Читать книгу The Greek Wants a Wife: A Bride for the Island Prince / Georgie's Big Greek Wedding? / Greek Doctor Claims His Bride - Margaret Barker, Emily Forbes - Страница 13

DOTTIE felt Alex staring at her before they disappeared inside. Since she’d been trying so hard to keep a professional distance with his daughter, he knew this was an about-face for her. But no one could have foreseen this monarchial disaster.

Alex was being torn apart by his love for his brother, his grandmother and the future of the crown itself. He was Atlas holding up the world with no help in sight. This was a day like no other. If Dottie could ease a little of his burden where Zoe was concerned, then she wanted to.

“I’ve got an idea, Zoe. After you shower, we’ll take a little nap on the beds. The heat has made me sleepy.”

“Me, too.”

There were two queen beds. Before long she’d tucked Zoe under the covers.

“Dot? Will you please stay with Daddy and me forever? I know you’re not my mommy, but Daddy said you were once a mommy.”

She struggled for breath. “Yes. I had a little boy named Cory who had to work on his speech, just like you.”

“What happened to him?”

“He died in a car accident with my husband.”

“So you’re all alone.”

“Yes,” she murmured, but for the first time it wasn’t hard to talk about. The conversation with Alex last night had been cathartic.

“My mommy died and now Daddy and I are all alone.”

“Except that you have your great-grandmother and your uncle.”

“But I want you.”

Dottie wanted to be with Zoe all the time, too. Somehow she’d gotten beyond her deep sadness and would love to care permanently for this child. But it was impossible in too many ways to even consider.

“Let’s be happy we’re together right now, shall we?” she said in a shaky voice.

“Yes.” Zoe finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Dotti took her own shower and dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a blouse. When she came out of the bathroom, the other bed looked inviting. She thought she’d lie down on top while she waited for Zoe to wake up.

The next thing she knew, she heard a familiar male voice whispering her name. Slightly disoriented, she rolled over and discovered Alex sitting on the side of the bed. She’d been dreaming about him, but to see his gorgeous self in the flesh this close to her gave her heart a serious workout. His eyes were like black fires. They trapped hers, making it impossible for her to look away.

“Thank you for stepping in.”

She studied his features. “I wanted to.”

“With your help I was able to conclude our business lunch in record time and came in to bring Zoe a change of clothes. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are lying there?”

Dottie couldn’t swallow. She tried to move away, but he put an arm across her body so she was tethered to him. “Please let me go,” she begged. “Zoe will be awake any minute now.”

He leaned over her, running a hand up her arm. The feel of skin against hot skin brought every nerve ending alive. “I’ll take any minute I can steal. Being alone with you is all I’ve been able to think about.”

“Alex—” she cried as his dark head descended.

“I love it when you say my name in that husky voice.” He covered her mouth with his own in an exploratory kiss as if this were their first time and they were in no hurry whatsoever. He took things slow in the beginning, tantalizing her until it wasn’t enough. Then their kiss grew deeper and more sensuous. His restless lips traveled over every centimeter of her face and throat before capturing her mouth again and again.

The other night he’d kindled a fire in her that had never died down. Now his mastery conjured the flames licking through her body with the speed of a forest fire in full conflagration.

Out of breath, he buried his face in the side of her neck. “I want you, Dottie. I’ve never wanted any woman so much, and I know you want me.”

“I think that’s been established,” she admitted against his jaw that hadn’t seen a razor since early morning. She delighted in every masculine line and angle of his well-honed body. With legs and arms entwined, their mouths clung as their passion grew more frenzied. They tried to appease their hunger, but no kiss was long enough or deep enough to satisfy the desire building.

He’d taken them to a new level. She felt cherished. Like the wedding vow repeated by the groom, it seemed as if Alex was worshipping her with his body. But in the midst of this rapture only he could have created, she heard the blare of a ship’s horn. With it came the realization that this was no wedding night and a groan escaped her throat.

