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‘Actually I do know that.’ She wasn’t stupid. And she didn’t understand why he was lashing out at her. She was utterly shocked.
‘Do you, Eleni?’ He looked icier than ever. ‘You’ve got freedom here that you’ve never had in all your life. I think you’re confused.’
‘Because I’ve been able to hang out at the beach without worrying about any photographers in the bushes? You think that’s made me think I’m in love with you?’ She couldn’t believe he was saying this. ‘I might not have had a million lovers, but I know how to care. I do know how to love.’
‘No, you know how to acquiesce,’ he said scathingly. ‘How to do as you’re told while suffering underneath that beautiful, serene exterior. While not standing up for yourself.’
‘I’m standing up for myself now.’
He shook his head ‘You’re confused.’
‘And you’re treating me like the child my brother sees me as. You don’t think I’m capable of thinking for myself?’ Was he truly belittling her feelings for him? He didn’t believe her and that hurt. ‘This is real.’
‘No, it isn’t.’
‘Don’t deny my truth.’
‘Eleni.’ He closed his eyes for a second but then he seemed to strengthen, broadening his stance. He opened his eyes and his stark expression made her step back.
‘I have used you. I have treated you terribly. You can’t and don’t love me.’ He drew in a harsh breath. ‘And I’m sorry, but I don’t love you.’ He seemed to brace his feet a bit further apart. ‘We are only together now because you’re pregnant.’
His words wounded where she was most vulnerable. Because underneath she’d known this had never been about her. He never would have sought her out again if he hadn’t been worried about the contraception mistake that night. He’d never wanted to see her again—not just for her.
‘This has only ever been for the baby,’ she said softly.
‘Yes. For its legitimacy and protection.’
‘Yet you were happy to sleep with me again.’
His gaze shifted. Lowered.
He’d been happy to string her along. ‘And Princess Eleni was an easy conquest because she was so inexperienced and frustrated it took nothing to turn her on...is that how this has been?’ She couldn’t bear to look at him now, yet she couldn’t look away either.
‘Eleni—’
‘Maybe I was inexperienced and maybe I was starving for attention—’ She broke off as a horrible thought occurred to her. ‘Have you been laughing at me this whole time?’
Suddenly her skin burned crimson at the recollection of her unbridled behaviour with him. So many times.
‘Never laughing.’ His skin was also burnished. ‘And I’m not now. But you are mistaking lust for deeper affection.’
She didn’t believe him. She couldn’t.
‘So you don’t feel anything for me but lust?’ When he sat with her on the beach and they talked of everything and nothing? When they laughed about stupid little things?
There was a thin plea in her voice that she wanted to swallow back but it was too late. Maybe he’d been trying to keep his distance and now she’d forced him into letting her down completely. ‘You don’t think we could have it all?’
‘No one has it all, Eleni. That’s a promise that doesn’t exist.’
‘No. That’s your excuse not to even try. It works out for plenty of people. Maybe not your parents—’ She broke off. ‘Is this what you learnt from them? Not to even try?’
‘Yes.’ He was like stone. ‘I’m not capable of this, Eleni. Not marriage. Not for ever. Certainly not love.’
‘You don’t mean that.’
‘Don’t I?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘How can you possibly think you’re in love with me?’ He stalked towards her. ‘I seduced you—an innocent. I knew you were shy that night. I knew you weren’t that experienced. Did I let that stop me from taking you in a ten-minute display of dominant sex? No. It made it even hotter. But I got you pregnant. Then I kidnapped you. I forced you into marrying me. Tell me, how is that any kind of basis for a long-term relationship?’ His short bark of laughter was mirthless. ‘It will never work.’
‘It wasn’t like that.’
‘It was exactly like that.’
No, it hadn’t been. He was painting himself as a villain like in one of the games he’d once designed.
‘You don’t care about me at all?’ She couldn’t stop herself from asking it.
‘Enough to know you deserve better.’
‘Better than what—you?’ She stared at him. ‘You’re more sensitive than you like to admit. More caring. You’re kind to your employees, you’ve been kind to me.’ She tried to smile but couldn’t because this was too important and because she could already see he wasn’t listening. And he certainly wasn’t believing her. ‘You’re thoughtful, creative. And you think I don’t mean it.’
‘You only think you mean it.’
Could he get any more insulting? She’d prove him wrong. She glared at him. ‘I know you don’t want any part of royal life. You don’t value what I am. So I will relinquish my title.’
‘What?’ He looked stunned—and appalled.
‘I’ll tell Giorgos that I want to live as a commoner. We could live anywhere then. Here, even. Maybe I could get a normal job, not just cut ribbons and talk to people. I could do something useful.’
He laughed.
Eleni chilled and then burned hot. He’d thrown it back at her—her love. Her proof. He was treating her as everyone else in her life had—as if she were a decorative but ultimately pointless ornament with no depth, no real meaning. No real value. When for a while there, he’d made her think he felt otherwise. That he saw her differently—that he thought she had more to offer. He’d shown her such caring and consideration. Hadn’t he meant that at all?
‘Why won’t you believe me?’ she asked him, so hurt she couldn’t hide. ‘Are you too scared to believe me?’
He just stayed frozen. ‘You don’t mean it, Eleni.’
‘Why is it so impossible to believe that I could love you?’ She demanded his answer. Because she was certain this rejection came from fear. ‘Or that I could want to give up everything to be with you?’
‘So now you think there has to be something wrong with me because I don’t want your love?’ he asked cruelly. ‘Maybe you suddenly want to give up your title because you don’t like being a princess.’
‘Poor me, right?’ she said bitterly. ‘I have to live in a castle and wear designer clothes and have all these things—’
‘You’re not materialistic,’ he interrupted harshly. ‘Things aren’t what you want. What you want is out.’
‘No. What I want is you.’
He stared at her.
‘I want you with me,’ she carried on recklessly. ‘At the palace. Not at the palace. I don’t care. I just want you there wherever I am. I want to know I have you by my side.’ She totally lost it. ‘I don’t care what companies you own or what tech you help create. I just want the man who makes me smile. Who laughs at the same things I do. The man who’s passionate and who, usually, can think like no one else I’ve met.’ She drew in a short breath. ‘What I’m trying to do is put you first. Put you ahead of my brother. My family. My duties and obligations. Don’t you get it? I want you.’
‘I don’t want that,’ he said harshly. ‘I don’t want you like that.’ His eyes blazed. ‘I’m not in love with you, Eleni. Don’t you understand that I’ll never be in love with you? And you’ll soon realise you’re not in love with me.’
She sucked in a shocked breath as his total rejection hit like a physical blow.
Hadn’t the first rejection been humiliation enough? No. She’d had to go on and argue. But the fact was he didn’t want to love her. He never had.
All their time together had been nothing but a physical bonus while he put up with their marriage to make the baby legitimate. Eleni was simply a temporary side issue.
She’
