Courted: Gowns & Crowns, Book 1 (13 page)

He’d sensed her skittishness too, her desire to push things further, but also her uncertainty about what she could do or say that wouldn’t be inappropriate. He had no problem putting her at ease on that score as well. In fact, there was no end to the things he was happy to show her—but now, over two hundred pounds of muscle and attitude stood in his way, and he suspected that everything about his plans for the evening had suddenly become a lot more difficult.

“No trouble, I have been assured.” Dimitri’s gaze took in both of them. “I have not been on-site since your friends were safely delivered, and the attention at the castle seems contained for the moment—though, admittedly, the prospect of a wedding announcement has turned things up a notch or six. They have begun external patrols of the walls and surrounding villas, to root out the paparazzi looking for a shot inside. The women have been asked to remain indoors for the time being, but they are in danger of nothing more than an errant photograph at this point. Cyril is keeping watch, and every member of the GNSF in the city has been pressed into guard duty, though more for show than with any expectation of a need for force. After all.” He waggled his brows. “We have a prince and his bride-to-be to protect. If we didn’t put up a good front, people would begin to suspect all was not as it seemed at the castle.”

“Uh-huh. And how did
you
escape?”

Dimitri’s expression turned even more gleeful. “By not being there when the limo arrived. Stefan radioed me that you’d gone rogue, and there were only so many chateaux you would be likely to choose, given where you had the fruit truck dump you off. Neatly played, that. There’s been no indication that you were seen.”

Kristos nodded. “And the driver of the truck?”

“Shot.”

As he’d intended, Em gasped and drew back sharply, allowing Dimitri to wave his hands at her. “Kidding, kidding,” he said, his laughter echoing around the veranda. “He was well paid to keep quiet, and since he is the only one who knew where he dropped you, if that information were to reach the press, there would be little doubt as to how it got there. He knows that as well, so he has additional incentive to keep his mouth shut.”

“And now what?” Kristos motioned them all forward, his arm still anchoring Emmaline to him as they entered a large sitting room, its windows opened to allow the soft breezes to filter in through the curtains. A fire had been laid in the hearth of the central fireplace, which took the chill off the breeze, and soft lights beckoned. “You can’t imagine I’m in any danger up here.”

Dimitri looked around, then strode to the center of the room, where more wine was laid out along with the thick, sugary pastries of Garronia. The bodyguard helped himself to a large glass of wine, then offered the bottle to Kristos before returning it to the table. “For myself? No, I do not think there’s any danger here,” he said, continuing to speak in English. “For the king and Cyril, I will be more cautionary in my reports. Otherwise they’d probably drag me back there to terrify the photographers.”

Kristos narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to tell him where we are.”

“Not precisely, no. Though you could be discovered up here easily enough. The country, it is not so large as that.”

“Except no one is looking for us.”

Dimitri stretched his hand, the wine sloshing in his glass but not quite reaching the rim. “All the more reason to have a bodyguard you trust on hand versus the large security detail the king would doubtless insist upon, to protect both you and your beloved mermaid princess.”

He waggled his brows again at Emmaline, and she laughed, the sound winging through Kristos. “Well, I thank you most kindly,” she said, bowing solemnly at Dimitri before turning to Kristos. Her eyes asked the question that she didn’t want to speak aloud, he knew. Should she stay or go? Propriety dictated that he send her to her room, allow her to rest. Propriety dictated that he spend time with his brother’s good friend and his own teammate and catch up on the business of the GNSF, since Dimitri was now an officer and Kristos had effectively been removed from duty—or was about to be.

But propriety would keep him from that which he wanted most in this world, on this night, which was to kiss the woman whose touch seemed to electrify him, whose every move drew his eye and set his body humming with need.

He focused his stare on Dimitri. “You know you’re killing me here, right?” he asked in their own language.

Dimitri was no fool. His eyes brightened with understanding and mirth. “It’s what I do best.” He switched to English again. “I plan to do a thorough search of the grounds, since I have our new gear to test anyway.”

