Just Try Me... Read online

  “Oh, yeah, I could get very used to hearing that.”

  “And besides the fact that it’s getting easier to say…” She slid her body against his suggestively. “It’s also a surprising aphrodisiac.”

  “Is it?”

  “Uh-huh.” She looked over his shoulder at his desk. “How strong is that thing, do you think?”

  Laughing in relief, in joy, in overwhelming love, he backed her to it, then lifted her, setting her down next to his laptop. Putting his hands on her thighs, he opened them, then stepped in between, coming up flush to her body.

  Ah, yeah, he’d missed this. So damned much. “Seems strong enough.”

  She shoved his shirt up and put her lips to the spot right over his heart.

  Undone, he held her close. “I’m thinking it’s plenty strong enough.”

  “The desk?”

  “You. Me. Us. All of it.”

  Smiling, she pulled him down with her. “Well, then, what are we waiting for…?”

  Epilogue

  LILY SAT anxiously in her seat as the airplane taxied into the terminal. She was just coming back from a two-week backpacking trip guiding a private party through the Cascades. It’d been a wonderful, successful trek, her fourth since she’d begun working for Keith again, but all she could think about was getting back to Jared.

  She’d missed him.

  There would be no more trips for a while now, because she was going to be extremely busy for the next few months.

  A wedding did that to a person.

  She couldn’t wait. Grinning, she went into her backpack for some lip balm, and found the U.S. Weekly Review with the “Adrenaline Rush” article. She looked at the dog-eared page she’d read so long ago in her physical therapist’s office, the article that had changed her life. She fingered the Post-it note, and smiling, set the entire magazine down on the empty seat next to her. “Time to pass on the good luck, and change someone else’s destiny.”

  With that, she stood and exited the plane, and walked right into Jared’s waiting arms.

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  “OH, NO!”

  The reaction slipped out before Emma Valentine could stop it, for there stood the very man she most wanted to avoid seeing again.

  He didn’t look any happier to see her.

  “Well, come on, get on board,” he said gruffly. “I won’t bite.” One eyebrow rose. “Though I might nibble a little,” he added, mostly to amuse himself.

  But she wasn’t paying any attention to what he was saying. She was staring at him, taking in the royal blue uniform he was wearing, with gold braid and glistening badges decorating the sleeves, epaulettes and an upright collar. Ribbons and medals covered the breast of the short, fitted jacket. A gold-encrusted sabre hung at his side. And suddenly it was clear to her who this man really was.

  She gulped wordlessly. Reaching out, he took her elbow and pulled her aboard. The doors slid closed. And finally she found her tongue.

  “You…you’re the prince.”

  He nodded, barely glancing at her. “Yes. Of course.”

  She raised a hand and covered her mouth for a moment. “I should have known.”

  “Of course you should have. I don’t know why you didn’t.” He punched the ground-floor button to get the elevator moving again, then turned to look down at her. “A relatively bright five-year-old child would have tumbled to the truth right away.”

  Her shock faded as her indignation at his tone asserted itself. He might be the prince, but he was still just as annoying as he had been earlier that day.

  “A relatively bright five-year-old child without a bump on the head from a badly thrown water polo ball, maybe,” she said defensively. She wasn’t feeling woozy any longer and she wasn’t about to let him bully her, no matter how royal he was. “I was unconscious half the time.”

  “And just clueless the other half, I guess,” he said, looking bemused.

  The arrogance of the man was really galling.

  “I suppose you think your ‘royalness’ is so obvious it sort of shimmers around you for all to see?” she challenged. “Or better yet, oozes from your pores like…like sweat on a hot day?”

  “Something like that,” he acknowledged calmly. “Most people tumble to it pretty quickly. In fact, it’s hard to hide even when I want to avoid dealing with it.”

  “Poor baby,” she said, still resenting his manner. “I guess that works better with injured people who are half asleep.” Looking at him, she felt a strange emotion she couldn’t identify. It was as though she wanted to prove something to him, but she wasn’t sure what. “And anyway, you know you did your best to fool me,” she added.

  His brows knit together as though he really didn’t know what she was talking about. “I didn’t do a thing.”

  “You told me your name was Monty.”

  “It is.” He shrugged. “I have a lot of names. Some of them are too rude to be spoken to my face, I’m sure.” He glanced at her sideways, his hand on the hilt of his sabre. “Perhaps you’re contemplating one of those right now.”

  You bet I am.

  That was what she would like to say. But it suddenly occurred to her that she was supposed to be working for this man. If she wanted to keep the job of coronation chef, maybe she’d better keep her opinions to herself. So she clamped her mouth shut, took a deep breath and looked away, trying hard to calm down.

  The elevator ground to a halt and the doors slid open laboriously. She moved to step forward, hoping to make her escape, but his hand shot out again and caught her elbow.

  “Wait a minute. You’re a woman,” he said, as though that thought had just presented itself to him.

  “That’s a rare ability for insight you have there, Your Highness,” she snapped before she could stop herself. And then she winced. She was going to have to do better than that if she was going to keep this relationship on an even keel.

  But he was ignoring her dig. Nodding, he stared at her with a speculative gleam in his golden eyes. “I’ve been looking for a woman, but you’ll do.”

  She blanched, stiffening. “I’ll do for what?”

  He made a head gesture in a direction she knew was opposite of where she was going and his grip tightened on her elbow.

  “Come with me,” he said abruptly, making it an order.

  She dug in her heels, thinking fast. She didn’t much like orders. “Wait! I can’t. I have to get to the kitchen.”

  “Not yet. I need you.”

  “You what?” Her breathless gasp of surprise was soft, but she knew he’d heard it.

  “I need you,” he said firmly. “Oh, don’t look so shocked. I’m not planning to throw you into the hay and have my way with you. I need you for something a bit more mundane than that.”

  She felt color rushing into her cheeks and she silently begged it to stop. Here she was, formless and stodgy in her chef’s whites. No makeup, no stiletto heels. Hardly the picture of the femmes fatales he was undoubtedly used to. The likelihood that he would have any carnal interest in her was remote at best. To have him think she was hysterically defending her virtue was humiliating.

  “Well, what if I don’t want to go with you?” she said in hopes of deflecting his attention from her blush.

  “Too bad.”

  “What?”

  Amusement sparkled in his eyes. He was certainly enjoying this. And that only made her more determined to resist him.

  “I’m the prince, remember? And we’re in the castle. My orders take precedence. It’s that old pesky divine rights thing.”

  Her jaw jutted out. Despite her embarrassment, she couldn’t let that pass.

  “Over my free will? Never!”

  Exasp
eration filled his face.

  “Hey, call out the historians. Someone will write a book about you and your courageous principles.” His eyes glittered sardonically. “But in the meantime, Emma Valentine, you’re coming with me.”

  ISBN: 978-1-5525-4538-6

  JUST TRY ME…

  Copyright © 2006 by Jill Shalvis.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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