The Royal's American Love (3 page)

“So you want to put people on display?” he asked.

She checked his face to see if he was mocking her. When she
saw he was not, she nodded hesitantly.

“It sounds very idealistic in some ways, but I believe that
there are some stories that go beyond us. We take part in them, but they repeat
themselves over and over again, until we have reached a place where they become
familiar and important to everyone.”

“What story are you a part of right now, Marianna?” he
asked quietly.

There was a resonance to his voice that made her shiver,
and she thought about the question. Her first impulse was to answer flippantly,
to joke about being part of a sitcom or some other comedy show. Then Marianna
realized his question was a serious one, and that he deserved a serious answer.
One of the first things she had learned from her time as a journalist was that
you must always treat people the way you want to be treated.

“I think…I think I’m in one of those stories about a woman
finding herself. She leaves home, she is in a strange place, and there is
nothing around her to stop her from doing…doing what she wants. The freedom is
exhilarating at the same time it’s frightening, but at the end, she grows and
comes out of it the person she was always meant to be.”

“And love?”

Marianna laughed a little. “She definitely finds love. She
might not know she’s looking for it, or that it’s looking for her, but she
finds it.”

“And are you looking for love?” There was definitely a
teasing note in his voice, and she smiled in return.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I haven’t decided yet.”

It looked like he was going to say something else, but then
the door opened and a waiter came in bearing a deep dish filled with a savory
meat.

Despite her urge to play it cool, Marianna found herself
delighted by the meal. It was exactly what she had been craving when she got
off the plane, and when she ate, it felt as if she had come home in a strange
way.

“This is delicious,” she said happily, nibbling on a final
bite. She was too full to keep on eating, but she couldn’t stop herself from sampling
just a little bit more.

“As I said, my family has come to this restaurant for a
very long time. It was always one of my favorites.”

They talked of a few things here and there, learning more
about each other as the food disappeared. Though Marianna got the idea he liked
playing the part of the dissolute rake, there was something deeper to him,
something that tantalized her writer’s brain.

Just your writer’s brain?

The jeering thought made her flinch, and she realized with
some discomfort that she was treating this more as a date than she was an
interview process.

Oh be careful, be oh so careful
,
she thought
to herself, biting her lip.
This is how writers go down in infamy.

She tried to pull back a little, but to her shock, it was
already a difficult thing to do. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting to
smile at Nikolos, from wanting to reach across the table to touch his hand, to
laugh at his jokes.

Her unease culminated when they finished their meal and
wound up at the trattoria’s door. Night had fallen, and there was a lovely light
breeze sweeping through the street. She trembled a little, and Nikolos turned
to her.

“You know the night doesn’t have to end here,” he said, and
she knew she was not mistaken when she heard a bit of invitation in his voice.
She knew if she said yes, they would fall forward into something that she didn’t
understand and certainly could not control. She would find herself deeply
wrapped in something that could not be considered professional in any way,
shape, or form, and that was something that alarmed her.

“I think it should,” she said quietly but firmly.

She knew he had heard the stiffness in her tone because he
tilted his head to one side, looking at her cautiously.

“Now you must tell me,” he said, a note of caution in his
voice. “What exactly have I done to offend you? You were warm from the
beginning, then you heated up when we spoke, and now you are as chill as ice.”

She had to laugh a little at his exaggeration. That was
good. If she could distance herself from him, that would be for the best.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, I promise you,” she said. “It
is only that at the end of the day, I’m doing a story on you. I don’t think
that me following you out to…to do whatever it is that you are planning to do
would be ideal for my objectivity.”

A slightly wicked glimmer crept into his eyes.

“Oh, but aren’t we always told that the best accounts are
firsthand accounts? I think that you being a journalist would make you think of
that…”

For a moment, she nearly relented, but then she smiled
slightly to see how clever he could be.

“That is a very nice try, Nikolos, but I’m a little harder
to catch than that, I hope. I’ll go back to my hotel tonight, and tomorrow
morning we can start on the schedule put together by Mr. Lagana.”

