Compromising Kessen (8 page)

He chuckled as he let himself out. The party was long over by now, and he needed all the rest he could get before facing tomorrow.

Chapter Eight

Kessen blinked several times before finally admitting she was awake. In fact, she hadn’t slept one wink that night. It had taken at least an hour to get all the flour out of her hair and another hour for her to brush it all out. She wanted nothing more than to get a cup of hot coffee, sit by the fireplace, and read. Though now reading about the Vandenbrook family left an odd twittering in her belly.

It was strange she would feel fluttery when thinking about that family. To think that a few days ago, she was dreaming about the olden days of London society. Now it was like living a nightmare.

She was caught in a scandal. A scandal in 2012! She wasn’t a celebrity, although she would admit to being mildly famous because of her money, and here she was being forced to marry just because of the stupid Vandenbrook family!

But it was some kiss.

“Focus!” she grumbled to herself. In fact, she hadn’t been able to get the incident out of her head all night. Crunching numbers in her head, singing songs, and reading books—nothing could pry her attention away from the memory of Christian’s soft lips against hers.

****

Kessen scolded herself for allowing her feelings to get involved. It was obvious she hadn’t been kissed in a while, especially from the way she had reacted. What was she thinking? Grabbing his hair and pulling it? Wrapping her arms seductively around his neck?

“Oh!” she screamed into her pillow, hitting it simultaneously with her hand, all the while kicking her feet crazily in the air.

When a mild cough interrupted her, she winced. There had to be some other way to let someone know you were standing there watching the crazy antics.

“What a fantastic way to start the morning!” a deep voice exclaimed.

She whined into her pillow once more before opening her eyes.

A prayer went up to the nightgown gods when she realized she had put on cute boy shorts and a t-shirt before bed, rather than her ratty t-shirt and sweats.

Christian had somehow let himself into her room. He looked ridiculously handsome in his perfectly ripped jeans and leather jacket, making her feel somewhat feisty and, unfortunately, a little heated.

“May I help you?” she seethed through clenched teeth.

“Tsk, tsk. We wouldn’t want your teeth to be grinding. Remember, we don’t have the best dentists over here.” He flashed a wide grin, making her stomach drop to her knees.

The man had no idea the effect he had on her, and it was probably a good thing, considering the compromising situations they had recently managed to get themselves into.

“Why?”

He sauntered towards her. “Why, what?”

“Why are you here?”

He sighed. “Well, I think everyone goes through a time in their lives when they ask that same question. It’s brave of you to finally step outside of yourself and—”

Her hand lifted impulsively with every intention of leaving a print on his perfectly chiseled jaw.

“Easy, tiger,” he joked, swiftly grabbing it out of the air and pulling her into his sturdy frame. “We are spending the day together, which means you have to learn how to play nice, or your poor grandmother will have to deal with the repercussions of your wretched behavior.”

“I don’t have to do anything,” she argued, turning away.

“Actually,” he stepped behind her and rasped into her ear, “you do. Because if you don’t, the embarrassment would not only destroy both our families, but the stocks for your father’s company would plummet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” he said, grabbing a few papers from under his arm, “everyone loves us.”

Her mouth dropped open. He lifted a hand to shut it, letting his fingertips linger on her chin. The shivers went all the way down to her toes this time. She closed her eyes to regain control. “Let me see,” she snapped, pulling the papers out of his grasp.

It was worse than she thought.

It was true.

She was done for.

Her head jerked up to his gaze. He didn’t seem as smug as she would have liked; instead he looked just as irritated as she felt.

“How did this happen?” she yelled.

“Calm down,” he ordered, pushing her into a nearby chair. “I guess I’ll have to be the one to do this, then.” He took a deep breath and started, “Sometimes when a boy and girl meet, they find each other—how shall I put it? Oh, yes—attractive. And sometimes, when the boy and girl get close things happen and—”

Her chest was rising and falling in ragged succession. “Not that. I know how that happened, thank you very much.” She unfurled the paper. “This. How did this happen?”

