name is Remirez Alexander Montegova, Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Montegova. I know who you are because I have an excellent team of private investigators who make it their job to furnish me with that kind of information. Now you will tell me how much it will take for you walk away from my brother.’
‘YOUR BROTHER?’ MADDIE cringed at the squeak in her voice.
‘Technically, half-brother. We share the same father.’ His voice was coated in dark ice.
She shook her head, confused. ‘But...but his name is Jules Montagne. And he’s French.’
Whereas this man’s accent was an enthralling mix of Italian, French and Spanish.
Crown Prince Remirez...oh, my God...shrugged one rugged shoulder. ‘He’s French on his mother’s side. And the name he uses is a ruse, I suspect, to throw people off the scent.’
‘Off the scent of what?’ she asked, grappling with the alarming disclosure and the fact that everything about the man lounging like a resting panther finally made sense. As did the fact that the resemblance she’d noted was to Jules.
He remained silent, then a tiny interior light was illuminated above his head. Once again he was bathed in golden light. He seemed even larger against the dark backdrop of the car, his jet-black hair glinting, the shoulders beneath his bespoke suit broader and even more imposing.
‘Off the scent of his true identity. Off the scent of gold-diggers, con artists and hangers-on,’ he replied with icy-cold condemnation.
There was little doubt the accusation was aimed at her. And it deeply irked Maddie that even that couldn’t stop her body’s hyper-awareness of him. Couldn’t stop her noticing her clammy hands or the elevated temperature between her thighs.
‘Right. I see.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ he replied wryly.
She leaned closer to the window and flinched as her arm protested. She dragged her gaze from the view of Waterloo Bridge. ‘Where are you taking me?’
‘Where I said I would deliver you. To your home,’ he answered simply. ‘What’s wrong with your arm?’
‘Excuse me?’
His gaze dropped.
She followed it and realised she was rubbing her lower arm. She hastily dropped her hand. ‘Nothing. I’m fine. You know where I live?’
His gaze stayed on her arm for another handful of seconds before he replied, ‘Yes. I also know where you work, where you went to school and who your dentist is.’
Apprehension fizzled inside her. ‘Is that some sort of threat?’
‘I’ve merely armed myself with knowledge. After all, it is power, is it not? Did you not get into this car to do the same?’
‘I got into this car because you sent your supersized bodyguard after me.’
‘He didn’t touch you.’ The finality behind the words indicated she hadn’t been touched because he’d wished it to be so.
She forced a laugh, despite the surge of energy thrumming through her belly. ‘Oh, wow, I’ll consider myself lucky, then.’
He knew everything about her. Did he know about her father? Her mother? Greg? Was he aware of the shameful secret that dogged her every wakeful moment and followed her into her nightmares?
‘You haven’t answered my question,’ he said.
She swallowed the pulse of anger in her throat. ‘And I’m not going to. It’s insulting. I don’t know you from Adam and yet you think you can just throw money at me and I’ll do your bidding?’
He didn’t respond immediately. Not until the limo stopped at a set of traffic lights a mile from her flat. ‘I haven’t done any throwing since you haven’t given me your price. How long have you known Jules?’
Unease ramped up the vibrations in her belly. ‘I don’t see how that’s relevant—’
‘You’ve known him a little over a week. You’ve been out with him almost every night and yet you’ve never returned to his apartment with him.’
The depth of his knowledge sent a sheet of ice gliding over her skin. ‘That doesn’t mean anything.’
‘On the contrary, that leads me to conclude you’re holding out for something. What is it, Miss Myers?’
She smiled. ‘Sex, drugs and rock and roll—what else?’
Her dripping sarcasm went straight over his head as he threw a disdainful glance out of the window.
‘Jules wouldn’t be caught dead in this neighbourhood. So, unless you’ve been copulating somewhere other than his apartment, I highly doubt it’s sex. And I know for a fact that it’s not drugs.’
‘That’s ridiculous. How would you know that?’ she threw back.
Slightly narrowed eyes were the only indication that he found her questioning insolent. ‘Because it’s a condition of his remaining in my royal bursar’s good graces that he stays clean. In return for his generous allowance, he’s tested for drugs on a regular basis.’
Although the information allayed her earlier fears, Maddie was still disturbed by the revelations. ‘Tested? You’re saying that you pay him to stay off drugs?’
Prince Remirez’s lashes swept down. ‘Among many other things,’ he murmured.
Curiosity ramped high. ‘Really? Like what?’ she asked, telling herself it really was time she found out more about the man who’d promised to pay her to pretend to be his girlfriend.
‘Like things that are none of your concern,’ Prince Remirez returned chillingly. ‘And, just in case you’re inclined to peddle what I’ve just told you, know that I’ll sue you for everything you own if any of this makes it into tomorrow’s papers.’
‘Yeah, good luck with that,’ she replied waspishly, before she could help herself.
‘You think my caution is idle?’ he mused coolly, his stance relaxed in a way that said he found her in no way threatening.
She shook her head, smiling with more than a little relief when the limo pulled into her street.
‘Not at all. I meant good luck finding anything of value to sue me for.’
The moment the words left her lips she wanted to snatch them back. But it was too late.
Eyes like laser beams latched onto the truth. ‘You’re destitute,’ he declared after a taut pause.
Shame crawled over Maddie’s skin. Followed instantaneously by searing anger.
