Christmas with the Prince

For a minute he just stood there watching her. She had dressed in jeans and a sweater and wore her hair pulled back into a ponytail again. He couldn’t help grinning when he recalled the way she seized up as he put his hands on her shoulders, and the deep blush in her cheeks. He knew he wasn’t exactly playing fair, and it was wrong to toy with her, but he’d never met a woman who wore her emotions so blatantly on her sleeve. There was little doubt that she was attracted to him.

She looked up, saw him standing there and smiled. A sweet, genuine smile that encompassed her entire face. She wasn’t what he would consider beautiful or stunning, but she had a wholesome, natural prettiness about her that he found undeniably appealing.

“Sorry about that,” he told her, walking to the table.

“S’okay,” she said with a shrug, polishing off the last of her croissant and chasing it down with a swallow of coffee. “I think that was the most delicious breakfast I’ve ever eaten.”

“I’ll pass your compliments on to the chef.” Instead of sitting down, he rested his arms on the back of his chair. “I’m sorry to say you won’t be meeting my parents until next week.”

Her smile vanished. “Oh. Is everything all right?”

“My father’s doctors want to keep him a few days longer. Just in case.”

“It’s his heart?” she asked, and at his questioning look, added, “When I was offered the position, I looked up your family on the Internet. A ton of stuff came back about your father’s health.”

He should have figured as much. The king’s health had been big news after he collapsed at Chris’s wedding reception. But other than to say he had a heart “problem,” no specific information had been disclosed about his condition.

“He has advanced heart disease,” Aaron told her.

Concern creased her brow. “If you don’t mind my asking, what’s the prognosis?”

“Actually, he’s in an experimental program and we’re hopeful that he’ll make a full recovery.”

“He’s getting a transplant?”

“He has a rare blood type. The odds of finding a donor are astronomical.” He explained the portable heart pump and how it would take over all heart function so the tissue would have time to heal. “He’s very fortunate. Less than a dozen people worldwide are part of the study.”

“Heart disease is genetic. I’ll bet you and your siblings are very health-conscious.”

“Probably not as much as we should be, but the queen sees to it that we eat a proper diet. You know how mothers are.” Only after the words were out did he realize that no, she probably didn’t know, because she’d never had a real mother. He felt a slash of guilt for the thoughtless comment. But if it bothered her, she didn’t let it show.

She dabbed her lips with her napkin, then set it on the table beside her plate. Glancing at the watch on her slender wrist, she said, “I should get down to the lab. I have a lot of unpacking to do.”

He stepped behind her to pull her chair out, and could swear he saw her tense the slightest bit when his fingers brushed her shoulders. She rose to her feet and edged swiftly out of his reach.

He suppressed a smile. “You’re sure you don’t need help unpacking?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you.”

“Well, then, lunch is at one.”

“Oh, I don’t eat lunch. I’m usually too busy.”

“All right, then, dinner is at seven sharp. You do eat dinner?”

She smiled. “On occasion, yes.”

He returned the smile. “Then I’ll see you at seven.”

She walked to the door, then stopped for a second, looking one way, then the other, as though she wasn’t sure which direction to take.

“Left,” he reminded her.

She turned to him and smiled. “Thanks.”

“I’ll remind Derek to get you that map.”

“Thank you.” She stood there another second, and he thought she might say something else, then she shook her head and disappeared from view.

The woman was a puzzle. Thoughtful and confident one minute, then shy and awkward the next. And he realized, not for the first time, that she was one puzzle he’d like to solve.

After a long morning in the fields and an afternoon in the largest of their greenhouse facilities, Aaron looked forward to a quiet dinner and an evening spent with their guest. Even though normally he would arrange some sort of physical, recreational activity like squash or tennis or even just a walk in the gardens, he was more interested in just talking to Liv. Learning more about her life, her past. She was the first woman in a long time whom he’d found both attractive and intellectually stimulating. And after a few drinks to loosen her up a bit, who knew where the conversation might lead.

