Lisa Laurel - The Irresistible Prince

That was the opening Annah was looking for. He wouldn’t be staying in the castle long, if she had her way. “By the way, no one else knows you’re here, do they?”

He seemed a bit surprised by her change of subject, but answered her question. “Besides the Anders family? No one except you...and my staff, of course.”

“But no one here in town,” she clarified. “I mean, it was dark when you left my place, and you drove away in a nondescript sedan.”

He nodded. His chauffeur, who was also his bodyguard, insisted on it, for security reasons. He only used a limo for public occasions.

“After that, did you come right here to the castle?”

“Yes.”

“Did anyone walk by while you were on my porch?”

He gave her a puzzled look. “I didn’t notice anyone.”

“And I know the girls I was waiting on didn’t really get a good look at you,” she said positively. “So you see, I am the only one in town who knows that you—that Prince Lucas of the Constellation Isles is here.”

His frown deepened. “You think that’s important?”

“Of course,” she said. As an afterthought she added, “Don’t you?”

He didn’t. Wasn’t she aware that once other people saw him, they would recognize him? He expected that. It went with the territory.

Her question dangled intriguingly. He didn’t answer, and she didn’t elaborate, but turned her attention to the food. “The salad is all ready now, so I’ll just slice up the bread.”

Lucas stood aside, watching her. “When I asked you to dinner, I had no intention of your cooking and serving it,” he said.

“I enjoy cooking,” she said, putting the bread into a basket that she had pulled out of one of the upper cabinets. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking of expanding my coffee shop hours and serving lunch, also. It’s nice having a guinea pig to try out my new recipes.”

No one had ever had the cheek to refer to him as a guinea pig before, and oddly enough, Lucas found he didn’t mind. But it still felt awkward, having his guest prepare her own dinner. Standing out of her way as she bustled about, he observed, “You seem to be familiar with this kitchen.”

“Julie lived here as the caretaker for a year before she married Prince Erik,” she said, pulling a bunch of flowers out of one of the bags. “She and I are friends.”

Which apparently gave them intimate knowledge of each other’s kitchens. He was not wise in the ways of feminine friendships, but found himself admiring the feminine grace of her movements as she worked. Bending under one counter she picked out some sort of glass container and, with a few deft moves, began arranging the flowers in it. She placed the bloom-filled bowl in the center of the big wooden trestle table that stood in front of the fireplace. Lucas watched as the drawers and cabinets that were a dark mystery to him yielded placemats, utensils, crockery and glasses at her touch. She began setting them out on the table. It looked as if she meant for the two of them to eat dinner right there.

He cleared his throat. “It was my intention that we eat in the dining room, Miss Lane.”

“We don’t have to be so formal. Please, call me Annah.”

“And expect to dine with you here in the kitchen?” He hadn’t forgotten that she was his guest, despite the fact that she had come in and taken charge of the meal.

But that seemed to be her preference. “It’s cozier in here,” she said reasonably, stirring the pot on the stove again.

“Would be, if someone had built a fire in that hearth,” Lucas muttered, and then busied himself doing just that. Until now it had escaped his notice that the sweater she was wearing didn’t look anywhere near as warm as his—although she filled it out a lot better, a fact which hadn’t escaped his notice at all. He forced himself to concentrate on the work at hand, and soon a roaring blaze filled the big stone fireplace.

She paused in her work to look at his. “You’re quite good at that,” she remarked.

Lucas turned to her. “It’s a skill a man learns early, where I’m from.”

A hint of amusement played at the corners of her lips. “Even when you’re a prince?”

“Of course,” he said seriously, not sure what she was getting at. As the only child of royal parentage, he didn’t have much experience with being teased. Was that what she was doing, or did she really think that his being a prince meant that he was some kind of wimp? Despite that niggling question, he found that putting his hands to use had righted his perspective. This wasn’t a formal affair of state, after all, and having Annah prepare dinner seemed like much less of a big deal than the leap of faith he was taking by putting his future into her hands. Still, Lucas trusted his friends. And it was clear that he himself had no way, mysterious or otherwise, to tell whether a woman was right for him. What’s more, he was wise enough to know that he needed a partner, someone who lived in the town and knew its people. Someone who could weed out the unsuitables and make introductions. Had they known about it, the grandmothers who gathered to gossip in village stores on the Constellation Isles would say that their prince had hired himself a matchmaker—and about time, too! He himself was more comfortable thinking of Annah Lane in terms of a consultant

That thought renewed his sense of purpose and his curiosity about her qualifications. Weren’t matchmakers supposed to be older, more-experienced women? “If I may be so bold as to ask, how can you help others find suitable matches when you are not married yourself?” he asked her.

“Been there, done that,” she said offhandedly.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’m divorced,” she clarified.

He didn’t remember Erik or Whit mentioning that. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling badly that he’d asked.

She waved away his apology. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. And she sounded as if it didn’t.

That made him feel a little better, so he asked something that did matter. “Do you really think you’ll be able to help me find the kind of woman I’m looking for?”

She seemed to be thinking it over. “Let me make sure I understand exactly what you want,” she said. “First of all, why Anders Point?”

“Princes find brides here,” he said, making it sound, to Annah’s amusement, as if finding the right woman was a simple matter of geography. “And this seems like a pretty good place to find the kind of woman I am looking for. Someone like the women Erik and Whit found.”

“Sorry,” Annah said, unable to keep from smiling at that. “I’m fresh out of best friends, and even if I had one left, I don’t think I’d let you have her, anyway. It’s getting lonely around here, with princes swooping in and carrying them off to live happily ever after.”

She hoped she wasn’t imagining the slight smile she saw underneath his beard. If he had even a smidgen of a sense of humor behind that royal demeanor, maybe he would go for her plan after all. “What is it about them that you would want in a wife?” she prodded.

He thought about that. “I guess it’s that they’re so—” he paused, as if groping for the right word “—ordinary.”

“Oh, boy,” she said playfully, rolling her eyes. “You’d best keep that one under your crown, Your Highness. No woman likes to think of herself as ordinary.”

“You misunderstand me,” he said, frowning.

“Then make me understand,” she said, smiling at him encouragingly. “If you want me to find a bride for you, give me something to work with.” She placed her hand on his and jiggled it playfully, hoping to get him to lighten up a little. The casual touch had the opposite effect on her. Once again chills danced through her, and they didn’t stop at the point of contact, but radiated up her arm, warm and mysterious. Again she pulled back abruptly.