But when her eyes clashed with his, all was silent.
It was the two of them, in the forest, with the smell of pine needles and the trickle of the waterfall. Goosebumps spread over her body and her stomach lurched painfully with longing.
“Lilah? You remember Will Wright?” Kiral put a hand in the small of his sister’s back, his gaze dropping to her face for a moment.
She nodded, but it was a jerky action, and she swallowed too, trying to get some moisture back into her parched mouth.
“Of course,” she nodded again, her words just a croak. “The journalist.”
“Yes,” his smile was beautiful, but she could see the antipathy in it. “The one who made you climb out of a highrise.”
“The one who saved my life, as I remember.” She murmured, hoping Kiral couldn’t hear her heart hammering against her ribcage.
“And for that he has the eternal gratitude of our country, our people, and most of all, your brother.”
Lilah’s smile was weak. If Kiral only knew how unnecessary that gratitude was. How unfounded, and how it would be rescinded if he learned the truth of how they’d spent their time in the cabin.
“I did what any man in my position would have done.” The words were innocent enough, but Lilah detected the insult in them. She had begged him to make love to her. What man would have turned up such a desperate, determined woman?
Kiral smiled good-naturedly. “You did it better than I could have imagined.”
Lilah’s cheeks flamed. “Excuse me,” she said softly, aiming a vague expression of apology at the two men. “I told Melania I’d go over some details with her.”
“It can wait until tomorrow,” Kiral demurred in their own language. “I invited Will to the palace to thank him for his efforts. I had hoped you would be kind enough to spend time with him.”
Both Lilah and Kiral knew it was more than a request; Kiral was acting in a formal capacity, and Lilah was expected to obey.
“I’m sure Will would have more fun …”
“Lilah,” Kiral interrupted softly, speaking quietly so only she could hear. “This man saved your life. Don’t you think you owe him the courtesy of one night of your time?”
She swallowed past the objections that were clashing in her mind. “Of course.”
“How is the article, Will?”
“Good. Rocco was helpful.” Lilah’s ears pricked up. She hadn’t known that Will was going to interview Rocco.
“How is my old friend?”
“He was a picture of health and happiness, your highness.”
Kiral nodded. “A visit is overdue.”
“Yes, he mentioned he’s not coming to the wedding,” Will prompted, wondering at the obvious omission from a man who claimed to love Kiral like a brother.
Kiral shook his head. “Regrettably he cannot.” He put an arm around Lilah’s waist. “My sister will give you anything you need, Will.” He dropped his eyes to Lilah’s slightly pink face. “Labimn, I’m counting on you to help tonight go smoothly.”
He kissed the top of her forehead and she nodded, watching helplessly as he disappeared through the crowd. She waited until she could no longer see him and then slowly turned to face the man who had been tormenting her dreams.
“Will.” She didn’t bother smiling. “How are you?” Of course, he looked spectacular. She had seen him dressed casually, and she had thought him perfectly suited to that rugged, outdoorsy life. Yet wearing a crisp tuxedo with a starched white shirt and black bow tie, he looked like a devilish billionaire. Her tummy flipped and flopped. He had shaved for the occasion, and while she missed the stubble that had adorned his chin, his bare face showed a flawless bone structure. A chiseled jaw, dimpled chin, and those lips … She squared her shoulders and forcibly pushed those observations from her mind.
“I’m fine, Jalilah,” he said with a coldness to his words that sent shivers down her spine. He stared at her for a minute and then lifted his gaze to the revelers. “You know how to throw quite a party.”
She swallowed. Just pretend he is someone else, she urged herself. “It’s spectacular, isn’t it?” The jewels glistened in every direction. Diamonds and gemstones and gold, the room was awash with glitz. “These events are always very grand. There will be fireworks at midnight and the display will be visible from the capital city.”
“So this is how you live,” he remarked, and she understood, because she knew him, that there was disapproval in his words.
“No, not all the time,” she said thoughtfully. “This is a special occasion.”
“It seems … frivolous.”
She ground her teeth together. “What would you expect? My brother is one of the most powerful rulers in the world. He is about to marry. Of course there is fanfare and fuss. These are traditions …”
“And I know how you value the traditions of your people,” he responded tautly. “Even to the exclusion of your own happiness.”
“This isn’t the time nor the place to discuss what happened between us,” she whispered warningly.
“There is no need to discuss it ever, so far as I’m concerned.” And as though he flicked a switch, his manner relaxed, and he seemed to push away the brooding sense of betrayal. “It’s ancient history.”
Was it? Not for Lilah. But she nodded, assuming an air of complacency that matched his. “Perhaps I could introduce you to Melania,” she said thoughtfully.
“I met her yesterday,” he said with a shake of his head. “She is just as you described.”
“Yesterday?” Lilah’s pulse was firing through her body. “How long have you been in Delani?”
“I flew in a week ago.” His eyes studied her face, pleased to see his remark had hit its mark. She was visibly shaken by his admission. But it wasn’t enough. “I have … friends here.”
