by Penny Jordan
‘Have I been persistent?’
She gave him a mock-reproving look, desperately trying to maintain a level head when all she wanted to do was throw herself back into his arms. ‘You know you have,’ she said. ‘You just won’t take no for an answer.’
‘Well, can you blame me? As soon as I met you I felt something drop into place, as if a piece of a puzzle had been missing all this time and now I’d suddenly found it.’
She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘So who was the woman who phoned you today?’
‘It was my sister, Megan. She’s backpacking around Europe and wanted to say hi.’
It was impossible to disguise her tiny sigh of relief. ‘She’s lucky to have a brother like you,’ she said.
‘That’s what I keep telling her, but do you think she will listen?’ His smile lit up his eyes.
‘I like you, Alex Hunter,’ she said softly. ‘I really like you.’
‘That’s a start, I guess,’ he said, his dark eyes twinkling. ‘Any chance of an upgrade on that?’
She met his smile with one of her own. ‘Perhaps. I’ll have to think about it.’
‘Well, in the meantime I’ll try and be patient,’ he said and brought his mouth back down to hers.
This time his kiss was even more demanding, the searing thrust of his tongue taking her breath away as his hands skimmed her curves. Her breasts leapt at his touch, even though the fabric of her uniform still covered them. She could feel herself being swept away on the tide of spiralling need that flowed between them. She could feel it in his body, the energy and strength that pulsed there. She could taste it in his kiss, the heat and fire that burned against her mouth as she returned his kiss with fevered urgency. She could feel it in her own body, the ache and throb of unmet needs that refused to be denied any longer.
‘This is crazy,’ Alex said, suddenly pulling away. ‘My timing as usual is way off. I have to be at the palace in ten minutes. That’s not nearly long enough to pleasure you in the way I want to.’
Amelia felt her stomach hollow at his words. ‘We can do this some other time,’ she said, surprising herself more than him. ‘That’s if you still want to….’
He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her mouth. ‘I want to. I’ll be thinking of nothing else the whole time I’m with the king.’
She wrinkled her nose at him. ‘I’m sure he would be very shocked to hear that.’
He smiled down at her. ‘I don’t care if he is. What’s an old man with a medieval castle got to do with me? I’d much rather be with you.’
Amelia decided then to tell him of the rumours. What harm could it do for him to know? At least then he would be able to meet the king’s questions levelly now there was no doubt he was not the prince.
‘Alex…there’s something you should know before you meet the king. Something important.’
Alex frowned at her grave tone. ‘What?’
She took a steadying breath. ‘You’re probably going to think this is ridiculous in the extreme, but there have been rumours circulating on the island ever since you arrived that you are in some way related to the king.’
‘Related?’ His frown deepened.
‘You remember the kidnap and murder of the king’s grandson we discussed the other day?’
He gave a brief nod without responding.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘there’s been a recent disclosure that the infant prince was not in fact murdered as first thought, but spirited away to be brought up by someone else.’
‘Someone else where?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know all the details, just that the prince—according to my sources—was well and truly alive the last time…this person saw him.’
‘So what’s all this got to do with me?’ he asked, his brow still furrowed.
‘At the restaurant last night you were mistaken for someone else. You said it had happened ever since you arrived on the island. I thought you should know that the king as well as others has seen a likeness in your features to his dead son,Antonio, and his surviving grandson, Marco. They’ve been wondering if you are in fact the prince.’
His breath came out in a whooshing rush. ‘Amelia, this island is teeming with male look-alikes. There’s hardly a man here who doesn’t have black hair and brown eyes.’
‘I know. I just thought I should tell you, that’s all. It seemed a little far-fetched to me when I first heard, but then when you said you were adopted and that your Italian name was Alessandro I started to wonder about it myself.’
Alex gave a chuckle of incredulous laughter. ‘Far-fetched? It’s bloody ridiculous! Me? A prince? Don’t make me laugh.’