He changed from his work clothes and stopped by her room on his way downstairs to escort her to the dining room, but she wasn’t there. Expecting her to already be at the table waiting for him, he headed down, but found all of the chairs empty.

Geoffrey stepped in from the pantry.

“Have you seen Miss Montgomery?” Aaron asked.

“As far as I know she’s still in the lab, Your Highness.”

Aaron looked at his watch. It was already two minutes past seven. Maybe she’d lost track of the time. “Will you wait to serve the first course?”

Geoffrey gave him a stiff nod. “Of course, Your Highness.”

A servant of the royal family as long as Aaron could remember, Geoffrey prided himself on keeping them on a strict and efficient schedule. Tardiness was not appreciated or tolerated.

“I’ll go get her,” Aaron said. He headed through the kitchen, savoring the tantalizing scent of spicy grilled chicken and peppers, and down the stairs to the lab. Through the door window he could see Liv, sitting in front of a laptop computer, typing furiously, papers scattered around her.

He punched in his code and the door swung open, but as he stepped into the room, Liv didn’t so much as glance his way.

Her sweater was draped over the back of her chair and she wore a simple, white, long-sleeved T-shirt with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. Her pony-tail had drooped over the course of the day and hung slightly askew down her back.

“It’s past seven,” he said softly, so as not to startle her, but got no response. “Liv?” he said, a little louder his time, and still she didn’t acknowledge that he was there.

“Olivia,” he said, louder this time, and she jolted in her chair, head whipping around. For a second she looked completely lost, as though she had no clue where she was, or who he was.

She blinked several times, then awareness slid slowly across her face. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“It’s past seven.”

She stared at him blankly.

“Dinner,” he reminded her.

“Oh…right.” She looked down at her watch, then up to her computer screen. “I guess I lost track of time.”

“Are you ready?”

She glanced up at him distractedly. “Ready?”

“For dinner.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

He gestured to the door. “After you.”

“Oh…I think I’ll pass.”

“Pass?”

“Yeah. I’m right in the middle of something.”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

She shrugged. “I’ll pop into the kitchen later and grab something.”

“I can have a plate sent down for you,” he said, even though he knew Geoffrey wouldn’t be happy about it.

“That would be great, thanks,” she said. “By the way, were you down here earlier?”

He shook his head. “I’ve been in the field all day.”

“Does anyone else know the code for the door?”

“No, why?”

“A while ago I looked over and the door was ajar.”

“Maybe you didn’t close it all the way.”

“I’m pretty sure I did.”

“I’ll have maintenance take a look at it.”

“Thanks,” she said, her eyes already straying back to the computer screen, fingers poised over the keys.

Geoffrey wouldn’t consider it proper etiquette for a guest of the royal family to refuse a dinner invitation and then dine alone at a desk, but even he couldn’t argue that Liv was not the typical royal guest.

She could eat in the bathtub for all Aaron cared, as long as she found a cure for the diseased crops.

“I’ll have Geoffrey bring something right down.”

She nodded vaguely, her attention back on her computer. He opened his mouth to say something else, but realized it would be a waste of breath. Liv was a million miles away, completely engrossed in whatever she was doing.

Doing her job, he reminded himself. They hadn’t flown her in and paid good money so that she could spend her time amusing him.

He wondered if this was a foreshadow of what her time here would amount to. And if it was, it was going to be a challenge to seduce a woman who was never around.

Chapter Five

Liv studied the data that had been compiled so far regarding the diseased crops and compared the characteristics with other documented cases from all over the world. There were similarities, but no definitive matches yet. She wouldn’t know for sure until she compared live samples from other parts of the world, which she would have to order and have shipped with expedited delivery.

She yawned and stretched, thinking maybe it was time for a short break, and heard the door click open.

She dropped her arms and turned to see Prince Aaron walking toward her. At least this time there was actually someone there. Despite a thorough check from a maintenance man, she’d found the door open several times, and once she could swear she’d seen someone peering at her through the window.

