LITMIR.BIZ

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group of them for a quick lunch and tour around the city, and then he would be selecting the woman who would accompany him on a private date for the evening.

      And it would be up to Jessica to send the other two off without making them feel like it really was some low-rent reality television show.

      Jessica wasn’t used to feeling like things were out of her control. Not since that moment four years ago when she’d taken back the reins of her life. She liked to feel like she had everything managed. Like her little universe was in the palm of her hand.

      It was an illusion, and she knew it, but she still liked it.

      Since Stavros, she didn’t even have her illusion.

      What was it about him that reminded her … that reminded her she was a woman? Not just on the surface, but really and truly. With a woman’s desires, no matter how hard life had tried to wring them out of her.

      Oh, dear … right on time. The master of her rekindled sexual needs was striding toward her. Cream-colored jacket and trousers, shirt open at the collar. She did love a man who knew how to dress. A Mediterranean sex god with very expensive taste.

      He also had two dark-suited members of security flanking him and discreetly parting the crowd so that His Majesty wouldn’t be jostled.

      Not that Stavros ever behaved that way. He didn’t act like a spoiled prince who would be able to feel a pea through fifty mattresses, not even close. He acted like a man who carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

      More than that, he acted like a man who intended to support the weight of that nation for the rest of his life. A man prepared to tailor his every decision to suit that responsibility.

      “Hello, Jessica,” he said, a smile curving his lips.

      “Prince Stavros,” she said, reverting because last night had gotten a bit too intimate and she had no desire to go there again. Well, that was a lie. She did want to go there again. But she couldn’t.

      “Demoted, I see.”

      “What?”

      “Back to a title.”

      “Oh …” Why did he have to notice all these little things about her? Why did he have to care at all? “Sorry.”

      “How are things going?”

      “Good. Great. Looking forward to you thinning the herd tonight.”

      “You make it sound like there are a lot more than three.”

      She sighed. “They feel like more than three. In my experience, the women haven’t been so catty. But then, I normally don’t do this with them in such close proximity to each other. I’ve also never tried to match a crown prince.”

      He looked past her, into the spa. “Let’s leave them in there.”

      “What?” She looked behind her.

      “If we hurry, they won’t know I was here.”

      She laughed. “You’re not serious.”

      He frowned. “No. I’m not. Things are getting … I need to make a decision.”

      “Because of Eva?” she asked, remembering his mood at his sister’s wedding.

      “Everyone in Kyonos was happy for Eva. They love to see their princess in love. But I have to be sure that I make them feel like there’s stability.”

      “You’ve been the rock for Kyonos for a long time,” she said, not quite sure why she felt compelled to offer him … not comfort … support, maybe.

      “And I will continue to do it. With a wife by my side.”

      “A most suitable wife.”

      “Yes.” He looked back in the spa. “Will they be done soon?”

      “Soon.

      “It’s not too late to go another route,” she said, not sure why she was offering her client an out from a program she publicly professed, and privately believed, to be the best way to find a mate.

      He shrugged. “Why would I?”

      “You could still fall in love.” She wrapped both hands around her paper cup and hugged it close to her body.

      “No. I can’t.”

      “I’m sure you could. What if you met the perfect woman and she was wholly suitable?”

      He shook his head. “It isn’t that I don’t think it’s possible. It’s that I won’t. Love weakens a leader. You know of Achilles and his heel, I assume?”

      “Of course.”

      He frowned, his expression intense. “One weakness is all it takes to crumble a man who is strong in all other areas. And a weak leader can destroy what was a strong nation. I will never have part in that.”

      He was serious again. Like last night. Not a hint of flirtation. She was starting to wonder if that was really him at all. Or if it was who he thought he was supposed to be.

      “Is that really what you think?”

      “I know it. I saw it happen, in my family, in Kyonos. When my mother died everything fell apart. My father could not function. He … We made Xander the scapegoat for it, all because grief could only give way to anger. I had to set it aside. I had to move on for the good of the country. It took my father years to do it. He is a king, he did not have the luxury of grief, or pain. It’s different for us.”

      She studied his face, so hard and impassive, as though it were carved from marble. “Feeling pain is the only way I know to deal with it.” Sometimes she wondered if she clung to pain. If she turned it over and dissected more than she needed to. If she used it to protect herself.

      “I have gotten to the point where I don’t feel it at all. Kyonos comes first, and everything else comes second. That will include a wife. She’ll have to understand that. She’ll have to understand that her role is not to love me, but to love my country.”

      Bone deep sadness assaulted her. He deserved more than that. More than this.

      Her phone buzzed and she pulled up her text messages.

      We’re done. Where are you?

      The message was from Victoria.

      Out front. She typed out the note and then hit Send.

      “They’re done,” she said. “Brace yourself.”

      He straightened his shoulders, his expression changing, that wicked charm back in place. She had to work hard to suppress a smile.

      As if on cue the three women walked out of the spa, sunglasses fixed firmly on flawless faces. Victoria was the first to spot Stavros, the first to smile widely. “Prince Stavros. How lovely.”

      Like she was surprised. Like she hadn’t been briefed by Jessica early that morning.

      “Lovely to see you, Victoria,” he said, inclining his head. “Cherry, Amy.”

      Cherry and Amy didn’t look thrilled at being afterthoughts, but they managed to smile, too, and offer platitudes about what a lovely day it was.

      “I’ve made reservations at a café down by the water,” he said.

      “Sounds lovely,” Amy said, taking her chance to be the first to speak.

      “My car is just this way,” he said, leading down the narrow street and to a black limo idling at the curb. The security detail opened the back doors on both sides. The women slid in and took their positions on the bench seats that ran the length of the car.

      Jessica got in and sat on the bench facing them, and Stavros slid in beside her. The doors closed and the air-conditioning provided immediate relief from the heat. Or, rather, it would have, if Stavros himself wasn’t so hot.

      A

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