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“I’d probably make a softer target--unless you aimed at my head,” a deep baritone said from behind her.
Almost toppling over, she spun at Rob’s voice. “Oh, you don’t want to hear what target I’d like to aim at.”
Both hands covered his groin in mock fear, and he grimaced. “You wouldn’t.”
“Don’t count on it.” She turned away. She didn’t want to see him. Just looking at him made her eyes water. Water. She did not cry. Not when her parents died. Not when Jessie had gotten involved with the wrong crowd and experimented with drugs. Not when she’d given up her athletic aspirations to take care of Jessie. Not when Dan had said he just wanted to be friends. Now certainly wasn’t the time to start.
“Jane?”
She blinked, hoping to clear the moisture. She must have stirred up more than just a little puff of pollen when she’d kicked that container cause she was not crying. Damn allergies.
“Look at me.”
She didn’t budge. His hand closed around her upper arm. Zing. Zing. Zing. There went those sparks again. She ought to toss him on his electrifying butt. It would serve him right.
“I’m sorry.”
Maybe she wouldn’t throw him to the ground after all. And the zings from his touch were…not supposed to happen. “For?”
A soft chuckle escaped his throat. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry I insulted you. I was a jerk.”
“Yes, you were.”
“Forgive me?”
If you kiss me and make it all better. Okay, so she couldn’t say that. But the intensity of his gaze made her want to, did that count? She had to get her emotions regarding Rob under control. She couldn’t afford any slip-ups that might reveal her as an imposter.
Annoyed with herself and consumed with guilt, she swiped at her eyes and faced him. “If you meant what you said.”
“About being a jerk?” His lips twitched.
She stifled the grin wanting to replace her glower. “Oh, I know you meant that. I was talking about the sorry for insulting me part.”
He threw back his head in laughter. Her insides fuzzed over--all nice and warm. Uh-oh. Rob Lancaster was wheedling his way beneath her protective armor. She already wanted his bod. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t? But she didn’t want to like the man quite so much. Maybe he should go back to being a jerk. For both of their sakes. Because she had a pretty good idea he wouldn’t be too happy to have his show ruined by discovering he had the wrong ‘princess’.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked her back toward the castle as if all was just honky-dory. Didn’t he feel those zings?
“You’re priceless,” he said, grinning.
She snorted. Priceless? “Yeah, well, let’s hope one of the bachelors thinks so.”
# # #
The night of the bachelors’ arrival, Jill read over their letters in her private suite. One of the cameramen recorded her as she read out loud and pondered over her decision. Of course, she’d have to spend an evening with whichever one received the most viewer votes.
She tried to ignore the cameras recording her every movement and let thoughts of Rob fill her mind.
A shiver ran down her spine.
She couldn’t stop thinking about him. For the past week, she’d spent most of her waking time with him, JP, or Gregory. And yesterday when Rob had wrapped his arm around her…
She reached up and touched one of the tendrils hanging from the elaborate hairstyle Gregory had concocted for her debut with the men and sighed. What would Rob think about the magic Gregory had once again created?
“Oh, that was perfect,” the cameraman applauded.
