‘We’re not going to be married.’ She summoned all her courage and threw back the sheet, meeting his bluff with a fierce one of her own. ‘But you want me to spend the day naked?’
As he stared, she fought every instinct to curl her legs up and throw her arms around her knees. Instead she stayed still, utterly naked on the soft white linen.
His gaze travelled the length of her body—lingering on those places too private to mention. She gritted her teeth so she wouldn’t squirm. But as his focus trained on her breasts, she felt the reaction—the full, tight feeling as her nipples budded and that warmth surged low within. He looked for a long, long time—and then looked lower, rendering Eleni immobile in the burning ferocity of his attention. Her skin reddened as if she’d been whipped and the slightest of goosebumps lifted. It took everything she had not to curl her toes and die of frustration.
Finally, just when she’d felt she was about to explode, he moved. Wordlessly he pulled his tee shirt over his head and held it out to her.
Desire flooded impossibly hotter still as she stared at his bared chest. Her senses ravenously appreciated his warm tan, the ridged muscles, that light scattering of hair arrowing down to—
‘Put it on,’ he snapped.
She snatched it from him. But if she’d doubted whether he wanted her as much as she wanted him, she now knew.
Just sex.
She forced herself to remember that this was just sex to him. But a trickle of power flowed through her veins.
He didn’t move back as she got out of the bed—he just sat there, too close, his head about level with her breasts. So she stood in front of him—refusing to be intimidated.
The tee skimmed midway down her thighs and swamped her with a sense of intimacy as his scent and warmth enveloped her. Stupidly she felt as if she were more exposed than when she’d had nothing on. Her gaze collided with his—locked, and held fast in the hot blue intensity. She wanted him to touch her again. She wanted more of that pleasure he’d pulled so easily from her last night. She was almost mad with the need for it.
‘Stop looking at me like that, Princess,’ he said shortly.
The rejection stung. ‘Don’t call me Princess.’
‘Why not?’ he challenged almost angrily. ‘It’s who you are.’
‘It’s not all I am,’ she answered defiantly. ‘I don’t want that to be all I am.’
She just wanted to be Eleni. She didn’t want the reminder of who she ought to be all the time and of her failure to do her duty.
Hormones. It had to be the hormones. Here she was facing the biggest mess of her life, rupturing the royal connection of two nations, but all she wanted was for Damon to haul her close and kiss her again. She made herself walk to the door.
‘Take me back to Palisades,’ she said calmly, trying to sound in control.
‘So now that you’ve used me to hide from your brother’s wrath, you want to use your brother to protect you from me.’
She turned back and saw the bitterness of Damon’s smile. ‘That’s not—’
‘No?’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Sorry, Eleni, I’m not a servant who you can order around and who’ll fulfil your every whim.’
‘No?’ she echoed at him angrily. His opinion inflamed her. She stalked back to where he still sat braced on the edge of her bed, his fists curled into the linen. ‘But that’s what you said I could do. You said I could take what I wanted from you.’
* * *
‘That’s what you really want, isn’t it?’ he asked roughly, reaching out to grab her waist and hold her in front of him. ‘You want me to make you feel good again.’
She wanted it so much—because she wanted it gone. But she knew what he wanted too. He might not like her much, but he still wanted her.
‘Actually,’ Eleni corrected him coolly, ‘now I’m offering that to you. Take what you want from me.’
If he did that, she was sure she’d be rid of this wretched, all-encompassing desire. It was too intense—she couldn’t think for wanting him.
His mouth tightened as he stared up at her, insolence in his expression. ‘Look at Princess Sophisticated,’ he jeered through gritted teeth. ‘What do you think you’re doing? Trying to soften me up with sex?’
She froze at the anger now darkening his eyes. ‘I just don’t think this needs to be that complicated.’
‘This couldn’t be more complicated. And sex only makes things worse.’ He laughed unkindly. ‘I’ll have you again, don’t you worry about that. But only once we’ve reached an agreement.’
