With that, I took a shocked Raquel by the arm and led her quickly away. Five more seconds and I would have destroyed him. This guard thing was not working out very well for me. Hiding the fact she was mine was eating me alive.
“He doesn’t know the curse is broken,” I told her tightly as I led her from the room. “Let’s keep it that way.”
“Are you sure that’s why you’re manhandling me out of the reception?” she demanded.
“Yes. No. Just walk before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you out.”
“You’re being an alpha-hole,” Raquel hissed as she smiled politely and waved at attendees.
Ignoring her accurate assessment, I marched her past them as quickly as decorum would allow. I knew I was being very un-guard like, but I was losing it fast.
“We should convene,” the King whispered as he stepped in front of me halting our exit.
“At my home outside of Paris, father,” Raquel told him as she gave him a quick hug. “Heathcliff is having a few boundary issues with our game of pretend. We should probably go.”
“Yes, I can see that,” the King replied biting back his mirth. “We’ll go to the reception and meet you in an hour.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. We’ll be waiting,” I said with as much respect as I could muster.
I was loyal to and adored my King. However, he was in my way at the moment and very little could stop me from leaving the room with his daughter. My frustration was clearly evident as the King stepped aside and let us pass.
“Rude much?” Raquel snapped as I guided her back to the foyer.
“Losing it here,” I admitted tersely as I pulled her into an alcove and wrapped my arms tightly around her. “You ready to leave?”
“We’re transporting?” she asked. Her brows were raised and she tried unsuccessfully to wiggle from my grasp. “I thought maybe we could fly and you could work off a little of your macho caveman bullshit.”
“Nope. Flying takes too long and I’m fond of my macho caveman bullshit,” I shot back flatly. “Again. Are you ready?”
The look she threw my way would have withered a lesser man. I was not a lesser man and unfortunately it just made my dick hard. This did not go unnoticed by my mate.
“You realize you’re crazy, don’t you?” she accused.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I hissed. “You’re the one who makes me crazy.”
“Back at you,” she bit out.
“We can have this conversation where we can be heard or we can go back to your palace. Your call, Princess,” I said.
“This is going to be a very long eternity,” she muttered. “You’re a pain in my ass.”
“And thank God you have a very nice one,” I complimented her and grinned at her disgusted snort of laughter.
“Leave,” she instructed. “Now.”
We did just that in a blast of multicolored sparkling glitter.
Raquel was correct in her prediction. It would be a long wonderful, aggravating, challenging, somewhat violent, loving, and sex filled eternity.
I couldn’t wait.
Chapter 18
“You have some nerve getting pissed off about my past,” Raquel shouted as she picked up a priceless antique and prepared to hurl it at my head. She eyed the crystal figurine critically and at the last minute thought better of it.
My weight was distributed evenly between both feet. I was ready to dodge either left or right depending on what breakable object might be hurled my way.
“I know it’s not reasonable,” I ground out. “It’s hypocritical. However, it might have been helpful to know you’d slept with the fucker.”
“How, pray tell, would that have been helpful to you? Because I will tell you now, I do not want lists of the women you’ve bedded over the last few hundred years,” she snapped and casually eased herself over to a collection of brass statues.
Her eyes blazed green and her fangs dropped. She was ready for a smackdown and all I wanted to do was strip her naked and bend her over the couch. It was hotter than Hell, but her obvious jealousy is what made the problem in my pants exquisitely painful.
I kept my eyes trained on her hands. She was fast and had outstanding aim. I was no one’s fool.
“Fine,” I growled. “I’ll admit my behavior isn’t rational. But if he lays a hand on you again, he’ll have to regrow a new one.”
“You cannot be my guard,” she said wearily and flopped down on a sleek leather couch. “If we have to pretend not to be mated, I’ll need Jean Paul to be my keeper. You can’t handle this. Vlad clearly has more information than we thought. He knows of the curse.”
“Speaking of Jean Paul,” I said slowly knowing my popularity was about to take another nosedive. “He has to be the one who revealed the secret. No one in your family would ever do such a thing.”
It did occur to me that there was one family member that could be a potential loose cannon, but I was fixated on the image of her sleeping with Jean Paul. Rational thinking had left my repertoire for the moment.
“Never,” she insisted vehemently. “He would never do that.”
“I’m going to ask this next question once,” I said, absolutely sure she would throw something. “You will answer it and I will do my best to block said answer from my brain.”
Her silence was stony and her stare was furious. It was wrong of me to ask, but I had to know.