He was so pleased with himself for stunning her again.
She was more than stunned. She was working on a stroke.
“And it didn’t occur to you to ask if I’d agree to this harebrained scheme of yours?”
His lips twitched at her venom. “A man going out of his way to surprise his fiancée doesn’t tell her in advance of the details of his efforts.”
Her jaw muscles hurt at his mention of fiancée. “Do save your ‘efforts’ for when you have a real fiancée.”
“But you already said I can’t have a real one for all the money and power in the world.”
“Who knows? Lots of women have self-destructive tendencies. And I didn’t say you couldn’t get one, I said you wouldn’t keep her.”
His eyes twinkled with mischief before he turned onto a route she’d never seen into the airport, and she’d been here countless times. “Well, you’re real enough for me. And for as long as I keep you, I get to go all-out to surprise you.”
She harrumphed. “Save your energy. And save me from a stroke. I hate surprises. I haven’t met one that wasn’t nasty. Certainly never any from you.”
He sighed. “I assure you, this trip is anything but.”
“I don’t care what it will be like. It’s the concept I can’t stand.” She exhaled exasperatedly. “And to think I once thought you were part bulldozer.”
He slowed down as he took a turn, his eyebrows rising in amused query. “You changed your mind?”
“Yes. You’re the pure breed.”
And he did something that almost made her head explode.
He threw his head back and let out a hearty guffaw.
When she felt he’d scrambled her nervous system forever, he turned to her, chuckles still reverberating deep in his endless chest, his smile wider than she’d ever seen it.
“Watch it with the laughter, Vincenzo,” she mumbled, hating it that he affected her to extremes no matter what he was doing. “Doing something so unnatural to you can be dangerous. You’ll dislocate a brain lobe or something.”
His laugh boomed again. “Dio, I can get used to this.”
“Your highness hasn’t been exposed to sarcasm before? Figures, with all the syrupy ass-kissing you have everywhere you turn. Since you’ve been exposed to it from birth, you must have always had social juvenile diabetes.”
“I was wrong. I’m already too used to getting lashed with your delightful tongue. I hope you won’t ever hold it.”
“I think it’s a physical impossibility with you around.”
He chuckled again, this time doing something even more distressing. He reached out for her hand and brought it to his lips.
His lips. Those lips that had enslaved her with their possession, that had taught her passion and the pleasure her body was capable of experiencing. The moment they touched the back of her hand, her heart almost ruptured.
She snatched her hand back as if from open fire, agitation searing her insides. “I don’t know what you’re playing at…”
“I already told you my game plan.” His eyes turned serious as he brought the car to a stop and turned to her. “But I’ve also come to a new decision. I no longer care how this started…”
“I do.”
“…I only care that when I’m with you I feel…great. I haven’t felt like that in… I don’t even remember if I ever felt like that. You invigorate me. Your every word and look thrills me, and I don’t intend to keep holding back and not show it. If you tickle my humor, and you do, constantly, I’ll laugh. And I want you to do the same. Forget how we got to be here…”
“Because you blackmailed me.”
“…and just make the best of it. If you enjoy my company…”
“I’m not a fan of Stockholm syndrome, thank you.”
“…just allow yourself the enjoyment, don’t stifle it and don’t keep telling yourself why you should hold it back.”
“Easy for you to say and do. You’re not the one being threatened with your family’s imprisonment and taken hostage for a year. And being kidnapped right now.”
His eyes grew coaxing. “You are my partner in an endeavor I’m undertaking to serve my kingdom.” The word partner, the term he’d once said would never apply to her, scratched like a talon against her heart. “You will help me bridge its distance from the world to benefit its people and the coming generations. And you’re the fiancée I’m taking on a surprise trip. I will do everything in my power so you will enjoy it.”
The wish that all that could be true overwhelmed her, closing her throat. “That’s the facade hiding the ugly truth.”
“It is the truth, if you don’t dwell on the negative aspects.”
“Negative aspects? Now, that’s an innovative euphemism for extortion.”
He didn’t segue into a rejoinder this time. His gaze lengthened, grew distant, as if he was looking inward.
Seeming to come back to her, he exhaled. “Would you marry me if I took your family out of the equation?”
It was her turn to stare. “You mean I can say no and you wouldn’t report them?”
“Yes.”
He looked and sounded serious. Yeah. Sure.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Understandable. I don’t believe myself, either.” His headshake was self-deprecation itself. “But I do mean it.”
“Is this a ploy to put me at ease? So I’ll stop giving you a much deserved, not to mention much needed, hard time? So I’ll stop resisting and ‘come to your bed’?”
“Yes. No. Definitely.” At her frown, he elaborated. “Yes, I want to put you at ease, though it’s not a ploy. No, I don’t want you to stop bashing me on the head. With the way I’m relishing it, I’m realizing how much I do need it. And I’m definitely anticipating you in my bed….” His arm snaked around her, pulled her into his heat and hardness, enervating her with the delight of his feel and scent. “I’m willing to do whatever it takes to have you racing me there as you used to.”
Her head fell back as she stared at him, sounding as faint as she felt. “Even if it means not using your winning hand?”
“I already said it had nothing to do with our intimacies.”
“How can I be sure you won’t hurt my family if I say no?”