The Princess Finds Her Match (14 page)

Blessedly, she was still numb from the impact. How else could she still be standing in front of him while she listened to him deliver his next words with contempt? “We had a transaction. You save your reputation, I get the horse. Don’t make it complicated.”

The numbness was wearing off, and Lexie felt pain hovering in the fringes. “But I broke it off,” she repeated stupidly, her brain like a wind-up mechanical toy sputtering on its last wind of power. “I broke it off,” she whispered, stricken.

Nic laughed harshly. “He’ll take you back. I’ll bloody well make sure of it.” His blue eyes were hard. “After this farce is over, we are going our separate ways. If you’re − if you’re pregnant, please let me know.” He seemed about to say something but changed his mind. “Just let me know,” he said bleakly.

He took her bag from her limp grasp and dug out the key to the house. Once he had led her inside, he quickly turned around and with a click of the door, was gone as if he never had been.

N
ic had
to stop by the side of the road for several minutes so he would not be endangering other motorists. He had to get a grip. When he was sure he had overridden the howling, insane need to pull back and return to Lexie, he allowed himself to drive back to his place.

Inside the apartment, he whipped out his mobile and dialed an unlisted number.

“Yes?” the grouchy and imperious voice on the other end said after the fourth ring.

In his frame of mind, he forgot the time difference between L.A. and Seirenada. “It’s Nic Fernandez.”

There was a beat of silence, and Nic could just imagine the Prince on the other side of the world frowning. “Is something the matter with my sister?” Alarm wiped any trace of sleep from the autocratic tone.

“Lexie is safe,” Nic pacified the Prince immediately. “I apologize for alarming you.” Theia had given Nic the Prince’s private number in case of any emergency, and he couldn’t blame Stefan for reacting with undue concern. “But there is something I think you need to know.”

“Please speak freely, especially if it concerns my sister.”

“It’s about Rupert Butler.”

“Of Butler Mining Inc.?”

“Yes.”

“Go on please.”

“Butler is obsessed with the alledramite contract.” As Nic relayed the patron’s willingness to do anything to get his hands on the mineral that was critical to manufacturing flexible glass and his loathsome plans to blackmail the royal family, he felt his rage filling him up again.

The Prince uttered a foreign word that required no translation. “I do not deal with unscrupulous characters. I have had Butler investigated, and I am troubled by reports of shady dealings and unfair trade practices. We are announcing our partnership with another mining company on Monday. It just took some time to persuade the Council that business relations with Butler, though it might be profitable at the start, will not be good for the image of Seirenada in the long run.”

Nic took a deep, shuddering breath. “Lexie has to leave Los Angeles immediately. I don’t want her anywhere near me and Butler.”

“I’ll take care of it. The Princess will leave for Seirenada as soon as possible.” The Prince paused before continuing, “Thank you for agreeing to this unusual arrangement, Mr. Fernandez. I have seen some of the articles and photos, and the media are convinced that it is indeed a romantic relationship and not a tawdry affair.” The hesitation on the other line was evident. “The fallout from her previous−” he floundered uncharacteristically, seeming to find the right term, “assignation with that bastard Wainwright had been hard on her. I didn’t want her to get hurt again.”

As if embarrassed by the emotional revelation, the Prince resumed his brisk, impersonal tone. “I will have Pygmalion transported to your ranch in Argentina. My staff will get in touch with you to handle all the pertinent details.”

“I don’t want Pygmalion,” Nic said tonelessly, flopping on a couch, thinking he wanted to get drunk after this conversation was over.

“It is yours, Mr. Fernandez. I do not renege on a deal, and you have delivered your side of the bargain satisfactorily.” Stefan was back to his imperial-sounding self.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, I will not repeat myself. Thank you, but I don’t want that bloody horse.” He wanted nothing to remind him of Lexie. Better to make the cut clean and not let the wanting fester.

“I see,” the Prince responded in an odd tone.

Nic could imagine the Prince’s eyebrows drawing together as he puzzled over his behavior.

“I see,” Stefan repeated more slowly as if he had solved the puzzle. “Very well. I will recompense you in a manner I see fit.”

