‘They’ve brought your suitcase in already,’ he said.
She saw it next to one of the enormous comfortable-looking armchairs. She had such little stuff for such an opulent space it was ridiculous.
His eyebrows pulled together and he hesitated a moment before stepping towards the window. ‘There’s good views across to the ocean and the balcony in your bedroom is completely private. No one will be able to see you.’ He paused again and she felt him gazing at her. ‘Do you not like it?’
‘No.’ She could hardy speak for the emotion completely clogging her up. She stared hard at the floor, knowing that if she blinked some of that hot, burning liquid was going to leak from her eyes and she really didn’t want that to happen. Then she realised she’d said the wrong thing. ‘Not no. I meant… I just…it’s fine.’
‘Fine,’ he echoed, but his voice sounded odd. ‘So why do you look like…?’ He trailed off and stepped closer than before and there was nothing for her to hide behind. ‘You look like you’re about to cry.’
She felt that wall of awkwardness rise and slick mortification spread at the realisation he could read her all too easily. Why could she suddenly not hide her feelings? And worse, why couldn’t she hold them back?
‘I don’t cry.’ It wasn’t a lie—until now.
‘Not ever—?’
‘Do you?’ she interrupted him, forcing herself to swallow back the tears and throw him off guard the way he was her.
He gazed at her intently and it was even worse. ‘Hester—’
‘I’m fine.’ She dragged in a breath, but couldn’t pull it together enough to keep it all back. ‘It’s just that I’ve never had such a big place all to myself.’
The confession slithered out, something she’d never trusted anyone enough to tell before. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t appreciate the effort he’d gone to. She knew he had insane wealth and property, but he’d thought this through for her. He’d taken time to consider what she might like. No one had done that for her. Not since she’d lost her parents. So she deeply appreciated this gesture, but she really needed to hold herself together because she couldn’t bear to unravel completely before him.
She sensed him remain near her for a strained moment but then he strolled back towards the window.
‘Personally I think the wallpaper in here is a bit much.’ He casually nodded at the ferociously ornate green and black pattern.
Startled, she glanced across at him.
‘You have to agree,’ he added drolly. ‘The word would be gaudy.’
She couldn’t contain the giggle that bubbled up, a fountain of pure silliness. As her face creased, that tear teetered over the edge and she quickly wiped its trail from her cheek.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ If he’d noticed her action, he didn’t comment. Instead he wriggled his finger at the seam where wallpaper met window frame until he tugged enough loose to tear it.
‘Alek!’
‘Oh, the press are going to love it if you say my name with that hint of censure,’ he teased in an altogether different tone.
A shock wave of heat blasted through her. Its impact was explosive, ripping through her walls to release the raw awareness. She’d been determined to ignore it. She knew he was an outrageous flirt, but it wasn’t his tone or his teasing jokes that caused this reaction within her. It was everything about him. He made her wonder about the kind of intimacy she’d never known. The kind she’d actively avoided. And she’d never wanted to step closer to a person before.
‘Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want, Hester,’ he said softly.
She stared at him blankly, her mind going in all kinds of searing directions.
‘You can do what you like,’ he offered. ‘Take out walls, rip up the carpet, whatever.’
Oh. Right. He meant the rooms. Only she hadn’t been thinking about the décor and what she feared she wanted was far too forbidden.
‘Don’t worry about the budget. I can just sell one of my horses to cover it.’
‘Don’t you love your horses more than anything?’ She tried to break her unfortunate fixation.
‘Other than my crown and my sister?’ he teased. ‘Or my playboy lifestyle?’
She licked her dried lips and refused to continue along that track. ‘Do you have an apartment in here too?’
‘Right next door.’ He nodded. ‘It’s best if we’re near each other.’
‘I understand, it needs to look okay.’ She made herself agree. ‘Because this is a job,’ she reiterated. But it was a lie already. ‘It’s just an act.’
With no intimacy—emotional or otherwise.
His gaze narrowed. ‘I’d like to think we can be friends, Hester.’
She didn’t have friends. Acquaintances and colleague, yes. But not friends. Since the rejection she’d suffered after her parents’ deaths, she’d not been able to trust people, not got to know anyone well. Not even Princess Fiorella.
But she sensed that Alek expected a little more from her and perhaps that was fair enough. It wasn’t right for her to judge him based on the actions of others he didn’t even know. Or on the salacious reports the media wrote about him. She had to take him on his own actions around her and