That caught Kristos’s attention. Updated models of GNSF vision gear had been requisitioned months ago. Of course, it
would
finally come in right as he was taken out of active duty. Still, he nodded, content with his end of this night’s bargain. “Let me know what you learn.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” Dimitri managed to say the words without a trace of sarcasm, but Kristos narrowed his eyes anyway. It would take some time to get used to hearing that honorific from his fellow soldiers. Maybe the rest of his life. But Dimitri didn’t seem to notice his uneasiness. He gave Emmaline another short bow, also perfectly respectable, then turned before she became nervous enough to bow back. He strode out the front door, whistling like a man who knew a secret.

“Have you been friends long?” Emmaline asked, looking after him. Her relaxed manner had him glancing at her sharply. She lifted a hand to her mouth to smother a yawn.

You’ve got to be joking.
Of course she had every reason to be exhausted, but Kristos hadn’t expected fatigue to catch up with her so quickly. He’d missed his window of opportunity. Maybe Dimitri had already figured out the same thing and that was the reason for his good mood.
Ass.

“Yes,” he said, not willing to ruin the moment further by mentioning that it was Ari and Dimitri who had been friends first. “He’s trustworthy, though his timing could be improved.” He nodded to Emmaline, forcing the regret and disappointment out of his voice. “You should get some sleep. I’ll check in with the media and see if we’re having our first child tomorrow or anything.”

The relief that jumped in her eyes confirmed his suspicion that there was more going on here than simple exhaustion. So did the speed with which she turned toward the stairs. Before Dimitri had interrupted them, she had seemed more than happy to throw caution to the wind. Now, her mind was whispering for her to be careful, and he had only himself to blame. He’d let those embers grow cool.

She was allowed to be nervous, of course. They’d known each other for barely twelve hours. But still.

He sighed and headed for Theo’s office. At least the night would not be a total waste.

Chapter 9

What a total waste of a night
, Em thought bitterly as she climbed the stairs. Would Princess Emmaline Aurora Grace have chosen that moment to yawn, completely turning off the first guy who’d been interested in her in forever?
No.
No, she most certainly would not. Especially when the good princess hadn’t had sex in over two years.

Dammit.

Em stomped onto the second floor landing. She couldn’t deny that she’d felt a momentary surge of relief when Kristos had given her the out—at least before embarrassment at her own relief had flooded through her. It
had
been a long time. What if she somehow did the wrong thing? Heck, what if they had weird sex traditions in Garronia that she knew nothing about?

She giggled a little, despite her irritation. The floors above this one seemed deserted. Where did all the staff live? Surely not above them. Maybe not in the main house at all, but in some sort of secondary building on the estate. They’d want their own privacy, though given how opulent this place was down to the ornate door handles, she had no doubt that their living quarters were far more extravagant than the simple ranch home she shared with her parents back in Missouri.

Her parents. For the first time since she’d left on her European vacation, Em thought of them without a lurch of anxiety. Instead, the only thing making her nervous was apparently Prince Hottie Adonis Guy. In front of whom she’d just
yawned
.

Turning down the corridor, Em saw the twin doors near the end of the hallway, one marking hers, the other Kristos’s. Though she’d gratefully showered earlier today, she didn’t think he’d even
been
to his room yet, and curiosity thrummed through her. Was it a mirror image of her own? Or had he given her the better room out of some misplaced chivalry?

Or, even more intriguingly, was his room some sort of palatial bedchamber fit for, well, a prince?

Em’s eyes widened as she regarded the closed door. Kristos had seemed pretty determined to go to Theo’s guest office, and she suspected he, like most men, would get wrapped up pretty quickly in streaming video and Internet. So she would have time, definitely, to take a little peek.

Another thought struck her.
Does Kristos have a girlfriend he needs to contact?
Surely not. He would never have kissed her, not once but
three
times, swept her off on a motorcycle, and dropped her in the center of a hidden villa if he’d had a girlfriend. And yet, how could he not? Even among the other Garronois soldiers she’d seen, most of whom were impossibly hotter than the guys back home, he looked like a supermodel. Tall, dark, lean, and dangerous. And those golden eyes…

Em chewed her lip, pausing in front of her door before looking back over her shoulder. What would it harm to take a look?

