“I’ve seen you with your brothers and the staff. You’re a very maternal sort of woman. You know every staff member by name, and you ask after their families. You give hours of your time to children’s charities instead of just throwing money at them. And your reckless actions that night prove how desperate you are for your life to change. For it to be more than it is.”
Shock robbed Eleni of speech as she stared at him. He’d so efficiently reduced her life to a cold, hard summary, a truthful one. “First I was deceiving, now I’m reckless?”
“Imagine if it had been anyone but me. Imagine if it had been one of the media or a man who could have harmed you in some way. You don’t walk around parties advertising you’re available, not when you’re the bloody Princess of Drakon.”
Eleni stared stupefied, the unease in his eyes far too real for her to scoff at. “I... I wouldn’t have just walked off with any man.”
He raised that arrogant brow and she flushed and looked away.
They both knew she’d have done whatever he wanted of her that night. And that awareness stood between them, taunting her.
“Allowing that you truly care for Angelina, what I suggest would not be a hardship at all. All I ask you is that you spend your time in the lap of luxury with Angelina and me.”
“For how long?” she whispered, unable to resist. Unable to walk away from him.
“Until such time as I feel you’re not needed anymore.”
“So you’re offering me a job?”
“Call it whatever you want, Princess. Money, jewels, stocks...you can have whatever you want in return.”
A job description with a tenure and conditions. Just another man demanding his due without giving anything back. Just another role for her to play for a limited time. Like she’d always done, filled with the nauseating hope that it would last.
The reliable, responsible daughter to her father.
The buffer between her brothers.
The woman that the man she’d loved had easily and thoroughly forgotten.
The illegitimate but adopted child of the House of Drakos.
All temporary. All meaningless, in the end.
If she accepted his “offer,” she would lose a bit of her heart to that little girl, and when she’d served her purpose, Gabriel would calmly remove her from his life. And yet, she wanted to do it. She wanted to spend time with him and Angelina, wanted to help them bridge that gap before it came irreparable.
She wanted to see more of the man she’d talked to that night. Heart thudding dangerously, she admitted that she wanted a chance for him to notice that she was a woman, to remember that he’d kissed her with such abandon.
She jerked in place when he cupped her jaw and tilted her face up to meet his gaze. Slumbering heat glittered there, reminding her of what had happened the last time he’d touched her. Tempting her. Her hesitation was ammunition as he cornered her with a predatory gleam. “Admit it, Princess.” Eleni shivered when his hot breath caressed the rim of her ear. “You’re tempted.”
“Whatever I learned about you that night, I... I kept it to myself. I...trusted that man. But you...you play dirty, Gabriel.”
“I play to win, Princesa. I always have.” His brow rose as he searched her gaze. “It is clear that you truly care for Angelina. And if you agree, maybe I can be persuaded to overlook your deception.” His thumb traced the line of her jaw, a featherlight stroke that branded her. The sound of her harsh breaths filled the silence, her body swaying toward him with a will of its own. She raised her gaze, frowning.
“I could even be persuaded to kiss you again, Princesa. I could give you all the excitement you crave, all the daring moments you want. I might even be willing to show you the passion that you desperately want.’
Toes scrunched in her sensible pumps, body thrumming like a tautly stretched string, Eleni stared into his beautiful gray eyes.
His breath caressed her lips, his gaze studying her as if she were the most beautiful woman on earth. She felt drugged, and he hadn’t even touched her. “So you’re offering me—” somehow she spoke “—an affair in return for looking after your child?”
“We want each other, yes? It’s not a big leap from that.”
What would happen when she spent days in his company with just a little girl for buffer? What would happen when he didn’t stop the next time? When she’d be all twisted and tangled into their lives and he decided he didn’t need her anymore?
Where would she land then?
In the same place, with her heart bruised again by another careless man.
Better that she and Angelina cut that cord now before the damage to that young girl was permanent. Before Eleni herself forgot that no man was worth the heartache that she’d already tasted, thanks to Spiros. Thanks to her father.
