CHAPTER FIVE
JENNAFELTLIKEants were crawling along her skin.
Dima thought the fact that they wanted each other justified him using sex to keep her out of her apartment while it was searched?
She wanted to throw up.
“You don’t look well. Sit down and I’ll get you a brandy. I knew finding out you were being spied on was going to upset you.” He offered his hand, like he really expected her to take it.
“I haven’t even started to process that,” she assured him. “I’m furious and hurt that you used sex between us as a tool.” She spelled it out in case he still didn’t get it. “I trusted you.”
She’d thought they were friends. Friends could trust each other.
His dark brows drew together. “You can still trust me.”
In what universe? “No. I can’t.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Jenna. Nothing about tonight has changed other than I had to give you some upsetting news.”
“You’re talking about someone supposedly spying on me.”
“Yes, of course. And there’s nosupposedlyabout it. I found two listening devices. I haven’t heard from my team yet, but if your bag was bugged, chances are other frequently used accessories are as well.”
Stomach acids suddenly too unruly to control, Jenna spun and rushed toward the en suite. She was retching into the sink moments later, trying hard not to actually throw up.
A cold cloth was placed gently on the back of her neck while a hand rubbed her back in a soothing motion.
The urge to elbow the arrogant prince away from her was almost overwhelming. “Don’t touch me,” she gritted out.
He stepped away and left the bathroom. Both grateful and angry that he’d left so easily, Jenna bathed her face with cool water and then dried it as she fought to get her feelings and body’s response to Dima’s revelations under control.
How could he have used her like that?
How could either he or Konstantin think she would ever knowingly betray their family’s trust? Was Nikolai in on this?
These were people she’d considered family for more than half a decade.
And they thought she could betray a woman as close as a sister?
Jenna would never hurt Nataliya, and every single one of those arrogant, distrusting royals should know it.
Equally to the point, she was a fashion editor, not a tabloid reporter. Did they really think all journalists were the same?
Intent on finding her clothes and getting dressed, Jenna turned around and nearly ran into Dima. He was holding a brandy snifter with a good inch of amber liquid in it. “Drink this. It will help.”
Ignoring him, she maneuvered around Dima without touching him and went in search of her clothes. They were scattered around the living area, and she grabbed each item with jerky movements, muttering to herself about untrusting, arrogantjerks.
“I did trust you. That is why I have my people searching your apartment.”
She spun to face him, fury and hurt a maelstrom inside her. “Trust? You call that trust? If you trusted me, you would have told me what was going on.”
He looked utterly shocked by the idea. Like he’d never even considered it. “I did tell you.”
“When I caught you going through my purse, which, by the way, is considered a massive breach of trust by some women.” Having grown up with a mother who routinely sent her children searching through her purse for everything from lunch money to allergy meds, Jenna wasn’t one of them.
But that didn’t make the fact any less true.
He managed to look a little uncomfortable at that reminder. “I apologize if that caused offense.”