“Dinner not to your liking?” he asked.

Dinner? She vaguely remembered Geoffery coming by a while ago.

She followed the direction of his gaze to the table beside her desk and realized a plate had been left for her. Come to think of it, she was a little hungry. “Oh, I’m sure it’s delicious. I was just wrapped up in what I was working on.”

“I guess you were. You haven’t slept, have you?”

“Slept?” She looked at her watch. “It’s only ten.”

“Ten a.m.” he said. “You’ve been down here all night.”

“Have I?” It wouldn’t be the first time she’d been so engrossed in her work that she forgot to sleep. Being in a lab with no windows probably didn’t help. Unless she looked at her computer clock, which she rarely did, it was difficult to keep track of the time, to know if it was day or night. She’d been known to work for days on end, taking catnaps on her desk, and emerge from the lab with no idea what day it was, or the last time she’d eaten.

And now that she’d stopped working long enough to think about it, she realized that her neck ached and her eyes burned with exhaustion. A good sign that it was time for a break.

“When we hired you, we didn’t expect you to work 24/7,” he said, but the playful smile said he was just teasing her.

“It’s just the way I work.” She reached back to knead the ache that was now spreading from her neck into the slope of her shoulders.

“Neck ache?” he asked, and she nodded. “I’m not surprised. Although gripping the muscles like that is only going to make it hurt more.”

“It’s stiff,” she said.

He expelled an exasperated sigh and shook his head. “Why don’t you let me do that.”

Him?

She didn’t think he was serious…until he stepped behind her chair. He was actually going to do it. He was going to rub her neck. He pushed her hands out of the way, then draped her ponytail over her left shoulder.

“Really,” she said. “You don’t have to—”

The words died in her throat as his hands settled on her shoulders.

The warmth of his skin began to seep through the cotton of her shirt and her cheeks exploded with heat. And as if that wasn’t mortifyingly embarrassing and awkward enough, he slipped his fingers underneath the collar of her shirt. She sucked in a surprised breath as his hands touched her bare skin.

“The trick to relax the muscle,” he told her, “is not to pinch the tension out, but to instead apply even pressure.”

Yeah, right. Like there was any way she was going to be able to relax now, with his hands touching her. His skin against her skin.

He pressed his thumbs into the muscle at the base of her neck and, against her will, a sigh of pleasure slipped from her lips. He slid his thumbs slowly upward, applying steady pressure. When he reached the base of her skull, he repeated the motion, until she felt the muscles going limp and soft.

“Feel good?” he asked.

“Mmm.” Good didn’t even begin to describe the way he was making her feel. Her head lolled forward and her eyes drifted shut.

“It would be better with oil,” he said. “Unfortunately I don’t have any handy.”

The sudden image of Prince Aaron rubbing massage oil onto her naked body flashed through her brain.

Oh, no. Don’t even go there, Liv. This was not a sexual come-on. He was just being polite. Although at that moment she would give anything to know what it would feel like. His oily hands sliding across her bare skin…

As if that would ever happen.

He sank his thumbs into the crevice beside her shoulder blades and a gust of breath hissed through her teeth.

“You have a knot here,” he said, gently working it loose with his thumbs.

“You’re really good at this,” she said. “Did you take a class or something?”

“Human anatomy.”

“Why would a prince in an agriculturally based field need a human anatomy class?”

“It might surprise you to learn that there was a time when I was seriously considering medical school.”

Actually that didn’t surprise her at all. She had the feeling there was a lot more to Prince Aaron than he let people see. “What changed your mind?” she asked.

“My family changed it for me. They needed me in the family business, so I majored in agriculture instead. End of story.”

Somehow she doubted it was that simple. There was a tense quality to his voice that belied his true feelings.

“I guess that’s the benefit of not having parents,” she said. “No one to tell you what to do.”

“I guess” was all he said, and she had the distinct impression she’d broached a subject he preferred not to explore. He gave her shoulders one last squeeze, then backed away and asked, “Feel better?”

