Christmas with the Prince: Christmas with the Prince. Michelle Celmer
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“Do you need help unpacking?”
She vigorously shook her head. “There are sensitive materials and equipment in here. I’d rather do it myself.”
That seemed like an awful lot of work for one person. “The offer for the assistant is still good. I can have someone here Friday morning.”
She looked at her watch, her face scrunching with confusion. “And what’s today? The time change from the U.S. has me totally screwed up.”
“It’s Tuesday. Five o’clock.”
“P.M.?”
“Yes. In fact, dinner is at seven.”
She nodded, but still looked slightly confused.
“Out of curiosity, when was the last time you slept?”
She scrunched her face again, studied her watch for a second, then shrugged and said, “I’m not sure. Twenty hours at least. Probably more.”
“You must be exhausted.”
“I’m used to it. I keep long hours in the lab.”
Twenty hours was an awfully long time, even for a workaholic, and he’d traveled often enough to know what jet lag could do to a person. Especially someone unaccustomed to long plane trips. “Maybe before you tackle unpacking the lab you should at least take a nap.”
“I’m fine, really. Although, I guess I wouldn’t mind a quick change of clothes.”
“Why don’t I show you to your room.”
She looked longingly at all of the shiny new equipment, then nodded and said, “All right.”
He switched off the lights and shut the door, hearing it lock automatically behind him.
“Will I get my own code?” she asked.
“Of course. You’ll have full access to whatever and wherever you need.”
He led Liv back through the kitchen and up the stairs to the third floor, to the guest rooms. She looked a bit lost when they finally reached her door.
“The castle is so big and confusing,” she said.
“It’s not so bad once you learn your way around.”
“I don’t exactly have a great sense of direction. Don’t be surprised if you find me aimlessly wandering the halls.”
“I’ll have Derek print you up a map.” He opened her door and gestured her in.
“It’s beautiful,” she said in that soft, breathy voice. “So pretty.”
Far too feminine and fluffy for his taste, with its flowered walls and frilly drapes, but their female guests seemed to appreciate it. Although he never would have pegged Liv as the girly-girl type. She was just too…analytical. Too practical. On the surface anyhow.
“The bathroom and closet are that way,” he said, gesturing to the door across the room. But Liv’s attention was on the bed.
“It looks so comfortable.” She crossed the room to it and ran one hand over the flowered duvet. “So soft.”
She was a tactile sort of woman. Always stroking and touching things. And he couldn’t help but wonder how those hands would feel touching him.
“Why don’t you take it for a spin,” he said. “The lab can wait.”
“Oh, I shouldn’t,” she protested, but she was already kicking off her shoes and crawling on top of the covers. She settled back against the pillows and sighed blissfully. Her eyes slipped closed. “Oh, this is heavenly.”
He hadn’t actually meant right that second. The average guest would have waited until he’d left the room, not flop down into bed right in front of him. But he could see that there was nothing average about Olivia Montgomery.
At least she hadn’t undressed first. Not that he wasn’t curious to see what she was hiding under those clothes. He was beginning to think there was much more to Liv than she let show.
“You’ll find your bags in the closet. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a maid to unpack for you?”
“I can do it,” she said, her voice soft and sleepy.
“If you change your mind, let me know. Other than that, you should have everything you need. There are fresh towels and linens in the bathroom. As well as toiletries. If you need anything else, day or night, just pick up the phone. The kitchen is always open. You’re also welcome to use the exercise room or game room, day or night. We want you to feel completely comfortable here.”
He walked to the window and pushed the curtain aside, letting in a shaft of late-afternoon sunshine. “You have quite a lovely view of the ocean and the gardens from here. Although there isn’t much to see in the gardens this time of year. We could take a walk out there tomorrow.”
Or not, he thought, when she didn’t answer him. Then he heard a soft rumbling sound from the vicinity of the bed.
She had turned on her side and lay all curled up in a ball, hugging the pillow. He walked over to the bed and realized that she was sound asleep.
“Liv,” he called softly, but she didn’t budge. Apparently she was more tired than she’d realized.
He found a spare blanket in the closet, noticing her luggage while he was in there, and the conspicuously small amount of it. Just two average-size bags that had seen better days. The typical female guest, especially one there for an extended stay, brought a whole slew of bags.
He reminded himself once again that Liv was not the typical royal guest. And, he was a little surprised to realize, he liked that about her. It might very well be a refreshing change.
He walked back to the bed and covered her with the blanket, then, for reasons he couldn’t begin to understand, felt compelled to just look at her for a moment. The angles of her face softened when she slept, making her appear young and vulnerable.
She’s not your type, he reminded himself.
If he was going to be honest with himself, his “type” had plenty to offer physically, but intellectually, he was usually left feeling bored and unfulfilled. Maybe it was time for a change of pace.
Seducing a woman like Liv might be just what he needed to spice things up.
Chapter Three
It was official. Liv was lost.
She stood in an unfamiliar hallway on what she was pretty sure was the second floor, looking for the staircase that would lead her down to the kitchen. She’d been up and down two separate sets of stairs already this morning, and had wandered through a dozen different hallways. Either there were two identical paintings of the same stodgy-looking old man in a military uniform, or she’d been in this particular hallway more than once.
She looked up one end to the other, hopelessly turned around, wondering which direction she should take. She felt limp with hunger, and the backpack full of books and papers hung like a dead weight off one shoulder. If she didn’t eat soon, her blood sugar was going to dip into the critical zone.
She did a very scientific, eenie-meenie-minie-moe, then went left around the corner and plowed face-first into a petite, red-haired maid carrying a pile of clean linens. The force of the collision knocked her off balance and the linens fell to the carpet.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Liv crouched down to pick them up. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“It’s no problem, miss,” the maid said in a charming Irish brogue, kneeling down to help. “You must be our scientist from the States. Miss Montgomery?”
Liv piled the last slightly disheveled sheet in her arms and they both stood. “Yes, I am.”
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