Ways To Ruin A Royal Reputation (Mills & Boon Modern) (Signed, Sealed…Seduced, Book 1) by Dani Collins (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

“It was.” But affirming it made his mouth burn. “Look, I know this wasn’t the way we planned it, but once the photographs were out there, I had to seize the opportunity. This is what I hired you to do.”

“You did not hire me to sleep with you. I won’t take money for it,” she said jaggedly.

He was insulted by her implication. “I hired you to ruin me. You have.”

She gasped if he’d struck her. Her hurt and distress were so clear, his arms twitched again to reach for her.

“I honestly thought you would understand this was the incident I needed,” he said. “I’m not clear why you’re so upset.”

“I was supposed to find someone who wanted the attention. Someone prepared for it.” She kept pulling at her shawl until it was so tight around her, the points of her shoulders and elbows looked as though they would poke holes in the raw silk. “I was supposed to control the message to minimize the damage. It wasn’t going to be ugly exposure where a woman’s reputation is torn to shreds.”

When her gaze flashed to his, there was such agony in the green depths, his heart stalled.

“My team won’t crucify you,” he swore, and started to take a step forward, but checked himself. “I won’t allow it. I’m taking responsibility. This was my slipup—”

“I slept with a client, Luca!” Her arm flung out and the shawl fell off her shoulder. “I compromised him so badly I caused a king to be dethroned. It really doesn’t matter what you or your team say. People will come to their own conclusions.”

He briefly glimpsed her tattoo before she shrugged the shawl back into place.

She was shaking so hard, he started to reach for her again and she stumbled back another step.

“I won’t touch you.” He couldn’t help that his voice was clipped with impatience. “But I’m worried about you. Sit down. Have you eaten? I told them to make sure you had food.”

“I’m not a dog!” she cried, eyes wild. “You don’t get to hire someone to check if I have food and water and call it good. Although, at least I would have got a proper walk today instead of being held like a prisoner.”

“That—” He squeezed the back of his neck. “I realize you’re angry, but stop saying such ridiculous things.”

“Oh! Am I overreacting?” She shot him a look that threatened to tear his head from his shoulders. “You know nothing about what I’m going through. Nothing.”

“So explain it to me,” he snapped back. “Because I don’t see this as the disaster that you do. You said it yourself. People love to clutch their pearls over a sexy escapade. I’m the one who’s naked in that photo, not you! Are you upset that we happened?” It took everything in him to ask that. It wasn’t an accusation, he really needed to know, but he braced himself. “Are you feeling as if I took advantage of you? Like you couldn’t say no last night?”

HR had interviewed her. She’d reported that Amy had confirmed their involvement was consensual. Even so, Amy’s chin crinkled. Her eyes welled.

His heart lurched and he couldn’t breathe.

“I should have said no.” Her shoulders sagged. “I knew it was a mistake and I want to take it back.” She buried her face in her hands. “So badly.”

That sent a streak of injury through him because the thing that unnerved him most was how little he didn’t regret sleeping with her.

As the dominoes had fallen today, he’d disliked himself for playing manipulative palace politics the way his father had. He’d met the disillusioned gazes of mentors and advisers and understood he’d fallen miles in their estimation. He loathed feeling fallible.

He had suffered through all of that to correct a thirty-one-year-old wrong and, unpleasant as proceedings had all been, at least he had the extraordinary memory of her to offset it.

Even now, as he saw how devastated she was over their exposure, he couldn’t make himself say he was sorry. Did she remember how much pleasure they’d given each other?

He pushed his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t try to remind her.

“The announcements will be made tomorrow. I’ll step down, and Sofia will be recognized as the rightful ruler. My coronation ceremony was scheduled to happen before our parliament sits in the autumn. It will be revised for her, but she’s taking control immediately. Let the dust settle on some of this before you assume you’ll take the fall for it.”

She snorted, despondent, and turned her back on him. She looked like a tree that had been stripped bare. She was a hollow trunk swaying in the dying winds of a storm.

Was she hiding tears?

His guts fell into his shoes and his heart was upside down in his chest. He wanted to take her in his arms, hold her and warm her and swear this would be okay. Come to my room. He kept the words in his throat, but they formed a knot that locked up his lungs so his whole torso ached.

“When can I go back online? Bea and Clare are probably frantic.” Her voice was a broken husk.

“My people have provided them with a statement.”

That had her whirling around to face him, eyes shooting fires of disbelief that were quickly soaked by her welling tears. “You don’t speak for me, Luca. You don’t get to tell your side without giving me a chance to tell mine!”

“It’s only a standard ‘not enough information to comment—’”

No use. She disappeared into the bedroom and slammed the door on him.

CHAPTER EIGHT

AMY TOSSED AND TURNED and finally quit fighting her tears. When she let go, she cried until her eyes were swollen and scratchy, then rose and set a cool, wet cloth over them. Her stomach panged so hard with hunger, she dug up cold leftovers the maid had left in the fridge.

It was almost two in the