The Bachelor Prince

by Jane Beckenham

“So you sold out your marriage to my father for the almighty dollar.”

  “I was tired of struggling. Tired of watching others have it all while I had nothing.”

  “And he offered it to you.”

  “Yes. I’m not proud that I hurt your father. I wish I could take it back.”

  “You hurt me.”

  “I did, but I also did it for you. You’ve got to believe me.”

  “But it didn’t last, Mother. They never do.”

  “No.” Her smile faded. “Something in me changed. I wanted more, and more. Then after Antony…”

  “There was Jorge.”

  Her mother’s mouth trembled slightly. “After Jorge and I divorced and…well, after my next beau’s constant whispers about not wanting you around, I made it a proviso that my lovers—husbands,” she said with contrition, “that they paid for you to go to the best boarding schools.”

  “You sent me away,” she accused.

  “It was for the best.”

  “Really? For who? You got to live your rich-and-famous lifestyle, and I got to go to boarding school, when really all I wanted was for my mother to hold me. To tuck me in at night. I wanted you, Mother. Just you.” She had been so lonely. Somehow, Blanche had gotten “lost”.

  “I’m sorry. I tried. If I couldn’t give you myself, at least I could give you the best education money could buy. You’re a smart girl, Cassie. Whereas I…” Blanche exhaled a heavy sigh, “I got used to having the best. Clothes, travel, homes, jewels.” She fingered the gems at her throat. “You’ll understand when you’re a mother.”

  Cassie may not be a mother, but she had the responsibility of Tina now. Cassie’s mother had tried to give Cassie what she thought was best—an education that would be invaluable, because she cared in the only way she knew how. But somehow it never seemed enough.

  Her stomach churned as her gaze rested on the glittering sapphires. She had to find Lucas and tell him. She loved him

  Lucas tried to concentrate on the contract details Harry Conlon had been relaying for the last ten minutes, but his mind wasn’t on the job. Cassie hadn’t returned yet, and concern overtook his sensibilities as he began to second-guess. Had she run out on him?

  He’d given her everything a woman could want, but something was missing that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

  He remembered the color of her eyes when he’d draped the sapphires around her neck. They were the color of hurt. A memory stabbed at his conscience. Her mother had explained her agenda quite clearly—get Cassie to help her up the social ladder. Funny, though, how it had all been about Blanche and not about Cassie. Cassie hadn’t asked for anything.

  Guilt charged through him as he remembered that moment, realizing how he’d completely misjudged her.

  Deciding he couldn’t wait for her return, he wrapped up his discussion with Harry. “Excuse me, ladies, gentlemen.” He rose from his chair. “I think it’s time to call it a night, but please finish your coffees.” He left the other guests and made for the nearest exit. He needed to find Cassie. Needed to feel her skin next to his. Smell her. Taste her. He also needed to relieve his conscience. He’d tested her because he didn’t trust himself.

  Where the hell was she?

  Outside, the night had turned chilly, and as he scanned the patio, his fingers stroked across Cassie’s cape that he’d had the concierge retrieve on his way out. Without thinking, he inhaled her sweet scent, only to have a trill of laughter sabotage the moment. He stiffened. He knew that voice.

  “I told you it would work.”

  “Mother!”

  “Cassie, darling, it’s all worked out just perfectly with you and your prince. He’s so rich, you’ll never want for anything. And those jewels, oh, Cassie, you’ve landed a catch. Just make sure you don’t mess it up.”

  Shit! His gut tightened. She’s no different. Lucas had heard enough and walked from the shadows. “Cassie?”

  Cassie’s face blanched, and she visibly swallowed the moment she set eyes on him. “How long have you been there?”

  “Long enough.”

  “My mother is just leaving,” she said, but in a slick move, Blanche slipped between them.

  “I was just admiring Cassie’s necklace. So exquisite,” she said with drool-worthy adoration as, with obvious reluctance, she undid the clasp and handed the heavy necklace back to Cassie.

