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She said nothing; she just kept walking on ahead.
If he was triumphant over her silence, he didn’t let on.
He was the one who broke the silence and it felt like a definite checkmark in the loss column for her.
“The party tonight is formal,” he said, “everyone is going to be in their finest.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Except for me. In fact, I may skip this one and just sit in my little servant’s quarters with a crust of bread and some cheese.”
“That’s quite dramatic. I think we could at least get you some fresh bread.”
“There isn’t any reason for me to go. Actually, I might be able to roam the halls a little bit if I stay behind.”
“Hospitality has been extended to both of us. And I’m concerned about angering the host.”
“Is that because of the painting or because you want to do business with him?”
“Everything is about business. I have an opportunity to increase my success while I’m here and I’m definitely going to take it. I don’t want to do anything to compromise that. I certainly won’t allow you to compromise it.”
“Well, I don’t want to be embarrassed.”
“You didn’t let me finish. The party tonight is a masked ball. That means everyone will be wearing masks.”
“Thank you,” she said, her tone flat. “I actually got that from the title masked ball.”
“Just making sure.”
“Well, there is still a problem with that.”
“What’s that?”
“I left my ball gown and my elegant face mask in my other luggage.”
“I might not be royalty, cara mia, but I am a billionaire. I could acquire white tigers in the space of a couple hours if I wanted to. A gown and a mask will be no trouble at all.”
“What if I would rather have the white tigers?”
“Your room is too small.”
“They can sleep in my bed.”
“I’m not getting you white tigers. It would only spoil you. Plus, then everyone would want one.”
She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips. She had no idea how he managed all of this. How he managed to make her feel hot, frustrated and amused in the space of only a few seconds. It was some kind of strange witchcraft she had never encountered before.
“Fine.”
“Fine to the gown and the mask?”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “Would it matter if I said no, Alex?”
Suddenly, his voice seemed to be coming from closer behind her, his low, sensual tones skimming along her skin. “Not especially. If I had to I would go into your room myself and act the part of your valet.”
“You aren’t suggesting you would dress me?”
“I confess I have much more experience undressing women than I have dressing them. But I might be willing to make an exception.”
It was official. She was going to burst into flame.
She had lied when she’d told him she didn’t read romance novels. She did. Secretly. And while she pretended to snicker at them from behind her hand, the truth was she was fascinated. She had always been curious to know if attraction like that existed. If it was possible to look at someone and feel like they were touching you. Like it would be too much if they did. Like you would die if they didn’t.
She knew it did now. And she knew it was the kind of intensity that fiction simply couldn’t prepare you for.
His lips had barely skimmed hers last night and she had felt like the moon and stars had fallen from the sky and scattered around her in the garden, leaving the world upside down, glittering all around her, rather than in the distance.
But it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going to lose her head over him. That was the last thing she had told her grandmother. That she would not allow him to seduce her.
Her grandmother had warned her away from this kind of thing in vague terms, and when the subject of the painting had come up, just before they’d come to retrieve it, it had become clear to Gabriella why. Her grandmother had been wounded by a man such as this. One who was powerful, handsome.
One she was not meant to be with.
Quite apart from the fact that Gabriella couldn’t imagine a future with a man like this, one who didn’t believe in love, or commitment, she was a princess. And even if she didn’t have a throne she would be required to make a certain kind of marriage.
It would not be to an Italian American businessman who had no pedigree. That just wouldn’t do.
She blinked, trying to get a hold on her thoughts. The last thing he needed to know was that she was thinking about sex or marriage in connection with him.
“Well, there’s no need for you to dress me. I will dress myself. But tonight we need to try and look for that room my grandmother spoke of. We need to try and find the painting.”
“I agree with you. I think tonight might be the time we change the nature of this farce, don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we have established that you are nothing more than my assistant. No one suspects that you are Princess Gabriella D’Oro, and no one has any reason to. Tonight you will be wearing a beautiful dress, and your face will be covered by a mask keeping you from being recognized... When we slip away together a little bit early, it will hardly be suspicious. At least not if I have been holding you in my arms a little bit more closely than I have for the previous nights.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Tonight, you will play the part of my lover, Gabriella. There will be no scandal, and it will be the perfect excuse for us to slip away.”
Her throat was dry, her heart pounding so hard she was afraid it might gain enough momentum to tumble up her throat and come spilling out of her mouth. “But I...”
“You don’t know how? You don’t know how to play the part of doting lover?”
Her cheeks flamed. “I have no worries about that. I can more than handle you, Alessandro.”
“You see, when you say my full name like that, I become convinced that you are a bit more nervous than you let on.”
“And when you take on that dry tone, I begin to suspect that you are a little bit more off-kilter than you like to let on. Perhaps it is you having a difficult time figuring out how you will play the part of my lover. But don’t worry, I will be wearing a mask. So my looks shouldn’t put you off.”
“Did my kiss last night not prove to you that I don’t find you unattractive?”
“The only thing your kiss last night proved is that you very much like playing games. But I don’t like being the subject of them.”
A man like Alessandro would never want a woman like her. With her large glasses and ill-fitting clothing—the only thing she had ever worn in front of him—her face devoid of makeup, he would never look twice at her.
Likely, he had seen her as a challenge, and he had set out to conquer her. Because that’s who he was.
Well, she refused to be conquered.
“I have no problem playing the part of your lover tonight, Alex,” she said, keeping her tone frosty. “But