by Heidi Rice
He strolled to the balcony door, the chilly air prickling over his skin. But instead of returning to the ballroom he took the path she’d chosen around the side of the building.
The chivalrous thing to do would be to return to the ball.
But despite outward appearances he was not a chivalrous man, he was a realist. And if he did not return to the ball either, rumours would be rife tomorrow about their joint disappearance.
Rumours he could exploit.
CHAPTER THREE
JUNO AWOKE THE next morning, groggy and disorientated.
Am I dreaming?
Her brain and body struggled to adjust to the alien feel of luxury cotton sheets, and the unfamiliar sight of thick velvet drapes, antique furniture and the view through a tall mullioned window—not of the fire escape of the apartment block opposite hers, but of an enchanting Alpine vista blanketed in snow.
Then her gaze alighted on the uniform jacket draped over one of the armchairs, the memory of hot lips had her nipples drawing into tight peaks and reality came rushing back.
Monrova. Jade. The swap. The ball. Leo.
She pressed her fingers to her chin, where Leo’s kiss had left a mark.
The man was a born kisser. That kiss had been more than worth an eight-year wait.
But the memory of what had happened next had the heat flushing through her system again. She cupped her swollen breast, felt the molten spot between her thighs where his hand had pressed for a few terrifying seconds of bliss.
A light tap sounded on the bedroom door, jerking her out of the erotic trance.
‘Your Majesty, it’s Serena, I’m here with Jennifer. Are you awake?’
Serena? Jennifer? Oh, yes, her sister’s personal assistant and her personal maid.
‘Yes. Give me a minute,’ she said, dragging her still-aching body out of her sister’s bed.
She checked her sister’s phone.
It was past noon. Leo and his entourage had been due to leave by noon.
A strange combination of relief and disappointment echoed through her confused body. It was for the best, she told herself staunchly—as soon as he had told her the time of his departure she had intended to avoid seeing him again at all costs.
Leo was a dangerous man. Not just observant, but demanding and so hot he had incinerated her control and her common sense last night. One kiss and she had been his, revelling in his touch, his taste, her body not her own. She couldn’t afford to get that close to him again.
She tugged on a silk robe. Tied her hair back, so that neither woman noticed it was shorter than her sister’s, and tried to calm her racing heartbeat. Not easy, considering she was hopelessly jet-lagged, she was still struggling with last night’s kiss bombshell and, unlike Jade, she had never been a morning person.
‘Come in, Serena,’ she called out.
The middle-aged woman hurried into the bedroom with a harassed look on her face, followed by the younger woman who was carrying a tray loaded with...
Breakfast... Yum.
And coffee.
Praise the Lord.
‘Your Majesty, are you well?’ Serena said, clutching a bunch of the morning papers, while Jennifer proceeded to put the tray on a small table by the window and set out her breakfast. ‘I have taken the precaution of making an appointment with the palace physician.’
‘I’m great, Serena, no doctor needed,’ Juno said, grabbing a slice of toast off the tray and slathering on some butter.
Note to self: set an alarm tomorrow.
Her sister probably got up at dawn no matter what time she’d been up the night before.
‘You can cancel the appointment. Sorry I overslept. Last night was...’ What? Intriguing? Astonishing? Terrifying? Dangerously exciting? ‘Quite tiring,’ she said, as she sat down in one of the room’s armchairs. After finishing the toast in a few quick bites, she grabbed the coffee cup Jennifer had just finished pouring.
‘Thank you, Jennifer, you’re a lifesaver.’ She inhaled the delicious scent before swallowing a life-saving gulp. ‘Perfect.’
‘Thank you, Your Majesty.’ The maid curtsied. ‘Would you like me to add the cream and sugar now?’
Juno plopped the cup back down on the tray. Oops. ‘Oh, yes, of course.’
She’d totally forgotten her sister’s sweet tooth.
Juno watched, dismayed, as the maid loaded the coffee with enough cream and sugar to give any normal person tooth rot. She took another sip and tried not to gag.
‘Mmm, lovely, Jennifer. Thank you, that’s just how I like it.’
Really, Jade?
Serena finished talking on the phone. ‘I’ve cancelled the appointment, Your Majesty, if you’re absolutely sure you’re well?’
‘Yes, really.’ She could not risk getting examined by the palace doctor. She and Jade were identical, but she had a small scar on her knee she’d got skidding into home base aged twelve—and a unicorn on her hip.
She’d got the tattoo on her eighteenth birthday—a month after her mom’s death, and the day after their Central Park apartment had been repossessed.
At the time it had been a statement of purpose. Proof that she was a survivor. Right now it would be an even bigger statement she was an imposter.
‘Okay, wonderful,’ Serena said, but she still looked harassed. ‘His Majesty will be so pleased. Could I tell him you’ll be down in twenty minutes?’
‘Sorry? What?’ Juno said, dumping the cup back on the tray.
Leo was still here?
Suddenly swallowing the sugary coffee without vomiting was the least of her worries. The twist of anxiety in her gut was nothing compared to the incendiary buzz of sensation firing over every inch of her body.
