after her work here was over.
He turned away. Composed himself. She was just another woman. More beautiful, perhaps. More intelligent. More fun. In the end, though, she was the same as all the others. She was with him because of who he was. Because of the power he wielded.
Because he was a prince, not a man. He had to remember that.
She was his mistress, bought and paid for. She was not his lover; she was not in his bed of her own free will but because he had demanded her presence there.
He took a breath and looked at her. “What did you say to my father?” His voice was cold. “He was fine at the start of his meeting with you.”
“He wasn’t. He looked ill.”
“Answer the question. What did you do to make him collapse?”
Maria stared at Alex. He was looking at her as he had not done in weeks, as if he were an autocrat and she were his to command. His expression radiated scorn—and maybe she deserved it. She’d slept with a man who’d made it clear he wanted her sexually, not any other way.
And she’d fallen in love with him.
Wasn’t she repeating a pattern for which she’d vilified her mother—up to and including the shame of becoming pregnant?
God. Oh, God! How had she let this happen? And what would she do next? End the pregnancy? Have the baby? Raise it, alone, as her mother had raised her? Because it was only in fairy tales that the handsome prince married the beautiful commoner and lived with her happily ever after.
“I’m waiting, Maria.”
She wrapped her arms around herself. Lifted her chin. Forced herself to meet Alex’s steely gaze without flinching.
“I told him something about the Aristan crown.”
“And?”
“And, it upset him. I’m sorry for that but I was—I was shocked myself and I just blurted it out—”
“Blurted out what? I’m not in the mood for games, Maria.”
Maria swallowed dryly. Her lover was a prince of the house of Karedes. He had to know the truth.
“I told him—I told him the half of the Stefani diamond in the crown wasn’t real.”
For a long moment, nothing happened. Then Alex laughed. The sound startled her.
“You told the king that a stone that is beyond price wasn’t real?” His laughter ended as quickly as it had begun. “And he called you, what? A liar? A fool? An idiot? Or all three?”
“It isn’t real,” Maria said quietly. “It’s an excellent fake—but a fake, nevertheless.”
Alex’s face darkened. “He should have had you thrown out for spouting such nonsense!”
“Listen to me, Alex.”
“No, glyka mou, you listen to me! I don’t know what you thought to accomplish with such a lie but—”
“The stone’s counterfeit!” Maria grabbed the crown from the workbench along with a stack of papers and shoved all of it into his hands. “Here’s the crown.”
“You took it out of the palace?—”
“I didn’t plan to take it but… Never mind the details. Look at my notes. I ran endless tests. That’s why I phoned Joaquin, to see if maybe, just maybe there was something I missed. There wasn’t. The Aristan pink diamond isn’t a diamond at all!”
Alex stared at her. Then he began leafing through the papers, quickly at first and then, as he began to absorb what she’d written, more and more slowly. He stared at the crown. At the papers.
Finally, he looked up.
“I don’t understand. Who would have done this? And how? The crown’s been in the vault for years.”
Maria spread her hands. “I have no answers. I only know the diamond is a fake.”
Alex put down the papers and the crown, and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re sure? There’s no possibility of error?”
“I’m a Graduate Gemologist,” she said softly. “I’ve appraised lots and lots of diamonds. I even did some work with an insurance company that involved fraud and a diamond that would have been worth millions, had it been real.” She paused. “I phoned Joaquin because he’s knowledgeable. And completely trustworthy.”
Alex’s mouth thinned. “I’ll just bet he is.”
“Damn it, stop being a fool! I phoned him that morning in your apartment to tell him I thought I had a good shot at winning the competition because I knew how much it mattered to him and his wife. And I called him now to pick his brain. He’s not my lover. He never has been. He’s married to my best friend and he’s my friend, too. I can trust him to keep quiet about this—or am I wrong, thinking you don’t want the citizens of Aristo learning the truth about the diamond from the front pages of the world’s newspapers?”
A muscle flickered in Alex’s jaw. She was right about the need for discretion. The diamond was priceless, not only as a stone but as a symbol. No Aristan ruler could ever be crowned without it. There was also his grandfather’s pronouncement, what everyone called King Christos’s Legacy, the pledge that both halves of the Stefani diamond would have to be joined together in the crown of Adamas if ever the two kingdoms, Calista and Aristo, were to be reunited.
And then, he thought, looking at Maria, then there was Maria herself.
Maria, who had brought him the kind of joy he’d never expected to find. What he’d told himself a little while ago was a lie. She’d come to Aristo because he’d forced her to do so, yes, but that was in the past. She was here now because it was what they both wanted. He couldn’t imagine ending the day without sharing a few quiet moments with her as they stood in each other’s arms, watching the sun set over his beloved island. Couldn’t imagine opening his eyes in the morning and not finding her in his arms again.
As for Joaquin… He’d seen his Maria with him but, really, what had he seen? A man putting his arms around a woman. A kiss, but were either the embrace or the kiss those of lovers? Had she lifted her face to Joaquin as she lifted hers to him? Had she drawn Joaquin’s head down to hers? Had anything about that kiss held the heat, the power of what happened between his Maria and him?
God, he was a fool. Accusing her of things he knew, in his heart, were not true. Things she would never do. He had to tell her what she’d come to mean to him, that he didn’t want her to leave him…
“I only wish,” she said brokenly, “I just wish I’d broken the news to your father differently. Perhaps, if I had—”
“It’s all right, glyka mou.”
“No. It isn’t. I upset him. His heart—”
“His heart is undamaged. He’s at the hospital, yes, but he’s awake and alert.”
“Thank God,” she said, and then she began to weep.
“Ah, sweetheart.” Alex gathered her into his arms. “Don’t cry.”
She wept harder, her face pressed against his shoulder. He could feel her tears dampening his shirt.
“Forgive me for blaming you for what happened. Discovering the stone is fake must have been terrible.”
Maria lifted her face to his. “It was horrible. Horrible, Alexandros! I couldn’t believe it. That was why I called Joaquin—”
“I spoke before I thought,” he said gruffly, framing her face between his hands. “An old failing, I’m afraid. Ask my brothers. Or my sisters.” He smiled. “They’ll tell you the same thing. I hear something, I get upset, I react.” He clasped her chin, lifted her mouth to his and kissed her. “Will you forgive