Crown Prince's Bought Bride
He was watching her too, but after a moment his gaze dropped to travel over her body, taking in her new attire.
An hour after she returned home she’d answered her door to be handed a large package by Antonio.
She couldn’t help but glance down at herself. The bodice and straps of the peach-coloured gown were layered in a bandage design that clung to her shoulders, torso and hips in an intimate caress before the silky material fell to her ankles.
She didn’t want to recall the heat she’d glimpsed in Remi’s eyes when he’d first seen her, but the memory burned now as she withstood his scrutiny.
She wasn’t going to get attached to any of this glitz and glamour. Once this was behind her there would be no place in her life for social events that involved wearing five-thousand-pound dresses and shoes.
‘Did you receive my email?’ he demanded.
Along with the dress, he’d sent her a new phone—one with only one number programmed into it. His.
She’d barely had it for ten minutes before his email had arrived. It had contained details of the charity gala, including who would be in attendance, the reason behind the fundraiser and the menu that would be served. It wasn’t clear whether this was royal protocol or Remi was a control freak. Most likely a bit of both.
‘Yes, I did. All read and understood, Your Highness.’ She couldn’t quite help the hint of sarcasm in her tone.
His eyes gleamed. ‘When we’re alone you may call me Remi.’
‘And you may call me Maddie.’
He inclined his head in a regal nod, then prowled towards her, his face set in uncompromising lines. ‘All I ask, Madeleine, is that you apply a little bit of that polish you have exhibited on the outside to the inside too.’
The barb pricked, wedging itself firmly under her skin. ‘You don’t want the evening to start off with insults, do you?’ she asked.
‘I want the evening to start off by us not turning up late,’ he rasped, before heading for the door. He threw it open and glanced pointedly at her.
Maddie followed, the body-skimming dress and the effects of walking in four-inch heels causing her hips to sway self-consciously.
She watched his gaze drop momentarily down her body before he looked away.
They left the suite and rode down in the lift in a charged silence she wasn’t in the mood to disperse. She was heading for the private entrance when his hand snaked around her waist.
‘Where are you going?’ Remi asked.
The heat of his hand against her silk-covered skin rendered her speechless for a moment. ‘I thought... Aren’t you using your private access?’
‘What’s the point? I was seen with you last night—and this afternoon at your former workplace. Believe me, every angle has already been covered by the media. Evasion tactics are no longer necessary.’
She bit her lip. ‘And you’re okay with that?’
‘Ultimately it’s no one’s business what you are to me, but if you’re asked go with the truth. We met through Jules.’
She grimaced. ‘And let them all think that I’m a slapper who’s jumped from one brother to the other?’
‘I find stating the truth, no matter how brutal, is better than ambivalence.’
Maddie wasn’t given time to process his words. The moment they stepped through the revolving doors his fingers tightened around her waist, sending her sizzling senses into full-blown fireworks.
Her breath caught at the pulse-racing effect of such a simple gesture. But then nothing about this man was simple. Everything screamed complicated and mind-boggling excitement. The only thing lacking was the Keep Off signs that should have been stamped all over his impeccable tuxedo.
The sensation was only heightened when they slid into the dark interior of the limo, and even after quickly positioning herself as far away from him as possible she was immediately engulfed in his deep, intoxicating scent.
What on earth was wrong with her?
‘How is your arm?’ Remi asked.
She stared at him, stupefied, for a moment before his words sank in. The doctor had advised that as long as she didn’t aggravate her arm she could go without the sling for short periods.