The Lost Princes: Darius, Cassius and Monte. Raye Morgan
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that fussy lately. But Ayme attributed it to David’s calming influence. It certainly had very little to do with her. She only wished she knew the secrets of how to reassure a baby and get it to stop howling.
Cici was awake but gurgling happily as they came into the seaside area where they were going to spend the night.
“Where are we going to stay?” Ayme asked, looking longingly at the Ritz as they cruised past it. Then there was the Grand with its long, sweeping driveway and uniformed attendants standing ready to help guests as they arrived at the huge glass doors. They zipped right by that one, too.
“It’s just a little farther,” he said, leaning forward to read a street sign.
She noticed that the farther they went from those elegant hotels, the farther they also went from the bright lights and sparkling entryways. Soon they were surrounded by gloom.
“Here we are,” he said at last, pulling into a driveway that immediately plunged them down a dark tunnel and into a broken-down parking lot. “This is the Gremmerton.”
She took note of the oily puddles and stained walls. “Might as well be the Grimmer-ton,” she muttered softly to herself.
“What was that?” he asked, glancing at her as he parked and shut off the engine.
“Nothing,” she said, feeling sulky and knowing she was being a brat. “Nothing at all.”
He grimaced. He knew exactly what she was thinking but he didn’t bother to explain why they were staying here. She would have to figure it out for herself. When you were trying to travel below the radar, you had to stay in places where people would never expect to find you. And at the same time, you had to be low key, so that people wouldn’t look at you and sense the incongruity and say among themselves, “Hmm. What is someone like that doing here? You would think someone like that would be over at the Grand.”
“We’re running low on formula,” he noted as they unloaded the car and prepared to carry things up into the room.
“I saw a small market on the corner when we drove up,” she said. “If you’ll watch her for a while, I’ll run out and get some. After we get settled in.”
“Good.”
They climbed two flights of stairs and found their room. It wasn’t really too bad, although it did have wallpaper peeling from one corner and a single light bulb hanging down from the ceiling.
It also had only one bed.
She stared at it for a long moment, then turned to look at him, perplexed. “What are we going to do?” she asked. “Maybe we can order in a rollaway.”
“No,” he said calmly. It was fascinating watching the sequence of emotions as they played across her face. “We’re pretending to be a family. We’ll share the bed.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t know if we ought to do that,” she said, gazing at him with huge eyes.
That one statement, along with her horrified look, told him everything he needed to know about the state of her innocence—as well as the state of her media-fed imagination. He bit back a grin and coughed a bit before he could respond.
“Ayme, do you think I’m not going to be able to control myself? Do you really think I’m going to attack you during the night?”
She looked very stern. Evidently that was exactly what she was worried about.
“Okay,” she said. “Here’s the honest truth. I’ve never slept in a bed with a man.”
“No!” He pretended to be surprised, then wished he hadn’t. He didn’t want her to think he was mocking her. It was really very cute that she was so concerned. Compared to most of the women he’d become accustomed to, it was delightful.
“No, really,” she was saying earnestly. “I don’t know what will happen. I…I don’t know men very well.” She shook her head, eyes troubled. “You read things…”
“Ayme, don’t pay any attention to what you read.”
He reached for her. It seemed a natural enough instinct to comfort her. He took her pretty face between his hands and smiled down at her.
“Pay attention to what I tell you. I won’t pretend I’m not attracted to you. I am. Any man would be. But it doesn’t mean a thing. And anyway, I can handle it. I’m not going to go mad with lust in the middle of the night.”
She nodded, but she still seemed doubtful. What he didn’t realize was that she was reacting to only one of the things he’d mentioned: the fact that to him being attracted to her didn’t mean a thing.
He’d realized by now that he shouldn’t have touched her at all and he drew back and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Then he frowned, watching emotions play over her face and wishing he’d never started down this road.
But now she could add missing the wonderful feel of his warm hands on her face to the fact that to him, she didn’t mean a thing. He’d actually said that. Any attraction between them was a biological urge, nothing more. She could have been any woman, it would have been the same.
Wow, she thought sadly. Talk about crushing a girl’s spirits. Didn’t mean a thing.
But what did she expect? She looked at him, at how large and beautiful he was. He was an exceptional man. He probably dated a lot of exceptional women. And he probably thought she was young and silly. Meanwhile, she’d begun to think that he was pretty wonderful.
He cleared his throat, wishing he understood women. She appeared unhappy and he didn’t know if it was because of the bed situation or if something else was bothering her. “So let’s just play this by ear, okay?” he tried hopefully.
“Okay,” she said softly.
“You sleep on your side, I’ll sleep on mine. If it would make you feel better, we can make a barrier down the middle with pillows.”
Her smile was bright but wavering. “Like an old Puritan bundling board?” she said.
“If you want.”
She seemed to be somewhat reassured, but he wasn’t. He could still feel the softness of her face against his hands. He shouldn’t have touched her.
“Where’s the bathroom?” she asked, looking about the room.
“Down the hall,” he said. “You can’t miss it.”
“What?” Ayme shuddered. This on top of everything. “Down the hall?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, no, I can’t share a public bathroom.” She was shaking her head as though this were the last straw. “Are you crazy?”
“This is the way old hotels are set up,” he told her. “You’ll have to get used to it. You’ll be okay.”
“I won’t,” she cried dramatically, flopping down to sit on the edge of the bed. “Bring me a chamber pot. I’m not leaving the room.”
She bit her lip. Deep inside, she was cringing. That hadn’t really been her, had it? Couldn’t be. She didn’t play the drama queen, didn’t believe in it. But it seemed a combination of circumstances had come against her all at once and for just a moment, she’d cracked.
She was tired, she was scared, she was exhausted, and she didn’t know where she was going or what was going to happen once she got there. It was no wonder she was on edge.
But she didn’t have to take it out on David. When you came right down to it, he was being very patient. In fact, he was a super guy. Which made it that much worse that she was having a silly tantrum. She could feel her cheeks redden.
Slowly she raised her gaze to his.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m done.”
“You