He forced his gaze back to her eyes. He needed to figure out how best to handle this situation now. And he couldn’t do that when the basic elemental need was still echoing in his groin.
‘Does anyone but Jade know about this?’ he said.
She shook her head.
‘Are you sure? How the hell did you keep it a secret from Garland, and the rest of your staff?’ he asked, astonished all over again at her recklessness.
‘I suppose people only see what they want to see,’ she said, the blush flaring over her cheeks.
Wasn’t that the truth.
‘You need to leave, so I can think,’ he snarled.
She swallowed, her face a picture of embarrassment—which would have been oddly charming, given what they’d already done to each other, if the situation weren’t so dire. ‘Okay, would you mind staying here? So I can get dressed, and go back to my own rooms.’
He stepped back so she could pass him. ‘I’ll tell you how we’re going to proceed tomorrow,’ he said, just in case she had some idea he was going to let her run off without facing the consequences of her actions.
She nodded, but as she walked past him—her head lowered—he had to shove his hands back into his pockets, to resist the powerful urge to touch her.
But he couldn’t resist the opportunity to admire the sweep of her spine and the soft swell of her backside, barely covered by the towel.
She opened the door, and glanced over her shoulder, catching him watching her.
Her blush ignited, while his own skin heated.
‘I really am sorry,’ she said. ‘This wasn’t ever supposed to get so complicated. I just wanted to give my sister a chance to live like a normal person, for a little while.’
It was a ludicrous thing to say. What did she even mean by live as a ‘normal’ person? How could Jade ever be normal, or Juno for that matter, when they were of royal blood?
But he stifled the urge to berate her further; there would be more than enough time to do that tomorrow. Right now his feelings were too damn volatile. He needed her gone.
‘Get out,’ he said.
He listened for a moment to her moving about in the adjoining bedroom.
Images of her dropping the towel tortured him and the heat in his pants became painful. He stripped off his clothing and stepped into the shower.
Taking himself in hand, he worked the strident erection in fast, efficient strokes under the punishing spray. After finding his release, he rested his forehead against the wet tiles.
When he turned the water off, the sound of her movements had gone. But as he began drying himself, while considering how best to deal with the fallout from tonight’s events, he had the disturbing, but persistent thought that he was already anticipating seeing Juno Monroyale again in the morning.
CHAPTER NINE
‘YOU’RE NOT SERIOUS?’ Juno stared at Leo, her heart beating so fast it was threatening to leap right out of her chest.
‘Do I look as if I’m joking?’ Leo replied, the words bitten out in short staccato punches as if he were talking to a disobedient child who needed to be disciplined.
Nope, he definitely did not look any more amused than he had last night. If anything his uber frown had got a whole lot worse since she’d been summoned to his study this morning. She’d been up most of the night panicking about what he was going to do this morning, how he might choose to punish her... And Jade...
And on the rare occasions she had managed to fall asleep she’d woken again hot and sweaty, tortured by dreams in which Leo was the star player...
But of all the worst-case scenarios she’d envisioned during the night, what he’d just suggested hadn’t even been in the top hundred.
‘But... Why...?’ she murmured. ‘Why would you want to spend seven days alone in a secluded cabin with me? I thought you never wanted to see me again?’
‘Because it’s the only way to solve both our problems,’ he said, not denying that he didn’t want to see her again.
The foolish little bubble that had formed under her breastbone when he’d made the suggestion popped.