The Prince in the Royal Suite Read online

He pulled out.

  ‘Brute –’

  ‘Again?’ he suggested, growling this softly against her mouth.

  ‘How dare you smile at me like that?’ But she did as he said, and this time claimed a little more of him.

  He pulled out again, while she faked a smile. ‘Brute?’ she said. ‘Did I really say brute? That doesn’t come close –’

  ‘You’re right,’ Lucaj agreed.

  Oh… Oh… Oh…

  ‘How right you are,’ she managed to grind out before the speaking part of her brain closed down, leaving only sensation in its wake.

  And then he paused again.

  ‘What?’ she demanded, frowning up at him.

  Taking his weight on his powerful forearms, Lucaj dipped his head to whisper wickedly against her ear, ‘I don’t want you to think I’m rushing you.’

  ‘No chance of that,’ she promised, closing her eyes to savour the sensation of being completely filled by Lucaj.

  ‘Tell me when,’ he warned.

  ‘You’re asking me to instruct you?’

  ‘I could be your slave for the night?’ he suggested.

  ‘Sounds good to me – so, here’s my first command for you. Actions speak louder than words.’

  ‘That’s an observation, not a command.’

  ‘I haven’t got time to argue the point with you –’

  Fortunately, neither had Lucaj.

  How could this feel so right, so normal? Libby felt as if she was floating on an erotic cloud so high and fuzzy, she never wanted to come down. How could Lucaj know exactly what she wanted, needed – ’

  ‘Now, that was very greedy of you,’ he rebuked with amusement in his voice, when she finally quietened and it was possible to hear him.

  ‘You make me greedy,’ she complained softly, stroking his arms.

  ‘And your next command?’

  ‘Make me greedy again.’

  Lucaj didn’t disappoint. He did this thing – pulling right back, then sinking slowly, and adding a delicious little massage at the end of each slow, deliberate stroke –

  ‘Now, that was unforgivable,’ he cautioned when she finally stopped screaming. ‘For that you have to ride me.’

  ‘Hey – who’s the slave here?’

  ‘It’s your turn,’ Lucaj decreed, and as he did his sexy smile thing, she realised that if his mouth hadn’t been quite so attractive, or his eyes so full of humour and warmth –

  She would still be sitting astride him, holding on to the brass bed frame as Lucaj cupped her buttocks in his big, strong hands to ease her slowly up and down.

  And now it was Libby’s turn to throw her head back and allow the intensity of the pleasure to suffuse every inch of her body, leaving her mind in a happy, hungry state, confident of a regular diet of pleasure.

  And the best of it was, when they were briefly exhausted at some point in the night, Lucaj didn’t just turn over and go to sleep, he brought her into his arms and lay talking with her. But that had a downside too, because what had started as an erotic adventure for a girl who had never bucked the traces in her life, had become something so much more. Lucaj had made her long for things she couldn’t have – like Lucaj. Tomorrow they’d go their separate ways – Libby to Monte Carlo to join up with Lucinda and the harem, and Lucaj to places unknown. And why would he share his itinerary with his one-night stand? She had to be grown up about this. She’d walked into this situation with her eyes wide open, and now she had to shoulder the fall-out and move on.

  But with some great memories, Libby consoled herself as she snuggled into Lucaj’s powerful chest, though he’d set a standard that meant she would never find another man to match him.

  Chapter Eight

  ‘So, tell me about you,’ she prompted him.

  ‘Me?’ Lucaj sounded surprised.

  ‘I mean the you that doesn’t get written about in the magazines.’

  ‘There’s nothing much to tell.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s not true. Stretching her limbs like a lazy cat, she shifted position comfortably in his arms. ‘There must be loads of stuff about you that the world doesn’t know that you can tell me. I’m not asking for you to be indiscreet, or for you to tell me anything you don’t want to. I’m just trying to get a clearer picture of the man I find myself in bed with. Lucaj as a little boy, for instance…’

  ‘I was a tearaway,’ he said dismissively. ‘You don’t want to hear about that.’

  ‘Were you happy?’

  ‘Completely. I had an idyllic childhood – no skeletons there.’

  ‘Brothers and sisters?’

  ‘No. I was the adored only child. But I’m more interested in you – why the lack of confidence? Why don’t you have a steady boyfriend? There must be someone waiting for you in the wings?’

