With her heart pumping gallons of hot, sexually charged blood through her veins, it was a little hard to pretend she was unaffected by their steamy kiss. “Sex was always great between us,” she admitted, “but it’s not a reason to get married.”
“Not the only reason obviously, but wouldn’t you be happier with a man who can drive you wild in bed? I do that for you. Why are you fighting this?”
His arrogance left her momentarily speechless. She spent a silent few seconds studying his face. What she saw gave her reason to believe his confidence was at least partially contrived.
“I’m not fighting anything. I’m trying to make a sensible decision based on what’s best for Marc and me.” Her cheeks heated a little at the skeptical look in Christian’s eyes. Okay, plastering herself all over him hadn’t been sensible, but to be fair, he had a gift for jazzing her hormones and muddling her judgment. “And being kissed by you isn’t making that any easier.”
He stretched out his hand and cupped her cheek in his palm. Her wobbly knees hadn’t let her move beyond his grasp, and she found herself held in place while he closed the narrow gap and dropped his lips to hers once again. Hard and brief, the kiss affirmed that he respected her admission and wasn’t about to back off.
She sighed as his hand slid away. “I really need to go see what Marc is up to.”
“Let’s go.”
Christian refrained from touching her as they exited the room and headed across the lawn in the direction of the koi pond. Longing knotted Noelle’s muscles. Already she was too aware of the exact distance from his hand to hers. The expressive nuances of his gold eyes as he darted a glance her way. The heat pooling in her belly as she relived their kiss.
Marc was lying on one of the flat rocks surrounding the pool, his nose inches from the surface of the water as Noelle and Christian approached. Her son’s enthusiastic chatter wasn’t distracting enough for Noelle to miss the curiosity in Olivia’s gaze as it bounced between her and Christian. Unable to stop the rush of heat that suffused her cheeks, Noelle wasn’t sure whether she liked the princess’s obvious approval. With so many people counting on Christian to produce an heir and Marc waiting in the wings to be legitimized, the pressure on Noelle was mounting.
Would anyone understand if she turned Christian down? Was she wrong to want her son to grow up without the responsibility of ruling a country looming over his head? And was it selfish to take her own feelings into consideration? Christian might be the sort of lover every woman dreamed of, but was he husband and father material? No, based on her past experience with him. But five years had changed her. Could the same be said for him? And how involved was she going to let herself get before she knew for sure?
Six
Christian stopped on the opposite side of the fishpond from his son and drank in the sights and sounds of the energetic boy from behind a polite mask. His heart continued to drive against his ribs following the encounter with Noelle in the green drawing room. An odd lightness had invaded his head as if he wasn’t getting the proper amount of oxygen. Which was ridiculous because he was gathering huge lungsful of air laden with the scents of fresh-cut grass, newly turned earth and Noelle’s light floral perfume. He suspected her scent was affecting his equilibrium.
Marc laughed as one of the big orange koi flipped its tail and sent water splashing onto his cheek. “Mama, did you see that? The fish waved at me.”
“I saw. Why don’t we take a walk to the barn?”
“It should be about time for Bethany and Karina’s riding lesson,” Gabriel added. “Maybe you’d like to see their ponies?”
“Sure.” Marc got to his feet and went to slide his hand into Olivia’s. “Will you take me?”
She exchanged a brief, poignant look with her husband and then shook her head. “I’m afraid Prince Gabriel and I have someplace we need to be, but Prince Christian knows the stables inside and out. He can take you.”
Olivia and Gabriel said their goodbyes and headed for the palace. Marc watched them go before turning to his mother.
“Can’t I just stay here with the fish? I don’t care about ponies.”
“A second ago you were ready to visit the barn,” Noelle pointed out, the skin between her sable eyebrows puckering as she frowned. “And since when don’t you like ponies?”