‘All right,’ he agreed. ‘Stay there.’
‘I’m not going anywhere without a drink of water,’ she assured him.
She amused him, and had stormed his reserve with nothing more than a bold line in chat and an engaging smile. The pert breasts didn’t hurt. Nor did a taut butt, displayed to best advantage beneath tantalisingly short shorts. It was all too easy to imagine those coltish legs wrapped around his waist, though they were tipped with a pair of battered old boots, which were possibly the ugliest he’d ever seen. He glanced back as he waited at the bar. Her face was a picture of puzzled concentration. She was still hammering away at the computer in her mind as she attempted to place him, he guessed.
Even windswept, she was beautiful. Smudged with dirt from the trail and make-up-free. Her hair, in particular, was an abundant, fiery magnificence. Its unusual shade of copper reminded him of sunset at sea. Held back carelessly with a few pins, it begged to be set free so he could tangle his fingers through the lustrous locks as he eased her head back to kiss his way down the long, slender line of her neck. But it was more than good looks that had captured his attention. She had character and spirit and gave as good as she got, which, in the world of sycophants he was about to inhabit, made her a welcome change.
He was on a deadline. Soon he would return to the principality of Madlena to take the throne after the death of his brother. The responsibility that entailed hog-tied him a little more each day. This might be his last trip on his yacht theBlack Diamondbefore duty put an end to his freedom for good. The last thing he needed was a complication in the form of a sassy young woman with a seemingly bottomless pit of questions. No doubt sex would ease his tension, but his usual pick would be an older, experienced woman who knew the score, not an ingénue on a backpacking trip around Europe.
‘Water! At last!’ she cried theatrically as he handed over a misted bottle and a glass.
As she reached for it, her body brushed his, causing a riot she was seemingly unaware of, while his groin had tightened to the point of pain.
‘Thank you,’ she gasped on a grateful exhalation as she drained the glass.
‘You could use another?’ he guessed.
‘You read my mind. But don’t worry. I can handle it,’ she assured him.
‘Go to it,’ he invited, standing back.
As she’d pressed against him, he’d been given more than a clue about the body beneath her shabby clothes. His adorednonna, Princess Aurelia, might have said this young woman was ‘well made’. Although she was tiny like his grandmother, at least a head smaller than anyone else at the bar, which meant her repeated attempts to attract the barman’s attention were a massive fail.
‘All right,’ she conceded finally. ‘Seems I’ve got no option but to throw myself on your mercy again. Go to it!’ she urged. ‘I’ll cheer you on from the sidelines—as much as I can with a throat that feels like sandpaper.’
Her voice was unmistakeably British, while her mouth was extremely sexy. An almost perfect Cupid’s bow, it tugged up at one corner, which made the endearing dimple appear in her cheek. ‘Hurry,’ she begged, clutching her throat like the leading light in some amateur dramatic society. ‘Can’t you see I’m desperate?’
‘You belong on the stage,’ he commented dryly.
‘Yeah, scrubbing it,’ she agreed.
That she made him laugh on a day when laughter had seemed impossible pointed up the fact that this was no overentitled drip. She wasn’t helpless in any way. Here in this preserve of the rich and famous, where labels didn’t just count, they were mandatory, and where a designer outfit would never dare to show its face twice, she was as poised as a princess—and a lot more fun, if the selection of po-faced contenders drawn up by his royal council was anything to go by. She could also be a lot more trouble, he considered on his return from the bar. Her mouth had pursed disapprovingly when she saw him served before anyone else.
‘I didn’t ask you to crash the line,’ she scolded with a grin.
‘I didn’t. The barman just happens to be superefficient.’
‘Okay,’ she conceded. ‘Well, thank you. You’ve done me a real favour, and I appreciate it.’
‘I splashed out on two glasses of water,’ he pointed out, bringing her back down to earth. ‘Hardly a good enough reason to throw yourself at my feet.’
‘You should be so lucky,’ she assured him. ‘Anyway, sometimes a glass of water is all it takes. Do you know everyone here?’ she added as she glugged it down.
‘No. Why?’
‘Because they’re all staring at you.’
‘Perhaps they’re staring at you.’ When he turned, heads swivelled away as the übersophisticated clientele pretended they hadn’t seen him.
‘Hmm,’ she mused thoughtfully. ‘I don’t think so.’ She downed the second glass in record time. ‘I’m well outclassed.’
That was a matter of opinion.
‘Anyway,’ she added with a gasp of relief as she put the empty glass down, ‘don’t let these nosy parkers worry you. You’ve got me to protect you now.’
‘That’s a joke?’ he asked.
‘Take it any way you want,’ she said, ‘but my suggestion is, just ignore them.’
