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“No need to thank me,” Olivia said, her smile affectionate. “She’s lovely and I’ve enjoyed being her friend.”
“Yes,” Gabriel added. “Too bad she couldn’t become a permanent fixture in the palace. I think she’d make an outstanding princess.”
The temptation to say something disrespectful to the future king sizzled in Nic’s mind, but he quelled his frustration and thanked Olivia with as much courtesy as he could muster. Bidding them goodbye, Nic headed downstairs to reclaim his car and follow Brooke to the palace.
The drive from the hotel where the prime minister’s party had taken place back to the palace only took ten minutes, but Nic discovered Brooke had already disappeared into the visitors’ wing by the time he arrived. He’d hoped to catch her before she went upstairs so they could have their conversation someplace that wouldn’t invite gossip, but that wasn’t going to stop him from tracking her down.
As he knocked on her door, he was a little out of breath from his rush up the stairs to the third floor. Listening to his heart thunder in his chest as he waited for her to answer, he made a note to drink less and exercise more than had been his habit in the past month. But when Brooke answered the door, snatching his breath away as he stared down into her soft gray-green eyes, he knew it wasn’t stamina that had caused his heart and lungs to labor, but excitement at being close to her again.
“Nic? What are you doing here?”
“You wanted to talk.” He stepped forward, forcing her to retreat into her room. As soon as he cleared the door, he shut it behind him. His hands made short work of his tie and slipped the first buttons of his shirt free. “Let’s talk.”
* * *
Brooke’s body immediately began to thrum with arousal at Nic’s apparent intent in entering her room. Her lips couldn’t form protests as he removed his tuxedo jacket and unfastened his gold cuff links. Those went into his pocket before he set the jacket on a convenient chair while still advancing on her.
“Didn’t Olivia tell you midnight in the library?”
“I considered it a suggested time and place.” He pulled his shirt free of his pants and went back to work on the buttons. Each one he freed gave her a more evocative glimpse of the impressive chest beneath. “I prefer this one.”
The gold shards in Nic’s eyes brightened perceivably when his temper was aroused. Because she enjoyed riling him, Brooke had noticed this phenomenon a lot. She could judge the level of his agitation by the degree of the sparkle. At the moment his gaze was almost too intense to meet.
She thought about Olivia’s words and wished he’d ask her to stay in Sherdana. No, she didn’t. She ached for him to ask her. But he wouldn’t. He shouldn’t. From the start he’d been right to keep her at bay.
Nic closed the distance between them and swept her into his arms. As he bent her backward, his lips gliding along her temple, Brooke’s senses spun.
“Stay in Sherdana a while longer.”
He wasn’t asking for forever, but every second with him was precious. “I don’t belong here.”
“Neither do I,” he whispered an instant before his lips met hers.
With a moan, she sank her fingers into his thick black hair and held on as he fed off her mouth. Desire lashed at her, setting her pent-up emotions free. She met him kiss for kiss, claiming him as he sought to brand her with his passion.
Both were breathing unevenly when he lifted his lips from hers and captured her gaze. With her heart thundering in her ears, Brooke barely heard his words.
“You and I belong together.”
“In another life. As different people. I’d give up everything to be with you,” she murmured, the last of her resistance crumbling as he slid his hands down her back and aligned her curves to his granite muscles. “But not here and now.”
“Yes to here and now,” he growled. “It’s tomorrow and all the days beyond we can’t have. Don’t deny either of us this last night of happiness.”
Brooke surrendered to the flood of longing and the demanding pressure of his arms banded around her body. Tomorrow would come all too soon. She wanted him for as long as possible.
With her face pressed against his bare chest, her ear tuned to the steady beat of his heart, she said, “I love you.”
His arms crushed her, preventing any further words. For a long moment his grip stopped her from breathing, and then his hold gentled.
“You are the only woman I’ll ever love.”
Brooke lifted up on tiptoe and pushed her lips against his. He immediately opened to her and she matched the fierce hunger of his kiss with a desperation she couldn’t hide. He loved her.
