by Nora Roberts
* * *
He shouldn’t have come out. One look at his watch told Alexander he had an appointment in twenty minutes. He had no business going out to the pool when he should have been in his office, preparing for the meeting with the minister of state. He should have known better than to ask, however casually, if Miss Hamilton had returned from the center. He should have known better than to think he could have gone up to his office and concentrated once he knew she was out at the pool.
She looked as though she were sleeping. The brief red bikini stretched low over her hips, rose high at the thighs. She’d untied the straps to the top so that it stayed in place only because of her prone position. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the sunglasses, but she made no movement at all when he approached.
He looked his fill. Her skin was glistening with the oil she’d applied to every exposed area. Its scent rose exotically to compete with the flowers. Her hair curled damp and dark around her face, showing him she hadn’t sat idly, but had used the pool. Stepping closer, he saw her eyes flutter open beneath the amber-tinted lenses.
“You should take more care. You’re not accustomed to our Mediterranean sun.”
She lay almost flat on her back, staring up at him. He blocked the sun now, so that it glowed like a nimbus around his head. She blinked, trying to clear her vision and her brain. Damsels in distress and dragons. She thought of them again, though he looked more like a god than a prince.
“I thought you were out.” She propped herself up on her elbow before she remembered her bikini. As it slipped, she grabbed for it with one hand and swore. He simply stood there while she struggled with the ties and what was left of her modesty.
“I was out. Your skin’s very white, Eve. You’ll burn quickly.”
It occurred to her that protocol demanded she rise and curtsy. Protocol aside, a curtsy in a bikini wasn’t practical. She stayed as she was. “I’ve slathered on a pint of sunscreen, and I wasn’t intending to stay out much longer. Besides, living in Houston toughens the skin.”
“It hasn’t appeared to.” Minister of state or not, Alexander pulled a chair up and sat. “You’ve been to the center?”
“Yes. You and your family are to be congratulated. It’s wonderful.”
“Then you’ll agree to have your company perform?”
“I’ll agree to negotiate a contract.” Eve pulled the back of her chaise up so that she could settle into a sitting position. “The facilities are first-class. If we can iron out the details, we’ll both have what we want.”
“Such details are for lawyers and accountants,” he said in dismissal. “We need only agree on what is to be done.”
Though she thought her father would have been amused by his attitude toward accountants, she folded her hands. “We’ll agree after the lawyers and accountants have had their say.”
“It appears you’ve become a businesswoman.”
“It doesn’t just appear, I have. Don’t you approve of women in business, Your Highness?”
“Cordina is a forward-looking country. We don’t approve or disapprove on the basis of gender.”
“The royal ‘we,’” she murmured under her breath. “I’m sure that’s very progressive. Aren’t you roasting in that jacket?”
“There’s a breeze.”
“Don’t you ever unbutton your collar or take off your shoes?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind. You’re too literal.” She lifted a glass filled with citrus punch from the table beside her. The ice had melted, but it was still refreshing. “Do you ever use the pool, Your Highness?”
“When time permits.”
“Ever hear the American saying about all work and no play?”
He sat coolly in the baking sun, the gold-and-ruby ring on his finger glinting. His eyes were shadowed. “I believe I have.”
“But it doesn’t apply to princes?”
“I apologize for not being able to entertain you.”
“I don’t need entertainment.” Frustrated, she rose. When he stood, she spun on him. “Oh sit, will you? It’s only the two of us. Don’t you think women get tired of having a man pop up everytime they do?”
Alexander settled again, surprised to find himself amused. “No.”
“Well, they do. It might do you some good to spend more time in America, learning how to unbend.”
“I’m not in a position to unbend,” he said quietly and Eve felt her temper ease away.
“All right, though I can’t understand why that’s true with a friend of the family. You’ll have to excuse me, Your Highness. I’ve little patience with unnecessary formality.”
