She fled and prayed that she would not encounter one of the maids or even the queen. She wanted to be alone and had to find some alone time. To her relief, she did not encounter anyone. Going into her bedroom, she flung herself across the bed. She had promised herself not to cry, but the tears were burning the backs of her eyes, begging to be released.
She hated him! She hated him with a passion that scared her. When he said those words to her, she had wanted to strike out. Her first instinct was to lash out at him, and it frightened her. Two encounters and he had reduced her to a mass of raging hormones.
How dare he read her file! She could just see him salivating over the titillating piece of information and smiling at her humiliation.
"I hate him!" she whispered. Unable to hold out any longer, she felt the tears running down her cheeks.
*****
He contemplated trying to find her and offer yet another apology. The haunted look on her face was going to haunt him for a very long time. It was not like him to resort to malice, to try and slice with words. Not to a female, never that. But twice he had felt like hurting her. And he had accomplished that beautifully.
"Prince Tomas," the maid bobbed a curtsy as he strode into the lofty hallway.
"Is my mother home?"
"Yes, sir. She's upstairs in her suite."
"Thank you." Handing over his jacket and gloves, he bounded up the stairs. Hesitating at the top of it, he turned to look down the hallway at where he knew she had her rooms. Shaking his head, he strode towards his mother's suite. After a discreet knock, he pushed the doors open.
She was at her desk in her little parlor and looked distracted, the jeweled reading glasses perched on her nose.
"Tomas?"
"I wonder if I could get a moment of your time?"
"Of course." Putting away the invitations she had been sorting through, she gave him her attention, watching as he prowled the length of her sitting room.
"Something on your mind?"
He continued his pacing, one hand jammed in the pocket of his riding habit.
"I saw your assistant," he began abruptly. "She was out riding."
"I gave her permission to ride any of the horses, except yours of course," she said defensively.
"Yes." He wandered over to the window. "You should have fired her."
"We're not starting that-"
"I said some hateful things to her." His hands balled into fists as he continued to stare out the window. "I was horrid to her. She pissed me off, more than anyone ever did before and I wanted to hurt her. I did."
"Tomas, what did you do?"
"She treated me like something beneath her shoes. I read her file." He turned to face her, expression carefully neutral. "I read about her fiancé."
His mother went still. "That was confidential. How could you-"
"I told you to get rid of her!" The look on her face had him leaning back and taking a deep breath. "She makes me so bloody mad, and I wanted to hurt her. I did. She's infuriating."
"You will apologize to her."
"I tried that and it did not work." Lifting a hand, he dragged it through his hair. Sofia stared at him, a thoughtful expression on her face. She had never seen him so agitated or so emotional before, and over a woman he had just met.
"Why don't you try again?" she suggested gently, causing him to stare at her.
"What?"
"Try again in the morning, when you've both calmed down after a good night's sleep."
