Читать книгу I Married A Prince - Kathryn Jensen - Страница 11

Three

Her hands trembling, Allison bent back the four cardboard flaps, then parted layer after layer of distinctive rose-and-gold tissue paper. She recognized the color and pattern of the wrapping materials. They had come from a posh Manhattan clothier. She and Diane had once dared each other to walk through the elegant etched-glass doors, and Diane had treated her to a silk scarf for her birthday that cost twice as much as anything in Allison’s closet.

Breathlessly, she reached beneath the crackling sheets of tissue and touched something soft, silky, fluid. She lifted the fabric. Suspended from her fingertips was a pale peacock blue dress of delicate tucks and flounces. It was the most beautiful garment she’d ever seen.

She was furious.

“You son of a—” She stopped herself, remembering Cray, who was within hearing range.

But this dress!

It was both a bribe and a slap in the face. Apparently, Jacob had intended for her to wear his gift to his party. He thought that by giving her something expensive he could persuade her to do whatever he wanted, just as he’d bribed, seduced and sweet-talked countless other women into bed. To him, it was a reflex. Like snapping his fingers to summon a waiter. Come here. Obey me!

But this was far, far worse, because in a way he was also saying he doubted she’d have anything decent to wear among polite company. Or—she wouldn’t have the sense to dress appropriately for one of his high-society soirees.

Opening her fingers, she let the delicate silk layers drift through them and back into the box. “I’ll show you, Your Royal High and Mightiness,” she hissed.

Jacob stood in the bow of the Queen Elise, a chilled martini in one hand, a cigar in his other, observing another load of guests as they stepped excitedly from the launch onto his yacht. The ship was already brimming with smartly heeled party goers. Some he recognized from his visit to the UN on behalf of his father. Others were local politicians, journalists and CEOs of businesses interested in opening offices in Elbia. One man was a playwright who currently boasted two hit musicals and a comedy on Broadway. They drank freely of his champagne and nibbled politely from trays of hors d’oeuvres circulated by servers from the sole caterer in Nanticoke.

Not one among the beaming faces that gushed with greetings for him and wished good health for his father, the king, was Alli’s. He didn’t really expect her to show, but he couldn’t stop himself from looking for her.

Over an hour after the party started, the launch appeared yet again. This time it was empty except for its young skipper, in his nautical whites, and a single passenger. Jacob lost interest in the guest’s identity once he’d determined the newcomer wasn’t wearing the vibrant blue dress he’d bought Alli for the occasion. The launch slowly circled the yacht as Jacob conversed with an eager banker. He was aware of the motor cutting, idling, but paid little attention otherwise.

Mingling with the salt spray, a faint whiff of a familiar perfume caught his attention. He straightened by inches to look more closely at the petite figure climbing the steps into the stern of the Queen Elise.

The young woman’s hair glittered like spun gold in the late afternoon sunlight. It was brushed out long and smooth, down her back and away from her face. The strands blew delicately in the sea breeze. Piercing her tiny pink earlobes were simple gold knots and clinging interestingly to her body was a silky pantsuit that might have doubled as lounging pajamas. The effect was a mysterious blend of casual elegance.

Intriguingly, the color of her garment so nearly matched her skin, when he observed her from a particular angle and with the setting sun backlighting her—she almost looked as if she was without any clothing at all. It was impossible from a distance to tell where cloth ended and skin began. Only when the air moved around her as she stepped gracefully onto the deck, could he see the outline of sheer sleeves that draped gracefully along her arms and floated on the ocean’s breath.

“Welcome aboard!” he called out to her through the crowd of guests, turning away from the banker. He noticed she was carrying a small canvas bag. An overnight satchel? He felt a distinct surge of hope.

Allison shaded her eyes and observed him as he approached her, a small smile playing over her lips.

“You look stunning,” he said, aware that most of his guests were watching him and the late arrival very closely.

“Thank you,” she said demurely.

“Didn’t the dress I bought you fit?”

“I’m not in the habit of accepting gifts from strangers,” she said quickly.

It stung. A stranger. Was that how she thought of him? They’d slept in each other’s arms, explored each other’s bodies intimately. Yet, in honesty, he’d done as much with other women and he thought of them as no more than strangers. Some, he couldn’t even recall their names...Why did it hurt that she felt the same about him?

“Maybe we can remedy that situation,” he said, flashing her the dazzling but mechanical smile that had begun so many successful seductions. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “Most of my guests will be leaving by dark.”

“And I will join them,” she said succinctly. “I only came to return this.”

She held out the canvas tote. He peered inside. Scrunched up in a humble ball at its bottom was the expensive dress he’d bought her.