Nic sighed. “No recompense whatsoever needed, Your Highness. Just keep Lexie safe.” This time, he was the one who had to repeat himself. “Just keep her safe.”

H
ung over
, sleep deprived, and in need of a bath, Nic decided he had to see Lexie one last time before she was gone from his life forever. He was that much of a masochist. He pulled on his jeans, a rumpled shirt, and a cap before making his way to Beverly Hills.

A bottle of whiskey for company illuminated some thoughts that Nic had tried to shove down a do-not-go-there mental compartment. The remembered hurt in her eyes tortured him. The alcohol allowed him to admit that he absolutely could not fucking bear it if Lexie’s feelings for him changed once she got hold of what real life with him had to offer her. He wasn’t poor, but only polo allowed him access to move in the rarefied circles of the likes of the Duke of Walkden. Melissa’s betrayal over choosing a wealthier, more powerful man had hurt his pride. Losing the baby he had not even had the chance to see or hold had gutted him. Lexie falling out of love would finish him. So, Nic reasoned in his alcohol-addled brain,
not
being with her was key to his survival.

He had to explain this to her, make her see. It was
him
, not her. Last night he purposely bungled things up so bad to make her reject him. But he had to let her know this thing with her meant the fucking world to him. He was going away because she already meant too much to him. It was like a fever in him, and the only thing that would break it was confessing his soul to her one first and last time. Selfish bastard that he was, he wanted to leave her with a bloody good impression of him.
What a laugh,
he thought bitterly.
What a fucking laugh
.

It was half past one when he drove through the wrought-iron gate of the mansion. He had a throbbing headache, and the time it took security to let him through seemed longer than the five minutes it actually was as evinced by his wristwatch. He must have looked a fright on the CCTV camera and the bodyguards probably hadn’t recognized him at first.

He hadn’t even rung the doorbell when the massive door was thrown open by a livid-looking Blair. The contrast to her laid-back character was such that Nic was taken aback by the change.

“You conniving bastard!” she yelled hysterically, her eyes filled with rage. “And to think I encouraged her to be with you because I thought you were different.” Her chest was heaving. “And all along you were in cahoots with that snake Butler!”

Nic gazed at Blair as if she was talking in Greek because she wasn’t making sense. Or maybe, he was just really, really knackered.

“Don’t play innocent, Nic. You have such nerve showing your face here.” She flung several pieces of paper at him that he hadn’t noticed she had been holding, hitting him squarely on the chest. It fell to the ground. He crouched down to pick them up the same time Blair banged the door shut with a loud thud.

He gazed at the photo for several seconds before processing everything. It was several photos of Lexie. The first one he saw was of her lying on a bed, asleep. She was turned to her side, her hands pillowing her hair, a hint of cleavage. Her hair was swept off her shoulders, revealing her bare back, the tattoo on her right shoulder blade and her dress rumpled on her hips. The second one was a closer view of her profile in slumber. And the third was a shot of her from the back, apparently taken from a party. Butler’s party, he swore as he recognized her dress from last night. The fourth photo had zoomed in on the tattoo on her back, leaving no doubt that the first two photos in the series had indeed been of the Princess.

The cliché was true. Nic’s blood turned to ice. He shoved the door open, which mercifully Blair had left unlocked, almost tripping on the suitcases on the foyer, and bounded up the grand staircase, trying to recall which bedroom was Lexie’s. Not bothering to knock, he found her in the third room down the left wing seated on the foot of the bed. She was staring out of the window, her shoulders hunched in a gray jumper. She turned to look in the direction of the door when he flung it open. Nic almost fell to his knees at the expression or lack thereof in her cat eyes. She gazed at him with deadened eyes and he noted her drawn, pale face. Nic wanted to howl and break something, but he would deal with his rage later. Right now, Lexie was all that mattered.

“Rojita,”
he rasped, his voice sounding rough from lack of sleep and alcohol.

She flinched and averted her gaze to look out of the window again.

“Rojita,”
he again started, registering the panic in his voice,
“por favor.”
He took several steps farther into the room until he was standing a few feet away from her. “You must listen to me. I have no idea how they got these photos. ” He reached out to her, his hands loosening their grip on the offending photos, and they fluttered to the carpeted floor. She shrank away from his touch.

