The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess

‘The idea of the buffet table is that guests can help themselves,’ she informed Nikos tightly.

She saw him frown as his eyes trailed over her, and it suddenly struck her that her high-necked, long-sleeved black dress—which she had bought two seasons ago in the hope that the starkly simple style would make her look slimmer—was almost identical to the uniform that the female serving staff were wearing. Her job! Understanding slowly dawned. Could it be that Nikos Angelaki had no idea of her identity? They had never met, and, unlike Liss, who was often pictured in the tabloids, she was rarely recognised by the paparazzi. Nikos clearly believed she was one of the palace staff, and she didn’t know whether to be amused or insulted by the mistake.

She opened her mouth to tell him that she was Princess Katarina, not a lowly servant, but something held her back. It was humiliating that he had mistaken her for a waitress. She wished now that she had made more effort with her appearance instead of blithely assuming that no one would take much notice of her. She was acting as the Prince Regent’s consort tonight, and people had noticed her, but for all the wrong reasons.

During the evening she had overheard various unflattering comments from the guests that she was the Plain Jane Princess who had missed out on her sister’s looks: ‘…twenty-six…oh, no, notmarried…must be hard to be in the shadow oflovely Liss. Apparently Princess Katarina is thebrainy one, but she doesn’t share PrincessElissa’s beauty.’

Kitty wondered how Nikos would react when she told him she was a princess. Would he share the general consensus of the guests that she was the ugly duckling of the family? It didn’t help that he was so stunningly good-looking. She could feel her heart thudding erratically as she absorbed the masculine beauty of his face, and she was startled by a fierce longing to run her fingers through the lock of silky black hair that had fallen forwards onto his brow.

She was terrified that he could somehow read her mind, but she could not tear her eyes from his, and she sensed something indefinable pass between them that made her skin prickle and her breasts tingle. To her horror she felt her nipples swell beneath her dress and she hastily crossed her arms over her chest, her cheeks burning.

Nikos recognised the flare of sexual awareness in the waitress’s eyes and was infuriated by his own body’s involuntary reaction to it. He did not have time to waste dealing with a stroppy domestic, even though the chemistry between them was tangible. ‘I suggest you look up the word “servant”,’ he said coldly. ‘You’ll find it means “someone who is paid to serve”. I’m sure Prince Sebastian is a fair employer who pays you a generous wage, and I would be grateful if you could do as I’ve asked without further argument.’

He should walk through into the private sitting room and make his call—but for reasons he couldn’t explain, he hesitated. He could not dismiss the ridiculous urge to pull the girl into his arms and kiss her senseless. Not a girl, he corrected himself, his eyes drawn once again to the firm swell of her breasts. She was very much a woman, with a gorgeous hourglass figure that might not be ‘in’ with the fashion police but was incredibly sexy. He felt a fierce tug of sexual hunger in his groin and inhaled sharply, his nostrils flaring. ‘What is your name?’ he demanded harshly.

‘It’s…Rina.’ The words spilled from Kitty’s lips, and the moment they were out it was too late to retract them. She didn’t understand what had prompted her to withhold her true identity, but she knew that Nikos had previously met Liss at a party in Paris and, although it was stupid, she could not bear the idea of him comparing her with her beautiful, glamorous sister. ‘I’m new here,’ she mumbled, assuring herself that she had only lied to save him the embarrassment of learning that he had mistaken a member of the royal family for a servant.

‘I see.’ Nikos strolled back across the room towards her and Kitty felt her pulse-rate quicken with every step he took. He swamped her senses and she was tempted to turn and flee, but when he halted inches from her she saw the gleam of sexual curiosity in his eyes and shock held her immobile. Surely she was wrong? Nikos had dated some of the world’s most beautiful women and it was rumoured that he had been having a white-hot affair with the stunning Hollywood star, Shannon Marsh, for months. It was inconceivable that he could be attracted to a frump like her— wasn’t it? She licked her suddenly dry lips and was startled when the expression in his eyes hardened to a predatory gleam that caused her heart to pound.

‘Something tells me you have a lot to learn, Rina.’

The mockery in his voice was mixed with a blatant sensual message that sent a quiver of excitement down Kitty’s spine. She had led a sheltered life at the palace, and at twenty-six was painfully aware of her sexual inexperience, but the feral heat in Nikos’s eyes was unmistakable, even to a novice like her.