Amelia started to smile. ‘I guess it does sound a bit crazy, doesn’t it?’
‘Just wait till my sister hears about this.’ He grinned. ‘It’s not every day one gets mistaken for royalty. A mate of mine once got mistaken for a famous actor. He even had to sign autographs as the fans just wouldn’t believe he wasn’t the real deal, but I think this is going one better than that.’
‘I hope you didn’t mind me telling you,’ she said. ‘I just thought it would be better to know about it in case they ask you any personal questions at the palace tonight.’
He dropped a quick kiss to the soft bow of her mouth. ‘You did the right thing telling me. To tell you the truth I was starting to get a little spooked by all the weird looks I was getting. Now I can rest easy.’
So can I, Amelia thought as they made their way out to his car. Thank goodness he was plain old Alex Hunter and not the missing prince….
The fourteenth-century castle was situated on a rocky promontory overlooking the main port of Niroli, the hills behind covered with scented orange groves.
Amelia looked up at it standing so majestically over all it surveyed. The palace had its own private beach and boat houses and the views over the wide horizons were breathtaking. As settings went it was surely one of the most spectacular in the region if not the entire world.
‘Quite some beach house,’ Alex remarked from beside her.
She smiled and took a step backwards as the royal officials approached. ‘I’ll wait for you over there,’ she said, pointing to a sun-drenched terrace where a bougainvillea vine was trailing over the balustrade in a scarlet arras.
Alex gave her a wink and made his way towards the castle entrance flanked on either side by the uniformed officials.
Amelia turned to look at the sea sparkling in the distance, the tang of salt reaching her from below.
She turned about twenty minutes later as she heard the sound of footsteps and watched as Alex walked towards her, a hint of a smile reflected in his dark eyes as they met hers.
‘How was it?’ she asked once they were back in his car.
‘As house calls go it was certainly unusual,’ he said. ‘I met with the king and discussed his treatment options. I spoke to him of the risks involved with a patient his age and how I would be prepared to do it at the private hospital as a one-off in a couple of days.’
‘Did he mention anything to you about the rumours?’
‘No and I didn’t bring the topic up. I thought someone was going to at one stage. I was getting some pretty intense scrutiny from the staff as they served drinks, but apart from a few questions about my background things were pretty relaxed.’
‘Did you meet any of the royal family? Prince Marco or Prince Luca or the princesses?’
‘I did, actually,’ he said. ‘If you hadn’t told me what you had, I would have thought it a bit unusual since I was ostensibly there to see the king on a health matter, but I guess they too wanted to check on any likeness. They were very polite and seemed interested in the procedure I’m pioneering, but they didn’t stay long.’
‘Could you see any likeness to yourself?’ she asked.
‘Not so much with Prince Marco or Prince Luca, although of course there are similarities, but I did happen to see a portrait of Antonio and his wife Francesca on one of the walls as I walked past.’
> Amelia glanced at him. ‘And?’
His eyes met hers briefly, a small frown bringing his brows together as he returned to the task of driving. ‘I know this is going to sound a bit strange, but I felt like I’d seen them before. Crazy, huh?’
‘Perhaps you’ve seen a photograph of them in the press,’ she suggested. ‘The news of their yachting accident hit the headlines all over the world.’
‘Yeah, that’s probably what it was,’ he said, sending her a quick smile.
Amelia settled back in her seat, but the next time she chanced a glance at him his smile had disappeared….
CHAPTER TEN
‘HOW about we have a quick dinner at my place before I visit your father?’ Alex suggested a short time later.
‘I don’t want to put you to any trouble…’
‘I’m not quite a celebrity chef or anything, but I can whip up a mean omelette and salad. My mother always told me women are super impressed by a man who can cook.’
‘I’m super impressed by a man who can clean up after he cooks,’ Amelia said with a wry smile. ‘My father and brothers are absolutely hopeless.’
‘You have it tough up there, don’t you?’ he asked as he led her into the cottage. ‘But you have no need to be ashamed. Home is home, Amelia.’
