She looked up at him, cheeks going pink. ‘I…thank you for saying that.’
Caius was momentarily mesmerised by her huge eyes and how they were glowing. He was forgetting that because of her father’s archaic rule, and Caius’s moment of weakness, they were now locked into this situation. But somehow, the necessary ire didn’t feel as potent.
‘You were here, living with him through each marriage?’
She nodded again. ‘I was in boarding school for most of the year and then I used to visit my mother sometimes in upstate New York where she lives. Then I was in university in America.’
Even though she’d managed to escape these four walls Caius could well imagine what that must have been like when she had been here. He knew what a goldfish bowl it was to live in a royal palace. Everyone watching. No privacy. People looking at her every time her father failed to sire another child and moved on to another woman.
‘If it’s any consolation, I grew up being that coveted golden heir and it didn’t work out so well for me, either.’
The music stopped at that moment and everyone clapped and cheered. Caius blinked and looked around. He’d actually forgotten for a moment about the crowd around them.
The guests were coming onto the dance floor to join them. Caius spied Cassie and Ares and even though Poppy had met them in passing earlier he introduced them properly now. Cassie shook Poppy’s hand, smiling. ‘From one queen to another, welcome to the small club.’
Caius noticed how stiff Poppy was but she seemed to relax under Cassie’s sunny warmth. Not many could resist his sister. Certainly not his best man, Ares, who had a protective arm around Cassie now. Something Caius was still trying to get his head around.
‘Thank you, and congratulations on your engagement.’
Cassie smiled even wider and grinned cheekily at Caius. ‘I really didn’t have my beloved brother getting married before me,andbecoming a king again, on my bingo card for this year but he never fails to surprise.’
Caius glared at his sister to shut her up and said, ‘King consort, Cass, not king.’
He felt Poppy’s surprised glance at him. Obviously she’d not expected him to be happy to take a back seat in this relationship. But considering how her father had fought so hard for a son, maybe he could understand her expecting a male to want to dominate.
Except when he thought of domination now, all he could think of was of dominating Poppy in a much more basic and carnal way. Not that she would let him dominate her. She hadn’t that first night. It had been an electric dance. And he wanted to dance with her again.
His resentment of this whole situation wasn’t proving to be much of a deterrent.
An aide stepped forward and spoke into Poppy’s ear. She looked at Caius. ‘We can leave now.’
Relief swept through him to think of getting away from under all of these eyes. His sister’s cheeky grin, as much as he loved her.
He kissed his sister on the cheek. ‘Talk to you soon, Cass.’ He looked at his friend and said sternly, ‘Take care of her.’
‘Always,’ responded Ares, not even looking at Caius. Looking at his fiancée with an expression of such protectiveness and naked emotion that it made Caius feel like a voyeur and also something much more uncomfortable. A kind of wistfulness that freaked the hell out of him.
He turned away and he and Poppy followed the aide out of the ballroom while everyone clapped and raised their glasses to the newly-weds.
Once outside the ballroom, Caius undid the top button of his dress jacket. Stephen was waiting and he looked at them with a smile on his face. ‘Your things have been packed. The boat is ready.’
Caius’s fingers dropped from his throat. ‘Wait, what boat? Where are we going?’
Poppy turned to him. ‘To the island in the lake. It’s tradition for royal newly-weds to go there for the first few nights. It was in the information we sent you and you never objected so…’
Caius had a vague memory of his assistant in New York handing him a folder, saying, ‘This is all the wedding information,’ but that had been at the height of the financial snafu and Caius had just pushed it aside.
‘Firstfewnights? What does that mean?’
‘It’s to give us a chance to be seen to…’ She trailed off.
Caius put up his hand. ‘I get it.’ To be seen to be honeymooning. So when the pregnancy was announced within the next few days, it could be believable they’d conceived out of genuine affection. To perpetuate some myth.
But all Caius could think about was that he hadn’t really considered what would happen at all and he’d somehow believed that he’d be able to just get on a plane again and leave. But now it would appear he was to be incarcerated on an island.
‘A few days, nights, is that really necessary?’ Caius sent an explicit glance down to her belly and back up. ‘We both know the deed is done.’
Poppy gritted out, ‘The people don’t know that.’
