His Bride for the Taking (9 page)

“You want to summit Everest?” He studied her face, his own thoughtful and serious.

“Well, no,” she admitted, trying to ignore the building heat that had nothing to do with the exertion of her run and everything to do with standing close to Rafe. This was the reaction she wanted when she was with Adam. Hard to achieve when given the opportunity of private time, like last night in the car, he fell asleep. There was nothing sleepy about Rafe: he was vitality and masculinity personified. “But just imagine.” She tried to keep her own imaginings on topic. Mount Everest. They were talking about Mount Everest.

“I’d rather not. And ditto for the settling down. I’m a happy man, Lexie. Happier than most men I know. Including the married ones.” There was a warning in his words, in his eyes.

“You do have a zest for life. I think it’s probably what some women—” if she said “some women” she was clearly exempting herself “—find attractive.” She took the steps that carried her past him. “Like the woman with the long black hair?”

Rafe frowned, a good impersonation of incompre
hension. But Lexie knew better. She’d seen the two of them with her own eyes.

“I saw you. Yesterday. As Adam and I were going to dinner. He was on the phone and I was looking out the window. He’d wanted to show me the old part of the city.” They’d driven over cobbled streets with ornate, gracious old buildings that came right to the street front. “You were standing on the path, and she was there, in an open doorway. She was very beautiful.” Lexie had seen that much as the woman had looked smilingly, perhaps adoringly, up at Rafe before stepping aside to let him in.

Rafe’s brow cleared. He studied Lexie long enough to make her uncomfortable, a smile tilting one corner of his lips. “Yes, Adelaide is beautiful,” he finally said.

“That’s it?”

“You want more?”

“No. It’s none of my business.”

“You’re right. It’s not. But I’ll tell you this much. She’s not my Everest. Not even a foothill.”

“Does she know that?”

“Of course.”

“I didn’t mention her to Adam.”

He cut her another look, but didn’t respond.

Activity in the halls, particularly on the lower levels, had increased from when she’d made her way down. And this time she did draw glances. Although given that the most lingering glances were from the female staff, she was assuming they were lingering on Rafe, not on her. She didn’t blame them. Her gaze wanted to linger, too. She kept it focused straight ahead.

Her steps slowed as they reached her corridor. “Apparently, all of your friends are bachelors. And when they find partners and marry, your contact generally dies off.”

“Not true,” he said at her side. “I have friends who are married. I must have.” They stopped outside her door, Rafe silent and thinking. “Mark and Karen,” he announced proudly. “They’re married, they even have a baby. I’m going to become its godfather at the christening in a few days. Though it has to be said, Mark’s not as much fun as he used to be. Which is what happens when people marry. They get caught up in each other. Two’s company and what have you.”

“Can’t you see you’re shutting yourself off from even the possibility of happiness?”

“Can’t you see that I
am
happy?”

“Adam says you feel uncomfortable around couples. It makes you realize the emptiness of your lifestyle.”

Rafe laughed. “Perhaps Adam’s transferring his feelings to me, because, Precious, that’s not what I feel.” They were standing close. “But surely you and Adam had better things to talk about than me?” His words were low and curious and teasing. “Otherwise I’d suggest you and Adam have problems.”

She didn’t step back, didn’t want to reveal how unsettling his proximity was. She lifted her chin. “Don’t flatter yourself. Of course we talked about other things. You were one brief snippet in the whole evening.” She didn’t detail the other topics, affairs of state, diplomatic considerations, the upcoming anniversary celebrations. Sadly, Rafe had for Lexie been the most interesting
topic of conversation. She’d tried to draw Adam out about himself, but it wasn’t till she’d lain in bed that night thinking over her evening that she realized how skillfully evasive he’d been.

“Today we’re going to the Royal Garden Show, and tonight we’re attending the orchestra.”

“You didn’t suggest a nightclub? Some dancing?”

“Do you think he’d like it?” she asked, hopefully. It hadn’t occurred to her. She didn’t think Adam was the type.

“No. He’d hate it. Pressing crowds, loud music.”

“Just like the orchestra?”

He laughed but quickly sobered. “How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice for him?”

Lexie lifted her chin. “He’s not asking me to sacrifice anything.”

“Because he doesn’t know you. Doesn’t know that he’s not meeting the real you.”

“I have more than one side to my personality. He is meeting the real me. He already knows me better than you ever will.”