She stepped across the hall and turned the handle on Kristos’s door. It moved easily in her hand, and she pushed the door open, grateful that moonlight poured in through the open windows, blanketing the room with a soft glow. His room
was
similar to hers—same tile floors, same enormous, plush bed, same
en suite
bathroom. It didn’t feel like he’d been there yet, as she’d suspected. The drawers were untouched, the bathroom door was standing open at a precise angle. The whole place had that staged look that hers had also had when she’d entered it earlier that day.

The bed, of course, was untouched.

She considered it now, draped in its pool of moonlight, its coverlet light enough that the soft breeze sent it rippling, almost inviting her to climb up onto its high, plush pillows. Now that her vision was becoming accustomed to the gloom, she peered toward the window and crossed the cool tiles to push aside the light curtains.

It was all so beautiful. The view was almost identical to hers, though her room looked over the gardens and pool while his showed a more unremitting view of forest—and maybe a gleam of a lake or something in the distance?

She focused on that far glimmer of light, leaning against the window frame as she let her mind wander, the events of the day finally catching up to her. When she’d woken up this morning, she’d expected her day would have little more excitement than nursing Lauren back to health after her run-in with the
tsipouro
. Now here she was on the other end of the country, hiding out from the paparazzi with, well, a prince.

She allowed herself a long sigh.
Princess Emmaline Aurora Grace gazed out over her vast and beautiful kingdom, the enchanted realm of Garronia, and thought about the pressing news of the day. There would be a royal wedding soon, everyone said, and the idea should gladden her heart, lift her spirits and—

“I’m pretty sure this is my room.”

The words would have shot her straight out over the window pane, except firm hands were suddenly on her hips, anchoring her in place as a very large, very masculine body fitted itself up against hers. Kristos’s heady, spicy scent swirled around her as he bent to nuzzle her neck, drawing his mouth up against Em’s ear in a move that practically made her eyes cross. “You want to tell me what you’re doing here?”

Em tried to struggle out of his embrace, but he slipped his hands around her further, drawing his fingers along the silky material of her dress, moving up, up, until he captured her breasts in his palms. Her knees seemed to give up the will to live at that point, and she sagged against him, managing little more than a gasp.

“That’s a promising beginning,” Kristos murmured, then bent deeper to kiss her shoulder, his fingers beginning to knead her breasts in a sensual rhythm. “I might need you to be a little more specific, though.”

She turned, not even remotely trying to escape, and as if he realized that, Kristos let her move, his mouth claiming hers as she lifted her face toward him. Apparently, that was all the additional information he required. He pulled her almost roughly against him, heat and desire evident in every line of his body. Em pressed back, her hands lifting to his beautiful face as he kissed her, unable to believe that
she
was here, that
they
were here, and that
this
—

Kristos didn’t let her get her bearings any further. He walked her backward across the tiled floor, kissing her brows, her cheeks, her lips, her chin, as if he couldn’t get enough of a taste of her without roaming over her skin. His left hand stretched around her, cupping her backside, and heat pooled inside Em’s belly with urgent force, her heart rate jumping, her brain unable to focus on any one sensation except the backs of her legs hitting the bed.

“This would be a very good time for you to suggest that we stop,
koukla mou
,” Kristos rasped as he lifted his head from hers, his eyes looking slightly dazed. “If you do, I swear I will let you go and not continue—”

“I don’t want you to stop,” Em blurted, shocked at the need in her own voice. She had no idea if that answer startled Kristos, but he responded with a growl of his own, lifting her and settling her back on the bed, laying her out flat while he pressed the entire length of his body over hers, both of them sinking into the plush mattress.

Fire exploded inside her, her urgency so intense it was almost a panic. Kristos moved quickly, his hands shifting down the length of her dress until they found the hem, then pressing the sleek material up her thighs to her waist. He lifted off her just enough to pull the dress farther, whisking it over her outstretched arms and then capturing her wrists in his grip as he stared down at her, drinking in her body with his eyes.