While getting dressed before breakfast, Jessica’s mind circled back to the reality of her situation. If that morning existed only in her fantasies, she would have asked Simone to bring her a dress that would hide her flaws while making the most of her feminine curves.
In reality, though, I don’t want him to find me attractive. Simone said it herself—my out is through him losing interest. I can do that. In fact, turning off the opposite sex has always been an unintentional strength of mine.
She hunted through her luggage and took out the most wrinkled pants suit she’d brought. She paired it with flats instead of heels then studied her face in the mirror. The king had wanted to send her home based on her age. Could I make myself look older?
After pulling her hair tightly back in a bun, she used an eyeliner pencil to draw faint crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes. She added lines to her forehead then smudged circles beneath both of her eyes. Satisfied, she applied a light amount of concealer on top of the lines, hoping it would make them more believable. Her mother had once complimented her on how large her eyes looked when she did them up, so she left both bare. The final result was a woman who looked pale and tired. Perfect.
Jessica jumped at a knock on her door. Her heart starting pumping wildly. Her hands went cold. She held her breath as she opened the door and saw—Simone. Jessica instantly deflated.
Simone looked her over and arched an eyebrow. “Not feeling more optimistic this morning?”
“Just tired,” Jessica said, unable to meet her eyes. She’d never been a good liar.
“Clearly,” Simone said and motioned for Jessica to follow her. “You’ll be meeting Ballasare in the conference room where you’ve been dining each day. We thought that might put you at ease.”
Jessica could have said that losing the guards who followed behind them as they walked down the hallway would have done more to calm her nerves, but she didn’t. There was no benefit to arguing with Simone.
The conference room was eerily empty outside of one small table set for two. Three hundred women had filled that room just a few days earlier. A third of that had been there for breakfast the day before. Now, it’s just me. That’s supposed to put me at ease?
Where did they all go?
Why me? With all those beautiful women to choose from, why am I the one still here?
The guards positioned themselves just outside the door. Yeah, nothing to worry about here.
“Ballasare,” Simone exclaimed.
Jessica spun in time to see him walking across the room toward them. He greeted his aunt first by giving her a kiss on each cheek. “You grow more beautiful each day.”
Simone raised a hand and cupped his cheek. “And you more generous with your flattery, but I welcome it.”
Simone stepped aside and Ballasare’s attention turned to Jessica. He frowned at first as he looked her over slowly. “Good morning,” he said then he bent to kiss one of her cheeks.
Jessica braced herself for it. She’s spent a good amount of time that morning telling herself that fear would trump whatever attraction she’d felt toward him. It didn’t. In fact, it had the opposite effect—flaming the sparks she felt into a full-blown, take-me-please raging fire that spread through her. His lips lingered briefly, just long enough for his breath to tickle her cheek and for her eyes to flutter partially closed at the pleasure of his touch. By the time his lips grazed her other cheek, her nails were digging into her palms, and she was breathing raggedly.
Nothing so wrong should feel so good.
He lifted his hand and rubbed a finger roughly across the crow’s feet near one of her eyes. She cursed softly.
He studied the rest of her face then said, “What an odd little duck you are.”
Jessica’s pride warred with her desire to go home. “Are we starting the day by exchanging insults, because I have a few handy.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you do.”
“Should I stay?” Simone asked.
“I can handle this,” Ballasare said in a tone so confident Jessica wanted to slap some of the smugness from him. He can handle me?
Hitting him won’t get me home, though. It might feel good but would be the kind of fleeting good that is quickly replaced by regret when I’m sent to a dungeon or wherever they send people.
Ballasare moved to hold a seat out for Jessica. She sat and allowed him to push the chair in for her.
Simone hovered. “I’ll be in the hall if either of you need me.” She gave Ballasare a look that seemed to say, “Be good,” then left.
There wasn’t time to reflect on Simone’s support. Ballasare took the seat across from Jessica with a big, stupid grin on his face. “Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“I want to go home,” Jessica said bluntly, as much to remind herself of her goal as him. Just because he was muscled in all the right places, and the caress of his lips across her skin had sent her libido into overdrive, didn’t mean she should give in to it. He wasn’t the only man who would ever make her feel this way. Yes, he was the first to, but fate wasn’t cruel enough to limit a person to one such attraction. Was it?
I sure hope not or I see a lot of celibacy in my future.
“You said as much last night, but I don’t think you fully understand the opportunity set before you.”
“I think I do; I’m not interested.”
He leaned toward her and looked deeply into her eyes. “You are.”
A flush spread up her neck and across her face. “Your ego is clouding your judgment.”
His eyebrows arched, then he sat back and laughed. “I have never known a woman who amuses me as you do.”
“I’m not trying to entertain you.”
“No?” He folded his arms across his chest. “Then why did you draw lines all over your face?”
