the reason. I’m curious. I’ve heard different things and I’d like to know what the real story is.”
She pressed her lips together, then decided to tell him the truth. “My father is sick and barely hanging on.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.
She grunted skeptically, shrugging away his simple sympathy. “And he is very, very bitter.”
He shrugged. He’d assumed that. “Of course.”
She took a deep breath, glanced into his eyes and then away. “Mostly toward his own children,” she admitted, “who were not able to hang on to the prize he won for the family fifty years ago.”
He nodded. He took that as a matter of course as well. His father would have been the same, had he lived and gone through what her father had suffered.
“And yet, you’re here,” he noted dryly.
She nodded, biting her lip. “It’s my birthday.”
Her birthday. He almost caught his breath at that news. Why it should affect him with a wave of emotion he wasn’t sure, but it did.
“I didn’t bring you a present,” he said softly.
She looked up at him, her lower lip quivering, but her eyes still full of spirit. “And here I thought you considered yourself a gift to the human race,” she said flippantly.
“Cute.”
He looked at her mouth. The urge to kiss her surged in his chest. The music stopped and they stood swaying, still pressed together. He stared at the way her lip was trembling, so full and delicious and tempting.
And below, the full thrust of her breasts, the deep, shadowed cleavage between them. He could feel the warmth rising from it, taste the heat he would find in her mouth. Every fiber of his being wanted her. No other woman would ever affect him the way she did.
And no woman was more impossible for him to have.
His head went back as he realized the murmurs had begun. Someone had recognized him, and the whispers were spreading through the hall. This sort of thing was familiar to him—happened all the time. He wouldn’t be able to stay much longer.
The flash from a paparazzi camera blinded him for a moment, anchoring him back to earth. Exactly what he hated most, the tabloid culture and their vultures. He swore softly, then drew back, still holding her hand.
“Obviously, this was a bad idea. We can’t talk here.” He looked at her questioningly. “Unless you want to just go ahead and tell me the truth.”
“Truth? Why, Your Highness, you know I never lie.”
For some contrary reason, that made him smile.
“Good. Then I’m sure you’ll be ready to tell me everything tomorrow when we can get some privacy.” He gave her a quick chuck under the chin. “I’ll see you then,” he told her. “Where are you staying?”
She stared at him, seemingly startled out of all ability to speak.
“Never mind. I’ll find out. Nine-thirty at your hotel. We’ll talk then. You order in coffee, I’ll bring the brioche.”
Turning on his heel, he walked past the photographer who was still snapping pictures. His hand shot out and grabbed the camera before the man knew what was happening.
“Hey!” the paparazzo yelled out.
Dane flipped him a business card. “Call this number in the morning,” he said. “You’ll get your camera back. In the meantime, I’ll babysit it for you.”
“Hey,” the man yelled again, following but not quite daring to do anything about it. “You can’t do that!”
But he’d already done it, and he was out the door and into his waiting Aston Martin before anyone could stop him.
CHAPTER TWO
ALEXANDRA Acredonna, only daughter of Luther Acredonna, recently deposed leader of the Nationalists, whose rule of Carnethia was ended by Crown Prince Dane, his father and his brothers, was in despair.
It had been a huge mistake to come out in public. She shouldn’t have risked it. It had been so long, and she’d been so hungry for some sort of social contact, that when some dear friends had invited her to a birthday celebration at Chic’s, she’d been too tempted to turn the offer down. She’d gone, swearing she would only be at the club for an hour, in and out, gone before there would be time for anyone to notice her and send out the word.
But it hadn’t worked out that way. Dane had obviously been tipped off. Which meant there might be someone in her entourage who was giving information to the Montenevadas. A chilling thought. If they had leaked once, they would leak again.
She stared into the dressing room mirror, trying to concentrate on solutions. She had to be supersecret and supercareful from now on. She was going to have to become more disciplined. Ridding herself of all the people around her was the first step. Only one or two of her closest advisors should know where she was at any given time.
She was staying at the Lion’s Mane Hotel here in Darnam. It was a huge place and she’d registered under an assumed name and taken one of the cheaper suites for her party, so she’d thought she would be lost in the shuffle.
No such luck. Now she was back in the hotel room, looking forward to a long, sleepless night and wondering who among her people might be a traitor.
But most of all, she was thinking about Dane.
She’d been shocked to see him standing there in the club. He’d looked good—healthier than when she’d seen him last. Her heart had seemed to jump in her chest when she saw him. Every cell, every nerve, came more alive than ever. She saw things, felt things, she didn’t see or feel when he wasn’t near. She knew she would never be free of the emotions he conjured up in her just by being within reach.
The way he’d looked at her! The way his blue eyes had penetrated her self-confidence and stripped her to the bone. For a moment she’d been afraid she had no defense against him. But she’d regained her balance quickly enough and pushed through that to find her inner strength.
Still, she knew now that he was on to her. He’d heard things. He probably wasn’t sure of the facts yet. If he’d been sure, he would have done more than dance around the subject. He would have grabbed her, thrown her over his shoulder and carried her out of that place if he’d known for certain that she’d had his child. And next time, that was probably what he would do.
Her cell phone rang and she picked it up, expecting to see one of her brothers’numbers on the screen. But no. The number wasn’t one she recognized. Again her heart began to thump in her chest. It had to be Dane.
She wouldn’t answer. She’d just let it ring. Biting her lip, she tried to stand firm on that. One more ring and she crumbled.
“Hello?” she said breathlessly.
For a beat or two there was silence.
“Did