She’d actually been making out with Prince Alexius of Hellenica on his royal yacht! Never mind that it was the middle of the day and his daughter was asleep in the next bed. What if Zoe had awakened and had been watching them?

Horrified to have gotten this carried away, Dottie wrenched her mouth from his and slipped out of his arms. So deep was his entrancement, she’d caught him off guard. Thankfully she was able to get to her feet before he could prevent it, but in her weakened state she almost fell over.

“Dottie?” he called her name in longing, but she didn’t dare stay in here and be seduced by the spell he’d cast over her. On the way out of the cabin she grabbed her purse and hurried down the corridor to the stairs.

At the top of the gangway the deck steward smiled at her. “Mrs. Richards? We’ve docked on Hellenica. You’re welcome to go ashore whenever you please.”

Could he tell she’d been kissed breathless by the prince? The sun she’d picked up couldn’t account for mussed hair and swollen lips, too.

The queen didn’t deserve to hear this bit of gossip on top of Prince Stasio’s shocking news. Every second Dottie stayed on board, she was contributing to more court intrigue. She couldn’t bear it. In fact she couldn’t believe they were back at the main island already. She’d been in such a completely different world with Alex, she’d lost track of everything including her wits.

“Th-thank you,” her voice faltered. Without hesitation, she left the yacht and got in the waiting limousine. While she was still alone, she brushed her hair and applied some lipstick, trying to make herself presentable.

A few minutes later Alex approached the car with Zoe. “Dot!” she cried and climbed in next to her.

“Did you just wake up?” Dottie concentrated on Zoe, studiously avoiding his eyes. “You were a sleepyhead.”

Zoe thought that was funny. She chatted happily with her daddy until they reached the palace where Hector stood outside the entry.

“Welcome back, Your Highness. The queen is waiting for you and the princess to join her and Prince Stasio in her suite.”

A royal summons. It didn’t surprise Dottie. She’d had visions of the queen herself waiting for them as they drove up to the entrance. For an instant she caught Alex’s enigmatic glance before he alighted from the car. All their lives he and Stasio had been forced to obey that summons. A lesser person would have broken long before now.

She might be an outsider, yet she couldn’t help but want to rebel against this antiquated system she’d only read about in history books. Unbelievable that it was still going on in the twenty-first century!

Alex helped them out of the backseat. “Come on, Dot.” Zoe’s hand had slipped into hers. She had to harden herself against Zoe’s plea. The child’s emotional hold on her was growing stronger with every passing day.

“I’m sorry. The queen has asked for you and your daddy to come, and I have to speak to my director in New York.” Aware Alex’s eyes were on her she said, “You have to go with him. I’ll see you tomorrow when we leave for your preschool.”

Gripping the bag tighter, Dottie hurried inside the palace doors and raced up the stairs. She fled to her suite pursued by demons she’d been fighting from the beginning. Since this afternoon when she’d fallen into Alex’s arms like a ripe plum, those demons had gained a foothold, making her situation precarious.

Her instincts told her to pack her bags and fly back to New York tonight. But if she were to just up and leave Hellenica, it would only exacerbate an already volatile situation with Zoe, who’d poured her heart out to her earlier.

Without hesitation she marched over to the bed and reached for the house phone. “This is Mrs. Richards. Could you bring a car around for me? I’m going into the city.” She’d eat dinner somewhere and do some more sightseeing. After the nap she’d had, it might take hours before she was ready for bed again.

Alex waited for Hector to alert him on the phone. When the call came, he learned Dottie had just returned to the palace. He checked his watch. Ten to ten.

He left Zoe’s bedroom and waited for Dottie at the top of the stairs leading to her suite. This time he didn’t step out of the shadows. He stood there in full view. Halfway up she caught sight of him and slowed her steps. Alarm was written all over her beautiful face. She’d picked up some sun earlier in the day, adding appealing color.

“Alex? What’s wrong?”

