Mistress to the Prince (22 page)

Max could read between the lines and knew that it had been a much more disappointing experience than she was willing to admit to him. 
“You didn’t have sex with him, did you?”

Tara
tried to get her hands out of his grip but he wouldn’t let them go until he had all of his answers. 
“No
,” she finally answered when she couldn’t break free
. 
“
Are you happy now?” she said and moved her body against his again, trying to distract him.  “Why don’t we move on to more interesting subjects?” she suggested.

Max shook his head.  “Why didn’t you try with someone else?”

“Because no one else interested me.”

“Until now,” he said. 

She didn’t want to increase his already huge ego, but there was no other answer to give him.  “Yes.  Until now.  Are you satisfied?”

Max smiled down at her angry expression. 
He released her hands, letting his finger slide down her body to reach his intended destination, one finger circling her nipple. 
“Not really.  But I think you can do something about that,” he said and pulled her up into his arms, taking one breast in his mouth.  He slowly lowered her down, right onto his erection.  Leaning her against the wall, he made love to her standing up.  The sensations were incredible with the cold stone on her back and the heat of his body in front. 
Tara
screamed, wishing she could hold back just a little but nothing but complete surrender would satisfy him. 

Once their bodies came down from the intense release, Max helped her wash her hair.  He was incredibly gentle and sweet and
Tara
wanted to tell him to stop being so wonderful.  But she knew it was already too late.  She was completely, hopelessly in love with him. 

She wasn’t sure what she had been thinking when she told herself she wouldn’t fall in love with him.  How could any woman know the man’s intelligence, complete dedication to the people he would eventually rule as well as the amazing lover and not fall in love with him?  She’d been crazy to even try. 

An hour later,
Tara
sipped coffee across the table from him.  Both had a section of the newspaper and he was flipping through the sections, seemingly skimming the articles instead of just reading them. But
Tara
knew he was reading almost every word and absorbing all the details.  He even read the opinions articles, smiling at some, shaking his head at others. 

She wanted to know what he was reading, but was equally happy just watching him inconspicuously.  She read a few articles, but her body was just too relaxed to do much more than skim the main ones.  Spring was in the air and she was enjoying the late morning sunshine too much. 
Not to mention having be
en satisfied by Max’s incredible
lovemaking so many times she couldn’t count the number of times she’d reached fulfillment. 

Max closed his section of the newspaper and folded it up.  “What do you want to do today?” he asked, draining the last of his cup of coffee. 

“Do?” she asked
, completely caught off guard
. 
She’d planned on finishing her cleaning but didn’t think he would want to join in that endeavor.  Spending the day with him hadn’t even been considered. 

“Yes.  Do.  What do you want to do?”

“With you?”

“Yes.  I’m not the love em and leave em type,” he joked.

Tara
had to swallow quickly or choke on her coffee.  “Yes, you are.”

Max leaned forward and took a bite of her forgotten croissant. 
“Not with you.  I want to spend the day with you,” he said.  “Unless you have other plans.”

“No.  But you never spend Sunday with your female acquaintances.”

“Stop telling me what I do with previous women I’ve seen.”  He was actually irritated by her in depth knowledge of his activities.  “How do you know so much?” he said and pulled her onto his lap, taking a
nother
bite out of her croissant.

Tara
smiled and wrapped her arms around his shoulder.  She was only wearing one of his huge shirts but the tails reached down to her knees while the sleeves were rolled up about six times so her hands could reach the end. 
“You tell me.  At least you used to.  All that stopped about six months ago.”

“I told you what I did with my dates?” he asked, not liking the way that sounded. 

Tara
laughed at his confused expression.  “Not in so many words.  But your dates are on my c
alendar.  And I’d ask you how they went with your various ladies and you’re comments were usually lackluster.  And when we’d talk about our weekends, you never mentioned spending the day with one of your lady loves.  Until six months ago, as I mentioned.”

“I know.  That’s when I noticed your legs when you were bending over to file something
,” he said, smiling wolfishly and unrepentantly.  “
Very distracting, by the way,” he said and took another bite.

Tara
’s mouth dropped open. 
“Filing?  You’re looking at my legs when I file?” she asked and pulled her croissant away so he couldn’t devour it. 

“Absolutely.”

“And this started six months ago?”

He shook his head and leered, his eyes moving down to her legs and since his hands were free of her breakfast, they smoothed down the long length of her right leg. 
“No.  It actually started about two years ago.  Six months ago was when I stopped fighting the desire to watch.”

Tara
laughed at his unrepentant expression.  “So much for separation in the work place,” she said. 

“You haven’t answered my question,” he said.

