His Most Exquisite Conquest (15 page)

He made an inarticulate sound and deepened the kiss, pulling her body flush to his as he maneuvered them back into her apartment. As so often happened when they kissed, time stopped moving for her and the only thing her consciousness registered was the feel of his lips on hers and his hard body so close.

When he pulled back, they were both breathing a little heavily.

His dark gaze fell to the manila envelope by the door. She'd opened it, but the phone call had come in from Nana before she could skim the contents. She wasn't worried, though. At twenty-six, she was young. She lived a healthy lifestyle and showed no signs of illness.

Nana would chastise her nonetheless. It was a good thing the older woman was in Las Vegas.

“You got your results.” There was a curiously flat quality to Maks's tone.

She nodded and led the way into the living room. “Would you like something to drink before we go?”

“I'll take a shot of Old Pulteney, if you have it.”

“You know I do.” She'd kept the twenty-one-year-old single malt whiskey on hand since he'd admitted to it being his drink of choice.

Gillian poured Maks two fingers in a rock glass, no ice, and handed it over.

“Thank you.” He took a larger sip than usual.

She smiled, charmed by the evidence of nervousness in a man so completely self-assured.

“You never told me you had appendicitis when you were sixteen.”

“You never asked.” He'd seen the scar, faded and small though it was.

She was surprised it had been mentioned in her health report, though. His doctor had obviously done a much more thorough examination than her own GP for this physical. She wasn't surprised in the least that Maks had read the report with such attention to detail, though.

That was very much like him.

Maks frowned and took a sip of his drink.

Not sure why having had appendicitis was worth a frown, Gillian poured club soda over ice and added a slice of lime, her drink of choice. Maybe Maks was like her father and responded strongly to the knowledge she'd almost died.

When Rich visited her in the hospital, it was the one and only time Gillian had seen overt concern for her on his movie star handsome face.

Her father never appreciated the reminder that he'd been vulnerable to worry for her and she assumed Maks would be the same, so she didn't comment on it, but asked instead, “Where are we going for dinner?”

He'd said he wanted to take her somewhere special. Combined with the fact he'd asked for the results of her yearly physical and that his own GP perform it, she was pretty confident that tonight was supposed to end in a proposal.

One she had no intention of turning down.

She loved him wholly and completely. She'd never told him, either. She hadn't admitted
that
to Nana, but the words had turned out surprisingly difficult for Gillian to utter.

“Chez Rennet.”

It was the first restaurant he'd ever taken her to. No, he hadn't said the words, but Maks had a romantic streak he wasn't that great at hiding.

“Terrific. I love Rennet's food.” The chef and owner had a soft spot for both her and Maks as well.

Dining in his restaurant was always pleasurable and Gillian took that as further evidence Maks wanted tonight to be special.

“I know you do.” Again that serious look.

And it finally clicked. Tonight
was
a serious night, an evening that would culminate in the kind of conversation she was sure Maks only planned to have once in his life.

She hadn't been nervous before, but knowing how important tonight was to him brought a flock of humming birds to take up residence inside Gillian.

She was getting engaged to a prince, and for the first time, she really thought about what it would be like to be a princess.

The prospect was more than a little daunting.

Nana had always said Gillian ignored what she did not want to deal with and she'd done a fair job of that while dating Maks, but his somber demeanor tonight forced her to evaluate what his proposal would mean to both of them.

Ultimately, however, it didn't matter.

She would have given up the creature comforts of civilization and moved to Antarctica to be with him.

Taking on the role of princess and living at least half the year in the Baltic island country of Volyarus would not be allowed to frighten her.

She loved him, Maks the man.

She could and would live with Maksim of the House of Yurkovich, Crown Prince of Volyarus.

ISBN: 9781460315330

HIS MOST EXQUISITE CONQUEST

Copyright © 2013 by Emma Darcy

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com