Читать книгу Irresistible Greeks: Unsuitable and Unforgettable: At His Majesty's Request / The Fallen Greek Bride / Forgiven but not Forgotten? - Эбби Грин, Jane Porter - Страница 12

THE women had arrived. Victoria, Amy and Cherry. Beautiful, polished and royal. They were wearing sleek, expensive-looking clothing, their hair perfectly coiffed, their makeup expertly applied.

They were perfectly beautiful. Perfectly boring.

Stavros surveyed the three women in their spot on the balcony. He felt like he was being featured on a bad reality television show. It was suddenly hard to breathe.

He’d been around some in his thirty-three years. Some people might call him a playboy, he preferred to think he was taking advantage of the physical while ignoring the emotional. Even so, facing three women who had marriage on their minds was out of his realm of experience.

Jessica was not out there with him, not there to run interference and give him a time limit for how long each woman could speak to him.

Victoria spoke first. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I apologize if you weren’t expecting me … us.” He could tell she was irritated to be sharing the terrace with the other two women, who clearly felt the same way she did.

“Of course you were expected,” he said, opting for diplomacy. Though he hoped, fervently, that they were staying at a hotel in Piraeus and not in the villa. Two was company, five would be a nightmare.

Especially considering that kiss he’d shared with Jessica and all the options it was making him contemplate. Again.

Victoria smiled, saccharine and a bit false, though, again given the situation, he hardly blamed her. His own smile was just as fake.

Cherry—at least he was assuming she was Cherry based on Jessica’s description—spoke next. “I waited down at the airport for quite a while.”

“I apologize,” he said.

“I didn’t have to wait,” Victoria said, her expression a bit superior as she looked at the other two women.

“Because your plane landed last,” Amy said, sniffing slightly.

He heard the click of high heels behind him and turned, a rush of heat filling him as Jessica came walking out onto the terrace.

“Sorry, ladies, I didn’t realize you’d arrived.” She smiled widely and he could sense the women in front of him relaxing as Jessica drew closer. She put her hands on her hips, pushing her full skirt in, revealing a bit of those luscious curves. “I had told the driver to bring you to your hotel. I apologize for the confusion.”

Efharisto con theo.

He didn’t want three women, all vying for position as queen, under the same roof. At least not one he was beneath. Not a very good thought to have, since it was very possible one of the three could be sharing his home, his bed, for the rest of their lives.

They could spend the rest of their lives smiling falsely at each other. He didn’t know where the thought came from, and he didn’t know why it filled him with an emotion that he could only identify as terror.

He appraised the three sleek women in front of him. All different in coloring, height and shape. He tried, he tried very hard, to find one that appealed to him more than the others.

A blonde, a brunette and a redhead …

He could not find anything especially appealing.

Until Jessica appeared on the balcony. That made fire in his blood, heat pooling in his gut, coursing down to his groin. His lips burned with the memory of her kiss. Just a kiss. Something that, for a man of his experience, should mean nothing. And yet, it had seemed the height of sensuality. The pinnacle of pleasure.

More than that, his heart had burned. And it hadn’t hurt. It hadn’t been unpleasant at all. He didn’t know what that meant.

“Since you’re here, I think we should have a drink before you’re taken back into the city.” Jessica was in control, her smile unshakable, her composure solid. “Does that suit?”

Amy looked like she might protest, about the drink or being taken back into the city, but instead, she nodded along with the others. Jessica turned and went back into the villa, undoubtedly to give the order for drinks to be served.

The three women stared at him, doe-eyed. An indistinct blur of beauty that meant nothing more to him than the scenery. Possibly less. “Excuse me for a moment,” he said, turning and following Jessica. “Jessica …”

She whirled around, hands on her head. “I am so sorry.”

“You are?”

“Yes. I don’t really like all the three of the women to be together and … this … all right, this isn’t really going according to my system. But it’s okay. We’ll improvise. We’ll all have a drink, we’ll chat, tomorrow you can choose one to go on a dinner date with. Does that work?”

“Fine,” he said, amused by how quickly her composure had evaporated once they were out of sight of the other women.

