Abby Green - Royals - For Their Royal Heir

Leila looked at him. She thought of Ricardo...and of the fact that Alix had been in and out of her shop a few times now and no one seemed to have picked up on it. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe the skeletons in her closet wouldn’t jump out to bite her.

She forced a smile. ‘Okay.’

CHAPTER SIX

‘EARTH TO ALIX...HELLO? Anyone home?’

Alix blinked and looked at his friend and chief advisor, Andres, who had flown in from Isle Saint Croix to meet him. Andres was Alix’s secret weapon. Devoutly loyal to getting Alix back on the throne, he was also working as a spy, of sorts, in the current regime in Isle Saint Croix. He was the reason Alix was going to get reinstated as King.

‘Have you heard a word I’ve said?’

Alix knew he hadn’t. His head had been consumed with soft silky skin. Long dark hair. Huge green eyes like jewels. Soft gasps and moans. The heady rush of pleasure when he— Damn . He jerked up out of his chair. This was ridiculous.

Leila was like a fever in his blood. He couldn’t concentrate.

He went and stood at the window, and then after a few seconds turned back to his friend and said, ‘I’ve met someone new.’

Andres made a small whistling sound, his boyishly handsome face cracking into a wry grin. ‘I know you move fast, Alix, but this is your fastest ever. Usually you leave at least a week between switching partners. This is good, though—when will we see pictures hit the press?’

Alix folded his arms and scowled at his friend’s exaggeration. And then he thought of what Leila had said about wanting to avoid press intrusion. And, as much as he needed it right now, suddenly the thought of paparazzi hounding her was very unpalatable. It made him feel almost... protective .

There had to be a solution. His brain seized on an idea and it took root. And the more it did so, the more seductive it became.

‘Our supporters on the ground are aware that we are conducting a campaign of misdirection, aren’t they?’

Andres nodded. ‘Absolutely. They know that you’re primed and ready to return, no matter what the press says.’

‘Then if I was to leave and go to my island in the Caribbean for ten days it could only work in our favour?’

Andres huffed out a breath. ‘Well, sure... I mean, you’re just as contactable there as here... And if there are photos emerging of you frolicking in the sun with some leggy beauty the opposition will be taken completely by surprise when we pull the rug right out from underneath them.’

Alix smiled, sweet anticipation flooding his blood. ‘My thoughts exactly.’

Andres frowned. ‘But, Alix, you do know that your island is totally impenetrable by the outside world? No paparazzi have ever caught you there. It’s too far—too remote.’

Alix’s smile faded as he got serious. ‘Which is why you’re going to arrange for one of my most trustworthy staff on the island to take long-range grainy photos—I’ll let you know when is a good time. Enough to identify me, but not Leila. He can email them to you, and you can send them out to whoever you think should get them for maximum beneficial exposure. I want this controlled.’

Alix felt only the smallest pang of his conscience and told himself he’d still be protecting her identity.

Andres’s eyes gleamed with unmistakable interest at the lengths his friend was willing to go to for a woman, but Alix cut him off before he could say anything.

‘I don’t want to discuss her, Andres, just set it up. We’ll fly out tomorrow.’

* * *

‘You want to take me where ?’

The blinds were down in Leila’s shop and she’d just closed up for the evening when Alix had appeared, causing a seismic physical response. She hadn’t heard from him since that morning, when they’d arrived back from Venice, and she didn’t like to admit the way her nerves had stretched tighter and tighter over the day, as she’d wondered if she’d hear from him again. In spite of what he’d said.

And now he was here, and he’d just said—

‘I have an island in the Caribbean. It’s private...secluded. I’ve cleared my schedule for the next ten days—I need to take a break. I want you to come with me, Leila. I want to explore this with you...what’s going on between us.’

Leila felt sideswiped, bewildered, along with an illicit flutter of excitement. ‘But...I can’t just leave ! Who’ll look after my shop and business? The last thing I can afford now is to close up.’

Smoothly Alix said, ‘I can hire someone to manage the shop in your absence. They won’t have your knowledge, obviously, but they’ll be able to cover basic sales till you get back.’

Leila opened her mouth to protest, but the truth was she wasn’t really in a position to take orders for new perfumes until she found some factory space, so all she was doing in essence was selling what they had. She could mix perfumes on a very small scale, which was what she’d done for Alix. So she was dispensable.

Weakly, she protested. ‘But we’ve only spent one night together. I can’t just take off like this.’

Alix raised a brow. ‘Can’t you? What’s stopping you?’

Leila felt irritation rise. ‘Not everyone lives in a world where you can just take off to the other side of the earth on a whim. Some of us have to think of the consequences.’ But right then Leila knew she wasn’t thinking of financial or economic consequences—she was thinking of more emotional ones. Already.

Then Alix did the one thing guaranteed to scramble her brain completely. He came close and slid his hand around the back of her neck, under her hair, and tugged her towards him.

He said softly, ‘I’ll show you the consequences.’

His scent reached her brain before she even registered the effect it was having on her. Her blood started fizzing, and between her legs she was still tender but she could feel herself growing damp.

An acute physical reaction to desire. To this man.

Hunger, ravenous and scary, whipped through her so fast she couldn’t control it. And when Alix lowered his mouth to hers she was already lost. Already saying yes, throwing caution to the wind. Because the truth was that dealing with him in this environment was scarier—so maybe going to the other side of the world would keep them in fantasy land. And when it was over she’d come back to normality. Whatever normal was...

When the kiss ended they were both breathing heavily, and Leila was pressed between the counter and Alix’s very hard body. They looked at each other.

Shakily, Leila said, ‘This is just... It won’t last.’ She didn’t even frame it as a question.

Something infinitely hard came into Alix’s eyes and he shook his head. He almost looked sad for a moment. ‘No, it never lasts.’

Leila drew in a slightly shaky breath. One more step over the line couldn’t hurt, could it? She was doing this with her eyes wide open. No illusions. No falling in love. She was not her innocent, naive mother.

‘Okay, I’ll come with you.’

Alix just smiled.

* * *

‘There it is—just down there.’

Leila looked, and couldn’t quite believe her eyes. She’d never seen such vivid colours. Lush green and pale white sand, clear azure water. Palm trees. It was like the manifestation of a dream she wasn’t even aware she’d had.

She couldn’t actually speak. She was dumbfounded. This was the last in a series of flights that had taken them from Paris to Nassau and now in a smaller plane to Alix’s private island, which was called Isle de la Paix—Island of Peace.

And it looked peaceful from up here. They were circling lower now, and Leila could see a beautiful colonial-style house, and manicured grounds leading down to a long sliver of beach where foamy waves lapped the pristine shore.