‘I’d better go…and bring you some champagne, Mr Angelaki,’ she said breathlessly, jerking away from him before she gave in to the temptation to close the space between them and press her soft body against the muscled hardness of his. Dangerous thoughts; and instinct warned her he was a man who was way out of her league.

‘Yes, you better had.’ Nikos laughed softly, self-derisively; breaking the web of sexual tension that curvy little waitress had somehow woven around him. ‘Out of interest, how do you know my name?’

‘I’ve seen your photograph, and read about you in the newspapers,’ Kitty admitted, although she did not add that she regularly scanned the tabloids for articles about him or that she was rarely disappointed by his absence in the gossip columns. Nikos Angelaki’s luck at the roulette table was as legendary as his business acumen. He was a gambler and a risk-taker, a high-flier who was frequently snapped by the paparazzi driving around Athens in his Lamborghini with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of beautiful women at his side. ‘You have a reputation as a millionaire playboy with a different blonde on your arm almost every week,’ she said stiffly.

Nikos shrugged carelessly. ‘You shouldn’t believe all you read in the papers, Rina. Some of my “blondes” have lasted much longer than a week, and a few have even made it to a month,’ he added sardonically. ‘But I think my private life is nobody’s business but my own—don’t you?’

‘Absolutely,’ Kitty replied tightly, stung by his rebuke. ‘It’s no concern of mine that you change your women as often as other men change their socks.’

An ominous pause followed her defiant statement, and then Nikos threw back his head and laughed. ‘I wonder if Prince Sebastian is aware that he has a rebel among his staff?’ he drawled, moving before Kitty had time to react, and capturing her chin between his strong fingers. ‘If you’re not careful that sassy mouth could get you into a lot of trouble, Rina.’

She was trapped by his closeness, and the heat from his body mingled with the sensual tang of his aftershave stole around her and held her prisoner. The gleam in his eyes sent a tremor through her, and for a few electrifying seconds she thought he was going to lower his head and kiss her. She held her breath, torn between fear and fascination, and felt a crushing sense of disappointment when he abruptly released her. Of course he hadn’t intended to kiss her; stupid of her to have thought it.

Nikos wondered if she knew how easily he could read her mind—or how tempted he was to accept her unspoken invitation and crush her soft mouth beneath his. It took every ounce of his will power to step away from her and retrace his steps back across the room. ‘Go back to the ballroom before I decide to tell the prince of your reluctance to do the job you are employed to do,’ he said tersely. ‘And, Rina—’ he paused in the doorway of the sitting room ‘—don’t forget my champagne, will you?’

His arrogance was breathtaking. It was on Kitty’s lips to tell him that under Aristo’s ancient laws his lack of respect for a member of the royal family was a serious offence. He was lucky she did not call for the palace guard, and have him thrown out, she thought angrily. She was renowned for her calm and peaceable nature, but she was infuriated by his insolence.

But it was her own idiotic fault that he believed she was a waitress, and, uttering a most unprincesslike curse, she swung on her heels and marched out of the banqueting hall.

CHAPTER TWO

KITTY spent the rest of the evening carefully avoiding Nikos Angelaki, but she could not forget him, or the electricity that had fizzed between them when they had been alone together. No man had ever looked at her the way Nikos had done—with a raw, sexual hunger in his eyes that had evoked a wild longing deep inside her and left her wishing that he had swept her into his arms and made passionate love to her on the banqueting table.

Unable to dismiss her shocking fantasy from her mind, she had been too embarrassed to face him again with the food and champagne he had requested, and had asked one of the staff to serve him. Later, she had hovered behind a pillar, and watched him partner a steady stream of beautiful women on the dance floor. If it hadn’t been for her stupid lie she could have asked Sebastian to introduce them, and maybe he would have asked her to dance. But if she revealed her identity to him now she would look a complete idiot in front of Nikos, and her brother.

She wouldn’t know what to say to him anyway, she acknowledged bleakly. She was hopeless with men. The few fledgling romances she’d had at university had been disastrous and she knew her family despaired of her ever finding a husband. Kitty sighed, weighted down by the familiar feeling that she was a failure. Her dress was uncomfortably tight and tendrils of her hair had come loose and curled about her hot face. She wished the ball were over. She’d spent so long fretting over it and she was glad it was a success but she longed for the quiet solitude of the palace library and her books.