  ‘Whoah, whoah, whoah.’ She raised her head to look at him. ‘Stop right there. You’re cheating. That’s three questions.’

  Lucaj dipped his head to stare into her eyes. ‘Not cheating. Just genuinely interested.’

  She settled down again, realising she could confide in Lucaj. She’d never felt she could do that with anyone before, except for Lucinda.

  This must be what it’s like to be on honeymoon, Libby mused; this closeness, this affection; this intense awareness of each other, far above and beyond the sex.

  ‘I’m listening,’ he prompted.

  ‘I haven’t been so lucky in the romance stakes,’ Libby admitted ruefully. ‘I had a painful experience when I thought I was in love, and then I realised I’d been pigeon-holed as general dogsbody, housekeeper and PA. Anyway, it didn’t work out.’

  ‘So why do you do these same things for your cousin?’

  ‘Because I love Lucinda,’ she said as if that were obvious.

  ‘You mentioned that before, but I don’t see gofer as a career path. What will you do when Lucinda gets married, for instance?’

  Fortunately, she’d already thought this through. ‘I’m going to set up a concierge service.’

  Clearly surprised, Lucaj laughed. ‘I’d back you.’

  ‘Actually, I wasn’t joking, so you might want to rethink that statement.’

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen you in action, remember? At the front desk? Firm but fair. I think you’d be a great success after a few years, running a business like that.’

  ‘So, what about you? No girlfriend?’

  ‘Present company excepted,’ he murmured, pausing to smile down at her. ‘No.’

  ‘Weren’t you betrothed at birth to some foreign princess in order to strengthen the dynastic line?’

  ‘I don’t know what history books you’ve been reading Libby, but we haven’t been doing that in Molokov for some considerable time now. Maybe not for the past few centuries?’ His eyes turned pensive. ‘Molokov’s a beautiful country, Libby. I’d like to think you’d have the chance to see it someday.’

  ‘And I’d love to see it.’ She knew this was pillow talk and nothing more, but Lucaj had made her feel wistful, probably because this was something she couldn’t share with him, and Lucaj’s homeland obviously meant so much to him.

  They remained silent for quite a while after that, until Libby asked the question that had been niggling her for some time. Yes, Lucinda would have done something if she’d known there was a problem, but Libby had played the situation with her hotel room down. There was only one other possibility to raise her from the Chatsfield’s emergency room to ‘the best suite in the hotel’. ‘Did you speak to the duty manager about my room, Lucaj?’

  He didn’t answer right away, and then he said with a shrug, ‘Why do you ask?’

  ‘Just that you were at the front desk at the same time as me – You heard I was in difficulties, and you’re obviously a valued guest. I don’t think it would take much for you to swing the outcome in my favour. I think you said something. You did, didn’t you?’

  ‘I might have suggested they should try to find something better for you.’

  H
e had suggested? She guessed Prince Lucaj of Molokov only had to blink for the very best accommodation to be made available immediately. ‘Lucaj – please – I can fight my own battles.’

  ‘I never doubted it, but it was the gentlemanly thing to do.’

  ‘And then you followed up with your white knight act in the bar. Was this all a ploy, Lucaj?’

  ‘To get you into bed? Do you really think that?’

  ‘I don’t know what to think,’ Libby admitted.

  ‘Well, let me put your mind at rest. I didn’t plan this, and I’m sorry you think I did. Don’t let your lack of confidence lead you into supposing that the only time people want to do something for you is when they have something to gain.’

  And now she’d ruined everything, Libby thought as Lucaj swung out of bed.

  ‘And if you want to start this concierge business you’re talking about, Libby, you’ll need a skin as thick as a rhinoceros’s hide.’

  Tugging the sheet up to her chin, she admitted, ‘I do have a thick skin when it comes to other people, just not when it comes to me.’

  ‘Because?’ Lucaj prompted.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Yes, you do.’

  She was mesmerised for a moment as he lifted one arm to rake his hand impatiently across the back of his neck. Lucaj was magnificent – and totally unabashed by his nakedness. How she envied him that freedom.

  ‘Did it start years ago when you were orphaned – when you went to live with your aunt and uncle, Lucinda’s parents?’ he prompted.

