His Royal Love-Child

by Lynn Raye Harris

  And then he could bear what he had to do for the future of Iria.

  “Not until we’ve sealed it with a kiss.”

  *

  Charlotte told herself this was a very bad idea, but as Luca’s head descended, she clutched his lapels and went up on her toes. Their mouths touched, oh so lightly, and heat flared in her core.

  For a moment, she was eighteen again and desperately in love. But Luca’s tongue glided along the seam of her lips and she knew she was a woman, not a girl. Her mouth opened beneath the heat and magic of his—and then they were kissing deeply, intensely. Was it just her clinging to him, or was he clinging too?

  She didn’t know. She didn’t care. The world shrank to this moment, this kiss. Her body grew hot. Needy in a way no other man had ever made her feel. Luca pulled her tighter and she nearly melted from the heat and hardness of him. His body was so big, so masculine—and so ready to make love. Her spine had dissolved. She could do nothing but lean against him, nothing but hold on to him and let him lead her down this path.

  Except what had it gotten her the last time? She’d melted, just like this, and he’d shown her paradise. But paradise didn’t last. There was always a serpent, always a sin. Always a price to pay.

  Charlotte somehow found the strength to press the heels of her palms against his chest. He let her go and took a step back. His eyes were wild. He looked…hunted. But then the shutters fell down and he was once more the cool, sophisticated prince.

  “You need to go.”

  “How can you say no to this passion, cara mia? To this fire?” He shoved a hand through his hair. He looked tousled and beautiful and her heart squeezed tight. She wanted to touch him again. Wanted to run her fingers through his hair and mess it up for him.

  She closed her eyes, determined to be strong. It was just sex, for pity’s sake. And she could live without that. Right…

  “One of us has to.”

  “Why? We are adults now. In control of our choices.”

  “Are we really? Because you’re a prince, Luca, and I’m just a woman who designs party favors. I’m not sophisticated or elegant, and I don’t belong in your world.”

  The corners of his mouth turned down. “You do if I say you do. Give me a chance to prove it to you, Charlotte. Let me take you out tonight.”

  “Take me out? Aren’t you worried about the media?”

  “I don’t much care.”

  “You should. You’re a prince, and you have a duty—”

  He swore. “To hell with duty! I’m always doing my duty. For once—just this once, Charlotte—I want to do what I want. And I want to see you again.”

  Her pulse was much quicker than she wanted it to be. She should refuse him. She knew that in the logical part of her brain. But the part that was ruled by passion and selfish need refused to let her say the words. Luca was here, and he was asking her on a date. And even if it didn’t mean forever, it meant right now.

  What was wrong with that? What was wrong with an evening in his company, being wined and dined for the world to see? It was an exciting thought. A remarkable thought. She pictured Angela turning green with envy, pictured her neighbor finally looking at her with respect instead of disdain. It was a bad, bad reason to say yes. She knew it.

  But he was looking at her, his eyes blazing with defiance, and she thought back to the boy he’d been. The boy who was always torn between doing what he had to do and what he wanted to do. What he’d had to do had always won. He was a prince, and he did not shirk that responsibility.

  Except right now, when he announced he wanted to take her out in public and forget the consequences. How could she resist a plea like that?

  “Yes.” Her throat was tight with emotion. “I’ll go out with you.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  IN THE END, she went to dinner with Luca every night for a week. Charlotte couldn’t believe how easily she’d slipped into that groove, or how much she enjoyed his company. They talked about the past, and she realized that she’d let go of her anger a long time ago. It had been a rough time in her young life, but it was the past. She was a woman now, and her life was not defined by a single heartbreak.

  When she’d seen him at the conference, her greatest emotion had been embarrassment. But that was gone, too.

  In its place, she felt a bright, hot crush of feeling that both exhilarated and frightened her. If she were sensible, she told herself, she would end this. But she wasn’t sensible. The reckless part of her was in control now, and riding high. There was time enough for disappointment later.

  They were in Luca’s limo after a marvelous dinner when he reached for her hand. She felt that lick of flame on her skin, like always, when he touched her.

  “I want you to come away with me, Charlotte.”

  Butterflies swirled in her stomach. “I have a job, Luca. I can’t just leave.” In reality, Heather would let her do anything she wanted. Especially considering how excited Heather had been when the first picture of Charlotte and Luca appeared in the paper. Heather was, it seemed, a hopeless romantic. When she’d learned that Charlotte actually knew Luca, that he’d been her first kiss (though not her first lover—there was such a thing as too much information), she’d gotten starry-eyed.

  “It’s destiny, Charlotte.”

  “No,” she’d said. “It’s just life.”

  Luca pulled her closer to him, pressed her back against the seat. He loomed above her, so gorgeous and masculine that her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. “Then I will stay here.”

  “You can’t stay. You have duties back in Iria.”

  “They can wait.”

  He kissed her then, and she melted beneath his touch. He’d been so respectful and careful this entire week, but that kind of restraint had a price. For both of them.

  Hands roamed, bodies pressed and melded, and tongues tangled. Luca’s hand skated beneath the hem of her dress, traveled up her thigh, ghosted over the thin silk of her panties.

