And he’d noticed that she liked pink.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said honestly, fastening the necklace round her neck and walking across the room to admire herself in the mirror. ‘Is it very valuable?’
‘Would knowing how much it cost make it a more welcome gift?’ There was an edge to his tone that she didn’t understand.
‘No, of course not.’ She touched the sparkling diamonds nervously. ‘I’m just wondering whether I dare wear it out of the bedroom.’
He relaxed slightly. ‘It’s yours to lose, keep or trade,’ he drawled softly, and Holly frowned, puzzled by his comment but too tired to search for a hidden meaning.
‘You do say the weirdest things.’ Suppressing a yawn, she walked back to the window seat, feeling the weight of the diamonds against her throat. ‘I’ve never worn diamonds before. And I never imagined wearing them in bed.’
‘I intended them to go with your dress this evening.’ His gaze was fixed on her face. ‘You’re extremely tired.’
‘Long day.’
‘Too long. The official visits have to stop, Holly.’
‘What? Why?’ Hurt and upset by the apparent criticism, Holly sat up straighter in her seat. ‘What am I doing wrong? I’ve worked so hard.’
‘Precisely. You’re working too hard.’
For a moment Holly just gaped at him in disbelief. ‘That’s the most unfair criticism I’ve ever heard. How can I be working too hard?’
‘If you’re so exhausted you’re falling asleep, then you’re working too hard.’
‘That’s nothing to do with the official visits. I’m falling asleep because you keep me awake half the night!’ She looked at him in exasperation, her temper mounting. ‘Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? You don’t like me working hard because you’re afraid I’m going to be too tired to perform in the bedroom! Is that all you care about, Casper? Whether I have the energy for sex?’
‘You’re doing that uniquely female thing of twisting words for the purpose of starting a row.’ Ice cool, he watched her with masculine detachment and Holly felt a flash of frustration.
‘No, I’m not. I hate rows. I would never, ever choose to row with anyone. I hate conflict.’ The ironic gleam in his eyes somehow served to make her even more infuriated. ‘And you’d know I hate conflict if you’d bothered to spend a few hours alone in my company! But you don’t, do you? Do you realise we’ve never even been on a proper date? You are so, so selfish! You just come to bed and do your whole virile, macho-stud thing, and then you swan off, leaving me.’
One dark brow lifted in cool appraisal. ‘Leaving you?’
‘Exhausted,’ she muttered, and a sardonic smile touched his mouth.
‘So I leave you to sleep. By my definition, that makes me unselfish, not selfish. And it brings me back to my earlier point, which is that you’re working too hard.’
‘You always have to win, don’t you?’ Holly sank back down onto the window seat, the bout of anger having sapped the last of her energy. It just wasn’t worth arguing with him.
‘It isn’t about winning. Believe it or not, I do have your welfare at heart. After I left you this afternoon, I asked a few questions. Questions I should have asked a long time ago it seems.’ There was a frown in his eyes. ‘It’s no wonder you’re so tired. Apparently you’ve been working flat out since the day after our wedding. You’ve been doing ten to fifteen visits a day! And you spend ages with everyone. From what I’ve been told, you don’t even give yourself a lunch break.’
‘Well, there’s a lot to fit in.’ Holly defended herself. ‘Have you any idea how many requests the palace receives? People send letters, sometimes official and sometimes handwritten. Stacks and stacks of them. There have already been requests for me to go and visit schools and hospitals, open this or that, make an official visit, cut ribbons, smash bottles of champagne—I judged a dog show last week and I don’t know anything about dogs. And then there are the individuals, people who are ill and can’t get out—’
‘Holly.’ His tone was a mixture of amusement and disbelief. ‘You’re not supposed to say yes to all of them. The idea is that you pick and choose.’
‘Well if I say yes to one and not another then I’m going to offend someone!’ Holly glared at him and then subsided. ‘And anyway, I’m enjoying myself. I like seeing people. For some reason that I absolutely don’t understand, it cheers them up to see me. And I won’t give it up!’
People liked her. People approved of her.
She felt as though she was making a difference, and it felt good.
‘You’re working yourself to the bone. From now on I’m giving instructions that you’re to do no more than two engagements a day,’ he instructed. ‘On a maximum of five days a week.’
‘No!’ Horrified by that prospect, Holly pushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘What am I going to do the rest of the time? You obviously don’t want to see me during the hours of daylight, you’re—you’re like a vampire or something! You just turn up at night.’
Thick dark lashes concealed his expression. ‘You have unlimited funds and virtually unlimited opportunities for entertainment.’ His soft drawl connected straight with her nerve endings, and Holly felt everything weaken.
‘Well there’s no point in doing stuff if you don’t have anyone to share it with. I’m lonely. And that’s the other thing you don’t seem to understand about me. I’m a people person. So don’t tell me I have to stop doing my own engagements.’
‘Holly, you’re exhausted.’
‘I’m pregnant,’ she said flatly, pulling her legs under her and trying hard to hide another yawn. ‘All the books say that in another couple of weeks I’ll be bounding with energy.’
‘And what are you going to do then?’ His tone was dry. ‘Work nights?’
Her eyes collided with his and Holly sucked in some air, horrified to discover that the mere mention of the word ‘night’ was sufficient to trigger a reaction in her body. Her nipples tightened, her pelvis ached and she suddenly felt as though she’d downed an entire bottle of champagne in one gulp.
Clearly tracking the direction of her thoughts, he gave a slow, confident smile and suddenly she wanted to thump him because he was unreasonably, unfairly gorgeous, and he knew it.
As his gaze welded to her mouth, Holly acknowledged the overwhelming surge of excitement with something close to despair. ‘Don’t look at me like that. You’re doing it again—all you think about is sex.’
‘And what are you thinking about right now, tesoro? The share price?’ His tone was mocking as he pulled her gently but firmly to her feet. ‘A new handbag?’
A moan of disbelief escaped her parted lips as he brought his mouth down on hers and backed her purposefully towards the bed.
This was Casper at his most dominant and she really, really wanted to be able tell him that she was too tired, or just not interested.
‘I can’t believe you make me feel this way.’ Her body exploded under the hard, virile pressure of his and she tumbled back onto the mattress, forced to admit that she was a lost cause when it came to resisting him.