He could feel her pulse going haywire under his thumb. Either she was a very good actress, or the dazed expression was authentic. The worst of it was, he wasn’t even sure now which of those options he wanted to be true. Because a part of him wanted to dismiss what had just happened as the moves of a practised seductress, but he still wanted to own those sweet sobs of her surrender.
He wanted to be the one to awaken her, to have touched her the way no other man ever had. Which was nuts. Because he had no desire to be led around by his cock, any more than he wished to be seduced into marriage.
‘I… I apologise,’ she said.
He frowned. ‘What the hell for?’ he asked. Getting more furious by the second now, and not even sure why.
‘I shouldn’t have asked you to touch me, to kiss me. I-I used you…’ Her startled gaze flicked down to his crotch andthen back again. The colour on her cheeks blooming like a mushroom cloud. ‘For my own pleasure… While you didn’t get any satisfaction.’
He cursed. ‘Are you for real?’ he demanded, so angry now—with himself as much as her—it was a struggle not to shout. Did she think he was still that grubby street rat who couldn’t control his own libido?
The fact she had made him feel like that kid again was bad enough, but the thought she was judging him now, for who he had been, not who he was, only made his fury increase.
He had exposed himself with her. And he had no idea how to put that genie back into its bottle.
Once he had seduced a woman, and they had found mutual enjoyment together, he moved on. He didn’t do possessive, didn’t do commitment, had never been interested in anything other than the quick thrill sex offered.
But he’d also never met a woman he couldn’t read.
Freya stiffened, shocked by the brittle anger in Theo Caras’ tone and the confusing way it made her feel—not just embarrassed and hopelessly inexperienced but also hurt.
Of course he was angry—he had given her a taste of paradise and what had she done? Revelled in that spectacular moment of pleasure and given him nothing in return.
‘I-I don’t know what you mean?’ she said, feeling exposed.
He grasped her upper arm, tugged her towards him. ‘I’m not going to offer you marriage, Your Highness,’ he murmured, his hot breath brushing her cheek, the use of her title clearly meant to insult now, and not to tease. ‘No matter how desperate I might be to finish what we just started… So, you can stop trying to play me.’
She shuddered, the harsh tone almost as upsetting as the shiver of sensation still pulsing at her core.
She yanked herself out of his grasp. And wrapped her arms around her waist, far too aware of all the liberties she’d let him take… No, she’dbeggedhim to take.
‘I guess it’s a good thing, then,’ she managed, surprised her voice remained calm when she was shaking inside, ‘that I have absolutely no desire to be married to you either.’
His eyebrow lifted in a sceptical arch, making her feel even more exposed. And defensive.
‘There’s no need to be embarrassed, sweetheart,’ he said, the term of endearment intended to humiliate her even more. ‘You’d be quite the catch for a guy like me… I’m flattered.’ His gaze swept over her, making her far too aware of all the places her skin smarted from his attention. ‘But I’ll never be in the market for a wife, unlike my brother. Because I don’t value respectability or class.’ The cynical smile sharpened as his eyes darkened with the heat that had been so intoxicating before, but only made her feel transparent now, and far too needy. She’d thrown herself at this man, confided in him even, and he’d made her feel beautiful, desired, for the first time in her life. But she could see now it had all been a game to him. ‘And I don’t respect anyone who hasn’t earned what they’ve got…’
She sucked in a harsh breath, humiliated now not just by his judgment, but also by the fact his words had the ring of truth. What had she ever done to earn any of the privileges she had? She’d let her father dress her up to attract Theo Caras, so did it really matter what her motives had been when she’d clung to him and begged him for release, if the result was the same?
‘Neither do I…’ she blurted out, determined not to care what he thought of her. ‘Which is precisely why I refuse to be my father’s pawn.’
Theo Caras might be right about her, that she had let her father use her. After all, it had taken her six months to finally refuse to marry this man’s brother. But what gave Theo Caras the right to sit in judgment?
‘And why I don’t plan to marry any man, least of all you!’ she added, letting her anger cover the hurt.
His gaze darkened even more, the muscles in his jaw tensing, and she congratulated herself on scoring a direct hit. Theo Caras was a man who played with women, who made them want him and then discarded them. His charms were legendary for a reason and she refused to feel guilty about falling for them when she was a novice.
‘Don’t worry,’ he sneered. ‘Because I won’t be offering.’ But then, to her surprise, his gaze took on that possessive gleam that had the power to make her core clench with need. And somehow, she couldn’t find the will to do anything but let out a soft sob when his thumb grazed the pulse in her neck and dipped down to trace the line of her cleavage and the nipple still raw from his lips. ‘But if you ever want to take this chemistry to its natural conclusion, get in touch,’ he murmured. The seductive tone and his sense of entitlement was almost as thrilling as the need ricocheting through her body all over again.
‘Mr Caras, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Galicos…’
Freya jerked away from Theo, spotting the young assistant who had interrupted them earlier announcing her father’s arrival…
Then she registered her father’s furious expression as he stalked towards them. And her heart rammed into her throat. He’d heard them. He must have done. Shock came first, followed by panic.
What had she done? Her plan tonight had been to lull her father into believing she was doing his bidding. By pretending to seduce Theo Caras… And now she’d blown that plan tosmithereens by allowing Caras to seduce her instead. Not only had she messed up her chance to placate her father, but she’d allowed herself to be used by Caras, too.
‘We are leaving,’ her father announced, before taking her upper arm in an iron grip.
