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She’d sworn after Brian died to never let someone in her heart again, to never love someone enough that losing him would destroy her, and Leo was a threat to that promise. If anyone could make her forget the pain, the reasons she kept to herself and never let anyone in, it would be him. And she couldn’t afford to let that happen.
Not again.
“No.” She pushed his hand off her leg, even though her heart screamed at her for rejecting him, for refusing to give him a second chance. Even though every fiber in her body begged for him to do more than comfort her. “I don’t want to be your friend, Leo. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened.”
Liar.
His touch was burned in her memory for all time. The way he’d made her feel as he caressed her skin, and how full she’d been with him inside her. How perfectly his lips had fit over hers as he made her come alive in his arms.
She’d never forget any of that.
Not in a million years.
He stiffened and then stood. “Well, then, by all means, I’ll leave. I’ve already forced my home upon you, so I won’t force myself any longer. Good night, Alicia.”
No. Don’t go. Stay. She lifted a hand, not meeting his eyes. She stared at the fireplace instead. It was safer. “Night.”
Without another word, he headed for the door. With his hand on the knob, he hesitated and then turned back to her. “Alicia?”
Reluctantly, she gave him her full attention. The pain she saw in his eyes, the emptiness, struck her like a punch to the gut, and damn him, she ached to stand up, pull him into her arms, and make it all go away. It was like he was silently calling to her, and she couldn’t ignore it any more than she could stop breathing. “Yeah?”
“I am sorry that someone ruined what we had. What we shared together was—is—very special to me. So are you. And you can rest assured I will get to the bottom of this and find out who hurt you with those letters, one way or another.”
She swallowed, not saying anything.
And he left her alone in her room…
Just the way she liked it.
Riiiiight.
Chapter Nine
Knock, knock, knock.
Leo stiffened and set his pen down on his desk a little too roughly, staring at his office door as if he could murder the intruder with nothing more than the force of his glare. After last night’s failed attempt at regaining Alicia’s friendship, and the endless hours of insomnia that had followed, he wasn’t much in the mood for company, or idle chat from a guard who couldn’t read his frown well enough to know he was in no mood for such things. He’d locked himself in his office all day, with strict orders that he wasn’t to be disrupted.
Yet, here someone was.
Fucking disrupting him.
“Enter,” he called out curtly.
The door cracked open, and his father peeked his head in. “Are you busy, son?”
“No, of course not.” Smiling, he shook off his bad mood and stood, motioning his father into the room with a sweeping gesture. “I’m never too busy for you, Father. Come in, come in.”
The older man came inside, shutting the door behind him and letting out a small sigh. “Did you meet with the princess?”
Leo sighed, too, pinching his nose. “Yes. She was lovely, as promised. But, as I said, I’m not ready to commit to a marriage of convenience. Not yet.”
His father sighed. “I’m not getting any younger. And the Princess of—”
“Are you so sure about that?” Leo cocked a brow. “I heard you beat Lord Marshall in an intense tennis match yesterday. The man is younger than me.”
The king waved a hand. “Luck. Nothing more.”