She lowered her eyes. ‘I’m sorry I was so rude to you last night. I’m just not used to people seeing where I live.’
‘I’ve seen some wonderful mansions in my time, and, let me tell you, some miserable souls living in them,’ he said. ‘Some of the happiest and most well-adjusted people I’ve met have lived in virtual squalor. Where you live is not important, it’s who you are as a person.’
She smiled up at him. ‘So while you were up at the palace did you think about how it would be to live like a prince?’
‘Yeah, I did a bit, but do you know something? I think it would get on my nerves after a while. All those eyes watching your every move and obsequious staff rushing to pull out your chair for you, or wipe a crumb off your lap. Sheesh! I bet you couldn’t even go the bathroom without someone peering through the keyhole to see if you really are human after all.’
Amelia laughed. ‘I’m sure it’s not that bad!’
He grinned as he pulled her towards him. ‘What do you say, little elf? Shall we have our main course now or go straight to dessert?’
She gazed up at him with shining eyes. ‘What did you have in mind for dessert?’
His mouth came down towards hers, his warm breath caressing the surface of her lips. ‘How about strawberry kisses?’
‘Is there such a dessert?’ she asked breathlessly.
He pressed his mouth against hers for a moment before running his tongue over his lips as if to taste her. ‘Yep, there definitely is,’ he said, ‘and I can’t get enough of it.’
Amelia totally melted as his mouth moved over hers, his sensual tongue pushing between her lips to find her own. Each sweeping, sexy movement set her on fire; her skin tingled and shivered with the warm glide of his hands as they moved to shape her form. She felt his hands cup the light weight of her breasts and her stomach hollowed as he began to undo the top buttons of her uniform, one by one, leaving a trail of scorching kisses as he went. Her bra slipped to the floor along with her uniform, leaving her at the mercy of his hungry dark gaze.
‘You’re so beautiful.’ He almost growled the words, so deep and low was his voice as he pulled the tie from his throat and tossed it to the floor.
Her hands helped him with his shirt, her fingers skating over the buttons until it too was at their feet along with her uniform. He stepped out of his trousers and she felt the full thrust of his body against her, the heat of his arousal burning into the soft skin of her stomach.
‘Am I going too fast for you?’ he said next to her ear where he was nibbling her until her skin started to lift all over.
‘Not fast enough,’ she breathed and, kicking off her shoes, pushed herself closer.
‘It’s been a long time for both of us,’ he said as he kissed the upper side of one breast. ‘I want to pace myself but you’re making it hard for me.’
‘I can’t help it,’ she said, and started kissing his throat, hot, sucking little kisses that made him groan with need. ‘I want you.’
He picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, his weight coming down on top of her as he joined her, his long legs anchoring her to the bed. He kissed his way down her stomach but she wouldn’t let him go below her belly button. She brought his head back up and wriggled until he was pushing against her soft folds.
He wrenched his mouth off hers long enough to gasp something about a condom and she waited impatiently as he reached across her to find one. She heard him rummaging about in the drawer with little success.
‘Damn!’
‘Here.’ She pushed him aside. ‘Let me have a girl look.’
‘A girl look?’
She smiled coyly as she found a little foil packet and held it up. ‘See?’
‘I swear you must have planted that in there.’
‘I did not! You just weren’t looking.’
He ripped the packet open with his teeth and handed her the condom. ‘Why don’t you put it on in case I can’t find what I’m looking for?’
She bit her lip in sudden shyness. ‘No…you do it… I might not do it properly.’
He lifted her chin so she met his eyes. ‘That’s what I like about you, little elf. You’re so adorably shy.’
A small frown wrinkled her brow. ‘I can’t help it.’
He kissed the little crease on her forehead. ‘I’ve never made love to a woman like you before.’
Her brow wrinkled even more. ‘Like me?’
He smiled and, taking her hand, placed it on the rigidity of his erection. ‘Amelia, do you see what you are doing to me?’
