A Royal World Apart

He moved closer to her and she stepped back, hitting the wall again. He was so close she could smell him, a faint hint of soap and skin. Musky and enticing. It felt dangerous to be so close to him, and she wasn’t sure why.

“I’ve been making my own decisions since I was thirteen,” he said, his breath fanning over her cheek. “And since then I’ve made good decisions and I have made very, very bad decisions. So trust me, I recognize both kinds when I see them, and I have only seen the bad kind from you.”

She swallowed, ignoring the sudden impulse she felt to draw closer to him. Maybe that’s why it felt so dangerous to be near him. Because controlling herself seemed harder. Because her body didn’t quite seem as though it belong to her anymore. “Bad or good, you were still allowed to make the decisions.”

“And there are some I would take back tonight if I were able to. You don’t ever want to be in that position. Trust me.”

She wanted to touch him. To put her hand on his face. To feel the sculpted muscles that she knew lay beneath his crisp dark suit. She curled her hands into fists and pinned them against the wall, forcing herself to deny the impulse.

He looked at her for a moment, the air between them too thick for her to breathe in. Then he turned away, putting his broad back to her.

“Go back to bed,” he said.

“You’re just … leaving?”

He turned back to her. “Do you need me to come and hold your hand? Tuck you in?”

Her heart slammed into her breastbone. “No.”

He inclined his head. “Good night.”

She just stood and watched him walk away. And tried not to wonder why she wished he would come back.

Makhail cursed the fact that he felt bad for her. That he felt anything at all. But the look on Eva’s face before she’d stormed out of the gardens the day before, and her escape attempt that same night, had done something to him. Had appealed to the small bit of humanity he had left inside of him. One he had thought long snuffed out.

She’d spent the rest of the day yesterday in her room. Her father had considered it a victory. It kept her well out of the spotlight, after all.

Mak had not seen it the same way. He wasn’t in the business of dealing with people who didn’t want to his services. And as much as he hated the parallel, he was essentially a babysitter with a gun.

And Eva was unhappy. Desperately so.

I want to live.

That word, live, had hit him hard in the chest. There was something about her in that moment that reminded him of Marina. When she’d been vibrant, whole, with her entire life stretching before her.

I don’t need anything but you, Mak. Everything else can wait.

Except there had been no future for her, no later time to experience the things she’d longed for. In one moment everything had changed. All of the somedays they’d planned had been lost. And he had thought, so many times, that death would have been sweeter than what Marina had been left with.

There had been many times he’d thought of what he would do differently. If he could turn time back eleven years and redo everything.

He’d been doing nothing but thinking of that since Eva had shut herself in her room.

He stalked down the corridor and into the dining room, where Eva was alone, eating breakfast at the same table she’d eaten at yesterday. A table that could comfortably seat thirty, but seemed only ever to seat her.

“Morning,” she said tightly, not looking up.

“Good morning, Eva.”

“We did this yesterday,” she said. “It didn’t go well.”

“Not really.” He looked at Eva, really looked at her. He could change it for her. He could make sure she felt some sense of freedom. He didn’t want to care about her, about her situation. It was a job, only a job. And yet, now that he’d made the connection between Eva and Marina in his mind, it couldn’t be shaken.

When he thought of Marina in the same position, asking for a chance to taste life … he wished she had tasted life.

She hadn’t. And then the opportunity was stolen.

So much of that was his own fault.

He wouldn’t do the same to Eva.

And the attraction you feel has nothing to do with this? He banished the thought. The attraction, such as it was, could mean nothing.

“What do you want, Eva?” he asked, his voice rough, even to his own ears.

She looked at him, her expression wary. “What … what do you mean?”

“I thought about it last night. About what you said.”

“Before or after I had my emotional meltdown?”

“Just before,” he said. “I cannot change what it is your father expects of you. That’s a matter between you and the king. It concerns your country. But we have these months, and I don’t have to keep you in the palace. As long as you’re willing to cooperate.”

“Meaning?” she asked, her tone wary.

“What would it take to make you happy?” he said, his tone hard.

“In this … in this scenario, where you’re asking me … I still have to marry the man my father chooses for me?”

“I told you, that’s a matter between you, one that has nothing to do with me. But there are things I can arranged if you like. Outings. Shopping. Dinner.”

“I … my father says it’s too hard to arrange all of the security required to—”

“Your security is my concern. It might have been too hard for the Kyonosian Guard, but it’s certainly not too difficult for me.”

“You’re not kidding?” she asked, her expression guarded.

“No.”

“I want … I want to choose my own clothes.”