Anyone watching them would never know what had gone on between them on the yacht. He’d nearly made love to her and her passion had equalled his. Her breathtaking response had changed his life today.

“Let’s just say there’s a lot wrong around here. Since your arrival in Hellenica, you’ve got me skulking in every conceivable place in order to find time alone with you. At this point you’d have reason to think I’m your personal phantom of the opera.” He drew in a harsh breath. “We have to talk, but not here.” When he saw her stiffen he said, “I know you can’t be commanded, but I’m asking you to come with me as a personal favor.” He’d constructed his words carefully.

Tension sizzled between them as he started down the stairs toward her. To his relief she didn’t fight him. Slowly she followed him to the main floor. They went down the hallway and out a side door where he’d asked that his sports car be brought around.

Alex saw the question in her eyes. “I bought this ten years ago. It’s my getaway car when I need to be alone to think.” He intentionally let her get in by herself because he didn’t trust himself not to touch her. After leaving the grounds, he headed for the road leading to an isolated portion of the coast with rocky terrain.

“But you’re not alone,” she said in a haunted whisper.

“If you mean the bodyguards, you’re right.” He felt her nervousness. “Relax. If I had seduction in mind, we wouldn’t be in this. I purposely chose it in order to keep my hands off you tonight.”

“Alex—”

“Let me finish,” he interrupted. “Whatever you may think about me, I’m not in the habit of luring available women to my bed when the mood strikes me. You came to Hellenica at my request in order to test Zoe. Neither of us could have predicted what would happen after you arrived.

“I can’t speak for you, but I know for a fact that even if your husband’s memory will always be in your heart, the chemistry between us is more powerful than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. We both know it’s not going to go away.”

She lowered her head.

“One night with you could never be enough for me.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I know you would never consent to be my mistress, and I would never ask you. But until the coronation is over, I’m requesting your help with Zoe.”

She shifted in the seat. “In what way?”

“Stasio and my daughter both need me desperately, but I can’t be in two places at the same time and still manage the daily affairs of the crown. My brother is going through the blackest period of his life. He’s clinging to me and shutting out our grandmother. She’s beside herself.”

“I can only imagine.”

“I’m worried about both of them and asked the doctor to come. He’s with them now, seeing what can be done to get them through this nightmare. He says I need to be there for Stasio 24/7. I’ve asked our cousin Philippe to fly here and stay for a few days so my brother has someone to talk to he trusts.”

“I’m so sorry, Alex.”

“So am I,” he muttered morosely. “This situation is something that’s been coming on for years. Unfortunately it’s had a negative impact on Zoe. When we got back to the palace today, it took me an hour to settle her down. She wanted to go to your room with you. Tonight she begged me to let you become her official nanny.”

Alex heard a half-smothered moan come out of Dottie. The sound tore him up because any kind of connection to keep her with him was fading fast. “It wouldn’t work.”

“You think I don’t know that?” he bit out. “But as a temporary solution, would you be willing to stay at the palace on Aurum with her until the coronation? She loves it there, especially the garden. One of the staff has grandchildren she plays with. I’d fly over each evening in the helicopter to say good-night.

“When the coronation is over, I’ll be moving back to Aurum with Zoe, and you can return to New York. Hector will see to your flight arrangements. I assume your replacement will arrive soon after that, if not before. But until then, can I rely on your help?”

She nodded without looking at him. “Of course.”

The bands constricting his breathing loosened a little. “Thank you. On Saturday I’ll run you and Zoe over in the cruiser. We’ll skip her preschool next week.”

“Are you still going to go ahead with the arrangements for the Varney boy to come home with Zoe after class tomorrow?”

“Yes,” he murmured. “Any distraction would be better than her being around my grandmother, who’s not in a good way right now. She’s always been a rock, but she never saw this coming with Stasio.”

“You sound exhausted, Alex. Tomorrow will be here before we know it. Let’s go back to the palace.”

