His involvement in the conversation no longer seemed to be required. Much like his involvement as groom. At his own wedding.
The clock was ticking. He needed to control the situation. Calm her, charm her, persuade her back to the castle with him and get them married. Before midnight.
It was time to take a different tack.
‘What were you going to do when you got here?’ he asked.
Violetta stopped pacing.
Call Luisa from the house phone and have a boat sent along Lake Sérénité to collect her from the chateau’s private jetty. But Luisa hadn’t picked up the call and then the Ferrari had arrived.
‘I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I suppose I’d hoped there would be a housekeeper or someone.’ Lies, of course. She wasn’t going to tell him, a powerful, self-interested man, what she ultimately hoped to do. She’d learned long ago to hold all her opinions close to her chest.
‘You’d be lucky. The place has been closed up since my grandmother died.’
She looked around at the dust covers shrouding all the furniture.
‘I can see that now. I was very sorry about her, by the way. I loved your grandmother.’
He didn’t answer. Just stared at the floor between his knees. It was well known that grandmother and grandson had been estranged since he’d been a teenager. She wondered if Leo the man regretted that.
He looked up but made no comment. Apparently unmoved.
‘We might be here for a while. This won’t be the first place they’ll think to look for us,’ he said. ‘In the meantime I think we should get more comfortable.’
Violetta’s hand fluttered to her throat. He couldn’t mean...
He raised a brow. ‘I’d like to take off all this paraphernalia.’ He gestured to his jacket and sash. ‘This house may have many charms, but air conditioning isn’t one of them.’
He stood, his fingers going to the bar of medals adorning his chest, but he struggled with the pin holding the rack in place. ‘My apologies, but this appears to be stuck. I may need your help.’
Even though removing his jacket was a sign that he meant them to stay at least for a while—eating up a few more hours to midnight—could she risk getting closer to him? Actually touch him? Violetta’s heart pounded at the thought.
‘I won’t bite, if that’s what’s concerning you,’ he said, with a lopsided smile that made her heart beat even faster.
No, but she was concerned she mightwanthim to. Why did her body have to react to him like this every time?
She stayed exactly where she was. ‘Can’t you just rip it off?’ she said.
He looked appalled.
‘One does not simply rip items from a Grimentzian Guards uniform. Besides, have you met my valet? If this goes back to Matteo anything less than pristine, he’ll torment me for a month at least. Sending me off to official functions in a straw boater and lederhosen, or some such, and his reputation be damned.’
That made her smile despite herself.
She had met the valet. A trim, fifty-year-old. Half Scottish, half Italian and one hundred per cent forged in the grand houses of Europe. A gentleman’s gentleman of such impeccable credentials and exacting standards it was he that chose his employer, not the other way round. The prince was not even the most elevated he’d served. Only one man met with his sartorial approval. The second most infamous playboy in Europe, Prince Sebastien von Frohburg.
The most infamous stood before her now. At least he used to be. Until his father died and, abruptly, he switched from party animal to serious and stern ruling prince. Up to then there’d been a stream of glamorous women in his past. All tall and blond and beautiful. Like her sister.
Quite the opposite of her.
Violetta’s smile faded. Well, what did that matter? She didn’t need to match up to any of them. She and the prince would be nothing to each other after today. She only had to get through the next few hours in his company.
She couldn’t really say no to his request. Leaving him trussed up in that heavy, braided thing when indeed it was hot in here.
She swished her skirts, straightened her back then approached him. That seemed to amuse him. A distracting, crooked smile made an appearance.
This close up, her eyes were level with his broad chest, made still more impressive by the medals and starburst honours pinned to it.