She'd been intoxicated by the heady taste of absolute freedom. One she'd failed to find at university, as she'd hoped. Eyes had still watched and reported back to her parents. Gossip had still fuelled the press. But in Zurich, for the first time in her life, she'd been a normal person. A woman the paparazzi wouldn't look at twice. Lost in the crowd and having the time of her life.
Until a two-hundred-pound strung-out Viking had cornered her behind a tour bus, the foul scent of beer leaching from his every pore, wanting some 'fun' of his own. And in those terrifying moments she'd cursed her naïve recklessness and prayed for someone to appear. For this man to appear.
It had been Thane who'd torn him off her and knocked him clean out with one punch. Thane, who'd locked onto her eyes and never let her go. Thane, who'd kept a careful distance as he'd walked her back to her apartment as if she were some fragile fawn.
The romantic little girl in her had called it serendipity. Thinking about it, dark and dangerous should have screamed at her to run, yet she'd been petrified that he'd leave. Take that awesome powerful protection with him. So she'd finagled him into having a coffee, then dinner, and drinks after that. And suddenly she'd been dependent, hooked on him like a drug, and all she'd craved was the next fix.
She'd been addicted to the intense highs. Though she'd do well to remember the aftermath. Horrendous heart-wrenching lows. Lost. Unfocused. She'd sworn she would never be dependent on another man.
Still … 'You saved me.'
'He is lucky to still walk the earth,' he said scathingly, in a fierce, low, dominant tone.
And she couldn't help it. She smiled wide-big and genuine and just for him. Because she'd been terrified and he'd been … awesome.
Eyes locked with his once more, she couldn't break free of his hold. They were drawn together like powerful magnets. As it had been from the start.
His initial confusion at their combustible attraction was unforgettable. As if he'd never known such passion and lust could exist. Endearing. Dazzling. He'd enslaved her in seconds.
Do you remember our first time? her heart whispered. Yours? Mine? Teaching one another how to give pleasure and take? I remember every tender, evocative touch, every blissful second in your arms. The longing. The delirium as you drove deeper and deeper into my body until I felt indelibly marked. Branded. Claimed. Wanted. Desired.
Yours.
Her heart ached, and Thane stared into her eyes as if the secrets of her soul were nothing more than words on a page.
Oh, Lord. She was in so much trouble here.
She was supposed to be reassuring herself that her secrets were better kept buried. Ensuring that Thane rued the day they'd ever met. Yet here she was, reminiscing about 'the good ol' times' and trying not to think of the damage they could do to the bed. They had busted a frame or two in their time …
What she wasn't supposed to be was more confused than ever. But within the space of ten minutes all her carefully erected defences were crumbling down around her, leaving her brain reduced to chaos and rubble.
And she hated it. Hated that the semblance of control she'd been hanging on to was as precarious as her future.
Luciana had to remember who he was and how exactly she came to be standing in his bedroom. Instead of musing that underneath, where it counted the most, he might still be the man she'd fallen for. And if that was true they were all in a bigger mess than she'd ever imagined. A wealth of pain at her hands. Because she was a mother and if her son could have a father who was a good man, hell would freeze before she kept them apart any longer.
Insides shaking, she tore her gaze from his. And as soon as that powerful connection was severed the fog began to clear.
Remember who he is, how you got here. How he once tried to assassinate your father. Don't forget that you're enemies.
She had to stop listening to the longing of her heart. Get through the next two days unscathed, then run as fast as she could. Before she started doubting her own mind and cracked under the pressure. Told him the one secret that would change their lives for ever. The one secret she would never be able to take back.
CHAPTER SEVEN
DESPITE THE CLOAK of aloofness that suddenly settled over her, Thane had an incredibly light, airy feeling. Much like the five-foot dazzling iridescent aqua dolphin balloon he'd once bought Luciana. She'd adored the garish spectacle and, seeing that same gorgeous smile on her face moments ago-the one that made his heart kind of … stop-he'd known he'd played the perfect pitch by bringing her here.
