His Royal Prize (7 page)

“And you weren’t about to give it up,” Geoff concluded.

“That’s right. I don’t know what your relationship is with your parents, but I was largely forgotten. Auggie and Dad were close because they play polo together. But Mom was always in Milan and I was not very…fashionable, so I didn’t fit in.”

He suspected that having been left alone so much of the time was one of the reasons she was able to project such a strong sense of self—one of the many qualities that made her attractive to the public.

“Were you lonely?”

“A little, but not too much. I was at boarding school and then camps for most of the year. And my friend Bebe always invited me home with her for holidays.”

“My childhood was similar,” he said. “Except I was usually the one inviting mates home for the holidays.”

“I don’t know a lot about your upbringing. Caroline and Gemma are your half sisters?”

“Yes. My mother is Princess Louisa and my father is Malcolm Devonshire. They never married.”

“I did know that. I heard that you and your half brothers were summoned to Malcolm’s office by that attorney of his, Edmond. Is that an odd occurrence?”

“Do you know Edmond?” Geoff asked, surprised.

“I know of him,” she replied. “He’s one of my mother’s friend’s lawyers.”

Geoff didn’t want to talk about his brothers, but he couldn’t continue to ignore her question. “It was the first time we’d met in person.”

“That’s odd. Why?”

“I’m not sure exactly. My mother is very sensitive to the subject of Malcolm’s other sons, so I never brought up anything about them.”

She turned in his arms to face him. “I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

“Because that means you had no brothers to share with, to tell what was going on in your life. I don’t imagine you had a close confidant as I did in Bebe.”

“I had my half sisters eventually,” he said. “I have a good life.”

“I know. But you still missed out on that ideal childhood that everyone craves.”

“Everyone?”

“Yes, we all pretend it doesn’t matter that we didn’t have our parents’ attention but we all know it does. Our crazy childhoods shaped us into the adults we are.”

She was wise, this sexy little heiress of his. He kissed her to get her mind out of the past and back in the present. He didn’t want to admit that she might be right. He didn’t want to give Malcolm any more control over his life than the man already had.

And when he had a naked Amelia in his arms he wanted to be focused on her and he wanted her attention on him. “I’m tired of talking.”

“What do you want to do?” she asked, wrapping those long fingers around his head and pulling him down for a long, lingering kiss.

“I have a few ideas,” he said in a growl.

“Do you?”

“Indeed,” he said. “Why don’t you show me your bedroom?”

He wrapped a warm towel around her and picked her up again, carrying her into the bedroom. He set her on the center of the bed and came down on top of her.

G
eoff woke to the sound of his mobile phone ringing. He reached for the device on his bedside table and hit a glass of water that spilled everywhere. He jerked upright in bed.

He was at Amelia’s. She had propped herself up on one arm and was staring at him through a mass of tangled curly hair. Her lips were swollen and the sheet fell to her waist, baring her breasts. He forgot about the ringing phone and the water. Instead, he reached forward and touched her, running his finger down the centerline of her body and around her breasts.

“You’re gorgeous.”

She blushed and he saw that the color started just above her breasts and went up over her face. He leaned down to kiss her when his mobile phone started ringing again.

“Get that,” she said in an amused tone.

He reached for his phone. “I spilled some water.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she said.

He had managed not to knock the water over onto his phone. He glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was his mother.

“Hi, Mum.”

“Geoff, we need to talk.”

“Is it about the party? I already spoke to Caro. No one is going to follow me to Hampshire. The paparazzi are content to follow Henry around—he’s the one who lives a life worthy of their headlines.”

“Not anymore, darling. Have you seen
The Sun
today?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t normally read it.” If his mother was asking about the paper, that could only mean one thing. “Is there a picture of Caro and that footballer she’s dating?”

“No, Geoff, there isn’t. There’s a photo of you with Amelia Munroe. And I have to say you are giving them a lot to talk about.”

“Mum—”

“Don’t. Don’t say anything. You can’t justify your actions by saying that a girl like that is used to the attention.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

“Good. Because even socialites have feelings, Geoff. Every woman deserves to be treated with respect. Are you going to see her again?”

“Mum, I don’t want to discuss this with you.”

“Are you still at her place?” his mother asked.

“As I said, I don’t want to discuss this.”

“Make sure she understands where you stand. Don’t lead her on, Geoff.”

This was probably as close as he and his mother were ever going to get to discussing how she’d felt when it had been revealed that Malcolm had been dating two other women while he had been wooing her. “I would never do that. Amelia is different.”

“Than who?”

“Everyone,” he said.

