made the whitewashed stone walls glow.
The dark wood of the floor was covered in bright silk rugs, another rug pinned to the wall above the bed. It was a simple, bare room, the only furniture the bed, two bedside tables in heavy, dark wood and a carved wooden dresser against one wall.
Clearly, it was the king’s house but...where was it? And why had he brought her here?
Moving slowly, she managed to wiggle out from underneath his arm and sat up, turning to look down at him. He was still asleep, the hard lines of his face relaxed, making him seem younger. She stared at the way his mouth curled slightly, as if he was on the verge of a smile.
That would never happen. Adonis didn’t smile, or if he did, she’d never seen it.
Her heartbeat gave another kick. She wanted to see it. And she wanted to be the one who made him smile, too, wanted that very much. In fact, there were a lot of things she wanted when it came to him, and it wasn’t all about sex, either.
She reached out to touch one heavily muscled shoulder, loving the velvety feel of his warm skin. The lines of his royal tattoo, a crowned lion, stalked across his back, the colours deep and rich, red and gold and black. It was beautiful. She traced the lion’s roaring mouth and the edges of its mane, yet another sign that it wasn’t just a man lying next to her, but a king.
A king who won’t let himself be a man.
‘You like that?’ The sound of his voice, roughened by the night they’d spent together, took her by surprise, sending a pleasant shock through her.
She almost snatched her hand away, unsure whether she should be taking such liberties. Then again, after last night, surely everything was allowed?
‘Yes, it’s beautiful.’ She touched the gold crown on the lion’s head. ‘Is it only kings who are allowed the tattoo?’
‘Only the crowned lion. Xerxes has one, but his lion doesn’t have a crown.’
‘When did you get it?’
‘When I was eighteen. The royal tattooist is the only one permitted to use this design and only on the royal family. The inks are special too.’
‘Will Ione have one?’ she asked, curious. ‘Or is it only men who have it?’
‘Not only men. Ione will have hers when she turns eighteen.’ His gaze was clear and cold as a winter sky, focusing intently on her. ‘Don’t you want to know where we are and why?’
She slid a finger along one of the lion’s big paws. ‘Tell me.’
‘This was my mother’s house. My father gave her this island as a wedding present.’
A dark current of emotion threaded through the words and Anna paused in her tracing of the lion on his shoulder, glancing down into his eyes.
His mother. Who’d died in a car accident, according to the history books.
‘It seems lovely,’ she said carefully.
‘It is. She didn’t come here much.’ He reached suddenly for her hand and took it in his, turning her palm over and studying it intently. ‘She preferred the palace. I had a nanny who used to bring me here for holidays.’
Anna shivered as he ran a finger lightly over the centre of her palm, her whole body reacting to his touch. ‘A nanny?’
‘I didn’t spend much time with my parents.’ He circled her palm gently, his attention on her hand. ‘They were always busy.’
Again there was a dark edge threading through his tone, and it made her throat close in sudden foreboding. The queen had died when he was young... Was this part of his unhappy childhood?
‘Your mother died in a car accident, didn’t she?’ Anna asked hesitantly.
‘No,’ he said without any discernible emotion. ‘It was not a car accident.’
‘But wasn’t that—’
‘A story the media were told. There was no accident. Our car was ambushed by an enemy faction when I was seven. They wanted my father, but he never rode in the same car with us for safety reasons. They overcame our guards, dragged us from the car, and tried to make my mother tell them where he was. But she wouldn’t, so they hurt her.’
Anna stared at him, shocked. ‘Hurt her?’
‘They tortured her, but she wouldn’t give away my father’s position.’ He paused, the icy blue of his eyes fathomless. ‘I was desperate to stop them hurting her, so I told them instead.’
Anna’s breath caught. ‘Oh, Adonis...’
‘Even after I’d betrayed the king, she tried to stop them, grabbing one of their guns. But they