“Then why don’t you ever call me by my name?” His question had her turning to face him again, frowning and uncomfortable. “You said yourself, we’ve known each other for years.”
“I was wrong.” She said it slowly, sensing something under the surface. “We don’t know each other at all.”
“You have no trouble addressing the other members of my family by their names rather than their titles.”
She wished for her drink again, but found herself unable to cross near him to get it. “No, I don’t.”
“It causes me to ask myself why.” With his eyes on hers, he rose and walked to her. When they were close, face-to-face, he stopped, but kept his hands at his side. “Or perhaps I should ask you why.”
“It never seemed appropriate, that’s all.”
Nerves? He’d never seen nerves in her before. Intrigued, he stepped closer. “Have I been unfriendly?”
“Yes—no.” She caught herself taking a step back.
“Which is it?”
“No.” She stood firm and called herself a fool. “You’re always polite, Your Highness. I know you’ve never approved of me, but—”
“I’ve given that impression?”
He was closer again. She hadn’t even seen him move. Eve fell back on the only defense at hand. Belligerence. “Loud and clear.”
“Then I should apologize.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. Eve wondered why she should hear thunder when the sky was so clear.
“Don’t be charming.” She tried to tug her hand away and found it firmly caught.
His smile was as unexpected as the kiss on her fingers, and just as weakening. Yes, she was nervous. He found the unforeseen vulnerability irresistible. “You prefer rudeness?”
“I prefer the expected.”
“So do I.” Something came and went in his eyes quickly. If it was a challenge, she promised herself it was one she would never answer. “It isn’t always there. And from time to time, the unexpected is more interesting.”
“Interesting for some, uncomfortable for others.”
His smile deepened. She saw for the first time a small dimple at the side of his mouth. For some reason her gaze seemed locked to it. “Do I make you uncomfortable, Eve?”
“I didn’t say that.” She tore her gaze from his mouth, but found meeting his eyes wasn’t any less unnerving.
“Your face is flushed,” he murmured, and stroked a thumb along her cheek.
“It’s the heat,” she managed, then felt her knees tremble when his gaze locked on hers.
“I believe you’re right.” He felt it, too, sizzling in the air, crackling, like an electric storm over the sea. “The wise thing for both of us is to cool off.”
“Yes. I have to change. I told Bennett I’d go down to the stables with him before dinner.”
Alexander withdrew immediately. Whatever she thought she had seen in his face, in his eyes, was gone. “I’ll let you go, then. The French ambassador and his wife will be joining us for dinner.”
“I’ll try not to slurp my soup.”
Temper, always close to the surface, came into his eyes. “Are you making fun of me, Eve, or yourself?”
“Both.”
“Don’t stay in the sun much longer.” He turned and didn’t look back.
Eve watched him stride away in his st
rong, military gait. She shivered once, then shut her eyes and dove headlong into the pool.
* * *
Eve was relieved to find not only Bennett but Brie and Reeve joining them at dinner. Seated between the ambassador and Reeve, she found herself saved from having to make the obligatory dinner conversation with Alexander. As heir, he sat at the head of the table, flanked by his sister on one side and the ambassador’s wife on the other.
The dinner was formal but not, as Eve had feared, unbearably boring. The ambassador had a wealth of anecdotes, any of which he would expound on given the least encouragement. Eve laughed with him, urged him on, then delighted him by carrying on a conversation in French. Her years in the Swiss school had stuck, whether she’d wanted them to or not.
“Impressive,” Reeve toasted her when she turned to him with a grin. He’d changed little over the years, she thought. There was a touch of gray at the temples, but that was all. No, she corrected, that wasn’t all. He was more relaxed now. Happiness, it seemed, was its own fountain of youth.
“How’s your French coming?”
“It isn’t.” He toyed with the rich duck in its delicate sauce and thought how much he would have preferred a steak, rare, cooked over his own grill. Then he glanced over at his wife as she laughed with Bennett. Whatever sacrifices had been made were nothing compared to the rewards. “Gabriella says I’m determined not to learn.”