Love was not for her, whatever silly dreams she wove.
She put her hand on his wrist and pushed it away. Her palm burned at that innocent contact. Her body whimpered silently at the promise in his eyes. “No.”
“No what?”
“No to everything you suggested.”
“Why not?”
Suddenly, the idea she’d been playing with in her head for a while now was the only lifeline. She would go away. Away from this man and his little girl who already owned a part of Eleni’s heart. Away from the unending void that her life had seemed to be lately. “I plan to leave Drakon for a while.”
His jaw tightened. From one breath to the next, his gaze became hard, all the heat gone. “How long is a while?”
“Months. Maybe a year.” She stepped away, needing the distance. “I’ve always wanted to see the world and this is my chance.”
“And what about Drakon and your duties? What about your precious brothers?”
“Nikandros has convinced me that they’ll be here for the rest of our lives. I’ve never once left Drakon. I’ve seen nothing of the world beyond this palace and its walls. It is time for me to step out.”
Time for her to reach for what she wanted.
Spending all this time with Angelina, nurturing their relationship, seeing the joy that came into the young girl’s eyes when she and Eleni spent time together—it gave form to what Eleni herself desperately craved.
She would never love a man. But being a mother to a baby, bringing love into a child’s life—someone unwanted, like she’d been—that she could do. That was in her hands.
“I wish I could help you, at least for her sake. But I just can’t. I can’t put my life on hold for anyone. Not anymore.”
“When do you plan to leave?”
“In a week maybe. At the most, two. I would like to break it to Angelina with you there. I... I don’t care whether you believe me or not, Mr. Marquez, but I do care about her. So much. If you care about her, and it seems like you do, then tell her that. Show it with your actions.
“And please, stop letting your ego get in the way of it.”
CHAPTER THREE
“IS IT TRUE?”
Gabriel sighed and turned toward the figure standing just outside of his suite. As if entering it might force her to concede that he was a presence in her life, his daughter stood at the threshold, staring at him as if he were the enemy.
Somehow, he made his tone even. “Angelina, come inside.”
She instantly stiffened, her bony shoulders poking out of her T-shirt like spikes. “I don’t want to come inside. I just want to know if it’s true.”
“What is?”
“Ms. Drakos, is she leaving Drakon?” Damn it, he’d hoped she hadn’t heard it yet. “Did she tell you?”
“No,” he lied, feeling a hateful powerlessness within. It seemed nothing he offered could induce the Princess to stay. “But I heard one of the staff talking. They said she’s going away for a while.”
“Will she come back soon?”
His jaw tight, Gabriel shrugged. “It’s possible, yes. She...said she might be gone for a month or two. She has her own life, pequeña.” The Princess had made that very clear. And looking back over their argument, Gabriel cursed. For a businessman who thrived on negotiations and sweet-talking opponents into his camp, he had acted like a fool. Pushed all the wrong buttons.
Just as she did in him.
The sound of a soft whimper from his daughter jerked his head up. Christ, he would welcome the rebellion over this dejection in her eyes.
“Angelina, you will see her again. And even if Ms. Drakos leaves, you will make new friends. And I’ll always—”
Tears drew paths over her cheeks as his twelve-year-old leaned against the wall and sobbed silently. Something twisted in his chest and Gabriel fisted his hands.
He reached her and even in the midst of her tears, she shrank from him. He caught the curse that wanted to escape his mouth and waited.
Roughly, and with a self-sufficiency that smacked of someone much older, she wiped at her cheeks and looked up at him. Retreated into herself. “Everyone leaves me. First it was my granddad. Then Mom. Now Ms. Drakos.”
“I won’t, Angelina.”
“That’s what you say.”
“What can I do, Angelina? Tell me.”
“You could ask Ms. Drakos not to leave. If you truly care about me, Mr. Marquez,” she drawled in her American accent, as if such a thing was an impossibility, “you will somehow make Ms. Drakos stay.”