  Lucas watched Cassie intently. This wasn’t the woman he’d known for two years. That Cassie was direct and never backed down from a challenge. This new woman wouldn’t look him in the eye. Every nerve in his body alert to her actions, he watched her fingers caress the necklace as she put it back on. Surely he had to be wrong. Wanted to be wrong.

  “Let’s go.” Not waiting for her to agree, he offered Blanche a curt nod, then spun away. But it was Cassie he most wanted to distance himself from, and at the same time hold her tight. He’d seen the way the jewels were passed back and forth as if they were some victorious reward, and observed her guilt. The conundrum of his lust versus the knowledge of her greed seemed insurmountable.

  The valet arrived with his vehicle, and without a word to the woman at his side, he drove down the tree-lined drive and back onto the windswept coast toward the city. Inside, he screamed. He should have known better. He shouldn’t… What? Shouldn’t care? Should have kept his eyes wide open? He’d allowed lust to get in the way, which proved what he already knew—caring hurt too much and that only fools let vulnerability get a look in.

  But…damn it, it was more than lust.

  No. Impossible. He wouldn’t let it be.

  Cassie too said nothing for the entire journey, and the minute he entered his suite, he strode to the granite-topped bar and poured himself a whiskey. He didn’t offer Cassie one, or even acknowledge that she remained in the room.

  Drink in hand, he tugged at his bow tie and loosened it, then tossed it aside as he sat in the corner of the salon. Except for the glint of moonbeams sparkling off the beveled glass coffee table, they were shadowed in darkness.

  Despite the silence, however, Lucas knew she hadn’t moved. His body surged with awareness of the woman who enthralled him like no other. A woman who had seeped inexplicably under his skin, and whom he didn’t know how to eradicate.

  “You like the sapphires?” Why the hell did he ask? What did he care?

  Oh, he cared far too much. That was the trouble.

  She’d moved to stand opposite him, the wall of glass to her back. She lifted her hand to the darkened stones at her throat. “They’re part of the image you want me to parade as your appendage.”

  “My lover,” he corrected.

  My lover. He’d seen the way men eyed her tonight, and had spent the evening wanting to punch out every man who dared even glance in her direction. It was a good thing that he was heading for Everest soon. A dose of adrenaline would sort out his heart.

  Haloed by the full moon, Cassie stood motionless, eyes wide and haunted, lips full. Kissable. God, how he wanted to taste her lips beneath his. Over and over. For always. Forever.

  He slugged back his whiskey.

  The sound of her breathing in the enveloping silence shattered his control, and his gaze dropped to the rise and fall of her breasts. The dress did nothing to hide the pointed arousal of her nipples. He wanted to see her naked. Badly.

  “Strip for me.”

  All air fled from Cassie’s lungs as the idea took hold. It shocked her. It excited her.

  Strip. Naked.

  He’d seen her naked before, but this was different. They might have been playing a charade as a loving couple, but her feelings for Lucas were real, and every night when they made love, those feelings could not be denied.

  She reached up behind her neck and fumbled for the clasp of the necklace.

  “No! Leave it on.”

  Her heart p
lummeted as if weighted by a heavy stone. Lucas wanted her naked, branded by his precious jewels. His eyes were broody and dark as he watched her, his breath hitching perceptibly, muscles tightening in his neck. The tip of his tongue swiped across his beautiful mouth. Prince Lucas Palmera was definitely excited.

  She fixed her gaze on his. “Do I have your attention, Your Highness?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Her Christian Louboutin heels clicked on the tile floor as she stepped toward him. A low growl of need rumbled from Lucas’s chest. She kept on coming until she reached where he sat. Her head tilted to one side, and several strands of hair fell loose.

  Not saying a word, she reached up behind her and untied the halter dress. His gaze shifted from her face to the silk covering her breasts.

  “Are you sure you can handle it?”

  “Not a problem.” His response was swift, but the tight inflection in his tone suggested his struggled. The man burned for her.