He’d laughed that night too. When she’d had the most intense experience of her life, he’d chuckled. Her bold pretence fell, leaving angry vulnerability in its wake.
‘You can seduce me until I scream,’ she said furiously. ‘But you can’t make me say yes to marrying you.’
He stood, slamming her body against his as he did.
She gasped at the intense wave of longing that flooded her. But it roused her rage with it.
‘You’ll never get my total surrender.’ She glared up at him, even as tremors racked her traitorous body as he pressed her against his rock-hard heat.
‘And I don’t want it,’ he growled back, rolling his hips against hers in a demonstration of pure, sensual power. ‘Lust passes.’
She hoped to heaven he was right. But his smug superiority galled her. ‘You just have to know it all, don’t you?’
But she didn’t need another overprotective male trying to control every aspect of her life.
His gaze narrowed. ‘I only want what’s best for my baby.’ He released her and stalked to the door, turning to hit her with his parting shot. ‘We will marry. The baby will be born legitimately. And ultimately my child will live a safe, free life. With me.’
He slammed the door, leaving her recoiling at his cold-hearted plan. Shame slithered at her lame attempt to seduce him, suffocating the remnants of the heat he’d stirred too easily. He was too strong, too clinical when she’d been confused with desire. She was such a fool.
But that he truly planned to take her child horrified her. She had to fight him on that. She had to win.
Eleni snatched up her skirt. She marched out to the lounge to confront Damon again, only to catch sight of the large screen revealed on the wall. The sound was muted, but she recognised the image. Stunned, she stepped forward to look more closely.
Bunches and bunches of flowers and cards from well-wishers were placed at the gates of Palisades palace. The camera zoomed in on one of the bunches and she read the ‘get well soon’ message written—to her. Giorgos had taken her idea literally and told the world she was too unwell to embark on her tour with Prince Xander.
‘There are so many.’ She sank onto the nearest sofa.
‘Why are you so surprised?’ Damon walked forward and sat in the chair at an angle to her sofa, his voice cool. ‘You’re their perfect Princess.’
She rubbed her forehead. She was an absolute fraud and all those people were being kind when she didn’t deserve it.
‘It’s not a total lie. You don’t feel well,’ he added gruffly.
‘I’ve made a mess of everything.’
‘So marry me. We’ll live together away from Palisades until the baby is born.’
And then he was going to take her child from her.
Suddenly she broke; tears stung her eyes even as she laughed hopelessly. ‘The stupid thing is, I don’t even know for sure that I am pregnant.’
‘Pardon?’
Of course she was pregnant. She knew it. She was late and there were all those other signs—morning sickness, tender breasts...
‘Eleni?’ Damon prompted sharply.
She sighed. ‘I haven’t done a test.’
He gazed at her, astounded. ‘How can you not have done a test?’
‘How could I?’ She exploded, leaping back to her feet because she couldn’t contain her frustration a second longer. ‘How would I get a test without everyone finding out?’ She paced, railing a
t the confines of the luxurious room and of the life she was bound by. ‘I don’t even do my own personal shopping—how can I when I don’t even carry my own damn money?’ She’d never shopped alone in all her life. She registered the dumbfounded amazement on Damon’s face.
‘I don’t have any income,’ she explained furiously. ‘If I want anything I just ask someone and it arrives. Is that someone now you?’ She gestured wildly at him. ‘I don’t have a money card, Damon. Or any cash. I’ve never needed it. I know that makes me spoilt. But it also makes me helpless.’ It was beyond humiliating to be so dependent. ‘It makes me useless.’
She flopped back down on the sofa and buried her face in her hands, mortified at the sting of fresh tears. So much for controlling her emotional outbursts.
‘All this effort you’ve gone to, to steal me away might be based on one massive mistake.’ She laughed bitterly at the irony. Wouldn’t that just serve him right?
Damon hunched down in front of her, his hands on her knees. ‘Eleni.’
