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CHAPTER ONE THE hotel events organiser burst into the drab staff cloakroom with all the drama of a star going nova, her frown easing dramatically when she saw the woman there. ‘Alexa! Thank heavens!’ she cried. ‘I was afraid you weren’t going to be able to make it. This wretched flu has struck down just about every waiter with security clearance.’ ‘Hi, Carole,’ Alexa Mytton said cheerfully, smoothing sheer black pantyhose up her long legs. ‘I didn’t know I had security clearance.’ Carole looked a little self-conscious. ‘With all the high-powered bankers in Auckland for this conference—not to mention the Prince of Dacia’s security man, who is driving us crazy—head office insisted we run checks on everyone,’ she said. ‘You’re as clean as a whistle, of course.’ Something in her voice alerted Alexa. ‘Did you mention that I’m a photographer?’ A grimace distorted Carole’s perfectly made-up face. ‘No, because paranoia reigns! I could see I didn’t have a hope of convincing the Prince’s man tha
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO HALF an hour later, after separate interviews, the sergeant complimented them both. ‘I wish all our witnesses were as observant as you two! With such good descriptions we should nail them before they do any damage.’ She looked at Alexa and said, ‘We’ll contact you if we need to.’ Alexa nodded. In the small room where she’d made her statement and drawn a sketch of both assailants she’d been given tea and some bracing, professional sympathy. It had helped, but her insides still felt as though someone had taken to them with a drill, and weak, irritating tears kept stinging her eyes. Luka’s firm hand on her elbow ushered her out to his car. ‘You’ll have to direct me to your address,’ he said after a searching glance. In a monotone Alexa guided him to her small flat in one of the inner city suburbs. He drove skilfully and well, although a couple of times she had to fill him in on New Zealand road rules. Once they’d drawn up outside what had used to be a Victorian merchant’s hous
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE ‘I’VE just been speaking to Mike, my boss,’ Carole said, with no sign of her usual dramatic delivery. ‘He’s suggested that you be—that you’re not…’ She hesitated before continuing bluntly, ‘Alexa, he doesn’t want to see you in the hotel for the duration of the conference.’ Stunned, Alexa asked, ‘What? Why? He can’t do that!’ But he would, she realised with a clutch of nausea, if someone with enough power asked him to. ‘I’m afraid he can, and I’m also afraid I must ask you not to lose your temper and try to force your way in,’ Carole said, dropping her tone by several notes. ‘Of course I won’t embarrass you like that.’ Alexa steadied her words. ‘I’m just—gobsmacked. Did your boss give you a reason?’ ‘He was told officially that you’re a photographer,’ Carole said, ‘and at the moment photographers are very much personae non gratae. Of course I vouched for your integrity, and pointed out that you’d worked here before and that you had security clearance. Mike knows that, but
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR ALEXA removed the film from the camera, telling herself sternly that by obsessing about the man she was giving him power over her. She didn’t care about Prince Luka. ‘Not at all,’ she said aloud. He was someone from another world, a glamorous, exotic world where duty meant everything and love nothing. She knew exactly what she wanted in life—a satisfying career, a man she could love, and children. A family to replace the one torn so brutally from her, and an ordinary life with all the ordinary pleasures and some, certainly, of the ordinary pain. Luka was far from ordinary. But when a thickening of the atmosphere pulled her head around and she saw his big, lean body silhouetted in the door a shameful flare of anticipation shortened her breath and pulled every tiny hair on her skin upright. She’d rather cross swords with this man than kiss another. Clutching the container of film, she said bluntly, ‘I didn’t hear you knock.’ ‘I didn’t, and I’m not waiting for an invitation t
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE ALEXA woke with panic kicking her in the stomach and the sound of a dull roar echoing through her mind. Wind howled around the eaves, and the first onset of a squall exploded like small bullets on the roof. She relaxed and snuggled under the duvet, drifting off to sleep again to the drama of the storm blowing in from the sea. The following morning, however, after waking to a still, placid day gilded by sunshine and perfumed with freshly wet grass, she discovered that the bach had no electricity. Which meant no shower, no toast, no coffee… Fortunately there was the sea, and the barbecue. Half an hour later, after a brisk dip, she ate a piece of bread and honey while watching a battered pan steam gently over the gas jets. She’d have to call the power board, and to do that she needed her telephone, but the first priority was caffeine. She cast a glance over her shoulder, almost dropping the bread when she saw Luka, the dark prince himself, striding along the beach. In spite o
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX A FEW minutes later, eyes masked with sunglasses, Alexa walked out of the bedroom. She hadn’t taken two steps before the housekeeper reappeared, greeting her with that reserved smile. ‘The Prince asked me to show you the way.’ ‘Thank you.’ Alexa walked sedately beside her along the seaward terrace and down some wide steps towards a pale apricot stucco wall, wondering why the woman was so reticent. Accustomed to making people feel relaxed enough to photograph, she went on, ‘This must be a fabulous place to work—a far cry from noisy, busy Auckland.’ ‘We love it here,’ Jill Martin said politely, standing back to let her go through a door in the wall. Alexa persevered. ‘I know it’s very new, but the garden looks so established.’ ‘The landscaper brought in a lot of mature trees, and of course some, like that coral tree, were already here.’ The older woman gestured towards a large tree that sheltered a long, low cabana, its claw-like scarlet flowers already bursting free of their
