She should have instantly corrected him but some imp inside her made her rebel and she gave him a coquettish look from beneath her lashes.
He leaned forward, his face inches from hers. “Lara, you’re playing with fire.”
Suddenly she couldn’t breathe as his sheer
c
loseness and magnetism made her giddy. “I know,” she whispered, her tongue licking her dry, bottom lip.
“Your Highness. Dinner will be served in half an hour. May I offer you an aperitif?”
Saved. She nodded and accepted a glass of French champagne. To her surprise, Jack also took a glass and clinked it against hers. “To us and the next three weeks,” he said, and although she hadn’t taken a sip, she felt instantly intoxicated by this man.
Dinner was served on the central table, which doubled as a conference area. Now it had been set with the finest china and cutlery and crystal glassware. Fortunately for her, Jack had decided to ease the sexual tension and they were able to talk comfortably.
She took the opportunity to tell him about her country, including its impressive history and the royal lineage dating from the fifteenth century. “My brother Carl is the crown prince and will succeed my father when he dies,” she explained as she finished her main course of veal with mushrooms, realizing how hungry she had been.
“The royal family doesn’t have a say in the ruling of the country?” He appeared genuinely interested and plied her with inquisitive questions throughout the meal.
“No. Not now. It used to, but like most of the small European countries, we have a government in power. The royals are figureheads. We continue to exist by the grace and favor of the government and our people.”
“What’s the population?”
“Only two hundred and fifty thousand people. Our main language is German, but we also speak Russian and French.”
“Do you speak all of those languages?”
“Yes.”
“Clever girl.”
“It is part of my heritage and for most Europeans, languages come naturally. English is our second language.”
“Why did you take a fine arts degree at university?”
“When you arrive, you will realize Challoner is a very beautiful country steeped in history with many classical buildings, statues and art galleries. Tourism is the country’s main source of revenue. It is important that I’m familiar with the arts as well as political sciences.”
Jack was quiet and seemed lost in thought. She took the opportunity to study his features as if she couldn’t stop drinking him in. The straight chiseled nose and strong, slanting cheekbones, his face bronzed by the wind and sun. His long, sensitive fingers holding the elegant wine glass were toughened by the rough work he did to make a living. Their lives were literally poles apart. How could she ever think anything could come from a relationship with him?
“It is winter there, Jack. Did you bring warm clothes?”
He grinned. “Yeah. I remembered at the last moment when I was packing.”
She placed her serviette on the table, the signal for the attendant to clear the plates. “I’m sure my parents will arrange suitable clothing for you if you don’t have it.”
“You mean, like a dinner suit?”
She hesitated. She hadn’t thought about him not being able to afford the necessary suits to wear. “You won’t need to attend formal functions,” she said quickly, afraid she would embarrass him.
“Oh, but I want to.” Stubbornness was written across his face.
“It’s not required,” she said, equally as stubborn.
“What’s the problem, princess? Afraid I will show you up with my bad manners and ill-fitting clothes?”
“I’m not going to get into another argument with you.” She rose from her chair and Jack stood also. They glared at each other across the table.
“I told you on the island that you were a snob. Nothing has changed,” he said, tossing his serviette on to the table.
“And you are an uncouth, ignorant, common…man. You should thank your lucky stars you weren’t thrown into prison for a very long time.”
“What?”
“You seduced me—a royal princess.”
“And you loved every moment of it. In fact, if you’d had your way, you would be pregnant now with a royal bastard.”
“Oh.
Oh.”
Lara was mad. “This is a large enough plane for you to keep out of my way for the rest of the flight so please make sure you do,” she said icily.
“It will be my pleasure, Your High and Mightiness.” He left her standing at the table and entered the door to the gymnasium, slamming it behind him.
Both of them managed to avoid the other for the remainder of the flight with Lara reading umpteen magazines, while he spent an eternity working out in the gym. She then had to wait for him to shower before she could prepare for bed.
The stop in Singapore to refuel the plane and change crews was very brief, and as they took off for Challoner, she settled into her large double bed aware the crew had set up sleeping quarters for Jack in the forward cabin.
Before going to sleep, she took out her new journal that she had arranged for one of the security men to buy the previous day. She had gone hot and cold when she realized she had left her other journal under the armchair cushion in Jack’s cottage. Panicking, she wondered who she could ask to retrieve it, knowing in the wrong hands it would be dynamite. Then common sense prevailed. Housework wasn’t Jack’s forté and the journal wasn’t likely to be found for years. People wouldn’t even know who she was then.
She began to write.
I am so mad with Jack, I could throw him out of this plane.