‘Oh…’
‘You’re not disappointed?’
‘Why would I be disappointed?’ she asked.
‘If the rumours were true about me, you could be seconds away from sleeping with a prince. Isn’t that every girl’s dream?’
Amelia looked at his mouth, the sexy curve of his smile sending sparks of sensation right to the core of her being. ‘Just how many seconds are we talking about here?’ she asked.
He smiled and pushed her back down, taking her breath away with his first deep thrust, and covered her mouth with his.
The silky slide of his thick body in hers was almost too much for her sensation-starved body to cope with. She felt every nerve jump to attention, every single cell and pore screaming for more and more of his touch. He drove deeper and deeper, obviously trying to pace himself, but she was too greedy for more and lifted her hips to bring him closer. She felt him brush against the pearl of her desire but the tingling sensation didn’t last long enough to bring her the release she craved. He shifted position, driving forward with increasing urgency until she was almost screaming with the intimate slippery abrasion of his body rubbing so closely against hers. She arched her back and suddenly everything fell into place. He was where she most wanted him, the deeper, longer strokes of his aroused length taking her to lift-off so that her senses finally soared into oblivion.
She was vaguely aware of his own release, the deep throb of his heart against her naked breasts as he pumped himself into her, his body collapsing like a wind-depleted sail as soon as it was over.
Amelia gently stroked the length of his back, amazed at how she had responded to him but even more amazed at how he had responded to her.
Alex lifted himself up on one elbow to look at her. ‘I hope this doesn’t sound like a line from that playboy manual you referred to the other night, but that was the most amazing experience I’ve had in years.’
Amelia ran her hand up and down his forearm in a tickling caress. ‘It does sound a bit like something on about page twenty-three, but I agree, it was amazing. Certainly nothing like I’ve ever experienced before.’
He let out a deep, contented sig
h as she moved her fingers farther along his arm. ‘That feels nice. You have such soft hands.’
Amelia watched the pathway of her fingers as they went towards his elbow, her brow furrowing when she came to some tiny white, almost undetectable scars on the underside of his arm. ‘What did you do to yourself here?’ she asked.
He looked down at where she was pointing. ‘Oh, that. That was years ago. I had some laser work done.’
‘Laser work?’ She sat up and stared at him. ‘Laser work for what?’
‘I had a birthmark.’
She stared at him in shock. ‘A birthmark?’ she gasped.
He gave her a world-weary look. ‘And here I was thinking you were going to be different. That’s why I had it removed in the first place.’
‘Y-you had it removed?’ she croaked.
‘My ex-girlfriend Sarah hated it,’ he said with a curl of his lip. ‘So did a couple of other girlfriends in the past. Quite frankly I couldn’t see what the fuss was all about. It was only small and no one could see it unless I had my arm in a certain position.’
‘You had a birthmark?’ Amelia was aware she was still gaping at him but there was nothing she could do to stop it. ‘A strawberry birthmark?’
‘Don’t worry, Amelia, it’s not catching.’
‘But…but you don’t understand…’
He got off the bed and roughly disposed of the condom. ‘Oh, I understand all right. I’ve been dealing with this for years. What is it with women these days? A birthmark isn’t contagious. It’s not as if any children I sire will inherit it or anything.’
‘Alex—’
‘Don’t start, Amelia.’ He rounded on her. ‘I had enough of this from Sarah.’
Amelia knew she was still staring at him but she couldn’t seem to get her voice to work.
‘Ever heard of a copper bromide machine?’ he asked. ‘Or perhaps the newer V-beam machine used in laser and sclerotherapy clinics?’
Her eyes widened, her heart starting to hammer in her chest. ‘You mean for the…the removal of lesions?’
‘Lesions, pigmentation, spider veins, sun damage, broken capillaries and birthmarks can all be removed, without trace in some instances, with laser-beam therapy.’ He sounded as if he were reading it from a brochure.