Valerie Parv – The Princess and the Playboy (страница 3)

She gave herself a mental shake. He was the enemy, and she had no business allowing foolish fantasies to interfere with her mission.

‘It’s OK, you can come and join me. I don’t bite.’

Lost in a daydream of pirates and plunder, she was startled to hear his voice. It was deeply resonant with a hint of Australian accent, as tauntingly familiar as his eyes, although the source of the feeling remained equally elusive. Shock must have made her betray her presence, and panic whirled through her. She should leave now before she got herself in any deeper. She hadn’t actually spoken to Jase Clendon so maybe Uncle Philippe would excuse her behaviour as female curiosity.

Of course the king hadn’t specifically forbidden her to meet Jase, otherwise she would have felt duty bound to obey. He had advised against it because he considered her committed to Luc Armand. But unless she met Jase Clendon she had no hope of convincing him to change his plans. In any case, she told herself, it wasn’t Her Royal Highness Princess Talay Rasada, meeting Jase Clendon, but Allie Martine, the wife of his old friend. The thought bolstered her failing courage. Gathering her flowered sarong around her, she stepped out of the shadows. ‘Good afternoon. You must be Mr Clendon.’

He got to his feet and moved smoothly around the edge of the pool, coming to stand close beside her and offer his hand. ‘Hello. I take it you’re Michael’s wife, Allie. I recognise you from your photograph.’

The touch of his fingers against her own started a chain reaction of tremors which travelled along her arm and somehow found the vein leading to her heart. Or so it felt ‘My photograph?’ Even though she had put all the pictures of Allie and Michael out of sight Talay was anxious enough to try to tug her hand free, but Jase’s fingers closed around hers.

He nodded. ‘On the dresser inside. Some kind of graduation thing.’

To add to her pretence of being Allie, Talay had left out the picture Allie kept of her. Jase must have seen it and drawn his own interpretation. Instead of making her feel relieved, Talay was disturbed by the success of her deception. ‘It was taken when I got my masters in business administration at the University of Andaman,’ she said, thankful she could be honest about this at least.

‘Brains as well as beauty. I’m impressed.’ Very slowly he drew her hand up to his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers. When his lips brushed the backs of her fingers she felt a coil of something hot and sensual so deep inside her that it almost eluded conscious awareness. It was the most gentlemanly of greetings, perhaps even old-fashioned, but there was nothing old-fashioned about her response.

He saw the startled reaction she was unable to conceal but misinterpreted it and released her hand. ‘I mustn’t give you the wrong idea about me, Mrs Martine.’

‘Call me Allie, please,’ she invited, horrified by how shaky her voice sounded.

‘And I’m Jase, Allie. No need to look so anxious. I’m sure Michael has filled you in on my...er...reputation with women, and some of it may even be deserved, but married women are strictly off limits, as Michael well knows or he wouldn’t have invited me to stay here while he was away.’

‘Of course.’ But Jase’s honeyed assurance only increased Talay’s alarm. What on earth had she got herself into? She had encouraged Allie to give the servants their holidays, thinking the fewer people around who could give her away the better, but it meant she was entirely alone with Jase.

Even Sam, her devoted bodyguard, had returned home at Talay’s insistence. She had told him she intended to spend the night at the Martine villa, which was true. Luckily, it hadn’t occurred to Sam to check that the Martines were actually in residence. He assumed Talay was safe with their staff, as well as the villa’s extensive security system, until he came to collect her the following afternoon.

She had thought that arranging the meeting would be the hardest part, but actually facing Jase himself was much more challenging than she had anticipated. Her own reaction was the problem, she acknowledged. She simply hadn’t expected the magnetic power of his personality to affect her so strongly. Why hadn’t anyone told her that a man could make her feel over-heated and chilled, confused and empowered, all at the same time?

‘Michael’s message said you were spending a few days in the capital,’ Jase went on. ‘You must be tired after your return journey. Why don’t you join me for a swim? According to your husband, you’re a real water baby who gets into the water at every opportunity.’

