Читать книгу Twice a Princess - SUSAN MEIER, Susan Meier - Страница 8

After a shower, Merry ran to La Torchere’s boutique and purchased several outfits, which she instructed the staff to deliver to her villa. Then she scooted to the resort salon for a haircut, manicure and new makeup.

When she returned home, she found the three boxes from the boutique sitting on her bed and immediately shimmied into a formfitting teal suit. The color intensified the radiance of her auburn hair. Plus, the suit’s fitted jacket and flirty short skirt were sexy enough that when she met Alexander to introduce herself as the replacement for her “Aunt Merry” she would make the impression she wanted to make.

By the time she finally strode up the cobblestone walk to the main lobby of the hotel, it was nearly noon. Her sleek, shoulder-length auburn hair had been styled to curve seductively around her face. A hint of mascara on her long black lashes accented her violet-blue eyes. Her lips were moist and dewy with her favorite lip gloss, and her pink-tipped toes peeked out of sexy white sandals.

It felt so good to be her real self that Merry could have wept. She would never take her youth, beauty or very lucky lot in life for granted again.

She stepped up to the glass double door of the lobby and it automatically opened. The roar of the three-story fountain in the center greeted her. Warm, honey-hued wood furniture with plump teal-and-cream-colored cushions surrounded a white baby grand piano. Lush tropical plants separated conversation areas.

Her heels tapped sensually on the shimmering forest-green tiles as she walked to the discrete front desk. Laying her perfect twenty-nine-year-old hand with brand new French nails on the golden oak counter, Merry said, “Hi. I’m Merry Montrose’s niece.”

Andi Jones, Merry’s pride and joy, the clerk she had personally trained, smiled in welcome. Andi’s navy skirt and white blouse were as crisp and professional as her polished manners. “Good afternoon, Ms. Montrose. I assume your aunt made reservations for you.”

“Actually, no.” Merry smiled briefly, adopting the authoritative manner she’d perfected as Merry Montrose. “She hired me to take her place.”

Andi’s smile slipped, but didn’t completely fade. “Excuse me?”

“Last night my aunt became ill at the wedding. Planning the reception exhausted her, so she called me. I arrived just before dawn to find her badly in need of a rest. She told me she wanted to retire, so I made arrangements for her to go home.”

“I see.”

“And I’m taking her place—at least long enough to find a real replacement for her. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Merry almost turned away, but stopped herself. She wasn’t Merry Montrose, the cursed crone who knew this resort like the back of her hand. She was supposed to be Merry’s niece, a woman who had only arrived at the resort that morning.

She faced Andi again. “Could you show me to my office?”

Andi smiled politely and said, “Certainly, ma’am.” But from behind Merry, Alexander Rochelle said, “Why don’t you allow me?”

Merry’s eyes widened. Darn it! Two minutes into her charade and she was already facing the ultimate test! Alexander Rochelle. As resort manager “Aunt Merry” might have had the power to hire her replacement, but Merry knew that as resort owner Alexander had final approval. She had hoped to establish herself with the staff before she “met” Alexander, so she would have the leverage of already being in place. Now she had nothing.

Still, if there was one thing she’d learned from her years as a matchmaker, it was that the best-laid plans could go astray. Fortunately, she had also learned she could handle anything life threw at her. She took a quick breath and faced Alexander.

As always, he was absolutely perfect. His light blue sport shirt complemented his pale blue eyes and blond hair. He left the first two buttons of the shirt open and might have appeared a bit too casual for his position as resort owner, but his creased khaki trousers and shiny brown loafers gave him the polish that kept his look sophisticated and professional.

Seeing him, Merry felt the air whoosh out of her lungs and for several seconds she couldn’t speak. But that turned out to be very lucky because she had time to register that Alexander wasn’t smiling at her, as he had been the night before when he walked “Aunt Merry” to her villa. He wasn’t even smiling at her because she looked good in her teal suit and sexy white sandals. In fact, he appeared to be furious.

Either he was horribly upset that Merry Montrose had quit or he wasn’t happy that “Aunt Merry” had hired her own replacement—and a niece no less. Princess Merry almost groaned at her stupidity. She should have realized Alexander Rochelle wouldn’t take kindly to nepotism.

