Seducing Ethan (Knight Security 6)

by Carole Mortimer

  “Yes, Your Highness,” came the immediate response from the front of the limousine as the car immediately changed direction.

  “I really am sorry, Alexandre.” Stazzi winced at the remoteness of his expression in profile as he looked out the side window rather than at her.

  “No problem,” he dismissed tightly.

  Neither of them spoke for the rest of the journey to Stazzi’s apartment. Her own feelings were ones of discomfort at that taut silence, but she had no idea how Alexandre felt or what he was thinking as he continued to keep his distance from her, physically as well as emotionally.

  Finally, she couldn’t stand that silence any longer. “Are we parting as bad friends?”

  Alexandre almost laughed at the ridiculousness of that question. He didn’t want to be friends with Anastazia. Damn it, he had wanted her, in his bed, before he even met her. He wanted her even more since meeting her. The last thing he wanted to hear from her was that her responses to him could just be on the rebound from her last boyfriend.

  How fucking ironic was that? The international playboy prince who’d had any woman he wanted, now the ruling prince of Androcco, who had only to snap his fingers to have any woman he wanted, being told by the one woman he did want that her attraction to him might have been on the fucking rebound.

  There had to be some sort of poetic justice in that.

  All these years, Alexandre had never felt any more than a fleeting desire for the women he took to bed. Even though several of them had professed to be in love with him, he had never returned those feelings. Now the one woman he wanted so badly it made his teeth ache didn’t feel the same way about him.

  Poetic justice, indeed.

  “Alexandre, please…”

  He turned at the sound of her beseeching tone. “What do you want from me, Anastazia? I listened to what you had to say, I accepted your decision, and you are now being driven back to your apartment, as requested. What else do you want from me?”

  Her gaze roamed searchingly over his face for several seconds before her lashes lowered and she sighed before turning away. “Obviously, nothing else.”

  Alexandre’s hands clenched on his thighs in his frustration with this situation. This was unchartered territory for him, and he had no idea what to do or say to break the tension that now existed between them.

  There was so much he wanted to say. But he very much doubted Anastazia wanted to hear that he believed her ex-boyfriend was an idiot. That Alexandre had wanted her from the moment he saw her photograph on the hotel website. That he wanted her still. Ached with wanting her, in fact. No, Anastazia’s behavior made it clear she didn’t want to hear any of those things from him.

  So he said nothing.

  They arrived outside her apartment a few minutes later, Tomas parking the car before immediately getting out to come round to the back of the vehicle to open Anastazia’s door for her so she could step out onto the pavement.

  “Don’t bother to get out.” She didn’t look directly at Alexandre as he would have slid across the seat to follow her. “Thank you for this evening. I— No matter what you may think, I did enjoy myself.” Her gaze was lowered to the pavement rather than him as she turned and walked away.

  To hell with that!

  Alexandre caught up with her as she was putting in the code to open the door and enter the building. He grasped her arm and swung her round to face him, his anger dissipating as she looked up at him with blue eyes swimming in tears. “Anastazia!” he groaned as he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly against him, his cheek resting on the top of her sweet-smelling hair.

  Stazzi’s arms moved about Alexandre’s waist, her cheek pressed against his chest as her tears now dampened the front of his shirt. “Please don’t be angry with me.”

  He snorted. “You do know that your ex-boyfriend is an idiot, don’t you?” He couldn’t hold back on that comment any longer.

  She laughed without humor. “I do, yes.”

  “Good.” Alexandre held her tighter still. “I’m not asking this time, Anastazia, I’m telling you. We’re having dinner together tomorrow evening at seven o’clock in my hotel suite.”

  She lifted her head to look up at him quizzically. “Oh, we are, are we?”

  “Yes.” He returned her gaze challengingly. “Dress casual. We’ll order room service, burgers maybe, and then we’ll watch a movie together of your choosing. Okay?”

  Her smile was less strained. “Okay.”

