by Romancing the Crown Series (13-in-1 bundle) (v1. 0) (lit)
"I can always scream for help and tell the guards you forced your way in here," she pointed out. "It isn't too far from the truth."
"But you won't," he guessed with maddening assurance. "Because then I'd have to blow the whistle on your extracurricular activities."
She kept her expression carefully impassive, although her heart was racing and her palms felt clammy. "Why haven't you done so already?"
He massaged his chin between thumb and finger. "I honestly don't know."
She felt the first stirring of expectancy. "Then you didn't come here to blackmail me with what you know?"
"I came here because you intrigue me," he said flatly, not sounding particularly pleased about the admission.
As an engaged woman, she shouldn't have been pleased, either, but a totally inappropriate frisson of satisfaction rippled through her. Gordon had been the last man in her life to admit to being intrigued by her, moments before he took her in his arms and kissed her for the first, although not the last, time.
How would it feel to be taken in this man's arms and feel his mouth claiming hers? The shocking thought rocketed through Nadia's mind before she could arrest it. "If I'm supposed to be flattered..." she began, disturbed by how much she was.
"Don't be," Gage said, dispelling any hint of pleasure. "I don't believe in flattery. If I pay a compliment, it's because it's earned, not to gain favor."
"Then you are an unusual man," she observed. "In my experience, compliments are common currency between men and women."
"A currency soon devalued if used to excess."
"And you are not given to excess?"
Why had she asked such a stupid question, she wondered as soon as she saw his gaze flash in response to her comment. What was it about Gage Weston that made her want to provoke him so? It wasn't as if she liked him or had any wish to know him better.
She would do better to pretend agreement, as her mother had taught her to do, giving him no excuse to continue the discussion. She still didn't know why he was here, and he seemed in no hurry to enlighten her.
"I prefer my own kinds of excess," he said.
She stood up, feeling the urge to meet him eye to eye. His greater height made that impossible, but at least she could face him directly. The energy radiating from him almost made her step back, but she held her ground. "This is not an appropriate conversation for us to be having."
He slanted an amused look at her. "For a princess and a commoner, or a man and a woman?"
She became vividly aware of the lock she had heard him turn when he came in. They were alone in the room, unlikely to be disturbed for some time, as her attendants were getting ready for the noonday meal. Nadia licked her lips, finding them annoyingly dry. "Either will do."
They became drier still as his gaze fastened on her mouth. He wanted to kiss her, she knew. To her horror, she actually felt herself lean toward him, as if to meet him halfway. The unusual fragrance he wore reached out to her. Not something from Tamir, and probably not English, either. Something tantalizingly wild, and alarmingly erotic.
She almost moaned as his hands slid up her arms, coming to rest on her shoulders. His touch felt like fire through the silk of her blouse. Her lashes began to flutter closed, but she held them open with an effort of will.
"No," she managed to force out.
He gave a sigh that was part regret, part promise, and released her with obvious reluctance. Moving stiffly, he crossed the room and began to pick up a collection of brass trinkets, one after the other. She could swear he hardly looked at them before setting them down.
"Why did you come?" she asked belatedly, wondering if he had just given her the answer.
He kept his back to her. "When you didn't keep our appointment, I wanted to be sure you were all right."
She recognized the lie as soon as he uttered it, but suspected she wouldn't learn the truth unless he wanted her to. Who was he? What was he? She couldn't accept that he was merely a minor diplomat. No minor diplomat of her acquaintance made himself so much at home in royal surroundings or dealt so familiarly with a member of the royal family.
Not for Gage, the deference accorded to his betters, she thought. He was definitely more than he seemed, but how much more?
"Now that you've satisfied yourself, you should leave," she said shortly.
He swung around. "If I had satisfied myself, you wouldn't want me to leave."
She pretended ignorance, fighting the riot of unwelcome sensations tearing through her. "I have no idea what you mean."
His dark eyebrows canted upward, his gaze reading her like a book. "Oh, no? I wasn't the only one wondering what it would be like if we kissed."
"Wondering is not the same as finding out," she said shakily.
He shot her a look of unmistakable regret. "Unfortunately it isn't. And you're a princess and engaged to be married, so we'll have to go on wondering."
Fine with her, until he added softly, "For the moment."
She lifted her head, fixing him with a regal glare that refused to acknowledge how shaken she was by his words and the promise underlying them. "You presume a great deal for someone I could have thrown into jail at the snap of a finger."
He stalked to the door and unlocked it. "The ball's in your court, Princess."
"You'd like me to call someone, so you could throw me to the wolves."
He crossed his arms over his chest, a smile curving his mouth. "As I said, your call, Princess."
She wasn't going to turn him in, and it galled her that he knew it. "How did you get past the guards, anyway?"
"The grille fencing off the beach doesn't reach all the way down at low tide."
Her gaze went to the telltale dampness around his ankles. "How do you plan to get out? You won't be able to use the same route now that the tide is in."
"I was hoping you'd help me."
"What can I possibly do? I can't be seen with you."
"Unless you were to come across me wandering lost in the palace grounds and help me to find my way."