Alexander stared in amazement at the woman in front of him, unsure if he could contain his anger. After all these years, his betrothed, Princess Meredith Bessart, had the nerve to show up at his door. No announcement. No explanation. No warning. Just “Hello, I’m here to take over as manager of your resort.”

As if he were going to let that happen!

Not about to let this woman make a fool of him as she had the night of her coming-out ball because he’d reacted from emotion, not logic, Alexander counted to one hundred, attempting to control his temper. But it was no use. He was livid. How dare she just stroll in and take over his resort!

“I’m sorry,” Princess Meredith said, smiling brightly as she extended her hand to him in the standard American greeting. “But I didn’t get your name.”

Alexander’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t know him?

Actually, that was possible. He’d been as far underground as she had been for the past seven years. There weren’t pictures documenting his growth from a gangly twenty-four-year-old to the seasoned thirty-one-year-old he was now. Anyone who hadn’t seen him in seven years wouldn’t connect the tall, spindly boy to the broad-shouldered, confident man he was today.

Alexander smiled. Once again, the combination of his maturing appearance and his slightly changed name had hidden his identity.

And for the first time in his acquaintance with pampered Princess Meredith, he had the upper hand.

“I’m Alexander Rochelle,” he said as he took the hand she had extended, playing along because he was about to zap her and he was going to enjoy it. “What did you say your name was?”

“I’m also Merry Montrose. I’m the namesake of my aunt.”

“Well, Merry Montrose, I own this resort. And though your aunt Merry certainly did have the power to hire her replacement, you must be approved by me.”

Merry said, “I understand.”

She understood? Her agreement astounded Alexander so much he almost took a pace back. Since when did Princess Merry accept a situation she didn’t like?

Maybe she hadn’t gotten the full message.

“Not only do I have the power to reject her choice, but in this case I’m not sure I agree with her decision.”

Her expression became grave. “Again, I understand. This is all coming out of the blue for you. But my aunt didn’t hire me to take her place permanently. I’m here to find her replacement.” She caught his gaze and smiled prettily. “So she doesn’t feel horrible for leaving you without warning.”

Alexander swallowed as unwanted sexual awareness snaked through him. Princess Meredith had one powerful smile. His betrothed might be a spoiled brat, but she was a gorgeous spoiled brat. Shiny auburn hair framed her face and set off the unusual violet hue of her eyes. Her full, glossy lips begged to be kissed. The suit she wore showcased her absolutely perfect figure. Any man would find her attractive.

Luckily, he’d learned his lesson about falling under the spell of her beauty. He took a step back, away from her.

Princess Meredith continued, “My aunt told me so much about your resort that I’m probably the best person to find someone to replace her. From the minute she began her work here, I knew her every move,” she said with a light laugh, cajoling him, flirting with him, again shooting sexual responses through his veins, tempting him to flirt back.

Determined not to let her get to him, Alexander didn’t answer right away. He didn’t understand why Princess Meredith wished to perform the menial task of replacing her aunt, but he also realized he wasn’t handling the situation properly. As owner of the resort, he shouldn’t be wondering why Princess Merry was here. His real concern should be that he’d lost his perfect manager. And without explanation. He and Merry Montrose were close enough that she wouldn’t have left without telling him.

“I walked your aunt to her villa last night and she never mentioned retiring.”

“She didn’t realize how tired she was until she awakened this morning.” Princess Merry smiled brightly. “I think she would have worked here forever if things hadn’t…changed…last night.”

Alexander honed in on the mistake. “Something changed? I thought you said she was merely tired?”

“Tired enough to retire,” Princess Meredith assured him. “She’d never been quite that tired before.”

Alexander crossed his arms on his chest as Princess Meredith stood smiling at him, waiting for his verdict. He’d known Merry Montrose was tired, but he also knew she was proud of the job she’d done at La Torchere and he didn’t believe she was the type of person to retire. More than that, though, as the owner of a resort, he was quite familiar with the power of a good vacation. Even if Merry were exhausted enough to think she needed to retire, he genuinely believed that once his very active manager got two weeks of peace and privacy she would be bored. And he had to wonder if she hadn’t sent her spoiled niece, a woman with no experience at all, because she was trying to hold her job for herself without looking obvious.

That made a great deal of sense.

Princess Meredith being chosen as a temporary replacement also meant there was a good possibility Alexander would get his wonderful manager back. All he had to do was work with Princess Meredith for about two weeks.

