Her Unforgettable Royal Lover(49)

Impressed but still a little doubtful, Natalie accompanied him into a gloriously ornate lobby, then to a seemingly mile-long hall with windows offering an unimpeded view of a sparkling swimming pool. Swimmers of all ages, shapes and sizes floated, dog-paddled or cut through the water with serious strokes.

“Here’s where we temporarily part ways,” Dom told her, extracting one of the towels from her tote. “The men’s changing area is on the right, the women’s on the left. Just show the attendant your wristband and she’ll fix you up with a suit. Then hold the band up to the electronic pad and it’ll assign you a changing cabin and locker. Once you’ve changed, flash the band again to enter the thermal baths. I’ll meet you there.”

That sounded simple enough—until Natalie walked through the entrance to the women’s area. It was huge, with marble everywhere, stairs leading up and down, and seemingly endless rows of massage rooms, saunas, showers and changing rooms. A friendly local helped her locate the alcove containing the suit rental desk.

She still harbored distinct doubts about shimmying into a used bathing suit. But when she slid the chit Dom had given her across the desk, the attendant returned with a sealed package containing what looked like a brand-new one-piece. She held her wristband up to the electronic pad as Dom had instructed and got the number of a changing room. Faced with long, daunting rows of cubicles, she had to ask another local for help locating hers. Once they’d found it, the smiling woman took Natalie’s wrist and aimed the band at the electronic lock.

“Here, here. Like this.”

The door popped open, and her helpful guide added further instructions.

“It locks behind you, yes? You leave your clothes and towels in the cabin, then go through to the thermal pool.”

“Thank you.”

“Szívesen.”

The room was larger than Natalie had expected, with a bench running along one wall and a locker for her clothes and tote. She was still leery of the rented bathing suit but a close inspection showed it to be clean and fresh-smelling.

And at least one size too small!

Cut high on the thighs and low in the front, the sleek black Spandex revealed far more skin than Natalie wanted to display. She tried yanking up the neck but that only pulled the Spandex into an all-too-suggestive V at her crotch. She tugged it down again, determined not to give Dom a peep show.

Not that he would object. The man was nothing if not appreciative of the opposite sex. Kiss Kiss Arabella and lushly endowed Lisel were proof of that. And, Natalie now remembered, his sister Zia and Sarah’s sister Gina had both joked about how women fell all over him. And why not? With that sexy grin and too-handsome face, Dominic St. Sebastian could have his pick of…

She froze, her fingers still tugging at the bottom of the suit, as another handsome face flashed into her mind.

Oh, God!

She dropped onto the bench. Blood drained from her heart and gathered like a cold, dead pool in her belly.

Oh God, oh God, oh God!

Wrapping her arms around her middle, she rocked back and forth on the bench. She remembered now the “traumatic” event she’d tried to desperately to suppress. The ugly incident that had caused her to lose her sense of self.

How could she have forgotten for a day—an hour!—the vicious truth she’d kept buried for more than three years? Tears stung her eyes, raked her throat. Furiously, she fought them back. She’d cried all the tears she had in her three years ago. She was damned if she’d shed any more for the bastard who destroyed her life then. And would now destroy it again, she acknowledged on a wave of despair.

How could she have let herself believe last night could lead to something more between her and Dominic St. Sebastian? When she told him about her past, he’d be so disappointed, so disgusted. She sat there, aching for what might have been, until the urge to howl like a wounded animal released its death grip on her throat. Then she got off the bench and pushed through the door at the other end of the changing room.

The temperature in the marble hall shot up as she approached the first of the thermal pools. Dom was there, waiting for her as promised. Yesterday, even this morning, she would have drooled at the sight of his tall, muscled torso sporting a scant few inches of electric-blue Speedo. Now all she could do was gulp when he got a look at her face and stiffened.

“What’s wrong?”

“I…I…”

“Natalie, what is it? What’s happened?”

“I have to tell you something.” She threw a wild look around the busy spa. “But not here. I’ll…I’ll meet you at the car.”

Whirling, she fled back to her changing room.