Christmas with the Prince. Charlene Sands

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СКАЧАТЬ 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.”

      The maid looked her up and down. “Well, you don’t much look like a scientist.”

      “Yeah, I hear that a lot.” And she was always tempted to ask what she did look like, but she was a little afraid of the answer she might get.

      “I’m Elise,” the maid said. “If you need anything at all, I’m the one to be asking.”

      “Could you tell me where to find the kitchen? I’m starving.”

      “Of course, miss. Follow this hallway down and make a left. The stairs will be on your right, about halfway down the hall. Take them down one flight, then turn right. The kitchen is just down the way.”

      “A left and two rights. Got it.”

      Elise smiled. “Enjoy your stay, miss.”

      She disappeared in the direction Liv had just come from. Liv followed her directions and actually found the kitchen, running into—although not literally this time—Prince Aaron’s assistant just outside the door.

      “Off to work already?” he asked.

      “Looking for food actually. I missed dinner last night.”

      “Why don’t you join the prince in the family dining room.”

      “Okay.” She could spend another twenty minutes or so looking for the dining room, and possibly collapse from hunger, or ask for directions. “Could you show me where it is?”

      He smiled and gestured in the opposite direction from the kitchen. “Right this way.”

      It was just around the corner. A surprisingly small but luxurious space with French doors overlooking the grounds. A thick blanket of leaves in brilliant red, orange and yellow carpeted the expansive lawn and the sky was a striking shade of pink as the sun rose above the horizon.

      At one end of a long, rectangular cherry table, leaning casually in a chair with a newspaper propped beside him, sat Prince Aaron. He looked up when they entered the room, then rose to his feet.

      “Well, good morning,” he said with a smile, and her stomach suddenly bound up into a nervous knot.

      “Shall I take your bag?” Derek asked her.

      Liv shook her head. That backpack had all of her research. She never trusted it to anyone else. “I’ve got it, thanks.”

      “Well, then, enjoy your breakfast,” Derek said, leaving her alone with the prince. Just the two of them.

      Only then did it occur to her that she might have been better off eating alone. What would they say to each other? What could they possibly have in common? A prince and an orphan?

      The СКАЧАТЬ