Santina's Scandalous Princess(7)

‘No, I flew in for a couple of days, that's all. But now I'm going to be  on site for the running of the first camp, before I return to London.'

‘What a coincidence,' Natalia murmured, ‘that your sister is now engaged to the country's future king.'

‘Not that much of a coincidence. I knew Alex was in London. I met with  him about this camp, so it's not too much of a leap of the imagination  to think he came across Allegra.'                      
      
          



      

‘And proposed on the spot?'

‘I met with him months ago,' Ben explained coolly. ‘They obviously had a  few months of dating. And,' he finished with a dismissive shrug, ‘when  you know, you know.'

Obviously he didn't like anyone casting doubt on any of his family. The  man was amazingly sensitive about his unruly clan. ‘You know?' she  repeated. ‘Are you talking about true love?' She imbued the words with  as much skepticism as she felt.

Ben's face remained expressionless. ‘Obviously you don't believe in it.'

‘Do you?'

‘We hardly need to discuss my feelings on the matter,' Ben said crisply. ‘You're here to work, not gossip.'

She uncrossed her legs and straightened in her chair. ‘Very well.' The  fact that he hadn't answered intrigued her, even though she knew it  shouldn't. What on earth did it matter what Ben Jackson thought about  true love? She certainly didn't believe in it, not after seeing the  enduring frosty civility between her parents, and Carlotta's heart being  trampled on by that no-good ambassador. Not to mention her own foolish  attempt at a real romance. She had no time or interest in love, true or  otherwise … which was why she'd been so relieved to have her own  engagement broken.

Ben rose from his chair, and so did Natalia. ‘Francesca will be in  charge of your duties in the office,' he told her. ‘Next week, when the  camp starts, you'll report directly to me.' Did he say those words with  rather grim relish, or was Natalia just imagining it?

She gave him her most saccharine smile. ‘As you wish.'

‘Music to my ears,' Ben murmured, and led her back out to the front office.

The first few hours of Natalia's enforced volunteering went, to her  relief, surprisingly smoothly. Francesca gave her a large pile of  photocopying to do, and operating the

machine was well within Natalia's abilities, albeit rather

tedious. Still the monotony was made bearable by the presence of the  others, who kept up a stream of cheerful chatter about books and films  and summer plans, to which Natalia contributed, although her intent to  cruise the Cyclades on a friend's private yacht left them all silent, as  did her airy admission that she'd seen the film they were discussing at  its world premiere in Cannes last year. Natalia didn't talk so much  after that. Ben kept himself closeted in his office, so at least she  didn't have to endure his scowling observation.

By the time lunch rolled around Natalia was starving and exhausted. It  annoyed her that one morning tired her out, but she decided that  everyone could use a break, and she offered to take her three colleagues  out to lunch.

‘We usually just have sandwiches-' Mariana said, and Natalia waved this  aside. After being cooped up in an office the whole morning, they all  deserved a treat.

‘But you do get a lunch hour, don't you?'

‘Yes-'

‘Then it's settled,' Natalia said firmly. ‘Why don't we just leave Mr  Jackson a note?' Ben, thankfully, had gone out earlier to a meeting and  Natalia was grateful not to encounter him now. He'd only have something  sardonic to say.

Francesca wrote the note and Natalia took them all to one of her  favourite restaurants, a little Italian bistro on a back street that  looked unassuming but had a six month waiting list for reservations.  Fortunately they always had a table reserved for a princess.

‘Order whatever you like,' she told everyone, and asked for a bottle of  very nice wine to be brought to the table. She was just raising her  glass in a toast to her colleagues when a hush fell over the table and  she saw a shadowy figure darken the doorway of the bistro. Ben. And he  looked furious.

‘Join us,' she offered airily as he approached the table. ‘I was just about to propose a toast.'

‘What a surprise,' Ben drawled. ‘Please. Continue.' And smiling, although his eyes still glittered ice, he accepted a glass.

‘To a fabulous first day of work,' she said, a bit defiantly, and after  clinking glasses with everyone she drained her own. She could feel Ben's  gaze on her, narrowed and speculative, over the rim of his own glass.  He dropped into the seat next to her.