His face twisted bitterly. “Take a guess.”

Kessen thought through the previous night’s events—her grandmother’s expression, the handshake between the two.

“No.” She groaned.

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes!” he said loudly. “Come on, my father has been pestering me for months; your father is apparently worried sick about you, since you won’t bring yourself out of isolation unless you’re with Nick and Sammy.” His mouth shut suddenly.

She opened her mouth wide to yell, but he forcefully put his hand over it. “We spoke earlier. Actually, I just got off the telephone. Apparently he’s been planning this for months with your grandmother. Even your silly cousin is in on it. Of course, I wasn’t part of the plan, but getting you married off was the reason. He wanted you to marry someone from England, and now he has his wish. And since I’m the head of the offices over here, and I’m the next in line for the dukedom, I’d say his plan worked to perfection.”

She felt hot all over. A feeling of dread swept over her.

“Breathe, America. Deep breaths,” he soothed, his hand still covering her mouth.

So, she did the only thing she could think of doing.

She bit his hand. Tenderly, of course.

His hand shot off of her face faster than she would have imagined. But instead of being upset, his eyes lit with fire. He leaned in close. Kessen’s stomach lurched. Was he going to kiss her again? Expectantly, she leaned in to meet him just as her chair fell.

“What the—” She looked down. “You did that on purpose.”

“Don’t bite,” he scolded, turning around to shield his face. He was nonplussed by her behavior, because the next thing he said was he would give her an hour to get ready. They had press to face and a day of “dating” to endure. He left her at that, while she grumbled on the floor about his lack of chivalry.

What was with him and his rude attitude? One minute he looked like he wanted to eat her, the next he was so annoyingly upset that she couldn’t do anything right.

She stood and ran to her closet. Time to dress the part.

Chapter Nine

Kessen’s clothes were extraordinary. When she had arrived, her clothes screamed tourist, but now he felt like he was staring at an entirely different human being. Not that she hadn’t been gorgeous before, but when he looked at her, he felt like he was under a spell—a spell that was broken only when she opened her mouth to speak.

She was wearing black linen shorts, red stiletto heels, a flimsy, airy-looking top and a tailored jacket that went just below her waist, drawing his eyes to her deliciously long legs.

He couldn’t tell if she wore makeup, mainly because she was so utterly breathtaking at the moment, he didn’t even dare look into her eyes.

“Shall we?” She smiled, holding her hand out.

He shook his head. “And so it begins.”

The doors of the house opened and he led her to his waiting SUV. He opened the car door just in time to see the first paparazzi fly out from behind the bushes.

“My lord, do you have a comment?” a man asked behind the snapping camera.

Christian smiled tensely and opened the door. Obviously he had no comment. How had he not seen the photographers in the bushes? How did this happen twice in two days?

He pulled on his designer sunglasses and looked over to a patiently waiting Kessen. She was looking around the car.

“So, no carriage, huh?”

“You read too much.”

She shook her head. “Don’t I know it.” She pulled out matching designer sunglasses and threw them on. “You know this isn’t going to disguise us, right? We’re driving around in money, putting money on our faces, and, oh yeah, our last names scream money. What did you have in mind for a date anyway? Because I doubt it’s going to be private enough.”

He smiled triumphantly. “Oh, it will be private.”

The car took them around to the front of The Ritz and stopped.

“I thought you said private.” She reached for her door handle.

His hand shot across hers. “I know chivalry is dead in America, but we open car doors for women here.”

Whatever he said must have shocked her enough to let go of her death grip on the car. She nodded her head, and to his surprise, managed to wait a whole five seconds for him to arrive at her door to open it. He pulled her arm into his own and escorted her inside amidst the flashing lights of photographers.

They passed a few tables in the hotel lobby on the way. Every single one of them had a newspaper with a picture of the two of them lip-locked on the front. Titles ranged from “Match of the Century” to “Marriage Made in Stock Market Heaven.” He groaned outwardly, pointing at them as they passed.

