MAID FOR A PRINCE: (Book 1) (Point St. Claire, where true love finds a way) Read Online Free PDF Page B

began to slide, Helene’s head lowered, coming to lie on her forearm hung over the armrest. Darius fetched a pillow and a light throw-over. After carefully slipping the pillow under her head and covering her with the blanket, he stood back and ran a hand through his hair. She was as peaceful as an angel and just as beautiful, in a lost puppy, bedraggled kind of way. But he wouldn’t put off the inevitable.
    He needed to make that call.
     
    Helene stretched and blinked open her eyes. Then she recognized the room, remembered the cave—the prince—and she cringed. She’d caused that poor man so much grief, and then she’d made herself right at home by falling asleep on his couch.
    And where was Alexio, her ride out of here?
    Sitting up, she pushed a throw-over aside and glanced around. A black satin sky, laced with stars, glittered back at her from beyond the open balcony doors. A corner lamp filtered soft yellow light over the space inside. She pushed back hair that had fallen over one eye. How long had she slept?
    A noise came from behind her. Helene stood, spun around. Darius Vasily was sauntering toward her.
    “I wondered when you might wake up,” he said, grinning. “You must be hungry.”
    Her stomach answered with a rumbling growl. She shrugged. “Guess I am.”
    He wore a white casual button-down and clean trousers. As he drew nearer, she inhaled delicious, freshly-soaped male. It only made her own sweat-and-dirt smell more obvious. She so needed a bath.
    “Why did you let me sleep so long?” she asked.
    “You weren’t causing any harm—for once.”
    He grinned again, slow and slanted. This close—in this light—her breath was taken away. He was larger than life—sizzling with sex appeal and so comfortable in his own skin. Her fingers itched to graze the bristles on his jaw, the smooth sweep of his lips. Then he disappeared down a hallway—the one where he’d taken the figurine hours ago—and she let out that pent up breath.
    A couple of minutes later, he was back carrying a plate of food. He set the plate on the table then pulled out a heavy chair. Grilled eggplant, zucchini, and potato filled with tomato and peppers. Her mouth began to water.
    After taking a seat, he poured wine. Helene swallowed two mouthfuls and flinched. “Sorry. Greek wine must be an acquired taste.” The bouquet was pine but the taste reminded her a little of her turpentine.
    He said that he’d already eaten a while ago, so she dug in, polishing off eggplant and potato while Darius sipped his wine and surveyed the silver-ribboned sea visible beyond the balcony. When she’d had her fill, she dabbed the corners of her mouth with a linen napkin and then glanced back down the hallway.
    “Is your goddess safely tucked away?”
    He gave her a knowing look. “Yes. She’s safe.”
    “Next week you’ll be able to take her home. Before you know it, she’ll have worked her magic and you’ll be married with your very own happy little family.”
    “A family. Yes.” He studied his wine. “I have every faith.”
    She arched a brow. “Maybe you already have a girlfriend waiting in the wings?”
    He shook his head then sat straighter. “Although there was a girl once, but she expected too much.”
    “A new palace?”
    “A kiss. I was eight and wise enough not to give in,” he smiled across at her, “even if she could bait a hook faster than any boy I’d known.”
    “So you were the one who got away.”
    As her grin softened, she glanced at the royal portrait and thought about lasting love and broken hearts.
    “Your parents must have been very much in love.” Hers had been, too. When Darius didn’t reply, she gently prodded. “You said your mother died of a broken heart.”
    “I meant that was how her death was reported by the media. Actually, she’d had an aneurism from birth. It was simply her time.”
    Still sad, but not nearly as romantic.
    She studied the portrait again. Everyone looked so happy.
    “My mother