Yet, he had remained an elusive bachelor for so many years that the world’s gaze had shifted to the woman who had persuaded him into a momentous commitment. For the first time in her life, Eleni was the center of attention, and the limelight only made her uncomfortably aware of how poorly she measured up to him in the world’s view.
When she and Gabriel had broken the news to his daughter, Angelina had thrown herself into Eleni’s arms, her lanky frame shaking from head to toe. That they were doing right by the little girl had stopped Eleni from questioning the sanity of it all as the media and the palace had been thrown into a whirlwind at the news.
The very morning after their deal had been agreed, Gabriel had invited Nikandros and her to a meeting. From the man who kissed her like his life depended on it to the ruthless businessman in the boardroom, the transformation in him was radical. Furious, Nik and his lawyers had pushed to fill every small loophole that Gabriel could use to back out again while he had sat there, calm as you please, dictating the terms of their marriage and sending curious looks her way.
Angelina was already skipping on the front steps, excited about spending the evening with Eleni and her father. Eleni went into the sitting room. Finding it empty, she went into his study.
High windows poured sunlight over the tall, broad form bent over his desk. Sleeves rolled up to his elbows showed corded forearms dusted liberally with dark hair. His pencil and scale looked like tiny implements in his huge hands and yet there was a kind of grace in his movements as he measured and drew on the tabbed white sheet.
Heart palpitating at dangerous speeds, Eleni noted the stretch of his black trousers over his buttocks and thighs, the tight stretch of his shirt over his back muscles.
Jet-black hair fell over his forehead and he pushed it away.
He was immersed in his work—a design for a new resort at the foot of the mountains in Drakon.
And yet, as she stared at the lean fluidity of his powerful body and caught the soft susurrations of the pencil across the paper in the background, all her insecurities came rushing forth.
Had she actually imagined that she would share a bed with him, invite him into her body, and then remain unscathed?
A hundred thoughts crowding her mind, she turned to flee, just as long fingers clamped over her arm.
The scrape of his fingers over her bare arm was a spark over the ignition. Sensation swirled beneath her skin. Every atom of her being wanted to savor that touch.
“Running away, Eleni?”
His soft taunt raised the small hairs over her neck. “I...” She licked her lips, her mouth utterly parched.
The impact of his touch hit her afresh, the imprint of his hard mouth on hers, the grip of his fingers over her hips... His dress shirt was unbuttoned to his waist, displaying tanned golden skin dotted with sparse black hair. The corded muscles of his throat, the afternoon stubble on his jaw... Eleni closed her eyes to process the devastation he caused to her very equilibrium.
He smelled of cologne and male sweat, an irresistible combination that seemed to fill her senses. Something in the lazy twitch of his mouth reminded her of a tabby cat far too sure of his appeal.
“I was just waiting to see if there would be a break in your focus.” Somehow, she managed a steady voice. “My father lost his temper if I so much as bothered him in his office. Even when I had an appointment.”
“You needed an appointment to see your father?”
“He was a busy man and, at that time, it wasn’t like I was adding any value to the administration.”
When he stared at her mutely, she shrugged. He had a way of looking at her that made her feel naked, and not in the physical way. As if she was still the girl who’d been told that the King was her father and that he’d done a great service by acknowledging her as his, let alone adopting her.
To push Gabriel’s attention away from her, she said, “Angelina and I have been waiting. For over thirty minutes.”
He frowned, and then looked at the big dial on his wrist. “Damn. I completely forgot.” Fingers wrapped around the nape of his neck as he studied his work area. In months of working with him and his team, she had never seen him hesitate like this. Never seen him be anything but confident and arrogant, even forceful in his will.
“Is she mad at me?”
“No, she said I was foolish to be surprised that you hadn’t shown up,” she said, finding her balance again. Talking about Angelina—that she could do. “That much cynicism in one so young, it’s not healthy.”
