car with you was a courtesy. One you’ve outworn. So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to work now before I annoy my boss.’
She reached for the handle to the door that would open onto the street.
He darted forward and seized her wrist, quiet fury laced with something that felt alarmingly close to dread fizzing through his bloodstream. ‘Are you always this careless with your safety?’ he demanded, aware his voice was harsh and gruff.
He told himself it had nothing to do with the guilt fused into his being. Or the breathtaking smoothness of the skin stretched over her racing pulse.
For some reason she found his question amusing, although her thousand-watt smile barely made an appearance before it was extinguished again. ‘Did you not ask your brother how we met?’
All he’d wanted from Jules this morning was his agreement to board the royal plane back to Montegova, and a promise that he would cease contact with Maddie Myers immediately. Discussions of duty and responsibility had been shelved when he’d realised his brother was severely hungover.
‘The subject didn’t come up.’
‘Well, he nearly ran me over with his supercar. And, no, I wasn’t being reckless. The signal to cross was still green when he hit me.’
Remi’s blood went deathly cold. Over the last two years he’d lived with an unending torrent of might-have-beens. All the things he might have done to alter events. The image of Maddie Myers lying lifeless on a filthy pavement awoke demons he’d fought hard and failed to conquer.
‘Jules hit you with his car?’ He was aware his voice was a thin, icy blade. But it was only when she flinched that his gaze dropped to the hold he had on her.
He loosened his grip as other things began to fall into place. The wincing she tried to hide. The flash of pain across her face last night in the car and when he’d touched her in the café.
Rage rose to mingle with the guilt. ‘How badly were you hurt?’ The gravel-rough demand seared his throat.
Her head dipped and her gaze fell to her lap. ‘Besides my pride and a few bruises and scratches, I’d say the groceries that met their end on Camberwell New Road came off worse.’
Ice-cold fingers gripped his nape. ‘Don’t be flippant about it.’
His harsh rebuttal made her flinch. When her eyes darted to his fists, Remi realised he’d clenched them so hard the knuckles were bloodless.
‘I... It wasn’t a big deal,’ she whispered.
He slowly unfurled his hands. Sucked in one long breath. ‘Was that when you struck this secret bargain between the two of you?’
A flash of alarm crossed her face, then evaporated to leave faint pink spots on her cheeks. Without answering she turned resolutely to the door. ‘This conversation is over. Goodbye, Your Highness.’
Remi had no intention of letting her get away. Not until he’d delved into these new revelations. Revelations that had him secretly reeling.
‘I’ve changed my mind. You no longer have twenty-four hours.’
He picked up the card she’d dropped on the seat between them and slid it back into his pocket.
He nodded abruptly. And a moment later his car had left the kerb and the café behind.
Her shocked gaze swung to the window, then back to him. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’
‘We’re going to talk. In one hour you’ll either have decided you don’t work at that café any more or your boss will be adequately compensated for your absence and you can return to work tomorrow morning. Either way, neither of you will lose. Put your seatbelt on.’
‘No! I don’t know how things work in your country, but here what you’re doing is called kidnapping!’
Remi caught her arm just beneath the short sleeve of her cheap shirt, again noting the satin-smoothness of her skin and the sizzle of miniature fireworks that transmitted from her skin to his.
Back in the café, when he’d first touched her, he mocked himself for over-exaggerating the sensation. Now he knew for sure as the blood heated in his veins.
Her breath hitched and her alluring eyes dropped to where he held her before she jerked away from him. ‘Please don’t touch me.’
Reluctantly, he released her. She gave a tiny shake of her head, as if she found the sizzling, unwanted chemistry as confounding as he did. That knowledge only intensified the urgency rampaging through him.
‘You will tell me why you’re anxious to get in touch with Jules. After you tell me in detail about your first meeting.’ He frowned as his memory came up blank on that part of Maddie Myers’s recent history. ‘Why isn’t there a record of the accident or a hospital visit?’
Sparks flared in her eyes. ‘Because there wasn’t one. And in case I didn’t get around to mentioning it last night, it’s loathsome of you to pry into my life the way you blithely believe you have a right to.’
‘Why wasn’t there one?’ he demanded.
‘Because your brother didn’t take me to hospital, that’s why.’
This time he couldn’t contain his curse, the fury that tripled his heartbeat or the churning alarm that underpinned all his emotions. ‘He nearly ran you over and you didn’t demand to be taken to a hospital?’
Her expression closed and she avoided his gaze. ‘I told you—’
‘You’re trying to hide the fact that you’re favouring your right arm and yet you flinch and grow pale with every contact. Either you’re truly intent on deluding yourself that your injury is no big deal...’ he paused as a deeper bolt of emotion, a protectiveness he didn’t welcome, kicked him in the gut ‘...or there’s another reason you’re burying your head in the sand.’
He hit the intercom and instructed his driver on a different destination.
‘Either way, it has nothing to do with you,’ she replied stiffly.
‘That’s where you’re wrong, Miss Myers.’
Wary eyes blinked at him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means it’s my duty to ensure that nothing a member of my family does comes back to bite us when we least expect it. And now I have a better idea of what went on between you and Jules we can get down to the bottom line. But not until I find out what I’m dealing with.’
‘I... I don’t understand.’
‘I’m taking you to the hospital, Madeleine. You can protest if you wish, but know this: the earlier you deal with me, the earlier we can be rid of each other.’ He waited a beat, despite the volatile emotions churning through his bloodstream. ‘So will you come with me of your own free will?’
Green eyes flew to his and again he caught the faint alarm in the bronze-flecked depths. Her lightly glossed lips parted and she sucked in a slow breath. After a moment, she
