Royal Seductions: Diamonds. Michelle Celmer

would seduce her so cleverly, she would believe it had been her idea in the first place.

      “Something wrong?” he asked.

      She shook her head, gazing at his hand as though it were a poisonous creature poised to attack.

      “Surely you don’t find holding hands with your fiancé inappropriate.”

      “Not exactly.”

      “Do I frighten you, then?”

      “Not in the way you might think. It’s more a matter of trust.”

      “You don’t trust me?”

      “I don’t trust me. Women have desires, too, Your Highness.”

      Her candor both surprised and impressed him, and told him that, despite her resolve, she was as good as him. He’d yet to find a woman able to resist his charms. He doubted that Hannah would be any different.

      She finally slipped her hand in his, and he could swear he felt her shiver.

      This was going to be too easy.

      Five

      Though Phillip’s leaving had been a blip in her carefully laid plans, the instant his hand slipped around her own, the second his fingers threaded loosely through hers, as far as Hannah was concerned, things were back on track.

      Dressed in slacks, a plain white button-down shirt and a caramel cashmere sport coat, he looked casual, but carried himself with an air of supremacy that was almost intoxicating. A woman could feed endlessly off the energy he exuded.

      They took a long, leisurely stroll through the gardens and, for the first time since she’d arrived, she felt as though she could finally relax. She had begun to feel as though she were being pulled in ten directions at once. Then Phillip appeared, snapped his fingers and made it all go away. Somehow she knew deep down that, no matter what, he would take care of her.

      They walked across the pristinely maintained lawn—she’d seen golf courses that didn’t look this good—in the general direction of the woods bordering the estate.

      “Did you have a successful trip?” she asked.

      “You mean, did I kill anything?” he replied, and she nodded. “Not this time.”

      “What’s in season here this time of year? No, wait, let me guess. You’re king, so you make the rules. You can kill whatever you want, whenever you want.”

      He grinned and she felt an honest-to-goodness flutter in her heart. She would call his smile beautiful, had he not been so utterly male.

      “I have to follow the laws of the land like everyone else,” he said. “Right now we’re hunting small game and birds.”

      “Could I go with you sometime?”

      “Hunting?”

      She nodded, and he looked genuinely surprised.

      “My father and I went every year up until his death.” A knot of emotion rose up and clogged her throat, the way it always did when she talked about him. Losing him so unnecessarily had left a laceration on her heart that, a year later, was still raw and bleeding.

      Everyone kept telling her that it would get easier, but the truth was, each day it seemed to hurt a little bit more. For her anyway. Her mother, it would seem, had little trouble moving on.

      “You were close with your father,” Phillip said. A statement more than a question.

      She nodded, and he gave her hand a squeeze. It was a simple gesture, but it meant everything to her. “He was my hero.”

      “It was a car accident?”

      “His car was hit by a drunk driver. He was killed instantly. Of course, the other driver walked away with barely a scratch. The worst part was that it wasn’t the first time. He had three prior convictions for DUI and was driving on a revoked license.”

      “The laws here are much tougher on repeat offenders than in the U.S.”

      “It’s tough enough losing someone you love, but for it to be so…senseless. It’s just not fair.”

      “No, it isn’t,” he agreed.

      She realized that recently losing a parent was one thing they had in common. “Reports of your mother’s death said she was sick, but they never really specified what she died of.”

      “She had cancer of the liver.”

      “It must have been quick.”

      “She was given six months when she was diagnosed. She only lived three.”

      “There was nothing they could do?”

      He shook his head. “It was too far advanced.”

      She searched his face for a sign of remorse or loss, but there was none. When he spoke of her, he sounded almost…cold. “Do you miss her?”

      “I barely knew her.” He glanced over at her. “She was cold, overbearing and heartless.”

      Her parents certainly hadn’t been perfect, but she never once doubted their love for her. “That’s sad.”

      He shrugged, as though it didn’t bother him in the least. They stopped at the edge of the woods, near the base of a barely perceptible and frightfully narrow path cut through the trees flanked with thick underbrush. “I’d like to show you something.”

      “Okay.”

      “It’s untended, so watch your step.”

      He tugged her along after him, the woods swallowing them up, transporting them instantly into a world that was quiet and serene, and rich with the scent of earth and vegetation. Even the sun couldn’t penetrate the dense canopy of leaves overhead.

      “I’m going to assume there are no dangerous wild animals out here,” she said, ducking under a low-hanging branch.

      “I assure you, we’re perfectly safe.”

      She followed him for several hundred feet, and could swear she heard the sound of running water. The deeper they descended, the louder it became. Finally they reached a clearing and bisecting the forest was a quaint, bubbling brook. It was like something out of a storybook.

      “It’s lovely!” she told him.

      “My sister and I used to play here when we were children,” he said, releasing her hand so she could investigate. “It was forbidden, which made it all the more appealing. We would sneak away from our nanny and spend hours investigating.”

      And so would her and Phillip’s children.

      She made her way to the water’s edge, and though it probably wasn’t proper, she couldn’t resist toeing off her sandal and dipping into the chilly water. “You were close? You and Sophie?”

      “When we were small. But now Sophie and I are very…different.”

      “How is that?”

      “You’ll find that my sister is something of a free spirit.”

      “She’s independent?”

      “That’s putting it mildly.”

      She might have been imagining it, but she could swear he sounded sad. Maybe he missed the relationship they’d had. If his mother was as cold as he’d described, maybe they were all the other had.

      “I always wanted a brother or sister,” she told him.

      “And ironically, I always wished I were an only child. Siblings are highly overrated.”

      Somehow she doubted that. “You have a brother, too.”

      “Half brother.” His response was so full of venom, his eyes so icy, it gave her a cold chill. Maybe this was a subject best left alone for the time