out an exasperated sigh. “Would it matter if I said no, Alex?”
Suddenly, his voice seemed to be coming from closer behind her, his low, sensual tones skimming along her skin. “Not especially. If I had to I would go into your room myself and act the part of your valet.”
“You aren’t suggesting you would dress me?”
“I confess I have much more experience undressing women than I have dressing them. But I might be willing to make an exception.”
It was official. She was going to burst into flame.
She had lied when she’d told him she didn’t read romance novels. She did. Secretly. And while she pretended to snicker at them from behind her hand, the truth was she was fascinated. She had always been curious to know if attraction like that existed. If it was possible to look at someone and feel like they were touching you. Like it would be too much if they did. Like you would die if they didn’t.
She knew it did now. And she knew it was the kind of intensity that fiction simply couldn’t prepare you for.
His lips had barely skimmed hers last night and she had felt like the moon and stars had fallen from the sky and scattered around her in the garden, leaving the world upside down, glittering all around her, rather than in the distance.
But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to lose her head over him. That was the last thing she had told her grandmother. That she would not allow him to seduce her.
Her grandmother had warned her away from this kind of thing in vague terms, and when the subject of the painting had come up, just before they’d come to retrieve it, it had become clear to Gabriella why. Her grandmother had been wounded by a man such as this. One who was powerful, handsome.
One she was not meant to be with.
Quite apart from the fact that Gabriella couldn’t imagine a future with a man like this, one who didn’t believe in love, or commitment, she was a princess. And even if she didn’t have a throne she would be required to make a certain kind of marriage.
It would not be to an Italian American businessman who had no pedigree. That just wouldn’t do.
She blinked, trying to get a hold on her thoughts. The last thing he needed to know was that she was thinking about sex or marriage in connection with him.
“Well, there’s no need for you to dress me. I will dress myself. But tonight we need to try and look for that room my grandmother spoke of. We need to try and find the painting.”
“I agree with you. I think tonight might be the time we change the nature of this farce, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we have established that you are nothing more than my assistant. No one suspects that you are Princess Gabriella D’Oro, and no one has any reason to. Tonight you will be wearing a beautiful dress, and your face will be covered by a mask keeping you from being recognized... When we slip away together a little bit early, it will hardly be suspicious. At least not if I have been holding you in my arms a little bit more closely than I have for the previous nights.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Tonight, you will play the part of my lover, Gabriella. There will be no scandal, and it will be the perfect excuse for us to slip away.”
Her throat was dry, her heart pounding so hard she was afraid it might gain enough momentum to tumble up her throat and come spilling out of her mouth. “But I...”
“You don’t know how? You don’t know how to play the part of doting lover?”
Her cheeks flamed. “I have no worries about that. I can more than handle you, Alessandro.”
“You see, when you say my full name like that, I become convinced that you are a bit more nervous than you let on.”
“And when you take on that dry tone, I begin to suspect that you are a little bit more off-kilter than you like to let on. Perhaps it is you having a difficult time figuring out how you will play the part of my lover. But don’t worry, I will be wearing a mask. So my looks shouldn’t put you off.”
“Did my kiss last night not prove to you that I don’t find you unattractive?”
“The only thing your kiss last night proved is that you very much like playing games. But I don’t like being the subject of them.”
A man like Alessandro would never want a woman like her. With her large glasses and ill-fitting clothing—the only thing she had ever worn in front of him—her face devoid of makeup, he would never look twice at her.
Likely, he had seen her as a challenge, and he had set out to conquer her. Because that’s who he was.
Well, she refused to be conquered.
“I have no problem playing the part of your lover tonight, Alex,” she said, keeping her tone frosty. “But do not get any ideas about making it real. I understand what manner of man you are. I understand what motivates you. I am a source of amusement to you, as you have made very plain. I will not allow you to amuse yourself with my body.”
Filled with a new sense of dignified rage, she stormed toward the estate. She had no idea why she was reacting this way. Had no idea why she hadn’t seen all of this before. Had she truly imagined that he had been attracted to her? That the kiss had been genuine? That the rake had gone after the wallflower?
She was as much a fool for a beautiful face as her grandmother had feared.
As much a fool as anyone in her family was. Perhaps that was the curse. Her grandmother had fallen prey to a man. And had her heart broken by him. Her mother threw herself in front of men as though she were a willing victim and they were an oncoming train. Only to find herself tangled, destroyed, after each affair. Chipping away pieces of her marriage, pieces of herself.
Perhaps, in spite of all her attention to avoid such emotions, Gabriella should have truly known better.
She rushed through the estate, heading toward her room. Once safely inside, she closed the door and locked the connecting one between her room and Alex’s. She would have to face him tonight. Tonight, she would have to pretend that she was his lover. She would need to fortify herself to cope with that.
She sat on her bed, breathing hard, anger, hurt, rising up inside of her.
But with a few breaths came clarity.
The only solution here would be to take control of the situation. Alex saw himself as above temptation, she knew that. He only gave in when he chose to. And of course, he didn’t want her.
But tonight, she would make him want her. She would. She would turn the tables.
He would be the one left unsatisfied. He would be the one who didn’t sleep because he was burning. But she would never give in to him. She would make him want her, and then, she would turn away.
She flopped backward onto the bed, a smile crossing her lips. She was incredibly satisfied with this new plan. With this vision for the future that put her much more in charge of things than she’d been previously. Yes, last night she had momentarily lost her