Nikolos took her rejection philosophically. She had been
afraid that he might become genuinely angry, but instead he nodded, seeming slightly
chagrined.

“Well, when you’re right, you’re right,” he said with a
shrug. “May I give you a ride back to your hotel, or will that be influencing
your professional eye?”

Despite the wry words, there was absolutely no malice in
it, and she grinned at him.

“All right. I would appreciate the lift, Nikolos.”

He drove a sleek, black Ferrari, a car of impressive power
and smooth handling. She appreciated the luxury of the car almost as much as
she appreciated the way that Nikolos handled it. He shifted into gear with a
smoothness that bespoke years of long practice and natural command.

“Are you enjoying the ride?” he asked, and she nodded with
a slight laugh.

“It’s amazing. I’m not sure I’ve been in a car that grabbed
the road like this one.”

“Perhaps tomorrow, instead of going to the charity opening,
we can take it to one of the empty tracks and really let it open up.”

“Or maybe we will stick with the schedule that Mr. Lagana
set up for us. That would be good, too.”

“Ah, I see that you have decided to be my good angel,” he
complained good-naturedly. “I’m afraid that you are biasing the article,
Marianna.”

For some reason, when he said her name, she imagined his
tongue caressing it. It made her want to purr, and then she snapped out of it
as quickly as she could.

“And every good journalist knows that you bring your own
biases to a project no matter how good you try to be about it. I know that I am
inclined to portray you in the best light, and I am comfortable with that.”

He nodded, but she thought there was something pleased
about his expression. She wondered if anyone had ever wanted to think the best
of him before.

He pulled up to her hotel in a short amount of time, and
she sighed, sorry the ride was already over.

“Tomorrow, I believe that we are going to need to be at the
charity drive around about ten, so do you want to pick me up at nine? That’ll
give us plenty of time to get where we need to go.”

“Of course.” He paused. “I suppose a good night kiss is out
of the question?”

She knew what the answer was to that, of course. What good,
discreet, and fair journalist kissed her clients? She also knew what she
wanted, and she thought she recognized a chance that wouldn’t come again.
Despite her insistence on professionalism, she had a deep streak of wild in
her, and that was what took over now.

Nikolos was beginning to look away, taking her silence as a
refusal, when she reached out and cupped his chin. He turned back to her, his
eyes startled, and she took advantage of his surprise by kissing him on the
lips.

It was a gentle thing at first, barely more than a touch.
Then she felt the tip of his tongue tracing first her upper lip and then her
lower lip before seeking entrance between them. She opened her mouth and then,
without thinking about it, she found herself suckling lightly on his tongue,
making him moan.

She placed her hands on his shoulders. One of his hands
curled around the small of her back. If the gear shift hadn’t been between
them, she would have been pulled right up against his body. As he kissed her,
his arms around her, she could feel how strong he was, the way the muscles
played under his skin. Amazing that a man who was so strong could be so gentle
as well, and she could feel herself fall deeper under his spell.

It wasn’t until one hand came up to thread through her hair
that she realized she had stumbled into dangerous territory. The soft motion
awoke a burning heat in her, one that could overrule her common sense with a
great deal of speed and force if she allowed it.

With what felt like the last bit of her willpower, she
jerked away from him with a soft cry, throwing herself back against the far
door. She could imagine how she looked, her lipstick smeared and her gray eyes
turned dark with need for him.

Marianna looked up to see that Nikolos watching her. In
that moment, he reminded her of a beautiful animal poised to strike but still
uncertain about where to do it.

“That was not exactly what I intended to do,” she admitted,
and his laugh was low and throaty.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “as that was more or less exactly
what I wanted.”

She shook her head. “Anyway. Upstairs. That is, I’m going
upstairs. Right now. See you in the morning?”

If he noticed her stutter, he gave no sign. Instead, he
only came around the car to open the door for her, a charmingly courtly gesture
that made her smile. He handed her out of the car, brushing a light kiss across
the back of her knuckles before releasing her.

“Tomorrow,” he said, and it sound as much like a promise as
it was a declaration of future plans.