“Really, this just makes it all seem a bit …”

“Like a reality television show?”

“Yes. And also a bit crass. And I’m sorry. But they all know the drill, so while it’s awkward, they knew that they weren’t the only people who had put in to be considered for this match.”

He leaned against the wall. “So how exactly do women find you?”

“I advertise. In a discreet manner of course, but I’ve managed to put together a select group of men and women. When someone comes to me looking for a match, I let those who meet the qualifications know, and then they respond and let me know if they’re interested. Simple.”

“In a complex sort of way.”

She raised both eyebrows, her expression haughty. “Well, it works anyway.”

“So how many of these women you’ve shown me haven’t made the final cut with other men?”

She sniffed. “Almost all of them. Where is the wine?”

“Which ones?”

“Only Victoria has never asked to be entered in for consideration yet. You were the first one she showed interest in.”

“Setting her sights high?”

She kept her focus on her hunt for beverages. “Wine?”

“I mean that as far as status goes, not really saying I surpass the other men in terms of other qualities.”

“Right. Where is the wine?”

He chuckled and reached behind her, pulling a bottle from the built in rack above her head. “Will a merlot do?” He took glasses from the rack as well, holding them by the stems.

“Fine.” She reached up and took the bottle from his hand, then tilted it in his direction. “We should …” She gestured in the direction of the terrace. “Because I don’t want them to scratch each other’s eyes out or anything.”

“Remind me again why you thought this would be a good idea?”

She frowned. “Well, it seemed logical. It sort of followed how I do things … it’s just … it not being a big event sort of closes everything in a bit more.”

“Yeah.”

He took the bottle from her hand and led the way back out onto the terrace. Victoria, Cherry and Amy were standing at the far end of the terrace, a healthy bit of distance between each them so that they didn’t have to engage in conversation with one another.

He set the glasses down on a small round bistro table and opened the bottle, pouring a substantial portion into each glass.

“Drinks,” he said, lifting one for himself. They would need them.

The women advanced and each took their wine. The silence was awkward, oppressive. He hated this, he was starting to realize. It was the first thing he could remember hating in a long time. He hadn’t had an emotion so strong in … years.

He hadn’t thought he would mind this situation. Because he didn’t want a wife, not in a particular sense. Marriage for him would be something he did for his country. A distant affair, and that was how it had to be. He knew—he’d seen—that love, emotional attachment, could overpower strong men. Bring them to their knees. And if those men were in control of the country, they could bring the country down with them.

That was why he had to do it this way. That was why he had to keep everyone at a distance. Why he had to find a wife who would matter to the country, not to him.

Still, even with that in mind, being in the middle of the matchmaking process was as enjoyable as being boiled alive. His flirtatious manner was harder to hold on to than he could ever remember it being before.

Ultimately, it was Jessica, her quick wit and sparkling laugh, that saved the night. She engaged everyone in conversation and managed to make things seem easy. Easier at least.

By the time his marriage candidates had been sent off in the limo, the knot in his gut had eased. Though, it could have been due to the wine and not just Jessica’s lightning-quick wit.

As soon as the women were out of sight Jessica let out a loud breath and lifted her wineglass to her lips, tilting her head back and knocking the rest of the contents in. “That was vile. Worse than vile.”

“You’re good at covering up how you feel.”

“So are you,” she said. “Image. It’s important to both of us, right?”

“I have to put on a good front for my people.” Except he hadn’t thought of it as a front before. He’d simply thought of himself as empty of anything but confidence. Empty of anything unimportant. If something needed to be done, he saw it done.

“And I have to put on a calm front for my clients.”

“Then why is it you’re letting me in on just how stressed out that made you?”

She grimaced. “Well, for all intents and purposes, we’re roommates at the moment and I have to let my hair down at some point in the day, so to speak. For another, you’ve licked my lips and that puts you slightly over the line of ‘usual client.’ Slightly.”

“You don’t let all your clients lick your lips?” he asked. A strange tightness invaded his chest, his stomach. Jealousy.

