Behind the Palace Walls by Lynn Raye Harris

the thought she should be dressed in warm vibrant colors like summertime filtered into his mind. Though white suited her, like snow covering a pure landscape, it did not do so when overwhelmed by so much black.
    So prim, this woman. She would be a challenge, perhaps. He liked challenges, relished them. Especially when they were unexpected.
    She stopped what she was doing and turned toward him. He didn’t miss the movement of her throat as she swallowed heavily. Her fingers shook where they rested on a pile of papers in midsort.
    “Because I don’t like lying to my boss, and because I don’t want him to ask me anything about you—why I was talking to you, what I think of you—anything. Because talking to you tangles me in a web of lies, and I’m no good at it.”
    Alexei laid his hand over hers on the papers. He affected her. And he definitely planned to use it to his advantage, to romance her, to romance any information out of her that he could get. In war, he took no prisoners, eschewed no tactics.
    He pushed aside a stab of guilt as he caressed the back of her hand. “Have dinner with me tonight.”
    Her jaw dropped. “Are you insane? Didn’t you hear a thing I said? I can’t have dinner with you!”
    “Chad doesn’t have to know,” Alexei said, giving her hand a tug until she was flush against him. He had a sudden desperate urge to feel the warm softness of her body pressed against him again. To drown in her soft scent and softer skin.
    When she tried to pull away, he tightened his grip.
    “Let me go,” she said quietly, her eyes downcast.
    And though he didn’t want to do it, though he wanted to kiss her into compliance, he did as she asked. She immediately stepped away and put her arms around her body.
    Frustration sawed into him. “I admire your loyalty to your boss, Paige, but does he also command your personal life? Is he allowed to tell you whom you may or may not see?”
    A shadow crossed her face. “Of course not. But this is complicated. You’re the enemy.”
    Alexei couldn’t contain a sharp laugh. He was indeed, but he didn’t want her to think so.
    “You are,” she insisted, frowning. “To Chad, you are. And I work for him.” She took a deep breath, let it out in a long sigh. “Besides that, he’s asked my sister to marry him.”
    Alexei stopped laughing. Paige swiped a hand beneath her nose and turned to the papers once more. Clearly she was hurt by this new development. And he didn’t like seeing her hurt. The change in her expression was like watching dark clouds blotting out the sun. It bothered him.
    Watching her with Chad today, he could tell there was no relationship between them, no spark. It had made him absurdly happy. Yet now she was sad, and he didn’t like it.
    “I’m sorry, Paige.”
    She shrugged. “For what? This is a very good thing. My sister is very happy.”
    “Are you?”
    Her shoulders seemed to slump. Just as quickly, she straightened and turned to look at him with pride on her face. “Yes, I am. Emma is beautiful and amazing and she deserves a man like Chad.”
    “And what do you deserve?”
    Her lower lip trembled before her teeth stopped it. “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she said very softly.
    “Do what? I am asking you a question, such as one friend asks another.”
    “You aren’t my friend.”
    He pressed his advantage. “Not yet. But I could be.”
    She shook her head. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Prince Voronov. It’s impossible, and you know it.”
    “Call me Alexei. And I can tell you what you deserve,” he continued. He knew what she needed to hear. She was a woman who didn’t believe in herself, and he was a man who was very good at saying the right things. She looked at him hopefully. He wondered if she knew she’d done so.
    “You deserve to laugh,” he said quietly, seriously. “You deserve to do something for yourself instead of always doing for others. You deserve happiness, Paige, and you deserve to stop