“I...was working and forgot.” He glanced back at his desk, pushed his hair away from his face. “Maybe it is better if I didn’t join you this evening. We’re both still reeling from our last disagreement.”
Eleni sighed, remembering the staff telling her about the pastries they’d found in the toilet and the pumps that had been shredded to pieces as a result. A thousand-piece puzzle—a map of the United States—was spread out all over the palace. Eleni and Mia had found poor New York in the garden and had laughed nonstop at the girl’s imaginative destruction.
The whole palace and its mother knew of the row that had resulted between father and daughter when he’d found out what she’d done.
It seemed Gabriel couldn’t stop ordering more and more expensive gifts and Angelina couldn’t resist new and imaginative ways to destroy them.
“My daughter and I have matching tempers, Princesa. I have learned that it is wise to stay away from each other when we are riled. I might say something that would cause permanent damage. So, it’s probably a good idea for you to continue on to whatever entertainment you’ve planned for tonight.”
“For goodness’ sake, Gabriel, can’t you look beneath her rebellious actions?”
“She shredded the pumps. She threw the diamond earrings in the garbage. I...”
“Because she wanted you instead. Gabriel, she doesn’t understand yet that you’ll keep her. That you’ll be permanent in her life. That you won’t abandon her like her mother has done. She keeps rejecting anything you give her.”
Eyes like the coldest frost pinned her. “I don’t want a lecture, Eleni.”
“I don’t care what you want. It is my job—” she spanned her hands around them “—to tell you what you’re doing wrong. Stop being so manly and bullheaded about it.”
“Manly and bullheaded?”
“Yes, like all thickheaded men. Look past your own ego.”
“You think me an awful father, Princesa, but since I learned of her existence, I have made changes to my life that I have never done for anyone before. I brought her here, I live with her, I’ve made concessions for her. What else do I need to do?”
“You need to spend time with her, Gabriel. Is that so hard to see?” When he continued to frown, Eleni sighed. “You say you want to bridge the gap between you. You say she is important to you. But in the two weeks that we have agreed on our...deal, you have either postponed, canceled or found an excuse to avoid spending any time with us. With her. Angelina sees through your actions and that’s the message she gets.”
“She seems overjoyed by the fact that you will not be leaving.”
“She is.”
“Then what else does she need?”
“Did you think I would replace you?” Suddenly, she felt a piece click inside her head. She stared at him. “Something in you resists the effort at forging any real connection with her. Is it any wonder she thinks you don’t want her?”
Gabriel stared at the sudden softening of Eleni’s eyes and looked away. His jaw gritted, his head hurt at the realization that the Princess was right again. He had done everything his research said he’d have to do, except spend time with his daughter.
He heard the Princess’s soft tread, the scent of something floral coiling sinuously around his sore limbs. After his row with Angelina, he’d been working nonstop, burying himself in tasks. Because here, there was no place for failure. Here, there was no place for vulnerability, especially his.
“Gabriel...all your intentions will be for nothing if your actions don’t back them up. What is it that you find so hard about this? Please, let me understand.”
“There’s nothing I find hard, Princesa.”
Instead of walking away, she put her hand on his arm, a soft tinkling laugh falling from her mouth. “How like a man to say that.”
He turned around, intending to set her down. Yet when he looked at her, the soft light of her brown eyes stole through him, loosening up hard places inside him. Making him remember things he’d rather forget. “I had custody of my half sister, Isabella, when I was eighteen while my mother was cleaning up her own act.”
“She was engaged to Andreas but she...”
He swallowed the frustration that sat like a lump in his throat. “Had an affair with Nikandros, yes. Isabella was just like my mother, flighty by nature, never settling on one thing. And I think the fact that I resented her only made it worse.”
“You resented her?”
“I don’t know. I think I did. My mother had her after she deserted my father and got pregnant by her lover. When they came back, she was pregnant with her. My father died a couple of years later and Isabella became my responsibility, I was hardly the loving older brother. At that point, I barely...”