  The ties of her dress were undone, though she didn’t let them drop. Not yet. “So get ready for a ride, Lucas, darling.” I love you.

  The dress slid from her fingers, cool against overheated skin, and dropped down across her shoulders, baring her breasts. Lucas watched her, silent and motionless. He wanted her. She wanted him. Desperately.

  The dress slid to the floor, and an audible gasp slipped from him. Cassie rejoiced in the power it afforded her. “Seen enough?”

  “Never enough.”

  She stepped out of her gown and stood clad only in a pair of lace panties and silk stockings.

  “They match your dress.” Lucas’s husky tone elicited shivers along her spine. “Very sexy.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  His eyes glittered like diamonds. “I like the look of it.”

  Cassie lifted her right spike-heeled foot and rested it on Lucas’s thigh. “Your turn, I think,” she teased.

  Electricity spiked to Cassie’s core as his fingers slipped beneath the silk stocking and flicked the button to release the lace-topped hose. Her toes curled, every nerve ending fraught with tension, desperate for release. Balance totally skewed by the fire raging inside her, she clutched at his shoulders and felt his muscles tense.

  “Very beautiful, but then you know that, don’t you?”

  “That’s your fault. You make me beautiful.” He made her love him. Made her want to stay.

  “Surely it’s in the genes.”

  Genes?

  Her mother. Just like her mother. “No! No! Don’t say that.” Cassie stumbled away, snatched up her dress and covered her nakedness in a heartbeat. Why, oh why did he have to utter those words? She didn’t want to be like her.

  A sudden growl rumbled from Lucas’s chest, and he shoved himself out of the chair. He grabbed his empty glass and quickly refilled it, then, downing the golden liquid in one long gulp, he turned to face her. “You are very tempting, but then you know that, don’t you?”

  Cassie couldn’t move, and her confidence deflated in a single breath.

  “Every part of me despises people like you and your mother.”

  “My mother! What’s she got to do with this—us? I’m nothing like her.”

  “You are her daughter.”

  Dear God, would this ever end? “Oh, I get it, you’re painting me with the same brush. Like mother, like daughter, is that it?”

  “I’ve seen the evidence.”

  “What evidence?”

  “Your mother drooling over the sapphires. I heard her compliment you on your success in snagging me.”

  “That’s my mother talking, Lucas. Not me. Why are you condemning me like this? I told you I wanted nothing from you.”

  “So convince me you’re not like Blanche.”

  “Why the hell should I? If you don’t know me by now, Lucas Palmera, then what’s the point? You’ve got this so wrong.”

  His mouth pursed, and he swiped the back of his hand across his eyes in a rough gesture. “I heard you on the phone that day saying money wouldn’t be a problem. What was I expected to think?”

  “You could have asked me. And for your information, though you bloody well don’t deserve an explanation, I was talking to my grandmother. I’m taking full custody of my half sister, Tina.” His silence damned him. “Oh, my God, you were testing me? All the clothes, the jewels. You think I’m out for what I can get? That I’m like the usual women you date? Tell me I’m wrong.”

  Hope died in a heartbeat.

  Guilt clamped around his heart. “You could put it like that.”

  “How else would I put it?” The dress slipped from her delectable body, the silky fabric sliding over equally silky skin he remembered so well.

  Night after night, they had shared such passion, turning into days where all he could think of was tossing the contracts and business papers aside and hauling her beautiful body across his desk.

  With fumbling fingers, she stepped into the dress and tied the halter straps behind her neck. He was about to offer to help but realized the stupidity of such an action. If he touched her, he wouldn’t be able to stop.

  She shook her head, hair falling across her eyes. “Oh, Lucas, I thought we were…”

  “Lovers?”

  “You keep saying that. But being lovers entails some sort of emotion.”

  “We had great sex.”

  “That’s not what I mean but proves exactly what is true. That what we have is just business. We might have sex, but we’re not lovers. Not really. There is no emotion. You can’t feel it. You’re too scared.”

