The Royal's American Love Read Online Free PDF

doing a story on you. I don’t think
that me following you out to…to do whatever it is that you are planning to do
would be ideal for my objectivity.”
    A slightly wicked glimmer crept into his eyes.
    “Oh, but aren’t we always told that the best accounts are
firsthand accounts? I think that you being a journalist would make you think of
that…”
    For a moment, she nearly relented, but then she smiled
slightly to see how clever he could be.
    “That is a very nice try, Nikolos, but I’m a little harder
to catch than that, I hope. I’ll go back to my hotel tonight, and tomorrow
morning we can start on the schedule put together by Mr. Lagana.”
    Nikolos took her rejection philosophically. She had been
afraid that he might become genuinely angry, but instead he nodded, seeming slightly
chagrined.
    “Well, when you’re right, you’re right,” he said with a
shrug. “May I give you a ride back to your hotel, or will that be influencing
your professional eye?”
    Despite the wry words, there was absolutely no malice in
it, and she grinned at him.
    “All right. I would appreciate the lift, Nikolos.”
    He drove a sleek, black Ferrari, a car of impressive power
and smooth handling. She appreciated the luxury of the car almost as much as
she appreciated the way that Nikolos handled it. He shifted into gear with a
smoothness that bespoke years of long practice and natural command.
    “Are you enjoying the ride?” he asked, and she nodded with
a slight laugh.
    “It’s amazing. I’m not sure I’ve been in a car that grabbed
the road like this one.”
    “Perhaps tomorrow, instead of going to the charity opening,
we can take it to one of the empty tracks and really let it open up.”
    “Or maybe we will stick with the schedule that Mr. Lagana
set up for us. That would be good, too.”
    “Ah, I see that you have decided to be my good angel,” he
complained good-naturedly. “I’m afraid that you are biasing the article,
Marianna.”
    For some reason, when he said her name, she imagined his
tongue caressing it. It made her want to purr, and then she snapped out of it
as quickly as she could.
    “And every good journalist knows that you bring your own
biases to a project no matter how good you try to be about it. I know that I am
inclined to portray you in the best light, and I am comfortable with that.”
    He nodded, but she thought there was something pleased
about his expression. She wondered if anyone had ever wanted to think the best
of him before.
    He pulled up to her hotel in a short amount of time, and
she sighed, sorry the ride was already over.
    “Tomorrow, I believe that we are going to need to be at the
charity drive around about ten, so do you want to pick me up at nine? That’ll
give us plenty of time to get where we need to go.”
    “Of course.” He paused. “I suppose a good night kiss is out
of the question?”
    She knew what the answer was to that, of course. What good,
discreet, and fair journalist kissed her clients? She also knew what she
wanted, and she thought she recognized a chance that wouldn’t come again.
Despite her insistence on professionalism, she had a deep streak of wild in
her, and that was what took over now.
    Nikolos was beginning to look away, taking her silence as a
refusal, when she reached out and cupped his chin. He turned back to her, his
eyes startled, and she took advantage of his surprise by kissing him on the
lips.
    It was a gentle thing at first, barely more than a touch.
Then she felt the tip of his tongue tracing first her upper lip and then her
lower lip before seeking entrance between them. She opened her mouth and then,
without thinking about it, she found herself suckling lightly on his tongue,
making him moan.
    She placed her hands on his shoulders. One of his hands
curled around the small of her back. If the gear shift hadn’t been between
them, she would have been pulled right up against his body. As he kissed her,
his arms around her, she could feel