Christine Rimmer - How to Marry a Princess

She fumed in silence, refusing to answer. Finally, she demanded, “Who are you, really?”

“I’m who I said I was.”

“Noah.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a last name?”

“Cordell.” He turned her swiftly and gracefully to the music, guiding her effortlessly, keeping them to the outer edges of the floor.

“Are you a stable hand?”

“No. And I didn’t say I was. You assumed that.”

“And you never bothered to enlighten me. Do you live in Los Angeles?”

“No. Not for years. I have an estate in Carpinteria, not far from Santa Barbara. I live there most of the time. I also have a flat I keep in London. And a Paris apartment.”

“So you should have no trouble affording that Akhal-Teke you said you want.”

“No trouble at all. But it’s a specific horse I’m after.”

She should have known. “Let me guess. One of mine?”

“Orion.”

She drew in a sharp breath. In that foolish dream of hers, he’d been riding Orion. “I’m not selling you Orion.” That was a bit petty, and she knew it. Not to mention a bad business move. Alice bred her horses for sale—to buyers who would love them and bond with them and treat them well, buyers who appreciated the beauty and rarity of the breed. Her pool of buyers was a small one, as she also demanded a high price for her Tekes. She might be angry with Noah, but he knew horses and loved them. She’d be smarter not to reject him out of hand—as a potential buyer, anyway. “I don’t wish to discuss my horses with you right now.”

“You brought it up.” The next song was a slower one. He effortlessly adjusted to the change in tempo, all the while gazing down at her, watching her mouth. As if he planned to kiss her—a bold move he had better not try.

She accused, “I brought it up as an example of the way that you lied to me. Not with words, maybe. But by implication. By action. The first time I saw you, you were sweeping the stable floor. Gilbert seemed to know you. What else was I to assume but that he’d hired you?”

“Gilbert was joking with me. He saw me sweeping and asked me if I needed a job. Your brother Damien had introduced us the day before. Dami knows I love horses and wanted me to have a chance to ride while I was here. And I had told him I was hoping to buy one of your stallions. He said I would have to talk to you about that.”

“You’re great friends, then, you and my brother?”

“Yes. I consider Damien a friend.”

She thought again of the blonde and the redhead at dinner. He’d seemed to take their fawning attentions as his due. “You’re a player. Like Dami.”

“I’m single. I enjoy a good life and I like the company of beautiful women.”

“You’re a player.”

“I am not playing you, Alice.” He held her gaze. Steadily. Somehow the very steadiness of his regard excited her.

She did not wish to be excited. “You’ve been playing me from the moment you picked up that broom and pretended to be someone you’re not.”

“Everything I told you was true. Everything. Yes, I’ve got all I’ll ever need now, but I started out in L.A. with nothing. My parents were both dead by the time I was twenty-one. I have one sister, Lucy.”

“And you went to work on a ranch when you were eighteen?”

“No. I visited that ranch. Often. My boss took a liking to me. He flipped houses in Los Angeles for a living and he hired me as a day laborer to start. I learned the business from the ground up, beginning on his low-end properties in East L.A.”

“You’re saying you learned fast?” She wasn’t surprised.

“Before the crash, I was buying and selling in all the major markets. I got out ahead of the collapse with a nice nest egg. Now I manage my investments and I do what I want with the rest of my time. Oh, and that second cousin you mentioned, the one who lives in Bel Air?”

“Jonas.”

He nodded. “I know him. Jonas Bravo and I have done business on a couple of occasions. He’s a good man.” He pulled her a little closer again. She allowed that, though she knew that she probably shouldn’t. They danced without talking for a minute or two.

Finally, she muttered grudgingly, “You should have told me all of this at the first.”

“I can see that now.” He sounded so...sincere. As though he truly regretted misleading her.

She tried not to soften. “Why didn’t you, then?”

“Alice, I...” The words trailed off.

“At a loss? I don’t believe it. Just tell me. Why weren’t you honest with me from the first?”

“I don’t know, exactly. Because it was fun. Exciting. To tease you.”

She started to smile and caught herself. “That’s not a satisfactory answer.”

“Look. I came early to ride and I saw you there, saddling that beautiful mare. It was still dark out and there was no one else around. I didn’t want to scare you. I picked up the broom and started sweeping, because what’s more nonthreatening than some guy sweeping the floor? And then... I don’t know. You thought I was a groom and you talked to me anyway. I liked that. I got into it, that’s all. In a way, the Noah you met in the stables really is me. Just...another possible me. The one who didn’t make a fortune in real estate. I thought it would be something we would laugh over later.”

The dance ended. For a moment they swayed together at the edge of the floor. She should have pulled away.

She stayed right where she was.

He was getting to her. She was liking him again. Believing the things he told her....

Yet another song started.

He pulled her even closer and whispered, his breath warm across her skin, “I screwed up, okay?” He whirled her around. They danced in a circle along the outer rim of the floor.

“You knew who I was from the first. Before we met. Right?”

He pulled back enough to give her a look. Patient. Ironic. “Please. I’m friends with your brother. He’s told me about you—and your sisters and brothers. Also, I want one of your stallions and I know you’re quite a horse trader, not only brutal when striking a bargain but particular about whom you’ll sell to. I’ve made it my business to learn everything I can about you.”

Which meant he would have seen the Glasgow pictures.

Well, so what? She’d done what she’d done. She’d gone over the top and she’d suffered for it. She was tired of being ashamed. “You know all about me? That sounds vaguely stalkerish.”

He shrugged, his muscular shoulder lifting and then settling under her hand. “You could look at it that way, I suppose. Or you could admit that it’s just good sense to find out what you can about the people you’ll be dealing with.”

“So of course you won’t mind if I track you down online the next chance I get.”

“I would expect nothing less.” And he smiled, rueful. And somehow hopeful, too. He was way too charming when he smiled. “And when you find out I’ve told the truth, do I get another chance with you?”

All at once she was too sharply aware of his hand holding hers, his warm fingers and firm palm at her back, his big body brushing hers. Little arrows of sensation seemed to zip around beneath her skin. “A chance with me? I thought we were talking about your buying Orion.”

He eased her closer. His breath touched her hair and his body burned into hers. Her skin felt electrified. And he whispered, “You know we’re talking about more than the horse. Who’s lying now? Ma’am?”

She liked it too much, dancing so close to him. She liked him too much. “Please don’t hold me so tightly.”

He instantly obeyed, loosening his hold so he embraced her easily, lightly, again. “Better?”

She nodded, thinking that this particular Noah, self-assured and sophisticated in evening dress, was every bit as brash and manly as the one she’d assumed was a groom. And smooth, too. She hadn’t planned to forgive him for pretending to be a penniless stable hand—but somehow she already had.