LEO CIRCLED THE Puma over the hunting lodge’s heliport. The lights blazed from the luxury cabin’s porch, illuminating the hot tub built on a platform under the trees, which had been fired up, as per his instructions.
Anticipation powered through his system as he brought the big bird down and switched off the ignition. Juno sat beside him. Her beautiful body, the one he’d had in his arms only last night, was cocooned in a ton of clothing topped by a heavy quilted jacket.
They hadn’t spoken much since they had agreed to the trip this morning. But as he waited for the blades to power down, and his libido continued to rev up, he questioned his decision to bring her here, again.
All the arguments he’d given her this morning were real. Or real enough. But if this trip had really been about limiting the risk of scandal and making sure she took a pregnancy test, why the hell had he suggested they jump each other while they were here?
That hadn’t been smart or sensible. It had been an impulse. And he was not an impulsive man. Well, not until he’d met Juno Monroyale.
Maintaining his anger with her would have been a whole lot safer... But as soon as he’d seen the dazed awareness in her eyes at his suggestion... The dangerous decision to indulge their baser instincts had come out of his mouth regardless.
The dusk lingered on the horizon, the stars already winking above the forest canopy. He should be exhausted, after all he’d had a virtually sleepless night, but even so, as she sat quietly beside him—for once silent—and he contemplated seven long days and nights alone with her, he’d never felt more alive, more alert.
She dragged off the headset.
‘This place looks incredible.’ The smile that tipped up her lips was both tentative and tantalising—a sign that she was as unsure about this as he was. But then one thing he had learned about Juno in the last seven days, she was a great deal more reckless than he was.
Which meant it was up to him to take charge.
‘The landscape around here is so beautiful,’ she murmured, the flushed pleasure on her face unguarded. ‘I don’t think I ever realised how much I missed my homeland until I came back.’
‘How long ago is it since you were in Monrova?’ he asked.
Her surprise at his question made him realise he’d never asked her anything about herself—even before discovering her true identity.
‘Not since my father kicked me out of the palace at sixteen for molesting a king,’ she said, the wry amusement in her tone sad somehow. So he’d been the cause, inadvertently.
‘How did your father find out about that?’ he asked.
‘You didn’t tell him?’ she said.
‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘Do I look like a tattletale?’
She sent him the quick grin. ‘Actually, no, you don’t, Your Majesty.’
He laughed, the chuckle strained as it rumbled up his chest. And it occurred to him he’d probably laughed more since he’d met her than he had in his whole life up to now.
Not helpful, Leo.
‘We should get inside before we freeze,’ he said, pulling off his own headset, more keen than he should be to see her out of that shapeless clothing.
Climbing down from the cockpit, he grabbed their bags then helped her down.
He followed her along the path that had been cleared in the deep snow. With the helicopter blades finally silent, he could hear the crunch of their footsteps, and Juno’s shallow breathing, the silence of the forest as night fell annoyingly romantic as the lights strung across the porch reflected in the fresh snowfall.
As they entered the lodge, he stopped on the threshold. His breath froze in his lungs as he took in the cabin’s décor. It looked as if Santa had vomited over the luxurious furnishings.
Who had done this? He would have them fired.
‘Oh, wow.’ Juno’s gasp of excitement broke through the chill seeping into his bones.
She spun round to take in the fire burning in the open hearth, the pine bows arranged on the mantel, and the six-foot tree in the corner festooned in fairy lights and red and gold ribbons and bows.
The musical lilt of her laughter echoed around the room, warming the chill in his chest.
‘Leo, it’s fabulous,’ she said, before she spun to a stop. ‘I didn’t know you were a Christmas junkie.’
‘I’m not,’ he said, dumping the bags on the fl