“And?”
“She’s right.”
Eve laughed and picked up her wine. “I’m looking forward to seeing your farm tomorrow, Reeve. Chris told me the house was lovely, though she got lost when you started in on wheat or oats. And you have horses.”
“All the children ride. Even Dorian sits on a pony.” He paused as the main course was cleared. “It’s amazing how fast they learn.”
“How does it feel?” She turned a little more, not certain where the question had come from or why it seemed so important. “Living here, I mean, or living here most of the year, having to sink down another set of roots, learn new customs?”
He could have passed it off as some men would. He could have made a joke as others might. But he had a fondness for the truth. “It was difficult at first, for both of us. Now it’s home. Just as Virginia’s home. I can’t say I won’t be happy when Alex marries and Brie has fewer obligations, but I fell in love with the woman. Her rank is part of it, part of her.”
“It is more than just a title, isn’t it?” she murmured. Before she realized it, before she could prevent it, her gaze drifted to Alexander.
“A great deal more,” Reeve agreed, aware of where her interest had shifted. “And more yet for him.”
Eve brought her attention back quickly. “Yes, of course. He’ll rule one day.”
“He’s been molded for it from his first breath.” Were Gabriella’s instincts right? Reeve wondered. Was there a spark between Alexander and Eve that would take very little fanning? He’d never seen it, but tonight he wasn’t so sure. If there was, Eve wouldn’t find it an easy road. Reeve mulled over his wine a moment, then kept his voice quiet. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few years, it’s that duty and obligation aren’t choices for some, or for the people who love them.”
He was telling her what she already knew, and more than she wanted to know. “No, I’m sure you’re right.” To ease the tension that had come so quickly, she turned to the ambassador and made him laugh.
* * *
The dinner party moved to the main parlor with coffee and brandy. Calculating that a decent amount of time had elapsed, Bennett took Eve’s hand. “Air,” he whispered in her ear.
“Rude,” she whispered back.
“No, they’ll talk for an hour yet. And I’m entitled, even obliged, to entertain you as well as the others. Let’s just step out on the terrace.”
The invitation was hard to resist. Eve already knew how tempting nights in Cordina were. A quick glance showed her that Alexander had the ambassador engaged in quiet conversation and that Brie and Reeve were dealing with the ambassador’s wife.
“All right. For a minute.”
Though his flow of words never faltered, Alexander saw Eve move with his brother through the terrace doors.
“Better,” Bennett said immediately.
“It was a lovely dinner.”
“It was fine, but sometimes I’d prefer pizza and beer with a few friends.” He walked to the edge and leaned on a low stone wall. “The older I get, the less time there is for it.”
“It isn’t easy, is it?”
“What?”
“Being who you are.”
He swung an arm around her waist. “It has its moments.”
“No, don’t shrug it off. You always do that.” Eve drew back to study him. He was wonderful to look at and tougher, a great deal tougher, than he allowed himself to seem.
“You want a serious answer.” He dipped his hands into his pockets. “It’s difficult to give you one. I’ve always been who I am, what I am. No, it isn’t always easy to know that wherever you go there’s a bodyguard not far behind or the press not far ahead. I deal with it in my own way. I’m permitted to, as Brie is, to a certain extent. We’re not the heir.”
“Do you wish you were?”
“God, no.”
He said it with such speed and force she had to smile. “There’s not a jealous bone in your body, is there?”
“It’s hardly a matter of envy. As long as I can remember, Alex has had to work harder, study harder. Be harder. No, I wouldn’t step into his shoes. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I don’t know. The American fascination with royalty, I suppose.”
“You’ve known us too long to be fascinated.”
“I’ve known some of you.” With a shake of her head, she walked to him. “Do you remember that first night, the night of the ball, when we walked out on one of those high, dark balconies?”
“That’s hardly a night I’d forget.”
“I was fascinated then. I thought you were going to kiss me.”
