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She began to move, walking around the room as if inspecting it, her glorious dress glittering under the lights as she did.
‘Would you like a seat?’ he asked. It was as if she were parading in front of him, and he couldn’t take his thoughts from the way her bodice cinched at her slender waist. How her gauzy capped sleeves sat tantalisingly at her shoulders. Half on, half off, as if with the wrong shift they would fall and leave more of her glorious skin exposed, the cool, creamy sweep of her décolletage, which would no doubt haunt his dreams, naked and perfect. It should at least be adorned with some jewels, so they could distract him, rather than cause the near impossible-to-control desire to drop his gaze to the gentle swell of her cleavage.
‘No. I’m a bit scared to sit down.’ She brushed her hands across the fabric, which seemed to sit in multiple layers. When had the construction of a dress ever held such fascination for him? ‘I don’t usually wear things like this, and I don’t want to crush it.’
His first thought was that she should wear dresses like this every night. The next thought was of him holding her in his arms, kissing her. Crushing her dress in the most satisfying of ways.
‘You’ve no jewellery.’
Hannah cocked her head, as if what he’d said was a kind of slight, when really he was only making conversation to stop the itch in his fingers, which tempted him to reach out and touch, to see how much softer she’d feel after her bath.
‘No,Your Highness.’ Those words contained no deference at all. She wielded them as a weapon. ‘I didn’t want to outshine you.’
A slight smile touched the corner of her lips. He should be offended, but he liked the way she didn’t pander to him.
‘I’m afraid you already have. No one will be paying any attention to me with such beauty in the room.’
The colour still ran high on her cheeks, but apart from that blush she seemed unaffected. ‘Oh, dear. How does it feel, the risk that the spotlight won’t be on you?’
A blessed relief. But it was something he could never admit, for the spotlight would never be turned away. ‘I’m sure my fragile ego can handle the assault for one night, especially since I’m accompanied by you. Beauty has a way of outshining the beast.’
She snorted, the sound more cute from her than disdainful. ‘You’re more Prince Charming tonight than Beast.’
‘Perhaps I was a beast this afternoon.’
Her gaze dropped to his mouth and held. Was she recalling his touch in the stables, wishing he’d kissed her? The burn of that recollection, the desire...it ignited and began to flare almost out of control. But he’d had years of practice managing it. No matter how much he might want her right now, it would pass. It always did.
‘You obviously love your horses and had no idea of my experience. It was understandable. Anyway, it’s well known that arealprincess can tame the beast, and you’ll have one of those soon. Isn’t that the way the story goes?’
It should be. His longlist was now slimmed to a shortlist. But Alessio wasn’t sure. He didn’t care for the map of his life right now, the journey relentless most days, unwelcome on others. Required every day. He had no choices, the needs of his country forgotten too long by his father. His own desire to do better, to repair the damage done to his people, overcame any personal sentiments. But tonight, perhapsjustfor tonight, he could engage in a small moment of folly. Those glimpses of sadness Hannah had exposed this afternoon, the shadows which haunted her face from the loss she’d suffered, they hadn’t quite left her. Fleeting happiness was what he could provide, and in his experience, women loved jewels. Though he wasn’t sure about anything with Hannah. She didn’t fit the familiar moulds. Still, he wanted to makeherfeel like a princess tonight.
‘A woman should always outshine the man.’
‘That’s not the way it is in the animal kingdom.’
‘I say that’s the way it should be.’
‘Are you pulling the prince card here? I’m the ruler...my rules?’ Her eyes glittered with mirth under the lights. He wanted her covered in jewels that shone as much as she did, to keep that smile on her face.
‘Wait here.’
He walked through his bedroom, to the dressing room. Behind a panel in the wall, he opened a safe. Drew out a rich purple velvet box. People wanted diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires. The gaudy gems. In his hands was a necklace which matched Hannah’s dress to perfection. Matched her, with its understated elegance. It might not have seemed as precious as the crown jewels, but to him it was more beautiful because of how uncommon it was. The stones were awash with the same grey-green as her dress, with swirls of gold like the bleeding colour from the watercolour pencils she’d shown him. The surrounding diamonds were an old mine cut, designed to show their true beauty in candlelight.
He tried not to think too hard about what he was doing as he closed the safe and returned to Hannah. These jewels he’d inherited. They were not part of the crown jewels his father had begun to plunder when needing a bauble to give away or for a bribe. These had been locked in the safe in his room too long. They needed to shine again.
Hannah stood with her back to him, gazing out of the window. Staring at the view into Lasserno’s capital, glittering like her in the darkened landscape. As he entered the room she turned, those all-seeing eyes fixed on the box in his hands.
‘What’s that?’
‘Adornments. They match your dress.’
Her eyes widened a fraction, her mouth opened. Shut.
‘I’m getting the feeling this is a bit like a movie moment. I’m not sure I like it.’
‘I promise you will, and you can always say no. But please look.’ He opened the box and turned it to her. The jewels lay on pristine white satin inside.
‘Oh.’ She reached out and then drew back her fingers. ‘What’s the stone? The colours... And it looks like there are tiny ferns in it.’