“I’m sorry—I thought you’d be pleased.”

“Why?” she asked bluntly. “Why should a woman fall all over herself because you throw an expensive trinket her way?”

He blinked at her, searching for a comeback. He’d sensed this side of her two years ago, but for some reason it hadn’t occurred to him that she’d reject a gift now.

“Oh, I see,” she said when he failed to find words for his confused thoughts. “It’s always worked before, so why not now? Something like that? Well, there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?” She swung away from him nonchalantly, gazing around the deck. “Where’s the food. I’m starved.”

Jacob watched as Allison sauntered across the deck, smiling pleasantly as she greeted a few of his guests on her way toward the hatch that led below, to the galley. She disappeared down the steps. It took several shocked minutes for him to realize what had just happened.

She’d spurned him!

Perhaps he should have skipped right to his usual second gift, a diamond tennis bracelet. But he had a sneaking suspicion she’d have quite literally flung it in his face. What was wrong with the woman? Didn’t she appreciate quality?

Gradually, anger crept in over his incredulousness. Every muscle in his body tensed. He felt as if he were standing under a blazing sun, although the air was cooling as a purple dusk wrapped itself around the yacht. Miniature lanterns, strung along the deck rail, flickered on, casting a golden glow across the deck. With a low growl of aggravation, he tucked the canvas tote under his arm and strode toward the steps to the galley.

An elderly couple stood talking with Allison. He cast them a black look; they politely ended the conversation and headed up the steps.

Jacob grabbed Allison’s arm, stopping her from reaching for a marinated mussel on a serving tray. “What are you trying to pull?”

“Pull?” she asked, innocently.

“Yes, pull. Do you think you can up the ante by giving me back the dress? What is it you want from me?”

She turned her head away, as if pretending to study the array of fresh sliced melon and tropical fruit.

“Look at me, Alli,” he ordered.

She ignored him, but he felt her arm lock nervously beneath his fingers.

“Look at me!” he roared.

She twisted free and faced him, her chin lifting defiantly. Her eyes leaped with aquamarine flames. “I’m looking,” she pronounced tersely.

“Why did you return my gift?”

“I don’t need anyone to buy me clothes.”

“I see,” he said slowly. “Then I was right. You are looking for something more from me.” He hadn’t expected this of her. It seemed that people did change, after all. “You might as well lay it on the line. What is it you want from me?”

She fixed him with a cold, challenging glare. “Nothing. I want nothing from you, Jacob. That’s why I came here tonight—to make that point.”

“Liar.”

Instead of reacting in anger as he’d expected, she took a long moment to coolly study him, her pretty eyes drifting down, then up his tall, trim body. “Why should I lie to you? Has that been your experience with women? They always want something from you?”

“Always,” he ground out.

She nibbled her bottom lip contemplatively. “I expect so. But there’s a reason for that, you realize.”

“What?”

“They expect a payoff, because those are the ground rules you always establish for your relationships.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he shouted. Ground rules? The woman was maddening. He hardly ever raised his voice, but she made him want to bellow like a longshoreman. “I’m very nice to the women in my life. I—”

“I didn’t say you weren’t nice, in your own material way. What I meant was, you apparently have a reputation for becoming bored with lovers and chucking them out faster than a fashion model changes her shoes. If a woman with any sense at all gets involved with you, she knows she’s going to be dumped in a matter of weeks. So she views you the same way you view her. You take what you can from her, and she takes the only thing you’re selling—expensive baubles.”

Jacob glared at her. “You make me sound pretty damn shallow. I’m not like that. Ask Thomas!”

She laughed and shook her head, sending a smooth blond wave shimmering. “Who’s Thomas? Your manservant?” Her tone was clearly disparaging.

She was driving him nuts. What right did this small-town librarian have to analyze him? “Well, yes...Thomas is my chauffeur and bodyguard and many other things, but he’s also my friend.”

“And I’m sure he’s generously compensated for taking your side in any discussion,” she stated.

He read in her eyes that she understood she’d stepped over some invisible line with her last barb. Doubt flashed across her face.

Jacob felt heat rise in his own. Suddenly, it seemed impossible not to grab her, and he did. He wanted to shake her, shake her hard and make her understand he wasn’t a bad man at all—it was just that the world refused to treat him like other men. Things had always been different for him. He was given special privileges, yes. But there were rights other men took for granted—like privacy, choice of education and occupation, the ability to live wherever one wished and marry whomever one chose. He would never have those things.

This time, when he gripped her arm, he let her know through the pressure of his fingers on her flesh that she wouldn’t be able to break free until he was ready to let her go. “Thomas never gives less than his honest opinion, even if he knows I won’t like it,” he growled at her.