The king had shared her fascination with the history of the Adamas Kingdom, and she treasured her memories of the evenings they had spent together researching their ancestors. Nothing was the same without her father, she thought bleakly. One day soon Sebastian would be crowned King and she would give him her full support, but she missed King Aegeus desperately.

Grief surged through her and she bit her lip, knowing that she must control it as Queen Tia managed to do when she was in public. She was tired of the party, and she stepped through the French doors leading onto the terrace. The night air was warm and heavy with the perfume of jasmine and honeysuckle, and the silence was blissful after the hubbub of voices in the ballroom, but her peace did not last long.

‘Well, well. Kitty Karedes! I didn’t realise it was you. I saw a woman slip furtively out of the ballroom, and assumed she was meeting a lover, but, unless the ice-princess has thawed considerably since we last met, that’s not likely, is it?’

‘Vasilis! I won’t lie and say it’s a pleasure to see you. But the idea of you sneaking out to spy on lovers is wholly believable,’ Kitty replied contemptuously. She glanced at Vasilis Sarondakos, felt the familiar wave of revulsion sweep over her and turned her back on him, hoping he would get the message and leave her alone. But Vasilis was not renowned for his sensitivity.

The Sarondakos family were leading members of Aristo’s aristocracy, and Vasilis’s father, Constantine, had been a close friend of the late king. At eighteen, Kitty had been painfully naïve, and had never had a boyfriend. With her father’s encouragement she had gone on a date with Vasilis, but she had been deeply traumatised when he had subjected her to a drunken assault. His taunts that her voluptuous body was designed for sex had been devastating, but she had been too ashamed to tell her family what had happened, believing Vasilis’s assertion that because she had worn a low-cut dress she had been—in his words— ‘gagging for it’.

The memory of his hot, alcohol-fuelled breath on her skin and his sweaty hands tearing her dress and touching her breasts still haunted her, and when her father had suggested a couple of years ago that he would be pleased if she married the son of his dear friend, Constantine Sarondakos, he had been taken aback by her fierce refusal.

‘So, still no sign of a husband on the horizon, then, Kitty?’ Vasilis taunted, coming to stand so close to her that she found herself trapped between him and the low stone wall that encircled the terrace. ‘You should have married me while you had the chance.’

‘I’d sooner swallow poison.’ Kitty tried to edge away from him and tension knotted her stomach when he leaned closer still and rested his hands on the wall on either side of her, effectively caging her in. Five hundred guests were packed into the ballroom less than six feet away, including her three overprotective brothers. She had nothing to fear from Vasilis but she detested his cocky smile and the way he was looking at her as if he was mentally undressing her.

‘Is that so?’ Vasilis gave a sneering laugh. ‘Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hasty, my prim little princess. I was talking to Sebastian just the other day and he confided his concern that you’ll end up on the shelf; a lonely spinster with only her books for company.’

‘I’m twenty-six, not ninety-six,’ Kitty snapped. ‘And I don’t believe for a minute that Sebastian would discuss my private affairs with you.’

‘He’d have great difficulty; you don’t have affairs.’ Vasilis laughed again, clearly proud of his wit. ‘I bet you’re still a virgin, aren’t you, Kitty? Of course, a lot of people think you’re a lesbian,’ he added conversationally. ‘Maybe that’s why Sebastian would like to see you married. With rumours that the Stefani diamond is a fake, and Sebastian delaying his coronation, the gossip is that your Calistan cousin Zakari is laying claim to the throne. The people of Aristo are already unsettled. The Karedes family don’t need another scandal.’

‘There is no scandal! Sebastian is the rightful king and he will be crowned as soon as possible,’ Kitty said fiercely. ‘Zakari Al’ Farisi is the King of Calista but he has no right to Aristo’s crown, or to be the one ruler of the Adamas Islands.’ Kitty wasn’t sure how Vasilis had heard the news the diamond was a fake, but she certainly wasn’t going to confirm the rumour. ‘The people of Aristo have nothing to worry about.

‘As for me ever marrying you—hell will freeze over first!’ Using all her strength, she pushed against Vasilis’s arm until she broke free. ‘Leave me alone, Vasilis. You sicken me. I never told my family about what happened between us out of respect for the affection my father felt for yours. But now Papa is dead and if you ever come near me again I’ll tell my brothers what kind of a man you are, and you will no longer be welcome at the palace.’

