he didn’t have the right to do this. No matter what he wanted.
She sighed and snuggled into his side, smiling happily. Contentment radiated from her and he fought a virulent urge to change that contentment to desire.
No.
He took a moment to regain control, eyeing her with something akin to wonder. She looked beautiful and sexy, with her rumpled hair, flushed cheeks and swollen mouth. Chest tight, he gazed at her, wondering how one small dark woman could affect him so strongly.
He also wondered if she wasn’t more dangerous than his inner wolf could ever be.
For a moment, he realized he’d changed. Being around Willow, or being in her world, had halted what he’d come to think of as his slow spiral into madness. While he and his wolf still battled, the burning ache to become and remain wolf no longer seemed so insurmountable or powerful. He felt almost...normal.
Uncoiling his body, he pushed to his feet. “Come on.” He held out his hand to help her rise.
After a moment’s hesitation, she slipped her fingers through his and let him pull her up. “What now?” she asked, her voice husky and sensuous and hurt, all at once. A maze of walking contradictions, he thought.
A distraction he definitely didn’t need or want. He had enough on his plate already.
“We go back to your palace,” he said, deciding. “I want to hear what your parents have to say. Maybe they’ll even offer to help.”
Pulling her hand free, she shook her head. “I wouldn’t count on it. But there will be another meal later in the day. We can try again.”
When they reached the room he’d been assigned, she left him. With a cheery little wave, as though she didn’t feel the same wrenching sense of loss as he did at their parting. More proof, he thought as he closed his door, of how closely he lurked near the edge of madness. He barely knew her. Yet all he had to do was think of the kisses they’d shared and he was instantly aroused.
Cursing under his breath, he headed for the shower. Maybe a nice cold one would help settle his unruly body and help sharpen his mind. It certainly couldn’t hurt.
* * *
Willow had only taken a few steps down the hall when Ruben closed his door behind him. The instant she heard the sharp click, she let her shoulders sag.
Shades damn him. How could he make her want him so badly with merely a kiss? Dejected and furious, for the first time she wondered if her impulsive decision to help him was a bad one.
Rounding the corner on her way to the stairs, she mentally cringed when she heard Chad calling her name.
“Wait up,” he called.
Though he was the last person she wanted to see right now, she didn’t want to be rude, so she turned and waited.
At her first glimpse of him, all she could do was stare. He’d used some sort of magic or something. His golden beauty had vanished, dulled down to a dimmer version of his previous self. She did a double take. “You look different...” He’d done something, but with her lack of magical ability, she couldn’t tell what.
Coming up to her, he took her arm as he gave her a tight smile. “What do you mean?”
“Magic?” she guessed. “You’ve altered your appearance.”
Now he smiled, bringing back a hint of his former masculine beauty. “Your sister prefers me ugly.”
Since she knew this to be true, though she didn’t understand it, Willow let it go.
But Chad apparently wasn’t finished. Resting his hand comfortably on her shoulder, he turned her to face him. “I made myself look more like you.”
Stunned, shocked and...stars help her, hurt, she shook her head. He’d made himself ugly to look more like her. Blinking back the tears, she tried to move away. His grip tightened, keeping her close.
“Your people are wrong, you know.” Prince Chad spoke so softly that at first, Willow wasn’t certain she’d heard him correctly.
“Wrong about what?” She forced herself to pay attention to the man her parents wanted her to marry. It wasn’t his fault that she couldn’t stop thinking about Ruben.
“You.” Lightly he moved his hand from her shoulder, skimming her neck and tracing the side of her face. “You’re absolutely lovely, you know.”
Shocked, she tilted her head, wondering what he’d been drinking. “Uh, thank you.”
A smile tugging at one corner of his sensuous mouth, he moved closer, stroking her hair with a reverence that suggested he’d never seen locks