“It’s a weird world, brother,” Garrett muttered. “Protect the gnats by killing people.”
“You got that right. Still, upside is, the weirdness is good for business. Anyway…”
Garrett nodded and listened while his brother outlined his plans for their latest client. This was better. Work. Something definable. Something he could count on. All he had to do was keep his focus centered. Remember who he was and why it was so important to keep a hard demarcation line between him and Alex.
He took a seat behind his desk, picked up the pen and began making notes. King Security was his reality.
Not a runaway princess looking for a white knight.
Three days.
It had been three days since they were together on that boat. Three days since Garrett had touched her in any but the most impersonal way. Three days that Alex had spent in a constant state of turmoil, waiting for it all to happen again and then being crushed when nothing happened.
Which was making her insane.
“Honestly,” she demanded out loud of the empty room, “what is he waiting for?”
She knew he wanted her as much as she did him. When they were together, she felt the tension rippling off him in waves. So why was he working so hard at keeping her at arm’s length? And why was she allowing it? For heaven’s sake, this wasn’t the nineteenth century. If she wanted him, she should go after him. No subtlety. No more waiting. He was determined to ignore what was between them, and she was just as determined that he be unable to.
Time was running out for her, Alex thought grimly. Soon enough, she would be on a plane headed back to Cadria and all of this would be nothing but a memory. And damn it, if memories were all that was going to be left of her, then she wanted as many of them as she could make.
With that thought firmly in mind, she checked her mirror and gave herself an objective once-over. Garrett had had some business to take care of that morning and so she’d had a couple of hours to herself and hadn’t wasted them. A cab had taken her to the nearest mall where she had shopped until her feet gave out.
It had been good, walking through the Bella Terra mall, just another woman shopping. The freedom she felt was still thrilling, and she didn’t know how she would get used to being under the palace microscope once her bit of freedom had ended. Being just one of a crowd was so liberating. She’d laughed with salesgirls, had a hamburger in the food court and then spent a lovely hour in a bookstore.
In fact, it would have been a perfect morning but for the fact that she’d had the oddest sensation that she was being watched. Ridiculous really and probably her own nerves rattling around inside her. No one here knew who she was so why would anyone be interested in what she was doing? She simply wasn’t totally accustomed to being alone, that was all. Since leaving her guards behind her, she had been with Garrett almost every moment. Of course she would feel a touch uncomfortable. But it meant nothing.
Brushing off those thoughts, she returned to studying her reflection with a critical eye.
Hair good, makeup perfect and the slinky black dress she’d purchased just that morning clung to her like a second skin. The neckline was deep, displaying cle**age that should surely catch Garrett’s eye. And the hemline was just barely legal. Paired with a pair of four-inch black heels, she looked, if she had to say so herself, hot.
Which was her intention, after all.
Her insides swirled with anticipation as she imagined the look on Garrett’s face when he saw her. “Let him try to ignore me now.”
A smile curved her mouth as she let her mind wander to all sorts of interesting places. Damp heat settled at her core and a throbbing ache beat in time with her pulse. She needed him as she had never needed anyone before. And tonight, she was going to make sure he knew it.
An extremely vivid memory rose up in her mind. In a flash, she recalled just how it felt to have Garrett kissing her, touching her. Showering her body with the kinds of sensations she’d never known before. And she wanted it again, blast it.
“What’s missing in this holiday romance,” she told her reflection sternly, “is romance.”
Her time here was almost over. She couldn’t very well put off her return indefinitely. First of all, she wouldn’t do that to her family. But secondly, even if she tried, her father would never stand for it. If she didn’t go home soon, the king would have an army of investigators out searching for her and they would find her. Her father was nothing if not thorough.
Now that she considered it actually, she was a little surprised her father hadn’t already sent a herd of search dogs after her. It wasn’t like him to let her minirebellion stand.
Frowning at the girl in the mirror, Alex shifted her gaze to the telephone on the bedside table. Guilt gnawed at her as she thought about calling home. At least letting her mother know that she was safe. The problem was, reaching her mother wouldn’t be easy. The queen didn’t have an email account. And she refused to get a cell phone, despite the palace and the king’s insistence, so Alex would have to go through the palace phone system. Then she would have to talk to who knew how many ladies-in-waiting, assistants and secretaries before finally reaching her mother.
And during that interminable wait, everyone she talked to could spill the beans to her father the king, and Alex was in no mood to hear another lecture on the evils of selfishness.
“No,” she said, staring at the phone, “I’m sorry, Mother, but I’ll be home soon enough.”
Just thinking about home had Alex imagining the castle walls closing in around her. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was still free. Still on her own. She still had time to enjoy life in the real world. To enjoy her time with Garrett.
Garrett.
She frowned again and turned to the laptop computer sitting on the desk near the terrace. She still didn’t know Garrett’s last name. They’d never discussed it again after that first time when they had decided to keep their identities a mystery. But…she did know his cousin’s last name.
Garrett had kept her so busy the past couple of days, she’d hardly had a moment to think about the possibilities that knowledge provided. Every day had been so filled with activities and rushing about that when he brought her back to the hotel at night, she was so exhausted she usually just fell into bed.
But tonight…
She chewed at her bottom lip and wondered. What if there was a reason Garrett hadn’t made any further moves? Maybe he had lied when he said he wasn’t involved with someone. Maybe he had a wife. That thought jolted and rocked through her on an equal tide of disappointment and righteous indignation.