“Yes—no.” She caught herself taking a step back.

“Which is it?”

“No.” She stood firm and called herself a fool. “You’re always polite, Your Highness. I know you’ve never approved of me, but—”

“I’ve given that impression?”

He was closer again. She hadn’t even seen him move. Eve fell back on the only defense at hand. Belligerence. “Loud and clear.”

“Then I should apologize.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. Eve wondered why she should hear thunder when the sky was so clear.

“Don’t be charming.” She tried to tug her hand away and found it firmly caught.

His smile was as unexpected as the kiss on her fingers, and just as weakening. Yes, she was nervous. He found the unforeseen vulnerability irresistible. “You prefer rudeness?”

“I prefer the expected.”

“So do I.” Something came and went in his eyes quickly. If it was a challenge, she promised herself it was one she would never answer. “It isn’t always there. And from time to time, the unexpected is more interesting.”

“Interesting for some, uncomfortable for others.”

His smile deepened. She saw for the first time a small dimple at the side of his mouth. For some reason her gaze seemed locked to it. “Do I make you uncomfortable, Eve?”

“I didn’t say that.” She tore her gaze from his mouth, but found meeting his eyes wasn’t any less unnerving.

“Your face is flushed,” he murmured, and stroked a thumb along her cheek.

“It’s the heat,” she managed, then felt her knees tremble when his gaze locked on hers.

“I believe you’re right.” He felt it, too, sizzling in the air, crackling, like an electric storm over the sea. “The wise thing for both of us is to cool off.”

“Yes. I have to change. I told Bennett I’d go down to the stables with him before dinner.”

Alexander withdrew immediately. Whatever she thought she had seen in his face, in his eyes, was gone. “I’ll let you go, then. The French ambassador and his wife will be joining us for dinner.”

“I’ll try not to slurp my soup.”

Temper, always close to the surface, came into his eyes. “Are you making fun of me, Eve, or yourself?”

“Both.”

“Don’t stay in the sun much longer.” He turned and didn’t look back.

Eve watched him stride away in his strong, military gait. She shivered once, then shut her eyes and dove headlong into the pool.

* * *

Eve was relieved to find not only Bennett but Brie and Reeve joining them at dinner. Seated between the ambassador and Reeve, she found herself saved from having to make the obligatory dinner conversation with Alexander. As heir, he sat at the head of the table, flanked by his sister on one side and the ambassador’s wife on the other.