'If you ever change your mind…'
'I won't.'
Dreyson nodded. 'Princess Alesandra has explained you are acting as her temporary guardian during the family illness.'
'That is correct.'
'You've been given quite an honor,' Dreyson said. He paused to smile at Alesandra. 'Protect her well, sir. She's a rare treasure.'
Alesandra was embarrassed by Dreyson's praise. Her attention was turned, however, when the broker asked Colin how his father was doing.
'I've just seen him,' Colin replied. 'He's really been quite ill, but he's on the mend now.'
Alesandra couldn't hide her surprise. She turned to Colin. 'You didn't…' She stopped herself just in time. She was about to blurt out the obvious fact that Colin hadn't believed her and had in fact tried to catch his father in a lie. She found his behavior shameful. Private affairs, however, should never be discussed in front of business associates. She wasn't about to break that sacred rule, no matter how pricked she was.
'I didn't what?' Colin asked. His grin suggested he knew what she was about to say.
She kept her expression serene, but the look in her eyes had turned frigid.
'You didn't get too close to your father or your mother, did you?' she asked. 'I believe the illness might be the catching kind,' she explained to Dreyson.
'Might be?' Colin was choking on his laughter.
Alesandra ignored him. She kept her gaze directed on the agent. 'Colin's older brother visited his father for just an hour or two several days ago, and now he and his dear wife are both ill. I would have warned the man, of course, but I had gone out riding, and by the time I returned, Caine had come and gone.'
Dreyson expressed his sympathy over the family's plight. Both Alesandra and Colin walked with the agent to the entrance. 'I'll return in three days, if that fits your schedule, Princess Alesandra, with the papers ready for your signature initials.'
The broker left a moment later. Colin closed the door after him. He turned around and found Alesandra just a foot away, glaring up at him. Her hands were settled on her hips.
'You owe me an apology,' she announced.
'Yes, I do.'
'When I think how you… you do?'
The bluster went out of her anger. Colin smiled. 'Yes, I do,' he said again. 'I didn't believe you when you said my brother and my father were both too ill to watch out for you.'
'You had to find out for yourself, didn't you?'
He ignored the anger in her voice. 'I admit I believed it was all a scheme,' he told her. 'And I really thought I'd be bringing my father back with me.'
'For what purpose?'
He decided to be completely honest. 'To take you off my hands, Alesandra.'
She tried to hide her hurt feelings from him. 'I'm sorry my staying here is such an inconvenience for you.'
He let out a sigh. 'You shouldn't take this personally. It's just that I'm swamped with business matters now and I don't have time to play guardian.'
Colin turned to his butler before she could tell him she most certainly did take his remarks personally.
'Flannaghan, get me a drink. Something hot. It was damned cold riding today.'
'Serves you right,' Alesandra interjected. 'Your suspicious nature is going to get you into trouble someday.'
He leaned down until his face was just inches away from hers. 'My suspicious nature has kept me alive, Princess.'
She didn't know what he meant by that remark. She didn't like the way he was frowning at her either, and decided to leave him alone. She turned to go up the stairs. Colin followed her. He could hear her muttering something under her breath, but he couldn't catch any clear words. His concentration was too scattered to pay much attention to her remarks anyway. He was thoroughly occupied trying not to notice the gentle sway of her hips or acknowledge how enticing he found her sexy little backside.
She heard a loud sigh behind her and knew he was following her up the stairs. She didn't turn around when she asked, 'Did you look in on Caine, too, or did you accept your father's word that your brother was also ill?'
'I looked in on him.'
She whirled around to frown at him. She almost bumped into him. Since she was on the step above, they were now eye to eye.
She noticed how tanned his face was, how hard his mouth looked, how his eyes sparkled green with his incredible smile.
He noticed the sexy freckles on the bridge of her nose.
Alesandra didn't like the path her thoughts were taking. 'You're covered with dust, Colin, and probably smell like your horse. You need a bath.'
He didn't like her tone of voice. 'You need to quit glaring at me,' he ordered, his voice every bit as curt as hers had been. 'A ward shouldn't treat her guardian with such disrespect.'
She didn't have a ready comeback for that statement of fact. Colin was her guardian for the time being, and she probably should be respectful. She didn't want to agree with him, however, and all because he had made it perfectly clear he didn't want her there.
'Is your brother feeling better?'
'He's half dead,' he told her quite cheerfully.
'You don't like Caine?'
He laughed. 'Of course I like my brother.'
'Then why did you sound so happy when you said he was half dead?'
'Because he really is sick and isn't in league with my father and his schemes.'
She shook her head at him, turned around again, and ran up the rest of the steps. 'Is his wife feeling any better?' she called over her shoulder.
'She isn't as green as Caine is,' Colin answered. 'Thankfully their little girl wasn't exposed. She and Sterns stayed on in the country.'
'Who is Sterns?'
'Their butler-turned-nanny,' he explained. 'Caine and Jade will remain in London until they're recovered. My mother's feeling better, but my sisters still can't keep anything in their stomachs. Isn't it odd, Alesandra, that you didn't get sick?'
She wouldn't look at him. She knew she was responsible and hated having to admit it. 'Actually, now that I think about it, I was a little bit ill on the journey to England,' she remarked casually.
He laughed. 'Caine's calling you The Plague.'
She turned around to look at him again. 'I didn't deliberately make everyone sick. Does he really blame me?'
'Yes.' He deliberately lied just to tease her.
Her shoulders slumped. 'I had hoped to move in with your brother and his wife tomorrow.'
'You can't.'
'Now you think you're going to be stuck with me, don't you?'
She waited for his denial. A gentleman, after all, would have said something gallant, even if it was a lie, just to be polite.
'Alesandra, I am stuck with you.'
She glared at him for being so honest. 'You might as well accept the situation and try to be pleasant.'
She hurried down the hallway and went into his study. He leaned against the door frame and watched her collect her papers from the table by the hearth.
'You aren't really upset because I didn't believe my family was ill, are you?'
She didn't answer him. 'Did your father talk to you about my circumstances?'
The fear in her eyes surprised him. 'He wasn't up to a long talk.'