Rafe raised his eyebrows. “Sure.” Not believing her any more than she believed herself. Rafe seemed to see a part of her she didn’t even acknowledge she had.

He reached past her, turned the handle of her door and pushed it open. Then he turned her with his hands on her shoulders. His voice was close to her ear, his body close behind her. “Go have a shower, Lexie. Make yourself look regal. Your prince is waiting.”

T
here were just three of them, and too much food, left at the shady outdoor table. The scent of roses drifted on the breeze. Adam sat with his phone pressed to his ear, and though Lexie wasn’t actively listening she couldn’t help hearing him patiently placating whoever was on the other end.

They had spent a pleasant afternoon together yesterday. She was slowly getting used to the concept of their engagement, and she certainly felt comfortable with Adam. They talked easily about so many subjects: Shakespeare, gardening, his charities, his work with the government. And when there were silences, they were companionable. They didn’t thrum with tension and anticipation. Not like—

She glanced at Rafe, the other person at the table,
leaning back easily in his chair, his meal half-eaten, watching both her and Adam. He’d come late to the lunch. A shaggy gray dog, close to the size of a small horse, lay at his side, its eyes following Rafe’s every movement.

“The dog’s yours?”

“I’ve moved on from frogs.”

She met his smile, felt the curious warmth it inevitably stirred. “What’s his name?”

“Duke.”

“What breed?”

“Irish wolfhound.”

And there was that silence again. Even with Adam beside her talking, the short distance, the width of a table between her and Rafe was filled with the tension of thoughts and words not spoken. Of mistaken touches. Why did he fascinate her so, and how did she stop it?

He lifted his glass in a silent, almost insolent, toast to her.

“I apologize, Alexia.” Adam disconnected his call. “Only half a dozen people have my private number. And they only call if it’s important.”

He hadn’t given the number to her. Not like—She cut off that thought. “It’s okay, I understand. There must be incredible demands on your time.”

“There are, and there always will be—” he covered her hand with his “—but they’re not so important that I wouldn’t rather spend my time with a beautiful woman.”

He was talking about her? He meant well, but prob
ably had no idea how rehearsed and…insincere he sounded.

Adam turned to his suddenly coughing brother and thumped him lightly on the back. He didn’t see the unholy amusement dancing in Rafe’s eyes.

Lexie focused on Adam. “Are you still okay for riding the palace grounds this afternoon?”

“Absolutely. I have a couple more phone calls to make first. We’ll meet in an hour.”

Time together, doing something she loved and that Adam had assured her he, too, enjoyed, would surely be good.

“And tonight, I’ve planned a dinner. It’ll be just the two of us.” He smiled, real warmth in his eyes. Eyes that weren’t the same dark honey as Rafe’s, didn’t have the simmering depths or the hint of cynicism or mystery about them, or even that sporadic amusement. But nice eyes.

His phone rang again. He looked at her. “I really am sorry about this, Alexia.”

“Please, it’s okay. I’ll go get changed.”

She stood as Adam answered his call. Both men stood, as well, a courtesy she still wasn’t used to. Her gaze went to Rafe’s, to eyes that saw too much. His gaze was carefully neutral now.

Rafe watched his brother as he finished his third call and turned to him. “No,” he said, before Adam could ask.

It didn’t stop him. “Take Alexia for the ride through the grounds for me, Rafe? Please.”

Rafe dipped a chunk of bread in extra-virgin olive oil, pressed from the palace’s olive grove. “Take her yourself.”

“I can’t. You heard that phone call.”

“She could walk the labyrinth.” That was a nice, solitary, time-consuming activity.

“She’s walked it already.”

“Then get Rebecca to take her riding. They get along well. It’ll be nice for both of them.”

“Rebecca’s spending the afternoon with Alexia’s mother. Dad’s in Paris. You’re the only one of us even close to available. It will only take a couple of hours.”

“She’s here to get to know you, not me.”

“We spent all yesterday together.” Adam at least had the grace to sound defensive.

“Ah, yes, the inner workings of the museum, dark, dusty corridors. You really know how to show a girl a good time.”

“Alexia enjoyed the museum. She has a keen interest in history. Particularly the history of San Philippe.”

