Authors: Maureen Child
“Yeah.”
She nodded again, letting her gaze slide from his briefly. When she looked back at him again it was as if she was looking at a stranger.
That eerie-ass feeling he’d had earlier rose up inside him again. This whole night had been off from the jump. Something was up with Alex, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it. He watched her. Waited. And had the distinct sensation that he wasn’t going to like what was coming. She stroked her fingertips along the stem of the crystal water glass, and he was damn near hypnotized by the action.
A waitress approached and Garrett waved her away. Whatever was coming, he didn’t want an audience for it. Keeping his gaze locked on the woman opposite him, he asked, “What’s going on, Alex?”
“I was just wondering,” she said, icicles dripping from her tone, “how many lies you’ve told me since the day we met.”
A sinking sensation opened up in the pit of his stomach. A dark, yawning emptiness that spread throughout his system as the seconds ticked past.
“How long have you known?” she demanded quietly, her blue gaze frosty as it locked with his. “How long have you known who I am, Mr.
King?
”
The proverbial crap was about to hit the fan. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Alex was a smart woman. Sooner or later she was going to figure things out. Put two and two together and, any way you added it up, he was going to look like an ass.
No wonder everything had felt off to him tonight, Garrett thought grimly.
The woman sitting opposite him wasn’t the Alex he knew.
This
was Princess Alexis.
Eight
He didn’t say anything.
Alex watched him, saw the flicker of an emotion dart across his eyes, but it came and went so quickly she couldn’t identify it. Why wasn’t he talking? Explaining? Because there was nothing he could say? Because if he tried to explain, it would only result in
more
lies?
The anger that had filled her since she had found his website spiked and roiled inside her. It had cost her every ounce of her self-control to keep what she was feeling locked within. She’d waited, half hoping that he would tell her the truth spontaneously. But then, why would he, when he was such a consummate liar?
King Security.
Alex felt like an idiot.
She’d believed everything.
Had
trusted
him, when all along, it had been nothing more than a game. He’d pretended to
like
her. Pretended to be attracted to her. When all along, he had known that she was a princess. God, she was a fool.
Garrett and his company had actually
been
to the palace. Had done work for her father. She hadn’t recognized him because when he was in Cadria to provide security for the crown jewel celebration, Alex had avoided the whole situation. At the time, she and her father had been feuding over her involvement with the women’s shelter. She’d been so furious with her father that she’d refused to have anything to do with the palace goings-on. Including, it seemed, meeting the security man brought in for the occasion.
If she had, she would have noticed Garrett. Looking at him even now, she could admit that he was most definitely a hard man to ignore. And if she’d met him then, she would have recognized him at Disneyland.
None of this would have happened. Her heart wouldn’t be bruised, her feelings wouldn’t be battered and she wouldn’t now be wrapped in what felt like an icy blanket from head to toe.
She never would have found something with him that she could convince herself was real. She never would have believed that she, too, had discovered the same kind of magic her mother had found at the famous amusement park.
Instead she was left feeling the fool and staring into the eyes of a man she had thought she knew.
“How long?” she demanded, keeping her voice low enough that no one but him could hear her.
The strains of the music rose up and swelled around them, and the irony of the slow, romantic sound wasn’t lost on her. She had hoped for so much from tonight. She’d wanted to seduce Garrett. Now all she could hope for was that she wouldn’t get angry enough to cry.
She
hated
crying when she was furious.
Tilting her head to one side, she watched him. “Did you know at Disneyland?”
“Not right away,” he admitted, and the iron bands around her chest tightened another inch or so until every breath was a minor victory.
That statement told her that at least part of what she had thought of as a magical day had been colored with lies.
Betrayal slapped at her. Was it before he’d kissed her in the dark during the pirate ride? While they laughed with his nieces on the carousel?
She looked into his blue eyes and searched for the man who had been with her on his cousin’s boat a few days ago. The man who had touched her, shown her just how amazing two people could be together. But Alex didn’t see him. Instead, she saw a cool-eyed professional, already pulling back from her. A part of her wondered how he could turn his emotions on and off so easily. Because right at that moment, she’d like nothing better than to be able to do the same.
“I didn’t know you at first,” he was saying. “Not until you and Molly were standing at the castle, talking about being a princess.”
She nodded, swallowed hard and said, “So that’s why you insisted on taking me home that night.”
“Partly,” he admitted.
She laughed shortly, the sound scraping against her throat. “Partly. It wasn’t about me that night, Garrett. Not
me,
Alex. It was about protecting a princess. And you’ve been with me every day since for the same reason, haven’t you?”
Scraping one hand across the back of his neck, he said, “I called your father that first night.”
“Oh, God…” Just when she thought the icy cold enveloping her couldn’t get worse…it did.
“I told him where you were. That you were alone and that I was…concerned.”
“You had no right.”
“I had a responsibility.”
“To
whom?
” she demanded.
“To myself,” he snapped. “I couldn’t walk away leaving you unprotected once I knew who you really were.”
“No one asked for your help.”
“Your father did.”
She shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. But she knew that was a futile hope.
“That’s wonderful. Really. Your responsibility. Your decision. Your phone call.” She narrowed her gaze on him. “But
my
life. This was never about you, Garrett. This was about me. What I wanted. And it never mattered, did it? Not to you. Not to anyone.”
“Alex—”
She looked around the restaurant as if searching for an exit. But all she saw were couples sitting at tables, laughing, talking, easy with each other. They were enjoying the restaurant, the music, the romance of the place, and Alex suddenly envied them all so much it choked her.