‘It’ll be your word against mine,’ Vasilis muttered, but his bravado was short-lived. The Karedeses were a tight-knit family who he knew would close ranks around one of their own. ‘Anyway, do you really think I’d want to marry a woman who’s as sexually responsive as a lump of ice?’ he demanded spitefully. ‘You’ve got some serious hang-ups about sex, Kitty. Maybe you should see a therapist.’

‘I don’t have any hang-ups…’ Kitty ground her teeth in impotent fury as Vasilis grinned and sauntered through the French doors. She stared after him, knowing she should return to the ballroom, but simply unable to face it. Vasilis’s cruel jibes played over and over in her head, compounding her misery that she was a hopeless failure.

She was a princess and she was supposed to be beautiful and glamorous. She was supposed to sparkle at social events and impress everyone with her sophistication and wit, but instead of being the belle of the royal ball tonight she had been mistaken for a waitress. She had never been any good at the whole royal thing, she thought drearily—the pomp and ceremony and waving at crowds—and it had been easier to leave the socialising that was a necessary part of royal life to Liss, and bury herself in the library with her books.

Was that going to be her life? she wondered desperately. Was she going to end up a spinster as Vasilis had prophesied—without love or passion, clinging to the memories of the night a gorgeous, sexy Greek tycoon had almost kissed her? Tears blurred her eyes and misted her glasses, and the sound of music and laughter from the ballroom made her feel lonelier than ever.

With a choked cry she raced down the terrace steps, away from the ballroom, and flew across the lawn. Tonight, when she’d stood at the edge of the ballroom and noted how everyone else seemed to be part of a couple she had faced the fact that she was a lonely, virgin princess, stifled by the formality of royal life. Her brothers and sister seemed to be moving on, but she felt as though she were trapped in a time warp. She had been born at the palace and had always loved it, but suddenly it felt like a prison and she was desperate to be free—to escape a life of duty and find out who Kitty Karedes really was.

She ran through the formal gardens, away from the lights spilling from the ballroom. The perimeter wall of the palace grounds was ten feet tall and built of impenetrable stone, but Kitty knew of the secret gate, half overgrown with climbing roses. In the moonlight she easily found the loose brick in the wall, and the hidden key, and seconds later she fled down a narrow path that led into a small cave at the base of the cliff.

Blow Vasilis Sarondakos and his spiteful tongue! she thought as she scrubbed her eyes. She wasn’t on the shelf; she didn’t have hang-ups about sex, and so what if she was still a virgin at twenty-six? It didn’t make her less of a woman! She kicked her shoes off and wandered down to the water’s edge, soothed by the gentle lap of the waves on the shore. She knew she would not be disturbed here. This little cove was a private beach, and the only way to it was along the path from the palace—a path that few people outside the family knew about.

Moonlight dappled the sea so that it shimmered like a flat silver pool. No one could see her here. She was completely alone, and impulsively she wrenched open the buttons on the hateful black dress and tugged it down over her hips until it dropped onto the sand. She placed her glasses carefully on a rock and pulled the pins from her hair, shaking her head so that her glossy dark chestnut tresses uncoiled and fell almost to her waist.

With each item of clothing she removed she felt as though she were discarding another hurtful jibe. So what if she didn’t have a model-thin figure? Women were meant to have breasts, and she wasn’t ashamed of hers. The silver sea beckoned her; she was already relishing the coolness of it on her skin, and in a moment of defiance against the restrictions of her life she unsnapped her bra, dropped it on top of her dress and stepped out of her knickers before running naked into the water with her hair streaming behind her.

Nikos was not sorry that the royal ball was drawing to an end. He had flown to Aristo from Dubai after a week of intense negotiations, and the eighteen-hour days he’d spent in the boardroom were catching up with him. He liked and admired Prince Sebastian, but he was bored of the other guests’ endless, inane chit-chat, the gossip about who was sleeping with whom, and the unsubtle hints from a number of women that they were willing to go to bed with him.

Maybe he was simply tired of blondes, he mused as he stepped out onto the terrace, a half-full bottle of champagne in one hand and his dinner jacket looped over his shoulder. All evening he had been frustrated by his inability to dismiss the waitress, Rina, from his mind. He hadn’t seen her again after their confrontation in the banqueting hall but he knew he hadn’t imagined the chemistry between them. She intrigued him more than any woman had done for a long time, and he had found himself scanning the ballroom for her, irritated by his disappointment that she seemed to have disappeared.