She sounded like Hector. Go back. Do your duty. Forget you’re a man with a man’s needs.

Full of rage, he made a sharp U-turn and sped toward the palace tight-lipped, but by the time they reached the entry, he’d turned into one aching entity of pain. He watched the only person who could take it away for good rush away on her gorgeous legs.

Dottie could tell Zoe felt shy around Mark Varney. She stuck close to her daddy at the shallow end of the pool.

They’d just returned home from the preschool. Mark was a cute, dark blond first grader who sported a marine haircut and was a good little swimmer already. He didn’t appear to be nervous as he floated on an inner tube at the deep end, kicking his strong legs. Dottie sat on the edge by him.

“My mom told me she talks funny. How come?” he said quietly.

“Sometimes a child can’t make sounds come out the way they want. But I’m working on them with her. One day she’ll sound like you, but for now I’m hoping to get your help.”

He blinked. “How? She’s a princess.”

She looked at his boyish face with its smattering of freckles. “Forget about that. She’s a girl. Just be friends with her. In a way, you can be her best teacher.”

His sunny blue eyes widened. “I can?”

“Yes. You’re older and you’re an American who speaks English very well. If you’ll play with her, she’ll listen to you when you talk and she’ll try to sound like you. You’re a guy, and guys like to dare each other, right?”

He grinned. “Yeah.”

“Well, start daring her. You know. Tell her you bet she can’t say bat.”

“Bat?” He laughed.

“She’s working on her B‘s and T‘s. Make a game out of it. Tell her that if she can say bat right, you’ll show her your MP3 player. I saw you playing with it in the limo on the drive to the palace.”

“Don’t tell my dad. I’m not supposed to take it to school.”

She studied him for a minute. “If he finds out, I’ll tell him you’re using it to help Zoe. She’s never seen one of those. There’s an application on it that makes those animal sounds.”

“Oh, yeah—”

“It’ll fascinate her.”

“Cool.”

“See if you can get her to say cool, too.”

“Okay. This is fun.”

Dottie was glad he thought so. After trying to learn Greek at school and home, it had to be a big release for him to speak English. “Let’s go have a war with her and her daddy.” She took off her beach coat and slipped into the water. “You get on the whale. I’ll push you over to them and we’ll start splashing.”

“Won’t the prince get mad?”

“Yes.” Dottie smiled. “Real mad.”

His face lit up and they took off.

Hopefully Alex would get mad enough to forget his own problems for a little while. She’d suffered for him and his family all night. No matter her misgivings about spending full days with Zoe until the coronation, she couldn’t have turned Alex down last night. The look in his expression had been a study in anguish, aging him.

Once they reached their destination, the happy shrieks coming out of Zoe were just the thing to get their war started. For a good ten minutes they battled as if their lives depended on it. The best sound of all was Alex’s full-bodied laughter. After knowing how deeply he’d been affected by his family’s problems, Dottie hadn’t expected to hear it again.

When she came up for air after Alex’s last powerful dunk, his eyes were leveled on her features. “You’ve been holding out on me. All this time I thought maybe you couldn’t swim well. I was going to offer to teach you, but I was afraid you’d think I was a lecherous old man wanting to get my hands on you. After I showed up in your cabin on the yacht, now you know it’s true.”

She was thankful for the water that cooled her instantly hot cheeks. In the periphery she noticed Mark pushing Zoe around on the whale. He was talking a blue streak and had captured her full attention. The ice had been broken and they were oblivious to everyone else. Dottie couldn’t have been more pleased.

Alex followed her gaze. “Your experiment is working. She’s so excited by his attention, she hasn’t once called for either of us.”

“I’ve asked him to help her. He’s a darling boy.” In the next few minutes she told Alex about their conversation. “If all goes well today, how would you feel about Mark coming home with us from school on Friday?”

“I’m open to anything that will help her speech improve and make her happy.”

