“Really? You live with your brother?” Ludwig opened up the wine and served them both, handing Angelica her glass.

“Half-brother. A little too close for comfort sometimes,” she said, before sipping her wine. “But I’m thinking of moving to the Harem, a small palace where the Taifa’s actual harem was kept.”

He sat on the couch beside her and stretched out his legs, propping his feet on the ottoman in front of the couch on the far end of his bedroom. He was feeling relaxed and sated after their shower sex. “That’ll be particularly helpful.”

She shot him a quick, curious glance. “Why?”

He responded with a sensuous grin. “I wouldn’t think your brother would like to bump into us when I visit you.”

“Oh.” I haven’t thought about that. “Well…that would certainly make it easy.”

“I’ve embarrassed you,” he teased, his eyes alight with laughter, enchanted with the rosy tone that creeped on her cheeks. When she was relaxed and unguarded like now, it was an expressive face; a fascinating face that made a man want to look twice.

“A bit,” she admitted with a shy smile. “I just, I really want to be independent, you know? All my life, I have had people surrounding me and I’m about to die from it.”

While most people would think it would be nice to have servants and the like at their beck and call, Angelica felt it stifling at times, with very little privacy in place. And having her brother know when men came calling? That was doubly less private.

“I can relate,” Ludwig sighed. “I envy those that have their privacy. In the lives we live, there is none.”

Angelica nodded, glad that someone could relate to her and the struggles of being a royal. It wasn’t that she ever truly regretted her royal status, but there were times she wished no one knew who she was. She made a mental note to send an email to her assistant, Malba Gironella, tomorrow morning and ask her to have the Harem cleaned and ready for her to move in as soon as she was back.

“Enough about that. I’d rather talk about you.” She waved her hand dismissively and leaned down putting her head in his lap. “How was your school life? I imagine you went to some expensive boarding school.”

Ludwig laughed at her haughtiness, wondering why it didn’t bother him to hear Angelica speak to him in that manner. She’s a delight. “I did go to an expensive and private, British, male-only boarding school, yes.”

She propped up on her elbow, her eyes dancing with laughter. “So? How was it?”

“I would imagine the same as yours was,” he responded. “Except yours would probably be female-only.”

“My sister went to a Swiss female-only boarding school for her studies. I didn’t. As Valantín did, I studied in Aragon, and only went abroad for International Affairs university.” She wrinkled her nose, which he found sexy in a weird sort of way. “Did you enjoy it? What was your favorite subject to study?”

While Ludwig knew she was just making idle conversation, his chest tightened at the thought of his time at the boarding school, before Angus’s arrival. “Actually, I did not have a pleasant time there. The other boys enjoyed using me as a punching bag more than once.”

“Oh, Cristo,” she breathed, her eyes darkening. “I didn’t mean to drum up bad memories. I’m sorry.”

He waved a hand at her before settling it on her hip. “It was so long ago, it doesn’t matter. I wasn’t as big or strong, or as popular as I am now and was mercilessly picked on. One day I got tired of it, being their punching bag, and when they came to beat me up, I lashed out.”

“You gave them a piece of their own medicine,” Angelica supplied, her eyes flashing with anger.

Ludwig drew in a breath, thinking about that day that seemed to be so long ago now. He was a different person than he had been as a child; a scared, lonely kid who had only craved to make friends in an unknown place. “No, I didn’t. I stepped out to hit the first kid and slipped in a mud puddle.”

He laughed now but he could still feel the coldness of the mud seeping through his uniform, the laughter that had followed from the entire playground as they had witnessed his humiliation. Not to mention the kicks that had followed.

“I ended up with three broken ribs.” His father had been livid, not at the children that had done the damage, but at his son for being unable to defend himself. He had called Ludwig a waste, a weakling, in front of the headmaster. From then on, the headmaster had looked at Ludwig with pity in his eyes.

Ludwig hated that look, even until this day. He was not one to be pitied.

“Cristo mio,” Angelica said softly, pulling herself up on his lap and cupping his cheek with her hand. “Why would they be so brutal to a child?”

Ludwig shrugged. Angus had come a week later but they hadn’t become friends right away. Ludwig didn’t know if the arrival of Angus was just going to add one to the total of those who taunted him. “Children are vicious.”

“Well, obviously it has driven you to succeed in life,” Angelica stated. “Though, I wouldn’t mind going back in time to defend you.”