Amelia had come back into the room. He did want to protect her from the scandal that the media attention could bring, but in this case, he guessed she might be better at dealing with it than he was. He would ignore it and the stories would go away. But for Amelia it was a way of life.

“I want to talk to you about this later. Why don’t you bring her to dinner this weekend at your place in Bath?”

“I’ll call you later. I love you, Mum.”

“I love you, too, but we aren’t finished with this.”

He hung up and took Amelia’s arm, drawing her down onto his side of the bed. He pulled her head down to his and kissed her. “Good morning.”

“Is it good?” she asked.

“Indeed. It’s very good,” he said. He wrapped both arms around her, intent on making love to her before he went anywhere this morning. But his mobile phone rang again.

“You are one popular man. Why don’t you answer that while I make us some coffee?” she asked. She walked naked across the room to the armoire and removed a
pale blue dressing gown, which she wrapped around her body.

“How do you take your coffee?”

“Black,” he said.

“I’ll be right back.”

“You don’t have to leave,” he said.

She raised a brow at him. “Yes, I do. They are all calling about me, right?”

“It’s probably one of my sisters. The photo of our kiss is apparently in
The Sun
this morning.”

She wrapped her arms around her waist in a defensive posture. Instantly, she seemed miles away from him. “That’s nothing new for me. Are you okay?”

“Sure. There isn’t anything to the story. It will fade away in a few days.”

“It will?” she asked.

“Of course. I’ve found that if I don’t give them anything to print, they grow bored with me and move on to something else.”

She nodded. “I’ll go get the coffee started.”

She walked away and he could tell that something wasn’t right. He had said something that had upset her.

He got out of bed, leaving his ringing mobile phone on the table, and padded naked to her kitchen. She was leaning against the counter staring at the granite surface as if it held a mystery she had to figure out. But when she sensed him, she busied herself with putting dog food in a bowl for Godiva and filling up her water dish. She set them both on a mat on the floor.

“Talk to me, Amelia. Tell me why you’re upset,” he said.

She looked at him, biting her lip for a moment. Then she shrugged. “I was hoping you and I would last longer than one night,” she said. “But I guess we can’t. We’d be all over the news constantly, and I know how much you’d hate that.”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her long and hard. He wasn’t ready to walk away and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her walk away, either.

“When I said the story would fade in a few days, I meant
the press
would lose interest, Amelia, not that
I
would. I couldn’t lose interest now if my life depended on it. We’ll just have to keep a low profile.”

Amelia wasn’t too sure she wanted to keep a low profile. If she vanished from the public eye, would she still have any influence? She had always lived her life by her own rules. Now she realized that if she was going to be with Geoff, she’d have to adapt.

“I don’t know if I can,” she admitted honestly.

“Are you willing to try?”

She pushed the button on her coffeepot and put her Van Gogh mug underneath the spout. She reached above her head and took down a matching one for Geoff.

She handed him the black coffee when it was ready and took a sip of her mocha latte.

“You are asking me to change the way I normally operate,” she said.

“Is that too much? I think it’s justified,” he said.

Of course he would. He didn’t need the media to make his life manageable to keep the family business running smoothly, to garner free publicity for his causes—and to make his father happy.

“I’ll try,” she said at last.

“That’s all I ask,” he said, moving to her and taking her in his arms.

“You are still naked,” she mentioned.

“Does that turn you on?” he asked.

There was something playful about him this morning. She wanted to smile but she couldn’t. She’d overheard enough of his conversation to know that his mother had been concerned about that photo. And she was sure that wasn’t a good thing.

“Let’s go back to bed.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. I have to go to the Munroe offices this morning.”

“To fix the problems left by your brother?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Have you given my proposition any thought?” he asked.

“I haven’t exactly had my mind on business, now have I?” she replied as he kissed her neck.

Geoff took her by the hand, leading the way back into her bedroom.

She watched his tush as he walked in front her. He was one fine-looking man naked. He wasn’t hard-bodied like a weight lifter but he was in shape and everything was perfectly proportioned. She reached for him, wanting to touch him, when he turned around.

“What are you doing?”

“Admiring your backside,” she admitted, reaching around and cupping his butt. “You have a very nice one.”

He flushed, which made her smile. “Should we talk
a little business, or should we talk about my bum some more?”

“What’s your proposition again? I’m a little distracted right now.”

“I propose that we do a joint business venture, maybe some luxury vacation packages that would partner Everest Air with the Munroe Hotels. It would distract the board from Auggie’s issues and we’d get to spend a lot of time together.”

“So we’d work on this together?”

“Indeed we would. In fact, I think we should meet about it right now.”

“In my bed?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m being serious, Geoff.”