  “And if Daniel Meyers wants to know what you’re doing in my suite, you can tell him I want to discuss the arrangements for the rest of the week.” He dismissed that problem.

  She eyed him teasingly. “What arrangements would they be?”

  “I haven’t decided yet,” he announced arrogantly. “But you can rest assured they all involve the two of us getting to know each other better.”

  “Okay,” she said again.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s all it took to get you to agree?” His brows rose. “A little bit of arrogance on my part?”

  “Well, it was hardly little, and you are a prince…”

  He winced. “Don’t remind me.”

  She laughed softly. “Not as glamorous as it sounds?”

  “Not glamorous at all.” He sighed with a pointed look at the bodyguards who had left the limousine and black SUV and were now standing only feet away in a protective circle, not quite in listening distance but close enough to make their presence felt. “No privacy either.”

  Anastazia glanced at the other men too. “I see what you mean. Okay, burgers from room service and a movie tomorrow evening it is.”

  “Thank you.”

  She eyed him mischievously. “You don’t know what movie I’m going to choose yet!”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be watching the movie anyway,” he confided huskily.

  He was going to be watching her, Stazzi realized. At the same time as she realized she didn’t mind.

  Those few minutes of tension between them a few minutes ago, when she was sure Alexandre didn’t want to see her again, had at least shown her that she did want to see and be with him again.

  And it had nothing at all to do with being on the rebound from Will…

  Chapter 7

  “What do you really know about this woman?” Gerard frowned his disapproval the following morning after Alexandre had instructed him over breakfast to cancel any and all of his engagements for this evening. When pressed, he had confided he would be spending that time with Anastazia. “She could be a fortune hunter. Possibly sleeping with the billionaire prince so that she can sell her story to the media. Or—”

  “Don’t, Gerard.” Alexandre’s voice was quiet, but that in no way lessened the icy anger he felt at his cousin’s comments.

  “But—”

  “I said don’t,” he repeated.

  Gerard scowled. “You’re the ruler of Androcco now and can no longer behave like a playboy prince—”

  “I can behave any fucking way I choose.” Alexandre’s hands were clenched on his thighs beneath the table, his eyes narrowed in warning.

  “I’ll do a background check—”

  “You’ll do nothing of the sort!” Alexandre exploded forcefully. “Leave her out of your fucking paranoia, okay? I mean it, Gerard. She’s beautiful, funny, and I like being with her, and that’s all either of us needs to know about her.”

  “But—”

  “Go, Gerard, before I lose my temper.” Alexandre stood up to walk over and stare unseeing out of one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, hands thrust into the pockets of his tailored trousers. “And, Gerard,” he said without turning to look at the other man, “don’t even attempt to check into Anastazia behind my back, and then claim it was in the name of security.”

  Alexandre waited until he heard the door close softly behind his cousin before relaxing the tension from his shoulders.

  He knew Gerard meant wel
l, but when it came to Anastazia, he didn’t want any interference from his cousin. She was already proving elusive enough, without any help from Gerard in pushing her away.

  “Don’t even ask!” Lissa muttered as she let herself into the apartment the following morning as Stazzi was leaving to go to work.

  Her brows rose. “No?”

  “No.” Lissa’s eyes flashed in warning.

  “Ash an asshole again?”

  “Oh yeah, majorly so,” her friend muttered with feeling. “I don’t know how I got the impression he could ever be anything else.” She gave a self-disgusted shake of her head. “How was the rest of your evening?”

  “It was good.” She didn’t quite meet Lissa’s gaze. “I’ll…probably be back late tonight. I have another date with Alexandre,” she revealed with a wince, carrying a bag with her change of clothes for this evening. There was very little point in her coming home if she was meeting up with Alexandre and having dinner with him at seven o’clock.

  Lissa was trying her best to appear composed, but Stazzi knew her friend well enough to know that she was hurting. She also knew Lissa must have really liked Asher Knight to have spent the night with him. Pity that liking had been misguided.

