His arousal pulsed at the thought.
“I’ll take a rain check on the foot rub,” she said as she pointedly looked at the flowers but said nothing.
But he sensed reluctance in her voice and eyes.
“Come on, Rachel. You were wearing heels all day today. A good foot rub is just what you need,” he said, slinking forward another inch.
He really wanted to get his hands on her delicate feet. He wasn’t sure whether it was more for her or for him. No, that wasn’t true. It was certainly more for him.
“Go away, Adriane, before I change my mind about our talk tomorrow. I need to sleep,” she said, pushing at the door again.
Double damn!
“You are contradicting yourself, Rachel,” he said, some of his charm fading as he stared at her. She confused him and he didn’t know how to deal with it. “I am only trying to know you more, which is what you say that you want, yet you keep pushing me away. What do I need to do to get you to talk with me? I even brought you flowers,” he added as if he wanted a pat on the back.
“Oh, how sweet! You so thoughtfully grabbed some flowers from a vase that your staff picked and brought in,” she said with unmistakable sarcasm.
“I was thinking of you when I grabbed them,” he defended.
“Think bigger,” she said.
“I’m trying here. Do you want a small island, diamonds, gold? What else can I do so we can…talk?”
She hesitated before speaking. “I don’t want material things, Adriane. Don’t be so dense. You only want me lying beneath your body again. At least I know how much you’re willing to sacrifice to get what you want,” she said, her eyes narrowing.
“If you want to be on top, I’m fine with that, too,” he said, thinking it was a good compromise.
And that’s where he lost the battle.
“Move now!”
Adriane took a step back at the fury in her voice.
Then the door slammed in his face, barely missing his nose with the violence of her thrust. She was quite strong in her anger.
Adriane stood there for several moments, trying to decide whether or not to barge through the door and teach her a lesson on how to speak to a king, how to speak to her future husband.
But he was trying to win a war, not every battle. Maybe he had approached this all wrong. As he turned away, he noticed the flowers still clutched in his hands. With a sigh, he laid them in front of her door and turned away.
Tomorrow was a new day. He’d have to come up with a better battle plan if he wanted to take her to his bed. One way or the other, it would happen soon. It was either that, or… There really wasn’t another option. He just had to get her into his bed.
Rachel would learn that he never, ever gave up! Not once in his life had he given up on something he’d decided to go after. If it was something he wanted in the first place, it was worth fighting for.
Still, this was by far the hardest he’d fought for something — or someone, he should say. Never before had he needed to chase a woman. And he didn’t appreciate having to do it now. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He was quite enjoying himself, even if he was also frustrated and dealing with a permanent erection.
Rachel was his. She just needed to realize that.
Tomorrow she would be his — body and soul, in his bed.
Poor fellow. It never crossed his mind that this wasn’t the first time he’d made this vow. When would tomorrow actually come?
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER squabble. Rachel had a raging headache the next morning, and Adriane was in a less than perfect mood. She’d ended up storming from the room and slamming the door of her suite in his face…again.
When was this going to get easier?
Maybe she should just leave with her parents.
Today was their last day in Corythia and she was almost in tears. Maybe leaving would actually help the situation between her and Adriane. But she didn’t expect him to be thrilled about it, and if she and Adriane entered into a full-scale battle, her protective parents would join in. She definitely didn’t want them to get caught in the cross fire.
Lying down on the couch, she held a cold compress to her forehead and waited for the Tylenol to kick in. Someday soon, this pregnancy had to become more manageable.
A slight smile crossed her lips as she lifted her shirt and rubbed along her belly. The bump was more noticeable now. Not enough that you could see it when she had her clothes on, but when she looked in the mirror and turned to one side, she could see the signs of life growing within her.
All her fears about the pregnancy and impending motherhood had gone away, and now she just felt excitement when she thought of holding her twin babies. OK, OK, that wasn’t entirely true. She did feel some fear. How was she going to handle two of them at one time? She’d just have to figure it out after they were born.
Her head was beginning to clear, and she was starting to feel a little more human when a hand landed on her arm, making her sit up too quickly. She felt nausea fly straight to her throat as she let out a squeak of fright.
“It’s all right, darling, it’s just me,” came the sweet voice of her mother.
Her heart pounding, she opened her eyes and turned her head. “You scared me to death, Mom,” she gasped, then laughed when she realized how stupid it was to be afraid. The palace was literally surrounded by guards. The chances of someone getting in there to hurt her were slim to none.
She looked around, found her compress on the floor, picked it up, then lay back down and put it back it on her forehead.
“I’m sorry. Your father and I are leaving soon, and I just wanted to make sure you were OK before we left. But you’re not, darling. You’re obviously not well. You can come with us, you know,” her mom said for the hundredth time.
Rachel understood her mother’s unhappiness at leaving without her daughter. But the king wasn’t likely to do anything rash a second time. Though he still didn’t want his “baby mama” to go, Rachel didn’t see him risking a major diplomatic incident to keep her there, and now, with the cell phone her brother had given her, she had communication beyond the palace walls.
When it came time for her to leave, she would do so, whether he was ready for her departure or not.
“Besides having this killer headache, I’m fine, Mama. I promise,” she added when her mother looked at her skeptically.
“You realize I’ve always been able to tell when you’re fibbing to me, right?”
“Yes, Mom. None of us has ever been able to get anything past you. It’s always been quite inconvenient,” Rachel said with a fond smile.