Possessiveness. The image of all of her clients getting the sort of special treatment he had been on the receiving end of made him want to pull her to him again, to make sure she didn’t forget what it was like to be kissed by him. To make sure she never forgot.

That was as foreign as all the other emotions she’d brought out in him over the past few days. Jealousy implied some sort of special connection, and a fear of that connection being threatened.

He gritted his teeth, fought against the tightness in his chest. Flirting. That would put the distance back between them. Something light. Sexual.

“Hardly,” she said. Unable to read his mood, she kept her tone casual. “Indulge me, though, since I’ve now confessed that I don’t kiss my other clients. What exactly are you hiding?” She tilted her head, her green eyes assessing. Far too assessing for his taste. Too sincere.

It made it impossible to find that false front. Made him feel something shift deep inside himself.

“No skeletons in my closet,” he said. “But of course I have to live a certain way, conduct myself in a certain way.”

“You aren’t exactly a traditional ruler.”

“It’s not just tradition. It’s about instilling confidence. Showing stability. Emotion … that has no place. I must be charming, confident, at ease at all times.”

“I’ve never heard a whispered rumor that you were anything but.”

He looked out into the darkness, at the black ocean, moonlight glittering across the choppy surface. “I know. Because I don’t slip up. Ever.”

He had, though. He had slipped up with her. He had let go of his control, control he’d been forced to cultivate when he’d been named heir to the throne. He’d let go of it completely in those moments his lips had touched hers. Not control against physical desire, but the control he kept so tightly over his feelings.

Jessica laughed, a sad, hollow sound. “I’m certain I do. Sometimes.”

“What about you, Ms. Carter?” he said. “What are you hiding?” He turned to her, studying her face in the dim light. It seemed imperative to know her secrets. And he wasn’t certain why it would be. But just like last night, he was going to let his guard drop. Just for a moment. Just to follow that heavy, aching feeling in his chest. To give it some satisfaction.

The corners of her mouth twitched slightly. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

Warmth spread through him. In him. An alien feeling. One he was compelled to chase for the moment. “And that would create an international incident.”

“It would prick my conscience as well, so maybe I should keep it to myself,” she said, a small curve in her lips. It wasn’t really a smile, though. It was too sad for that. “Better question, if you could be anything, I mean, if the whole world was open to you, what would you be?”

He frowned. “If I wasn’t in line to rule Kyonos?”

“If you weren’t royal at all. If you could have anything you desired, without obligation, what would you do?”

It was the thing he never let himself wonder. The alternate reality that wasn’t even allowed in his dreams. But he was cheating now. Cheating on his own standards for himself.

For a fleeting moment, he had a vision of a life that was his own. A life with a woman of his choosing, in a home of his choosing. With children who wouldn’t know the pain, the responsibility of a royal lineage depending on them. With love.

He shoved the image aside. “I would run my corporation,”

he said. He had a sudden image of sailing a ship around the world and wondered if he’d told the truth.

“Would you get married?” she asked, a strange tone to her voice.

“Yes,” he said, the answer almost surprising him. But in that little, warm hint of fantasy, there had been a wife. There had been kids. And it wasn’t hard to breathe. “Yes,” he said again.

“Hmm.” She turned and walked to the end of the terrace, resting her hands on the railing.

He followed her, standing behind her, watching the sea breeze tug wisps of hair from her updo, letting them fall around her neck. He wanted to brush them aside. To kiss her shoulder. Her neck. Not just because he wanted her, but to feel connected to her.

A deadly desire.

“Why do you do it?” she asked. “Why is this so important?”

She was asking for more honesty. For answers he wasn’t sure he had. “I … When my mother died things fell apart. And the one thing that seemed real, that seemed to matter, was Kyonos. It was the one thing I could fix. The one place I could … matter.”

As he spoke the words, he realized that they were true. That every change he’d made, every effort he’d put forth, had been not just about helping his country, but about finding new purpose for himself.

“What about you?” he asked, ready to shift the spotlight off of himself.

She didn’t speak for a long time. When she did, she spoke slowly, cautiously. “In this scenario, reality isn’t playing a part, right?”