“Much,” she said, turning toward him. “Thank you.”

“Sure,” he said, but the usual, cheery smile was absent from his face. In fact, he looked almost…sad. Then she realized the inference in what she’d just said. His father was dying, his only hope a risky experimental procedure, and here she was suggesting that not having parents was a good thing.

Here he was being nice to her, and she was probably making him feel terrible.

Way to go, Liv. Open mouth, insert foot.

“Aaron, what I said just then, about not having parents—”

“Forget it,” he said with a shrug.

In other words, drop it.

The lack of sleep, especially after that relaxing massage, was obviously taking its toll on her. She was saying stupid and inappropriate things to a man she knew practically nothing about. A virtual stranger.

A stranger who had the authority to fire her on a whim if it suited him.

“You should get some rest,” he said.

He was right. She was long overdue for a power nap. “Now, if I can just find my way back to my room,” she joked.

“Didn’t Derek bring you a map?”

She looked down at her desk, papers strewn everywhere. “It’s here. Somewhere.”

He smiled and gestured to the door. “Come on, I’ll walk you up.”

“Thank you.” She slipped her laptop in her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, grabbing the plate of uneaten food on her way out.

Even though he was silent, the tension between them seemed to ease as she followed the prince out of the lab and up the stairs. She left the plate in the kitchen and received a distinct look of disapproval from the butler.

“Sorry,” she said lamely, and he answered with a stiff nod. That on top of what she’d said to the prince filled her with a nagging sense of guilt as they walked up to her room. She was obviously way out of her league here. This was going to take a lot of getting used to.

When they reached her door, she turned to him and said, “Thanks for walking me up.”

He smiled. “My pleasure. Get some rest.”

He started to turn away.

“Aaron, wait!”

He stopped and turned back to her.

“Before you go, I wanted to apologize.”

His brow furrowed. “For what?”

“What I said in the lab.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t. It was really…thoughtless. And I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

“Liv, don’t worry about it.”

“I mean, I basically suggested you would be better off without parents, which, considering your father’s health, was totally insensitive of me. My verbal filter must be on the fritz.”

He leaned casually against the doorjamb, a look of amused curiosity on his face. “Verbal filter?”

“Yeah. People’s thoughts go through, and the really dumb and inappropriate stuff gets tossed out before they can become words. Lack of sleep must have mine working at minimum capacity. I know it’s a pretty lame excuse. But I’m really, really sorry. I’m just an employee. I have no right asking you personal questions or talking about your family, anyway.”

For several long, excruciating seconds he just looked at her, and she began to worry that maybe he really was thinking about firing her. Then he asked, “Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

Huh?

She insulted him, and he invited her to share dinner with him? She might have thought he was extending a formal invitation just to be polite, but he looked sincere. Like he really wanted to have dinner with her.

“Um, sure,” she said, more than a touch puzzled.

“Seven sharp.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll warn you that Geoffrey loathes tardiness.”

“I’ll be on time,” she assured him.

He flashed her one last smile, then walked away.

She stepped into her room and shut the door, still not exactly sure what just happened, but way too tired to try to sort it out. She would think about it later, after she’d had some sleep.

As inviting as the bed looked, the draw of a steaming shower was too appealing to resist. The sensation of the hot water jetting against her skin was almost as enjoyable as Aaron’s neck massage had been. After her shower she curled up under the covers, planning to sleep an hour or two before heading back down to the lab.

She let her tired, burning eyes drift shut, and when she opened them again to check the clock on the bedside table, it was six forty-five.

Liv had been so wracked with guilt when Aaron walked her to her room this morning, she hadn’t been paying attention to how they got there. And of course her handy map was in the lab, buried under her research. Which was why, four minutes before she was supposed to be in the dinning room, she was frantically wandering the halls, looking for a familiar landmark. The castle was just so big and quiet. If only she would run into someone who could help. She was going to be late, and she had the feeling she was already in hot water with Geoffrey the butler.