‘Don't you mean a fabulous first morning of volunteering?' he said  dryly, leaning forward so his lips almost brushed her ear. His breath  fanned her skin and she felt an entirely unreasonable and yet undeniable  reaction to him, a shivery heat stealing through her body.

She turned to give him a breezy smile, but he was too close. Far too  close. She stilled, and her gaze dropped to his lips, so mobile and  sensual, so unlike the rest of his face, all harshly defined planes and  angles. ‘Whatever you like to call it,' she replied, meaning to sound  flippant but her voice was too husky. His gaze still locked with hers,  Ben took another sip of his drink.                      
      
          



      

‘Cheers, then,' he said.

Natalia had ordered half a dozen of her favourite dishes, yet with Ben  lounging next to her she found she could barely manage a mouthful. There  was something so … distracting about his presence, his overwhelming  maleness. Even in his sober suit he exuded a masculine assurance and  even arrogance that made Natalia fumble with her fork, the delicious  food dry in her mouth. What was it about this man? And how had she ever  thought he was boring?

When the waiter brought the pistachio cannoli for dessert Ben looked  pointedly at his watch. ‘As delicious as this all looks, your Highness,  I'm afraid we've been at lunch for well over an hour and there is work  to do.' He smiled at the waiter, although his eyes flashed dark fire.  ‘Do you think we could get that wrapped up?'

Natalia bit her lip, suddenly feeling ridiculous. Clearly this lunch had  been a little over the top. The rest of Ben's employees must have  thought so too, for they were a rather sorry, silent little crew as they  trooped back to the office.

Natalia was just dragging her feet towards the photocopier when Ben  paused in the doorway to his private office, eyebrows lifted. ‘Natalia?  Could I see you a moment in my office?'

Her stomach flipped and her heart did a somersault. Was he about to bawl her out, again? ‘Of course.'

Head held high, she sailed past Ben into his inner sanctum, heard the click of the door closing behind her.

‘That was quite a show,' he said, mildly enough, but Natalia still heard the steel underneath.

‘It was lunch.'

‘Perhaps in your world, Princess-'

‘Natalia-' she corrected firmly.

‘But the average office worker doesn't have a two-hour lunch complete with lobster and champagne.'

‘Wine, actually.'

He narrowed his eyes. ‘If you're going to work here-'

‘But I don't work here,' Natalia pointed out. ‘I volunteer.'

‘You are under my authority,' Ben bit out, ‘and I will not allow you to  swan into my office and do your la-di-da routine instead of properly  working!'

Smiling, Natalia planted both her hands on Ben's desk and leaned forward  so their faces were mere inches apart. ‘Then maybe,' she suggested  softly, ‘you should have thought of that before you made that bet.'

Ben stared at her for a long moment and Natalia became tantalisingly  conscious of how close they actually were. If she just leaned forward a  little bit, she could kiss him. She imagined the feel of his lips on  hers. Would they be hard or soft, yielding or resisting? Would he take  control of the kiss, deepen it into something more? She felt a plunging  sensation in her stomach, as if she'd missed a stair. She thought he  would be a masterful kisser, and she realised she very much wanted to  find out.

Her breath hitched and her heart began to thud with hard, heavy beats.  It would be so easy … and yet so impossible. She was already playing with  fire, taunting him like this. She didn't want to get completely singed.  She knew how that felt, and it wasn't pleasant.

Ben finally leaned back in his chair, nodding slowly, his eyes narrowed  with steely understanding. ‘I see what this is. Your little revenge.'

Natalia shrugged, saying nothing. Her heart was still thudding hard and  in truth she couldn't say what this was. She'd arrived this morning  fully intending to annoy Ben by playing the spoilt brat, yet how could  you play at something you actually were? She kept getting muddled, not  sure what was pretend and what was just her. And as for the lunch …   Another twinge of embarrassment assailed her. She'd actually meant it as  a kindness. She'd liked chatting with Francesca, Mariana and Fabio, and  providing lunch had seemed like something she could do, something they  would enjoy. Yet when Ben had joined them, looking so disapproving and  disdainful, she'd overreacted on purpose just to annoy him. Clearly  she'd succeeded.