He composed his features into such an expression of foppishness that she was forced to smile. "It might work, although you could have trouble explaining your wet footwear."
He looked down, then back at her. "I stumbled into one of the ornamental ponds on the palace grounds."
How easily the lies sprang to his lips, she thought with a twinge of unease. She would do well to bear that in mind if he complimented her again. Not that such a thing was likely. By trespassing on royal property, he had evened the score between them. If he betrayed her, she could equally betray him, having him removed from Tamir and almost certainly ending his diplomatic career. If he realized that, he didn't seem troubled by the possibility, she noted.
She went to the window and looked out. At this hour, many of the palace staff were indoors avoiding the heat of the day. Her attendants would be looking for her soon to escort her to her noonday meal. "If we're going, we'd better hurry while the grounds are quiet," she urged.
Tension coiled through her as she led the way along a maze of corridors to an open pavilion with a lily-covered pond at its center. She skirted around it, the heels of her shoes clicking on the ancient tiles.
"This walkway leads to the public rooms," she explained, her voice husky with anxiety. Until they were clear of the women's apartments, she had no way of explaining his presence that wouldn't cause a scandal.
When they emerged, unchallenged, in the area of the palace reserved for offices and meeting places, she began to breathe a little easier. At least here Gage's story of becoming lost would seem plausible, if not likely. Visitors were usually escorted while within the palace, but it wasn't unheard of for someone to take a wrong turn and lose sight of his guide.
She saw Gage looking around with interest. "I think I know where I am now. Isn't that the pavilion where the reception was held the other night?"
She wished he hadn't reminded her. "These rooms are often used to receive visitors," she said, her t
one reflecting her acute discomfort.
He caught her elbow and pulled her into the shadow of a pillar. "There's no need to feel anything but pride about the way you danced that night."
She shrank away from him, daunted as much by her response to his nearness, as by his words. "You don't understand anything about our culture, do you."
"I understand that you were a vision of grace and beauty up on that stage."
"I was a laughingstock," she said bitterly.
His grip tightened. "You were admired by everyone who saw you. You are only a laughingstock if you decide to be. Addie wouldn't allow anyone to touch the core of who she is, no matter what happened to her."
Her eyes blurred and she blinked hard. "Addie lives in a different world from mine."
"I think if you look closely, you'll find they're not so different. There's a way out of any box, provided you want it badly enough."
How she wished he was right, but he wasn't allowing for her country's traditions, forged over thousands of years. No amount of wishing could change things that easily, as she well knew. "There's no time for this," she said.
He stepped out into the sunlight, towing her with him. "Think about what I've said."
Suddenly he let her arm drop and came to a kind of attention. She understood why when Butrus emerged from behind a pillar. How long had he been standing there, and how much had he heard?
Her fiance's smile revealed nothing, but his tone was equable as he said, "Nadia. Mr. Weston. Is there something I can do for you?"
"I lost my bearings on the way out. Her Highness was kind enough to give me directions," Gage said smoothly.
Butrus's eyes narrowed. "Were there no guards you could ask to escort you?"
"None he could find," Nadia slipped in. "I'm so glad you're here, Butrus, because Mr. Weston was just telling me how much he admires your work."
Her mother's lessons had their uses, she thought, as she saw Butrus's hard expression soften slightly.
"How is it that you know of my work when you are new to Tamir?" he asked Gage.
"Before joining the diplomatic corps, I studied economics, then took a second degree in law," Gage explained. "At university, your redrafting of the constitution of Tamir was regarded as exemplary in the field."
Butrus looked pleased. "Constitutional law is an interest of yours, then?"
Gage nodded. "One of many."
"Perhaps you'd be interested in seeing how I conceived some of the elements of the document," Butrus suggested. "The new preamble is still to be written, so I am assembling some business associates at my estate in a few days' time to arrive at a suitable draft. You would be welcome as an observer. Much of my work on the new constitution was done at the estate, and I have retained my notes there. If you would like to join the party, I'll be happy to discuss them with you."
Gage inclined his head. "Are you sure I won't be intruding between you and your fiancee?"
Belatedly Butrus seemed to remember her existence. "Her Highness will accompany the party, naturally, but we do not put the same store on spending time alone as you British do. In our culture, it is regarded as unseemly."
"I shall be chaperoned by my attendants," Nadia explained. "My role is to provide cultural enlightenment and diverting small talk." She let her tone convey how unappealing she found the prospect.
Butrus didn't seem to notice, but Gage flashed her a wry look. "Then I accept with thanks. Naturally I shall have to approach our ambassador for his approval."
Butrus gave a knowing smile. "Since Ambassador Theodore is your godfather, I am sure he will be delighted. The ambassador was invited to participate in our deliberations but had to decline, due to pressure of other commitments. He will be gratified that you are able to attend in his stead."
The tightening muscles around Gage's eyes told Nadia that he wasn't sure he liked Butrus's being so well-informed. Didn't he realize that this was Tamir? Information was a kind of currency, and the best-informed people were invariably the most successful. Butrus made it his business to be well-informed.