Allie was the true water baby. Talay also enjoyed swimming, but the thought of appearing in a swimsuit in front of Jase made her knees weaken. ‘I don’t think so, not today,’ she dissembled.

‘Then I must get dressed and join you inside. Anything else would be impolite,’ he insisted.

Alarm rippled through her. With him in it, the spacious room would seem confining, the walls closer together, the ceiling lower. It was his impressive breadth and height, she accepted, as well as the sheer presence he managed to exude. It was easy to see why he was so successful in business. He radiated the same kind of easy authority as her uncle, the king.

Philippe Rasada, nicknamed the Hawk by his supporters and political adversaries alike, had the same knack of dominating a room simply by entering it. Talay forced a smile. ‘In that case, I will have a swim after all,’ she said around a throat gone suddenly dry. ‘I don’t wish to spoil your pleasure.’

His gaze lingered on her for the longest time. ‘Sapphan has many pleasures. Her crystalline waters hardly compare with the attractions much closer to hand.’

He gave her no time to absorb the poetic compliment, far less frame a coherent response, before he led the way back to the pool and cut a sleek arc through the air as he dived in. She held her breath as he stayed under for a long time and only released it when he finally surfaced on the far side, treading water with powerful thrusts which he managed to make appear effortless.

Hastily she turned towards the dressing rooms, where Allie kept swimwear for her as she spent much of her free time here. She emerged, wearing a modest one-piece costume which usually felt comfortable. In indigo and white, it was a traditional Sapphan design known as ‘flowing water’ which showed stepped patterns representing streams, rivers and waterfalls.

With Jase’s eyes on her as she walked towards the water, she was more aware of the parts the suit didn’t cover, such as the curve of her hips, her legs—which were long for a Sapphan woman—and the way the traditional material outlined the swell of her breasts.

As a member of the royal family she should be accustomed to public scrutiny, but Jase’s inspection managed to convey a far more personal interest. His appraisal was leisurely and frankly appreciative as she stepped to the water’s edge. His expression seemed to say, ‘If you were not a married woman...’

She dived into the water and welcomed the cool, silken feel as it closed over her. Unfortunately Jase moved while she was under water, or else she misjudged the distance, because she surfaced uncomfortably close to him. ‘Michael was right—you are a real water baby,’ he commented.

She smiled to hide her discomfiture. ‘In Sapphan we have a natural affinity with the water. Two centuries ago many of our people earned their living as pearl divers or shell hunters.’ Many were also sea-nomads and pirates but she didn’t point this out. ‘During the early eighteen hundreds many pearl divers from Sapphan worked along the north-west coast of Australia.’

‘With the pearling luggers, based in Broome,’ he confirmed. ‘At first the divers were aboriginal, then they came from Sapphan and later the Japanese took over.’

‘You know your history, Jase.’

He smiled wryly. ‘I should. I was born in Broome. I built my first resort there.’

It was the opening she’d hoped for but she hesitated, before taking advantage of it. Something about Jase Clendon warned her he would make a formidable enemy. He would also make a formidable friend, she suspected, which was probably why Michael Martine was so loyal to him.

Everything about Jase suggested he would also make a formidable lover, but Talay pushed the thought away. She wasn’t likely to find out. Nor did she want to, she added hastily to herself. They had other business and delaying it would only make it more difficult. As it was, she had only these two days in which to try to change his plans.

She side-stroked to the edge of the pool and clung to it, her feet just touching the bottom. ‘How many resorts do you own?’

‘Crystal Bay will be the fifth.’

‘Provided something—or someone—doesn’t change your mind about going ahead with it,’ she said, unable to stop her tone from sharpening.

He levelled a long look at her until she wondered if he sensed her disapproval of his plans. Before she could answer he shook his head, shedding water like a tiger having drunk at a watering hole. ‘Why would they want to try, Allie? My resort is needed to give the Pearl Coast an injection of new commercial life. The place is in danger of stagnating, otherwise.’