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p; Knock. Knock.
They jumped apart.
Leo looked at her with desire still smoldering in his eyes. He ran a hand over his disheveled hair. Had she done that? Things had certainly moved beyond a simple good-night kiss.
Her fingers traced over her still-tingling lips. All the while, she couldn’t bear to take her eyes off him.
He cleared his throat. “I need to get this.”
She nodded in understanding and then stepped back out of the way of the door. Luckily for her, the door would shield her because she had no doubt that one look at her and whoever was on the other side of the door would know what she’d been up to—getting lost in the steamy kisses of the prince.
Leo swung the door open. “Oscar, I thought I’d left strict instructions that I wasn’t to be disturbed this evening.”
Bianca wondered how far he’d anticipated that good-night kiss going. Had it been a sudden flare of passion? Or had it been something he’d been planning, anticipating even?
The last thought doused the remaining embers of passion as well as the hope that once the door closed, they would pick up where they’d left off.
“Sir,” Oscar said with a baritone voice, “my apologies. It’s the princess—”
“Is something wrong with Giselle?”
“No, sir. It’s just she’s been searching for Miss Bartolini. When she didn’t find her in her room, she started searching for her. And when she couldn’t find her anywhere, she worried that she’d wandered off sightseeing and perhaps had gotten lost.”
Bianca took a couple steps back. She couldn’t help but smile at the older man’s obvious discomfort of delivering this news to the crown prince. And the frown that covered Leo’s face was cute.
“She’s not lost,” Leo ground out. “She’s here. We were just finishing our meeting.”
“Very good, sir. I will let the princess know.”
“And Oscar?”
“Yes, sir. No more interruptions.”
Leo closed the door with a firm thud. Then he turned to her. “I’m sorry about that. Leave it to my sister to jump to farfetched conclusions.”
“I should go.” Thankfully it was Giselle searching for her, but it could have been the queen. Bianca didn’t have to wonder what the queen would think of her lip-locking with the prince. The queen would have her on the first flight out of Patazonia.
“You don’t have to.” His eyes pleaded with her. “Not yet.”
It was so tempting to stay—to find out where that kiss would lead them. But then again, she didn’t have to stay to learn the answer to that question. She already knew if she were to stay that they were going to cross over a line they couldn’t come back from. And that wasn’t something she was ready to do. Not even for a strikingly handsome prince.
And now she had to leave before the little bit of common sense failed her. Because when she stared into his mesmerizing eyes, like she was doing right now, it was so easy to lose herself.
She glanced away. She had to stay focused on her job. It was important. Kissing the prince was not on any of her lists. The lists would get her what she wanted—her successful business, her security. She had to focus on her lists and not on how his enchanting kisses could cast the most delightful spell over her.
“I should be going,” she said, glancing down at her hands.
“Are you sure I can’t tempt you to stay a little longer? I still have some more of your favorite wine and I have some moonlight I can show you out on the veranda.”
Did he have to make this so hard? It was as though she had a devil on one shoulder, telling her to live in the moment, and an angel on the other, telling her to march out that door. To say she was torn between her desires and her common sense was an understatement.
“As tempting as the offer is, if I don’t go to the princess and find out what she needs, I’m pretty certain Oscar will be back. And I feel bad for him—being caught in between you and your sister.”
“My sister can’t possibly need anything important at this hour. Whatever it is can wait until morning.”
“With the wedding so close, it might be urgent.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Very well. We will meet again tomorrow evening.”