“Right,” he said, voice rough. He waited for her next words, anticipated them like a man submerged beneath the waves anticipated breaking the surface, desperate to take a breath.

She lowered her head, her eyes on her hands. “I would be a wife. A mother …” Her voice broke on the last word. “And maybe I would still do this, or maybe not. I don’t know if I would … need it. But … I would be a mother.”

She pushed off from the railing. “Back to reality,” she said, trying to smile. Failing. “I’m going to bed.”

He nodded, watching as she walked past him.

I would be a mother.

There was something so sad, so defeated in the admission. It made his chest tighten, and he couldn’t pinpoint why. He’d never had someone else’s feelings inhabit his body in this way. But he was certain that’s what was happening. That the oppressive weight that had just invaded him was the same sadness that filled her.

Maybe Jessica wasn’t as happily divorced as she appeared to be. And maybe she wasn’t quite as hard as she appeared to be, either.

She was running interference for Stavros and his harem today, and she wasn’t all that thrilled about it. It was getting harder to chuck other women in his direction when she just wanted to throw herself at him.

Not happening, but still. She was so envious of her clients that she was developing a twitch.

And for heaven’s sake, she never should have said all that about being a mother. Should never have asked him what he wanted. Should never have tried to get to know him. Because it didn’t matter. It just didn’t. There was no point in suspending reality, even for a moment.

There was no escaping reality. You couldn’t outrun it. You could try but eventually it would bite you in the ass. She knew that. She knew it really, really well. She’d tried to ignore how often she and her husband went to their separate corners of the house. She’d tried to ignore his touch at night, and when she couldn’t, she tried to ignore his total disregard for her pain. She’d even tried to ignore his outright berating of her. The screaming and anger and hateful words.

No, there was no point in ignoring that kind of thing. The facts were simple. Stavros needed certain things, she didn’t have any of them.

Why was she even thinking about that crap? She didn’t have time for it. She had a gaggle of women to manage for the whole day.

She blew out a breath and slipped her oversize sunglasses onto her face, tightening her hold on her latte. She had gotten them all booked into a luxury salon in Piraeus, and they were all safely getting massaged and waxed as she stood out on the crowded, narrow streets drinking her coffee.

Stavros was coming soon. He was meeting the group of them for a quick lunch and tour around the city, and then he would be selecting the woman who would accompany him on a private date for the evening.

And it would be up to Jessica to send the other two off without making them feel like it really was some low-rent reality television show.

Jessica wasn’t used to feeling like things were out of her control. Not since that moment four years ago when she’d taken back the reins of her life. She liked to feel like she had everything managed. Like her little universe was in the palm of her hand.

It was an illusion, and she knew it, but she still liked it.

Since Stavros, she didn’t even have her illusion.

What was it about him that reminded her … that reminded her she was a woman? Not just on the surface, but really and truly. With a woman’s desires, no matter how hard life had tried to wring them out of her.

Oh, dear … right on time. The master of her rekindled sexual needs was striding toward her. Cream-colored jacket and trousers, shirt open at the collar. She did love a man who knew how to dress. A Mediterranean sex god with very expensive taste.

He also had two dark-suited members of security flanking him and discreetly parting the crowd so that His Majesty wouldn’t be jostled.

Not that Stavros ever behaved that way. He didn’t act like a spoiled prince who would be able to feel a pea through fifty mattresses, not even close. He acted like a man who carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

More than that, he acted like a man who intended to support the weight of that nation for the rest of his life. A man prepared to tailor his every decision to suit that responsibility.

“Hello, Jessica,” he said, a smile curving his lips.

“Prince Stavros,” she said, reverting because last night had gotten a bit too intimate and she had no desire to go there again. Well, that was a lie. She did want to go there again. But she couldn’t.

“Demoted, I see.”

“What?”

“Back to a title.”

“Oh …” Why did he have to notice all these little things about her? Why did he have to care at all? “Sorry.”

“How are things going?”

“Good. Great. Looking forward to you thinning the herd tonight.”

“You make it sound like there are a lot more than three.”

She sighed. “They feel like more than three. In my experience, the women haven’t been so catty. But then, I normally don’t do this with them in such close proximity to each other. I’ve also never tried to match a crown prince.”