“Really,” she said. “And what did Thomas say about you and me, two years ago? Or wasn’t he part of your royal retinue at the time?”

Jacob winced. She was playing rough. “He was my driver while I was attending undergrad courses at Oxford, in England. After that, he stayed on as my personal assistant, man Friday, chauffeur...whatever I needed. He was also with me when I was at Yale, but I told him I could fend for myself while he took a well-deserved trip home to visit his family in London.”

“So he never knew about me?” she asked.

“No.” Why did he feel as if he should drop his head and stare ashamedly at his feet whenever she confronted him with their past? It wasn’t like him to feel guilty about anything he’d done. But then, he’d never produced a child from one of his affairs, until the one he’d had with Allison. “Look, I didn’t force you to become my lover. I didn’t seduce you with my fortune, promise you a weekend in the Alps, buy you expensive jewelry....”

“That’s right,” she said, “because you were clever enough to know those things wouldn’t work with me.”

“I could have promised you I’d marry you or stay with you forever. I never said I loved you.”

“No, you didn’t,” Allison admitted, her voice sounding painfully hollow. Her eyes dimmed for an instant before flashing up at him. “I didn’t say I loved you, either.”

The bite of her words took his breath away. Why should it matter? It never had before, with other women.

But for some reason, Allison’s bringing up the idea left him feeling destitute—as if something precious had been given to him, then abruptly snatched from his hands. He’d never thought much about love, because he equated being loved with not being alone. And he was never alone. Bevies of people had always hovered around him—caring for his basic needs, answering his questions, fetching whatever he preferred for food, clothing, entertainment.

Before Thomas, there had been nurses, governesses, butlers and maids. His mother had died five years earlier, but in a puzzling way he missed her no more than he missed many of his old teachers. The queen often had been too busy to spend time with him. She’d certainly never told him in words that she loved him. He was an only child, so there had been no siblings to rival him for her affections. Love had, in short, never been an issue for him. He wasn’t even sure what it meant.

“Alli,” he breathed, still holding her arm. “Why do you have to be so difficult, so combative?”

“Me? I’m not being difficult at all, Prince Jacob.” She batted her lashes innocently at him. “I’ve come to say thank-you very much for the dress, but I don’t want or need it. I also want to tell you how much I appreciate your invite to this nifty party of yours. I’m enjoying myself immensely. The food is scrumptious, the wine seems a good year. I’d say I’m being totally agreeable.”

Her tongue was firmly embedded in her cheek. She was toying with him. Yet Jacob found it difficult to remain angry with her. He was almost overcome by the scent of her, by the electricity sizzling through the flesh of her slender arm, into his hand. The more controlled and reasonable her behavior, the crazier he felt.

“You want something,” he roared, looming over her. He felt powerful, yet helpless at the same time. “You aren’t that different from the others.”

Her cool glance rose to meet him. “I suppose I do want something. I’ll tell you what it is,” she whispered conspiratorially. “I’d give a king’s ransom for a decent ham sandwich right now. This stuff is tasty, but it would take a week of nibbling to satisfy a real appetite.”

“Knock it off, Alli. Just tell me what you’re after and we can quit playing games. It’s the kid, isn’t it? You want money for him. Fine. I won’t even argue the possibility that he might not be mine. If you need money, I’ll make sure you have it. But I don’t want a word of this leaked to the press or—” He broke off, silenced by the fury reflected in her features.

“You pompous, spoiled brat,” she hissed, attempting to shake him off. “I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone as self-involved as you, Jacob von Whatever-you-are.”

He was astonished by her reaction. “I’m offering you any amount you name for a child I’ve never seen,” he objected. “I can’t even be certain he’s mine! I think that’s pretty damn generous, lady.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re all the things I just called you,” she snapped at him. “I don’t want your money, Jacob. I want you to go away and leave me and my son alone. The only reason I’m here is to avoid the cost of mailing your damn dress back to you.” She wrenched her arm out of his grasp. “Get out of my way. I want to leave now.”

He couldn’t ignore the determination in her eyes. And he couldn’t believe how sure of herself she sounded. Finally, he understood. She was asking for nothing from him but his absence. It was the first time in his life he’d met anyone who honestly had no intention of using him. Power, money, prestige by association, bragging rights for sleeping with him...She asked for none of those things. He didn’t know how to deal with her.

So he did what his body had been badgering him to do since she set foot on the Queen Elise. He intercepted her before she reached the steps, dragged her into his arms and kissed her possessively on the mouth. The kiss lengthened, softened, grew deliriously heady. Finally, he felt the tension ease out of her body. Her lips yielded sweetly and tremblingly opened to his.