the games, not creating them,’ Alex said levelly.
‘That’s true,’ she conceded, feeling a little foolish and over-protective, ‘and Doran is inclined to be very one-tracked with every new interest. It’s just that this one has lasted a lot longer than any other.’
She smiled up at him. ‘But, as for him and his friends being any sort of threat to Carathia or Montevel—no, they’re not that far removed from reality, even if they have made grandiose plans for spending the money when they all become instant millionaires! They’re all bright young men—’
‘Bright young men of Montevellan descent who’ve been brought up with a somewhat skewed view of the country as it used to be for the upper classes before they were thrown out.’
She folded her arms. ‘Did you invite Doran and me out here so you could find out more? If so, I’m afraid it’s been a waste of money and time. I’ve no doubt that if you’d approached him while we were in Carathia for the wedding, he’d have told you all about the game.’
Alex said softly, ‘Ah, but then I’d have missed the pleasure of your company.’
His words fell into a deepening pool of silence. The sounds of the city faded so that all Serina could hear was the beating of her heart.
Hurrying into speech, she said briskly, ‘And no doubt that would have been a tragedy.’
‘Fishing, Princess?’
Before she could answer she felt the lightest touch of his hand on her shoulder. Obeying it, she turned and looked up into a face set hard, narrowed eyes intent and crystalline.
Excitement bumped her already heavily beating heart into overdrive. Suddenly dry-mouthed, she swallowed, but words still wouldn’t come. Her dilated gaze fixed on a pulse beating in his jaw, and she clenched her fist to stop herself from reaching up and touching it with a fingertip.
‘Alex?’ she said uncertainly.
ALEX’S lips barely moved when he said, ‘Serina,’ and traced the outline of her mouth with a lean, gentle forefinger.
Colour burned up through her skin and her heartbeats drummed in her ears, awareness tingling through every cell and filling her with longing. Incredulously, she realised she was holding her breath, unable to summon her wits to move. Drowned in the burnished blue of his eyes, she clung single-mindedly to the simple concept of staying upright.
Then he said, ‘You must know already that I’m glad you came.’ And stepped away.
Serina fought to hide a fierce disappointment, keen as a knife blade. What had gone wrong? Why had he decided against…?
Against what, exactly?
Against kissing her.
Humiliation drove a desperate desire to gloss over the violence of her response. She said on a breath jagged enough to be painful, ‘I wasn’t fishing for any compliment. I was actually being slightly sarcastic.’
He hadn’t answered her question so she still didn’t know whether he’d invited her to New Zealand to find out what Doran and his friends were doing. Had he deliberately engineered that touch, that convincingly intense gaze, to fog her brain with sensual expectation so she wouldn’t push for an answer?
If so, he knew now she wanted him more than he did her. Her response gave him power; he’d been able to pull away while she’d been frozen.
Pride came to her rescue. Stiffening her shoulders, she lifted her chin and kept her gaze level and slightly ironic. After all, it wasn’t as though she’d never been kissed.
However, past kisses had been pleasant, only mildly stimulating, about as far removed as anything could be from the jolting, heady anticipation she’d experienced when Alex touched her.
What was the difference?
No other man had stirred her as Alex did, arousing a need she’d never felt before, as potent and clamorous as hunger. He was the only man able to set her hormones surging in that delicious, terrifying flood of anticipation…
Cool it, she warned her body staunchly, but she had to wait a few seconds before her voice was steady enough for her to observe in a casual tone, ‘I hope you manage to convince Gerd that his concern about trouble on his borders is baseless.’
Alex’s expression gave nothing away, but her skin tightened when her eyes met his, unyielding and austere.
‘I’ll tell him you said so,’ he said, then glanced at his watch. ‘I’ve rung the organiser of the fund-raising dinner I promised to attend tonight, and she’s quite sure that if you want to come she can arrange that.’
‘No, no,’ she broke in. The surge of response ebbed rapidly, leaving her lax and enervated. ‘I think jet lag must have struck—I wouldn’t be entertaining company tonight.’
Black brows drawn together, he scrutinised her face. ‘I should have realised you’d feel the effects—I’m sorry for wearing you out at tennis.’
‘You didn’t,’ she said promptly. ‘All I need is a good night’s sleep and I’ll be fine.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll be back well before midnight. When you want to eat, use the telephone to call the restaurant and order a meal.’
Serina was relieved when he left, although the big penthouse seemed to echo emptily without his vibrant presence. After she’d eaten an excellent meal, she explored the bookshelves in a room that combined the functions of a library and media area, strangely delighted to find several well-read books she’d enjoyed too. But she couldn’t settle and although she was tired enough to feel drowsy it took her a long time to get to sleep.
In fact, she didn’t manage it until she heard sounds that indicated Alex had returned.
When she woke, a glance at her watch revealed she’d slept only four hours. City noises floated up to the penthouse—traffic, the distant clamour of a siren, a squeal of brakes from the street below…
Just like all other cities, she thought wearily. And, to take her mind off wondering whether Alex had really intended to kiss her, she tried to imagine what she’d hear in the countryside where he lived.
It was a lost cause. Her wilful memory kept returning to those electrifying moments when he’d touched her mouth. Dreamily, she recalled the look on his face, the charged intensity about him that had awakened her equal untrammelled response.
He had wanted to kiss her.
So why had he pulled back? He was experienced; she knew of at least two long-term affairs he’d had. Surely he’d read the signals clearly enough to know she wouldn’t slap his face and storm out of the room?
Perhaps he’d decided it was too soon. Which was amazingly considerate of him…
And quite correct. However, there were four weeks ahead for them both to find out more about each other.
Smiling languorously, she turned over, closed her eyes and slid into sleep, waking to a morning as crisp and welcoming as a summer’s day. After showering and pulling on a pair of well-cut trousers and a paler blue silk shirt that intensified the colour of her eyes, she opened the curtains and gazed out at a radiant sky beaming over the city, the harbour glinting in the sunlight and dotted with islands that danced clear and bright in the vivid sea.
On the terrace outside her bedroom window flowers bloomed in a small garden; Serina opened the door that led out onto it and on a little exclamation of surprise and pleasure bent to smell one particular potted rose, sinfully crimson with a heart as darkly potent as forbidden love.
‘A rose for a rose.’
Alex’s voice brought her upright so suddenly her head