Billionaire Romance: MAXIMILIAN (An Alpha Bad Boy Contemporary Mystery Romance) (Mysterious Billionaires Book 3, Anthologies & Collections) by Nicole Banks
Authors: Nicole Banks
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table he shared with his attending diplomats and bowed to the corners of the ballroom, accepting the welcome and well wishing. He remained standing for the next part of the president's address.
The president went on, "Now, for those whose custom is to dance, Prince Dagin will invite one member of the party to join him in the first dance of the evening." She turned graciously to the prince: "Your Highness...?"
Even as the sound system brought up classic waltz from the days before humanity first reached into space, a hush of anticipation fell over the tables. Every female human and quite a number of the males anxiously watched Dagin step out from behind his table and down onto the dance floor. His smile did not so much waver as it narrowed into an almost mischievous crease of his lips. He strode across the empty space between the raised area and the rest of the party, his eyes moving from side to side. Everywhere that humans sat, people grinned and signed and squirmed. They suppressed laughs and giggles and squeals. Step by step, glance by glance, Dagin made his way to one particular area of the party where a dark-haired, tan-skinned beauty in a black dress sat smiling softly and surely at him.
Danielle had noticed the dark woman when she first sat down. She was slim and tall and her curves were sleek and delicate, not broad and wide. She was exactly the type that Danielle knew a man like Dagin or Braden most desired. It came as no surprise to Danielle that such a woman would find the prince's favor.
It did surprise both Danielle and the dark woman when the smiling Prince stepped past with a polite nod at the dark woman and proceeded to the tables beyond her. Danielle blinked in amazement. If the prince did not mean to dance with that black swan, then who...?
The breath all but froze in Danielle's lungs when Dagin stopped at the table where she and her parents were sitting. She glanced over at her mother and realized what must be about to happen. Sylvia looked up, wide-eyed and trembling, at the Prince. It all made perfect sense to Danielle. Her mother was older than Dagin, but of course she had gone under the adipose lasers to reshape the contours of her body from round, full maturity back to slender youth. If Dagin fancied older women, of course Sylvia would catch his attention. What will Daddy say? Danielle silently wondered.
Prince Dagin held out his hand and cordially asked, "May I have the honor of this dance?" It was only after he had spoken the words that Danielle realized in whose direction his arm was extended—and it was not at her mother.
It was an utterly surreal moment that made Danielle wonder if some of the potted flowers in the ballroom were actually Denebian dream blooms and she had accidentally inhaled some of their pollen. Surely only the hallucinogenic pollen of the Denebian dream plant could make her think that the excruciatingly gorgeous prince of the planet Sarma was inviting her onto the dance floor. Girls with bodies like Danielle's did not dance with men with bodies like Dagin's.
But, impossibly, Dagin repeated: "Please, Ms. Dryden...will you join me in this dance?"
The moment hung suspended in Danielle's mind. The image of Dagin smiling at her, offering his hand, was joined by that of her parents watching it happen, flabbergasted. She next became aware of every set of eyes in the room, human and alien, resting on her, and of hundreds of bulging pupils, gaping mouths, whispering voices and wagging tongues. And then it was her mother again, grinning like a schoolgirl and nodding at her. She gazed back up at Dagin. There was not a hint of insincerity and mockery about him. This was real. "You do
The president went on, "Now, for those whose custom is to dance, Prince Dagin will invite one member of the party to join him in the first dance of the evening." She turned graciously to the prince: "Your Highness...?"
Even as the sound system brought up classic waltz from the days before humanity first reached into space, a hush of anticipation fell over the tables. Every female human and quite a number of the males anxiously watched Dagin step out from behind his table and down onto the dance floor. His smile did not so much waver as it narrowed into an almost mischievous crease of his lips. He strode across the empty space between the raised area and the rest of the party, his eyes moving from side to side. Everywhere that humans sat, people grinned and signed and squirmed. They suppressed laughs and giggles and squeals. Step by step, glance by glance, Dagin made his way to one particular area of the party where a dark-haired, tan-skinned beauty in a black dress sat smiling softly and surely at him.
Danielle had noticed the dark woman when she first sat down. She was slim and tall and her curves were sleek and delicate, not broad and wide. She was exactly the type that Danielle knew a man like Dagin or Braden most desired. It came as no surprise to Danielle that such a woman would find the prince's favor.
It did surprise both Danielle and the dark woman when the smiling Prince stepped past with a polite nod at the dark woman and proceeded to the tables beyond her. Danielle blinked in amazement. If the prince did not mean to dance with that black swan, then who...?
The breath all but froze in Danielle's lungs when Dagin stopped at the table where she and her parents were sitting. She glanced over at her mother and realized what must be about to happen. Sylvia looked up, wide-eyed and trembling, at the Prince. It all made perfect sense to Danielle. Her mother was older than Dagin, but of course she had gone under the adipose lasers to reshape the contours of her body from round, full maturity back to slender youth. If Dagin fancied older women, of course Sylvia would catch his attention. What will Daddy say? Danielle silently wondered.
Prince Dagin held out his hand and cordially asked, "May I have the honor of this dance?" It was only after he had spoken the words that Danielle realized in whose direction his arm was extended—and it was not at her mother.
It was an utterly surreal moment that made Danielle wonder if some of the potted flowers in the ballroom were actually Denebian dream blooms and she had accidentally inhaled some of their pollen. Surely only the hallucinogenic pollen of the Denebian dream plant could make her think that the excruciatingly gorgeous prince of the planet Sarma was inviting her onto the dance floor. Girls with bodies like Danielle's did not dance with men with bodies like Dagin's.
But, impossibly, Dagin repeated: "Please, Ms. Dryden...will you join me in this dance?"
The moment hung suspended in Danielle's mind. The image of Dagin smiling at her, offering his hand, was joined by that of her parents watching it happen, flabbergasted. She next became aware of every set of eyes in the room, human and alien, resting on her, and of hundreds of bulging pupils, gaping mouths, whispering voices and wagging tongues. And then it was her mother again, grinning like a schoolgirl and nodding at her. She gazed back up at Dagin. There was not a hint of insincerity and mockery about him. This was real. "You do
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