Page 16 of Incognito

“This won’t take long.” He laid a hand in the small of her back and propelled her to a quiet spot behind a towering pot.

“If this is about last night, don’t worry about it. I’m not.”

Yeah, right. That’s why she’d guzzled a half carton of ice-cream, missed most of the best thriller to be released on a streaming service this year, and spent half the night tossing and turning, mulling over the way he kissed her.

“Actually, this has got something to do with last night.” He rubbed a hand over his face, a strangely weary gesture for a guy who had it all. “I was very impressed with how you handled the situation and I was wondering if you’d consider being my temporary PA for the next week?”

“What?”

She could’ve sworn his royal scruffiness had asked her to be his personal assistant.

“I know it sounds crazy, but the family business I need to take care of is a lot more complicated than I first thought,” he said. “I need help and that’s where you come in.”

He smiled, a beguiling, seductive grin that could’ve coerced an ice-cream addict to part with her last scoop. “If you’ll agree, that is.”

“So you do have family business?”

Oops, her first thought slipped out before she could stop it and she hoped he’d gloss over it. As if.

“Of course. That’s what I told you before.” A frown marred his brow before a spark of enlightenment flashed in his eyes. “You didn’t believe me.”

“No… yes… of course I did.” She sounded like a moron, a blush adding to her embarrassment.

What was it about this guy that tied her up in knots? She’d handled VIPs her entire life and never been this flustered, this out of control.

Then again, most of those guys had looked like the back end of a Melbourne tram, but that didn’t mean anything. Dante’s sexy looks didn’t have her flustered—well, not much anyway—but her befuddlement had more to do with the way he made her feel: valued, important, someone he could depend on.

“If you didn’t believe me when I said I had family business to take care of, why did you think I was going undercover for a week before my official duties commence?”

Natasha took a steadying breath. Ella often accused her of being brutally honest but now wouldn’t be one of those times.

“Well, I thought you might’ve had other friends to visit. Apart from family, that is.”

Not a bad save.

His knowing smirk alerted her to the fact she hadn’t made a bad save, she’d made a terrible one. “You thought I had a secret mistress hidden away somewhere?”

Of course he hadn’t believed her vague explanation for a second. She could add intelligence to his growing list of attributes. Couldn’t the perfect prince have some flaws?

When in doubt, she reverted to type and went on the offensive.

“Mistress? You sound like you’ve stepped out of the seventeenth century. I didn’t think you royal types would use terminology like that anymore.”

She glanced at her watch, implying she had more important things to do, like start work rather than stand here and feel like a fool.

She’d embarrassed herself, making assumptions about a guy she didn’t know and solely based on his royal status and incredible looks.

“You don’t think much of me, do you?” His clear blue eyes narrowed, watching, assessing, judging her as she’d judged him.

She stiffened, hating that her plan to smooth things over after last night’s fiasco had gone horribly awry.

“I don’t know you.”

He paused, his expression inscrutable, before the corners of his mouth twitched. “We’ll have to remedy that, won’t we? And what better way than have you help me as my personal assistant for the next week?”

“You’re crazy. I have a job, remember? And speaking of which…” She tapped her watch face and sent a pointed glance over his shoulder. “The concierge will be late if you don’t let me go.”

“I’d only need a few hours of your time each day. Maybe after your shifts end? I promise it won’t be difficult. I just needsomeone with local knowledge of Melbourne and I think you’d be perfect. From what I’ve seen, you can handle anything.”

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