Page 35 of The Duke's Virgin

This is what you get for letting your dick overrule your common sense.

I spent the next hour lambasting myself, and yet, I couldn’t even find any regret over what had taken place between us.

It had been…perfect.

What wasn’t perfect was her being here and me not knowing what to say to her.

The ideal thing to do would be to stay away.

Yet when I saw her requesting a glass of wine while my parents mingled with the Prince and Princess of Monaco, instead of taking the route of wisdom and avoiding her, I found myself closing the distance until I was close enough to reach out and touch her.

I glanced at the sommelier who’d served her wine and jerked my head just as he set her wine down. He quickly withdrew, leaving us alone.

Stacia saw me, her eyes widening slightly. “Hello.”

I had no idea what to say. I’d been worried she’d blurt something out about what had happened, or worse, call meYour Highness, which might erase the memory of her ragged whisper in my ear.“Luka…”

Her short, perfunctoryhelloworked well enough, although I wasn’t sure how to respond. Kissing her was definitely out.

“I…ah, well, I saw him briefly at the engagement party. I was there with Aeric. I guess I just assumed…” She swallowed and cleared her throat, eyes darting away before she looked back at me, clearly nervous. “Well, I never heard you mentioned when they introduced guests.”

I cocked a brow. This was a first. I’d never had anybody mistake Geraint for me. As I watched, a faint blush crept up her cheeks, and I found myself remembering the blushes I’d seen Sunday night…where they started low on her breasts and rose up her neck, blooming like a rose.

“The engagement party you attended with Prince Aericwasin my brother’s honor,” I finally said, realizing I was staring. “It would be in bad taste for me to take away from him on a night that was for him and his fiancée. Naturally, I stayed in the background.”

The flush on her cheeks deepened.

“Naturally. Excuse me.”

She turned, wine in hand, and walked away, her strides clipped, the sound of her heels echoing angrily on the elegant marble floor before she reached the rich, woven rug where several couches were displayed.

Fuck. I’d bungled that one.

It shouldn’t matter, I told myself, turning back to the drink service. The sommelier hovered in the background, and I nodded at him. I didn’t want wine, though.

“Scotch,” I said before he could speak.

If he was surprised, he didn’t show it.

“Make it a double.”

It couldn’t matter. Bungling it was probably agoodthing, really.

She was just an American, even if she was related to the Princess of Monaco. She’d leave and go back home, and that would be it.

Eleven

Stacia

When my auntinvited me to join her and the Grand Duchess for a tour of the gardens with Prince Geraint and his fiancée, Princess Katrina, I could have cried in gratitude.

I was still stinging over the slight from Luka earlier and doing my best to ignore him, although it seemed he was watching me at the oddest times.

Aeric, thankfully, was the only one who knew me well enough to realize my mood was off, and when he asked me if I was all right, I’d just told him I was tired.

He didn’t entirely believe me, but he was decent enough not to press me—reason one million and two why I adored him so much.

Now, as we made our way back to the beginning of the maze, I fought back a level of anxiety I wasn’t familiar with.

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