“Mark seems to be doing both. I’ve learned he’s been unhappy, so I was thinking maybe he could even come to Aurum with us on Saturday. Naturally you’d have to talk to his parents. If they’re willing, maybe he could make a visit to the island next week. You know, after his morning class at preschool. Zoe would have something exciting to look forward to and I know it would be good for him, too.”

His eyes glinted with an emotion she couldn’t read. “I can see where you’re going with this. If you think his being there will prevent her attachment to you from growing deeper, you couldn’t be more wrong. But as a plan to entertain them and help her, I like the idea.”

“Honestly?”

He ran suntanned hands through his wet black hair. Adonis couldn’t possibly have been as attractive. “I wouldn’t have said so otherwise.”

She expelled the breath she’d been holding. “Thank you. I was thinking Zoe and I could ride the ferry to Hellenica and meet him at the dock after he’s out of class. He could ride back with us and we could eat lunch on board. Mark can help her pronounce the names of foods, and she can teach him some more Greek words.”

Alex nodded. “I’ll fly him back with me in the helicopter in the evening.”

“You’d be willing to do that?”

He frowned. “By now I thought it was clear to you I’d do anything to help my daughter. In order to ensure that you stay with her until her uncle Stasi has been proclaimed king, I’ve even gone so far as to promise I won’t touch you again.”

She knew that and already felt the cost of it.

If he had any comprehension of how hard this was for her, too … They had no future together, but that didn’t mean she found it easy to keep her distance. She’d come alive in his arms. Because she was unable to assuage these yearnings, the pleasure had turned on her so she was in continual pain. This was the precise reason she didn’t want to have feelings for any man, not ever again, but it was far too late for that.

“Your Highness?”

Hector’s voice intruded, producing a grimace from Alex. Dottie hadn’t realized he’d come out to the pool. It seemed like every time she found herself in a private conversation with Alex, some force was afoot that kept wedging them further apart, At this point she was a mass of contradictions. Her head told her the interruption was for the best, but her heart—oh, her heart. It hammered mercilessly.

“King Alexandre-Philippe has arrived from Valleder and your presence is requested in the queen’s drawing room. The ministers have been assembled.”

Hearing that news, Alex’s face became an inscrutable mask. “Thank you, Hector. Tell her I’ll be there shortly.”

His gaze shot to Dottie’s. “I’m afraid this will be a long night. I’d better slip away now while Zoe’s having fun.”

“I think that’s a good idea. We’ll walk Mark out to his parents’ car before dinner. She can eat with me. Later I’ll take her to her bedroom and put her down.”

“You couldn’t have any comprehension of what it means to me to know you’re taking care of my daughter. Sofia will be there to help. I’ll try to get away long enough to kiss her good-night, but I can’t promise.”

“I understand.”

“If I don’t make it, I’ll see you at nine in the morning. After I’ve talked to Mark’s parents, we’ll see if he wants to join us on Saturday. I thought we’d take the cruiser to Aurum. Sofia will know what to pack for Zoe.”

“We’ll be ready.”

She heard his sharp intake of breath. “Zoe trusts you and loves being with you. Under the circumstances, it’s an enormous relief to me.”

“I’m glad. As for me, she’s a joy to be with, Your Highness.” She had to keep calling him by his title to remind herself of the great gulf between them no ordinary human could bridge. If she were a princess …

But she wasn’t! And if she’d been born a royal, he would have run in the other direction.

For him, any attraction to her stemmed from forbidden fruit. She was a commoner. It was the nature of a man or woman to desire what they couldn’t or shouldn’t have. In that regard they were both cursed!

Fathoms deep in turmoil, she noticed his eyes lingering on the curve of her mouth for a moment. She glimpsed banked fires in those incredibly dark recesses. He was remembering those moments on the yacht, too. Dottie could feel it and the look he was giving her ignited her senses to a feverish pitch.

With effortless male agility he suddenly levered himself from the pool and disappeared inside the palace. When he was gone, the loss she felt was staggering.