He grinned and twined a lock of her hair around his finger. “I never got around to it.”
“No, you ended up getting shot, instead. I thought you were very heroic.”
“I was.” He linked his arms loosely around her waist. “You know, if I tried to kiss you now, I’d feel as though I were making a pass at my sister.”
“I know.” Relaxed, she rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m glad we’re friends, Ben.”
“You wouldn’t happen to have a cousin, a half sister, an aunt, who looks anything like you?”
“Sorry.” Smiling, she tilted her head back to look at him.
“Me, too.”
“Bennett.”
It only took Alexander’s voice to have Eve springing back like a child caught in the cookie jar. She cursed herself for it, then balled her hands into fists at her side.
“Excuse me.” Coolly regal, he stood just outside the terrace doors where the moonlight didn’t reach. “The ambassador is leaving.”
“So soon?” Untouched by the biting tone, Bennett squeezed Eve’s shoulders. “Well, we should make our goodbyes. Thanks for the air.”
“Of course.” But as he walked through the doors, she stayed where she was, hoping Alexander would follow him.
“If you’d come back in for a moment, the ambassador would like to say goodbye. He was quite charmed by you at dinner.”
“All right.” She walked to the doors, but found her way blocked. This time she didn’t step back, but angled her chin so she could see his face. It was in shadows, and only his eyes were clear. “Was there something else, Your Highness?”
“Yes, it seems there is.” He caught her chin in his hand, surprising both of them. It was soft, with the pressure still a threat or a promise. It wasn’t a lover’s touch. He refused to allow it to be. “Bennett is a generous man, a compassionate one, but a man who has little discretion with women. You should take care.”
From some
one else, from anyone else, the comment would have made her laugh. Meeting Alexander’s eyes, she didn’t feel like laughing. “It appears you’re warning me I might get burned again. It wasn’t necessary this afternoon, and it isn’t necessary now.” Her voice was slow and sultry, but somehow managed to take on the sheen of ice. “You might have observed, Your Highness, that American women insist on taking care of themselves and making their own choices.”
“I have no desire to take care of you.” There was a sting in his voice that might have made her shrivel if she hadn’t been so angry.
“We can all be grateful for that.”
“If you’re in love with my brother—”
“What right do you have to ask me that?” Eve demanded. She didn’t know why the temper had come or why it was so fierce, but with every word it grew. “My feelings for your brother are my feelings and have nothing to do with you.”
The words twisted inside him hatefully. “He is my brother.”
“You don’t rule Bennett and you certainly don’t rule me. My feelings for your brother, or for anyone, are my business.”
“What happens in my home, in my family, is mine.”
“Alex.” Brie came to the door, her voice subdued to indicate theirs weren’t. “The ambassador’s waiting.”
Without a word he dropped his hand and strode inside.
“Your brother’s an idiot,” Eve said under her breath.
“In a great many ways.” Sympathetic, Brie took Eve’s hand. “Take a deep breath and come in and speak to the ambassador and his wife a moment. Then you can go up to your room and kick something. That’s what I always do.”
Eve set her teeth. “Thanks. I believe I will.”
Chapter 3
PRINCE BENNETT COURTS AMERICAN HEIRESS
Eve read the headline with her morning coffee and nearly choked. Once she managed to swallow and take a second look, she began to giggle. Poor Ben, she thought, all he had to do was look at a woman and there was a romance. Ignoring her croissant, Eve read the text:
Eve Hamilton, daughter of millionaire T. G. Hamilton, is the guest of the royal family during her visit to Cordina. The long and intimate connection between Prince Bennett and Miss Hamilton began seven years ago …
The article went on to describe the events that took place in the palace resulting in the abortive kidnapping of the princess and Bennett’s subsequent injuries. She couldn’t help but smile when her own part was played up heroically. Amused, she read that she and Bennett had enjoyed periodic rendezvous over the years.
Rendezvous, she thought with a snicker. Well, it was true that Bennett had