Page 23 of Incognito

“Honestly? I feel out of my depth around you.”

His smile disappeared, and a frown grooved his brow. “How so?”

Natasha sighed, hating her bluntness at times. How could she articulate the way Dante made her feel when she barely knew herself?

“I’m not sure. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve socialised outside of work and I’m not so good at it anymore.”

“Have I made you feel inferior in some way? Is that the problem?”

“No.”

“Would you like some time to think about that?”

Natasha chuckled. “You’re not like that. In fact, apart from the odd fancy word or two, you’re nothing like what I imagined royalty to be.”

He didn’t have an Italian accent but she guessed that’s because he went to an exclusive boarding school in England and spent most of his schooling life there, as his profile on the royal website said. He didn’t have a posh accent either, despite mingling with the upper echelons of society. Also, his laid-back attitude surprised her and he didn’t use power like she assumed he would.

Unlike Clay, who’d thought nothing of belittling waiters or valets when it suited. Prick.

“Then what’s the problem?” Dante asked. “It was only dinner.”

Easy for him to say. But maybe she had overreacted in her quick dismissal of his invitation. It wasn’t like he’d asked her to spend the night with him.

Uh-oh. She didn’t want to think about what spending the night with a guy like Dante would entail. If being around him had her flustered, imagining those sorts of scenarios could push her over the edge.

“Dinner seems more… casual. So far, every time we’ve met it’s for business, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Understandable, but dinner can be business-like.”

By the glint in his too-blue eyes and the sexy smile playing about his mouth, the last thing she would be concentrating on was business if staring at him over a dinner table.

Natasha twirled a strand of hair around her finger, wishing she’d never opened her big mouth in the first place. “Can we change the subject, please?”

He hesitated, before nodding. “I’ve never met a woman so honest before. It’s refreshing.”

It’s self-sabotaging, she thought, knowing she must look like a backward hick to a refined man of the world like him. For goodness sake, he’d issued a simple dinner invitation and she’d acted like an uptight prude.

She wished she could flirt, have fun, and then wave bon voyage to Dante at the end of his stay. But she’d never been frivolous and her bitter experience with Clay had ruined her impulsivity.

Sure, Dante was gorgeous and suave and nothing like she expected, but she couldn’t do casual relationships. It just wasn’t her.

“You don’t appreciate me talking so openly?”

“Like you, I find it refreshing. I’m not used to it.” Clay had been a duplicitous creep and she hated her foolishness in believing every word his lying mouth had uttered.

“You have been hurt.”

He pronounced it like a royal decree and she wavered for a second, torn between unburdening herself and running screaming from the bar.

She really shouldn’t drink wine on an empty stomach; it gave her crazy ideas, like pouring her heart out to a good listener like Dante. Perhaps she could move on one day and learn to trust again.

Though trust a prince with the looks of a model and the glib lines of a playboy? She’d do better trusting a snake.

“Not hurt, as much as had my eyes opened,” she said. “The business world is tough and Telford Towers means a lot to me. I’ve invested my life in this place.”

Nice save. She’d brushed aside his personal take on her ramblings and turned it into a business one. Now she could take her foot out of her mouth and turn the next few minutes into a pleasurable exchange of light-hearted conversation rather than baring her soul and sending the prince running.

With the effort she put into making Telford Towers thrive, she’d never had the time to date, and it showed. Here she was, sharing a perfect shiraz with a gorgeous prince, and she was one step away from making an idiot of herself and blabbing her innermost thoughts.

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