She'd visibly relaxed since speaking to her sister-he'd heard her softly spoken goodbye and made a mental score to thank Seve for unearthing her case and bag pronto. By dusk today she would fall into his arms like a sweet ripe apple tumbling from a tree.
Already she was unravelling more by the second-nothing like the Princess who'd slid so gracefully into his car only yesterday. Rumpled. Tousled. Looking sublimely natural and sexed-up. No show or lipstick or pristine dress, she was sexier than anything he'd ever seen or, he suspected, would ever see in his lifetime.
He growled inwardly. Wanting her under him. Beneath him. Surrendering to him. Insane, she made him insane with want. But, as much as he knew she desired him with equal wanton abandon, something held her back, so he refused to rush this or lose his head.
Velvety rich, the scent of coffee and pastries wafted on the sultry breeze, and when Luciana's stomach grumbled Thane satisfied himself that he could at least pacify one of her cravings this morning.
'Breakfast,' he said. 'Then you can choose where you wish to go today. Si?'
Her head jerked up where she stood, hastily zipping up her case, and he was smacked with the suspicion that the contents were something she'd rather he didn't see. Not that it mattered. By the time he was finished her every secret would be unearthed.
'Wow, Thane. Colour me surprised-you're giving me a choice?'
For now. 'Si, of course. The first of many. Come and sit with me-let me feed you.'
As if she were an antelope and he a great ferocious lion, she approached him warily. Such an astute character, she was. Then he heard a canine sniff from behind him and accepted that he wasn't the only predator in the vicinity.
'Ah,' she said. 'Now I get why you were throwing sticks. Why are they smacking their lips as if I'm on the menu? Good Lord, they're huge. What are they?'
Slipping his arm around her waist, he tugged her to him and murmured in her ear. 'Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Maybe they find you as delicious as I do. Must be all those round American chocolatey … '
With a long-suffering sigh, she rolled her eyes and pushed past him. 'Yes, yes-all right, Romeo.'
All that feisty sass made him grin as he pulled out a chair and watched her sashay into the padded wicker seat.
'Thank you.'
Bending at the waist, he pressed his lips to the graceful slope of her bare shoulder and murmured, 'Welcome … ' relishing both the shimmy that danced down her body and the way he'd already stripped her of that haughty veil.
He sank into the chair adjacent to hers and strove for nonchalance. 'I take it you spoke to your sister?' That he was ignorant of the whole conversation sat in his guts like a rock.
The sun bathed her in a warm glow, picking out the honeycomb strands in her hair, and she swept a stray tendril back from her temple in a decidedly nervous gesture. 'Yes. I told her I was staying with you for a couple of days.'
Thane didn't bother arguing that point. Yet.
'So, thank you for … ' She shook her head, sending that wayward lock tumbling back over her face. 'Why on earth I'm thanking you for returning my own property to me, when it was originally your fault I lost it, is beyond me-but I do appreciate you sending for it.'
'You are most welcome. See? I am not so bad after all.'
'Oh, you are very bad, Thane. Of that I am in no doubt.'
A dark laugh erupted from his chest. 'Fortunately for me you like me that way. It turns you on.'
A blush that spoke more of pique than passion flurried across her cheeks, but her scathing retort perished as his man at the house-Pietro-appeared and laid a mound of homemade madeleines, croissants and cream-filled pastries on the table before her.
That serene breeding of hers came rushing to the fore. 'Everything smells delicious-thank you so much. Did you make these?'
Pietro fastened his warm hazel gaze on her. 'My wife, Your Royal Highness. But she will only cook for our Prince.'
Thane's good mood disintegrated and he clenched his teeth. It didn't matter how many times he told the man to call him Thane, he still got our Prince. Respectful, yes, but it shafted him with guilt-because despite his title his hands were largely tied, and if he'd played things differently he'd be in the position to do a damn sight more for them.
Luciana arched one brow in his direction. 'Why only Thane?'