‘I’m sorry to rush you,’ Serena said. ‘But he’s been quite insistent. Apparently he has been speaking to Major Garland about your schedule and he wants to discuss a significant change after last night’s events at the ball.’
Last night’s events at the ball?
Juno’s skin began to heat. The memory of Leo’s lips on her breast—so firm, so forceful, so demanding—far too vivid.
The woman laid the papers she had under her arm on the breakfast table. ‘The reaction to the news of your romance has been overwhelmingly positive, by the way.’
Their romance! What romance?
Juno blinked, the heat exploding in her cheeks, and several other places besides, as she scanned the newspapers—her breathing becoming increasingly difficult.
Check Mate: Has the King Finally Taken His Queen?
Is Royal Romance Confirmed at Last in Monrova?
Having a Ball, All Night Long!
Look of Love for King Leo and his Future Queen?
Each headline was illustrated with tons of candid shots... Of her and Leo looking loved up as they flirted during the banquet and danced far too close together. But the worst were the shots taken from a variety of angles as he followed her out onto the balcony, her body swamped by his coat. The anticipation on her face would have put a child who had just been given their very own candy store to shame.
No. No. No.
How had she managed to trash the reputation of Monrova’s monarchy in one night?
Not that she usually gave a damn about the reputation of the monarchy, not since her father had made it clear it was more important to him than she was. But she was giving a damn about it now—because trashing the monarchy’s reputation meant trashing her sister’s reputation too.
She’d messed up. Again. And Jade would be the one to pay the price.
‘While he has been rather impatient this morning, I suppose it is to be expected.’
Serena’s words interrupted Juno’s mental walk of shame. ‘Excuse me?’
The woman’s blush had faded, and her expression had softened. ‘I should have congrat
ulated you, Your Majesty. I really had no idea the negotiations had gone this far. But you do make such a romantic couple. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Everyone will be overjoyed when you set a date.’
Negotiations? Date? What. The. Actual...?
Juno slapped her hand on the papers. ‘Right, I see,’ she said, trying to think round the wodge of panic threatening to choke her.
She hadn’t agreed to anything last night. Had she?
The end of the evening, after that clinch on the balcony, had been a blur, her senses still reeling from the shock of discovering Leo was a kiss ninja.
She pursed her lips, the tingle returning full force.
Stop thinking about him and start thinking about how on earth you’re going to get out of this—without everyone finding out that you are not your sister.
‘Your Majesty, we really must get you ready.’ Serena’s beatific smile had faltered as she whipped out her phone. ‘I promised His Majesty faithfully he would not have to wait too much longer to see you. He’s a rather forceful man, is he not?’
Forceful? Yeah, that was one way of putting it.
She pushed the tray to one side. She’d lost her appetite anyway. She really did not want to see Leo again. He was her kryptonite, the unpredictable effect he had on her something she wasn’t sure she had any control over. But from the look on Serena’s face, she knew she didn’t have a choice. How could she get out of this meeting without making Jade’s assistant and everyone else suspicious?
‘Okay, Serena,’ she said. ‘Could you let Leo know I’ll be there as soon as I can, I promise?’
Juno headed for the shower, hoping against hope she could come up with some kind of a plan—to handle her catastrophic fall from grace last night and the rumours about their ‘romance’ but, most importantly of all, Leo’s devastating ability to make her forget everything except the promise of pleasure.
‘Her Majesty, the Queen of Monrova.’
Leo turned from his contemplation of the snowy landscape—a view he had been admiring for over an hour now—to see Queen Jade enter the room with her personal assistant.
Wearing designer jeans and a sweater, her hair tied up in a knot, she should have looked neat and pretty and demure—the same impression she’d made on him during their meeting a month ago. But as she walked towards him, his gaze snagged on the way the skinny jeans and sweater clung to her curves, and his fingers burned to free her hair from the prim topknot. It didn’t suit her now, the way it had before, some tantalising tendrils already escaping from confinement to cling to the line of her neck.
How would she taste if he placed his mouth on the pulse point?
‘King Leonardo, I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting so long,’ she said.
King Leonardo? Not Leo?
He frowned at her strained smile as she held out her fingers in greeting. So she was going to pretend last night had never happened.
He captured her fingers in his, lifted them to his lips and watched the smile falter.
‘You seem to be making a habit of it, Jade,’ he said as he released her.
She brushed the back of her hand against her jeans, probably trying to ease the sensation still lingering on his lips. He smiled, glad to see she was as incapable of controlling that buzz as he was.
‘I’m afraid I overslept, Your Majesty,’ she said, the snap in her voice amusing him.
There she was, the spitfire from last night. Demure be damned. This woman was about as far from demure as it was possible to get. Who would have guessed he would find that so hot?
‘But there was no need to delay your departure,’ she added, the stubborn tilt of her chin telling him to back off. ‘Your Majesty.’
Unfortunately for her, he had the upper hand here and he intended to use it. The media had happily spread the story this morning, insinuating in that adorable way they had that he and Jade had already consummated their marriage plans last night after their joint early departure from the ball. Little did they know how close they had almost come to doing just that.