Just when I think we are getting on okay, he lashes at me with that barbed tongue of his. He has a major hang up now he has found out who I am and honestly, I don’t care that he’s a fisherman. In fact, I’m glad. I love him as he is. If only we didn’t ricochet between rowing like crazy and wanting to make love.
I’ll never be able to hold out against him if he keeps looking at me the way he does. Oh, he makes my toes curl!
There are difficult times ahead, dear diary. I don’t know how Jack and I are going to manage.
Welcome to my world, Jack Lucas.
Six
“Are we going straight to the palace?”
Jack swung himself into the chair opposite her aware they would shortly be landing at Challoner. He had spent the last two hours on the flight deck talking to the pilot and first officer and had enjoyed their company. It also meant Lara and he could continue to avoid one another and the possibility of having more rows. But the time had come to be civil, particularly since they would be spending so much time together during the next three weeks.
She looked up from the book she was reading. “Yes. But there’s no need to change.”
“I wasn’t going to.” Jack pursed his lips.
He didn’t mean to be uncooperative but straight away her comment had irritated him. He consciously relaxed his shoulders trying to shake the tension from them following the hours spent in the aircraft. He hadn’t been to Europe before, never having the need. All of his long haul trips had involved visits to Japan, China and Indonesia as part of his negotiations for the many businesses under his control, particularly the lucrative areas of aqua-culture and export trade. Although he had his own private jet and worked on his computer during most of these flights, he still found that time passed slowly and tediously.
Lara appeared to ignore his glib comment. “I’ve received a call from the queen and she has asked us to join the king and her for luncheon. It will be about ten o’clock in the morning when we land so this will give us time to shower and change.”
Watching her put into place her ever-so-cool façade was quite fascinating. The original Ice Princess. Yet he knew he could break through those barriers with a few words, or a touch of his hand on that soft cheek or the caress of his lips against her elegant neck.
He had been fascinated by their fiery exchanges earlier. She had come alive, her eyes sparkling into his and her cheeks pink with anger. He had met her only a few days ago and yet he knew her. He knew her…intimately.
“Do you have a suit to wear?”
He blinked, endeavoring to put his lustful thoughts aside. “Yes. I’ve brought a suit with me.”
“It will be a reasonably informal luncheon. My brother, Carl, will attend as well. The press office is leaking the word that you are more of a close friend of Carl’s than mine.”
He laughed. “The Princess Media Machine stepping up the action?”
Responding with a warm smile, she said, “The palace is very protective of me. I am the people’s favorite royal, which is why there was such an upset when it was thought you had kidnapped me.”
She made the statement without the slightest trace of ego giving Jack some idea of what he was in for. The royal favorite and he had the audacity to seduce her. Even if their affair had been successfully hidden from the media and, consequently, the people, he still had to face her family and palace officials.
“What are you thinking? You look bemused.” Her voice was soft as she stared at him.
Jack absentmindedly rubbed a hand over his jaw feeling the growth of day-old bristles. He really didn’t know how to answer her. How could he say he didn’t approve of this subterfuge? That as a grown woman, albeit a princess, she should be allowed to have whatever friends and relationships she liked? That it went against the grain for him to pretend he was a friend of the family, rather than her lover.
How could any nation still be so rigid and steeped in tradition to go to such lengths? He hadn’t told Lara that when he had reached his home in Port Margaret, he had spent several hours on the internet researching her country including its history and the role her ancestors had played over the centuries. Then, because he was so curious, he had investigated other royal households in Lichtenstein, Spain, Denmark and the United Kingdom. On the surface, none of them appeared to be as strict as Challoner but then, he didn’t know what happened behind the closed palace doors.
“I was thinking how lovely you look,” he said and meant it. He was tired and knew he would suffer from jet lag and yet Lara was perfect, her features serene, her hair and makeup understated and elegant.
“You’re very forthright. It embarrasses me.” Faint color kissed her cheeks.
“Don’t worry. I’ll behave myself in front of your family.”
“I think you should relax and be yourself, Jack.”
He grinned. “If that was the case, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you and would ravish you on the banquet table in front of everyone.”
She surprised him by giggling as her cheeks grew pinker. “Have you forgiven me for getting you into this mess?”
“Lara, it’s not a mess. It’s a holiday, so don’t worry about me.” He caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. “It will do me good to behave myself for a change.”
~ * ~
A flurry of snowflakes greeted Lara as she emerged from the aircraft on the private runway a few miles from the palace and the city of Challoner. She quickly descended the steps to the tarmac and entered the waiting limousine, which carried the royal standard. Jack was close behind her and the length of his thigh touched hers as they settled into their seats in the back of the vehicle. There was a partition separating them from the driver allowing them privacy.