The Princess and the Playboy. Valerie Parv
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five thousand. Why?’
‘And two years ago?’
She had to think. ‘Maybe three thousand.’
‘And today?’
She saw what he was getting at. ‘All right, I’m well aware the people are growing older and the younger ones are moving away to the cities to work.’ The whispering voices of the mother place couldn’t alter the fact that there was little work for young people in the province.
He nodded. ‘If they had a future at home they might not be forced to leave. A Clendon Resort is not only a playground for the rich. It’s also a training ground for the young, a nursery for endangered plants and animals and a monument to the past as well as the future. I’m proud of the concept, which is rare in the tourism business.’
It was hard to think rationally around the thunder of her own heartbeat. She wished they could have had this discussion in the air-conditioned living room, preferably fully dressed. While he talked her swimsuit had dried, and she was disturbingly conscious of the way it was moulded to her figure. She took refuge in annoyance. ‘I hardly think token eco-tourism can compensate for what will be lost.’
Fire snapped in his eyes. ‘You obviously know little about how I do things. Why don’t I take you with me to the site tomorrow and show you why you’re wrong?’
Given the way he made her feel, going anywhere with him was reckless. It was also impossible, without giving away her true identity. ‘I can’t.’
‘Afraid, Allie?’
His lowered tone stole over her like a caress. Musical voices were a characteristic of her people but his defied such a mundane description. It was as deep and rich as volcanic soil. The sound vibrated through her. She was afraid, but not in the way he apparently thought. Visiting Crystal Bay with him could only strengthen her conviction so it must be her reaction to his company she feared.
The surreal nature of today’s experience crashed over her. Today she wasn’t Princess Talay Rasada, she was Allie Martine, commoner and married woman. It was alarming how readily her Allie entertained fantasies which were forbidden to a princess or even to a married woman. It would have to stop. ‘I have other plans tomorrow—sorry. ’
‘A lover, perhaps?’
She stared at him in shocked surprise. ‘What an extraordinary thing to say.’
He met her look levelly. ‘You’re an extraordinary woman, not at all the way Michael describes you. This thing between us, for instance...’
Tension gripped her. ‘There’s nothing between us.’
‘Oh, yes, there is. We both felt it from the moment we set eyes on each other. It suggests to me that you’re not as faithful to Michael as he thinks you are. Which is why I asked if you’re seeing someone else.’
She drew herself up, regal hauteur in every line of her bearing. At some level she was intrigued by his willingness to confront her on his friend’s account. It suggested a capacity for loyalty on an enviable scale—provided he considered you his friend. For her own sake she was furious at being so unfairly suspected. ‘I can only assume you speak from your own experience. It’s said we suspect others of our own misdeeds.’
‘Quite possibly.’ His tone was mild but his eyes burned into her. ‘I don’t deny my marriage was a spectacular failure, as Michael would have told you. Nor do I deny having seduced many women but they were all willing, not to mention enthusiastic, at least at the time. And they were all available.’
She recalled his vow that he considered married women off limits, and felt the merest flaring of regret She resisted it but couldn’t stop herself from asking, ‘Why did your marriage fail, Jase?’
‘The question should be: why did we get together in the first place? The answer is that she got pregnant—on purpose.’ His expression hardened. ‘Don’t look so shocked. I’m sure women in Sapphan do it to snare men, too. She talked me out of using precautions, swearing she was protected, then used her pregnancy to put a noose around my neck.’
None of Allie’s talk about Jase had mentioned the existence of a child, and something clenched inside Talay as she pictured him with a tiny baby cradled against the hard wall of his chest. ‘Where is your child now—with the mother?’
‘There’s no child any more,’ he said in a voice laced with bitterness. The pregnancy didn’t last beyond the fifth month. By then we were stuck with each other.’
It was as cynical an opinion of marriage as she had ever heard. ‘With such a sad experience of marriage, no wonder you’re quick to jump to conclusions about me,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you think you sense between us, Mr Clendon, but you’re wrong. I would never cheat on the man I love.’
‘Then there’s no reason why you can’t come with me to Crystal Bay tomorrow.’
Hooked as neatly as a fish on a line, she thought furiously. She would have to watch herself around him if she was to have any hope of winning her battle. That it might be lost already, she couldn’t afford to consider. ‘Very well, I’ll go,’ she conceded. Keeping up the fiction of being Allie Martine wouldn’t be easy, but she would find a way.
Keeping up the fiction that Jase had no effect on her—now there was the real challenge.
CHAPTER THREE
IT WAS easier than she had anticipated for the simple reason that Jase declined her offer to prepare a meal for them and went out for the evening. Royal or not Talay was perfectly able to cook, having been taught at boarding school. The king himself was an enthusiastic cook and had taught Talay some of his favourite recipes.
So she felt more than a little piqued when Jase announced he was attending a business dinner that evening. He seemed almost eager to escape the villa, and she couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was part of the reason.
Had he somehow guessed her identity? She didn’t think so and she had looked forward to the evening to provide her best chance to impress upon him the uniqueness of Crystal Bay. Now she would have to wait until he took her to visit the site to spend more time with him.
Frustration gnawed at her. As a princess, she could have requested his company at dinner and he would have felt bound by protocol to accept, no matter what other engagements pressed him. However, as Allie Martine she had no such influence.
‘I’d invite you to join me but it’s mainly business,’ he explained.
She pretended indifference. ‘Please don’t concern yourself. I’m looking forward to a restful evening at home.’
‘After your long journey,’ he said.
Her blank look almost betrayed her until she remembered the trip she was supposed to have taken. ‘It’s a three-hour drive from the capital. No wonder I’m all in.’
His eyes narrowed speculatively. ‘Which reminds me. I’m surprised Michael let you drive back alone. Didn’t he insist you have a driver?’ He looked around as if seeking evidence of one. But the longest ‘journey’ Talay had taken was to the Martine villa from her residence, a mere twenty minutes’ drive away, where her bodyguard had returned with the car after dropping her here.
‘Michael is a husband, not a keeper,’ she said tartly, aware that her ill humour had a lot to do with Jase deserting her for the evening. She pushed the feeling away. ‘He doesn’t let his wife do anything. She makes up her own mind. I’m well able to drive myself wherever I wish to go.’ She winced inwardly as a betrayingly regal note crept into her tone.
He didn’t appear to notice because his attention was fixed on something else. ‘Is it a peculiarly Sapphan custom to talk about yourself in the third person?’
‘Sometimes,’ she said warily. It wasn’t, but it enabled her to stick to the truth as much as possible.
‘I