He studied her delicate features, her pretty eyes, her serene smile. Whether those weeks would be two loooong weeks or two short weeks would be determined by the behavior of his betrothed. Merry Montrose might not have known she was sending her niece to work for her future husband, but Alexander knew. And he wasn’t sure he could work with his spoiled, selfish fiancée long enough for Merry Montrose to realize she wanted her old job back.

The phone rang and, jarred out of his thoughts, Alexander noticed he and Merry had attracted a crowd of curious staff who milled around the lobby desk pretending to be busy. If he didn’t make a decision quickly, he and Merry would undoubtedly be the topic of conversation at lunch today.

He glanced at his betrothed with her sexy little suit, her soft violet eyes and her shiny auburn hair that caught the sunlight pouring in from the skylight above the fountain. The only real weapon she had was sex appeal, and it would be a cold, frosty day in hell when he let sex appeal affect the way he ran his business or distract him from doing what he needed to do.

“Let’s talk in your aunt’s office,” he said, directing Princess Meredith to a corridor to the right. Without waiting for her, he walked away.

Because he kept his gait deliberately long, Merry scrambled to keep up with him. “I’m sorry Aunt Merry quit without giving notice.”

He frowned. Since when did Princess Meredith know about notices? “Don’t worry about it. I realized myself that she was tired.”

“Then you understand?”

Actually, he probably understood a lot better than Princess Meredith did. Right now Merry Montrose needed rest, and the only way Alexander could assure she would return would be if he kept Meredith here so Merry Montrose would know her job was still open.

He wasn’t thrilled with the situation, but he did have the upper hand, so he wasn’t worried.

“Yes. I understand.”

They reached the doorway to Merry’s office, but rather than go inside, he stopped.

“You can stay.”

“You won’t be sorry!” Merry said and just barely stifled the urge to throw her arms around him and kiss him soundly. But before she had a chance, Alexander Rochelle pivoted and was halfway down the hall to the lobby.

Merry sighed. This was not working out the way she had hoped. She’d seen the flares of sexual awareness that flamed in Alexander’s eyes but he’d quickly banked them as if he didn’t want to be attracted to her.

Stepping into her office and walking across the charming blue-and-white braided rugs that sat atop the hardwood floors, Merry considered that maybe Alexander had tempered his reaction to her because he didn’t get personally involved with employees. After all, she’d never seen him “date” a member of the staff. She decided that would be a reasonable, but conquerable, problem—except, having any kind of difficulty to overcome took away precious time. She would have to think of something spectacular to force him to get beyond his reservations quickly.

In fact, now that she had explained crone Merry Montrose’s disappearance and had herself established as the resort manager, the next order of business was calling her father to see how much time she did have.

She fell to the slate-blue leather chair behind the honey-colored desk, lifted the receiver of the cordless phone and dialed his private number. She waited three rings before his manservant answered.

“Charles! Charles! It’s Princess Merry! My goodness! It’s so good to hear your voice.”

Dead silence greeted her and Merry frowned. She supposed she should expect this kind of reaction. Not only had she been out of touch for seven years, but also she hadn’t exactly been the kindest princess in the world.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye before I left, Charles.”

Again silence.

Her frown deepened but Merry decided to save her fence-mending for when she got home. “Is my father around?”

“Yes, Mum.”

“Great. May I speak with him, please?”

“Yes, Mum.”

She waited only two seconds before her father was on the line.

“Merry! My God! Where the hell have you been? Are you okay? The only contact we’ve had were those notes you sent through Lissa!” he said, referring to the godmother who had cursed her. “We understood you wanted an American education, but did you really need to go to school disguised as a commoner?”

Merry swallowed a giggle. She’d wondered how Lissa had explained the curse to her father. Since it was all over now, and because she had learned valuable lessons, she wouldn’t argue Lissa’s convenient story and said simply, “Yes. My classes are done now.”

“I’ll send a plane.”

“No, Dad, I can’t come home today.” She needed to find a real replacement for herself to fulfill her responsibility to the resort, but more than that she wanted her reward time with Alexander. “I won’t be home for two weeks.”

“Two weeks?”

“Yes,” she said, strolling away from her desk and walking to the mirror in her private powder room where she smiled contentedly at her reflection. “I want a few weeks to adjust to being myself.”

“Adjust to being yourself?”

