Read Online Behind the Palace Walls by Lynn Raye Harris - Free Book Online

if you would allow me. But since you will not, I want to take you somewhere even better.”
    “Better than the finest restaurant in the city? That doesn’t seem possible, now does it?”
    “It is very possible, I assure you. You have only to say yes, and you will find out. Come with me now, Paige.”
    She liked talking to him. He took away the loneliness, and he made her insides churn with excitement. Warmth flowed through her like she’d submerged in a hot bath. It made her languid and less uncertain.
    Was it truly wrong to consider going to dinner with him? Chad and Emma were very likely locked in their suite, ordering room service and making love. Why couldn’t she see the city and enjoy herself for a while? What was the harm in that?
    “I can’t,” she said, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice. Because she wanted to go. She wanted to spend more time with this man who told her she was beautiful. He made her feel like she was someone special, even if it were an illusion. It was a new feeling and she liked it way too much.
    “That is Chad Russell talking,” he said disdainfully. “I want to hear what Paige Barnes wants.”
    Paige closed her eyes. She wanted to see the city, and she wanted to have dinner with a handsome man who gave her compliments. “It’s too complicated. I shouldn’t go.”
    “What is complicated about eating together?”
    But why couldn’t she have an evening of fun? Emma was with Chad, and they were so happy with each other that they wouldn’t notice if Paige went out for a few hours. So long as the restaurant was far from the hotel and not a place likely to be frequented by tourists, what was the harm? She’d already spent the night with this man. It couldn’t get any worse than that.
    Besides, what had happened to her vow to live for herself, to do what Paige wanted for a change?
    “Yes,” she breathed before she could change her mind. “I’ll go to dinner with you.”
    “Speciba,” Alexei said as he slid from the seat and grabbed her hand. He tossed some bills down on the table, though she’d ordered nothing yet, and tugged her toward the exit.
    “Wait, I need my coat,” she said, pulling against him. She hadn’t expected them to move so fast once she’d agreed. She’d thought she would have time to run up to her room and get her coat at the very least.
    “I will buy you a coat,” he replied.
    “I can’t let you do that.”
    “Of course you can.” He dragged her into one of the shops in the lobby, picked out a long white coat made of the finest cashmere and wrapped her in it while the shopgirl oohed and ahhed.
    “Alexei—”
    “Quiet, Paige.”
    Next he selected a fur cap, like the one he’d worn last night, though in white, a snowy scarf and matching gloves made of the finest kid. Then he took a credit card from the breast pocket of his jacket and handed it to the cashier before Paige could insist on paying for it herself.
    A moment later and he was hustling her out the lobby doors and into a long black limousine.
    “I want to pay you for everything,” she said as the car started to roll down the driveway.
    “I will not take your money. Consider it a gift.”
    “I insist, Alexei.” She folded her arms and stared at him, daring him to argue. How could she accept a gift so fine? She could not be indebted to him. Dinner was one thing, but a cashmere coat that must have cost at least five hundred dollars?
    “Very well,” he said easily. “We will set up a payment plan. One hundred of your U.S. dollars a month for the next sixty months…”
    Paige blinked. “Six thousand dollars? You spent six thousand dollars?”
    He reached out and tipped a finger under her chin. Her mouth snapped closed as she realized her jaw had been hanging open.
    “Da, but you needed a coat.”
    She started to shrug out of the garment, but he stopped her.
    “Don’t be a fool, Paige. It pleases me to buy this for you. You do not need to pay me.”
    She looked away as,