“I never intended to hurt you.”
“How nice for you then,” she said, looking back at him. “Because you haven’t hurt me. You’ve enraged me.”
“Now who’s lying?”
That snapped her mouth shut and all she could do was glare at him. Yes, she was lying because she
was
hurt. Devastated, in fact, but damned if she would show him how much his lies had cut at her.
“There’s more,” he said.
“Of course there is.”
“Like I said before, your father hired me to protect you.”
His words sunk into her consciousness like a rock tossed to the bottom of a lake. The sense of betrayal she had felt before was
nothing
compared to this. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she struggled to speak past the hard knot of something bitter lodged in her throat. Finally, though, she managed to blurt, “Yes, he’s
paying
you to spend time with me.”
Garrett huffed out a breath and glanced to each side of him before he spoke again and a small part of Alex’s brain chided her for dismissing just how careful he was. For thinking that he was simply a cautious man. She remembered thinking not long after they met that he was acting a lot like one of the palace guards. Foolish of her not to realize just what that actually might mean.
Then she pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated solely on what he was saying.
“Your father hired me as a personal bodyguard. We were both worried about what might happen if you were on your own.”
“Yes,” she said tightly, amazed that she could form thoughts, let alone
words
. “Can’t have Alex out and about behaving like an actual person. No, no. Can’t have
that
.”
“Damn it, Alex, you’re deliberately misunderstanding.”
“I don’t think so,” she snapped. “And you know? Maybe you and my father were right. Maybe poor Alex doesn’t have a brain in her head. After all, she was foolish enough to think a handsome man wanted to know her better when, in reality, he was on her father’s payroll.” Her fingers clenched into useless fists. She wanted to throw something. To surrender to the temper frothing and boiling inside her. Unfortunately, her breeding and training had been too thorough. Duty and dignity ran through her veins along with the blood.
Circumspection
was another watchword of the royal family and she was too steeped in its tradition to give rein to what she was feeling now. Still, she couldn’t continue sitting across from him as if this were a date. She couldn’t look at him now without feeling like a complete idiot. She couldn’t watch his eyes, cool and dark, without remembering the heat and passion that had flared there so briefly.
At that thought, she gaped at him, horrified. “What about the boat? What happened there? Are you getting a bonus?”
“What?”
She leaned in toward him, pushing the flickering candle to one side. “Was that on the agenda? Show the princess a good time? Or did you just want bragging rights? Want to be able to tell your friends how you got a princess naked? Is that it?”
He leaned in, too, and the flare of the candle flame threw dancing patterns across his features. His eyes were more shadowed, his cheekbones more pronounced. “You know damn well that’s not true.”
“Do I?” she countered. “Do I really? I know! I should trust you on this because you’ve been so honest with me from the first, I suppose.”
“You kept secrets, too,” he argued.
That stopped her for a second. But only a second. “I did, but I wasn’t
spying
on you.”
“I’m not a damn spy!” His voice pitched a little too loud just as the song ended and several people turned to look. He glared them away before staring back at her. “I told your father I wouldn’t be an informer, and I haven’t been.”
“Again,” she said coolly, “with your sterling reputation, I should just take your word?”
His mouth worked furiously as though he were fighting an inner battle to keep his temper in check and angry words from spilling free. Well, she knew just how he felt.
Finally, he managed to say, “You’re angry, I get it.”
“Oh, I’m well beyond angry, Mr. King,” she snapped and stood up. “Fury is a good word and still it doesn’t capture exactly what I’m feeling. But thankfully, neither of us has to suffer the other’s presence any further.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, standing up to look down at her.
Her body lit up inside and Alex silently cursed her response to him. What was it about this man that he could get to her even when she was more furious than she had ever been in her
life?
That simply wasn’t right. “Anywhere but here. This
is
a free country, isn’t it?”
“Alex, don’t do anything foolish just because you’re mad.”
“I’ll do what I please, Garrett King, and I’ll thank you to stay away from me.” She turned to go, but he caught her arm and held on to her.
She glared down at his hand and then lifted her gaze to his. “You know, when we first met, I thought you were a hero. Now I know you’re the villain in the piece.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew he was grinding his teeth into powder. Good to know that she wasn’t the only one feeling as if the top of her head was about to blow off.
“I’m not a hero. Never claimed to be. But I’m not a damn villain, either, Alex. I’m just a man.”
“Doing his
job,
” she finished for him and jerked her arm free of his grasp. “Yes, I know.”
Head up, chin lifted in a defiant tilt, she headed for the bar. He was just a step or two behind her. “What’re you doing?”
“I think I need a drink.”
“Don’t be an idiot. Come back to the table. We’ll talk about this.”
“Now I’m an idiot, am I?”
“I didn’t
say
that,” he muttered.
“Well, you’re right on one score. I have
been
an idiot. But not any longer.” She hissed in a breath. “I don’t want to talk to you, Garrett. Go away.”
“Not a chance,” he whispered, close to her ear.
His deep voice rumbled along her spine and lifted goose bumps across her flesh. She so wanted to be unaffected by him. But it looked as though
that
wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
The worst part of all of this? Beyond the humiliation of her father going behind her back and the man she was…involved with selling her out to the palace?
She still wanted Garrett.
Mingled in with the anger and the hurt were the underlying threads of desire that still had her wrapped up in knots. How could she still want him, knowing what she did now?