Protected by the Prince

She watched one dark eyebrow rise questioningly. She was about to reiterate her words when something stopped her.

The memory of how comfortable she’d felt behind her new glasses. How easy not to notice when older students pointed and dug each other in the ribs as they whispered about her. How hurtful it was when they’d gone to the pub after lectures leaving her, the young kid, behind and alone.

When had she decided to use her glasses all the time? Had it even been a conscious decision?

Or had she slipped into the habit the same way she’d filled her wardrobe with clothes that were functional rather than fashionable? Because there was no point pretending to be what she wasn’t. Because she was what she was: a brain rather than a face. Known for her intellect, never invited out or pursued for her looks or personality.

Was he right? Had she been hiding? Isolating herself as a defence mechanism?

‘Tamsin?’

‘Was there anything else…Alaric?’ She stood straighter, looking him in the eye, her brain whirling with the implications of his words. She’d think about it later. She couldn’t think when he was so close, so…distracting.

‘As a matter of fact there is.’ He smiled and her heart jerked as if pulled on a string.

Tamsin swallowed, telling herself it was a trick of the fading light that made his expression seem intimate, as if he wanted nothing more than to stand here with her.

‘Yes? You have another outing planned?’ It didn’t matter that she’d enjoyed her afternoon. That she’d revelled in the company of the teenagers, seemingly antisocial and yet so enthusiastic. Alaric had only invited her to be seen with him. Because she was a decoy.

He must have been ecstatic when she’d swooned in his arms, reinforcing their fictional relationship. Heat rocketed to her cheeks at the memory.

Would he be angry or amused if he realised how she felt about him? That the thought of him touching her made her long for things far beyond her experience?

‘Not an outing.’ He paused. ‘I’m hosting a winter ball. It’s an important event on the calendar.’

‘Another ball? But you just had one!’

His mouth lifted in a lazy smile that softened her sinews and made her slump, grateful for the solid door behind her. In the gathering dusk Tamsin read the amused glitter in his eyes.

‘How puritanical you sound. Do you disapprove?’

‘It just seems a little…’

‘Excessive?’ He shrugged. ‘Last week’s was a small affair, only eighty or so guests to meet a new consul. The winter ball is something different. In four hundred years it’s been held as regular as clockwork every year but one.’

‘During war?’

Alaric’s expression sobered. ‘No.’ Tamsin waited what seemed a full minute before he continued. ‘There was no winter ball the year my brother died suddenly.’

Tamsin’s flesh chilled as his words, sharp as shattered crystal, scored her.

‘I’m sorry, Alaric. So sorry for your loss.’ When he’d spoken briefly of his family the other night she’d had the impression they weren’t close. Except his brother. The way Alaric spoke of him she sensed a special bond there.

She lifted her hand to reach for him, then dropped it. He wouldn’t welcome her touch. He’d never looked so remote.

‘Thank you.’ He nodded curtly. ‘But the point is this event, above all, is one where I’d be grateful for your presence.’

‘Of course.’

It didn’t matter that attending a ball was the last thing she wanted, that she’d be way out of her comfort zone. She’d seen the pain behind Alaric’s cool expression. For a moment she’d seen anguish shadow his eyes and the sight hit her a body blow.

If he wanted her, she’d be there.

She didn’t pause to question her decision.

‘Good. Thank you.’ His lips tilted in a ghost of his usual smile and something seemed to unravel, deep inside her. ‘A dresser will attend you tomorrow and you can make your selection to wear to the ball.’

‘But I—’

‘Let me guess.’ This time his smile was real and her heart tumbled. Oh, she had it bad. ‘You’re going to insist on buying your gown?’

‘Well, yes.’

‘You’d only buy a ball gown as a favour to me.’ He stroked a finger down Tamsin’s cheek, effectively stifling the objection rising in her throat. That simple caress held her still, breathless with pleasure.

‘Consider it a work-related expense. I need you there and you need a dress. Unless you have one with you?’

Tamsin shook her head. She’d never owned a ball gown.