He did not know what was wrong with him that it hit him like a bolt of lust. Luckily, anger swept in with it. That she could be socasual, with no sign of any kind of apology or even defiance.
JustGood morning, while everything inside of him raged and crashed around—emotion against bones. The only things keeping him from cracking apart were years of experience and the knowledge that emotional outbursts were the enemy.
Case. In. Point.
“So, to be clear, you disappear into thin air for nearly four months and you considerGood morning, Your Majestythe appropriate greeting?”
“Would you rather I be on my knees?”
Heknewwhat she meant—begging forgiveness, but it was not the image in his head. No, that image was of his office and her on her knees for far different reasons.
She must have realized that, because her cheeks began to redden.
Which wasdangerous. “We will return to the palace at once. Pack your bags.” He braced himself for the argument—the anger, the emotion, the push and pull. He would not give in to it like he had three months ago. He would be strong, calm and cold in response to it.
He would be thekinghe had to be, not the man underneath that he could not be.
Jonet stepped out from somewhere in this rustic little cabin, carrying a collection of bags, pulling a suitcase behind her. “They are already packed.”
Alexandre blinked. He looked from Jonet to Ines. Her expression was serene. For a moment, he had no words. She was just…agreeing with him? He thought there’d be refusals, arguments, shouts. Maybe even tears. She had stayed away all this time.
But she was just… She already had her bags packed.
He opened his mouth to say something, to question this, then thought better of it. Questioning could lead to an argument, and he wanted—needed—to avoid that.
He moved past Ines, doing everything he could not to touch her as he did, and approached Jonet.
She looked a little startled. “You don’t need to—”
Over her objections, he relieved her of all the bags except the one she was pulling. He then carried said bags outside to his car, putting them in the trunk, not looking at the two women. He was just going to move forward as if he’d known all along they would follow his every command.
Hewastheir king after all.
He opened the back-seat door for Jonet. She didnotlook comfortable. She shot Ines a questioning glance. Ines nodded her head regally, and Jonet slid inside the back seat. Ines made a move to follow, but Alexandre closed the door before she could. He moved to the passenger-side door, opened it and gestured her inside.
He watched the inner argument chase across her face. Be defiant, or go gently? He kept expecting defiance, but she simply slid into the passenger seat.
Since he did not know what to do with the ease at which this was going, he could only continue to move forward. He closed her door, then got into the driver’s seat.
Ines was frowning at him. “You’re driving?”
He glanced at her. “Yes.”
She looked away. “How modern,” she murmured.
Modern.He felt about as modern as a caveman at the moment. But he drove away from her little cabin, away from her betrayal, and back to the private airport Gabriel had arranged for him to fly in and out of without detection, something that could be done with Gabriel piloting the plane himself.
Gabriel must have been surprised at their quick arrival, though he did not say anything. He simply greeted Ines and Jonet and helped Alexandre load the bags onto the plane while the women settled themselves into their seats.
Everything continued to go easily. They flew back to Alis. Gabriel drove them back to the palace. Gabriel took Ines’s and Jonet’s bags. The staff knew they had been gone, but the more they handled this clandestinely, the more whatever stories Alexandre came up with to explain the past few months would be believable.
He dismissed Jonet to return to her own quarters. He said nothing to Ines. Ines said nothing to him. But they both walked through the palace to their residential wing.
As they began to approach her set of rooms, she walked in front of him. Down the hall toward her door. As though she was just going to go inside, go back to their old lives, without a peep.
He should rejoice at that. In fact, the entire trip back he’d conceived a plan to let it all go. Let it play out. See what she did. See how she handled all this. He’d determined it was the best course of action to simplylet things be.
She reached her door, lifted a hand to the doorknob, but he couldn’t keep the words inside. All his plans fell to ash around him, just like always seemed to happen when it came to her.
