The Prince in the Royal Suite

‘Present company excepted,’ he murmured, pausing to smile down at her. ‘No.’

‘Weren’t you betrothed at birth to some foreign princess in order to strengthen the dynastic line?’

‘I don’t know what history books you’ve been reading Libby, but we haven’t been doing that in Molokov for some considerable time now. Maybe not for the past few centuries?’ His eyes turned pensive. ‘Molokov’s a beautiful country, Libby. I’d like to think you’d have the chance to see it someday.’

‘And I’d love to see it.’ She knew this was pillow talk and nothing more, but Lucaj had made her feel wistful, probably because this was something she couldn’t share with him, and Lucaj’s homeland obviously meant so much to him.

They remained silent for quite a while after that, until Libby asked the question that had been niggling her for some time. Yes, Lucinda would have done something if she’d known there was a problem, but Libby had played the situation with her hotel room down. There was only one other possibility to raise her from the Chatsfield’s emergency room to ‘the best suite in the hotel’. ‘Did you speak to the duty manager about my room, Lucaj?’

He didn’t answer right away, and then he said with a shrug, ‘Why do you ask?’

‘Just that you were at the front desk at the same time as me – You heard I was in difficulties, and you’re obviously a valued guest. I don’t think it would take much for you to swing the outcome in my favour. I think you said something. You did, didn’t you?’

‘I might have suggested they should try to find something better for you.’

H

e had suggested? She guessed Prince Lucaj of Molokov only had to blink for the very best accommodation to be made available immediately. ‘Lucaj – please – I can fight my own battles.’

‘I never doubted it, but it was the gentlemanly thing to do.’

‘And then you followed up with your white knight act in the bar. Was this all a ploy, Lucaj?’

‘To get you into bed? Do you really think that?’

‘I don’t know what to think,’ Libby admitted.

‘Well, let me put your mind at rest. I didn’t plan this, and I’m sorry you think I did. Don’t let your lack of confidence lead you into supposing that the only time people want to do something for you is when they have something to gain.’

And now she’d ruined everything, Libby thought as Lucaj swung out of bed.

‘And if you want to start this concierge business you’re talking about, Libby, you’ll need a skin as thick as a rhinoceros’s hide.’

Tugging the sheet up to her chin, she admitted, ‘I do have a thick skin when it comes to other people, just not when it comes to me.’

‘Because?’ Lucaj prompted.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Yes, you do.’

She was mesmerised for a moment as he lifted one arm to rake his hand impatiently across the back of his neck. Lucaj was magnificent – and totally unabashed by his nakedness. How she envied him that freedom.

‘Did it start years ago when you were orphaned – when you went to live with your aunt and uncle, Lucinda’s parents?’ he prompted.

‘Lucinda’s step-mother wasn’t my aunt, any more than she was Lucinda’s mother,’ she felt bound to explain. ‘Lucinda just handled what wasn’t a very pleasant situation a lot better than me.’

‘Maybe because Lucinda was the daughter of the house,’ Lucaj suggested, ‘while you were the orphan they’d taken in, so this woman – ’

‘Cynthia,’ she supplied.

‘ – Cynthia thought you were extra to requirements.’

Libby hummed. She’d never been a whiner, and she wasn’t going to start now, but Cynthia, as Lucinda’s stepmother had liked to be called, had no time for Libby, who had come from the penniless branch of the family and was a drain on their resources as far as Cynthia was concerned. ‘But that’s all behind me now,’ she said, half to herself.

‘Is it?’ Lucaj pressed.

He had this disconcerting way of staring at her that meant she couldn’t tell a lie.