Royal's Untouched Love by Sophia Lynn Read Free Book Online

I guess I woke up so to speak, I was in foster care. I was there for two years, graduated from high school early, got a scholarship, and well … you know the rest."
    "That's quite a story," Jaque commented. "You must have been tough to survive that."
    It was something she had heard before, but somehow, coming from Jaque, it didn't irritate her.
    "Stubborn, maybe," she said with a slight smile. "That's what my professors always said, anyway. Too stubborn to quit."
    "Well, I appreciate both toughness and stubbornness at LaMer Enterprises. It allows me to show my American friends the very finest in Athenian cuisines."
    Without her being aware of it, they had pulled up to a gorgeous little restaurant in the heart of downtown Athens. Jaque handed the keys to a valet as they made their way up the stairs to the entrance.
    As she got out of the car, Heidi felt surprisingly light. She had told her story before, but afterward, she often felt tired and worn. She had never told it and felt such a sense of … relief, she supposed. She had told Jaque about who she was and where she had been, and she felt the better for it.
    That relief was soon replaced with a sense of trepidation as she looked around. The other female guests were dressed to the nines in elegant sheathes and short black dresses. She loved her floral dress, but the fact remained that it was something that was appropriate for work, not wherever Jaque had brought them.
    "I think that I'm a tad under dressed for this," she muttered as they waited for the maître d’.
    Jaque only grinned at her. "Tonight, Heidi, I'm going to show you that the only accessory that you need to be considered appropriate for any venue is a wealthy man with ties to royalty."
    She laughed at him, but as it turned out, what he said was true. There were a few glances in their direction, but when the viewers recognized who Jaque was, their gazes automatically turned speculative and fascinated.
    "No one cares what I wear as long as I make sure to bring a Swedish prince with me everywhere I go," she said with a slight laugh. "I wish I had known that in high school. Bet that would have made lunch a lot more pleasant."
    The look that Jaque gave her was oddly compassionate. "I wish I could have helped you then too. Hopefully, eating here will be a little more interesting than your average American school cafeteria."
    "It would kinda have to be," she said.
    The restaurant was fancier than any she had ever been to. She could feel her heart beat a little faster when she realized that none of the items had a price listed, but then she swallowed hard and made herself choose anyway. She wasn't exactly sure what she was getting, but she figured she couldn't go wrong with chicken.
    If Jaque noticed her discomfort, he gave no sign. Instead, he entertained her by telling her a story about a time he and a friend had dined here, and how his friend, who at the time was perhaps a little more drunk than he should have been, had knocked into a waiter and spilled an entire table's worth of food onto the ground. The story was half done by the time she realized he was talking about Apolo Buros, the Crown Prince of Greece, and she marveled all over again at whom Jaque knew and how casual he was about it.
    By the end of the story, she was laughing, and then Heidi realized that he had likely told that story simply to relax her.
    "You know, you're really very kind," she blurted out, and to her shock, he looked suddenly a little embarrassed.
    "You mustn't let on that you know," he said mock-seriously. "I do have a reputation to maintain, after all."
    "Oh, of course," Heidi replied. "You mustn't be seen being a good person. It would ruin that playboy image that you have worked so hard to cultivate."
    The food arrived, and her reservations melted away at the first mouthful. The chicken, cooked in a saffron butter sauce, was deeply delicious. Every bite melted in her mouth, and the soft rosemary bread that they served with it was