“I didn’t,” she protested.
Humor twinkled in his sparkling blue eyes.
She clearly hadn’t done her makeup as realistically as she’d thought. Maybe honesty will work. “I was hoping you’d find me ugly.”
“But I’ve already seen your face. Did you think I would have forgotten?” He leaned forward again. “Yours was the one that stayed with me when all the rest faded away.”
The compliment set Jessica’s heart thudding in her chest. Even though, according to him, there were more beautiful and he hadn’t known if he could be attracted to me. “I had to try.”
“Because you wish to leave.”
“Yes.”
“I understand you are disappointed in the nature of the conference. You came hoping to leave with one million dollars. However, if you impress me, if I decide we’re suited, you will live in comfort beyond any you’ve ever imagined.”
“If I impress you? What about if you impress me?”
He looked at her as if she’d said something ludicrous. “Have many princes proposed to you? You didn’t mention them in your blog.”
Low blow. “Fuck you,” she said.
He reached across the table grasped the back of her neck, arching her face toward his. “If we were within earshot of others, I would caution you to articulate your displeasure in less vulgar terms. Since we’re alone, I can confess I find it hot as hell. I keep imagining myself parting those sweet thighs of yours and driving you mad with my tongue until you’re begging me to take you with all the filthy phrases I’ll teach you.”
Jessica’s mouth rounded and her sex grew slick; a hunger like none she’d felt before rocked through her. He removed his hand, and she drooped back into her chair. Holy crap. She opened her mouth to tell him not to talk to her that way, to tell him to keep his hands off her, then closed it with a snap. She feared if she said anything her voice would betray how aroused she felt. He’s an asshole, Jess. Don’t forget that. If only he wasn’t so magnetic, that would be easier said than done.
The look of satisfaction on his face helped her regain some composure. He’s not a pirate. I’m not his spoils. Focus. “What happened to the other women who came to the conference?”
“They were all sent back.”
“Back where?”
“To wherever they came from.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t lie—” He stopped when she looked at him in disbelief. “I see your point.” He took out his phone and opened an app. “Do you remember the faces of the women who were here?”
“Some.”
Ballasare handed his phone to her. A list of women’s profile photos showed in a list. “Any of these? They were here.”
Jessica scrolled until she found one she recognized then followed it to its social media page. The woman had posted she was home early. Jessica went back to the list and checked out the page of the next woman she recognized. And the next. And the next. Each was either posting normally or saying that they were back and looking to get together with their friends. If it was a cover-up, it was an unlikely and elaborate one. Jessica handed the phone back to him. “That makes me feel a little better.”
“Good,” Ballasare said as he pocketed his phone.
A woman delivered two plates of eggs and toast before scurrying away. Jessica didn’t touch her food. “What if I hate eggs?”
“Do you?”
“That’s not the point. You didn’t even ask me what I wanted. You decided for me.”
“As is my right.” He picked up one of her hands and laced his fingers through hers. She tried to pull her hand free but he held it captive.
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should,” she said breathlessly.
“Why do you fight me?” he growled softly.
Because you scare me.
Jessica didn’t say it, but he must have seen her answer in her eyes because he released her hand and said, “You will come to trust me in time. Now eat.” When she made no move to eat, he sighed. “If you don’t like eggs, say so and I’ll have a food of your choice brought out.”
She could have lied, but her point had been made. She picked up her fork. “I often have eggs for breakfast.”
He took a bite from his own plate, chewed it, then said, “I know. I ordered based on what you had eaten since you’ve been here.”
That’s nice in a creepy kind of way.
Since she had no idea how to respond to that, she stuffed her mouth with a large bite. On one hand he seemed to care about how she felt and what she liked, on the other hand, he hadn’t budged as far as letting her go.
The question that kept coming back to her was: Why me?
Why would someone who could have his pick of women choose me? Someone who did have his pick of women from around the world.
They ate in silence and Ballasare took advantage of that time to compare her to the women he’d previously been with. Jessica didn’t flatter him or bat her eyes at him suggestively. In his experience, the mere fact that he held a title was enough to have them panting to be with him. Add a layer of wealth and he could have had three eyes and women would have fawned over him. Until Jessica, he hadn’t realized how boring that had become.
He liked that he didn’t know what she would say next. He enjoyed seeing if he could shock her and liked that she didn’t crumple when he did. His instincts told him she was a woman he wouldn’t tire of in the bedroom . . . or whatever other room he took her in.
She looked up from her eggs and the serious expression on her face made him feel slightly guilty for sporting a throbbing boner. “Help me understand what I’m doing here. The whole concept for the conference was a sham, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“It seems like a lot of work just to find a date.”
