Page 22 of Second Chance Prince
He wasn’t sure what to say. Being watched like a hawk? He had had that all his life. He believed he could keep up the pretense, but what of Roberta? Would they see through her playacting?
“I have just thought of a way to satisfy them!” Abruptly she stopped walking and spun to face him. “Would you like to hear it?”
Her skirts brushed a large rosemary bush, and suddenly the scent was all around them. He felt dizzy and almost forgot to answer. “Yes,” he said, a little breathlessly. “What is your idea, Roberta?”
She smiled reassuringly at whatever she read on his face and reached out to take his hand in a comforting manner. Niki tried not to flinch at the contact. Not because he did not like to be touched, but because right now he wanted more than anything to take her in his arms and kiss the life out of her. He didn’t, ofcourse he didn’t. He imagined how shocked she would be. How shocked Chamberlain Francis would be if he began to suspect this engagement was real. Niki trusted his judgment. Francis knew the Holtswig people’s minds, and despite Niki going against his advice with the engagement, he must not take it further if he wanted to continue to rule his country.
Roberta was chattering away, still in that conspiratorial voice. Now there was a gleam of mischief in her eyes.
“I promise you, it’s nothing too terrible. To convince them we will just need to be more physical with each other. Have you seen Gabriel and Vivienne? They are always touching each other—little brushes of their hands, or a kiss when they think no one is looking.”
Niki could not say he watched the duke and duchess that closely, but he could tell they were very fond of each other, so he nodded.
“Yes, you can see. It is so obvious they are in love. If we did the same…Perhaps if we are caught kissing?” Her face lit up at the idea, and then she frowned. “Although we would need to stage the moment so that they think we don’t know we’re being watched. A stolen kiss! Yes, I think if we managed that, then it would persuade even Olivia, and she will be the most difficult one to convince.”
“Will she?” he repeated faintly. A kiss? Had she read his mind? He found his heart was beating far too fast at the thought of leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.
“Oh yes. You can be sure she will be on the watch for any sign that we are playacting. She wrote me a letter to congratulate me, but Antonia doesn’t believe it. She says Olivia is already suspicious.” She looked uneasy when she said that and glanced at himnervously, but he barely noticed. He was still thinking about kissing her.
“I understand.” He nodded thoughtfully, but inside his chest, his heart seemed to be doing a strange dance. “We must become actors then.” He pulled a face. “But I was never particularly good at plays and charades.”
“I think you are very good at hiding your feelings,” she responded tartly, and then softened her tone. “I’m not expecting that we should suddenly turn into different people, people who are not like us. I mean we have tothinkourselves into the role of a happily engaged couple. In love.”
“I do see that.” And then, to his amazement, he heard himself say, “Perhaps we should practice before we arrive at Grantham. Just to be sure it works.”
She looked at him, and then away again. His gaze slid to her lips and lingered before he realized what he was doing and also quickly looked away.
“We don’t have to—” he began.
“No, no, we should. You are right. We need to—to practice.”
She turned to look behind. Antonia and Ernest were back at the pond, laughing at the puppy’s antics, and the twins had vanished into the house. If the bodyguard was still about then Niki could not see him, so he was either very good at his job or too lazy to follow them.
“This way!” Roberta was tugging him by the hand around some taller shrubs. There was a topiary shaped like a bird, and she stepped to the side of it, into a private space that was mostly hidden from all vantage points. Satisfied, she looked at him. “That should do,” she said, and waited.
Niki swallowed. “What do you…?”
“Kiss me,” she said impatiently. “Before anyone notices we are missing.”
Niki might not be very experienced, although he had kissed women before. At least he had done that. But this was different. This was a girl he knew and was attracted to, no matter how hard he tried to pretend it wasn’t so. This kiss mattered to him, and the only way he could deal with it was to pretend that it didn’t.
Nonchalantly, he leaned in and captured her lips with his.
Warm and soft and so delicious. Now that he had started, he wondered if he would be able tostopkissing her. She moved closer, her arms encircling his neck, and the warm, soft sensation of her body pressing against his was so very good.
That was when Niki knew he was in trouble. He should stop. Because if he wasn’t very careful, this practice kiss was going to turnreal.
Chapter Eleven
Roberta hadn’t a great deal of experience when it came to kissing, so she may have been wrong, but this felt quite extraordinary. The sensation of his mouth on hers, the warmth of his breath, and the slight rough scratch of his beard. It was all new and wonderful, and she wanted to press closer and closer.
When his tongue slid against her bottom lip, it gave her a tingle of shock. As if he had lit something up inside her, opened a door that let her see into a future of more kisses and everything that went with them. It tempted her, and it also unnerved her, because she wasn’t sure what would happen if she went through that door.
She leaned away, her arms still looped about his neck and his clasped about her waist. His eyes were closed, as if he was as lost as she, and he did not look arrogant or distant or any of the other things he was often accused of. He had been stripped of his veneer, and he was simply a young man lost in the wonder of the moment.
Roberta wasn’t alone then, and now she wondered if this had been such a good idea. Yes, her intentions had been justified, but the kiss…Well, it had confused matters, and now she wasn’t sure she could go back to the way they had been before.
He blinked open his eyes and then stared at her blankly.Roberta thought there was a lot going on in his head, and she recognized one of his emotions.Panic.He too understood that the kiss had shifted things in their fake relationship, taken them to places that perhaps they should not have gone, and he was wondering how to claw his way back.
