Read Online Searching For Her Prince by Karen Rose Smith - Free Book Online

corner of the sofa by his feet.
    The weight in her lap made her smile. Sometime during the night, she’d heard Cocoa’s paws on the parquet floor right before she jumped up and settled down with her. It had been comforting to have her there, keeping watch, too.
    Now Amira’s gaze met Brent’s in the early-morning shadows. “Good morning,” she said, her voice still fuzzy from sleep.
    She was grateful that Brent’s color looked better. His dark beard stubbled his chin, and he looked roguish and altogether too sexy. She suspected any bruises he’d gotten in the scuffle last night would make themselves even more known today.
    When he hiked himself up against the pillow at thearm of the sofa, he grimaced. She could almost feel his discomfort.
    “Have you been here all night?” he asked.
    “Yes. You didn’t think I’d leave and take the chance you’d get up in the middle of the night and work did you?”
    At that he almost smiled as he nodded to Cocoa. “I see you even brought in reinforcements.”
    Relieved his sense of humor was back in place this morning, proving he felt a little better, she said honestly, “I wanted to be here in case you needed something.”
    Cocoa sat up in her lap, jumped down to the floor and went over to stand beside Brent. When Brent leaned down and rubbed his hand over the dog’s head, Cocoa put her paws on the sofa and licked Brent’s face. That greeting and measure of comfort finished, she trotted over to the rug by the bookshelves and settled in front of them.
    Brent’s green eyes were intense as they returned to Amira’s. “I still can’t believe you came last night.”
    “Why can’t you believe it?”
    “Because we’ve only known each other a few days.”
    “It feels as if it’s been longer than a few days,” she mused. “Besides, Flora said you needed me. Not many people in my life have needed me.” She sat up and swung her legs to the floor.
    Brent hiked himself up further and tossed the blanket aside. She could still feel his gaze on her as he asked, “Have you ever been seriously involved with a man?”
    “No, not seriously…though when I was seventeen I thought I was in love with someone.”
    “Someone at the palace?”
    She knew he was thinking about the royal family, about the Royal Guard, about other men her mother or the queen might have deemed worthy for her. “He was the gardener. I remember the day I stopped to talk to him. I hadn’t even been out on a date at that point. He was clipping the hedges, and he gave me one of those looks men give women when they want to stop them from walking by.”
    “You were seventeen and hadn’t been out on a date?” Brent asked, astonished.
    “Whenever I needed an escort to a royal function, the queen chose one of the Royal Guards to accompany me. Sean was so different from any of them. He wasn’t stilted or formal. He acted as if he wanted to be with me.”
    “How old was he?”
    “Twenty-four.”
    Brent grunted. “Old enough to know he shouldn’t be fooling around with someone as young as seventeen.”
    “I didn’t realize that then. I didn’t realize the flirting and the compliments didn’t mean anything to him. After I met him a few times in one of the gardens, he kissed me and tried…more. I figured out what he really wanted was to get me into bed, maybe so he could brag about it. When I rejected his advances, he got nasty and said I’d better grow up, that I’d better learn how to give men what they wanted or I’d be a very lonely lady for the rest of my life.”
    Brent muttered a curse, and she looked up at him, surprised.
    “I’m not much better than that gardener,” he admitted, his brows furrowed. “That first evening I met you all I thought about was getting you into bed.”
    The glimpses of desire she’d caught in his eyes had thrilled her. Now, having him admit the strong attraction he’d felt, too, her mouth went dry. Finally she managed, “You’re the most honest man I’ve ever