‘And you’re right. This isn’t my business. If you want to marry Richton and commit to a life of unhappiness then have it.’
‘I didn’t say I wanted that.’
‘Then what do you want?’
Already charged with emotions he was unused to feeling, Rafe’s jaw clenched. She must have read his tension accurately because her gaze dropped to his mouth, her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. The air between them went from volatile to explosive. The pulse in her neck throbbed and her eyes widened as if she sensed danger. But she didn’t move away.
Instead she went still, her whole body taut as if she was waiting for something. As if she was wanting something...
Rafe told himself not to do it. Not to reach for her. Not to touch her. But he might as well have told himself to cut off his own foot while he was at it.
‘Ah, to hell with it.’ Without giving either of them a chance to think, and completely disregarding any consequences, Rafe lowered his mouth to hers.
If she’d shown any form or resistance or hesitation he might have stopped, he might have pulled back and reminded himself that she was not only ‘off-limits’, but that he didn’t go around kissing women just to prove a point. But she didn’t resist. Instead she gave a low moan of assent, wound her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer.
This. This was what he’d woken up craving today. The soft velvet feel of her mouth under his again, the sweet taste of her on his tongue and the long length of her warm curves moulded to the hard planes of his body.
Shock waves of pleasure shot through him as her fingers gripped his hair, her tongue caressing along his, filling his mouth as she shyly tasted him in return. Rafe groaned, curving his fingers around the slender nape of her neck, his thumbs firm against her cheeks as he deepened the kiss. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. Her taste, her touch. He wanted more, he needed—
‘What the devil is the meaning of this?’
Rafe knew instantly that the deep voice that thundered behind Alexa was her father, and from the way her body instantly stiffened so did she.
He could have kicked himself. Never before had he become so lost in a woman, so lost in his own senses, that he’d forgotten his surroundings the way he just had. The way he nearly had the night before.
Cursing softly, he raised his head to see the shocked fury on her father’s face, followed by the shocked disbelief on his brother’s.
Alexa’s stricken gaze rose to his. ‘Please tell me it’s not
as bad as I think,’ she whispered unevenly.
‘Worse,’ he murmured, his gaze firmly fixed on her father.
‘Well? Are you just going to stand there and ignore me?’ the King thundered. ‘I want to know the meaning of this! Alexa? Explain yourself.’
Straightening her shoulders, Alexa moistened her kiss-swollen lips and turned to face her father’s wrath, smoothing her hands down over her hips. ‘Father... Your Majesty...’ Her face flamed anew as her gaze landed on his brother, a fresh wave of mortification turning her cheeks rosy. ‘I was... That is to say we were...’
‘Celebrating,’ Rafe said, knowing that there was only one way out of this mess and taking it.
‘Celebrating?’ King Ronan’s face became almost mottled.
‘Rafe—’ Alexa’s worried gaze met his as if she had already guessed what he was about to say, but Rafe ignored the look.
Taking her hand in his, he raised it to his lips. ‘That’s right,’ he confirmed, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘Alexa and I were celebrating our betrothal.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘BETROTHAL?’
Her father’s voice was imbued with such a note of incredulity that Alexa knew immediately what he was thinking—that this man would never do as her future consort. It was only Rafe’s rank as second in line to the throne of Santara that kept complete scorn from his voice.
‘That’s right,’ the Prince drawled lazily.
Alexa nearly groaned out loud at the Prince’s antagonistic tone.
‘Is this true, Alexa?’ Her father’s voice sliced like a filleting knife. ‘Did you accept Prince Rafaele’s hand in marriage?’
No, she had asked him. And he’d said no. But, that aside, how was she to answer his question diplomatically when she had no idea how to answer it at all? Rafe had thrown her in at the deep end with his charged announcement and she wasn’t at all sure why he had done it. An outright denial seemed implausible given that she’d been caught with her arms wrapped around the Prince like a vine, but agreeing seemed just as problematic.