Merry grimaced at her slip, but she also realized that she’d just revealed a tidbit of information about her curse and it had come out as real words, not gibberish. Up to this point, every time she’d tried to explain her curse, she couldn’t. She couldn’t even give tiny details. With the curse broken, she could explain the real story to her dad.

“Merry?”

She drew a quick breath. In spite of the fact that Lissa had created an acceptable excuse for her disappearance, Merry wanted to tell her father the truth. She wanted him to understand her hardships and to see there was a good reason she’d changed so much, so he would understand that she wouldn’t revert to being a spoiled princess.

Still, this wasn’t a story one told over the phone. This was a story a daughter told in private, in her father’s study, sipping cocoa, when she could be herself. Not a member of a royal family, but a daughter. “I’ll explain everything when I get home.”

She could hear the warning in her father’s voice when he said, “I’m counting on it.”

“Dad, really. I haven’t done anything wrong, or foolish, or frivolous. How about this? I promise to be home for my birthday.”

He sighed. “That’s three weeks!”

Considering that this was all the time she’d have with Alexander to satisfy the yearning of her soul for one great love, Merry’s heart dipped. Her voice was filled with sadness when she said, “Three weeks isn’t such a long time.”

Apparently picking up on her melancholy, her father relented and softly said, “I suppose.”

“Thanks, Dad.” Tears pricked Merry’s eyes. Though he was a king, her father always deferred to her, always loved her—even when she’d made his life miserable for remarrying after her mother’s death. Lord, she’d been absolutely horrid!

Regret swamped her and she squeezed her eyes shut. She had a lot to make up for when she returned home. “I love you, Dad.”

From her dad’s quickly indrawn breath, she knew she’d surprised him. After a moment of silence, he whispered, “I love you, too.”

Merry tried all afternoon to think of something spectacular that would push Alexander into breaking or bending any rules he might have about getting involved with a co-worker, but she couldn’t think of anything. It wasn’t until she walked past the window of La Torchere Boutique at the end of the day and saw a white thong bikini that a plan formed.

If anything could render a man incapable of resisting a woman, it would be that suit. And as the resort manager, who had insider knowledge of Alexander’s activities, Merry knew the perfect way to be alone with him when he saw her in it. Every night Alexander had a drink beside his private pool before he ordered dinner from the Greenhouse Café. All she had to do was pretend to be lost and walk in on him and voilà…. She’d render him speechless. After a little flirting—to prove she was interested in him and to let him know he didn’t have to worry about her telling tales to the staff—he’d be helpless.

Her plan was perfect.

Merry strode into the boutique and ten minutes later marched out with her secret weapon. But she wasn’t quite so confident when she slid into the skimpy white bikini and eyed herself critically in the full-length mirror of her bedroom.

The scant material barely covered the appropriate areas, but she didn’t think the suit’s skimpiness was the problem. Her hips and thighs were trim and toned. Her tummy was flat. Her breasts were firm. She’d worn this kind of suit a million times before she’d been cursed. So why did something not feel right? And why was that “something” making her stomach churn?

Deciding her odd feeling could simply be nervousness about her night with Alexander, Merry slipped on her blue-violet crocheted cover-up and sneaked out of her villa in the dying light. Wavy clouds of red, pink and aqua applauded the sun for its hard day of work as it made its final descent. Soon it would be dark and she would be in Alexander’s arms. Excitement quivered through her at all the wonderful possibilities that awaited her. But imagining being kissed and held and loved by Alexander also caused Merry’s queasiness to return.

She stopped on the cobblestone path when she reached the fork that gave visitors the option of walking to the beach or turning toward Alexander’s residence. She glanced toward his villa. Though he was owner of La Torchere, Alexander hadn’t wanted his quarters to stand out in any way, so in terms of size and shape, his cottage looked the same as all the others. An open cobblestone path was surrounded on both sides by the resort’s trademark foliage. But that plant life also camouflaged the biggest difference between his villa and the others—a fence that surrounded a private pool.

She knew the gate would be open because every night the guards reported locking it for him. She knew his habits. She had the opportunity. And she looked great. Besides, she didn’t have enough time to wait for him to notice her. At most, she had three weeks before she had to go home. She had to start something tonight.

Anticipation trembled through her as she slid through the gate. Covertly peeking through the sliding glass door to his living room, Merry could see his black leather sofa in the muted glow of a single lamp, the light a fairly clear indicator that he was home.