  ‘Lucinda’s step-mother wasn’t my aunt, any more than she was Lucinda’s mother,’ she felt bound to explain. ‘Lucinda just handled what wasn’t a very pleasant situation a lot better than me.’

  ‘Maybe because Lucinda was the daughter of the house,’ Lucaj suggested, ‘while you were the orphan they’d taken in, so this woman – ’

  ‘Cynthia,’ she supplied.

  ‘ – Cynthia thought you were extra to requirements.’

  Libby hummed. She’d never been a whiner, and she wasn’t going to start now, but Cynthia, as Lucinda’s stepmother had liked to be called, had no time for Libby, who had come from the penniless branch of the family and was a drain on their resources as far as Cynthia was concerned. ‘But that’s all behind me now,’ she said, half to herself.

  ‘Is it?’ Lucaj pressed.

  He had this disconcerting way of staring at her that meant she couldn’t tell a lie.

  ‘Yes, it is, and now I’m Lucinda’s PA, and I’ll never leave my cousin in the lurch to chase my own ambition. As long as Lucinda needs me, I’ll be here for her.’

  ‘You can’t put your career aspirations on hold until your cousin is ready to let you go. And, has it occurred to you that you might be holding Lucinda back?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Maybe it’s time Lucinda stood on her own two feet? Maybe she wants to and doesn’t know how to tell you that your job is done.’

  Libby was silent for a long while after that. Lucaj had certainly given her something to think about, but that was a problem for another day, and she wanted to know about the suite and the part he’d played in that.

  She frowned. ‘So how did the Chatsfield find this suite of rooms for me? The desk clerks told me the hotel was full. Were they lying to me?’

  ‘No,’ Lucaj stated categorically. ‘The staff at the Chatsfield would never lie.’

  ‘Well… I don’t understand.’ And then the mist lifted. ‘Is this your suite, by any chance?’

  ‘My suite?’ Lucaj paused, and then seeing that Libby wasn’t going to give up, he added, ‘What if it is?’

  ‘For goodness sake, Lucaj,’ she exploded. ‘You can’t give up your suite for me.’

  ‘I already have,’ he admitted. ‘And before you ask, there’s no dastardly plot involved. Sleeping here was not my idea, if you remember?’

  She did remember. ‘But how could you do that? Why give up your beautiful suite for the hotel’s emergency room, and all for a stranger?’

  Lucaj shrugged. ‘Don’t feel sorry for me. I live in a palace – several of them, to be exact, so one night in a room above the air-con system isn’t going to kill me.’

  Libby pulled a face and sighed. ‘I don’t know what to say. I haven’t been very grateful, have I?’

  ‘I don’t want your gratitude. It isn’t necessary.’

  ‘But it is,’ she insisted.

  Lucaj grinned wickedly. ‘I can think of a much better way for you to show your gratitude. Hey – have some confidence, Libby. I couldn’t have known you were going to invite me up, and I came up because I wanted to be with you. I wanted to spend time with you and get to know you.’

  ‘We’ve certainly worked on that,’ she admitted with a rueful smile.

  They both laughed and then the tension dropped.

  ‘I wouldn’t change a thing about tonight,’ Lucaj murmured, lying back on the pillows and turning his head lazily to stare at her. ‘Would you?’

  ‘No,’ Libby murmured thoughtfully.

  A message pinging on her phone distracted both of them. ‘Lucinda,’ Libby exclaimed, reading the text. ‘She feels bad about abandoning me, and she’s on her way here now.’

  Lucaj didn’t answer right away, and then he said, ‘Good.’

  But without much enthusiasm, Libby thought. It occurred to her then that as regular guests at the Chatsfield, Lucinda and Lucaj might already know each other.

  ‘When she coming?’ he asked.

  ‘As soon as she can get a flight out in the morning.’

  ‘You’ll be pleased to see her.’ Lucaj’s darkly handsome face brightened. ‘And I’m looking forward to meeting your cousin.’

  Was she reading too much into this?

  Of course she was. On any other day, and under any other circumstance, she would be thrilled to introduce Lucaj to Lucinda, but she was already bracing herself to take her customary back seat when they met.