He looked past her, into the spa. “Let’s leave them in there.”

“What?” She looked behind her.

“If we hurry, they won’t know I was here.”

She laughed. “You’re not serious.”

He frowned. “No. I’m not. Things are getting … I need to make a decision.”

“Because of Eva?” she asked, remembering his mood at his sister’s wedding.

“Everyone in Kyonos was happy for Eva. They love to see their princess in love. But I have to be sure that I make them feel like there’s stability.”

“You’ve been the rock for Kyonos for a long time,” she said, not quite sure why she felt compelled to offer him … not comfort … support, maybe.

“And I will continue to do it. With a wife by my side.”

“A most suitable wife.”

“Yes.” He looked back in the spa. “Will they be done soon?”

“Soon.

“It’s not too late to go another route,” she said, not sure why she was offering her client an out from a program she publicly professed, and privately believed, to be the best way to find a mate.

He shrugged. “Why would I?”

“You could still fall in love.” She wrapped both hands around her paper cup and hugged it close to her body.

“No. I can’t.”

“I’m sure you could. What if you met the perfect woman and she was wholly suitable?”

He shook his head. “It isn’t that I don’t think it’s possible. It’s that I won’t. Love weakens a leader. You know of Achilles and his heel, I assume?”

“Of course.”

He frowned, his expression intense. “One weakness is all it takes to crumble a man who is strong in all other areas. And a weak leader can destroy what was a strong nation. I will never have part in that.”

He was serious again. Like last night. Not a hint of flirtation. She was starting to wonder if that was really him at all. Or if it was who he thought he was supposed to be.

“Is that really what you think?”

“I know it. I saw it happen, in my family, in Kyonos. When my mother died everything fell apart. My father could not function. He … We made Xander the scapegoat for it, all because grief could only give way to anger. I had to set it aside. I had to move on for the good of the country. It took my father years to do it. He is a king, he did not have the luxury of grief, or pain. It’s different for us.”

She studied his face, so hard and impassive, as though it were carved from marble. “Feeling pain is the only way I know to deal with it.” Sometimes she wondered if she clung to pain. If she turned it over and dissected more than she needed to. If she used it to protect herself.

“I have gotten to the point where I don’t feel it at all. Kyonos comes first, and everything else comes second. That will include a wife. She’ll have to understand that. She’ll have to understand that her role is not to love me, but to love my country.”

Bone deep sadness assaulted her. He deserved more than that. More than this.

Her phone buzzed and she pulled up her text messages.

We’re done. Where are you?

The message was from Victoria.

Out front. She typed out the note and then hit Send.

“They’re done,” she said. “Brace yourself.”

He straightened his shoulders, his expression changing, that wicked charm back in place. She had to work hard to suppress a smile.

As if on cue the three women walked out of the spa, sunglasses fixed firmly on flawless faces. Victoria was the first to spot Stavros, the first to smile widely. “Prince Stavros. How lovely.”

Like she was surprised. Like she hadn’t been briefed by Jessica early that morning.

“Lovely to see you, Victoria,” he said, inclining his head. “Cherry, Amy.”

Cherry and Amy didn’t look thrilled at being afterthoughts, but they managed to smile, too, and offer platitudes about what a lovely day it was.

“I’ve made reservations at a café down by the water,” he said.

“Sounds lovely,” Amy said, taking her chance to be the first to speak.

“My car is just this way,” he said, leading down the narrow street and to a black limo idling at the curb. The security detail opened the back doors on both sides. The women slid in and took their positions on the bench seats that ran the length of the car.

Jessica got in and sat on the bench facing them, and Stavros slid in beside her. The doors closed and the air-conditioning provided immediate relief from the heat. Or, rather, it would have, if Stavros himself wasn’t so hot.

A thick, awkward silence settled into the air and Jessica worked to find her social ease. She was good with people. It was one of her strengths. But Stavros had her in the throes of her first sexual attraction in years and his potential brides were sitting a foot away.

It was more awkward than any situation had the right to be.

