Page 27 of Back to Claim His Crown
She frowned.
‘You will not be a slave for me, Zara.’
‘Well, I don’t want you to be myboss.’ She looked grumpy. ‘You’re helping me, I’m helping you. That’s all. I’m giving you some of my time to repay your hospitality, just like how you helped repay Niko with your time and skills.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘Have you readanyof these letters?’
‘Obviously I’ve not yet had time.’
But he didn’t reallywantto. He’d been resisting this more intimate, direct contact with his people. He knew he needed to see them and speak directly to them but he couldn’t quite face it yet. His mother had been a wonderful Queen. Selfless and loyal, she’d been deeply loved by everyone. Lucian wanted to honour her legacy and live up to the example she’d set. But he wasn’t there yet. It was going to take him time to get anywhere near her level—that undivided attention for the next decade.
Zara lifted a page from a neat pile. ‘Read this one.’
Reluctantly, he took the paper she held out for him. It was handwritten and he frowned in an effort to decipher the spidery writing. It was from an elderly resident of Monrayne who remembered not just his mother and father, but his grandfather too. It included everything he’d feared. It gushed with pleasure at his return, detailing hope and pride in his reign—remembrances of the greatness of his mother and her father. He could never live up to the ideal this man wanted.
Because he was a fraud. He hadn’t been anywhere near a good enough son to his mother. He’d not listened closely enough, he’d mulishly wanted his own time, he’d let her down so completely—futility flooded him, pushing him back into that angry corner where memories made mincemeat of his soul.
Someone touched his arm. He instantly spun, instinctively grabbing the assailant and neutralising the threat.
‘Lucian?’
His pulse thundered. Zara was a breath from him. Her blue eyes flared wide. Her wrist was in his hand.
‘I didn’t mean to startle you,’ she said.
He’d been so lost in his own quagmire of bitterness he’d not been aware how close she’d got. Yet he didn’t release her. Instead, he drew her closer still.
‘I said your name like three times,’ she added a touch defensively.
He breathed out harshly. He wasalwaysfully attentive to his surroundings. To any possible threat. But somehow she’d literally sneaked under his guard.
‘You’re probably used to a different name,’ she said, breaking the searing silence.
Zara was the only name in his head right now. It was Zara’s fault. Zara who distracted him in somanyways.
‘Pax...?’
So she’d been paying attention to the information the media had been ruthlessly excavating about him.Paxwas the name he’d used in all his time away—when there’d been no title, no expectation, only anonymity. Where—in theory—he could do what he wanted.Selfishly. Which was his true self after all—like the teen who’d taken off on holiday instead of taking on work for his mother. And he’d reverted to type—the urge within him now was nothing but selfish. The hunger that had driven him to this room slipped its disguise. It wasn’tdinnerhe wanted to have with her.
‘Don’t call me that,’ he growled, tightening his grip on her.
She’d been his nemesis’s fiancée. A fact he absolutely and irrationallyloathed, even though he knew it had been nothing for her other than a means of escape. She hadn’t known she’d have been going from frying pan to fire. But now she’d landed in an infinitely hotter, more dangerous hell. With him.
‘I apologise, Your Highness.’
But she didn’t look sorry. Her eyes glinted with something more fiery. His title was thelastthing he wanted to be reminded of.
‘Don’t call me that either,’ he snapped.
‘Then what?’
Forbidden desire roared—not just deafening him but swamping his reason. The only thing he could do was silence her taunting mouth with his own. He smashed his lips onto hers. Instantly the provocation increased threefold. Because she melted against him, her softness entirely his to enjoy. He swept inside her sweet mouth—tasting the heat of her, revelling in the touch he’d been aching to feel for ever. The hunger that hadn’t been assuaged in days was now ravenous and there was no getting close enough, no number of kisses that could possibly satisfy him. But that didn’t stop him trying. He released her wrist and wrapped his arms around her. Clamping her to him, he plundered her soft lips and hot mouth with increasing greed.
Zara gripped his shirt, desperate to keep him close as desire was unleashed. She burned with an unfettered need to reach him. She rose on tiptoe, deepening the kisses, seeking to push closer still. His growl of hunger, of pleasure, of desire made her entire body tremble.
Only just as swiftly as it had ignited, it ended. With another guttural growl he sharply pulled away. She would have stumbled had he not kept that firm grip on her waist. But, instead of holding her close, he kept her literally at his arm’s length now and she couldn’t catch her breath.
‘Don’t tell me you’re speechless?’ He finally spoke. ‘Now I know how to get some peace around here.’
‘Was that just a way to shut me up?’ Zara panted, hurt.