  Chapter Nine

  Midnight had struck. The coach had turned back into a pumpkin – or into a London taxi, at least, and Libby hadn’t even left a crystal slipper for the prince…

  To save Lucaj any embarrassment, she had taken the coward’s way out and left him a note. In the note, she thanked him for the most memorable night of her life. She had thought of toning it down at bit, but then decided, why? Why not write exactly what she thought for once? They’d never meet again. What did she have to lose?

  And now she was on her way to the airport to meet Lucinda, who had sent a text to say she was arriving into Heathrow from the closest airport to Monte Carlo, which was Nice. Libby knew for a fact that Lucinda would arrive with parcels and carrier bags and packages, along with enough excess luggage to break the Bank of England, and it would just be so much easier if she were there, waiting for Lucinda at the barrier. There was nothing like a big smile and a familiar face to brush away the tiredness of travel.

  Lucinda threw her arms round Libby’s neck as if they’d been parted for years. ‘I knew I could depend on you –’

  Libby smiled as Lucinda rattled on. She doubted her cousin stopped to draw breath all the way back to the Chatsfield.

  ‘It’s fine if I share your room, isn’t it?’ Lucinda asked as the doorman held the door into the lobby for them. ‘We don’t have to make a fuss. I can bunk down on the sofa bed in the sitting room.’

  Libby opened her mouth to say she hoped her guest would have left by now, but then thought better of it. And she needn’t have worried. By the time three porters wheeled three trolley loads of Lucinda’s belongings into the suite, there was no sign that Lucaj had ever been there.

  ‘You haven’t felt lost in this barn of a place all on your own, have you?’ Lucinda demanded, turning full circle to look around.

  ‘Er, no…’ But that was exactly how she felt now. And it wasn’t just the room that felt empty; her heart did too.

  Be grateful, Libby told herself firmly. She’d enjoyed an aston
ishing encounter with an incredible man, and if coming back here only twisted the knife in her heart at losing him, she just had to pick herself up and get on with it.

  ‘Are you all right, Lib?’

  ‘Yes. Of course I am.’ Tears stung her eyes when Lucinda put her arms around her shoulders to give her a reassuring hug, and instinctively she reached for the four-leaf clover she always wore around her neck, only to find it had gone.

  ‘Oh, Libby,’ Lucinda exclaimed, understanding the enormity of what had happened. ‘Not the four leaf clover your mother gave you? It has to be here somewhere. Let’s search for it.’

  ‘It could be anywhere, Luce. I could have lost it at the airport.’

  ‘Well, we can start here, can’t we?’ Lucinda was already down on her hands and knees, scouring the floor. ‘You ring down to the front desk and they’ll tell you if housekeeping’s found it.’

  ‘It’s probably been vacuumed up by now.’

  ‘Ring down anyway,’ Lucinda insisted. ‘We can’t leave any stone unturned.’

  Sadly, no one had seen Libby’s chain, and though Libby and Lucinda searched every inch of the suite, and the concierge even rang the taxi firm for them, there wasn’t a trace of it to be found.

  ‘Lib, I’m so sorry,’ Lucinda said when both girls had finally exhausted every possibility and were slumped together on the sofa.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ Libby pointed out, putting on a brave face. ‘The chain was worn thin and I should have got it checked –’ She stopped abruptly as someone knocked at the door.

  ‘Maybe it’s good news,’ Lucinda exclaimed, leaping up. ‘Maybe they’ve found your chain.’

  Libby nodded encouragement, but somehow she doubted it. In a hotel the size of the Chatsfield, finding her chain would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. It would be nothing short of a miracle if someone had found it.

  ‘Oh –’ After this one brief exclamation, Lucinda fell silent.

  Curious, Libby turned around to see Lucinda standing dumbstruck in front of the open door. She had never known Lucinda stuck for words before.

  ‘Lucaj!’ Libby sprang up.

  Walking straight past her beautiful cousin as if Lucinda didn’t exist, Lucaj made directly for her and swept her into his arms. ‘Don’t you ever do that to me again,’ he growled, his breath hot against her hair. ‘I nearly went mad when I read your note. You can’t just walk out like that. I was so worried about you. I couldn’t think where you were – and then suddenly it came to me. Your cousin was arriving at the airport, and knowing you, I was sure you’d be there to help her when she arrived –’