The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12. Кейт Хьюит

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СКАЧАТЬ green light blinked on each time.

      Then she’d touched it to the pink stone in the Aristan crown. Please, she’d prayed, please let the green light come on.

      It didn’t.

      The stone was a brilliant, beautiful fake. It would fool anybody. Anybody but an expert.

      Still, maybe she was wrong. Maybe she’d missed something. Was there a test she’d forgotten? Anything was possible, she told herself, and reached for the phone.

      Far across the ocean, Joaquin answered on the first ring. “Maria,” he said happily, on hearing her voice. “¿Como se va? Sela was just saying—”

      “Joaquin. I need your help.”

      He was not a GG—a Graduate Gemologist—as she was. The degree had cost her a small fortune; she was still carrying the debt. But his depth and breadth of knowledge was excellent, and she knew she could trust him with this devastating news. She told him what she’d discovered. Described the tests she’d run. Their conversation grew complex, touched on things like heating, magnification, trigons and dodecahedral surfaces of octahedral crystal formations and then, finally, she took a deep breath and told him she’d used a diamond tester. And the stone had failed that final test.

      “You’re sure the tester is working properly?”

      “I checked the battery. And it gave a green light, literally, to a couple of dozen diamonds, pink and white.”

      “But not this one.”

      “No,” Maria said, “not this one.”

      Joaquin’s sigh drifted through the telephone. “I don’t envy you, chica. You are about to be the bearer of very bad news for someone.”

      She gave a sad little laugh. “I’m afraid I already am.”

      “Call me if you need me. Sela says to tell you she can do without me for a few days. We both love you, you know that.”

      She smiled. “Doing without you, even for a few days, is impossible. I love you, too, Joaquin. With all my—”

      “How cozy.”

      Maria spun around. Alexandros stood in the doorway, arms folded, legs apart, face stony and cold.

      “Alexandros! I didn’t hear you come in.”

      “No. Obviously not. Don’t let me interrupt you, Maria. Not when you’re in the middle of an obviously important call.”

      She said a quick “goodbye” to Joaquin and hung up the phone. Then she slid from the stool and went to her lover. He didn’t move. Didn’t smile. Didn’t react at all when she put her hand on his arm.

      “Your father—”

      “I know all about my father.”

      “Is he—is he—”

      “He’s in the hospital. He had a heart attack.” Alex’s mouth narrowed. “Thanks to you.”

      “I never meant—”

      “What did you say to him? Did you perhaps tell him you were sleeping with me even though you miss your lover in New York?” His mouth twisted. “No. Why would you do that when you’ve been so careful to hide that information from me?”

      “Alexandros. Listen to me. I don’t have—”

      “Liar!” He caught her by the shoulders, his hands rough on her tender flesh, and drew her to her toes, just as he had after their first night together. “It’s the same man you were talking to that morning three months ago.” When she said nothing, his face contorted. “Answer me, damn you! Admit it.”

      “I was talking with Joaquin, yes. But—”

      “Can’t you do without him for another few days?”

      “Alexandros.” Her voice broke. “You’re wrong about him.”

      “I was wrong about you, you mean.”

      “I told you, Joaquin works for me. He’s married.”

      “What would that matter to a woman like you?”

      Maria felt the insult like a knife to the heart. She jerked free of his hands, her face white, eyes glittering with tears.

      “I don’t deserve that,” she whispered.

      Yes, he thought, she did. She deserved that and more. He had taken her to his bed. Held her in his arms as she slept. Awakened her with his kisses. He had shared his life with her these past weeks. Fool that he was, he’d come to—to care for her. To want her more than he’d ever wanted anything or anyone in his entire life.

      He’d even imagined—he’d stupidly imagined he might keep her with him after her work here was over.

      He turned away. Composed himself. She was just another woman. More beautiful, perhaps. More intelligent. More fun. In the end, though, she was the same as all the others. She was with him because of who he was. Because of the power he wielded.

      Because he was a prince, not a man. He had to remember that.

      She was his mistress, bought and paid for. She was not his lover; she was not in his bed of her own free will but because he had demanded her presence there.

      He took a breath and looked at her. “What did you say to my father?” His voice was cold. “He was fine at the start of his meeting with you.”

      “He wasn’t. He looked ill.”

      “Answer the question. What did you do to make him collapse?”

      Maria stared at Alex. He was looking at her as he had not done in weeks, as if he were an autocrat and she were his to command. His expression radiated scorn—and maybe she deserved it. She’d slept with a man who’d made it clear he wanted her sexually, not any other way.

      And she’d fallen in love with him.

      Wasn’t she repeating a pattern for which she’d vilified her mother—up to and including the shame of becoming pregnant?

      God. Oh, God! How had she let this happen? And what would she do next? End the pregnancy? Have the baby? Raise it, alone, as her mother had raised her? Because it was only in fairy tales that the handsome prince married the beautiful commoner and lived with her happily ever after.

      “I’m waiting, Maria.”

      She wrapped her arms around herself. Lifted her chin. Forced herself to meet Alex’s steely gaze without flinching.

      “I told him something about the Aristan crown.”

      “And?”

      “And, it upset him. I’m sorry for that but I was—I was shocked myself and I just blurted it out—”

      “Blurted СКАЧАТЬ