“Yes, tomorrow,” she echoed, and then she walked briskly up
to her room.

It was a luxurious room by her standards, a full suite
including kitchen, bathroom, and living room in addition to an enormous bedroom
with a king-size bed. At any other time, she would have reveled in the space,
but right now, she was simply too shocked by what had happened.

When Marianna saw herself in the bathroom mirror, she
realized her eyes looked enormous and dark, like those of a haunted, hunted
woman. After her shower and brushing her teeth, she found a strange comfort in
her old cotton floral nightgown.

“I’ll do better tomorrow,” she promised herself, sliding
between the incredibly soft sheets. “Tomorrow, I’ll keep my cool, and I’ll make
sure that I keep things professional. I will.”

She drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep, trying to
ignore the laughter that was echoing in her mind.

* * *

When he left the restaurant, Nikolos had every intention of
spending at least a few hours at his favorite club, or perhaps dropping in on
some of the famous parties that were always being thrown in Athens.

When he dropped Marianna off, however, he was filled with a
strange sense of languor. Suddenly, the evening looked…boring. It was
ridiculous, of course. He was one of the richest men in the country, and his
looks had been praised in international magazines since he turned nineteen.

However, the fact of the matter was as soon as Marianna had
gotten out of his car, he felt as if there was nothing else interesting in the
city, and that he might as well simply head to bed.

“Damned woman,” he said, but there was no heat to it.

He could still taste her on his lips, an astonishingly
sweet taste that made him want to pull her head back so he could drink more
thoroughly, more deeply.

“You’re just interested because she turned you down,” he
muttered, pulling into the flow of traffic. There were a thousand different
places that he could go…and he wanted none of them.

At a stoplight, he checked his messages. One was from his
mother, simply reminding him to be on his best behavior. The other was from a
young actress who was in town and wanted a little company. She was a beautiful
woman with an intelligent spirit and a wicked smile, but when he tried to think
about her face, he only saw Marianna’s.

He thanked his mother for her reminder, and he sent the
actress a vague apology. He didn’t think too long on why he didn’t feel like
running out to meet her, considering what he had been interested in earlier
that evening.

Instead, he turned his car towards his penthouse apartment.
Perhaps turning in early would be for the best after all.

He resolved to put Marianna out of his mind. There was
absolutely no profit in chasing after her, and he decided that this time he
would play it as straight as he could. It didn’t matter how sweet her kiss was,
or how silvery her eyes looked up close, or even how delicious it had felt when
she had touched his face with her hand.

No, those things certainly did not matter at all.

Chapter Three

“I had a little bet with myself that you would be late,”
Marianna said jokingly, as she got into the car.

He smiled at her, raising a dark brow. “Truly? Did you
think I would be that disrespectful?”

“No, never. I don’t think that you are ever disrespectful
unless you truly mean to be. However, I do think you might be a little
careless.”

Nikolos winced, a slight smile on his face.

“It is certainly the providence of younger sons to be so,”
he said. “I’ve been told that I live up to it quite well.”

Despite his light words, she wondered if there was some
kind of old hurt there. She was an only child, and as a late-in-life surprise
baby, she had always been a little more grown-up than her peers, a little aloof
and independent. Nikolos, always the younger brother, likely had a very
different experience growing up.

“What do you try to live up to?” she asked as they drove.
“Have you always felt that expectations weighed you down?”

Nikolos shot her a knowing smile before turning his eyes
back to the road.

“I see that you are starting your interviews early,
Marianna.”

She shrugged, refusing to feel abashed.

“You can think that if you want, but that’s only one way of
looking at it.”

“And pray tell me another way of looking at it?”

“I’ve not done the ghostwriting gig all that long. It’s
probably not a great idea to tell you that, but it’s the truth, and I think
that if you want truth, you should be willing to offer it, you know?

“The truth is that when I worked with Opal Featherstone, I
tried my best to go in without expectations. I wanted to make sure that I was
as fair to her as I could be, and that I could tell her story in a way that she
recognized and loved. That’s what I want to do for you, too. If I get close
enough to do my job, that means that we’re just going to get close, period.”