His voice was too soft. Too calm.
‘What?’ She peered at him.
He studied her, his expression uncharacteristically solemn. ‘Even if you’re not pregnant, could you really marry him now?’
‘Because I’ve spent the night on board a boat with another man and no chaperone?’ She glared at him, hating that old-school reasoning and the expectation that she’d stay ‘pure’—when no prince, no man, ever had to.
But Damon shook his head. ‘Because you don’t love him. You don’t even want him.’ He cocked his head, a vestige of that charming smile tweaking his lips. ‘At least you want me.’
She closed her eyes. She hated him. And she hated how much she wanted him.
There was nothing but silence from Damon. She realised he’d left the room but a moment later he returned, a small rectangular box in his hand.
‘You always have pregnancy tests on board?’ Humiliation washed over her at her ineptitude.
‘No. But as I suspected you were pregnant, I thought it might be useful.’ So easily he’d done what she was unable to.
She snatched the box from his outstretched hand. ‘I’ll be back in a minute.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
DAMON GAZED DOWN at the distressed woman who’d wordlessly waved a small plastic stick at him as she returned to his sofa. The positive proof hit him—she truly had no clue. Her one escape plan had simply been to hide and now she was lost. Her lies yesterday had been those of an inexperienced, overly sheltered girl trying to brazen her way out of a dire situation.
He grimaced—was he actually feeling sorry for her now? Fool.
She could be confident when she wanted and had strength when she needed it. She was spoilt, that was her problem. Utterly used to getting her own way and never having to wait. He gritted his teeth as he remembered the way she’d flung back her bed coverings and taunted him. So brazen. So innocent. So damned gorgeous he was still struggling to catch his breath.
But she was going to have to wait for that now. And so was he.
Never had he understood how his father could have completely betrayed his mother. Why he’d risked everything he’d worked so hard to achieve. But now Damon understood all too well what could cloud a man’s reason and make him forget his responsibilities and priorities.
Shameless lust. The age-old tale of desire.
He was not making the mistakes of his father. He was not abandoning his child to illegitimacy. But nor would he remain in a loveless marriage for years on end.
‘You need to marry me, to protect the baby.’ He tried to stay calm, but her repeated refusals were galling.
He’d never allow his child to be used for political manoeuvring. His baby would be raised in a safe environment with him. Their divorce would be better than being trapped in a home where the parents tolerated each other only for ‘the look of it’.
Eleni paled.
‘You know that, away from the palace, my child can have a normal life.’ He tried to speak reasonably. ‘Not hounded by press or burdened by duty.’
He saw her mouth tremble. He’d known this was how he’d get to her. She’d told him earlier—she didn’t want to be only a princess.
‘I can give this child everything,’ she argued.
‘Really? Can you give her complete freedom? With me, she can be free to do whatever she wants. Study whatever, live wherever. No pressure to perform.’
‘And your life isn’t in the public eye?’ she queried sharply. ‘Don’t you billionaires get picked for “most eligible” lists in magazines?’
‘When you’re not a prince and therefore not public property, privacy can be paid for.’
‘But this child will be a prince—or princess,’ she pointed out, her voice roughening. ‘And you can’t deny this child his or her birthright.’
‘The child can decide whether to take on a royal role when it’s old enough.’
Eleni laughed at him. ‘You think it’s something you can just choose?’
‘Why not?’ Damon challenged her.
She shook her head. ‘Giorgos would never allow it.’
‘I don’t give a damn what Giorgos wants.’
‘But I do. Since our father died, he’s been brother, father and mother to me and all the while he has that huge job. The hours he works—you have no idea...’ She trailed off, pain shadowing her eyes.
Damon remembered when the King had died just over a decade ago. His father had returned to Palisades for the funeral and taken an extra week to visit his long-term lover—Kassie’s mother. Grimly Damon shoved that bitter memory aside. But he couldn’t recall much about the Queen at all. He frowned at Eleni. ‘Where’s your mother?’