Alexia. Lexie. Sexy Lexie, whom he’d been doing his best to avoid without being obvious about it. Sexy Lexie, whose hair he wanted to unpin and plunge his fingers into. Whose neck he wanted to kiss. Whose laughter he wanted to hear. Whose lips—Mustn’t think about that. The same mantra he’d repeated silently whenever he was in her company and too often even when he wasn’t. “Are you sure she enjoyed it? She’s polite. She even managed to look interested when Humphrey was haranguing her at the dinner the other night.”

“He wasn’t, was he?”

“He was. Which you would have known if you’d been paying attention.”

“Some of us have other demands on our attention.”

Rafe let the implication that he had no demands on his pass. “Which is why you should
make
the time to ride the grounds with her.”

“Fine. I will. You take my place as the chair of the meeting on the Global Garden. There’s an updated dossier you’ll need to read. Martin can brief you, as well. It should only take an hour, two at the most, to bring you up to speed. And the meeting itself, if you keep dissent under control, will be another two. Just be careful to keep a lid firmly on the diplomatic fracas threatening to blow up in our faces. Our so-called ambassador has been treading on toes again.”

“Okay, you win. I think I’ll put her on Rebecca’s gray mare.” Martyrdom had only so much to recommend it. Though he knew he was letting himself in for an altogether different kind of torture.

Adam smiled, looking suspiciously like their father. “You don’t think Specter might be a little jittery for her?”

“Lexie’s a good rider. Specter will be just perfect.” And if he chose the most restive of his own horses, then he’d have enough to think about other than Sexy Lexie. “But are you sure you can trust me? She’s a beautiful woman.”

Adam laughed. “Neither of us has ever broken the pact. You’re hardly about to start now.”

Years ago, it had become apparent to the young princes that many of the women they went out with
just wanted to date, and possibly marry, a prince. Any prince. If it didn’t work out with Adam they made up to Rafe, and vice versa. One wine-sodden evening, the brothers had made a pact to never date a woman the other had dated first. The pact had outlived any and all relationships. So far.

“Besides, she’s too serious and too intellectual to interest you.” It was as if they were talking about different women. Rafe saw her serious intellectual side, but he also saw the playful, impulsive woman she was, the side she hid from Adam because she didn’t think it was regal enough.

“And,” Adam announced with the triumph of someone playing a trump card, “she’s too young for you.”

Rafe just looked at his older brother.

“Spare me the look. I realize that you’re closer in age to her. But unlike you, I usually date women younger than me.”

“You’re right.” At least in theory. “But I like her, Adam. And she really wants this to work with you.”

“I want it to work, too.”

“Then spend some time with her.”

“As soon as I can. If Dad hadn’t been so hell-bent on getting this under way, it could have been properly scheduled.”

Rafe stared at his brother in incomprehension. Properly scheduled? If it was scheduled, you missed the chance of seeing her dancing with her eyes closed, oblivious to the crowd around her, missed seeing her in the moonlight beneath an oak, eyes glittering in the dark, missed the illicit thrill of hearing her laughter as
you ran away from a royal dinner with her, missed the surreptitious glances at her as she ran beside you in the gym, ponytail swinging, a droplet of sweat trickling down her chest between her breasts. Instead, his brother wanted to schedule things. Properly.

He studied Adam, could see his mind already weighing solutions to the impending diplomatic problem. “You will do right by her, won’t you?”

Adam’s eyes widened. “That’s a little rich, coming from you, but yes, of course I will. I’ve planned a dinner for tonight. Something special. Candles, soft music. I’ll propose properly, give her the engagement ring I’ve had made.”

Rafe tamped down on a flare of something suspiciously close to jealousy. He’d never felt the emotion before, never thought he’d feel it for Adam, whose life he was only grateful he’d escaped.

“And tonight I’ll stay awake for the drive home.”

Rafe sat forward. “You’ll what? Are you saying you—”

“Fell asleep in the limo on the way back from dinner the other night. Hey,” he said with a shrug, as he took in Rafe’s stunned expression. “I was tired. It had been a long day.”

“You fell asleep?” How did a man fall asleep in Lexie’s presence when her proximity had every sense leaping to attention?

“I won’t be so tired tonight,” Adam said.

Trying to banish thoughts of Adam—not tired—with Lexie, Rafe left.

