potential brides were sitting a foot away.
It was more awkward than any situation had the right to be.
“I …” She cleared her throat. “I’m really looking forward to lunch.”
“I’m looking forward to dinner,” said Cherry, flashing Stavros a smile.
From awkwardness to greater awkwardness.
“I imagine everyone will be eating dinner tonight,” Jessica said, a bit too brightly. Some will be eating alone, though.
Stavros laughed … easy, charming. False. He did that so well. No matter the situation he seemed to be in control. More than that, he seemed to distance himself. The flirtier and friendlier he seemed, the less present he actually was. And that seemed to be his default setting.
Not always. Her mind flashed back to the kiss. That hadn’t been emotionless at all. Or distant. That had been … amazing. And wild. She sneaked a peek at him from the corner of her eyes, her line of sight connecting her with the strong column of his throat. She was willing to bet he tasted like salt. Clean skin and man.
“I’m certain everyone will,” he said, earning a delicate blush from Cherry.
The limo stopped and Jessica nearly said a prayer of thanks out loud. “We’re here!”
The doors opened and they filed out. The restaurant was at the harbor, the seating area extending over the pier. Boats, ranging in size from dinghies to yachts, filled the horizon. Seagulls screeched nearby, landing near tables, fighting over crumbs, showing no respect for their otherwise elegant surroundings.
Jessica made sure everyone ordered wine with their lunch. Heaven knew they would need it to get through the afternoon.
They made appropriate small talk while they waited for their orders to be filled and Jessica cringed inside as she watched the patented disinterest in Stavros’s eyes grow more and more pronounced.
She wanted to pinch him. She couldn’t fix him up if he didn’t even try to like the women she introduced him to.
She caught his gaze and treated him to a hard stare. A glimmer of amusement appeared in the depths of his dark eyes. She didn’t even want to know what he was thinking.
When everyone had their food, Stavros leaned in, his very best charming-politician smile on his face. How had she not noticed before? How fake it was. How much it wasn’t him at all. “I know this is a bit unusual. But I think it’s best to think of it as a job interview. I hope no one finds that offensive. We have all signed up to have Jessica’s help finding a suitable spouse, have we not?”
Jessica wanted to hit him. Except none of the women seemed offended at all. They should have been. His mercenary assessment should have made them all angry. They should have poured wine in his lap.
They didn’t, they simply nodded.
“The reality is, my country needs very specific things from a queen. That’s my top priority.”
“Naturally,” Victoria said. “We’re all far too practical to think this is going to be a love match.”
Cherry nodded, and Amy only stared into her glass.
“Then the rejection should not be personal, either,” he said, his charm never slipping. He was firm, yet still perfectly engaging. She didn’t understand how he did it. She didn’t understand what he was doing, and yet, he was doing it.
“This is really lovely,” Jessica said, looking around them. “Isn’t it lovely?”
Amy nodded. “It really is.”
She chattered on about the scenery and the food, anything to dispel the lingering scent of that horrible honesty of Stavros’s. They managed to make it through the meal and get the women deposited at their hotel without it appearing again.
That left just the two of them alone in the limo for the ride back to the villa.
“And what was that?” she asked.
“What was what?” He was positioned across from her, and he still felt too close, because now there was no one in the back with them to help diffuse the tension.
“That. The whole thing about it being a job interview. Didn’t I tell you to keep your candor to yourself? Or just tell me if you have something so honest to say.”
“They didn’t seem to mind. Anyway, I had to make a choice about tonight, about which one of the three to continue seeing. If that, the clinical nature of this, is going to bother them, they should leave now. I’m not doing this for romance.”
“I know …”
“And now so do they. If any one of them wants to leave they better do it now, I don’t have time to mess around with the future of my country. I told you already, I need a queen who understands that her loyalty will be to Kyonos.”
“Still … geez. Don’t underestimate the power of a little sweet talk.”
“I of all people know about sweet talk, as you should know. I do have a reputation. But I’m not going to deceive anyone that’s involved in this.”
“I appreciate that. I wasn’t talking deceit. Just … sugarcoating.”
“I didn’t think you did sugarcoating,” he said, his dark eyes locked with hers.
“Um … well, I don’t … I mean not with you, but you have to know how to talk to women.”
“You think you know how to talk to women better than I do? How many women have you dated?”
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Zero, but I am a woman so I win.”
“This isn’t about tricking someone into marrying me because they want to be a princess and live in a castle and have their happily-ever-after. They can want a title, but they have to be worthy of it. They have to know what it means. They have to realize I’m a busy man and that love isn’t high on my list of priorities. It’s not even on the list of options. For that reason, I thought it was important I spelled it out.”
She looked out the window, her throat tightening. For one moment, just for a moment, she pictured Stavros without the obligations. What would it be like for him? If he could have been free to do what he wanted? If he could have had that wife and the children that he’d seen in his mind’s eye last night while they were talking? Would his expectations be different?
Would he have loved that wife? If he didn’t feel like a nation was dependent on his emotional strength, would he have given himself over to love? Would he have focused his fearsome loyalty on his family?
The thought of it, of what it would be like to be the woman on the receiving end of all that intensity, filled her with a kind of bone-deep longing.
Get a grip, Jess. Even if he was free, she wouldn’t be the woman for him. He had goals, dreams and desires that weren’t about his wife, or who she was, but what she could offer. And they were things she couldn’t offer. She knew all about trying to be perfect for someone when she fell so far short of it. She could never do it again.
“I respect that,” she said.
“Victoria.”
“What?”
“It’s Victoria. She’s the one I want to see again.” His voice didn’t hold any particular enthusiasm.
She felt like she’d been sucker punched. And she wasn’t sure why. “Did you … have a lightning-attraction thing?”
A muscle in his cheek jumped. “She’s lovely. More than that, I think she’s a bit … well, she seemed unemotional.” He didn’t sound too enthusiastic and she hated the small, ridiculous part of herself that liked that. The part that wanted Stavros to be dwelling on their kiss, and not on his attraction to another woman.
Even if