Barbara Wallace - Not-So-Perfect Princess

A high-pitched noise sounded outside the bedroom door. Not quite a squeal, but not a squeak, either.

Yvette’s forehead creased. “It sounds like a baby, ma’am.”

Jules hurried to the door and opened it. The noise sounded again. She glanced around the empty hallway. A black ball of fur scratched at the door across the hall.

“You’re correct, Yvette. It is a baby. A baby cat.” Jules picked up the kitten who pawed at her. A long, white hair above his right eye bounced like an antenna in the wind. “I can’t imagine someone let you out into this big hallway on purpose. Did you escape again?”

The kitten stared up at her with clear, green eyes.

Her heart bumped. She’d always wanted a pet. This one was adorable.

“I can see where he belongs, ma’am,” Yvette offered.

“I’ll return him.” The kitten wiggled in Jules’s hands. She cuddled him closer in hopes of settling him down. He rested his head against her arm and purred. “I know where he belongs.”

With Alejandro.

Anticipation spurted through her. She wanted to see him. Because of the sailing, she rationalized. That was the only reason. Anything else would be too … dangerous.

“Cat?” Alejandro checked the closet, the bathroom, under the bed and beneath the other furniture. No sight of the furball anywhere.

The kitten didn’t come running as he usually did.

Maybe he was locked in the bathroom? Alejandro checked. No kitty.

The last time he’d seen the kitten was before his shower. He glanced around the apartment again. A vase with colorful fresh-cut flowers caught his eye. Those were new.

Only Ortiz knew about the kitten. If whoever delivered the flowers had left the door to the apartment open, the kitten could have gotten out.

Alejandro ran to the door and jerked it open.

Julianna stood in the doorway.

He froze, stunned to see her.

A smile graced her glossed lips. Clear, bright eyes stared back at him. Her pastel-pink suit made her look like the definition of the word princess in the dictionary.

She was the image of everything he didn’t like in a woman—royal, wealthy, concerned with appearances. He shouldn’t feel any attraction toward Julianna whatsoever. But he couldn’t stop staring at her beautiful face.

Awareness buzzed through him. Strange. Alejandro didn’t usually go for the prim and proper type. But this wasn’t the time to examine his attraction to her. He needed to find a kitten.

“I—”

“I was about to knock,” she said at the same time. “Look who I found.”

Alejandro followed her line of sight. The kitten was sound asleep in her arms.

Relief washed over him. “I was on my way out to look for him. Where did you find him?”

“In the hallway trying to squeeze under the door across from mine. A futile effort given his size, but he made a valiant attempt.” She smiled at the kitten. “I figured he must have escaped and you’d want him back.”

“Yes.” Alejandro tried focusing on the cat, but his gaze kept returning to her. He wanted to chalk his reaction to her up to gratitude but knew better. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Alejandro waited for Julianna to hand over the cat. She didn’t. He needed to go to the boatyard, but he wasn’t in that much of a hurry. He motioned into the apartment. “Please come in.”

Julianna looked to her left and then to the right. “Thanks, but I’d better not.”

He gave her a puzzled look. “You have plans.”

“No,” she admitted. “I don’t want to upset Enrique.”

Alejandro ignored the twinge of disappointment. He understood her concern. “You’re right. We don’t want to add fuel to the fire.”

“Especially with tonight,” she whispered. Excitement danced in her eyes.

He was looking forward to the sail. He wanted Julianna to like it here. For his sake as much as hers. She’d realize she wouldn’t be a prisoner on the island. Enrique didn’t know how to treat women properly; a combination of selfishness and lack of experience. His brother would settle down eventually.

“Rest up today or you’ll be exhausted,” Alejandro said.

“Like the kitten. He fell asleep on the walk over here. He must have tired himself out during his adventure.”

Alejandro wouldn’t mind tiring himself out with Julianna. He imagined her beautiful long hair loose and spread across his pillow, her silky skin against his, the taste of those lips …

His blood heated and roared through his veins.

He pushed the fantasy out of his mind. Thinking of Julianna in a sexual way was wrong and dangerous. They both had too much to lose.

“I’ve been wondering what the kitten’s name is,” she said.

Good, he could think about something other than her in his bed. “Cat.”

“Cat is the kitten’s name?”

“Yes.”

Julianna drew her delicately arched eyebrows together. Her pretty pink mouth opened then closed, as if she thought better of what she wanted to say.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s nothing.”

Alejandro recognized the look in her eyes. “Tell me.”

Julianna hesitated. “You’re doing me a favor taking me sailing. I shouldn’t criticize.”

He’d been criticized his entire life by his father and by his brother. He never could live up to what the people wanted him to be, either. The bane of being the spare. Nothing he did was ever good enough. Alejandro had grown immune to the put-downs. “I want to know.”

“You might get mad.”

He didn’t want her to be afraid of him. “Enrique might get a little heated at times. You don’t have to worry about that with me.”

She squared her shoulders, as if preparing for battle. A one-hundred-eighty-degree difference from her sobbing on the beach last night. “Cat isn’t a proper name for a pet.”

That was what this was all about. Alejandro almost laughed. He thought it was something serious. “Cat doesn’t seem to mind the name.”

“That’s because he loves you.”

The warmth in her voice wrapped around Alejandro like a soft, fluffy towel. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had made him feel so good. But he knew better. The feeling was as fleeting as the love she spoke about. “Love has nothing to do with it. He’s a cat. He comes because he’s hungry.”

“He’d come no matter what you call him,” she continued.

“Cat isn’t a child.”

“No, he’s your pet.”

Children and a family weren’t something he’d considered before. Saying he had a pet was pushing the level of commitment he was comfortable with. Love and commitment didn’t last so why bother? His mother had claimed to love him. But she’d abandoned him to a father who disapproved of him and a brother who antagonized him. Alejandro rocked back on his heels. “Cat’s a stray.”

“Living in a palace.”

Her voice teased. Okay, she had a point. “If I give the cat a proper name, I’ll have to keep him.”

She pursed her lips. “Do you plan on releasing him when he gets bigger?”

Alejandro fought the urge to squirm under her scrutiny. He hadn’t done anything wrong or irresponsible. At least not yet. “I haven’t thought that far ahead. But cats take off when they get tired of you.”

She peered around him and motioned to the sock tied in a knot, piece of rope and empty boxes strewn across the floor. “You’re going to need to buy a suitcase when he goes so he can take his toys with him.”

“I just had that stuff lying around.” Alejandro shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll probably keep him. At the boatyard when he gets older,” he clarified.

“Then you might as well come up with a more original name for him.”

“He’s a cat. The name fits.”