She felt excitement quiver through her. The house party, which had seemed dull in the extreme, held far more promise now that Gage was going to be there. She resisted asking herself why. Her duty was to Butrus, and she would give him no cause to find fault with her behavior. But she saw no reason she couldn't enjoy Gage's presence, like a touch of spice in an otherwise bland dish.
Gage's gaze remained on Nadia as he added, "I shall look forward to the occasion."
"I shall escort Mr. Weston from here, Nadia," Butrus said.
He didn't add, "Run along," but his tone conveyed the dismissal equally well.
Concealing her annoyance, she nodded agreement. "As you wish, Butrus. We'll meet again at my fiance's estate, Mr. Weston."
As Gage returned her salaam with a practiced one of his own, not by a flicker of an eyelash did she let him see how eagerly she found herself anticipating the experience.
♥Scanned by Coral♥
Chapter 6
So much for anticipation, she thought a week later as she fed bread to the swans craning their graceful necks toward her on the ornamental lake at Butrus's estate.
Their party had arrived at Zabara two days ago, and the only people she had spoken to were Butrus, his servants, her sisters on the telephone and the women who would have attended her at the royal palace, anyway.
She might as well have remained at home. Then at least she could go to her studio to paint or sculpt. Her hands ached with the need for something to occupy them, and her brain felt as if it was turning into humus.
Her sketching materials lay on a table in the shelter of a filigreed-metal pavilion. Seated on cushioned banquets in the comfortable structure, she had made several sketches of the swans this morning, but they weren't nearly enough to satisfy her. She yearned for the tactile excitement of fresh clay under her fingers, a piece of marble to chisel or a blank canvas driving her to cover it with paint.
She also missed her visit to the orphanage. Were the children missing her as much as she missed them? On her last visit, she had explained to them that she wouldn't see them for a week because she had to go away. She had almost changed her mind when she saw little Sammy bite his lower lip to stop himself from crying.
He had become used to people disappearing from his life and probably thought she was going to do the same. She had assured the child she would be back, but he had looked at her with tragically round eyes, as if she was already lost to him. She made up her mind to buy the children special presents to take with her when she returned.
Frustration continued to gnaw at her. She had asked her fiance if she might sit in on the discussions about constitutional law with Gage and the other businessmen, but Butrus had assumed that her reason for asking was because she wanted to watch him at work. It had never occurred to him that she might have something to contribute.
"I appreciate your wish to support me, little one, but I don't want you to be bored," he had said. "The estate is at your disposal. Go where you will within the boundaries and enjoy yourself."
Always the qualification "within the boundaries," she thought, crumpling a piece of bread savagely. She wished she could swallow her anger as easily as the swan swallowed the bread she threw to it. At least her father permitted her mother to join him in his office and be a party, however passive, to the affairs of state. It seemed Butrus didn't intend to allow Nadia even that much involvement in his activities.
A masculine voice behind her startled her. "I know swans can be savage when they have young to protect, but the look on your face makes you seem far more fierce than these beautiful birds."
She swung around to find Gage leaning against a tree, watching her. For some reason, she was troubled that he had seen the anger she went to such lengths to conceal from her fiance. She gathered her royal dignity around her like a cloak. "You shouldn't be speaking with me. Tahani has only gone inside to fetch a cool drink for me. She'll be back at any moment
."
"And you'll be the one getting into trouble for talking to a man alone," he guessed. "How do you stand it?"
She threw more bread to the swans, pretending ignorance. "Stand what?"
"Being kept at arm's length from anything remotely important and treated as if you don't have a brain in your head."
The keenness of his observation rankled. Bad enough to be excluded from the discussions, without Gage being so aware of it. His opinion shouldn't matter, but it did. "What makes you think I have brains?" she asked, lacing her tone with irony.
He came to her so quickly and silently that he was behind her before she knew it. His hands on her shoulders were rough as he spun her around. "The woman who painted the eagle hanging on the wall of my study back home isn't stupid. To represent nature so accurately, she needs to have studied anatomy, aviculture, botany, and have a sharp eye for observation, before we even get to artistic ability."
No one except her attendants touched a member of the royal family, much less as roughly as Gage had. Nadia knew she should be shocked, but instead, she felt a disturbing thread of excitement wend its way through her.
He was so close that she felt the curl of his breath against her cheeks. The sun glinting off his features chiseled them to almost sculptural sharpness. The fine lines radiating from eyes and mouth suggested a life far removed from diplomatic ease and comfort. Not an indoor man. A man of action, she concluded, the impression at odds with the little she knew about him. Perhaps he had been a soldier before becoming a diplomat.
The compulsion to touch his face to see if he was as hard as he looked was almost irresistible. His green gaze flashed a challenge at her, as if he sensed what she barely restrained herself from doing.
The keenness of his observation rankled. Bad enough to be excluded from the discussions, without Gage being so aware of it. His opinion shouldn't matter, but it did. "What makes you think I have brains?" she asked, lacing her tone with irony.
He came to her so quickly and silently that he was behind her before she knew it. His hands on her shoulders were rough as he spun her around. "The woman who painted the eagle hanging on the wall of my study back home isn't stupid. To represent nature so accurately, she needs to have studied anatomy, aviculture, botany, and have a sharp eye for observation, before we even get to artistic ability."