Ludwig ignored the twinge in his chest at her words. Defend him? No one had ever offered to defend him for anything. No one but Angus.

It was strange, but also, well, welcomed.

The things that conspired to break Ludwig were actually far more subtle and socially driven than anything as simple as his father’s failure to love him and his mother’s agreeing to put him in a boarding school. What Ludwig’s upbringing taught him, in the worst possible way, was what it meant to be a man. In this world, men are not supposed to be emotional, neurotic, vulnerable, or loving. But by nature, Ludwig would be—or was—all of those things, but he learned very quickly that they would never be valued.

So, he learned to keep everybody out and pretend he was complete and needed nobody.

“You know…” Ludwig started, the thought of not being around her seizing the breath in his lungs. “I do not want this to end.”

His voice again ran over her body like warm syrup. His Alemannic accent burred soft and rolling from his firm lips. Those lips that had showered her with toe-curling kisses—just looking at them made her skin tingle and her heart race.

Angelica moved her head away, her eyes landing on the tray full of delectable goodies in front of her. Not because she was hungry, but because she didn’t want it to end either. But want and must are two completely different things. “Perhaps I can extend the same hospitality when you come to visit, show you my country and why I love it so dearly.”

She’d intended the comment to be of no great significance, but it hung in the air between them with a meaning far deeper than mere words. Their gazes locked.

“I would like that,” he said gruffly, not just saying it to appease her. He truly meant every word.

Angelica tried not to look excited at his wanting to come visit her, her eyes still on the tray. It warmed her heart that he would want to come to Aragon, for her. No one else had wished to do something for her in quite some time. “What do we have here?” she asked instead.

“A little bit of everything,” he said, looking over her shoulder. “Pick one.”

Angelica plucked a tiny glazed cake off the tray and bit into it, the burst of lemon tang filling her mouth. It was lovely, and she polished off the entire thing in another bite.

“Delicious.” She took another lemon cake off the tray beside her and held it out, feeling utterly brazen. “Especially these. Try one.”

Slowly, he slid his fingers around her hand. He brought it up to his mouth, and took the cake from her, his lips brushing her fingers. He held her gaze as he chewed. Swallowed. “Let’s see if we can discover what else is to your liking.”

His hand tightened around hers and he drew her close, until she could smell the lemon on his breath. He moved her, until she lay on her back, and lowered his body over hers, resting his arms on either side of her head.

Angelica stopped laughing, suddenly serious. She stared up at him, her eyes simmering with expectancy. And trust.

And that tore at him. He wanted to deserve it, and right now, it didn’t exactly feel as he did. “Don’t kid yourself, Kätzchen. I’m no good guy.”

Confusion flashed in her chocolate eyes, but only for a moment. “I’ll decide that on my own, but thank you for the warning anyway.”

“I’m not.”

“Innocent until proven guilty.”

And then he dipped his head and kissed her. He tasted of sweetness and citrus, but there was nothing sweet about his kiss. It was hard and demanding. As life was.

This was what it meant to be alive—to conjure his want from kisses, to have her breath stolen with desire.

Until there was nothing left but the two of them. And it was more than enough.

Lauriana de la Caballería shivered inside the black SUV she rented that morning in Switzerland and pulled her coat tighter against her body. She had no idea why Aguilar wanted the Aragon royals watched every minute of their lives. She reminded herself she was just the youngest member of the Dragonslayers and was not in a position to ask questions or request further information about her mission.

The heavy mist outside swallowed the sullen squeak of the old seat hinges when she turned to grab her cell phone which was blaring inside her purse.

“Laura.”

Aguilar’s voice came sharp at the other end of the phone, demanding news.

“I’ve been sitting outside Grand-Duke Von Kröenenberg’s house in Lekten for more than six hours now. They have returned from an outing and have not yet—” She shifted as Aguilar interrupted with a spate of questions. “Yeah, that’s right. They have been to a village, met with people, did some sightseeing, kissed and embraced, had lunch, talked, and came back to Lekten.”

Lauriana rolled her eyes and lifted the binoculars when Aguilar demanded to know what they were doing now. As if she had x-ray vision or a crystal ball. “Looks like they intend to spend the evening having sex. I don’t think they’ll leave any more, so—” She stopped when Aguilar interrupted her again. “Of course, I can do that, if that’s what you want. I’ll contact you if they come out.”

When the phone clicked in her ear, Lauriana shook her head and ate a chocolate bar, resigning herself to a long, cold, and uncomfortable evening.