The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12. Кейт Хьюит

and drew a shaky breath. He’d have her in his bed very soon. His apartment was only a couple of blocks away.

      But the car didn’t take the turn that would have brought them there.

      Where was he taking her, then?

      She threw him a glance. He’d put the phone away; he sat with his arms folded over his chest, looking distant and formidable, and she decided she’d sooner die than ask. Besides, what did it matter? Maybe he had rules for this kind of thing. Or maybe he didn’t want her in his apartment. Maybe there was another woman there already. Or maybe he preferred to keep his women in a hotel.

      The limo swooped up a ramp and onto a highway. A sign in both Greek and English flashed by.

      To the North Coast Beaches and the Bay of Apollonia.

      Beaches? Bays? She was a city girl. Streets, noise, traffic were her natural habitat. Beaches and bays sounded foreign. Isolated.

      “Aren’t we going to your apartment?”

      She spoke without thinking, regretted it almost immediately, but Alex had a ready reply.

      “We were, but I changed my mind. I’m taking you to a place where your compliance will be assured.”

      Her heart skipped a beat. She thought of telling him he wasn’t funny but that would be a sign of surrender, and the last thing this man would have from her was surrender.

      Her refusal to bend to his will was all she had left, and she was intent on keeping it.

      The drive took what seemed a very long time.

      They had reached the bay; the sign at the exit said so but the proof was in the spectacular view from a road that now hugged high, curving cliffs above sand so white it looked as if it were made of crushed pearls. Beyond that stretched a sea of deep, brilliant blue, so beautiful it took her breath away.

      All right. She had to break her self-imposed silence.

      “Is that the Bay of Apollonia?”

      Alex nodded. “Named for the god, Apollo. Legend says that Virgil wrote a poem about this place some two thousand years ago.”

      “Virgil? But he was Roman.”

      “Aristo and its sister island, Calista, were first part of the Greek Empire and then were ruled by Rome. You’re familiar with Virgil?”

      Maria stiffened. “I might not have had your tutors and private schools, Alexandros, but the New York City schools provided me with an excellent education.”

      “I didn’t mean to imply …”

      “Yes. You did. You don’t know a thing about me but you have no trouble jumping to all kinds of conclusions.”

      “I might say the same of you, glyka mou.”

      Maria looked at him. “You mean,” she said sweetly, “you didn’t have tutors? You didn’t go to private schools?”

      “Well, no. I mean, I did—but I have to admit, I tuned out most of what I learned in Latin III, which was pretty much when we dealt with Virgil. I guess I’m just surprised you didn’t do the same.”

      He grinned, and it instantly transformed him from cold despot to the gorgeous, easygoing man she’d met that night two months ago. She didn’t want that. Didn’t want to remember that night, how he’d made her feel when he’d made love to her.

      “Anyway, yes, Virgil wrote about the Bay of Apollonia. He called it an ambrosial sea of sapphire.”

      How could she not reply to that? Maria sighed and gazed out at the bay again.

      “He was right,” she said softly, “though I’ve never seen a sapphire that magnificent. But if I did—”

      “If you did?”

      “I’d use it as the center stone in a ring. I’d make the setting of twenty-four-karat gold to suggest the brilliance of the sun, and mount the sapphire between a pair of small, perfect diamonds to represent the sister islands of Aristo and Calista.”

      “They’re not that anymore,” Alex said, a bit grimly. “The unified kingdom of Adamas is just a memory until, if and when the islands are somehow reunited.”

      “Is that what people hope will happen?”

      “It’s what King Christos hoped would happen when he gave dominion of one island to his daughter, Anya, and the other to my father, Aegeus.”

      “Was that when Christos had the Stefani diamond split in two?”

      Alex raised an eyebrow. “You’ve done your homework.”

      “Did you think I designed the necklace for your mother out of nothing? Of course I did my homework. I know the diamond was the biggest pink diamond ever mined on Calista, that it dates to the time of Richard the Lionheart and that it was the center of the crown of Adamas until it was cut in half in ninety seventy-four.” Maria flushed. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this when you already know it.”

      The lady was full of surprise, Alex thought, watching her in silence for a little while. Then he cleared his throat.

      “What will you do with the money from the commission?”

      “What will I do with it?” Her disbelieving tone suggested he’d lost his mind.

      “Yes. Surely, it’s enough to buy the perfect sapphire, the perfect diamonds—”

      “You mean, it’s enough to put a down payment on my loft. Buy some new equipment. Pay some overdue bills. Pay some bills for my mother, maybe even convince her to move to a nicer place.” She gave a rueful laugh. “That’s what I’ll do with the commission.”

      “You support your mother?”

      Maria gave a little shrug. “She isn’t up to working.”

      “Surely, she could—”

      “She doesn’t think so. And I owe her. She sacrificed everything for me …”

      “You can’t really believe that,” he said, a touch of anger in his words.

      “What does it matter? I do what must be done, Your Highness, the same as most people, but what would you know about that, in your world?”

      “That’s unfair.”

      “Is it?” Her lips stretched in a smile. “You show up at my door.

      You give me the most wonderful news imaginable.”

      “And that’s bad?”

      “Then you tell me the only way this—this miracle will happen is if I agree to sleep with you.”

      His eyes narrowed. “Trying to get out of our deal, Maria?” He moved quickly, covered the distance between them and caught her by the elbows. “All I did was turn the tables,” he said in a low voice. “You set the trap the first time. Now it’s my turn.”

      Maria could feel the sting of angry tears. She didn’t want to cry in front of him!

      “Let go of me.”

      “Why? Because you don’t like the truth?”

      “You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you! There was no trap! You seduced me.”

      “I seduced you the way a chicken seduces a fox! You were good, I have to admit. I really believed you were a shy Miss Innocent lost on the streets of a strange city.”

      “Bastardo!” Maria hissed.

      Alex slid his hands to her wrists, clamped them hard and dragged her toward him.

      “You knew who I was. You intended to use me.” His eyes narrowed. “Now I’m going to use you.”

      He bent his head and took her mouth,