“You don’t pick out your club wear?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I … actually no, it’s all been provided by the palace stylist. And if you saw what other women wore to those sorts of places, you’d believe me.”

“I do,” he said. He’d secured the perimeter of more than one of those types of establishments, though he’d never been in one as a guest. It wasn’t his scene. Not in the least. “What else?”

“And I want to go out and order my own dinner.” She spoke slowly, her words gradually picking up tempo as she went along. “And I want to go to the beach. And … and I want … I don’t even know everything I want because for so long all of my decisions have been made for me.”

She stood, her breasts rising and falling with each breath. “I … Please don’t be lying to me.”

“I’m not.” Something in his stomach twisted. Hard. “I’m not changing what happens in six months. Just what we do now. And you have to stay with me. At all times. If I lose sight of you for a moment, I will personally lock you in your room for the duration.”

Eva swallowed. He was offering her a life line—more than anyone else. Yes, it was just a vapor of what she really wanted. The surface, shallow experiences when there was a deep well of things she craved. But it was something.

Offering her an olive branch, even if he was keeping his distance. It was more than anyone else had done. Her other guards had been silent annoyances, making sure she felt watched, never speaking to her. Never interacting with her.

Mak was the last person on earth she’d expected to break that barrier. But he seemed to understand.

“What’s changed?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” He stood and rested his hands palms on the tabletop.

“Something changed between last night and this morning. Last night you told me I was nothing more than a spoiled brat, and I think you were ready to lock me up then.”

“It’s true.” He walked along the opposite side of the table, his fingers resting lightly on the polished wood surface as he did. “It is not my job to approve or disapprove of the decisions your father has made. I’m here to protect you. That’s the beginning and end of it. As it is with all of my jobs.” He rounded the edge of the table and stood across from her, without the protection of antique furniture between them. “You remind me of someone.”

She took a step toward him, an involuntary action. She simply felt drawn to him. Like seeing brilliant art that you had to get closer to. “I do?”

“Yes. She … If I could give her a day at the beach, I would. But I can’t. So I will give it to you.”

He raised his head, the bleakness in his eyes stunning her, stopping her from moving closer. She wanted to ask, but she didn’t. She knew he wouldn’t tell her. There was something in his voice, a depth and intensity. There was emotion. It had been absent every other time he’d spoken. But not now. This was something real. Something that stretched to a place she couldn’t grasp.

“I … don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t thank me.”

“Why?”

“It would be far too close to a civilized interaction between the two of us. It hardly seems right.” He looked at her, his eyes assessing. “And anyway, this is all a part of my job. I’m already being paid. I don’t require anything more.”

He might not think it was more, but it was to her. So much more. “All right then. I accept.” She had to do it quickly, in case he changed his mind.

“Good. When would you like to start?”

“Are you free today?”

“I happen to be charged with keeping an eye on a certain princess today, and I can do that anywhere.”

She fought the urge to do something truly juvenile like jump up and down. Or fling her arms around him. “Really. Really, thank you.”

“There are rules,” he said, his voice hard. “You will stay in my sight at all times. You will not question me. On anything. If I say we need to leave, we leave. If I say you need to get down on the ground and cover your head, you do that. If you fail to do any of these things, I will personally see that you are confined to the inside of the palace, and trust me, neither of us wants that.”

His warning glanced off her without impact. She had her eyes on the prize. A day out. The rest didn’t matter. “Fine.”

“Be ready in an hour.”

She smiled and was met with a stony glare in return. “See you in an hour.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“WHERE to first, printzyessa?”

Eva found herself staring at Makhail’s hand as he gripped the gearshift. Light-colored scars marred his skin, tendon and muscle flexing in his forearm as he put the car in Reverse. Strength was evident in each move he made, even the simple act of driving a car.

Fascinating that just the sight of it, the play of flesh over muscle, could make her heart pound faster. The men at the casino hadn’t done that. They hadn’t done anything for her, not in a physical sense. Being with them offered her a bit of thrill, but it was more related to the fact that she knew she shouldn’t be there. Shouldn’t be letting them touch her arm or flirt with her.

Makhail didn’t flirt. He certainly didn’t offer anything illicit. He was simply there. And his mere presence was enough to make her feel so much her body felt too small to accommodate it.

She didn’t like it. The annoyance didn’t bother her. It was the other stuff, the stuff that made her stomach twist, that was what she didn’t like.

“It would be nice to go and have coffee,” she said. He didn’t respond, only put the car in First and pulled out of the gates of the palace, his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “Then I could go to a couple of boutiques, maybe.”

