Crowned For The Drakon Legacy. Tara Pammi

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СКАЧАТЬ shock, a basic human need for touch in the face of adversity.

      It had been months, no, three years, since a man had even touched her.

      Accepting that piece of truth pumped courage into her veins.

      She stared through the windshield, only now taking in their surroundings.

      They had left downtown Miami behind and had reached a swanky, luxury neighborhood. The high-rise apartment complex visible from the car made this whole situation even more surreal.

      She barely met his gaze, and then turned, faking interest in the surroundings. “Sorry, I should’ve given you directions. It’s going back for you but I’d appreciate it if you’d drop me at my apartment.” Good, she sounded steady, polite.

      “I believe your mother and sister live in Houston, yes?”

      Startled that he knew that much, she nodded. It seemed a live current pulsed to life every time their eyes met. Mia had never thought antipathy could become so tangible between two people.

      “I can have the pilot fuel the jet and drop you off.”

      If Brian and she had been minor celebrities with soccer fans, this man was royalty himself. He owned private jets, soccer teams and Extreme Adventure Clubs, and this was when the tabloids didn’t count the wealth he’d inherited as the scion of the powerful royal house of Drakon.

      The Prince who had thrown away his legacy...

      “That’s not necessary,” she managed to say. Every time he spoke, that deep voice jolted places inside of her Mia had forgotten even existed. “You’ve done far too much already.”

      “You speak as if I were one of those jackals back at the press meet, as if I were the enemy too.” A hint of impatience and something else peeked through in his voice. As if something more than years-old animosity existed between them.

      He was a prince—privileged in every way possible, handsome, reckless, charming, without an ounce of substance.

      She—everything she had in life she’d worked damned hard for. She didn’t know when the last time she’d done anything that had amounted to fun had been. The career she’d worked toward for her whole life was over at twenty-six.

      They had nothing in common.

      This whole line of conversation was far too personal for her comfort. “I don’t know you enough for you to engender such strong emotion.”

      “Mia Rodriguez Morgan does not show emotion, does she? I forget your reputation.”

      “You know nothing of me except for the persona created by the media, Your Highness. Your friendship with Brian tells you nothing about me.”

      “You’re right. I do not know you.” There was that note of annoyance in his tone again. “Tell me, should I call the pilot then?”

      “Thanks for the offer. But I’ll just call a cab.” She reached between their seats and stretched her hand to grab her cell. “If you can wait till the cab gets here, I’d appreciate it. I don’t want to wait on this stretch alone.”

      “I would appreciate if you would do me the courtesy of looking at me when I speak to you, Mia. We’ve known each other for a decade.”

      “And we’ve disliked each other for the whole damned decade, so please, let’s not pretend otherwise.”

      A stillness filled the car at Mia’s outburst.

      He was right. She’d met him before she’d even met Brian. She’d been seventeen, playing for the junior team when she’d met the young European Prince of Drakon.

      Like everybody else, she’d been infatuated with the charming Prince. Tales had been told of his fight with his royal family, of his escapades with women from all over the world, the reckless car races and high-adrenaline sports he engaged in. She’d always been shy when it came to men, wary and reserved of slick charmers like him.

      Didn’t mean she hadn’t mooned over him from a distance. The raw, pulse-pounding energy, the sheer masculinity of him had always made Nikandros irresistible.

      Surrounded by A-list actresses and svelte models, he’d barely noticed her. There had been a freedom in being beneath his notice that had left her to indulge in girlish fantasies about him. Once Brian had asked her out—solid, reliable Brian—she’d given the unreachable Prince no more thought.

      The reliable, hardworking man she’d fallen in love with had almost instantly disappeared the moment his soccer career had taken off. With each new contract, big endorsements and friendships with jet-setters like Nikandros, the Brian she had married had gone away, never to return.

      And yet, Nikandros had always been present, like a specter in the background, always with a new woman on his arm, a new investment venture in hand.

      His friendship with Brian had been the stuff of legends but she’d never made it into his exclusive circle. And the more death-defying stunts he’d taken on, the more Brian had wanted to be Nikandros, without success.

      Whether genetics or blood or whatever the hell it was that made him, Mia had known no other man could be even remotely like Nikandros Drakos. A fact, when she’d pointed it out, Brian had resented like hell.

      Through the years, through it all, it seemed Nikandros’s and her mutual resentment had only thrived.

      Slowly, she turned toward him. “I have had a long day, in my defense.”

      He considered her warily. Given that she had been thrown under the bus by the media, he looked like the one who’d received the biggest, most humiliating news of his life.

      Was Brian’s betrayal truly that much of a shock to him?

      “You should not be alone over the next few days. Brian would want—”

      “Brian apparently wanted a lot of things I couldn’t provide, Your Highness.”

      His usually languid mouth tightened. “Do not refer to me as such.”

      “But that is the correct way to address the scion of the ruling family of Drakon, yes? Now I understand the fits your aide was having when I got into your car. The last thing you need is for me to drag you into this media circus.”

      “Someone should look after you—”

      “I’ve been looking after myself for a long time.”

      “Would your family not welcome you because of these...disgusting stories that the media has concocted?”

      “Stories?” She tasted the bitterness in her mouth like it was a tangible thing. “If only I could borrow some of that delusion, I’d be able to sleep tonight.”

      Mouth flat, he leveled a dark look at her. “You could give Brian...his memory...a moment’s benefit of doubt. You owe him that much. At least now.”

      “At least now...” she repeated blankly. Slowly, the meaning of his accusation filtered in. “At least now when I didn’t bother when he was alive, you mean?” Emotion balled up in СКАЧАТЬ