Considering she was there until he released her, he thought she deserved the truth. “Not a date—a bride. According to our laws I must marry by my thirtieth birthday or forfeit my right to the crown. I’m twenty-nine, and my birthday is approaching quickly.”
She scanned his face. “You didn’t have a woman in your life you could ask?”
“Of course I did, but none I wanted to. In my country, divorce is not an option. A lover may be chosen casually, but a wife requires more careful consideration.”
“Simone said I was invited based on my blog.”
“That’s true.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “So you decided to invite three hundred women and then what? Sleep with all of them and see who you liked best?”
“For the royal family, sex is not allowed before marriage.”
Her eyes rounded. “At all?”
He smiled. “For the bride. A man may taste many desserts while single, but when he commits to a cake it must be one no one else has sampled, and then he must wait until his wedding day to have a piece.”
She slapped a hand down on the table. “That’s a completely sexist practice.”
“It is our law.”
“That is outdated. Isn’t your father the king? Can’t he change whatever law he wants to?”
“That’s not quite the way it works. Even the royal family has powers it answers to.”
“Who?”
“If you stay long enough I will educate you on the history of Rubare Virgina.”
She chewed her lip, and he could almost see the wheels in her head turning. “I think I know the strategy you were using to eliminate women from the pool.”
That brought a smile to his face. Her intelligence was part of her beauty. “Tell me.”
“On the first day asking us to bow our heads was a test, wasn’t it?”
“Bowing one’s head slightly out of respect is a custom in our country.”
“But those who didn’t were sent home.”
“Yes.”
“And you asked for our phones because you wanted to see which of us would obey.”
“In part. It was also to remove all distraction.”
“Because you wanted the focus to be on you.”
“Of course.”
“And the spandex. Was that to see which of us were willing to humiliate ourselves before you?”
“My brother sent the outfits as a joke, but I thought they fit with my process.” It was then he saw the anger burning in her eyes.
“So, out of three hundred women, I was deemed the easiest cow to control?” She stood and threw her napkin on the table. “Wow, that’s a new low even for me.”
I wasn’t trying to insult her. Fuck. She is beautiful. Why can’t she see that? He rose to his feet as well. “You’re making something insulting that wasn’t designed to be. It was all about determining suitability.”
Jessica advanced on him. “You made the wrong choice when you picked me. A year ago I might have been the woman you were looking for, but I’ve stopped living my life according to other people’s rules. I bowed my head out of respect for your culture, not for you. I gave you my phone because I wanted a chance to win the money more than I wanted to go home. I would have worn a tutu and tassels if you’d asked me to, not because you wanted to see me in them, but because I am done feeling self-conscious about my body. Everything you saw as a sign that you could control me was the exact opposite.” She slid a hand up his chest, snaked it around his neck, and pulled his mouth down to just above hers. “Honestly, I’d rather fuck you once than marry you. But better than both of those options, I’d still rather go home.”
She withdrew her hand and used it push away from him. He stood in a sexually charged, momentary stupor while she walked away from him. Holy fuck she’s hot.
He was about to follow her when what she said to the guards echoed across the room. “Throw me in a dungeon. Kill me now. I don’t care. Just don’t put me in the same room with that man again.”
The guard looked to his prince for guidance. Ballasare ordered, “Take her back to her room.”
He was still glowering when Simone returned to his side. Her voice was soft and full of motherly concern, “Ballasare.”
“Go, Simone. I’m in no mood to talk.”
“Are we sending her home?”
“I haven’t decided,” he growled.
Simone laid a hand on his shoulder. “She was not raised here, Ballasare. She was not groomed to marry a prince. If you want that one, it will not be an easy road.”
“I don’t know what she wants,” he said with a frown.
“Yes, you do. When you first read her blog you told me you could feel a yearning in her writing. What was she yearning for? Ask yourself that, and then ask yourself what you have offered her. Are they the same?”
Ballasare laid his hand over his aunt’s. “I thought the hardest part would be deciding if I wanted her. I didn’t consider she might not want me.”
Simone smiled gently. “I know you didn’t. Perhaps Jessica came into your life for a reason. She will challenge you as much as you challenge her, but you’ll both end up better for it.”
That’s not why I need a wife. Aunt Simone is right though. Jessica Quincy fascinates and challenges me. Funny how I didn’t know I wanted or needed that. He smiled, recalling her words. “Honestly, I’d rather fuck you once than marry you.” I’m going to enjoy taming her.
Even if it takes a lifetime.
I hope it does.
As his mood improved, Ballasare joked, “Doesn’t the castle on the east side of the island have a dungeon?”
Simone laughed. “Don’t you dare.”
He shot her a boyish smile. “Just an idea.”
“A better one would be to take her flowers and give her a tour of the island. You’ve spent a lot of time pushing her buttons to see what would make her angry, why not try to see what would make her want to stay?”