She spoke for the first time, but her voice was devoid of inflection. She turned to stare at him blankly. “That night in Vegas. Who took those photos while I was sleeping?”

“Lexie, let me explain−“

Her voice trembled slightly. “Who took them? Just answer my question.”

He closed his eyes briefly in frustration. “I did,” Nic admitted baldly. “I swear to God it was a spur of the moment thing. You were so beautiful I just had to−“

“How much did Butler pay you for them?”

Pay? What the hell was she talking about? “He didn’t pay me anything,” he recoiled mentally from the accusation. The patron paying him for the photos? She wasn’t making any sense. ”How do you know about Butler?” he asked in bewilderment.

She gave an unpleasant little laugh. “The photos were attached to Stefan’s email this morning with a note. If Stefan doesn’t award him the alledramite contract, my photos will be splashed all over the Internet by tomorrow. Your patron has no compunctions about playing dirty.”

“He is no longer my patron as of yesterday,” he said with a hollow, sick feeling in his stomach.

“I’m sure you were paid handsomely for your services.” Her tone became wintry. “I’m surprised those are all the photos you were able to give him. A half-naked princess is pretty tame by today’s standards. He said there would be more if Stefan doesn’t give in to his demands. Are you holding out for a sex video by any chance?”

“The fucking bloody bastard!” His tone was feral as he knelt by her side and grasped her limp, cold hands. She let him without a fight. “Listen to me, Lexie. Butler accessed those photos in my phone somehow.” There was a nebulous, nagging impression in his head about Butler and the photos, but he couldn’t just make the connection right now, not while he was trying to convince her of his innocence. “You were so beautiful sleeping that night,
rojita.
” He gripped her hands tighter then relaxed his hold when she winced. “I couldn’t believe I had found you and I wanted to keep a memory of that moment. I swear to God it’s the only thing I took of you. There are no videos.” Nic willed her to look at him, but she kept her face averted. “Lexie, I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“But you already have, Nic.”

Desperate, Nic said the only thing he hadn’t said to convince her. “
Te quiero
. I love you, Lexie.” Then of course, because he was such a dickwad, he had to go and ruin it. “Fuck, I don’t want to, but I do.”

She shook her head, and this time it was he who grew cold. “It’s a little too late, Nic. Stefan was right. I’m such a trusting little fool.”

His chest had grown tight with fear. “It’s not too late,
rojita.
I’ll make it right.” It was a vow. “I’ll make it right.” He tilted his head to glance at her shuttered face. “I have been falling in love with you since that first moment I saw you that night in Las Vegas. And everyday I am with you, I am falling deeper and deeper. I pushed you away because I was stupid and afraid. Afraid you’d wake up one day and realize you had made a mistake in choosing to be with me.“ His tone grew desperate. “Lexie, I’m willing to take the leap. Just give me another chance to prove it. I have never betrayed your trust.”

Whatever he was about to say got lost as Blair barged into the room, spearing Nic with a murderous glance. “What are you still doing here? Haven’t you done enough damage as it is?”

“Blair, it’s alright,” Lexie intervened, sounding so dejected. Nic was tempted to take her in his arms.

“The Duke has arrived and is waiting downstairs to take you to the airport.” As Lexie made no move, she added urgently. “He wants to leave as soon as possible.”

“Please tell Julian I’ll be down in a minute,” Lexie said. Blair was reluctant to leave her. With a curt nod and another vicious glare at Nic, she left the room.

So his brother had called the cavalry. Nic watched her stand up and gather a leather tote bag from the nightstand. Rising slowly, he observed her imperceptibly straightening her spine as if steeling herself.

“I’m not pregnant,” she said stiffly, not meeting his eyes. “Goodbye, Nic.” Before he could recover from her stark announcement and the inexplicable sense of loss that blindsided him, she was gone.

Nic ran after her, catching her by the elbow a few feet from the last step of the staircase. He tugged at her to make her face him directly, his desperation making him more forceful as he saw her wince again. He gentled his grip but she shrank away from him. The gesture was like a stab to his black heart. He couldn’t let her walk away still believing he had betrayed her.