“Good luck with that,” Konstantin said with a laugh.
“I’m hardly on the bubble to marry soon, being the youngest. In centuries past, I would have made a career out of the military or the church.”
“Orthodox priests can marry.”
“Indeed. However, none of our ancestors who became priests did so.”
“Really?” Emma asked with interest. “I wonder why?”
“I would love to sit around and chat about our ancestors, but it’s time to get back to my hotel.”
“If you don’t want to leave, I can run you home later,” Emma offered Jenna.
“Or have a driver do so,” Konstantin drawled sardonically.
Emma blushed. “We’ve been married seven years and still, I forget.”
“That you are a princess?”
Jenna still remembered when news of Emma and her four-year-old son had rocked the royal family. It had been a hard time for Prince Konstantin, realizing that his own actions and those of someone he considered a friend had kept the woman he loved and the child he had not known about from him.
“And obscenely wealthy.” Emma rolled her eyes. “There’s something to be said for being a starving artist.”
“There’s something to be said for being married to your soul mate,” Konstantin instantly countered.
Emma smiled. “I’m willing to be convinced.”
“And on that note, we are out of here,” Dima said, sounding a lot more like a younger sibling than a prince, or a business tycoon.
“Hmm, what are we doing here, I wonder?” Jenna mused, her voice laced with humor.
Dimitri turned off the sports car’s powerful engine but left the ignition remote in the console for the valet. “You are just now asking?”
It had to have been obvious to her that he wasn’t returning Jenna to her home within the first two turns of their drive.
“You could have been taking the scenic route.” She gave him a droll look.
“I told you my plans earlier.”
“You implied you had plans for seduction,” she acknowledged just as the hotel staff opened her door and offered her a hand.
She turned and smiled up at the porter with pure innocence. “Thank you.”
Shaking his head, Dimitri got out of the car and left security to deal with the parking instructions.
Two of his current team of four followed at a discreet distance as he led Jenna to the bank of elevators. They slipped inside the car with them, though, and his head bodyguard swiped the key card that allowed access to the penthouse floor of suites.
Jenna chatted with the security men on the way up, asking about their families, if they enjoyed traveling for their jobs. Dimitri would have put it down to the natural curiosity of a reporter, but genuine interest shone in her brown eyes.
Jenna cared about people.
Once they were in the penthouse, Jenna dropped her bag and shrugged out of her coat. Springtime weather in Seattle was mercurial, but one thing could be relied on, a drop in temperature after sunset.
Jenna showed her native Northwest roots by bringing along a jacket, even on a surprisingly warm and sunny spring day.
He took her coat and hung it over a chair while she looked around, taking in their surroundings.
“One thing I can say about your family. You all know how to travel in style.”