Page 42 of Claiming His Virgin Princess

Something turned hard and heavy in his chest.

A premonition of trouble.

It seemed impossible when fifteen minutes ago he’d been deep inside her, feeling her come around him. When five minutes before that...

Noah’s fingers curled tight as he grappled with shock.

Ilsa was going somewhere. Every hair on his body rose as foreboding iced his blood. The urge to rip down the zip on her dress and pull her into his arms was almost overwhelming.

He propped his shoulder against the doorjamb and crossed his arms, aiming to look relaxed despite the tension screaming through taut muscles. ‘Talk to me, Ilsa.’

She spun around and Noah saw emotion flare in her eyes. The tip of her tongue swiped her lips and he almost groaned aloud. She seduced him as no woman ever had, even when she didn’t plan to.

He wanted to taste her, tease her, pleasure her. She’d enjoy it too, he knew. The awareness between them, the insatiable desire, was as strong as ever.

Noah stepped forward and she retreated.

That stopped him, a horrible sick feeling of shock hitting his belly.

‘Ilsa?’ His voice was a harsh scrape of sound. ‘Are you going to explain what’s going on?’

She nodded, her hands fiddling with a belt that accentuated her narrow waist. She drew a breath, lowered her shoulders and lifted her chin. Now she looked calm.

‘Yes, of course. I meant to tell you when we got back from kayaking, but we were...distracted.’

She smiled but it was a perfunctory movement of her lips, leaving her eyes blank. As if the earth-shattering sex they’d shared had happened to someone else. As if her throat and cheeks weren’t still flushed from her orgasm.

Shock stirred that she should dismiss what they’d shared so easily. For it felt and sounded as if she dismissed much more. The closeness and trust that had developed between them.

Heknewthis woman, more than perhaps she realised. He’d read her responses to him. Heard truths she’d shared with no one else, witnessed the bond strengthen between them,felther tenderness.

Noah stood straighter and watched her gaze skate down his body then back, not quite to his eyes. Was that fear he read there? That was another unwelcome shock. What was happening?

‘Ilsa...’ He moved but she stopped him with one raised hand.

‘I have to go. I’m sorry to give such short notice but it’s necessary.’

Another of those smiles that didn’t reach her eyes.

‘Short notice?’ His gaze raked her, the sophisticated dress over bare legs and a body that probably still pulsed with the aftershocks of her climax. ‘Don’t you mean no notice?’

Stunned, he registered how she still refused to meet his gaze. This wasn’t the Ilsa he knew. She couldn’t be leaving by choice. ‘What’s happened?’

‘I apologise. It’s inconsiderate of me to leave without warning. But it needn’t interfere with your plans. Once I’m ashore I’ll get a taxi and sort out transport from there.’

‘Talk to me, sweetheart. I can help you fix whatever it is.’

It was ludicrous to speak of leaving. Neither of them were ready for that.

She blinked and for a moment he thought he saw tenderness in her eyes. He hauled in a relieved breath until she shook her head.

‘There’s nothing to fix, but thank you all the same.’

Noah frowned, sensing something wrong. Something she wasn’t saying. ‘Listen, Ilsa, it needn’t be like this. If people are demanding things of you...’ He repressed the desire to say her royal parents had pushed her around enough, that they’d forfeited the right to dictate her movements. ‘I’ll help. You know I’ll stand by you.’

Strange how easily the promise emerged. Their holiday fling had already changed into something else. In a few short weeks Ilsa had become important to him. If she were hurting—

‘No!’ She shook her head. ‘I’m not being forced.’

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