Playing the Royal Game. Carol Marinelli

expecting—’

      ‘I don’t care!’ He hushed her excuses.

      He didn’t care and Allegra knew that—not about the mess in the flat, nor the chaos he was creating. Nor, she must remember, did he actually care about her.

      ‘What happens now?’

      ‘You write your book.’ Alex smiled. ‘I’ll fly to Santina in the next few days and break the news. I guess we should swap phone numbers.’

      She tapped in his and when she had finished he picked up her hand and looked at the ring now on her finger. ‘It’s actually very beautiful.’ He looked more closely and then still held her hand and looked at her, saw she was suddenly nervous, perhaps regretting what she had done. ‘It really is just for a short while. Allegra, thank you.’

      And she knew his kiss was coming. It was a kiss goodbye, a kiss to seal the deal, euphoria perhaps. It wasn’t just his smile that was dangerous, his kiss was too.

      He lowered his head down and his mouth was warm and firm and just so absolutely expert. She breathed in his scent and she felt his lips and knew in a second he would end it. It was just a kiss to seal the deal, Allegra told herself.

      He moved his head back, their lips parting, and she watched as he pressed his together, as if tasting her again. He smiled down at her, just a little, a warning smile, for he indulged again, lowered that noble head to hers. And it was a kiss called euphoria, she told herself, for it was not really her he was kissing, but a glimpse of the freedom he craved. And she kissed him back, because he made her weak, because the stroke of his tongue was completely sublime. He put his hand in the small of her back as if to steady her—and thank goodness he did, for if the previous kiss could have been covered by a handshake, then this one moved completely out of bounds.

      His tongue was cool and his hand was warm, and when one hand would not do to hold her, when more than gravity was needed to anchor them to earth, he kissed her all the way to the wall. This dance of lips and hands in hair, two locked mouths and the strength of a wall to hold them up as he kissed her more thoroughly than she’d ever even dreamt of.

      Heavens but it was thorough, so thorough that for decency’s sake it had to end. She looked up into eyes that were wicked, as if absolutely he knew what he’d do with her, all things she would never allow and it was imperative that she correct him.

      ‘What I said before about us not…’ She swallowed. ‘I meant it. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression.’ With that kiss, she knew she just had. ‘I think I’ve had too much champagne….’

      ‘You’re a strange mix.’ His hand was still in her coat; he wanted to lift her jumper, slide his hand to her skin, but Alex was also sensible, very used to women falling in love with him. In a situation such as this one, that would never do. ‘You are right,’ he said, ‘it might confuse things.’

      CHAPTER THREE

      ‘ALLEGRA!’ She woke to the ringing of the phone and there was no time to gather her thoughts before answering. ‘Allegra, it’s me, Angel, what on earth’s going on?’

      ‘Hold on a moment,’ Allegra said. ‘Someone else is trying to get through.’ She looked at the caller display, saw it was her brother Leo at the same time as she saw the ring on her finger and heard the bell that meant someone was at her door.

      Oh, God!

      ‘Angel…’ She couldn’t explain it to her stepsister right now—yes, they were close and they spoke about so many things, but this was more the sort of situation Angel might find herself in, not the other way around. ‘I’ve got someone at the door. I’ll have to call you back.’

      Even as she put down the phone it was ringing again, her father this time.

      She didn’t answer it.

      And she tried to ignore her doorbell, just wanted a moment to gather her thoughts. A coffee would be extremely welcome, except whoever it was must be leaning on the bell, because it was ringing incessantly now. Kids meeting up at the underground for school often pressed it for the sake of pressing it, so she hit the display button to see the camera shot… and saw the face of Alex, pale and unshaven. He looked less than happy.

      Well, he could have his ring back, Allegra decided—it had been a stupid game that had got out of hand.

      ‘It’s open.’ She pulled on a dressing gown and turned on the kettle, then went to the front door as she heard him rounding the top of the stairs.

      Somehow he looked both beautiful and terrible at the same time—his olive skin seemed tinged grey, his eyes were bloodshot and he was still in yesterday’s suit.

      ‘Coffee!’ She could hardly stand to look at him she was so embarrassed—so she turned and headed to her small kitchen. ‘Before we say anything, I need coffee… and by the looks of things so do you.’ Her blasted phone was ringing and unable to face it she turned it off and then spooned instant granules into mugs. ‘You can have the ring back.’

      ‘Oh, no, you don’t.’ There was something in his voice that sounded like a warning, almost as if he were angry, and she turned around. ‘You can’t just get out of this.’ He held up a newspaper. ‘I’m assuming you haven’t read the papers or turned on the news.’ Allegra went cold as she saw the photo. It was of her and Alex—him tenderly holding her hand and examining the ring that now seemed to burn her on her finger.

      ‘At least—’ she tried to stay calm, to think of a positive ‘—at least it wasn’t a few moments later,’ she said, ‘when we kissed.’

      ‘My kissing a woman would hardly be newsworthy,’ Alex said, ‘but that the Crown Prince of Santina has bought a woman a ring…’

      ‘It was a mistake,’ Allegra said. ‘We’ll say—’ her mind raced for possibilities ‘—that we’re friends, that I was simply showing you—’

      ‘I have just spoken with Anna.’ Alex chose not to go into detail; the conversation had been supremely difficult and one he did not want to examine just yet, let alone share. When Allegra asked after the other woman, Alex shook his head. ‘Somehow I don’t think she’d appreciate your concern.’

      His words were like a slap, the implications of the one reckless day of her life starting to unravel.

      ‘I have also spoken to my parents.’

      ‘They’ve heard?’

      ‘They were the ones that alerted me!’ Alex said. ‘We have aides who monitor the press and the news constantly.’ Did she not understand he had been up all night dealing with this? ‘I am waiting for the palace to ring—to see how we will respond.’ She couldn’t think, her head was spinning in so many directions and Alex’s presence wasn’t exactly calming—not just his tension, not just the impossible situation, but the sight of him in her kitchen, the memory of his kiss. That alone would have kept her thoughts occupied for days on end, but to have to deal with all this too, and now the doorbell was ringing and he followed her as she went to hit the display button.

      ‘It’s my dad.’ She was actually a bit relieved to see him. ‘He’ll know what to do, how to handle—’

      ‘I thought you hated scandal,’ Alex interrupted.

      ‘We’ll just say—’

      ‘I don’t think you understand.’ Again he interrupted her and there was no trace of the man she had met yesterday; instead she faced not the man but the might of Crown Prince Alessandro Santina. ‘There is no question that you don’t go through with this.’

      ‘You can’t force me.’ She gave a nervous laugh. ‘We both know that yesterday was a mistake.’ She could hear the doorbell ringing. She went to press the intercom but his hand halted her, caught her by the wrist. She shot him the same look she had yesterday, the one that should warn him away, except this morning it did not work.

      ‘You