  “Have a lovely evening.” Lissa gave her a quick hug. “I have to shower and change now and then get to work.”

  Stazzi paused in the open doorway. “But you’ll be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Lissa brightened. “Into every woman’s life an asshole must fall,” she misquoted wryly.

  Stazzi chuckled as she knew she was meant to, but it didn’t stop her from worrying about Lissa on and off for the rest of the day, and telephoning a couple of times to check on her friend. Or feeling slightly angry with Asher Knight for hurting her. Perhaps a misplaced anger considering he had made no attempt to give the impression he was anything other than what he was. A selfish asshole. Taking into account Will’s behavior, there seemed to be a lot of those about at the moment.

  Stazzi saw nothing of Alexandre as she went about her business for the rest of the day. According to Adrian, the prince had informed him he would be out at business meetings all day.

  Consequently, she was more than a little nervous when she arrived as a visitor to the penthouse suite at exactly seven o’clock.

  Her eyes widened when the lift arrived and she found Alexandre standing outside in the hallway waiting for her, looking totally relaxed in well-worn denims and a black short-sleeved polo shirt that showed off the bulge of muscles in his shoulders, arms, and chest. His hair looked damp from a shower, his jaw freshly shaved.

  “You look nice,” he greeted huskily as he bent to kiss her lightly on the cheek.

  Stazzi had changed out of her work clothes and was now dressed as casually as he was, wearing a midnight-blue T-shirt and black low-rider jeans. “Thank you. So do you,” she returned just as huskily.

  “We’re both very formal all of a sudden.” He grinned. “Let’s order dinner, and then we can choose a film from the hotel—”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, Alexandre, but I need your signature on these letters tonight so they can be sent to the appropriate people.”

  Stazzi turned to look down the hallway at Gerard St Sebastien as he walked toward them carrying a folder. Only to recoil slightly as she saw the venom in his eyes as his gaze flickered over her contemptuously from her booted feet to her recently brushed hair.

  “I’m sure you appreciate how precious Prince Alexandre’s time is, Miss Carmichael,” he added with cold dismissal.

  What Stazzi appreciated was that this man didn’t like her one little bit. Which wasn’t a problem for her, because she didn’t particularly like him either. There was something about Gerard St Sebastien that was distinctly unpleasant.

  “They can wait until the morning, Gerard.” Alexandre’s response to his cousin was harsh, even as he maintained a firm hold on Stazzi’s arm. “Nothing will go off in the post until then anyway.”

  “I need to discuss the Thomson Enterprises letter with you before—”

  “I said we’ll discuss it in the morning, Gerard,” Alexandre bit out through gritted teeth, knowing it wasn’t the only thing he and his cousin were going to discuss in the morning. “Now, if you will excuse us? Anastazia and I were about to order dinner.” He turned his back on the other man as his hold on Anastazia allowed him to take her with him into the sitting room before closing the door firmly behind them.

  She winced. “Your cousin doesn’t approve of me.”

  “My cousin doesn’t approve of anyone,” he dismissed lightly.

  “Not even you?”

  “Most especially me,” Alexandre acknowledged ruefully.

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not nearly a formal enough ruler for Androcco for Gerard’s liking.”

  “I’m sure you are when you need to be.”

  “But tonight I don’t need to be.” He released her to pick up the room service menu. “Shall we order dinner?”

  Stazzi felt less as if she were dining with a prince as they argued over whether or not they should drink beer or wine with their burgers and NY cheesecake. They both settled for beer with the burgers and wine with the cheesecake. After which the two of them talked about their families and growing up.

  Stazzi spoke lovingly of her parents but left out the part about her father being an impoverished duke. It wasn’t important, and she had learned her lesson from Will’s reaction regarding her father’s title but lack of wealth. The fact that she worked as a manager at this hotel was indicative of her family’s finances.