Eleni looked shocked. Then she drew in a deep breath. ‘She died twenty minutes after giving birth to me.’ Despite that steadying breath, her voice shook. ‘So I know what it’s like not to have a mother. And I know what it’s like to have your parent too busy to be around to listen... I want to be there for my child. And I will be. In all the ways she or he needs. Always.’
Damon stared at her fixedly, ignoring her passion and focusing on the salient information. Her mother had died in childbirth.
He pulled out his phone. ‘You need to see a doctor.’
Eleni gaped at him, then visibly collected herself. ‘I’m not sure if you know how this works, Damon, but the baby isn’t due for months.’
So what? She needed the best care possible from this moment on.
‘Just because my mother died in childbirth, doesn’t mean that I might have trouble,’ she added stiffly.
‘You need a basic check-up at the very least.’
‘Because you don’t trust me to take care of myself?’
Blood pounding in his ears, he ignored her petulance. Quickly he scrolled through his contacts to find his physician and tapped out a text asking him to find the best obstetrician he knew. Sure, women gave birth round the world almost every minute, but not always in full health and Eleni’s news had caught him by surprise.
‘I don’t need cotton-wool treatment.’ Her tone sharpened.
‘I don’t intend to give it to you,’ he muttered, feeling better for having started the search. ‘But I’m not going to ignore your condition either.’
‘It’s just pregnancy, not an illness,’ she rasped. ‘And I am sensible enough to ensure I get the best treatment when I get back to shore. Trust me, I don’t want to die. But you can’t make me see someone I don’t want to see, nor stop me from doing the things I like.’
Looking at her was always a mistake—especially when she was passionate and vitality flowed from her glowing skin. Had people stopped her doing the things she’d liked in the past? He couldn’t resist a tease. ‘And what do you like?’
She glared at him, picking up the heavy innuendo he’d intended. ‘Not that.’
He laughed even as a wave of protectiveness surged. ‘Did you know some women have a heightened libido when pregnant?’
‘I’
m not one of those women.’
Her prim reply was undermined by the quickening of her breath. It spurred him to tease her more. ‘No, you have the appetite of a nymphomaniac all the time.’
‘I do not.’
‘Yeah, you do.’ He laughed again at her outraged expression. But that sensual blush had spread over her skin and sparks lit up her green-blue eyes.
There was no denying the chemistry between them. But he’d not realised just how inexperienced she was in all areas of life—not just the bedroom. Not to have access to cash? To have any normal kind of freedom?
Yes, she was spoilt, but she was unspoilt in other ways. She’d been too sheltered for her own good. And finally he could understand why. She was the precious baby who’d lost her mother far too soon. Raised by her bereft, too-busy father, and then a brother too young and too burdened to know how to care for a young girl and let her grow. All they’d wanted to do was protect her.
It was a sentiment Damon was starting to understand too well.
And now guilt crept in. He regretted the horrible scenario he’d painted—threatening to take her child from her. What kind of cold-hearted jerk was he?
But he’d been angered by her constant refusals and he’d lashed out, instinctively striking where it would hurt most. He drew in a calming breath. He’d win her acceptance with care, not cruelty.
‘So it was the three of you, until your father died?’ he asked, wanting to understand her background more.
‘My father was a very busy man,’ Eleni answered softly. ‘He was the King—he had a lot to occupy his time. So for a long while it was Giorgos and me. He’s a bit older, but he was always fun.’ Her expression warmed briefly. ‘When Father died, Giorgos took over.’
‘Giorgos was young for that.’
‘He is very highly regarded,’ she said loyally.
‘You’re close.’
Her gaze slid from his. ‘He has a big job to do. Back then he knew some of the courtiers didn’t think he was old enough to handle the responsibility—’
‘So he worked twice as hard to prove them wrong.’ Damon smiled at her surprised look. ‘It’s understandable.’
She gazed out of the window. ‘He’s not stopped working since.’
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