She rounded a corner and ran—literally—into someone.

Plowed into was more like it. But this time it wasn’t a petite maid. This time it was a hulk of man, built like a tank, who stood at least a foot taller than her own five-foot-ten-inch frame. If he hadn’t caught her by the arms, the force of the collision probably would have knocked her on her butt.

He righted and swiftly released her.

“Sorry,” she apologized, wondering how many more royal employees she would collide with while she was here. “It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Miss Montgomery, I presume?” he said in a slightly annoyed tone, looking, of all places, at her chest. Then she looked down and realized she’d forgotten to pin on her ID badge. She pulled it from the outer pocket of her backpack and handed it to him. “Yeah, sorry.”

His badge identified him as Flynn, and she couldn’t help thinking that he looked more like a Bruno or a Bruiser.

He looked at the photo on her badge, then back at her, one brow raised slightly higher than the other. He didn’t say, You don’t look like a scientist, but she could tell he was thinking it.

He handed it back to her. “You should wear this at all times.”

“I know. I forgot.” She hooked it on her sweater, managing not to skewer her skin as she had yesterday. “Maybe you can help me. I’m trying to get to the dining room,” she told him. “I’ve lost my way.”

“Would you like me to show you the way?”

She sighed with relief. “That would be wonderful. I’m about three minutes from being late for dinner, and I’m already in the doghouse with Geoffrey.”

“We can’t have that,” he said, gesturing in the direction she’d just come from. “This way, miss.”

This time she paid attention as he led her downstairs to the dining room and she was pretty sure that she would be able to find her way back to her room. But she would keep the map with her at all times, just in case.

Prince Aaron was sitting in the dining room waiting for her, nursing a drink, when they walked in.

“I found her, Your Highness,” Flynn told him.

“Thank you, Flynn,” the prince said.

He nodded and left, and Liv realized it was no accident that she’d encountered him in the hallway.

“How did you know I would get lost?” she asked him.

He grinned. “Call it a hunch.”

He rose from his chair and pulled out the adjacent chair for her, and as she sat, his fingers brushed the backs of her shoulders. Was he doing it on purpose? And if so, why did he feel the need to touch her all the time? Did he get some morbid kick out of making her nervous?

The only other time she’d had an experience with a touchy-feely person was back in graduate school. Professor Green had had a serious case of inappropriately wandering hands that, on a scale of one to ten, had an ick factor of fifteen. All of his female students fell victim to his occasional groping.

But unlike her professor, when Aaron touched her, she liked the way it felt. The shiver of awareness and swift zing of sexual attraction. She just wished she knew what it meant.

He eased her chair in and sat back down, lounging casually, drink in hand. “Would you like a drink? A glass of wine?”

“No, thank you. I have to stay sharp.”

“What for?”

“Work.”

He frowned. “You’re working tonight?”

“Of course.”

“But by the time we finish dinner, it will be after eight o’clock.”

She shrugged. “So?”

“So, I have an idea. Why don’t you take a night off?”

“Take a night off?”

“Instead of locking yourself in the lab, why don’t you spend the evening with me?”

Chapter Six

The confused look on Liv’s face was as amusing as it was endearing. She was as far from his type as a woman could be, yet Aaron wanted inside her head, wanted to know what made her tick.

Geoffrey appeared with the first course of their dinner, a mouthwatering lobster bisque. He knew this because he’d managed to sneak a taste before the chef had chased him out of the kitchen.

“How about that drink?” he asked Liv.

“Just water, please. Bottled, if you have it.”

Geoffrey nodded and left to fetch it.

“You never answered my question,” he said.

She fidgeted with her napkin. “I’m here to work, Your Highness.”

“Aaron,” he reminded her. “And you just worked a twenty-four-hour shift. Everyone needs a break every now and then.”

“I had a break. I slept all day.”

He could see he was getting nowhere, so he tried a different angle: the guilt card. He frowned and said, “Is the idea of spending time with me really so repulsive?”