Royal Bastard (Instantly Royal 1)

Nope. He wasn’t buying it. “Why do I get the feeling there’s more than that? What are you hiding?”

“Not a thing.”

But before she turned away from him, he caught a glimpse of regret, and he couldn’t let it go. What could he say? His curiosity had made him millions and he’d grown accustomed to having it satisfied.

“You’re dead-set on helping this place, but the people around here don’t seem all that receptive to you or your ideas—no offense. So why do you do it? Why put yourself on the line for this place? What are you hiding, Lady Lemons?”

The telltale blush creeped up the back of her neck, visible under her high ponytail. “I think it’s time we got back.”

Brooke took the next step out of the butt, but her foot slipped on the stone and she began to tumble back. She let out a surprised squawk and twisted in an effort to stop her fall. Nick didn’t think, didn’t hesitate; he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. In that moment, everything went still. It definitely wasn’t the first time he’d held a woman like this with her curves tight against him, his hand dangerously close to her ass. He wouldn’t have made anything of it if he hadn’t looked down at Brooke’s face. Her bright-blue eyes were hooded as she looked up at him, and the soft hum of sexual attraction that had buzzed between them turned into a sonic blast that he felt right down to his toes. He couldn’t look away. Especially not when her perfect pink lips parted and the softest sigh escaped—the kind that dared a man to make a bold move, probably a stupid one, too. He didn’t mean to give in, to lower his face, but sometimes when the pieces all clicked together, there was nothing else to do but go along with it.

He got within a hairbreadth of heaven when Brooke disappeared and Lady Lemons returned. The snap-crackle-pop returned to her gaze and she firmly pushed back on his chest.

“Thank you, Mr. Vane. I’m fine now,” she said, sounding a little more breathy than she normally did.

Letting her go at this moment was a travesty, but his mama had raised him better than to take advantage, so he let his hands drop from the dip of her waist and took a step back. Still, he couldn’t help but call her on the attraction pulling them together even as they stood a foot apart. “Are you sure?”

“Always.”

And with that, she was Lady Lemons once again as she strode up the steps, walked out onto the moors, and made her way back to the nearby Range Rover.

Nick watched her navigate the bushy heather, his brain trying to unravel the riddle that was Brooke Chapman-Powell, ever confident that he’d figure it out. He always did.

Chapter Ten

Nick’s body clock was still messed up. It was close to midnight and he was wide-eyed and about to go out of his mind. Now, some people might think this was because of jet lag and the woman sleeping on the other side of that connecting door. They’d be 100 percent right. Brooke Chapman-Powell was a woman who made him wonder.

Scooting over to the edge of his bed, he craned his neck to get his ears as close to the connecting door as possible. No whistle snore. He didn’t need a mirror to see the smile that had curled his lips at that fact.

“Are you awake?” he asked, knowing full well she was.

“Dead to the world,” came her answer.

Yep. That was the tartness that had snagged his attention from the first letter she’d sent on behalf of his grandfather.

“Liar,” he said with a chuckle. “You weren’t snoring.”

“You know, it’s not very polite to keep bringing that up.”

If she had sounded even the least little bit annoyed, he would have apologized, but she didn’t. “I like your snore.”

She let out a squawk of protest. “No one likes listening to other people snore.”

“It’s like white noise. It helps me fall asleep.” He half thought about the options for a snore machine but tossed it into the dust heap of bad ideas that lived somewhere in the back of his mind.

“So are you saying that I’m keeping you up?” she asked.

He relaxed back against his overstuffed pillows and closed his eyes, picturing her cuddled up i

n her bed on the other side of that damn door he was really beginning to hate. “In a way.”

“How’s that?”

“I’m trying to untangle your riddle.” She was sweet and sour like that candy that always made his mouth pucker but he couldn’t stop eating.

“I am far from a mystery.”

Now that was a bald-faced lie. He had so many questions, so he started with the one that he’d wondered about the longest. “You just like working for an uptight jerk?”