day or two. Then you can go to the airport.”
“Sir? You don’t really mean that. I’m sure your maitre d’ at the hotel can get you a new woman who will serve you just as well.”
“I told you, Veronica. I don’t want another woman. I want you, and I’m not finished with you yet. You said you enjoyed serving me. You only said you were finished serving me because our time on the Diamantina came to an end. I’m giving you the chance to continue serving me, at least for a little while.”
She mumbled under her breath. “I wouldn’t want to intrude o
n Your Majesty’s hospitality.”
“Believe me, Veronica, I wouldn’t invite you to my hotel room if I didn’t enjoy your service, too. I want you to continue, at least for a few days, maybe longer if everything works out. Who knows? You’ll never know if you don’t come with me now.”
She raised her eyes to his face. “You’re serious about this.”
“I was never more serious in my life. I’ve enjoyed the last few days immensely. I especially enjoyed last night. I thought we connected in a way we hadn’t before. To tell you the truth, I haven’t connected with anyone that way before.”
Her eyes widened. “You haven’t? I thought you had a woman in every port.”
“I do. That’s probably why I haven’t connected with any of them. I didn’t know I could until I met you. I never really wanted to hold someone and kiss someone, but last night, it just sort of happened spontaneously, without either of us trying. I didn’t want to smack you around or bang you. I just wanted to hold you and look at you and be with you. Did you feel that way, too?”
She swallowed hard, but a lump stuck in her throat. “Yes, sir.”
He glanced down at her quivering lips. His husky voice grated in his throat. “You don’t know how impossibly sexy it is to hear you say ‘yes, sir,’ to me all the time. I hear that so much, but it never meant anything until you said it. It’s hard for you to say, isn’t it?”
“It’s hard for me to say it to you. You make it hard.”
“That’s what makes is so sexy. I want to keep hearing you say it. I want to do things to you to make you say it. I want to see you on your knees while you say it.”
She gazed up into his eyes. “Yes, sir. Please, sir.”
He grabbed her by the back of the neck and yanked her mouth against his lips. Then he flung her away. The next instant, he wiped the kiss off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Come with me to my hotel, Veronica. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir.” Her heart soared, but somewhere tangled up in the excitement of a new adventure, a gnawing worm of fear and doubt twisted her guts into knots. Her pussy yawned open, and her nectar dripped out.
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