  Scared? Him? Not possible.

  She brushed the hair from her eyes, and he wished she hadn’t—he didn’t want to witness what he saw in their sapphire depths—the exact color of the jewels he’d clasped around her neck.

  “I thought we were more than lovers. Friends, perhaps. But then, friends don’t hurt each other like you’ve hurt me. You’ve belittled me, taken away everything I held important in my life, and the sad thing about it is you don’t even know it. What’s worse is that I let you, because I…” She clamped a hand over her mouth.

  He’d hurt her, but it was either that or live with the chance of losing a part of him he wasn’t sure he was even able to give—his heart.

  His life was compartmentalized—just the way he liked it. He didn’t want emotions getting in the way. They hurt. This way was easier.

  So how come you’re hurting now?

  Lucas slammed that thought back down. He wouldn’t let it take flight. Instead, needing to protect his soul, he closed off his heart, turned tail and walked out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Cassie knew she’d brought this disaster on herself. It wasn’t that Lucas had tested her, or that he didn’t trust her, but that she had tumbled down the slippery slope and allowed herself to be bought. She’d given in so easily.

  Thankful she was alone in Lucas’s suite, she gathered up the few things that were hers and packed her bag. She stood at her dressing table. The sparkling sapphires lay resplendent in their case, and she slipped the weighted solitaire off her finger and laid it down beside the necklace.

  Next, she phoned her mother.

  “Cassie, you sound… Are you all right?”

  “I’m leaving.”

  “What? It’s the middle of the night.”

  “I know. I have a flight to New Zealand. Tina needs me.”

  “Tina? But…”

  “Gramma can’t manage anymore. She and Pops are going to a rest home, so I’m going to look after Tina. It’s what Dad wanted. What I want.”

  “And what about Lucas?”

  “Lucas is a big boy. He can find someone else. Oh, why, oh why did you go see him in the first place? You’ve ruined everything. I just wanted a normal life, but you waltzed in and ruined it all.”

&nb
sp; “Oh, darling, you know how I love a party.”

  Her mother’s flippant reply cut into Cassie. “He thinks I’m like—”

  “Me?” Her mother finished. “Then he’s wrong. You’re nothing like me. You’re bright, funny, loving. And honest. I’m sorry if I haven’t been the best of mothers. But I do love you, Cassie. You love him, don’t you?”

  Yes. Yes. Yes.

  But she couldn’t voice it. “Lucas thinks we—I schemed to snag a prince.” Even as she said the words, bile rose up her throat, threatening to choke her.

  “Then he is blind. But he does love you, darling. I see it in his eyes when he looks at you.”

  “No, Mother, you’re wrong.” Cassie had gambled on not getting hurt by Lucas, or at least on being able to play the game and walk away, her heart still intact. She had lost miserably.

  She had stupidly fallen in love with a prince, a man so totally out of her league who was also her boss. Now she was leaving her home in a city she loved. She would miss it greatly, but she would miss what she had with Lucas more.

  Had? They’d had nothing except sex with one-sided emotion, and half of nothing would never, ever be enough.

  After finishing the call with her mother, Cassie grabbed her bags and headed out the door. Still believing she was Lucas’s fiancée, the staff, thankfully, asked no questions as she walked through the palace corridors. Just before she got into the taxi for the airport, she posted a letter in the dispatch box used for royal mail. Lucas would understand. It was all about business. Contract ended.

  The tightly curved black script on the single-page letter glared up at Lucas, relentlessly reminding him that Cassie had gone.

  Two weeks and one day he’d been without her, and inside he felt empty. Lost. No longer could he catalog his emotions. They roared through his brain.

  Cassie had said he was scared. He’d denied it…but… He was. Realizing she’d left him, at first he’d been angry. Then desperate. Now, simply lost. And scared.

  “Let me in. I won’t take no for an answer, young lady. Now get out of my way.”

  Lucas sighed as Cassie’s mother bustled in, followed by his new assistant.