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He’d halted just inside the doorway ‘What the hell is that?’
‘A terrified cat, no thanks to you’ She pushed past hihten the hissing half-wild thing any more than it already was
‘What’s it doing in here?’
‘Having dinner’ She gingerly picked it up and opened the‘Or at least, it was’
‘I can’t believe Fi owns that cat’ He stared at the creature with curling cynicishbred Prussian Blue, is she?’
Hester’s anger srey and greyer, ht not be handsome, but he’s lonely and vulnerable He eats in here every day’ She set hie
‘How on earth does he get down?’ He walked to theand watched beside her as the cat carefully cli before practically flying the last ten feet to the ground ‘Impressive’
‘He kno to survive’ But as Hester glared at the Prince her nose tingled She blinked rapidly but couldn’t hold back her usual reaction
‘Did you just sneeze?’ Prince Alek turned that unfathoic to cats?’
‘Well, why should he starve just because I’m a bad fit for him?’ She plucked a tissue from the packet on the bedside table and blew her nose pointedly
But apparently the Prince had lost interest already, because he was now studying the narrow bedroom with a scowl
‘I’d no idea Fi read so many thrillers’ He picked up the toht she was all animals And how does she even move in this space?’
Hester aardly watched, trying to see the rooh his eyes A narrohite box with a narrohite bed A neat pile of books An occasional cat A complete cliché
‘Where’s she put all her stuff?’ He frowned, running a finger over the small wooden box that was the only decorative item in the room
Hester stilled and faced the wretched ritted her teeth for a second and then continued ‘It’s mine’
He froze then shot her a look of fury and chagrin corooves in the lid of the box ‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’
‘You storuess you’re used to doing anything you want,’ she snapped, embarrassed by the invasion of privacy and her own failure to speak up sooner
But then she realised what she’d said and she couldn’t suck it back She clasped her hands in front of her but kept her head high and her features calm
Never show them you’re afraid
She’d learned long ago how to act around people with power over her, how to behave in the hope bullies would get bored and leave her alone With stillness and calm—on the outside at least
Prince Alek stared at her for a long moment in stunned silence But then his expression transforhter sounded and suddenly Hester was the one stunned
Dieous
Her jaw dropped as hisflash
‘You think I’hter ebbed
‘Aren’t you?’ she answered before thinking
His s A wide slash across that perfect face that soelically beautiful, to
warht white teeth he looked roguish That twist of his full lips was a touch lopsided and the cute creases in his cheeks appearing and disappearing like a playful cupid’s wink
‘I wouldn’t think that being forced to find a bride is in the definition of being spoiled,’ he said lazily
‘You mean for your coronation?’ She could hardly pretend not to know about it when she’d overheard half that phone call
‘Yes My coronation,’ he echoed dryly, leaving her room with that leisurely, relaxed th of hie that stupid law’
‘Are you finding the democratic process a bitter pill to s?’ she asked, oddly pleased that thehis oay ‘Won’t all the old boys do what you want them to?’
He turned to stare at her coolly, the diazed back limpidly
‘It’s an archaic law,’ he said quietly ‘It ought to have been changed years ago’
‘It’s tradition,’ she replied, walking past hi roo about stability’
‘Stability?’
There was solance back She caught hi wave of heat rose within—exasperating her She kneasn’t interested, he was just so highly sexed he couldn’t help hier sizzled
‘Of having askirt all the time,’ she said pointedly
His lips curled ‘Not all the tiainst the doorframe to her bedroom
‘So it’s a rest day today?’
‘Of course’ His gaze glanced down her body in a swift assessment but then returned to her face and all trace of huone ‘Do you truly think it’s okay to force soet married before they can do the job they’ve spent their life training for?’