n planted her hands on her hips. ‘It wasn’t her fault.’
Jaeger’s blue eyes narrowed, assessing. ‘The maid helped you.’
‘She didn’t help me. She had a tablet and I...borrowed it.’
The muscle in his jaw flexed rigidly.
‘If you punish her I’ll never forgive you,’ she said earnestly, ‘because it wasn’t her fault.’
‘I have no doubt it wasn’t her fault but it is obvious she was negligent.’
‘I took advantage.’
‘Believe me, I’m in no doubt about that.’
‘So you won’t do anything to her?’ she implored. ‘Because I can’t allow it.’
‘You can’t allow it?’
He coughed out a laugh and Regan folded her arms across her chest. ‘No. It wouldn’t be fair. And you strike me as a very fair man.’
‘Stop playing to my vanity.’ He shook his head. ‘It hasn’t worked with women before you; it won’t work for you either.’
‘I was only—’
‘Quiet,’ he growled. ‘I need to think.’
He might need to but she could really use some air.
‘Where are you going?’
Regan looked over her shoulder to find him watching her. ‘There’s no need to shout,’ she grouched. ‘I’m right here. And you clearly don’t need me to think.’
‘I never shout,’ he corrected her. ‘At least, I didn’t before I met you.’
Seriously unnerved by the effect his near naked body was having on her Regan’s heart hammered inside her chest. ‘You know how to fix that,’ she said faintly. ‘You can let me go.’
He laughed. ‘I wish I could. Believe me, you’re a nuisance I could well do without.’
For some reason his words hurt. For all the unconventional nature of their meeting, and their missing siblings, Regan couldn’t deny that he was the most exciting man she had ever met. Since her parents had died she’d become cautious and responsible. She always played it safe. One look at this man, one touch, made her feel electrified and more alive than she’d felt in so long. The feeling was at once thrilling and completely appalling. The man didn’t do love and that was all she knew how to do.
He let out a rough breath that brought her eyes back to his. ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?’ he muttered.
Something in his tone stayed her. ‘Should I?’
‘No. I suppose not.’ He dragged a hand through his hair, mussing it further. ‘In your world, posting a provocative image on social media would barely raise a ripple. Here it is very different. Here we have morals and ethics.’
‘We have morals and ethics in America,’ Regan said a little defensively. Well, they used to, at least, and most still did.
‘Be that as it may, what you have done, Miss James,’ he said with palpable restraint, ‘is create a diplomatic crisis I am now in a position to have to fix.’
‘A diplomatic crisis? I don’t see how.’
‘I have probably the most important summit my country has ever hosted starting tomorrow and a raft of people wondering who the American woman is I’m entertaining in my palace.’
‘You’re hardly entertaining me.’
‘Further, I am now without an escort for the next four days.’