“Ah, so it is professionally expedient for you to be
friendly with me?” There was a careful chill to his voice that made her hurry to
correct it.

“No, actually, quite the opposite.”

“Explain.”

“The more time I spend with someone doing this kind of
work, the closer I get to them. The better I can do my job, the more I learn to
care for them. As it is, I already like you way more than I should. Right now,
the only difficulty is keeping enough of a lid on it to maintain a professional
distance.”

For some reason, that made Nikolos grin.

“I’m glad I am not alone in this,” he said with a sigh. But
before she could question him more closely, they had arrived at the hospital.

Nikolos’s family were known to be great philanthropists. It
was a tradition starting with his great-grandmother and had continued ever
since. Nikolos was there to represent the successful completion of one of the
many toy drives his family sponsored for the children’s wing.

With an expertise born of long practice, Marianna faded
discreetly into the background as Nikolos presented the hospital with an award
for impressive achievement, and greeted the director warmly.

She watched him closely, wondering how she was going to
describe this in the article she was writing. He was handsome, but more than
that, there was a certain sense of gravity and distance to him. He was every
inch a royal while he was on the stage, and she could see how every head in the
room turned toward him, as if they were sunflowers and he was the sun itself.

Marianna observed some of the female administrators and
nurses elbowing each other, commenting on his good looks, and that gave her a
strange mixed feeling of distaste and pride. She had no idea where those
emotions came from, so she stuffed them away. It was too much to think about
then.

There was a brief luncheon after the ceremony, and Marianna
was grateful, as she’d skipped breakfast that morning. She was seated between a
pediatrician and a minor television star, and they were both interesting people
who kept her talking and laughing.

The caterers were just passing out the desserts when she
glanced up and realized, just as she had been watching him earlier, now Nikolos
was watching her. He was smiling, but there was a certain masklike quality to
it. For some reason, she felt a deep pit opening up in her stomach, and she
wasn’t sure why.

The lunch finally ended, and she lurked in the lobby until
Nikolos freed himself from the people who wanted handshakes and photo
opportunities. When he entered the lobby on his way back to the car, he blinked
as if surprised to see her.

“Are you ready to go?” she asked. “I don’t mind waiting
longer if you have things you still want to do.”

“Not at all,” he said after a long moment. “Come on.”

When they got to the car, the sense of unease she had
picked up on during lunch was as thick as a London fog, and finally Marianna
had to do something about it.

“All right,” she said. “What’s the problem? Did I use the
wrong fork? Did I terribly embarrass your family in a way that I should not
have? What is it?”

Nikolos looked startled that she had brought it up, but he
rose to the challenge magnificently.

“I was surprised to see you in the lobby,” he said curtly.
“I had thought that you might have gone home with one of the men you were
flirting with. I had my bet on the pediatrician. You’re not the sort to be
charmed by empty good looks.”

If there was a compliment there, she was certainly too
steamed to find it.

“Are you serious?” she cried. “I was seated at lunch by
someone who stuck me wherever she could find room. If you think that I’m here…husband
hunting or doing anything but my job, I’m not, and I’m offended that you think
I am!”

“And all of that leaning close and batting your eyes?”

She could have spat in frustration.

“Well, I suppose I was leaning close because it was bloody
loud in there. And maybe I was blinking my eyes because I put my contacts in
today, and they itch if I wear them too long. But it doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t
have to make excuses for things that I simply do not need to be excused for!”

Her loud words hung in the air-conditioned silence of the
car. She was breathing a little heavily. She knew it was possible her job might
end right now. She was meant to observe and write about Nikolos, not yell at
him for being a jackass.

He was silent for a long moment, weaving in and out of
traffic with the absentminded expertise of a race car driver.

“You’re right,” he said at last. “I’m sorry.”

She frowned. “Really?”

“Yes.” For a moment, it was as if Nikolos struggled to find
the words, but then he started talking again.