Nervous, she slid out of her cover-up. She couldn’t decide if she should be in the pool or be lying on a chaise when he came out with his drink. Then she realized a splash from her dive into the water would conveniently alert him that he had a visitor. Time wasn’t her friend. She had to get things moving as quickly as possible. She draped her cover-up over the chaise and dived into the pool. By the time she came up for air, Alexander was opening his sliding glass door.

“What the…Merry?”

Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. That afternoon, he had changed out of his typical resort attire and into a black suit for a meeting, and right now, with the jacket removed and the sleeves of his white shirt rolled to his elbows, he looked sexily rumpled.

Though it was difficult, Merry managed to sound composed when she said, “Oh, hello, Alexander. What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

She glanced around as if confused. “We all live here.”

“No, I live here,” he said, pointing at the ground beneath his feet. “This is my villa and that,” he said, pointing again, “is my private pool.”

“Private pool?” She feigned a gasp, pretending she didn’t know he had a private pool since this was her “first day” as manager, and hoisted herself up on the ladder. Water sensuously trickled from her hair to her shoulders, from her shoulders to her breasts, from her breasts down her flat-as-a-pancake stomach to the string that perched on her hip bones. She shook her hair off her face and tucked it behind her ears. “What do you mean, private pool?”

“This is my villa. This is my pool,” he said, slowly, because he couldn’t stop his eyes from taking in the scenery she provided. As he looked at her, she watched his pale irises heat to a blue flame, confirmation of what she believed she had seen that afternoon. He found her as attractive as she found him.

Shivering with a combination of nervousness and her own desire, Merry swallowed hard before she said, “My villa doesn’t have a pool.”

“You,” he reminded her, raising his gaze away from her taut body until it angled with hers, “are the help.” She could tell from his tone that he was trying very hard to remain righteously indignant, but nothing he said dimmed the fire in his eyes. “I’m the owner. I get one of the deluxe villas. You get a darned good one, but not deluxe.”

From the tone of his voice, it was clear he wanted to be furious with her, but the way his gaze continually fell to her body proved other emotions warred with his anger. Still, that was a good sign. A battle had to be fought and won. His eyes were supposed to stray to her body. His feet were supposed to remain rooted to the spot, as if he couldn’t turn away. He was supposed to try to walk away and fail. He was doing exactly what needed to be done.

So why didn’t she feel triumphant?

Watching his gaze fall again to her breasts, Merry suddenly knew why she didn’t feel any sense of victory. This was a purely sexual encounter. Even her own responses were physical, not emotional. But theirs was supposed to be a romantic relationship. A time of great love that they both could remember forever. And right now there was nothing romantic about the way he was looking at her.

She stepped in front of him, not so close as to be inappropriate, but near enough that he was forced to look at her face. In a deliberate effort to shift the mood, she softly said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy.”

He drew a long breath and quickly averted his eyes, but not before she saw the look of discomfiture in them. And she knew why everything had gone awry. Being with a nearly naked stranger embarrassed him.

“Just get back to your own quarters.”

With that he turned and all but ran to his sliding glass door, which he closed so hard the glass rattled. Then he snapped the vertical blind closed.

Merry blinked rapidly. Her hope melted into the realization that she hadn’t just failed, she’d embarrassed Alexander enough that he might never speak to her again.

She grabbed her cover-up, then turned and scrambled away from his villa, before anyone could see she’d been in the boss’s private quarters. But her steps slowed as the soothing sounds of the night calmed her. The whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of the waves lulled her into thinking clearly, and she began to understand not just Alexander’s reaction but why she’d had her own odd feeling about her plan right from the start.

It wasn’t the suit. The suit was merely a symptom of her bigger misjudgment. Seven long years had passed since she’d been flirty Princess Merry. The tricks she’d used to entice men didn’t work anymore…or maybe those tricks didn’t work with mature men.

Alexander was certainly a mature man. That was part of the attraction. She didn’t want to have the romance of her life with a silly boy. She wanted a man. And a man didn’t respond to a girl’s tricks.

And now he would be wary of her. She had three short weeks to share a romance with him and she’d put him so much on the defensive that she would probably spend most of that time convincing him she was harmless.

That is, if he stayed in the same room long enough for her to speak to him again!

She’d blown it.