The Prince's Devious Proposal - Holly Rayner Page 0,16

one. This trip was going to be a good one.

She went to her closet and eyed her clothes critically. What would she want to wear in Barcelona? None of the business casual outfits that made up her everyday wardrobe, that was for sure.

She pulled an armload of her old tour dresses off their hangars, carried them over to the bed, and began to pack.

Chapter 6

“How long is the flight going to be?” Naomi asked.

“About twelve hours,” Petr said. “Are you all right with that?”

“Of course,” Naomi said, suppressing a fluttering of nerves.

She had traveled by plane before, of course—she had flown to New York and back just a few months ago—but being in the airport today felt completely different somehow. Ordinarily, the airport felt like a bus stop to Naomi. It was a place she passed through quickly on her way to somewhere more exciting.

But the minute they had dropped off their luggage, Petr had whisked her through a priority TSA screening checkpoint, where instead of hurriedly laying out their carry-on items to be scanned before walking through the metal detector, they had dealt one-on-one with a friendly agent and been able to take their time about it. From there, they’d gone to the first-class lounge to await their flight.

Naomi hadn’t even realized they were flying first class. She supposed the ticket had probably said something about it, but she’d been so taken aback by their intended destination that she hadn’t even noticed.

She perched on the edge of her seat, feeling out of place. She didn’t belong here. She’d never flown first class before. These tickets must have been astronomically expensive.

“You look worried,” Petr said, glancing at her.

“I’m all right,” Naomi lied.

“Let me get you a drink,” he suggested.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to be drunk when the plane takes off,” she said.

“Just a glass of wine,” he said. “It’ll help you settle your nerves.”

Apparently she was completely transparent to him. She cursed herself, but nodded.

He went to the buffet table that had been set up along the far side of the room and spoke to the bartender standing behind it. The bartender nodded and poured a couple of glasses of wine. Petr accepted them and made his way back over to where Naomi sat waiting.

Naomi watched him walk, that confident swagger she found so sexy. She wondered if he knew the effect he had on her.

“I’m afraid they only had a merlot and a Riesling, he said. “I took a guess that you’d like the Riesling.”

“Thank you. I’d enjoy either.” She sipped the sweet wine, noticing that he had chosen the merlot for himself.

He saw her looking. “We can trade,” he offered. “If you don’t like that one.”

“No, this is good,” she said. “I usually fly coach. They don’t give you any free wine there.”

“Fair enough.” He took a sip. “I think you’ll find these accommodations much more comfortable, though. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone sleeps in coach.”

“They don’t, mostly,” she said. “At least, I never have. But I’ve never been on such a long flight either.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“You mentioned that your parents were socialites,” he said. “That they hung around with celebrities when you were young.”

“That’s right,” she said.

“Well…forgive my bluntness, but I think you also mentioned that they were wealthy?”

“Yes.” She wasn’t sure where this was going.

“How is it you’ve never flown first class before?”

“Oh!” she said. “Well, maybe it’s weird, but they didn’t want me to get too dependent on a certain quality of life without knowing whether I’d be able to maintain it into adulthood. So I was always well provided for, but we didn’t really veer into extreme luxury that often.”

“I don’t understand,” Petr said. “Why didn’t they think you’d be able to live the same lifestyle as an adult?”

“I mean, I don’t live that lifestyle,” she said. “You’ve seen my condo. You know where I work. I’m very middle class.”

“I guess I assumed that you just liked that condo,” he said. “It is small, but it has a good location.”

Naomi nodded. “I do like it,” she said. “I don’t mean to imply otherwise. But anything nicer would definitely be out of my price range.”

She hesitated. How best to explain this to him without oversharing?

“I knew that I would receive an inheritance of some kind after both of my parents had passed,” she continued, “but they wanted to see me make it on my own first. They stressed the importance of working hard, of getting a job