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She’d slept dreamlessly for the first ti else She never heard the rapping on her door, never roused until Maddie crept into the suite and then into her bedroom and shook her ar about you!”

Juliana leaped into action and sent Maddie down to ned to her had long since unpacked everything and put her things away The dresses in the closet had already been steamed and pressed, ready for her to wear Now she pulled out the full-length violet silk sheath that nearly matched the color of her eyes Could she carry it off? Could she wear it the way it was intended to be worn, with no bra, no panties—not even a thong—and no pantyhose? Nothing except silk fabric clinging to her bare skin like a lover’s caress, a daring side slit to ohen she’d known she was coain It was a dress designed to ret

And he will regret, she proer shook her Naked, she slithered into the tight sheath and zipped it up, then stepped into thehands she added the dias her father had presented her with after she won her first Best Actress award, because, he’d said with fond pride, they matched her eyes

She quickly brushed her hair, swiped on a touch of lip gloss and added a dab of violet eye shadow to make her eyes even more mysterious She didn’t use eyeliner or , dark and double-lashed Then she spritzed herself with her favorite perfuht she was pulling out all the stops If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll ret

Chapter 2

Juliana made an entrance as she hesitated at the top of the Grand Staircase leading into the Great Hall Conversation stopped for a full thirty seconds as heads turned toward her There were a few sharply indrawn breaths and a few gasps—froht of a dress feomen would have dared to wear

So the rounds, and sprinkled throughout were other people she knew—cast and crew But Juliana had eyes for only onecrowd, and she saw him instantly Even without the royal uniform he wore she would have known hiht of hih her, as unexpected as it was unwelcome

He turned at the sudden hush and saw her Then he was h the crowd that parted for hial and handsoo Just as she remembered hihteen and already a alia then as noith his golden-brown hair and finely chiseled features So kind So gentle with the shy, tongue-tied girl she’d been, coaxing her into talking with those sreen eyes that invited confidences

Don’t remember that now, she warned herself Don’t

He turned to the bodyguard following hi—she couldn’t hear what—but the ment of the order he’d just received and faded back into the crowd, although his eyes never left the

When Andre reached her side at the top of the staircase, she said, “Your Majesty,” and curtsied to hi hi a role, she held her hand out to him in the imperious e—so she’d never done in her life But she’d planned just what she was going to do when she ain, how she would act, what she would say Every sleepless night she’d spent since she’d known she was coed her heart He would never kno ain after the hu end to their relationship She wasn’t about to betray herself now

He took her hand in his, staring down into her eyes “Andre,” he murmured in dissent, then went on to remind her, “You were never so for hand and pressed a formal kiss on the back of it At least that’s what it looked like to the other guests in the room below Juliana knew differently It wasn’t a forht there, in front of hundreds of people His lips arm, firm and masculine, yet so tender and seductive she shivered and her nipples tightened beneath the raw silk The fabric rubbed against those hard little peaks, hten even more, until they ached unbearably