The way he said the word friends flared jealousy in her gut, as he’d intended it to. There was enough suggestiveness in that single word to make her wonder: did he mean a woman? Lilah covered the sharp pain, nodding and plastering a disinterested smile on her face.
“I see.” She knew it was a sign of weakness but she was powerless to ignore the burning question. “Where are you staying?”
“In the palace now,” his expression was mocking. Her chest hurt. “Why? Are you thinking of mounting a midnight visit, for old time’s sake?”
“Don’t be crass. It doesn’t suit you,” she snapped, her insides clenching with the unmistakable flame of need.
He turned his gaze back towards the party. “It was simply a question.”
“Were you staying in the city before coming to the palace?” Lilah was drawing on every ounce of will-power to be strong and well-mannered, when she felt like a maelstrom of emotions was firing her blood. She wanted to cry. She wanted to shout. She wanted to kiss him. She was shocked that she wasn’t shaking like a leaf.
“I was with a friend, remember?”
She blinked her eyes shut and drew in a deep breath. Slowly, she turned to face him. “You are trying to make me ask more about this friend, from which I can only surmise that it is a woman, and you’re invoking her in an attempt to make me jealous. So I will play along, if that’s what you want, if only to prove that I am above such a juvenile emotion.” She leaned closer, a polite smile on her features that belied the words she was uttering. “Well, Will? Tell me about her.”
His chest compressed with shame. He had been doing everything she’d accused him of. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She felt that she’d won a minor victory in a war that could never be claimed. “It’s all besides the point.”
“Yes.” He nodded jerkily. What had he been hoping? That she’d hear about someone else in his life and put aside her doubts and hesitations?
“Would you excuse me, Will?”
“You have a habit of running away from me,” he said softly, and now he looked at her and saw the woman he’d fallen in love with. Beneath the make up and the glamorous gown
, he saw Lilah as she’d been in the woods. He dropped his hand and pressed it quickly to hers. “Dance with me first.”
She stared down at their hands. He was no longer touching her but her fingers seemed to tingle from the contact.
“It’s not possible.”
“Why?”
She swallowed, and darted her tongue out to lick her lips. “I … I have things I must do tonight. People to speak to.”
He pulled a droll face. “Kiral’s instructed you to speak to me.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “Will, if I dance with you, everyone will know …”
“How you feel?” He prompted curiously.
“What we did.” Her cheeks flamed. “I think it’s best if we act like what we should be: what we should always have been. Distant acquaintances.”
“If that’s what you want,” he shrugged nonchalantly, as though her obvious regret didn’t cut him to the core.
What she wanted? What she wanted was to break free of this beautiful torture. “It is.” She studied him, taking in every detail of his face. “Goodbye, Will.”
She could feel tears stinging behind her eyes as she walked through the ballroom. She kept her eyes focused on a doorway in the distance, and sashayed purposefully in an effort to deter anyone from speaking to her. Several guests tried to flag her down but Lilah was resolute. She knew that if she didn’t find solitude she risked bursting into tears in front of a thousand palace visitors. Talk about a spectacle!
Will felt like he’d been suckerpunched. What had he been expecting? That she’d see him and welcome him with open arms? No, nothing so absurd and fanciful. But he’d hoped that he would see some flicker of recognition. Something other than shame and regret.
Is that how she viewed their relationship?
Did she regret what had happened between them?
Did she wish she could click her fingers and push it away?
He made a sound of frustration and began to move through the crush of people. The smell of perfume was strong. Which direction had she gone? She’d moved quickly, there was no sign of her in any direction.
He shook his head. There’d be time to talk to her. Privately. Alone. But to what end?
He lifted a flute of champagne from one of the trays and tried to push the beautiful princess from his mind. He had been to hundreds of formal events like this. Not exactly like this, he corrected, for there was surely not an event in history that rivaled the grandeur and excess of the Delani Royal Banquet.
He noted the details almost dispassionately. The swathes and swathes of flowers that hung in garlands from the walls and stood proudly in gold and diamond vases around the room were accentuated by thousands of tiny fairy lights that had been made to twinkle like the stars. The food was exquisite, and the champagne the very best money could buy. There were enormous photographs surrounded by gold gilt frames, or perhaps they were real gold. Will moved towards the pictures as if drawn to them by a magnetic force. Kiral and Melania were in the centre, their faces smiling, both dressed in the ceremonial attire of Delani. And to either side were portraits of their parents, and then siblings.
Lilah.
His gut twisted.
He had loved her, and he had been certain she felt the same way. And yet she couldn’t have, to have left him so easily. He would never have been able to walk away from her so simply. He groaned softly then spun on his heel.
He had to forget about her.
* * *
The horse ran fast beneath her. Lilah leaned closer, wrapping her arms around his neck, staring at the hills of the desert far in the distance. She stared at them until her eyes stung from the cool night air rather than the tears that were falling from her eyes unchecked. She sobbed, certain that no one could hear her here. No one except her faithful horse, and he wouldn’t pass judgment.
Twenty four hours they had been in the same palace.
Twenty four hours under the same roof.
Twenty four hours in which they could have seen one another and had stayed apart.