  Alexandre talked as affectionately of his own childhood, as well as the loss of his mother when he was a teenager and the sadness of his father’s death two years ago.

  “My British public school life doesn’t sound half as much fun as yours and Lissa’s,” he drawled as he relaxed back in his chair opposite where Stazzi sat on the sofa. Their meal was over, and they had pushed the room service trolley out into the hallway.

  “I thought you said you and Asher met at school…?”

  “We did. Unfortunately, Gerard always attended the same schools and university as me too.”

  Stazzi almost choked on her beer as she gave a splutter of laughter, taking a few seconds to mop up before answering him. “Buzzkill?”

  Alexandre shrugged. “He was always far too conscientious in regard to our family’s position in life. He would have made a far better heir than me,” he added wistfully.

  Their position in life being the House of St Sebastien, the ruling family of the principality of Androcco. “He’s older than you, right?”

  “By one year. But my father was the eldest brother and Uncle Frederic the spare.”

  “Does that really still apply? An heir and a spare?” she explained as Alexandre looked at her questioningly.

  “Oh yes.” He sighed. “You would be surprised at the amount of rules and pomp still attached to royalty, even a minor principality such as my own.”

  She wouldn’t, actually. She was occasionally called upon to do her duty as Lady Anastazia Carmichael, daughter of the Duke of Warminster, and appear at a Royal Garden Party or some other formal occasion. Not too often, thank goodness.

  “What happened last night with Ash and your friend Lissa?”

  She glanced across at Alexandre. “You haven’t spoken to Ash today?”

  “Oh, I’ve spoken to him.” Alexandre sat forward to top up their wineglasses. “Ash isn’t saying anything.”

  Well, that was something. At least Asher didn’t appear to be the type of man who would totally humiliate Lissa by discussing his conquests with other men.

  Stazzi grimaced. “Lissa doesn’t want to talk about it or him.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry.”

  “It isn’t your fault.”

  “But I introduced the two of them.”

  “And Lissa would be the first one to tell you she’s a big girl now and quite capable of making her own mistakes without
help from anyone else.” In fact, that was exactly what Lissa had told Stazzi during their last telephone call just after six o’clock this evening.

  “It went that well, hm?”

  “I believe so, yes. Now, which film are we going to watch?” She deliberately changed the subject. Lissa might take responsibility for her mistakes, but Stazzi wasn’t about to discuss this one with a third party. Even Alexandre. Maybe especially with Alexandre, as he was such a close friend of Ash’s.

  The change of subject led to another heated discussion regarding the merits of the newest superhero film or a comedy. Stazzi won, removing her boots before she and Alexandre sat together on one of the sofas in front of the television, the lights turned down as they watched the superheroes once again save the day.

  “You just wanted to look at that guy’s abs,” Alexandre commented dryly once the credits were rolling.

  “And?”

  “And nothing.” He chuckled at Anastazia’s expression of “duh.”

  “There was humor in it too,” she defended. “I distinctly heard you laugh a few times.”

  She had, yes, but that was mainly because Alexandre was totally relaxed in her company, and he had also enjoyed sitting back and watching her enjoyment of the movie. He had a private cinema in the palace in Androcco, could watch any film he wanted whenever he wanted, but this, here and now with Anastazia, was the most fun he’d had in… Well, in two years, to be exact.

  She was also far more relaxed in his company this evening.

  “Can I kiss you?”

  Stazzi instantly tensed. Not because she didn’t want Alexandre to kiss her. But because she did. Even more so after spending such a relaxed evening with him. She really wasn’t sure it was a good idea to have him kiss her too.

  And who decided that everything I do has to be a good idea?

  She liked Alexandre. Maybe a little more than liked him after spending such an easygoing evening with him. But as long as she didn’t allow herself to get too carried away with the moment, where was the harm in a kiss? Or two? Alexandre had kissed her good night outside her apartment building last night before he left, and it hadn’t turned her into the wanton she had become in the back of the limousine.