No way was he backing off now.
While she had been lying in bed—he stifled the image of her lush body, naked, beneath the sheets—he had been busy devising a plan with the obsequious cooperation of Jade’s chief of staff, Major Garland, who it transpired was very keen to facilitate the marriage, because it had been her father’s wishes.
Leo did not like the man. Officious and opinionated and old school and happy to ride roughshod over the Queen’s wishes if he thought it suited her dead father’s agenda, Garland reminded Leo of his own father’s advisors, men he had been quick to fire as soon as he had acceded to the throne.
Humiliation closed his throat, as the phantom pain of his father’s riding crop stung his backside.
Perhaps Garland wasn’t as bad as those bastards, who had turned a blind eye to his father’s excessive attachment to corporal punishment, but the major was in the same mould. Right now, though, Garland’s support was useful.
‘Of course I delayed my departure, Jade,’ he said.
She scowled at the deliberate use of her given name and he had to bite down on his lip to stop a chuckle bursting out.
I swallowed your sobs of pleasure last night, and felt your body soften as mine hardened. Do you really believe we can pretend that never happened?
‘We have much to discuss about our impending nuptials,’ he finished.
Her eyebrows shot up her forehead.
‘But... We haven’t agreed anything,’ she said, looking flustered and unsure.
She really was very different from the woman he remembered, who had been so placid, so pragmatic about discussing this topic. But they hadn’t known then what they knew now. That this did not have to be simply a sterile political union.
‘The press would disagree, after last night,’ he said.
‘But nothing happened last night,’ she said as a guilty flush illuminated the freckles sprinkled across her nose.
He stifled the urge to tug her towards him and kiss each one in turn.
Focus, Leo.
‘Really?’ he said, raising a brow. ‘Nothing at all?’ he murmured, letting his gaze drift to her breasts and enjoying her answering blush.
‘Well, nothing much.’ She pursed her lips into a tight line.
Yup, she was still being tortured too.
‘Regardless, I believe the judicious course of action now would be to capitalise on the positive publicity from last night and take this opportunity to explore our connection.’
‘Our... Our connection?’ she said, her eyes widening—with horror but also awareness. And awareness he could use.
‘Yes, our connection.’ He took her hand, which hung limply by her side, and ran his thumb across the back of it—to soothe her nerves, while also staking his claim.
She was young. And inexperienced. Her understanding of men a lot less than her understanding of monarchy... Although even that seemed to have deserted her last night. But to be fair, it had deserted him, too.
He wanted to reassure her that he would not push her the way he had last night, but make her aware that, at the same time, theirs was a physical connection they could both enjoy.
‘I’ve spoken to Major Garland and suggested a state visit to Severene for the next week. All the usual protocols will be observed but it would be an excellent opportunity for you to be introduced to the Severene people and for them to meet you.’
And an even better opportunity for him to persuade her this marriage would have some excellent fringe benefits.
‘But I can’t.’ She tugged her hand free and stuck it into the back pocket of her jeans, doing interesting things to her bust.
‘Why not?’ He forced his gaze back to her face.
Still focussing, Leo.
‘Because I’m busy here,’ she said. ‘It
’s Christmas and I have stuff to do. Official stuff. And lots of it.’
‘On the contrary, Your Majesty.’ Garland stepped forward on cue. ‘There is nothing in your schedule that can’t be postponed or rearranged.’
The stubborn chin was comprehensively contradicted by the flash of panic in her emerald eyes. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely, in fact I have taken the liberty of already making the necessary arrangements. Given our recent discussion of the huge benefits of your political union with Severene and its King—and how much King Andreas wished this marriage to take place—I felt sure you would be very much in favour of taking advantage of this opportunity.’
‘But it’s Christmas,’ she said, sounding exasperated as well as panicked now. ‘Surely I should be here with my people, not Leo’s.’
‘You’ll be back in time for Christmas,’ Leo cut back in, stupidly pleased by her use of his given name again. ‘Garland and I have arranged a seven-day visit culminating in the Severene Christmas Ball on December the eighteenth, at which you will be my guest of honour. You would return to Monrova the next day.’
He stemmed the twinge of regret that she wouldn’t be in Severene over Christmas itself, when she would have provided an excellent distraction from the dark thoughts that always assailed him at that time of year.
‘But...’ she began again, clearly searching for something...anything to get out of this situation.
It was a good thing he had such a robust ego—her reluctance to spend a week with him something she was not making any effort to hide.
But he found her skittishness as captivating as he had last night.
Jade’s reluctance could not be about the official visit. She was an expert at participating in these kinds of events, so her reluctance had to be about him, and the chemistry they shared.
He was glad their physical connection had unsettled her so much, because it had unsettled him, too.
‘But I didn’t agree to this.’
He stifled the sting of sympathy.
‘Your Majesty,’ the overbearing Garland butted in again. ‘As you know, your father was keen for this match to—’
‘Enough.’ Leo lifted his hand, seeing the flash of something in her eyes that surprised him. Stubborn refusal, yes, but more than that... Distress. Garland’s intervention was hindering his cause now, rather than helping it.