“I …” She cleared her throat. “I’m really looking forward to lunch.”

“I’m looking forward to dinner,” said Cherry, flashing Stavros a smile.

From awkwardness to greater awkwardness.

“I imagine everyone will be eating dinner tonight,” Jessica said, a bit too brightly. Some will be eating alone, though.

Stavros laughed … easy, charming. False. He did that so well. No matter the situation he seemed to be in control. More than that, he seemed to distance himself. The flirtier and friendlier he seemed, the less present he actually was. And that seemed to be his default setting.

Not always. Her mind flashed back to the kiss. That hadn’t been emotionless at all. Or distant. That had been … amazing. And wild. She sneaked a peek at him from the corner of her eyes, her line of sight connecting her with the strong column of his throat. She was willing to bet he tasted like salt. Clean skin and man.

“I’m certain everyone will,” he said, earning a delicate blush from Cherry.

The limo stopped and Jessica nearly said a prayer of thanks out loud. “We’re here!”

The doors opened and they filed out. The restaurant was at the harbor, the seating area extending over the pier. Boats, ranging in size from dinghies to yachts, filled the horizon. Seagulls screeched nearby, landing near tables, fighting over crumbs, showing no respect for their otherwise elegant surroundings.

Jessica made sure everyone ordered wine with their lunch. Heaven knew they would need it to get through the afternoon.

They made appropriate small talk while they waited for their orders to be filled and Jessica cringed inside as she watched the patented disinterest in Stavros’s eyes grow more and more pronounced.

She wanted to pinch him. She couldn’t fix him up if he didn’t even try to like the women she introduced him to.

She caught his gaze and treated him to a hard stare. A glimmer of amusement appeared in the depths of his dark eyes. She didn’t even want to know what he was thinking.

When everyone had their food, Stavros leaned in, his very best charming-politician smile on his face. How had she not noticed before? How fake it was. How much it wasn’t him at all. “I know this is a bit unusual. But I think it’s best to think of it as a job interview. I hope no one finds that offensive. We have all signed up to have Jessica’s help finding a suitable spouse, have we not?”

Jessica wanted to hit him. Except none of the women seemed offended at all. They should have been. His mercenary assessment should have made them all angry. They should have poured wine in his lap.

They didn’t, they simply nodded.

“The reality is, my country needs very specific things from a queen. That’s my top priority.”

“Naturally,” Victoria said. “We’re all far too practical to think this is going to be a love match.”

Cherry nodded, and Amy only stared into her glass.

“Then the rejection should not be personal, either,” he said, his charm never slipping. He was firm, yet still perfectly engaging. She didn’t understand how he did it. She didn’t understand what he was doing, and yet, he was doing it.

“This is really lovely,” Jessica said, looking around them. “Isn’t it lovely?”

Amy nodded. “It really is.”

She chattered on about the scenery and the food, anything to dispel the lingering scent of that horrible honesty of Stavros’s. They managed to make it through the meal and get the women deposited at their hotel without it appearing again.

That left just the two of them alone in the limo for the ride back to the villa.

“And what was that?” she asked.

“What was what?” He was positioned across from her, and he still felt too close, because now there was no one in the back with them to help diffuse the tension.

“That. The whole thing about it being a job interview. Didn’t I tell you to keep your candor to yourself? Or just tell me if you have something so honest to say.”

“They didn’t seem to mind. Anyway, I had to make a choice about tonight, about which one of the three to continue seeing. If that, the clinical nature of this, is going to bother them, they should leave now. I’m not doing this for romance.”

“I know …”

“And now so do they. If any one of them wants to leave they better do it now, I don’t have time to mess around with the future of my country. I told you already, I need a queen who understands that her loyalty will be to Kyonos.”

“Still … geez. Don’t underestimate the power of a little sweet talk.”

“I of all people know about sweet talk, as you should know. I do have a reputation. But I’m not going to deceive anyone that’s involved in this.”

“I appreciate that. I wasn’t talking deceit. Just … sugarcoating.”

“I didn’t think you did sugarcoating,” he said, his dark eyes locked with hers.