  Her core clenched in anticipation. She wanted so much more than this. Needed more. It was stunning to realize just how much more.

  “Luca, please—”

  “Amore mia, I need you.” His breath was hot against her ear and a shiver skimmed down her spine. “But not here. Not like this. Come away with me. Let me give you the world.”

  Disappointment flared in her soul. “I can’t.”

  Because going away with him was a bridge too far. If she did that, if she agreed, how would she ever cross back over to reality again?

  “It will be all right, cara.” His mouth was still against her ear, and she could feel his heart throbbing beneath her palm. She closed her eyes, pressed her mouth to his throat. He made a sound that sent a thrill through her.

  She wanted him. And he wanted her. She was an adult now, and she could handle an affair with Luca. It was just an affair, nothing more. She knew that.

  Besides, what was the alternative? He walked away now and this ended? Before she’d sated her need for him?

  “Where would we go?”

  He pushed back until he could see her face. “I have a hideaway in Iria—”

  Panic throbbed to life inside her. “Iria? I can’t—”

  He kissed her softly. “Sh, it’s on one of the smaller islands. No one will know we are there.”

  The archipelago of Iria sat in the Mediterranean like a beautiful string of pearls, each one as flawless as the last. There were many smaller islands, and she did not doubt it was possible to hide upon one. She’d never been anywhere but the main island of Iria during her time there. It was where most of the population lived.

  “One week,” she said, making a decision she hoped she wouldn’t regret.

  He lifted an eyebrow. “One week?”

  “I will give you a week. But then I have to come home.”

  The smiled that curled his lips made her heart melt. And then he kissed her and her body dissolved into a boneless heap in his arms.

  *
r />   It should not surprise her that Luca had his own private retreat, but she still couldn’t help but gape at the house set on a cliff high over the beach. Their helicopter deposited them near the house before taking flight again. Luca took her hand and led her in through the huge glass doors that were thrown wide. She expected staff to descend upon them, but no one came.

  “Where is everyone?”

  He only smiled as he led her onto the magnificent balcony with a one hundred and eighty degree view of the diamond-tipped ocean and verdant island below them. “It’s just the two of us now. No interruptions.”

  Happiness was a bubble inside her that she feared would make her float away at any moment. She told herself to be cautious, but it was hard to listen. “I didn’t know a prince could survive without a staff. Wonders never cease.”

  He grinned. And then his look turned hot, sensual. “There are many wonders in store for you this evening, amore mia.”

  Charlotte slid her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. This was, after all, what she’d come here for. One week of hot sex with an Irian prince. One week to get him out of her system for all time. “Do we need to wait until evening?”

  His hands glided down to her hips, pulled her in tighter, until she could feel his burgeoning erection. “Definitely not.”

  Their mouths fused. Charlotte was consumed by flame. A moment later, Luca swung her into his arms and carried her inside, through the richly furnished house, until he reached a room that looked out on the sea.

  The day was bright, but the room managed to seem intimate nevertheless, cool and shaded. Luca set her down and slowly slid the straps of her dress from her shoulders. Then his mouth was there, at the precise spot where her shoulder met her neck, and she clutched him to keep from buckling. His tongue glided across her skin, left her shivering and helpless with need.

  He seemed to take forever to undress her, though she knew he did not. She was simply that eager, that ready. When she stood naked before him, she dropped her gaze, her heart in her throat. He’d bedded some of the world’s most beautiful women—what must he think of her?

  He tilted her chin up with a finger, forced her to look at him. “You are exquisite, cara mia. Exciting and beautiful.”

  It frightened her that he’d known what she was thinking. Already, he knew her so well. She wasn’t sure she liked that.

  She reached for his belt with shaking hands, divested him of his clothes without a word passing between them. He was all lean, hard muscle and leashed strength and she swallowed at the sight of him revealed to her.

  When he dropped to his knees before her, she cried out and tried to raise him. He was still a prince and she was a nobody in the world of royal responsibility he inhabited. She’d always known that.

  When they had moved to Iria so her mother could work for Prince Marco, Charlotte had had to take protocol lessons. She’d never forgotten what she’d been taught. Never speak to the prince unless spoken to, never make eye contact unless he spoke to you first, never touch him. The message was that this is a rarified person and being in his presence was a privilege.

  “You do this to me, Charlotte. You bring me to my knees.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her abdomen. “Allow me to worship you.”

  She couldn’t speak. She clutched his head, let her own fall back as his hot mouth glided downward. And then he slid his tongue into the heat of her while she gasped. She’d had occasional lovers since him, but none had made her feel this way. None had made her feel as if she were bursting with joy and pain and love all at once.

  He pushed her back until she was on the bed, spread out for his pleasure. And then he finished what he’d begun, bringing her to the edge of madness with his tongue against her hot flesh.

  Charlotte’s back arched off the bed as pleasure deluged her. Luca didn’t stop giving, didn’t stop wringing ecstasy from her body until she lay limp again. And then he was there, his body hovering over hers, his eyes so intent and serious.

