‘I was hoping for more than that,’ he admitted.
Flattening her lips, she said nothing, but her eyes told him firmly,Back off.
He liked that she stood up to him, but as he caught sight of theBlack Diamond, apparently floating serenely on a tranquil ocean, when he knew all about dangerous currents lurking beneath, it was as if sailing was a metaphor for life. He didn’t know this woman, or the harm she could do to him.
‘Don’t you want to share?’ she asked, holding out the greasy bun.
His mind flew to the galley on board theBlack Diamondwhere his Michelin-starred chef would be preparing some delicacy to tempt him. ‘Thank you, but I’ll pass.’
‘Not up to your princely standards?’
He gave her a look, then thought of the unidentifiable sludge he used to eat in the army. ‘I have a healthy appetite, and it will take more than a mouthful of meat to satisfy me.’
Her cheeks fired red, but she drove past her embarrassment to assure him she would remember that, if she got a job in his galley.
Or in his bed.
‘Once you’ve had a chance to settle in, I’ll assess what you can do.’
‘Settle in?’ she queried, pulling her head back to frown at him. ‘What do you think I’ve got in this knapsack? It isn’t the Tardis. If I have to wear a uniform it would double the number of outfits I own. Will I have to wear a uniform?’
A number of options flashed into his mind. ‘Not right away.’
She lightened him, he admitted silently, and no one but his belovednonnacould do that. A better state of mind was good for him, and could only be good for his people. Her banter amused him, and her quick wits kept his on point. Either she’d annoy the hell out of him when they were on board, in which case she’d leave at the next port, or she’d join him in bed.
‘Will we be sailing straight to Madlena?’ she asked as if reading his mind.
‘I haven’t decided yet,’ he said as they approached his private dock.
‘Aren’t you due at an enthronement in a couple of weeks’ time?’
His hackles rose. He didn’t need a reminder that the gulf between the freedom he was enjoying now and the shackles he was facing then was closing. ‘What’s that to you?’
‘Hold on to your hat,’ she exclaimed. ‘I’m just trying to work out your schedule, so I know where I stand.’
His schedule might have to undergo some radical changes if he was to fit in an interlude of pleasure before duty claimed him. That gap had almost closed already, he concluded as they approached the tight security cordon at the entrance to his dock. ‘We might take a small diversion.’
‘We?’ she queried.
‘The crew and I.’
The Fortebracci dynasty would have to wait a little longer for its next Prince to forge some cold-blooded alliance with a po-faced princess. Spending time with a woman who gave as good as she got held far more appeal.
CHAPTER FOUR
HERHEADWASSPINNING. What had she done? Where was she going? Who was she going with?
Luca was a prince?
The facts kept bouncing around her head, while she went hot and cold, and her heart refused to stop pounding. She tried to act normally, as if she didn’t care, but of course she cared. She cared for her safety. She cared for her heart, and Luca definitely provoked a reaction from her. It was impossible to be near him without feeling something. And what would he say when he found out what she did for a living? But she needed this job, and she’d be lying if she said her nose wasn’t twitching at the scent of a story. How could two brothers who’d been so close end up with one being dubbed a saint and the other a sinner? Surely, the truth must lie somewhere in between? That Luca was complex, she had no doubt, but was he as bad as he was painted?
‘You’re having doubts?’ he guessed as the guards at the gate saluted and stood back respectfully. ‘Now’s your chance to change your mind...’
‘I’m fine.’ Whatever she discovered about Luca, she’d keep it to herself. To broadcast details of his private life would be both intrusive and dishonest. Her heart was safe because he didn’t want it, and he’d never find out that she was rubbish in bed, as her ex had insisted, because she had no intention of going there.
‘Nothing serious, I hope?’ she prompted when she saw that Luca was frowning at a message on his phone.
He hummed and said nothing, but his expression was like a storm approaching, and made her wonder if she was being too hasty in agreeing to this trip.