Dappled sunlight filtered through the forest canopy. The wooded trail widened, allowing Rafe to urge his mount forward and draw abreast of Lexie. Duke trotted alongside them. Rafe had thought initially that staying behind her, where they wouldn’t be able to talk, where he wouldn’t see her smile or her green, green eyes, was the better option. But he’d quickly realized that the flare of her hips and the curve of her derriere were a different and possibly worse distraction. He shifted in his saddle.

“This meeting Adam had to go to?” the woman who might one day be his sister-in-law asked. They’d been riding for nearly an hour, and this was the first time she’d brought up Adam’s absence, the first time she’d asked anything other than polite questions about the land around them and the flora and fauna of San Philippe.

Her hair was gathered into a lush ponytail that hung down her back. It swept over her shoulder blades when she turned.

“The Global Garden. Someone’s bright idea for the anniversary celebrations that has not surprisingly turned into a diplomatic nightmare. Adam has been involved—albeit reluctantly—since its inception. Trust me, he’d much rather be here than there.” All three of them would have been happier with that. Particularly Lexie.

“I’d have been happy to ride on my own, or to put it off. Adam has said he’ll definitely be free tomorrow.” She confirmed his suspicion.

She held the reins lightly in her small, deft hands. Hands a man could imagine touching him. He cleared
his throat. “Rain and thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow.”

“Oh.”

For a while the only sound was the soft fall of their horses’ hooves on the forest floor. She sat so well on Rebecca’s gray, moved so in tune with it, that horse and rider looked almost to be one. And he was torturing himself with thoughts of her, thoughts that teetered on the brink of inappropriate or occasionally slipped over that edge. Thoughts that urged him to act. The torture was exquisite and unbearable. Distance. He needed distance.

“I hope it’s not too much of an interruption to your day.” There was a bite to her tone.

“No,” he said evenly. “I ride most days when I’m home.”

“So do I,” she said with a glimmer of wistfulness and no trace of acerbity.

“You’re not sorry you came, are you?” Perhaps she’d go back. He couldn’t fathom whether he’d be more relieved or disappointed.

“No, definitely not. I love it here. I just don’t want to be in the way.” She slid him a look rich with meaning.

“You’re not in the way.”

“I hear the frustration in your voice.”

And if only she knew its real cause. “Don’t assume it’s because of you.”

“You have other sources of frustration?”

“I have sources of frustration you wouldn’t believe. Duke,” he called back the dog, who had disappeared into the undergrowth.

“What would you have been doing if Adam hadn’t asked you to babysit me?” The question was laced with challenge.

“You’re far from a baby, Lexie.” Far, far from it. “And being with you is not a chore.” Except for all the work it entailed in keeping his thoughts in order.

“You’re forgetting I heard you use almost exactly those words.”

“I was annoyed with Adam at the time. It was nothing to do with you.” Which was a lie; it was a lot to do with her, because even back then he’d known that spending time with her was a bad thing for him to do, that there was something different, almost dangerous about her and the way she affected him.

“So, what would you be doing if you weren’t filling in for Adam?”

“Nothing,” he said casually.

“That’s funny, because I saw you in your office earlier.”

“When?” He certainly hadn’t seen her this morning.

She shrugged. “The middle of the morning. I was on my way back to my room and I passed your office.”

“And?”

“And you were inside. At your desk. Talking on the phone and writing something down at the same time. You sounded busy.” She shot him a look. “And serious and authoritative even. The glasses were a nice touch, too, very sexy in a scholarly way.” She stopped speaking and frowned. “If you like that sort of thing,” she added.

Rafe ignored the glasses comment; otherwise he might be tempted to ride back to the palace for a pair. It was true, though, that he’d had dozens of phone calls to make this morning. “Appearances can be deceptive. Maybe I was doodling.”

“Doodling?” It was worth it to see her smile like that. “Anyway,” she said, “I appreciate you taking time out for me like this.”

“You or phone calls and paperwork. It wasn’t a difficult choice.” It also wasn’t a safe choice.

“Was it for the zoo or for the children’s ward at the hospital?”

He looked at her.

“I’ve been trying to find out a little about the work you do. All of you.”

“How?”

“I’ve been talking to Adam’s secretary, Martin. He was quite helpful. He told me about the different charities and foundations you all head or are patrons of. The list was massive. He also talked about your personal project to raise money for a hospital gymnasium. And about how you coach and sponsor the polo team you started for the children of palace staff. His son loves it, by the way.”