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Sophie swallowed. Now was the time to come clean. To say what she would need to repeat at least once, because he would think she was making it up.
You might have been living in the twenty-first century, but I certainly wasn’t. Because I was born a royal and betrothed to one of the world’s most eligible men and part of the deal was that I would go to him as a virgin on my wedding night.
And then what?
A nightmare, that was what. Once she’d convinced him she wasn’t a complete fantasist, she would be obliged to dredge up a past she was trying to move on from. She would be forced into a truth she didn’t want to have to face—that she was a princess with an unknown future. And even worse—what if he suddenly became very interested? True, he didn’t seem the type—but you never really knew. Lots of people were turned on by palaces and crowns and a status which couldn’t be bought, or earned. And wouldn’t it only reinforce her plummeting self-esteem if he decided he wanted her for what she was, rather than who she was?
Suddenly she was filled with an overwhelming desire to temper his arrogance. To see if she could unsettle him for a change. ‘Maybe I was just waiting to meet the right man,’ she said innocently, watching as he sat up in bed, quickly covering the lower part of his body with the rumpled bedsheet. But not before she’d noticed that he was aroused again and for some reason that gave her a fleeting feeling of triumph.
‘I think we’d better get one thing clear, Sophie,’ he said as a pulse worked frantically at his temple. ‘The sex we just had was amazing. More than amazing—especially as it was your first time. You don’t have enough experience to know that, but let me assure you it’s true.’ He paused, as if picking his words carefully. ‘But the fact remains that I’m not in the market for any kind of commitment. I meant every word of what I said to you in the pool. This changes nothing.’
She widened her eyes. ‘Oh?’
‘I don’t want you having any unrealistic expectations, that’s all. I’m not the kind of man who is blown away by the fact you were a virgin—I don’t have some primitive, chest-thumping desire to shout it from the rooftops. It doesn’t mean anything to me and neither do you. Sorry to be so blunt, but it saves any kind of misunderstanding. I’m not looking for a partner and even if I was, that partner wouldn’t be you. I told you that I believe in honesty and I’m being honest now. We have very different lives,’ he added, almost gently. ‘You’re a cook on some kind of late-onset gap year and I’m a globetrotting CEO. Think about it.’ He gave a shrugging kind of smile. ‘It could never work.’
Oh, the arrogant, arrogant man! Sophie resisted the urge to pick up the nearest hard object and hurl it at him, before telling herself that behaving rashly wouldn’t improve anything and it would compromise any remaining dignity. But at least his attitude made her decision easier. There would be no confidences shared with this particular Englishman. She wasn’t going to tell him a single thing about herself—why should she, when he obviously couldn’t wait to get away from her?
Some of her inbuilt royal confidence came rushing back as she returned his stare. ‘I think you flatter yourself,’ she said coolly as she got out of bed and picked up the discarded towel which was lying in a heap on the floor. ‘I agree with every word you say. It was nothing but an initiation to sex and a pretty amazing one. So thanks for that—but rest assured that I’m not looking for commitment either. I told you that in the pool. Maybe I should have let on that I was a virgin but I didn’t want to destroy the mood. And since you’re such a busy globetrotting CEO who is flying out of here tomorrow, I’d better let you get some peace so you can sleep. Goodnight, Rafe.’ She flashed him a smile. ‘Sweet dreams.’
And Sophie felt a very different kind of satisfaction as she saw the expression of disbelief on Rafe Carter’s face just before she turned and walked out of his bedroom.
CHAPTER FOUR
RAFE WAS WOKEN by the insistent sound of his phone vibrating and he stifled a groan as he picked it up. It was one of several he owned but the only one whose number was given to those closest to him. He glanced at the flashing screen to see that it was William, one of his assistants, calling from New York. He frowned. William was in a completely different time zone and had strict instructions not to disturb him unless absolutely necessary.
He hit the button and waited.
‘Rafe?’
‘Of course it’s me! Who else did you think it would be? It’s five o’clock in the flaming morning!’ Rafe answered, his mood not enhanced by the sight of Sophie’s discarded swimsuit lying on the floor of the en-suite bathroom. Or by the fact that an image of her face had been haunting him for hours, meaning that he’d only fallen into a fitful sleep a restless hour ago.
A rush of heat flooded through his groin as he remembered the sex of the night before. Remembered her beautiful body laid out like a feast on top of his sheets with those big blue eyes looking up at him and her long legs parted in invitation. And she had been a virgin, he reminded himself grimly. She hadn’t bothered telling him that before she had thrust her wet breasts against him in the swimming pool, had she?
Because women had their secrets, he thought bitterly. Every damned one of them keeping stuff hidden away and not caring about the consequences.
And sometimes their secrets became your secrets and they gnawed away deep inside you until there was nothing but a dark and empty hole.
He sat up, his fingers tightening around the phone. ‘I thought I told you I wasn’t to be disturbed unless absolutely necessary,’ he bit out.
His assistant’s voice grew serious. ‘This is very necessary, Rafe.’
Rafe stilled, because even though he came from the world’s most dysfunctional family, they were still family. Yet if somebody was ill, it wouldn’t be his assistant ringing him. It would be Amber, or one of his half-brothers, surely. ‘What’s the matter?’ he demanded. ‘Is someone sick?’
‘No. Nobody’s sick.’
‘What, then?’ questioned Rafe impatiently.
There was a split-second pause. ‘That girl you’ve got working at the station.’
‘Sophie,’ said Rafe instantly and then could have cursed himself. Surely he should have taken longer than a nanosecond to recall the name of one of his itinerant workers. ‘The cook.’
‘She’s not a cook.’
‘She may have only the most basic of culinary skills, but I can assure you she most certainly is.’
‘She’s a princess.’
There was a pause. ‘William, have you been drinking?’
