To Kiss a King (Kings of California #11)(26)
Author: Maureen Child

“Damn it, Alex, you’re deliberately misunderstanding.”

“I don’t think so,” she snapped. “And you know? Maybe you and my father were right. Maybe poor Alex doesn’t have a brain in her head. After all, she was foolish enough to think a handsome man wanted to know her better when, in reality, he was on her father’s payroll.” Her fingers clenched into useless fists. She wanted to throw something. To surrender to the temper frothing and boiling inside her. Unfortunately, her breeding and training had been too thorough. Duty and dignity ran through her veins along with the blood.

Circumspection was another watchword of the royal family and she was too steeped in its tradition to give rein to what she was feeling now. Still, she couldn’t continue sitting across from him as if this were a date. She couldn’t look at him now without feeling like a complete idiot. She couldn’t watch his eyes, cool and dark, without remembering the heat and passion that had flared there so briefly.

At that thought, she gaped at him, horrified. “What about the boat? What happened there? Are you getting a bonus?”

“What?”

She leaned in toward him, pushing the flickering candle to one side. “Was that on the agenda? Show the princess a good time? Or did you just want bragging rights? Want to be able to tell your friends how you got a princess naked? Is that it?”

He leaned in, too, and the flare of the candle flame threw dancing patterns across his features. His eyes were more shadowed, his cheekbones more pronounced. “You know damn well that’s not true.”

“Do I?” she countered. “Do I really? I know! I should trust you on this because you’ve been so honest with me from the first, I suppose.”

“You kept secrets, too,” he argued.

That stopped her for a second. But only a second. “I did, but I wasn’t spying on you.”

“I’m not a damn spy!” His voice pitched a little too loud just as the song ended and several people turned to look. He glared them away before staring back at her. “I told your father I wouldn’t be an informer, and I haven’t been.”

“Again,” she said coolly, “with your sterling reputation, I should just take your word?”

His mouth worked furiously as though he were fighting an inner battle to keep his temper in check and angry words from spilling free. Well, she knew just how he felt.

Finally, he managed to say, “You’re angry, I get it.”

“Oh, I’m well beyond angry, Mr. King,” she snapped and stood up. “Fury is a good word and still it doesn’t capture exactly what I’m feeling. But thankfully, neither of us has to suffer the other’s presence any further.”

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked, standing up to look down at her.

Her body lit up inside and Alex silently cursed her response to him. What was it about this man that he could get to her even when she was more furious than she had ever been in her life? That simply wasn’t right. “Anywhere but here. This is a free country, isn’t it?”

“Alex, don’t do anything foolish just because you’re mad.”

“I’ll do what I please, Garrett King, and I’ll thank you to stay away from me.” She turned to go, but he caught her arm and held on to her.

She glared down at his hand and then lifted her gaze to his. “You know, when we first met, I thought you were a hero. Now I know you’re the villain in the piece.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched, and she knew he was grinding his teeth into powder. Good to know that she wasn’t the only one feeling as if the top of her head was about to blow off.

“I’m not a hero. Never claimed to be. But I’m not a damn villain, either, Alex. I’m just a man.”

“Doing his job,” she finished for him and jerked her arm free of his grasp. “Yes, I know.”

Head up, chin lifted in a defiant tilt, she headed for the bar. He was just a step or two behind her. “What’re you doing?”

“I think I need a drink.”

“Don’t be an idiot. Come back to the table. We’ll talk about this.”

“Now I’m an idiot, am I?”

“I didn’t say that,” he muttered.

“Well, you’re right on one score. I have been an idiot. But not any longer.” She hissed in a breath. “I don’t want to talk to you, Garrett. Go away.”

“Not a chance,” he whispered, close to her ear.

His deep voice rumbled along her spine and lifted goose bumps across her flesh. She so wanted to be unaffected by him. But it looked as though that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

The worst part of all of this? Beyond the humiliation of her father going behind her back and the man she was…involved with selling her out to the palace?

She still wanted Garrett.

Mingled in with the anger and the hurt were the underlying threads of desire that still had her wrapped up in knots. How could she still want him, knowing what she did now?

Alex stalked into the bar and gave a quick glance around. There were a dozen or so tall tables with singles and couples gathered at them. A long, gleaming bar snaked around the room in a semicircle. Three bartenders in World War II military uniforms hurried back and forth filling drink orders. Mirrors behind the bar reflected the candlelight and the stony face of the man standing behind her.

The face that had haunted her dreams from the day they met. Their gazes locked in the mirror and Alex felt a jolt of something hot and wicked sizzle through her system in spite of everything.

Deliberately, she tore her gaze from his and walked to the bar, sliding onto one of the black leather stools. She crossed her legs, laid her bag on the bar top and ordered a gin and tonic.

In the bar mirror, she watched Garrett take a seat a few stools down from her. Not far enough, she thought, but better than nothing. She was only surprised that he was giving her this small amount of space.

“Hello, gorgeous.” A deep voice spoke up from just behind her and Alex lifted her gaze to the mirror.

A tall, blond man wearing a black suit and a wide smile stood watching her. “You are way too beautiful to be alone,” he said and sat down without waiting for an invitation.

“Thank you, that’s very kind.” She saw Garrett’s reaction from the corner of her eye and seeing him fume made her smile a welcome at the man beside her.

“An accent, too?” He slapped one hand to his heart in a dramatic gesture that had Alex smiling. “You’re going to fuel my dreams for weeks.”