  “I’ve waited for this for a long time,” he told her.

  “Me, too.”

  His body invaded hers, slowly, surely, until he possessed her utterly.

  “Dio, Charlotte, you make me want things…”

  She lifted her hand to his face, palmed his cheek. “What kind of things, Luca?”

  He swallowed. “You. This. Forever.”

  He moved then, and her body bent to his tune, stretching tighter and tighter—until the tension spun out of control and the string tethering her to earth snapped. Luca went with her as she was flung out over space. Her body dissolved into nothing, drifted, before the pieces of her coalesced again.

  When she came back to herself, he was there, holding her as if he would never let her go.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHARLOTTE’S LIFE WAS spinning out of control. She’d agreed to go away with Luca for a week, but the week had melted into two. She was becoming addicted to him. Utterly addicted.

  He worshipped her body with a thoroughness that she’d never before experienced. He made her feel cherished, and he made her laugh. They spent long hours talking, walking on the beach, watching television together, preparing meals. Other than the fact the house was exquisite and the beach exclusive, they could have been an ordinary couple on vacation.

  A service delivered groceries, and a maid came to clean every morning, but otherwise they were left alone. Luca had a car, and they sometimes went for drives around the island. Only once did she notice a photographer. Luca had noticed too, when they were stopped at a roadside stand, perusing touristy items.

  The man had been taking pictures, as tourists did, but he’d seemed more interested in them than in the turquoise ocean glittering far below. Luca had hustled her into the car and they’d zoomed off, leaving the man behind. That was three days ago, and they hadn’t left the house since.

  Now, Charlotte was lying on a chair beneath an umbrella while Luca swam laps in the infinity pool. She yawned and stretched and picked up her book, but she couldn’t seem to concentrate.

  Her cell phone rang and she glanced at the display. It was her mother again. Her mother had called her every day, from the moment she’d learned that Charlotte was with Luca. Charlotte pressed the button to send the call to voicemail. She was tired of fielding her mother’s dire warnings about affairs with princes.

  Charlotte knew what this was. She had no delusions, though a part of her felt a twinge whenever she thought about going back home alone. But she had no choice. She had a life to return to—even if Heather was being remarkably understanding about her absence—and Luca had to return to his life as a royal prince and heir to the throne.

  She could admit that a part of her wanted Luca to ask her to stay with him, but she knew he would not. They hadn’t talked about the future at all. But she knew that future kings did not take their mistresses home to the palace.

  Charlotte frowned. She’d never thought of herself as a mistress. But that’s precisely what she was, was she not? She was not a girlfriend. Girlfriends weren’t whisked to island hideaways and kept hidden from the world.

  Stop.

  Charlotte closed her eyes and thought of Luca’s naked body moving inside hers just a few hours ago. The heat, the passion, the perfection.

  She didn’t want the scrutiny of the world on her anyway. Out here, she was relaxed and happy. Anywhere else, she would be self-conscious of the difference in hers and Luca’s lives. She didn’t know how to behave in his circles, didn’t know how to be anything other than herself.

  Right now, they were just enjoying each other and this getaway from the world. It would end because it had to. Charlotte frowned. She needed to be the one to end it.

  And she needed to do it soon, because it was pointless to stay. Staying only made her long for what she could never have.

  Luca rose up out of the pool like a Greek god surfacing. Water ran in rivulets down his bronzed body as he grabbed a towel and scrubbed his head. Then he finished d
rying and flopped onto the chaise beside her while her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth and her core flooded with heat.

  Maybe one more day…

  “I thought I heard your phone ring.”

  She shrugged. “It was my mother. I didn’t answer.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because she will only make me feel bad, Luca. And I don’t want to feel bad right now.”

  He reached for her hand, ran his thumb over her palm. “You have to talk to her sometime. She’s worried about you.”

  “I know.” She pulled in a breath and turned her head to look at him. “I need to think about going back home.”

  His eyes glittered with heat. “You want to leave?”

  “No.” It was the truth, but she didn’t see what choice she had. She’d had her fling with Luca. It was time to walk away. Before she got hurt.

  Except, if that were the case, why did her heart feel as if it were about to crack in two?

  “You could come home with me,” he said after a long pause, and her pulse leaped at the notion.

  But then reality intruded. “You don’t really want that. I don’t belong there.”

  His expression grew hard. “You belong where I say you do. And I want you with me.”

  I want you with me. It wasn’t a promise, wasn’t anything more or less than a simple statement. But somehow it disappointed her. There was no promise for the future in those words. There was only command and what he wanted right now.

  Her heart stuttered as she thought of her mother’s tear-stained face on the long journey home so many years ago. Three years spent with Prince Marco De Santis, and all she’d had to show for it was a broken heart. Charlotte would not allow herself to suffer the same fate.

  “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  He blinked. “You don’t want to be with me?”

  Charlotte looked down at their clasped hands. His grip was tighter now. But she had to be strong. There was no future here. “I didn’t say that.”

  He reached out and tilted her chin up with a finger. His eyes searched hers. “What is on your mind, amore mia?”