Page 19 of Claiming His Virgin Princess

‘I apologise, Ilsa.’ He drew a slow breath. ‘Having been the subject of prejudice myself I should have known better.’

He took a sip of water to remove the sour taste in his mouth, then laid his arm across the table, palm up, inviting her touch.

‘When I’m with you I don’t think of you as Your Royal Highness.’ Not since they’d met on the dance floor last night. Noah’s voice dropped to a gravel note. ‘You’re too down-to-earth, too sexy, generous and too much fun to fit my idea of royalty. You fascinate me.’

Her hand, smaller and softer than his, touched his palm. Instantly he folded his fingers around hers, feeling his blood pump faster at the connection.

‘I want you for the woman you are behind the title, Ilsa.’

Emotion flared in her eyes and the pulse at her wrist beat hectically. Then the tip of her tongue swiped her pink lips and he almost groaned aloud. She seduced him as no woman ever had. The idea of waiting another week...

‘That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.’

She leaned across and brushed her lips across his cheek in a feather-light caress that jolted a few thousand volts through him.

Want. It was an insipid word. He’d known her such a short time and every moment had been torture and delight. Delight because she was everything and more than he’d dared hope and torture because sexual frustration reached its limit.

He didn’t merely want Ilsa. Hecravedher.

No woman had affected him the way Princess Ilsa of Altbourg did, or so instantaneously.

His breath rasped in his throat and he jerked back in his chair.

‘What’s wrong, Noah?’

He made himself release her hand, pretending an interest in his meal. ‘Nothing’s wrong. But we need to eat before I do something that will totally scandalise the other diners.’

Later that week, Ilsa returned to her hotel from the royal dinner, resplendent in satin and jewels. It had been lovely, more enjoyable than she’d expected, but as she entered her room and stepped out of her high heels her overriding emotion was relief that finally she was free of royal commitments. Soon she’d fly to Istanbul to meet Noah.

Her phone rang and her heart leapt. Noah! She snatched it up.

‘Ilsa.’

Her pounding heart stopped for a moment then sank. ‘Father.’

Half an hour later she ended the call and stared, unseeing, at the landscape painting on the wall, her brain whirling. The King had supposedly rung to discuss that evening’s function and various diplomatic matters that had been raised with her hosts.

There had been more too but, to her surprise, not condemnation about her being seen leaving the yacht club with Noah Carson. For once her father had held back, not lecturing about what she owed her royal dignity.

That had thrown her.

He’d flummoxed her further by saying he understood the last months had been tough, hinting at sympathy that her direction in life was no longer simple. Of course he never referred to the fact she’d spent years training to rule Altbourg but was now no longer his heir. Instead he’d reflected that she was old enough to know what she was doing, only adding that he hoped she didn’t do anything she’d regret.

He’d ended by mentioning a recent deal Noah had done with a French consortium, saying he’d like to interest Noah in a similar project for Altbourg. Would she raise that with Noah? Persuade him to visit and discuss a proposal?

Slightly dazed at not being read the riot act by her father, Ilsa had agreed.

She frowned and rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. Could it be that he was finally treating her as an independent adult rather than a royal pawn? As for asking Noah to consider a business opportunity in her homeland, why not? If that was the price of keeping her father sweet she’d happily do it.

Ilsa rolled her shoulders and sank back in her chair, revelling in the sudden feeling of utter freedom. It was wonderful but daunting at the same time.

She no longer had a clear role mapped out for her, either as ruler of her own country or as consort to a royal husband in Vallort.

She’d have to decide what she wanted to do, carve out a role that satisfied her duty to and love of her country, but pleased her too.

That was for the long term. For now, all she could focus on was seeing Noah again, pursuing the attraction between them and embarking on her first ever love affair.

CHAPTER FIVE

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