It actually sounded boring to her. If she had some friends to share it with, that would be different. But the only people in her life who really passed as friends were Sidney and Marlo Gianakis. The Greek heiresses were only on the island during the summer months, and even then it wasn’t as though they were true friends. Not the sort of friends she’d ever confide anything in.

Their alliance had more to do with a compatible social class than anything else. And since they came with their own security team, their presence gave her the rare chance to get out with permission.

“That will be fun,” she said, more to try and convince herself than for his benefit.

“Sounds like no fun to me, but this isn’t my party,” he said, his tone a study in purposefully undisguised annoyance.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, at his hand again. “It won’t be so bad.” Without thinking, she reached out and trailed her fingers over his knuckles. The contact sent a flash fire through her, igniting at her fingertips and blazing along her veins, molten heat pooling in her stomach.

She turned to look at him. He was still stiff as ever, his eyes fixed ahead. The only sign that she’d touched him was the twitch in his jaw muscle as he tensed.

“Not bad at all,” she said softly, letting her fingers linger on his skin. It was such a strange feeling, foreign, exciting.

She blinked and pulled her hand away, brushing the tips of her fingers with her thumb, trying to figure out if they were hot outside, or if all that heat was beneath the surface.

“Why do you still wear your ring?” she asked. In an attempt to get her focus off his hand, she’d drifted to his other hand. And from there to the platinum wedding band that gleamed on his fourth finger.

Again, his reaction was minimal. Tendons flexed in his hand, a muscle rolled in his forearm. “Tell me, Eva, if you were being kidnapped, held at gunpoint, harassed by an obnoxious man in the coffee shop, would that information somehow benefit you?”

“No, but …”

“Then you do not need it.”

“I thought we were aiming for civility, Mak,” she said, overpronouncing his name.

“Civility, yes. Hand-holding and feeling, sharing, no.”

Her fingertips tingled. She knew he wasn’t referencing that. She hoped he wasn’t. She opened her hand and shook it out. She’d been aiming for flirtatious. Confident. An action befitting the woman the tabloids tried to make people think she was.

The problem was, she didn’t feel like any of those things when she was with Mak. He managed to make her feel every inch the spoiled child he thought she was. All of her efforts to carve out some sense of individuality, some semblance of independence, were reduced to rubble with one searing glare from her gun-toting nanny.

“All right. I suppose we can keep all that to a minimum.”

“To nothing, would be preferable.”

“Well, I’m just curious. And you can’t blame me. Of course I’m going to wonder about you. We’re spending time together and …”

“Don’t think of this as spending time together,” he said, his accent thicker than usual, forcing her to listen carefully to each word. She didn’t really mind. “Think of it as cars in traffic,” he lifted his hand from the wheel and gestured in front of them, at the line of cars that was starting to grow the closer they got to the city. “We’re on the same road for a while, but we’re not traveling together.”

“Right,” she said. “Except you and I are in the same car.”

They were stopped at a light, and he took his eyes off the road for the first time since they’d started driving, one dark eyebrow lifted. “You’re missing the point.”

“No, your metaphor doesn’t work because … well, we are traveling together.”

“No, it still works as a metaphor. Because it’s not meant to be taken literally.”

“Well, it’s just confusing as we’re traveling in the car, but you’re asking me to think of this as us in separate cars on the same road.”

“Now you’re just being obstinate.” The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile and he turned his focus back to the road.

A small flutter started in her stomach, growing and spreading to her veins, turning into fizzy bubbles as it flowed through her body. “All right. Maybe a little bit. But it’s just that … if we can’t talk at all I’m going to be lonely.”

“I didn’t realize I was meant to protect you, keep you entertained and keep you company.”

She let out a breath. “You’re making it sound like you’re nannying me again. And I’m certain my father is paying you enough to do all three of those things.”

“Actually, as of yesterday, he is not paying me.”

Her mouth fell open. “What?”

“My men made inexcusable errors. And even though I was not personally responsible for those errors, it falls to me to correct it. As I said earlier, it’s not about money. It is about reputation, my standing in the eyes of my potential clients. This may surprise you, but I generally aid in the protection of people who are under a much larger threat than you will ever find yourself in.”

“Like?” she asked, curiosity too piqued to allow her to be offended.

“Men who dare oppose despots in their rigged elections, people who fight for change and find themselves in danger as a result. Sometimes, my clients are less noble. Sometimes it’s simply an entitled sheikh who has offended the wrong people.”

“So this really is babysitting for you?”

He grunted. The sound was noncommittal, designed to drive her crazy without him actually having to insult her. Not with actual words anyway.

