Пэнни Джордан – The Royal House of Niroli: Secret Heirs: Bride by Royal Appointment / A Royal Bride at the Sheikh's Command (страница 13)
“Bring him in,” Natalia urged, “and let us make the judgment call.”
And so she did. She went out into the cool night air and zeroed in on where he was standing right away.
“Adam?”
“Right here.”
He leaned down to pet Fabio, then agreed to come in and meet her friends. Still, to cover the bases, they went over a quick game plan first.
“I know you don’t want to use your real name,” she said, thinking. “It has been in the papers. So-o-o … let’s see. We’ll call you Rex.”
“Rex?” He grimaced, not at all sure about that. “Don’t they call dogs Rex?”
“And kings,” she reminded him. “But you need a last name, too. And it should be relevant so we can always claim there was a point to this. How about Hollywood?”
“Rex Hollywood?” He groaned. “I may be something of a sham, Elena, but I’m not that kind of a phony. Anyway, technically, my base production center is in Burbank, not Hollywood.”
“Rex Burbank? Perfect.” She beamed, pleased with the results of their attempt at skullduggery.
And so Rex Burbank was who he became to her friends. He met them one by one and was charming and personable to each. The only one who had a problem with him was the predicable one— Gino.
“Rex Burbank?” he said in unalloyed disgust. But he shook hands and didn’t say any more once Elena had jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
“So,
Adam shrugged, accepting a drink from Natalia and smiling his thanks. “An island is an island. I’ve been to lots of them.”
A ripple of quiet outrage went through the small crowd around him, but Gino was the one who continued to question him. “You find nothing unique about Niroli?”
Adam looked about at the faces turned up to his and realized he ought to temper his cynicism a bit, for public consumption at least. “Actually I haven’t had time to do much looking around,” he assured them all. “Once I do, I’m sure I’ll start appreciating Niroli’s many special qualities.”
“Maybe you should do more sightseeing and stop bothering people in their homes instead,” Gino said, his chest thrust out confrontationally.
Things might have escalated out of control from there, if Natalia hadn’t pulled Adam away to show him a display of early Nirolian musical instruments Elena’s mother had collected and kept in a glass case at one end of the living room. There were items that looked very much like violins, others like wind instruments and a set of strangely formed drums. Each had roots in forms that were familiar, but each also had something very unique in its design and development, something contributed by Nirolian natives from centuries past.
“Elena’s mother was a music archivist,” Natalia explained. “She did a lot of work for the Nirolian National Music Society at the palace twenty years ago or so.”
Adam nodded, impressed by the professional look to the display. “I take it she is deceased.”
“Yes, she had a heart attack about ten years ago. Luckily, Elena’s grandmother was still alive at the time and so she wasn’t alone.”
“And now she’s lost her grandmother, too.”
“Yes, fairly recently. But she’s strong.” Natalia smiled impishly. “You’ve noticed that, I imagine.”
He grinned back at her. “Yes. And I know she wants to be independent.”
“Oh, yes. What she wants most right now is to find a way to take advantage of the scholarship she won to that New York music school.”
Adam remembered that Gino had hinted about some sort of opportunity overseas. “She won a scholarship?”
“Yes. It’s in a program that uses music as a type of therapy for troubled children. The only problem is getting to New York and then paying for housing while she’s there. And being able to do it on her own. All that is quite an undertaking for a woman who’s been raised in such a small, protective environment. Not to mention a woman who is blind.”
“She can do it.” He made the claim without the slightest sense of irony. The conviction that she could do just about anything she put her mind to seemed to have implanted itself deep inside him and he had no doubts.
“We all know that,” Natalia responded. “But it will be quite difficult. And possibly very painful.”
The others caught up with them and the conversation moved in other directions, but Adam couldn’t get Natalie’s last words out of his head, and he kept looking at Elena, wishing he knew how to make things easier for her in some way. “Difficult … painful.” Those shouldn’t be factors looming large in the future of a woman like this. And yet, instinctively he knew that trying to protect her from them would be a form of abuse in itself. There were going to be hazards she would have to face on her own. Luckily, she seemed a lot more ready for them than he was to let her experience them. He was going to have to force himself to back off and leave her alone.
But what was he thinking? He wasn’t going to be around long enough to be involved in any of that, was he? Even if he became King, Elena wasn’t likely to fall into his circle at the palace. Because, if the truth be known, despite all the rules they were throwing at him about how much time he had to spend here, he wasn’t planning to make Niroli his permanent home.
“Take the money and run,” was pretty much his game plan. All that was left was to see if he could get his plan to execute.
Still, he had a hard time ignoring how appealing Elena was tonight. Her body was enticing and her face was as beautiful as any woman he’d ever seen. And now he had time to study those eyes that she was finally revealing, and he was amazed at how gorgeous they were. They didn’t look like most eyes. It was quite evident that no sight was taking place—at least not in the obvious sense. But there was a warmth there, a sort of incandescent perception that was beyond normal vision.
That was, of course, much too fanciful for a man like him to tolerate so he immediately made fun of himself for even thinking it. Still, the concept lingered in his mind and wouldn’t let him go. This woman whom he’d only known for hours was looming so large in his view of life, it almost seemed like magic.
Or as if someone had cast a spell on him.
The last holdouts at the party were beginning to contemplate taking their leave. Adam was looking forward to having Elena to himself soon. And he especially anticipated losing Gino’s unwelcome company.
The man had dogged him for the entire evening. It was only later that he found out that Elena had told him in no uncertain terms that he was not to sleep on her couch, no doubt adding fuel to his resentment.
Adam had amused himself a few times making slightly disparaging remarks about Niroli just to see Gino rise to the bait like an angry shark. Elena had stepped between them twice before the evening was over, and Gino was obviously boiling.
“I’ll be back first thing in the morning and I expect a full report,” he said fiercely as he prepared to leave.
“A report of what?” Natalia whispered at Elena’s ear.
“Never mind,” Elena whispered back.
Natalia laughed. “Poor Gino. He’s afraid of losing his little protégé.”
But he did leave, and so did the others, calling out their last good wishes as they went. Adam turned to Elena. Her cheeks were pink and her lips were rosy and he wanted to kiss her right there with her friends still in sight. But he didn’t.
“I liked your party,” he said instead. “It was very urbane, very sophisticated. Very continental.”
She smiled, obviously aware he was half teasing, so he went on.
“For living in such a small town, you all seem so … big-city European.”
“European?” She laughed. “How would you know what ‘European’ was like?”
“I’ve traveled in Europe. Many times.”
“Really?” She laughed again. Everything he said was amusing her. “And how did our little gathering compare to your Hollywood parties?”
He turned away in disgust. “Oh, please. Hollywood is full of phonies. I hate Hollywood parties.”
He picked up a couple of stray dishes and began to carry them into the kitchen. “There are real people living in Los Angeles, you know. If you’ve got to go to parties, go to real people parties. Like this one.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, following him with a pair of wineglasses she’d found.
He turned and looked at her, leaning against the kitchen counter, while she rinsed out the last few things. “Gino seemed to resent the air space I take up just by breathing,” he noted. “I thought you implied he was gay.”
“He is.”
“Then why does he always look like he wants to fight me to the death over your naked body?”
She turned toward him, her mouth open in mock outrage. “Explain to me why my body would be naked in this fantasy scenario of yours.”
He shrugged. Wasn’t it self-evident? “You’d be the trophy, of course. The prize.” He grinned, contemplating the scene and liking it. “Prizes are always better naked.”
She pouted. “Couldn’t I have just a little scrap of clothing?”
He shook his head sternly. “No. Not allowed. This is my fantasy. I make the rules.”