Mistress to the Prince (3 page)

Tara
stepped out at one point and came back with a tray of cookies and tea for everyone.  It was right at the moment when the tension was rising between the mechanics and the owners.  The break helped enormously and Max again
appreciated
how she had an innate knack for knowing
when things were becoming unproductive
and reading people correctly.  The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch and Max attributed that to the tea break where people got up, stretched and had informal discussions with each other.  They were all able to settle back down and figure out a solution to several complaints between the two groups. 

It was
seven o’clock
when Max finally sat back in his
office
chair.  He noticed that
Tara
was no longer at her desk but her computer and light were still on. 
Max knew he should get moving to his rooms. He had some event he had to attend but he wasn’t sure what it was.

He got up and moved out to her office, looking around.  He clicked a few keys and pulled up his schedule.  He wasn’t thrilled.  It was a charity ball for some organization he’d never heard of. 
And he definitely wasn’t looking forward to meeting Lady
Cecile
, whoever she was. 

The click of
Tara
’s shoes behind him let him know that she was approaching and he moved out of her way.  As soon
as he took in her appearance, his mouth almost dropped open.  T
ara, his Tara who never dated,
who always dressed in the most business-like suits possible,
was dressed in a simple but elegant black, crepe cocktail dress
that hugged her slender figure, making his mind whirl
.  Her hair was no longer neatly pinned to her neck but was flowing down her back, ending at her waist in soft
, lustrous
curls. 

“What’s going on?” he asked, instantly
furious
about her dress.  He had
known she was slender and built, but he’d had no idea she had such a traffic stoppingly
incredible figure.  She was voluptuous on top but with slender hips and long legs peeking out of a demure side slit on her dress. 

“I have a date,”
Tara
said, not meeting his eyes as she squeezed around him to turn off her computer.  “And you have a ball to get ready for,” she reminded him.

“You have a date?  Since when?” Max asked, extremely bothered by this fact. 

“Since last week.”

“Who is he?”
Max demanded, not liking the idea of any other man touching her.  He knew he couldn’t but he’d never even considered the possibility of another man doing what he constantly thought of doing. 

“A friend of a friend,” she explained casually. 

His lips formed a thin line at her lack of an answer. 
“You’re going on a blind date?  Isn’t that rather dangerous?”

Tara
laughed nervously.  “You’re questioning me about danger?  The man who pushes the limits on danger almost daily?”

“I’m serious,
Tara
.  Why are you going on a blind date?” he asked, stepping quickly out of her way as she reached down for her purse, but he got a whiff of her perfume and it just made him angrier.  He didn’t like the idea of another man seeing her like this.  He wanted to spend the evening with her, smell her perfume and run his fingers through her
silky
hair.  Max clenched his jaw shut before he said something along those lines out loud.

Tara
became
annoyed
with his double standard.  The whole point of her date was to get over her infatuation with him and now he was getting angry with her? 
“Why don’t you enjoy your date tonight, and I’ll enjoy mine
,” she snapped
, not the slightest bit intimidated by his angry posturing
. 
“
Then we can exchange notes tomorrow?  I really need to hurry now.  I’m running a little late.”
  She pressed a few keys on her computer to finish shutting it down for the night, then slung her purse over her shoulder. 

He watched her walk away on her sexy heels and wanted to pull her back. 
“Wait a minute,
Tara
,” he called out to her retreating back
. 
“
Who is this guy?  Do you even know him? Have you spoken to him?  Do you know anything about him?  What does he do for a living?”

Tara
didn’t answer his questions as she walked to the doorway.  “
Your Highness
, you’re not my father.  I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.  I believe
Lady
Margaret
, your date tonight, is a lovely blond.  You like blonds,” she said and turned the corner in the office leaving Max still staring at the empty space.

“I don’t like blonds,” he said grumpily.  “I like brunettes.” 

Max shook off the feeling and walked down the hallway to his rooms.  He had a private suite in the palace for his exclusive use.  There were several rooms consisting of a large bedroom, a sitting area with
Palladian
windows that looked out over the gardens and a kitchen which he rarely used, preferring to eat his meals with his fam
ily in one of the formal dining rooms or
the
breakfast room. 

Inside his bedroom, he noted that his valet had already laid out his tuxedo for the night and he glared at it, wondering if
Tara
’s date would be dressed as nicely as she was.  He hoped not.  He didn’t like thinking the competition would be dressing nicely.

That thought made him stop short.  Competition?  Since when did he consider
Tara
someone he could pursue? 
Then again, w
hy couldn’t he? 
The idea was so appealing, it stopped him in his tracks.  He stood in the middle of the
bedroom
considering the idea and how wonderful it would be to pursue the one woman who really interested him. 