“Do you intend to walk for a while?” he asked, as they drove through the main street of old-town Thysius.

“That would be good. I could go to the coffee shop and then to a couple of the boutiques. I want boots.” She wasn’t sure that she really wanted boots, but it was as good a destination as any. Mak, spending time with him, was starting to seem more interesting than boutiques.

“I’ll park and follow you from a distance.”

She swallowed the rising lump of disappointment she had no business feeling. “And they say romance is dead.”

“Romance has nothing to do with this,” he said, his voice hardening as he pulled the car, quick and smooth, into a tight parking space against the curb and between two other vehicles.

“I was being facetious.”

“Wait,” he said, killing the engine and getting out of the car, rounding the back of it. He put on a pair of dark sunglasses. His movements were liquid-smooth, his focus on the area around them. There was no way he could blend in, which meant his only option was to adopt an air of absolute authority. No one would ever question whether he belonged. No one would ever question him, period.

He opened her door and rested his forearm on the top of the car, leaning in. “It’s clear. Put your sunglasses on. Let’s not draw a crowd.”

It was an old trick, and while it wasn’t nearly as successful for her as it was for some, it kept people from recognizing her at a distance at least. A person’s reaction to her was generally one of calm politeness, mixed with a bit of awe perhaps. Which wasn’t ego, it was just her title. She was a princess, and people were generally a little bit awed by royals.

But if a crowd happened to notice her, that was when things could get a little bit on the crazy side. And she wasn’t looking for crazy today. A bit of normal, that was the order of things.

Although, she was starting to wonder if normal was possible in Mak’s presence.

She slipped her large, round sunglasses up over her nose and took her handbag from its spot on the floor. “Ready.”

Mak backed up and moved to the side, allowing her the space she needed to get out of the car. She slid out beneath his arm, his body radiating heat. It was a warm afternoon, a coastal breeze blowing in off the ocean offering the perfect amount of relief from the Aegean sun. Even so, she found she wanted to lean into Mak’s body. To seek his warmth.

Denying that feeling before it could intensify, she moved past him quickly, stepping up onto the sidewalk. Mak looked at her, even with his sunglasses shielding his eyes from her she could tell, and she fought the urge to tug her dress down as far as it would go, to cover a bit more of her legs.

At the same time, she fought the urge to flaunt every bit of leg her simple black sheath dress revealed. She wasn’t sure where either feeling had come from.

“Just walk on,” he said.

“We just got out of the car together, Mak, it’s pretty obvious that I’m with you.”

“Just walk on,” he repeated, his voice firm as he closed the door behind her.

Frustration built in her chest, like a hardening knot. It was completely disproportionate to the situation, but that didn’t stop it from getting even worse.

“Fine,” she said, turning and heading toward her favorite coffee shop. It had been a long time since she’d been able to go out for coffee. Trips out on the town were a rare treat, typically reserved for the times when Marlo and Sidney were around and their security team joined forces with hers. They were always a spectacle, the three of them, with everyone giving them a wide berth. Often, their security detail would go into shops first and clear them of clientele before they went in.

It was all a bit over the top. And as far from normal as anything she could imagine. This would be a different angle on it. Still, hardly normal with a large, muscular man in a custom black suit stalking her like predator.

She turned and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He pretended not to notice, choosing to fade into the crowd around him. Not that he could really fade, not in the sense that he could go unnoticed. But he blended into his surroundings like something organic to the cityscape.

He looked more a part of Kyonos than she’d ever felt she was.

She turned away from him and focused on the shops that lined the narrow streets. English and Greek were spoken in Kyonos, and both languages were printed on signs in newer parts of the city, but in old town, it was predominantly Greek. Here there were still market stalls, with fish and fruit and homemade pitas. She liked it better than the polished, uniform look found deeper in the city.

She made her way into the kafenio, and she could feel Mak follow her in. She focused on the surroundings instead of turning to look at him. She always enjoyed coming here. It was small, with lavish details carved into darkly stained wood. Old books filled the shelves and mismatched armchairs were placed in front of small boutique tables.

It was intimate. Quirky. Everything the palace was not. Everything she looked for when she sought to escape the confines of her family home.

She approached the counter and spoke in Greek to the woman working the register.

“Coffee. Metrio, please.” The hair on the back of her neck stood up, a shot of adrenaline spiking in her veins. Mak had gotten closer to her. Strange how she was so certain of that fact. That she was so very aware of him. “And another please. No sugar.”

Mak didn’t seem like the sugar type.

Eva paid for both drinks and collected the white cups after the woman finished pouring the thick coffees. “Efharisto,”

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