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN ‘I CAN feel it,’ Alexa muttered, scarlet-faced. Luka’s problem—an urgent, not to say pressing problem—was obvious. He was very aroused, and so was she, the hidden places of her body softening and moistening in preparation for his possession. He gave another heart-shaking smile. ‘That,’ he said, a touch of lazy ruefulness in his tone, ‘is a response, not a problem.’ Alexa opened her mouth, but before she could formulate a tart answer he wound his hands in the tumbled copper hair around her shoulders and kissed the words from her lips. It was an oddly tender kiss, as was the one that followed, and the one after that—sweet and hungry, yet leashed by his will. Unsatisfied, Alexa lifted her head and opened her eyes, almost flinching away when she saw that hint of laughter still lurking in the gleaming golden depths of his eyes. For him this was an idle pleasure to fill in a sunny morning—as light and meaningless as the sex he’d presumably had with the woman who owned the lipst
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT SLOWLY Alexa lowered her head. As though some other, much more experienced woman possessed her, she flicked her tongue along Luka’s beautiful mouth. He lay very still, big body taut, eyes fiercely turbulent. Then she kissed him, nuzzling his mouth open and losing herself in the deep carnality of it. Luka’s arms contracted around her, hauling her down against his lean length while the hammock rocked beneath them. Their bodies flowed together, and Alexa wanted him so much the need ate at her like a hot tide—merciless, overwhelming, and perilously exciting. Sighing, she surrendered to the dark enchantment, going willingly when he eased her over onto her back and bent his head to her throat and her shoulders. He had to know that her breasts were heavy and taut and eager, that his least touch through her shirt sent agonised anticipation sizzling through her. By the time he reached that acutely sensitive skin with kisses she didn’t protest when he stripped off her shirt and bra
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE AFTER a paralysed moment Alexa scrambled off the bed. What was going to happen now? She’d already worked out what she was going to do; moving as silently as she could, she raced out to stand behind the door so that Luka couldn’t see her when he opened it. Yesterday after he’d left she’d carried a chair there. It had seemed light enough then, and how many times had she seen people on the screen lift a chair without even breathing heavily? Probably thousands, but now the chair was heavy and uncooperative, and although she’d practised doing it several times she felt an utter fool with it hoisted above her head. Pulses skipping and shallow, she listened as the choppers lifted and flew out to sea. A huge relief took her by surprise. She didn’t hear him come, didn’t hear the bolt being drawn or the lock click, but a subtle alteration in the atmosphere warned her strained senses that he was there. The door eased back, stopping just short of where she stood. To her intense chagrin
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN A MONTH later Alexa was sitting inside a jet on the runway at the only international airfield on Dacia. When she’d gone to pay for her flight she’d discovered that it was already paid for, and when she’d embarked she’d realised that either Luka or her unknown uncle had booked her first class all the way. She’d repay whoever it was, even if it broke her. Buoyed by a stomach-churning mixture of tiredness and pulsing, heady excitement, she peered through the window. From the air Dacia had spread a green and white patchwork in a brilliant sea. Groves of trees lay like silvery fur over the central spine of hills, and beaches looped in silver crescents between high white headlands. Some of those headlands, she’d noted with a surge of excitement, were crowned with what looked to be castles. Swallowing hard, Alexa picked up her hand luggage and followed the rest of the travellers out into the terminal. ‘Ms Mytton?’ a voice enquired. Alexa looked at the smiling young woman who accos
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN ALERT as a fencer about to fight the duel of her life, she lifted her glass to hide her expression, then set it down without drinking. Delicious though the wine was, she didn’t want a clouded head. Tonight she was going to experience everything, remember everything. And so would Luka—but would he remember her as a sexual trophy, or as someone he could have loved if only his parents, forced into an unbearable situation, hadn’t shattered his trust for ever? ‘Are those speakers I can see?’ she asked casually, nodding at the interior of the temple. ‘Would you like some music?’ he said, equally casual. ‘I think I would,’ she said slowly, adding on an unforced, husky note, ‘Something good to dance to.’ It was a direct challenge. His long, measuring survey sent sensation shivering the length of her spine. Her breath hissed through her parted lips as he strode between the pillars into the dim interior. Insistent, reckless, desire drummed through Alexa. Something about his moveme
CHAPTER ELEVEN
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