“Um … well, I don’t … I mean not with you, but you have to know how to talk to women.”

“You think you know how to talk to women better than I do? How many women have you dated?”

She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Zero, but I am a woman so I win.”

“This isn’t about tricking someone into marrying me because they want to be a princess and live in a castle and have their happily-ever-after. They can want a title, but they have to be worthy of it. They have to know what it means. They have to realize I’m a busy man and that love isn’t high on my list of priorities. It’s not even on the list of options. For that reason, I thought it was important I spelled it out.”

She looked out the window, her throat tightening. For one moment, just for a moment, she pictured Stavros without the obligations. What would it be like for him? If he could have been free to do what he wanted? If he could have had that wife and the children that he’d seen in his mind’s eye last night while they were talking? Would his expectations be different?

Would he have loved that wife? If he didn’t feel like a nation was dependent on his emotional strength, would he have given himself over to love? Would he have focused his fearsome loyalty on his family?

The thought of it, of what it would be like to be the woman on the receiving end of all that intensity, filled her with a kind of bone-deep longing.

Get a grip, Jess. Even if he was free, she wouldn’t be the woman for him. He had goals, dreams and desires that weren’t about his wife, or who she was, but what she could offer. And they were things she couldn’t offer. She knew all about trying to be perfect for someone when she fell so far short of it. She could never do it again.

“I respect that,” she said.

“Victoria.”

“What?”

“It’s Victoria. She’s the one I want to see again.” His voice didn’t hold any particular enthusiasm.

She felt like she’d been sucker punched. And she wasn’t sure why. “Did you … have a lightning-attraction thing?”

A muscle in his cheek jumped. “She’s lovely. More than that, I think she’s a bit … well, she seemed unemotional.” He didn’t sound too enthusiastic and she hated the small, ridiculous part of herself that liked that. The part that wanted Stavros to be dwelling on their kiss, and not on his attraction to another woman.

Even if that other woman was the one he might potentially marry.

“Victoria is … She’s very smart. And I’m certain she would do a lot of good as queen.” Victoria wasn’t just smart, she was brilliant. And, Stavros was right, a bit on the unemotional end of things. She was looking for an opportunity to better herself, and to make an impact on the world.

Jessica had been trying to talk Victoria into considering a few of her previous clients, but Victoria hadn’t been interested. Because she’d clearly been holding out for better. And had found it in Stavros.

Well, nice for some.

For you, too, she tried to remind herself, but herself wasn’t listening. Herself was sulking a little bit.

“Great, I’ll call down to the hotel later.”

“I’ll do it,” he said. “If you give me her room number.”

“Can’t,” she said, the word escaping before she could think better of it.

“Why?”

Her stomach tightened to a painful degree. “No sex, remember?”

“I’m not going to have sex with her, not at this point. I’m going to call and ask her to dinner.”

She cleared her throat, ignoring the little surge her heart had taken when he’d said the word sex. Because when he said it was so … evocative. Husky male tones wrapped in an exotic accent. It made her think of tangled limbs and heavy breathing and …

And what? Like she was some great sensual goddess? Like she would be able to enjoy being with him? Like he would enjoy being with her? Her throat ached and she couldn’t fathom the sudden onslaught of emotion. What was wrong with her?

“Yeah, I’ll call Amy and Cherry then and just let them know that … I’ll let them know they can return home.”

“At their leisure. They can stay in the city for a few more days if they wish. I’ll continue to pay their expenses for as long they remain here. An extended holiday doesn’t seem too unreasonable.”

“Ah, so you’ll ask Victoria out but I have to break it off with the other two?”

“As I said earlier, it’s just a job interview. And only one candidate can get hired, so to speak.”

“Right.” She leaned back in the chair and flexed her fingers, curling them into fists and letting her manicured nails dig into her palms.

There was no reason at all the thought of Stavros going on a date with Victoria should make her feel like she might be sick.

But it did. She couldn’t deny that it did.

She was seriously losing it.

“Well, if I don’t see you again before your date … break a leg.”

He smiled, but his eyes held a strange, unreadable expression. “I’ll see you. After at least.”

No. “See you then.”