It was as it had to be, but that didn’t stop it from hurting like hell. Is this how it had been for Kiral? Back then, when he’d been involved with the mysterious woman who had left him a changed man? A frown marred her brows and she thought back to that time three years ago when her brother had begun to alter. Oh so subtly, but to those who knew him best, the alteration was impossible to deny.
Had his heart been broken, as Lilah’s was being? Kiral had become distant and cold, distracted from her yet focused almost singularly on his duties and responsibilities. Lilah could understand that. She wanted to pack her heart away and never use it again.
She pulled the reins expertly, turning the beautiful horse in a wide circle, heading back towards the stables. She’d rode too far. Farther than the palace security liked her to go on her own. She moved the horse forward faster, nudging him in the symbiotic way they had until the palace stables loomed into sight. She slowed then, sitting upright and breathing in the night air deeply, waiting for it to soothe away her sadness.
It didn’t work, but she was able to smooth her features to resemble their usual appearance, and to wipe away her tears.
As usual, she brushed her own horse down, shaking her head when the Stable Master moved to take over. It was therefore late when Lilah returned to the gardens of the palace, cutting across the East Lawn. The familiar security presence was everywhere, but Lilah was used to guards and so barely saw them.
Perhaps it was for this reason she missed Will.
He stood, propped elegantly against the wall of the palace, watching as she moved. She was wearing a pale dress; it was long, too, covering her body in swathes of flowing silk. Her hair was braided and wrapped around her head and her eyes were downcast. It was only as she stepped through the gate that she lifted her gaze and their eyes clashed fiercely.
Surprise ripped through her.
“Will?” She startled, immediately clasping her hands in front of her. She swallowed, visibly trying to remove any sign of emotion. But it was as though she’d conjured him from the ancient desert sand and magical moonlight. “What are you doing here? It’s very late.”
His expression was grim. “I had to see you.”
“Why?” The word was barely a whisper. It seemed to brush away on the breeze. The tears she’d indulged so readily a moment earlier were threatening to spill over once more. “We saw one another last night. I don’t think anything was served by …”
“Find somewhere private for us to speak, Princess, or so help me I will kiss you right here in front of these guards.”
The thought alone made her pulse hammer and her heart race. “You wouldn’t …”
But the look of determination in his eyes made her gulp. “You would be arrested.”
“Yeah. And I’ll just bet your brother would be fascinated to know why.”
“Listen,” she said urgently, but he cut her off.
“I want to listen,” he bent his head closer to hers. “I want to listen to all of your reasons for why you don’t love me. I want to listen to your explanations again and again until I finally understand.”
She fluttered her eyes closed. “What are you saying?”
“Where can we go?”
“I …” Her eyes lifted straight to his. “It simply isn’t something I can do.”
He brought his head even closer to hers and Lilah’s breath hitched in her throat. Was it possible he’d be so daring as to kiss her here? He would absolutely be thrown into a cell for such impertinence. And yet Will wouldn’t care. A man like him barely acknowledged laws, much less obeyed them. She thought back to the way he’d rescued her from a highrise hotel, daring to hoist a rope over the side and climb to her, then help her down. How they’d fled the city like fugitives, regardless of the fact that law enforcement would have been seeking him.
Will Wright didn’t care about laws. He cared about getting what he wanted. And getting what he thought to be right.
“Don’t,” she said simply.
“Give me a good reason.”
“Tomorrow,” she promised. “I will have you moved to a different room.”
“A different –?”
“Yes. A different room. One I can access without attracting attention.” She stepped away from him. “Do not push this. Nothing you can say will change how I feel and how I must act.”
CHAPTER TEN
The hallway was deserted, as she’d known it would be. These ancient corridors were rarely used these days, though she couldn’t fathom why. As children, she and Kiral had chased one another through these marbled paths, winding with the bends of the building until their sides ached.
But with the death of their parents had come their removal from the old heart of the palace.
Lilah ran a hand reverentially over the walls. Despite the fact these rooms were deserted, the hallways were still cleaned regularly and not a hint of dust had been allowed to settle.
The pictures had been removed though; those familiar paintings from her childhood now nestled elsewhere in the palace, leaving an eerie sense of unendingness. She paused when she neared the room he was in, her blood pounding through her body.
She had dressed with care for this meeting, choosing an outfit that was both flattering and conservative. The last thing she wanted was for Will to think she was coming to him in invitation. The black skirt was floor length and the silky white blouse was buttoned to her neck and wrists.
Lilah didn’t bother to knock. This was her palace. It truly didn’t occur to her that she might be interrupting Will in a private moment. She pushed the door inwards and stepped into the room as naturally as she breathed air.
But it was empty.
A small frown tugged on her lips as she moved deeper into the space, admiring the styling distractedly as she went. The rooms were as they had been twenty years earlier, decorated in the classic Delani colours of gold and cream.
“Will?” She paused in the centre of the carpet, spinning slowly. It was then that she saw him. Asleep in the armchair in the corner of the room, with a notebook and pen balanced precariously on the arm of the chair.
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