He stood up, and extended his hand to her. “All right, Princess, show me how you’ve improved these past years.”
Chapter Four
SHE DIDN’T KNOWwhat she was doing, pushing him recklessly like this. She had been doing that ever since they boarded the ship. Trying to make him angry, trying to make him smile, trying to get some emotion out of him. Trying to see if he felt what she did. And now, pushing him into a dance… She was playing a dangerous game, except she didn’t know if it was the kind of danger she was hoping to find herself in.
Andrei had never once demonstrated attraction toward her. He had never expressed interest in her body. Only in her protection. She was a duty to him, and she understood that. But she was also a woman, and he was a man. Of course, he had known her since she was a child, and it was possible that he would never truly see her as she was.
But now his hand was in hers, rough and big and warm, and he was drawing her toward his body, and she chose to forget everything but this. If this was the last time Andrei would ever hold her, then she would revel in it. Relish it. Then she would live and love only this moment for as long as she could.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he put his on her lower back. There was no music; his gaze was intense.
You mean everything to me.
Those words flashed through her mind, and she felt electricity skitter down her spine. She was everything to him. Did that mean what she hoped it did? Did it mean that he wanted her?
There would never be another chance for this.
This was why she’d wanted to get away from him, so she didn’t…so she didn’t do this. But God, how was she supposed to deny it? How was she supposed to be given this time with him and do nothing with it?
She angled her face upward, bringing her mouth perilously close to his, and if it created any feelings inside him, he didn’t show it.
Her own heart was beating so fast she thought she might pass out. His hands were hot against her lower back, and then he moved them, so that he was holding her hips. She couldn’t stop the feminine sounds that caught in her throat, and she closed her eyes, willing herself to keep standing even though her knees had gone weak.
She opened her eyes again, and he was right there, all that molten heat directed at her. His expression was stern, and hard, and she knew looking for anything soft or welcoming in that face was a losing proposition. Except she could see the heat in his eyes.
He wanted her.
Andreididwant her.
A blessing, a curse. A total upending of everything she’d allowed herself to believe. If she’d known he wanted her…
She would never have been able to resist touching him. Tempting him. Tempting them both. She couldn’t resist now.
Not now, when they were sand in an hourglass.
“Andrei.” She whispered his name, and reached up and touched his face.
He drew back as though she had slashed him with a knife. “Princess,” he said. “I would advise you not to step outside protocol.”
“There is no protocol for us. There never has been.”
“Do you or do you not have a marriage arrangement with King Lucian?”
“I do, but…”
“But?”
“He is not on this boat.”
“I see. And so you think a man like me, a peasant, should be happy to be your entertainment for the ride before you marry the man who is worthy of you?”
Her thoughts were racing. What he was saying wasn’t fair, and it definitely wasn’t true. She didn’t have any experience. Wanting to touch him, wanting to kiss him, wanting… That was the momentous thing. It was not some throwaway, it was everything. He’d had lovers before, she knew that.
One time, when she’d been in a bar in university, and he had been in the back of it, brooding against the wall, there had been a woman who had sat down next to her and her college friends, and she had told the story of how the man in the back had taken her to bed and blown her mind, but then never called.
She was the one who apparently wasn’tspecialenough for that.
Or common enough.
