But Alek wasn’t feeling brilliantly patient this second. His heart was thudding too fast. He couldn’t resist reaching out to feel for himself how soft she was, placing his hands on her slender waist and pulling her closer to where he stood.
Hester braced her hands on his broad forearms, feeling the strength of his muscles beneath her palms. Her pulse quickened and, despite the cool water, her temperature soared.
‘Have you decided to seduce me?’ Her voice was the barest thread of a whisper.
He gazed at her intently but said nothing.
Old fears slithered in, feeding doubt and fattening the insecurity that he could never possibly mean it. This was just a game for him. He was so used to winning, wasn’t he?
‘What are you going to do once you’ve succeeded?’ She couldn’t hold back the note of bitterness. ‘Discard me like disposable cutlery?’
He didn’t flinch at her lame dig. His gaze was unwavering and she was drowning in the depths of darkness in his eyes. ‘Are you saying I’m going to succeed?’
‘A man with your experience is always going to succeed against someone like me.’
He gazed at her relentlessly and something dangerous flickered from him to her. ‘You’re really not experienced?’
‘Of course not,’ she snapped as the unfamiliar tension in her body pushed her towards rejection—it was that or something so reckless. So impossible. She’d all but told him back in Boston. ‘In your impossible quest for an appropriate bride you’ve found a virgin fit for a king.’ The bitter irony rose within her.
His hands tightened on her waist. ‘You’re a virgin?’
What else did ‘not experienced’ mean?
‘Don’t act like you didn’t guess already,’ she angrily snapped.
‘How? And why would I?’ He shook her gently. ‘You said you’d had a quiet life, but this is…’
‘Irrelevant,’ she slammed back at him. ‘We have an agreement. You’re paying me to do a job. Physical intimacy, other than those two kisses, is off the table.’
But she was finding it impossible to breathe, impossible to tear her gaze from his. And it was impossible to do this ‘job’ when he kept stripping off and smiling at her all the time.
‘Is it, Hester?’ he breathed.
Why did he have to be so beautiful? Why did her body have to choose this moment to spark to life and decide it wanted touch? The sort of touch she’d never craved before. Not like this—not with a bone-deep driving need that was almost impossible to restrain.
‘Please let me go.’ And the worst thing happened—because it wasn’t the assertive command she wanted. It was a breathless plea, totally undermined by the thread of desire that was so obvious to her that she knew it was evident to him as well.
But he didn’t release her.
‘Just so you know, sweetheart, it will not be my “experience” that sees me succeed with you,’ he said firmly and then swept her up to sit her on the side of the pool. ‘It’s not me at all.’
He pushed back, floating away from her, leaving her with a parting shot so powerful she was glad she wasn’t still standing.
‘It’ll happen only when you decide that I’m the one you want.’ He levered up out of the pool on the opposite side and she watched him stride away in all his sopping, masculine beauty. ‘You’re the one with the power. You’re the one who will need to say yes.’
CHAPTER FIVE
HESTER GRIPPED HER new clutch purse tightly. Her dress was suitable, she could walk in her mid-heeled nude shoes, and she’d practised not blinking so she could cope with banks of cameras…it was going to be fine. It was one sequence of appearances on one day—TV interview, public outing and back to the palace. She could manage that. She’d been practising often enough. The last few days had whizzed by in a flurry of meetings and planning. Alek had been with her much of the time but he was constantly interrupted and often completely called away. But she’d hidden in the palace, preparing for the performance of a lifetime, practising the walk down the long aisle of the chapel, climbing into the carriage, then swimming in the pool each afternoon. But he’d not joined her there again.
Now he was already waiting in the corridor. As always her tummy flipped when she saw him, but it was the burn building below her belly—that restless, hot ache—that was the real problem. She couldn’t look at him without that appalling temptation to slide closer, to soften completely and let him touch… She still couldn’t believe she’d made that embarrassing confession the other day. Her virginal status had surprised him and he hadn’t denied he was interested in her physically. But he could have any woman he wanted. So she needed to forget all that and remember that this was a job.
His appraisal of her was uncharacteristically serious—all jet-black eyes, square jaw and no dimples. She sensed his leashed power; after all, he was a man who could move mountains with the snap of his fingers.
‘Your hair’s down.’ He finally spoke. ‘I like it.’
‘I’m so glad to hear that,’ she muttered, letting her tension seep out with uncharacteristic acidity. ‘All I ever wanted was your approval.’
‘Excellent.’ He smiled wolfishly, soaking up her faux sweetness and ignoring the blatant sarcasm. ‘You have it. I knew you’d deliver.’
Gritting her teeth, she wished she wouldn’t react to his low chuckle but warmth pooled deep inside regardless. She liked it when he teased her with this sparkle-tipped talk that turned tension into bubbling moments of fun. The kind she’d never had with anyone before.
‘Ready to hold hands?’ He tilted his chin at her, his
