‘I would never aim to exclude you from our daughter’s life, Georgie, but likewise I would never roll over and give up the fight if you decided to return with her to London.’ He sat forward and looked at her urgently. ‘I don’t want a war on my hands and the truth is that, tradition or not, I would not find it palatable to force you kicking and screaming into a marriage if I thought the whole edifice would collapse in due course...’
‘What are you saying?’
‘We got along four years ago, Georgie, and we get along now. Drop your weapons and you might find that we rub along very well together.’
She wondered what would happen if she dropped all her weapons and forgave him for the past. What would she open herself up to? For him, putting the past behind them would herald a pleasant future rubbing along nicely. He’d always assumed he would have an arranged marriage and, in the context of an arranged marriage, ‘rubbing along nicely’ would be deemed a successful outcome.
Forher, though...putting the past behind her might open up an even bigger Pandora’s box than the one already open. How long before the creeping love that had never gone away staged a comeback, as they ‘rubbed along nicely’in their marriage of convenience?
That thought frightened her. Could she live a life on shaky ground when all she’d ever aimed for was security? Or had she already gone past that point by entering this royal world?
‘I don’t even like you, Abe, after what you did...’ But her voice was not quite as steady as it should have been and she was frowning, unable to look at him.
‘You sound as though you have become so accustomed to thinking like that, that you’re finding it hard to let the sentiment go, but you have to try, for Tilly’s sake.’
Georgie blinked and focused on him.
She was spellbound by his beauty. He sat there, so coolly confident in every word that left his mouth, and his very confidence was making a mockery of her concerns.
‘This isn’t my world,’ she protested weakly and he waited a couple of seconds before replying.
‘If you become my wife, my world will be yours, as it will be our daughter’s.’ He paused and this time his dark eyes were lazy and speculative and sent a trail of fire coursing through her.
She fidgeted and realised that somewhere along the line she had closed the distance between them.
Suddenly hot and restless, she sprang to her feet and walked jerkily across to the window to stare out at this world he promised would be hers. Behind her lay a fabulous brunch, barely touched, and a fabulous room, furnished with all the regal pomp money could buy. Ahead of her lay splendid grounds and the vast panorama of desert beyond.
She was unaware of Abe approaching her from behind although she suddenly saw his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling glass through which she had been staring. Her heart stopped and then accelerated. She turned around and he was so close to her that if she reached out and placed her hand on his chest, she would feel the beating of his heart.
‘Marry me, Georgie,’ he said, voice low, dark eyes searching her face. ‘Get past your resentments so we can make it work.’ He reached to place his flattened palm on the glass behind her, caging her in, eyes intense and mesmerising.
‘I am not the enemy...’ He paused and his eyes roved over her face. ‘In fact, I am very far from that, as that kiss last night demonstrated...’
‘That was a mistake.’
‘Was it? Truthfully?’ he asked huskily.
She knew that he was going to kiss her, and sheknewthat that kiss would throw everything into turmoil...because she was going to respond. Her body was melting and she knew he was right. She couldn’t pretend that she didn’t find him as compelling now as she had four years ago.
Still, she shivered as his warm lips touched hers and then groaned as his tongue traced the contour of her mouth before delving in to taste her. She clutched at his cotton shirt and tugged him closer so that his thighs were hard against her and nudging between her legs and, oh, it feltso good.
He was the first to break apart, but he stayed close, staring down at her upturned face, rosy with passion.
‘We don’t just get along,’ he murmured, ‘we have this going for us too, and it is far more than just a bonus...’
CHAPTER SIX
THESILKYSOFTNESSof his words washed over her, as seductive as an embrace.
What had she thought might happen when she had decided to tell him about Tilly? Not this.
And yet, if she backtracked to that very first moment when she had seen him standing in that room, with his back to her, bodyguards by the door, a tall, dominant figure, a prince...the process of working out just where everything would lead should have begun.
She’d told him that she’d said goodbye to naiveté the minute she’d found out that she was pregnant. You had to wise up very fast, as a single mother, to cope with the demands of parenthood without any support and particularly without the support of the father because he’d done a runner, vanished without a forwarding address.
So what if he was a prince? she had thought when they’d been unexpectedly reunited. She would do what she had to do, do the right and decent thing, and if he wanted some kind of contact with his child going forward, then she would be happy to accommodate him.
On every count, she had completely misjudged the situation.