Tara
looked around.  “I have no idea what a prince does on his time off if he’s not wooing another damsel.”

He pinched her bottom. “You’ll pay for that,” he said, then rubbed the spot he’d just pinched.  “Do you ride?” he asked.

Tara
looked horrified. 
“Horses?  Good heavens, no.”

“Why not?”

She gave him the last of her croissant then wrapped her other arm around his shoulders, hoping he wasn’t trying to convince her to go horseback riding. 
“Because they are huge, unmechanical animals that don’t have an ignition switch or a break that I can automatically push.”

Max threw back his head and laughed.  “Well, you’re right there,” he said when his laughter had subsided.  “Want to learn?
”

“No.”
  There was no way she wanted to learn to ride the animals.  She loved watching them run and
frolic
when they were in the palace pastures or racing in the horse
races Cordova sponsored each year, but she didn’t want to actually ride one herself. 

“Why not?”

“Because they are huge, unmechanical animals that don’t have an ignition switch or a brake that I c
an automatically push,
”
she rep
eated.

He laughed again.  “Very true.  You know you’re going to have to learn,” he said.

She reached for her cup of coffee as she replied,
“No I’m not.  I’m perfectly happy getting from poin
t A
to point
B
with a car.  If God had wanted us to abuse the poor animals by riding them all the time, he never would hav
e allowed us to think up the combustion engine
.”
  She took a long sip of coffee, savoring the incredible taste of the perfect coffee. 

Max smiled.  “I can see that this is going to be an issue.  Because I love riding.  How about if I take you down to the stables and introduc
e you to my horse.  And possibly
a very gentle mare that you could get to know, and
maybe
ride eventually.”

Tara
didn’t like the sound of that. 
“No thank you.”

Ma
x laughed at her adam
ant expression.  But she should know him enough by now to understand that he wasn’t going to give in on this issue. He had a suspicion that she would really like riding if she just gave it a chance. 
“If I promise that you won’t get hurt, will you trust me?”

He looked so sincere,
Tara
eyed him suspiciously.  “I’m not sure.”

Max smiled broadly, impressed that she was willing to challenge him so easily.  It gave him hope for their future, which he knew she was going to fight him on as well.  But he would win on that issue
also
, he knew. 
“Well, that wasn’t a no, so I’m taking it for concurrence.  You brought jeans, correct?”

“Yes, but not to go riding today,” she said, instantly
wary
and starting to
wiggle
off his lap
.

“Trust me,” he repeated and stood up, setting her on her feet.

Since he took her hand in his,
Tara
followed him reluctantly
back into the bedroom.  She pulled on her jeans and sweater that she’d worn the previous day to the palace, feeling unprepared for their afternoon adventure
. 

Once they were dressed, Max wearing a similar pair of jeans and a sweater instead of his normal riding clothes, they headed out of the relative privacy of his personal apartment. 
She wasn’t sure why but he headed first to the kitchens instead of outside.  But when he walked right over to the refrigerator, she started to understand.  He handed her an apple and a carrot, then stuck several sugar cubes into her pocket. 

“Bribes,” he said and winked at her. 
His statement didn’t help her figure out what he was about but she knew from reading that horses liked apples, carrots and sugar so she guessed that they were for the horses but as bribes?  What was a bribe for? 

They walked down to the stables and he introduced her to his horse. 
It was a massive black stallion with black eyes.  The large beast snickered and nudged
Tara
as soon as she approached, then ignored her in favor of his master. 
“Give him the carrot and he’ll be your friend for life,” Max explained
, petting the animal
’
s flanks and encouraging Tara to make friends with him
.

Tara
held out her hand and offered the horse the carrot with the ends of her fingertips.

Max chuckled at her terrified expression.  “Don’t worry.  This is Zeus and he loves carrots,” he explained and moved her closer to the animal.  He took her empty hand and showed her how to pet the animal’s neck and nose. 

Tara
was amazed at how gentle the enormous animal was.  He snorted several times but it was more to gain another pat from Max rather than an angry snort. 
“Wow!  She’s very soft,”
Tara
said, moving an inch closer on her own when the large beast didn’t even move. 

“You’re about to lose whatever progress you’ve made
by offering
the carrot with those words,” Max said.  “This is a male.”

She looked up and saw his arrogant expression as he soothed the animal’s feelings at being called ‘she’.  It was amusing to see two large animals dancing around the testosterone issue. 
“Ah,”
Tara
laughed. “I’m sure he’s just as sensitive as other males when their masculinity is
in question
, huh?”

“Absolutely,” Max said, nodding for emphasis. 

“Why is that, do you suppose?” she asked, turning to face Max and challenging him.