“Me, too. Let me make love to you and then I’ll take you to breakfast and we can discuss the details.”

Standing in her bedroom with light streaming in from the tinted windows, she had a hard time saying no to him. She wanted to be in his arms, but she had no idea if she should entangle herself further or escape.

This morning she was making business deals and promises and she wasn’t sure why. Hell, that was a lie. She knew why. Geoff was too much a man for her to let him go this soon.

For the first time, she’d met a man she wanted to spend more than one night with. She’d met a man she wanted to get to know better. She wanted to see if their lives would blend, if she could change the way she lived so they could be together.

She’d met a man who had the potential to make her fall in love with him. It was as simple as that.

That should be the warning signal, she thought. That one reason should send her running away. Instead, she found herself slipping her dressing gown off her shoulders and letting it fall to the floor.

She pushed against Geoff’s chest and he walked backward to the bed. He fell back and pulled her down with him.

She straddled his body and kissed him as his hands came up to rove all over her back and down to her butt. He murmured sexy words into her ear, which turned her on.

He positioned himself at the entrance of her body and she felt just the tip of his erection inside her. She rocked her hips and took him all the way inside. He felt so right inside her that she could scarcely breathe.

Last night she’d thought it had just been the magic of their first time making love, but he still felt right. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled over in one swift motion so she was underneath him. He took her face in his hands and kissed her long and deep as his hips kept driving into her until she realized she was going to come.

It happened quickly, taking her by surprise. He smiled down at her as she gasped, then he started pumping faster into her. A minute later, he came with a deep groan. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and held him with a strength that she hoped he didn’t notice.

She was in deep trouble. She already cared for Geoff. She already wanted him to stay by her side and be the man she’d always secretly wanted to find.

And she knew that if he disappointed her, she wasn’t going to recover from it easily.

Geoff left Amelia’s to go home and get showered and changed. They were going to meet at his office midmorning to discuss the joint venture. As he entered his house, it felt strangely empty to him and he realized that he wanted to bring her here. He wanted to see her in his home.

This was getting out of control. He was as randy as he’d been at eighteen and no matter how many times he had Amelia, he still wanted her again, as if it were the first time.

She enchanted him. There was no other word for it. He was caught completely in her web. Everything about her just made him want her more.

He was aware that he had to walk a fine line here, and handle mixing his personal and professional life with care. He would keep Amelia and himself out of the spotlight from now on. He could do that if she agreed to it. It would be important for their new venture to project the right image.

He checked his mobile phone as he got out of the shower and saw that he had two missed calls. One was from Caro—no doubt some warning about staying out of papers like
The Sun
. The other was from Edmond.

He returned Edmond’s call first.

“This is Geoff Devonshire,” he said when Edmond answered.

“Thank you for returning my call.”

“Not a problem. What can I do for you?”

“I’m not sure if you’ve seen the morning papers, but there is a photo of you and Ms. Munroe in it.”

Geoff wasn’t used to answering to anyone for his
actions and he didn’t expect to start now. “I have seen it. I don’t think it’s a problem.”

“In fact, there is. Your father is not exactly interested in having his company associated with the likes of Ms. Munroe.”

Geoff took a deep breath. “Then it’s a good thing he has handed over Everest Air to me, isn’t it, since it’s mine to run.”

“This is a warning, Geoff. If you continue to see Amelia Munroe, you will forfeit your piece of the Everest Company.”

“I think you would do well to remember that I am already a successful man and don’t exactly need Everest Air.”

“Again, this is just a warning,” Edmond said. “I don’t want you to do anything you might regret. And judging by what I saw at the benefit between the two of you, and in the paper this morning, you are headed for disaster. Stay away from her if you want to keep Everest Air.”

If there was one thing Geoff knew he wouldn’t regret, it was spending time with Amelia. Images of last night flashed through his mind and he closed his eyes.

“I want to speak to you about the articles that Steven proposed we take part in,” Geoff said, changing the subject. “I’m not sure that my mother will do it. She’s spent her entire life making sure she wasn’t ever linked to the other Devonshire mistresses.”

“I am aware of that, but I think the publicity would be good for the company, and would help put the scandal in the past as you and your brothers take your places in the company. Do you think you can try to convince her?”

“I’ll ask but she’s very sensitive on this subject. If she says no, then that will have to be the answer.”

“I understand. Do you need to meet this week to talk about Everest Air?”

“Not at all. I have some new ideas we will be implementing, and we have the baggage handler situation under control.”

“Sounds like you are taking to running the airline just as your father hoped.”

“Please don’t refer to him as my father, Edmond. You and I both know that Malcolm was little more than a sperm donor.”