“Yes. I met you when you were pretending to be a socialite,
and then I met you again when Philip introduced me to you at the trattoria. In
both settings, I was pleased to see that you were a young woman of integrity
who was well worth my regard. My jealousy only reflects poorly on me, and I
apologize.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. She heard the word jealousy
there as clear as day, but at the moment, she was going to ignore it. The idea
he was jealous was too fraught with unspoken feelings, too loaded for her to
really grasp. She felt dizzy, as if she was spiraling up to a great height. She
had no time for such things now.

“Is this going to end up in the article, do you think?” he
asked, a slight edge of humor in his voice. “I’m afraid that I’m not going to
come across as all that sympathetic if it does.”

“I don’t think it will,” Marianna said graciously. “It is
one incident. I have the rest of the month with you to see if it was a trait or
a onetime error.”

“I will endeavor to make sure that I present myself
better,” he said, and she was already shaking her head.

“I’m fibbing,” she said. “Please, be yourself. I don’t want
you to have to worry about putting your best face forward, or doing anything
like that. What I can tell you is that this article is meant to explore the
real truth of you, and as far as I can tell, the truth of you is a good, kind
and interesting man. You don’t have to put on a face when your real one is so
fine.”

There was a long silence.

For a moment, Marianna wondered if she had said too much.
Opal had always appreciated when she was brutally honest with her, and at this
point, she had no other idea how to behave with Nikolos.

“Thank you,” he said finally. “I…I will keep your words in
mind.

* * *

He wanted to take her to the ruins in the countryside, the
old ones that spoke of Greece’s deep history and roots. He wanted to take her
to the gemlike little islands on the Greek coast, dotted with temples to gods
old and forgotten. He wanted to take her to bed.

Instead, Marianna said she had notes to compile and a story
to plan, and so she asked to be dropped off at her hotel.

When he pulled up to the steps of her hotel, he found her
watching him with those astonishingly clear gray eyes. No, not gray, they were
far more silvery, the effect only enhanced by the fine black line that rimmed
her irises. For a single, unnerving moment, it felt as if she were looking into
his soul, and that she could see all the darkness there, and the pettiness, and
the fears. He had never felt quite so small, but then she smiled, her face
lighting up.

“You’re a better man than you are afraid you are,” she said
quietly, almost like she was telling him a great secret.

“Thank you,” he said, too stunned to move, and then before
he could come up with a rational response, she was gone, closing the door
behind her and striding up the stairs.

Before he could do something foolish like go after her, he
gunned the engine and pulled away from the hotel.

You’ve got it bad
,
he thought grimly.

He had known it last night, but he hadn’t wanted to believe
it. Somehow, this little minx from the United States had hooked a finger through
his heart. The worst part was she didn’t even seem to know it. Instead, she was
tugging it along after her without a single backward glance, and he was
compelled to follow.

When he stopped for a quick coffee, he realized there was a
text waiting for him. This time it was a charming tour guide he had met while
he was visiting the southern part of the country a few months ago. She was in
Athens for the night, and she wanted to know if they could renew their
acquaintance.

He hesitated for a moment, but he knew what his answer was
going to be before he even typed it in.

Sorry, I have plans this evening. Enjoy your night in
Athens, though!

He put away his phone with a sigh. He had to do better.
That meant for the next month, he would need to be on his best behavior.

Or your very worst behavior…

He couldn’t deny the thought was there. Nikolos had seen
the way that Marianna looked at him. He could feel the heat that seemed ready
to pour from her at a moment’s touch. He could still remember the kiss they had
shared less than twenty-four hours ago.

The temptation to do exactly what most of the world
expected him to do was right there, and it was hard to deny. It was especially
hard when he thought about how good it would feel, and how good he knew she
would feel as well.

He thought about those silvery eyes. He thought about how
disappointed she might be, and he sighed heavily.

As Nikolos made his way back to his penthouse, he reminded
himself that he only had to be good for a month. After that, he could get back
to his regular life, his real life, and she would be gone.

God help him, but the thought left a dark pit inside him.