Claiming His Princess. Kate Walker

room. Why don’t you ask the lovely Countess over there to dance?’

      Baden followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow. ‘Because she’s ugly.’

      ‘Baden!’ Ava rebuked him again. ‘That’s a terrible thing to say.’

      ‘If you don’t like the truth, don’t get in the way of it.’

      Ava gave him a look that told him exactly what she thought of his tasteless comment, and then kept her gaze down as she wound her way purposefully through the throng of guests. She didn’t have a specific destination in mind but somewhere quiet and—

      ‘I told you not to go outside.’

      The sound of Wolfe’s deep voice directly behind her shimmered down her spine.

      Ava looked up and realised she had been so preoccupied with Baden’s horrible comment that she had walked outside the glass doors leading to her mother’s rose garden. A golden moon hung like an enormous balloon on the horizon, and fairy lights twinkled strategically from various trees and bushes, giving the summer evening an ambient glow.

      ‘I needed some air.’

      ‘Is it any wonder?’

      She stopped walking and looked back at him. ‘What does that mean?’

      ‘It means I’m surprised you’re still standing after all the dancing you’ve done. Husband-hunting looks like difficult work.’

      Ava glared at him. Really, she wasn’t in the mood for the uncivilised version of Wolfe tonight. ‘Why are you even here still?’ she asked, her English skewed by her testiness. ‘I thought you were the best, but so far you haven’t come up with anything, and it has been a week already.’

      A long week, in which she had once again locked herself in her room in a petulant sulk. Partly she still wasn’t ready to embrace the duties her father wanted her to take on, and partly she had been hoping that Wolfe would get so bored he would quit.

      ‘Unfortunately the invitation I put out over the internet for the bastards responsible to come forward hasn’t seemed to work. Maybe I’m losing my touch.’

      ‘Maybe you never had it.’ As soon as the words were out she regretted her provocative tone because his golden eyes sparkled with amusement. ‘Now, that’s just plain nasty, Princess. Fortunately my ego is strong enough to withstand that kind of a slur.’

      She snorted. ‘Your ego is like a cockroach. It could withstand a nuclear holocaust.’

      Completely unprepared for Wolfe to throw his head back and laugh, Ava struggled to prevent a smile from forming on her lips. ‘Stop that.’ She absolutely loved his deep chuckle. ‘People are looking.’

      Not waiting for him to follow her instructions, she continued down the stone steps past small clusters of guests enjoying the fragrant garden.

      ‘So, any contenders you need me to vet for you?’

      Wolfe’s lazy drawl sounded too close, and Ava stopped and swung around to face him.

      It took a minute for her to ascertain his meaning and when she did she gasped. ‘You’re vetting my future husband?’

      ‘It’s part of the package.’

      Ava bit back the first retort that came to mind, knowing it wouldn’t lead anywhere good. ‘Well, it’s a useless part,’ she informed him shortly. ‘Just because my father says something should happen it doesn’t mean that it will.’

      ‘You’re against marriage?’ His brow rose in surprise.

      ‘No, I’m against marriage without love.’

      ‘Ah, a romantic. I somehow didn’t take you for that.’

      ‘You don’t know me very well, that’s why,’ she said stiffly.

      The look he gave her told her that he knew part of her very well, and was remembering it just as vividly as she was.

      Ava felt a blush creep up her neck and quickly added, ‘And you don’t have to be romantic to want to fall in love.’

      ‘No, just deluded.’

      The wealth of emotion behind his brief response made her hesitate. Everyone had a story that coloured their actions and decisions, and she had a sudden urge to know what his was. ‘Is it that you’re afraid of intimacy, or that you like variety too much to settle down?’

      ‘Since I’m not afraid of anything, and I move around continuously, I think it’s safe to go with the latter.’

      Ava studied his brooding expression and knew he was afraid of one thing at least—revealing anything personal about himself.

      ‘Choosing that kind of lifestyle would indicate that you’re running away from something.’ She watched his response to her comment and just saw bland enquiry. Then another idea popped into her head. ‘Or is it more that you’re searching for something to add meaning to your life?’

      The slight narrowing of his eyes was the only sign that she might have punctured his cool reserve in some form.

      ‘Why complicate things unnecessarily, Princess? It’s always better to lead with the head, not the heart.’

      His use of the word Princess in his sardonic drawl told her it would be pointless to push him. He was a man who did what he wanted regardless of anyone else. ‘You should take coffee with my father,’ she said with measured indifference. ‘You’d get on well.’

      His piercing gaze scanned her face and she knew he’d picked up on the bitterness that was never far from the surface at the mention of her father.

      ‘What’s up between you and your old man?’

      About to tell him that she didn’t answer personal questions either, Ava found herself responding anyway. ‘The truth is we’ve never seen eye to eye. He is a man who is very set in his ways. Very practical and logical. I was never his idea of the perfect daughter.’

      ‘Why not?’

      She could see his curiosity was well stirred and paused. She never talked about her relationship with her father—or lack thereof. Ever. But some small part of her wanted Wolfe to understand her. She’d seen the look on his face when she’d revealed how few lovers she’d had in her twenty-nine years—as if he’d expected there to have been a cast of thousands—and she hated that she cared what he thought of her. But it was senseless to deny that she didn’t—at least to herself.

      ‘I was too much of a tomboy growing up. Too impetuous. I liked bareback horse-riding and climbing trees and he wanted me to dress in pretty clothes and speak only when spoken to. I did like the pretty clothes, but…’ Her voice trailed off.

      Wolfe gave her a small smile. ‘The speaking when spoken to…?’

      She returned his smile, but it felt hollow. The pain of the past still had too tight a grip for her to find any lightness in those memories. ‘Not so much. When my mother died he got worse. My brother was sent to a military academy to start his leadership training and I was home-schooled because my job was to look pretty, not to go out and work. Nothing I ever did was good enough in his eyes. Do you know he’s never once visited my gallery in Paris—?’ she cut herself off with a self-conscious laugh when she realised just how much she had revealed to him. Why not blurt out that she was afraid she’d never find love either, and tell him all her deepest fears?

      ‘Does that make you feel like you’re still a disappointment to him now?’

      Ava felt her stomach churn. ‘No. I don’t need his praise. I’m not a child.’ She cleared the strident note out of her voice. ‘But I resent that he wants everything his way.’ She bent and sniffed at one of her mother’s prized flowers, the scent faint now in the late evening. ‘Why do you think he wants me to marry?’

      ‘To make sure the monarchy is secure.’