The answer struck him almost like a physical blow.  He couldn’t pursue her b
ecause she wasn’t interested in him. 
At no time had she shown any interest in him as a male much less as an appealing male. 
Then he remembered her looking at him earlier in the afternoon.  He dismissed that since it was only a short glance.  There was also the fact that she
was a great asset to his office staff and he didn’t want to lose her for a short term fling. 
But that just came down to the fact that he didn’t want to hurt her with a short term affair.  With
Tara
, it would be long term.  He could imagine her…..Max stopped thinking along those lines.  It wouldn’t get him anywhere and he had to get ready for his current date. 

Max shrugged off the idea and quickly showered and changed into the tuxedo.  He didn’t really want to go out tonight and, more so, he didn’t want to spend the evening with yet another female in a long line of females his mother continued to put in front of him in the hopes of getting him to settle down. 

The evening was pretty much a blur to Max who went through the motions of meeting, greeting and enjoying the night.  But by the time he got back to his suite, alone, he couldn’t remember a single detail of the night.  Not even his date’s name. 

Chapter 2

Tara
smiled as the
dark blue car
approached the gates of the palace.  She was standing outside the gates, waiting for
her date
to pick her up.  She could have cleared him through the gates, but she didn’t know anything about him, so it was safer if he remained outside the security barrier. 

“Hello!” the man said as soon as she stepped into the passenger seat. “I’m hoping you are Tara Jacobs and not some strange woman who just happens to be waiting curbside for men to pick up.”

Tara
smiled stiffly at the offensive comment that she might be a prostitute.  “I’m
Tara
.  And you’re Jeffrey?” she confirmed.  Wow, she really wouldn’t tell Max that she’d gotten into someone’s car before confirming that he was the right person.  He’d not like that at all.  Well, she understood that he didn’t like the idea of
her
going out on a blind date in the first place, but she ignored that and tried to warm up to the man.

She couldn’t tell how tall he was since he was in the car, but he had a nice enough face, in a soft kind of way.  He had a hairline that was almost to the middle of his head and soft blue eyes.  He definitely wasn’t Max, but then, who was? 

Tara
stopped that thought process.  Max was interested only in her business skills.  She was not going to let her infatuation with the man linger any longer, hence the blind date.  Besides,
Max needed to find his future queen
she reminded herself
.  That fact definitely ruled her out of his future. 
That thought brought to mind the woman he was with and that he was probably having a wonderful time with the blond nemesis so she needed to concentrate and have a nice evening herself.

“
What are we going to do tonight
?” she asked, trying to get into the spirit of the evening. 

He didn’t notice her apparent lack of interest. 
“I have tickets to the opera tonight.  I love the opera.  Do you?”

Tara
hated the opera.  “That sounds lovely,” she lied. 

“Great. 
Let’s get going then,” he said and pulled the car into the stream of heavy evening traffic. 

Tara
was starving.  When she’d originally spoken to him on the phone earlier in the week, he had mentioned taking her out to dinner.  In fact, he had gone into great detail about a wonderful restaurant he wanted to take her to which he had just discovered.  So
Tara
hadn’t eaten anything, assuming that they would be going out for dinner. 

She watched as the lights of the city passed by and wondered if she should say something to him.  Could he have forgotten the whole conversation? 
Or were they going to eat at the theatre
?
  She had never been to this particular theatre so she wasn’t sure if there was a restaurant within the building as well.  She certainly hoped so.

He parked the car and
Tara
followed him through the crowd heading for the entrance.  Obviously, she was not going to get any dinner, she grimaced. 
Apparently, they would arrive just in time for the performance.

They were seated at the end of the row in the middle of the opera house and the seats,
although
not the best, were fine
and they had an adequate view of the stage
.  She could see most of the opera and only parts were behind the curtain on this side. 

What Jeffrey had failed to mention was that this was a Chinese opera.  That meant very slow movements and dissonant tones.  By the time intermission was called,
Tara
had a headache that was so intense, she thought she was going to be ill. 

When he just made room for the other patrons to get out of their chairs, indicating that he wasn’t planning on going out to the lobby for intermission,
Tara
couldn’t hold her tongue anymore.  “I’m sorry, Jeffrey but I need to get something.  I’ll be back in a moment,” and she slipped out of the chair and into the wide open space of the lobby. 
She didn’t explain that she needed to find something to eat.  It would be just her luck that he would follow her and bore her with some inane conversation.  It was better that she just go and find something to eat as quickly as possible. 

Tara
stood in the line for concessions but was frustrated when they only had champagne and candy.  Why in the world would they not have anything else?  She bought some candy and ate it as quickly as possible, then found a water fountain to wash it down. 
Downing a glass of champagne with so little in her stomach would be a bad thing, she knew.  After the water and candy, s
he felt moderately better, but
really didn’t want to go back into the opera to see the second half. 
She considered the consequences to just hailing a cab and leaving the insensitive Jeffrey to enjoy the painful opera by himself.  What could be the worst that could happen?  Her friend might be a little upset but once
Tara
explained the evening, wouldn’t that wipe away any irritations?