AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was a shameless indulgence, but why not? Hadn’t she earned it?
She waited for the car and when it arrived, she greeted Maria and spent a moment with her discussing Leo’s needs for the evening. Maria had looked after Leo since he’d been brought to Kalithera and she loved him too, which Solace had found immensely comforting.
Reassured by Maria’s competent presence at Leo’s side, Solace then strode from the house and got into the car.
Nerves fluttered in her gut as the car wound up the driveway to the coastal road, but she tried to ignore them. Except the flutter grew more intense the closer to Therisos they got, until it felt as if there were a million butterflies all crowding for space inside her.
She didn’t know why, when there was nothing to be nervous about. Except it wasn’t only nervousness. She was also conscious of something that felt like excitement fluttering there too, and anticipation. As if she were looking forward to seeing him again, which surely couldn’t be right when she hardly knew him.
Except she’d had dreams this past week, of blue eyes and strong hands, and a delicious hot, heavy weight pressing her down. And she’d wake up restless and sweaty, the sheet sticking to her, an ache throbbing gently between her thighs.
You still want him.
Maybe, but that wasn’t the same as being excited to see him. Wanting him was physical, that was all, and it certainly didn’t mean she was going to agree to marry him.
The royal palace in Therisos was set on a hill above the town, looking out towards the ancient city walls that protected the city from the sea. It was built of white stone and at night was lit up, so it looked as if its towers and terraces floated above the city like a castle out of dreams.
Solace put a hand over the butterflies in her stomach, trying to settle them as the car got clearance from the guards at the palace gates and was driven through, winding up the avenue to the palace itself.
It was imposing, white towers soaring high, topped with the Kalitheran flag moving slowly in the night breeze from the sea.
As she stepped out of the car, a liveried palace servant greeted her and led her up the grand white stairs and into the palace.
Her heartbeat had accelerated, and her mouth was dry, the butterflies in her stomach now numbering in their thousands. But she ignored the feelings. Silly to feel this way about a man she’d only met a couple of times. A man she’d had the most intense night of pleasure with, it was true. Yet he was also the man who’d taken her son from her and that still hurt. Marriage to him was an impossibility and she had no problems telling him that.
She was led through grand halls of plain, whitewashed stone, the walls dotted here and there with paintings of what she assumed were past royals. Galen’s lineage, she suspected. An ancient line, ancient blood. Royalty going back centuries.
Solace couldn’t imagine her portrait hanging anywhere in these halls. The thought was ludicrous. A hundred pictures of ancient kings and queens, and one of a poor single mother from London.
The servant led her up a wide staircase and down a hall to some huge doors that led out onto a wide terrace, bounded in white stone that looked out towards the sea. Then Solace stopped in the doorway, shocked.
A delicate pergola covered the terrace and fairy lights had been wound all through it, creating a warm, diffuse light. A table stood off to one side, set with a white tablecloth, silver cutlery and crystal glasses. Candles stood around the terrace, on the wall edging it and at various points on the white stone floor, flames flickering and dancing, illuminating the tall figure of a man standing at the edge of the terrace, his back to her.
Galen.
Solace wasn’t aware of the servant discreetly withdrawing behind her, or of anything else. Every sense she had seemed to be concentrated on the man on the terrace. On his broad back and wide, muscled shoulders. His narrow waist and powerful legs.
He wore black tonight, the way he had a week ago in the club. Simple clothes that only highlighted his mouth-watering physique.
There was a rushing sound in her head, a trembling that started up deep inside her, that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard she tried to force it. The same visceral reaction she always had to the sight of this man, her body wanting his so badly she could hardly stand it.
Slowly, he turned around and the trembling got worse the moment his blue eyes met hers.
He was beautiful. He was devastating. He was a king and far too much for the likes of her, and if she wasn’t careful, he would overwhelm her as he had the last couple of times.
She’d thought that after a week of not being around him her reaction to him wouldn’t be so intense, but she was wrong. If anything, a week’s absence had made her want him more.
The light of a dozen candles flickered over his face, illuminating the perfection of his cheekbones, the straight line of his nose, and the curve of his beautiful mouth.
He smiled and abruptly it washed over her like a wave where she’d seen that smile before: his son had it too.
He will break your heart. They both will.
The thought was fleeting, because then the smile gradually faded and heat leapt instead in his midnight-blue eyes. And she could feel the air between them start to crackle, their chemistry on the verge of igniting like dry tinder.
Galen started towards her, moving like a predatory jungle cat, and she froze, utterly unable to move. Her heartbeat was careening out of control and dimly a part of her was astonished at how quickly she’d gone from being steely and determined, to melting like tar seal under a hot sun. That part of her screamed at her to resist him, to be on her guard, and hadn’t she learned that she couldn’t trust him?
But before she could even make that choice, he came to an abrupt stop, his hands clenching, his whole body taut. A muscle jumped in the side of his hard jaw. He looked like a man who had himself on a leash so tight it was choking him.