Kessen’s groan matched his own. She had more to lose in this, and he knew she was aware of that. They were launching a new line of products just this month. Bad press wouldn’t go well with how much money they had invested into the new coffee creamer for Newberry and Co. good press, however, would make it a success, skyrocketing her father’s business into the hundred million mark.

She hadn’t a choice in the matter. Normally a stolen kiss on a balcony would do nothing to seal your fate with someone, but since they were so high profile, and since both their families were that manipulative, it did exactly that and then some.

The ballroom they entered was set up with tables loaded with food. The sight seemed to upset her when she saw they were alone, but it was nothing more than a brunch.

He had her just where he wanted her.

“Throw this on.” He tossed her a baseball hat and workout clothes.

“What?”

“Put. It. On,” he ordered, now standing closer to her than he would have liked. She looked mischievous and then she began pulling her clothes off.

Whatever her ploy, it worked. His face felt so red and hot, he thought he would pass out.

She approached him and smiled. “Do you think you want to rephrase your command?”

He cleared his throat and closed his eyes; it was the only way to keep him from doing something they would both regret. “Please change over there, while I change over here.” He pointed to a corner of the room with a makeshift sheet in front of it, specifically designed for changing.

Her lips were inches from his. It wouldn’t hurt, just one little kiss. He leaned in just as she moved to whisper into his ear, “Thought so.”

The room was most definitely spinning. Though he would be a fool to admit it. And what kind of perfume did she wear? It was intoxicating. Christian normally despised perfume, thinking it too fluffy, but hers was spicy and seductive. It was an almost identical fit to her personality.

He thanked God for small favors when she finally disappeared behind the sheet, allowing his breathing to return to normal, even though every muscle in his body had tightened with awareness. She would be the death of him.

Not that he wouldn’t welcome death with open arms, especially if it looked and smelled like Kessen.

The very idea that he was entertaining such thoughts proved his insanity. Just days ago he wanted nothing more than to throttle her and send her back to Colorado. Now he was thinking he would rather she throttle him. It must be exhaustion. It had to be—anything but actual attraction.

As he pondered the many reasons for being disgusted with himself, a sudden clearing throat startled him.

Two things occurred to him as he turned around—first, this was probably the most fun he’d had in years, and second, he was in dangerous territory with this unpredictable girl, and he wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

“Ready,” she announced, pulling her hat on. She looked like she was about to run the New York City marathon. When he had picked out the clothes, he only had in mind agility and comfort; it was unfortunate he couldn’t lock her in this banquet hall right now and have his way with her.

He knew he wanted to; in fact, the desire was so strong, he found himself staring at her shapely legs … right up until she clapped in front of his face.

The sound made him jump and cower with both hands over his face, in case of some small chance she might actually strike him. He deserved it anyway; had she been inside his head, she would have done more than slap him.

Regaining what composure he had left, he threw her a brilliant smile and whistled, while he walked behind the sheet and changed into his workout clothes. In all the commotion of her throwing her too-tight body in his face, he had forgotten he too had a disguise.

“So, what are we doing?” she asked nonchalantly while he pulled on the black fleece jacket. He had never felt so American in his life. They took casual to a whole new level. He had only visited the headquarters in Colorado once. Kessen had been away at school, so he hadn’t met her then, but he did meet all two thousand employees, and every single one of them seemed to be wearing some sort of version of the zip-up he was putting on now.

At first it had annoyed him, and then the temperatures plummeted, along with his irritation. The next day, he went and bought at least three of them and hadn’t been able to part with any of them since. However, his friends did make fun of him when he returned. None of them had ever seen a future duke in such American garb. It was on many accounts scandalous. Never mind that his love life had drawn public attention on more than one occasion, or that his family had been accused of bribing some of the other families of nobility. The thing which got him the most attention was the zip-up, something he would never understand.