She couldn’t stop looking at him, drinking in the chiselled masculine beauty of his face and his sensual mouth that had wreaked havoc on hers. And he could not stop looking at her. They were both blind to everything around them, and as they climbed into the taxi neither of them noticed the man who had just emerged from the pub and watched them from the shadows before he got into his car and followed the taxi at a discreet distance.
* * *
Some time soon his common sense was going to return, Aksel assured himself as he gave the taxi driver the name of his hotel and leaned back against the seat. He glanced at Mina and was shocked by how out of control she made him feel. He wanted to kiss her again. Hell, he wanted to do a lot more than kiss her, he acknowledged derisively. His body throbbed with desire, and only the knowledge that the taxi driver was watching them in the rear-view mirror stopped him from drawing her into his arms and running his hands over the soft contours of her body that she had pressed against him when they had kissed in the alleyway.
The taxi driver’s curiosity reminded Aksel that he had not thought things through when he had invited Mina to dinner. Journalists from Storvhal had accompanied the trade delegation to London and they would jump at the chance to report that the prince had entertained a beautiful actress at his hotel. It was the kind of story his enemies would seize on to fuel rumours that he was turning into a playboy like his father had been.
Scandal had followed Prince Geir like a bad smell, Aksel remembered grimly. During his reign there had even been a move by some of the population to overthrow the monarchy. The protest groups had grown quiet since Aksel had become Prince of Storvhal, but he was conscious of the necessity to conduct his private life with absolute discretion.
While he was debating what to do, his phone rang and presented him with a solution to the problem. Aksel knew that his personal assistant was completely trustworthy, and he instructed Benedict to arrange a private dinner for him and a guest.
Mina did not recognise the language Aksel was speaking when he answered his phone, but she guessed it was Storvhalian. It was a more guttural sound than Italian, which she had learned to speak a little when she had spent a month in Sicily with her sister Darcey.
Listening to Aksel talking in an unfamiliar language reminded Mina that she knew nothing about him other than that he worked as some kind of advisor for his government. She had also discovered that he was an amazing kisser, which suggested he’d had plenty of practice at kissing women, she thought ruefully. She glanced at his chiselled profile and acknowledged that with his stunning looks he was likely to be very sexually experienced. Maybe he had a girlfriend in Storvhal. She stiffened as another thought struck her. Maybe he had a wife.
He finished his phone conversation and must have mistaken the reason for her tension because he said softly, ‘Forgive my rudeness. I am used to speaking to my PA in my own language.’
‘It’s late to be talking to a member of your staff.’ Mina hesitated. ‘I wondered if it was a girlfriend who called you...or your wife.’
His brows lifted. ‘I’m not married. Do you think I would have asked you to dinner—hell, do you think I would have kissed you if I was in a relationship?’
Mina held her ground. ‘Some men would.’
‘I’m not one of them.’
The quiet implacability of his tone convinced her. Perhaps she was a fool to trust him, but Mina sensed that Aksel had a strong code of honour. He had a curious, almost regal air about him that made her wonder if his role in the Storvhalian government was more important that he had led her to believe. Perhaps he was actually a member of the government rather than an advisor.
But would a government minister have kissed her with such fierce passion? Why not? she mused. Not all politicians were crusty old men. Aksel was an incredibly handsome, sexy, unmarried man who was free to kiss her, just as she was free to kiss him. Heat flooded through her as she recalled the firm pressure of his lips on hers, the hunger that had exploded in her belly when he had pushed his tongue into her mouth.
‘You spoke as if you have personal experience of the type of man who would cheat on his wife.’
Mina shrugged. ‘I was just making a general comment.’ She sensed from the assessing look Aksel gave her that he wasn’t convinced, but to her relief he did not pursue the subject as the taxi came to a halt outside one of London’s most exclusive hotels.
‘You didn’t say you were staying at The Erskine,’ she muttered, panic creeping into her voice as she watched a doorman dressed in a top hat and tailcoat usher a group of people into the hotel. The men were in tuxedos and the women were all wearing evening gowns. Mina glanced doubtfully at her gypsy skirt and flat ballet pumps. ‘I’m definitely not wearing the right clothes for a place like this.’
‘I’d forgotten that there’s a charity function being held at the hotel this evening.’ Aksel frowned as a flashbulb went off and he saw a pack of press photographers outside the hotel, telescopic lenses extended to snap pictures of celebrities attending the event. The last thing he wanted was to be photographed entering the hotel with a beautiful and very noticeable actress. It was the kind of thing that would trigger frantic speculation about his love-life back in Storvhal. He leaned forwards and spoke to the taxi driver, and seconds later the car pulled away from the kerb.
‘There’s another entrance we can use,’ he told Mina. ‘I’ve arranged for us to have dinner privately,’ he explained as she slipped his leather jacket from her shoulders and handed it back to him. ‘I’m not dressed for a black-tie event either.’
As the taxi turned down a narrow side street Mina checked her phone and read a text message from Kat, reminding her that Joshua Hart had asked the cast to meet at the Globe Theatre at nine a.m. the following day. After quickly texting a reply, she scrambled out of the taxi after Aksel. She stumbled on the uneven pavement and he shot an arm around her waist to steady her. The contact with his body made her catch her breath, and her pulse accelerated when he pulled her close. Keeping his arm around her, Aksel escorted her through an unremarkable-looking door into the hotel. Neither of them noticed the car that had pulled up behind the taxi.
Although they had entered the hotel via a back entrance, they still had to walk across the lobby: an oasis of marble and gold-leaf décor, which this evening was filled with sophisticated guests attending the charity function. Mina felt like a street urchin in her casual clothes and was glad that Aksel whisked her over to the lifts, away from the haughty glances of the reception staff.
As the doors closed she was intensely aware of him in the confined space and her heart lurched when he reached out a hand and brushed her hair back from her face. She tensed. Her hearing aids were tiny but they were fitted into the outer shell of her ears and were visible to someone standing close to her. There seemed no point telling him about her hearing loss when she would not see him again after this evening. He had already told her that he was returning to Storvhal tomorrow. She did not understand why he had asked her to have dinner with him, or why she had agreed, and she suddenly felt out of her depth. What on earth was she doing in a luxurious five-star hotel with a man she did not know?
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked softly. ‘If you’ve changed your mind about dinner I can arrange for you to be taken home.’ He paused, and his husky voice sent a shiver across Mina’s skin. ‘But I hope you’ll stay.’
She could feel her blood pounding in her ears, echoing her erratic heartbeat. It terrified her that he had such a devastating effect on her. ‘It’s ridiculous for two strangers to have dinner,’ she blurted out. ‘I don’t know anything about you.’
‘You know that I am a fan of Shakespeare—and chocolate mousse.’ His blue eyes glinted as bright as diamonds. ‘And I have discovered that you have an incredible talent for acting, and kissing.’
Her breath caught in her throat. ‘You shouldn’t say that,’ she whispered.
‘Do you want me to say you’re bad at kissing?’