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Cressida lowered her gaze, knowing he was referring to his failed engagement with her older sister, Olivia. The fact that she was a replacement bride should offend her, but she couldn’t blame him for wanting Olivia as his first choice. Her sister was graceful and beautiful with a flawless talent for public speaking. Who wouldn’t want her as their Queen? The arrangement between Monteverre and Zayyar had been in negotiations for months until her sister had chosen to walk away before accepting the proposal.
‘You are our last chance, Cressida. Make me proud.’
‘Tell me why you didn’t reveal yourself straight away,’ she said, ignoring the echo of her father’s voice in her mind and firmly throwing down the gauntlet between them. She simply could not go ahead with the deal if tonight had been some kind of practical joke. She had some pride. But could she truly return to Monteverre a failure?
‘It was interesting to find myself meeting you without the complication of my own identity in the way,’ he said simply.
‘You see yourself as a complication?’ she asked quietly, mulling over his words.
‘When seeing a person as they truly are, yes.’
She raised her brows at his honesty. She knew all too well how the world changed once people knew you had a title in front of your name. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
‘I am not in the habit of using women as toys to amuse myself—was that what you accused me of?’ He raised one brow in challenge. ‘However, I will admit when I am wrong. I should have immediately announced my identity once I realised you had no idea who I was.’
‘Yes. You should have.’ She bit her bottom lip, trying not to look at him directly lest she be overtaken by another flashback to what it had felt like to be in his arms.
‘But perhaps none of that matters, as you have said you are finished with all of this and never wish to see me again.’ There was no playfulness in his words as he moved across the room to take a seat in the living area. ‘Truthfully, this entire deal has been a fiasco from the start, with your father’s lies and manipulations. It’s clear to me now that you can’t have been entering into this marriage willingly if this is how you choose to spend your free time.’
Cressida felt a prickle of irritation rise within her at his easy reclined posture and flippant judgement. There was no way she was going to beg this arrogant man to honour their agreement. And yet she was not quite ready to return to Monteverre if that meant her father lost the deal that would salvage their kingdom’s failing economy.
She settled for a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. ‘This is an unusual situation for me, Your Highness, not that it’s any of your business.’
‘Perhaps both of us acted on impulse, Princess. But still, now I’ve met you I can’t see how you will be happy away from the freedom and thrills of this kind of life. I have a duty to my people to give them a Queen who will be fulfilled by her role.’
‘Why not just leave me here, then?’
‘I am taking you back to your kingdom, just as I promised I would.’ He watched her, his expression entirely unreadable. ‘Your father made it very clear that your time in London had come to an end. But, considering recent events, I also made sure to consult my own sources. They told me that you are no longer enrolled with the university and the lease on your apartment has been cancelled.’
Her father had been quite busy this past week. He had not been happy when she’d told him of her wish to accept the teaching position, even before Olivia had walked away from the deal with the Sheikh. Cressida swallowed hard, moving to take a seat directly across from him in the luxurious living area. She had been fully prepared to return to her home country right up until approximately two hours ago. Why all of a sudden did it seem more favourable to walk through hot coals than to set one foot on Monteverrian soil?
She straightened her shoulders, making direct eye contact with the man across from her for the first time since they had entered his suite. ‘I know that you have spent months on these negotiations. My father told me that you had already begun to invest millions, according to the deal, before my sister walked away from the arrangement.’
His eyes narrowed slightly, the rest of his expression utterly still. Clearly he’d had practice in holding his reactions in check.
Cressida crossed one leg idly over the other. ‘It’s clear to me that both our kingdoms stand to lose if we walk away.’
He was thoughtful for a long moment. ‘There is much at stake. But tonight has made me question some things. I did not expect you to be a saint, Princess. You have clearly lived a life of...freedom...during your time here.’ He looked at her pointedly. ‘But a man in my position requires one hundred per cent loyalty from the woman by his side. To project an image of stability and unity.’
She chewed on the inside of her lip, fighting the urge to shout that she had never even kissed a man before tonight, but she resisted. ‘I would like to propose that tonight should not have any bearing on our arrangement.’
‘And yet it does.’ He cleared his voice, angling his face away from her. ‘There was something between us tonight—an attraction. A political agreement such as this one does not mix well with emotional involvement.’
‘You think I am emotionally involved after one kiss?’ she asked.
He tensed. ‘I mean that sometimes people tend to read more into simple physical chemistry.’
And by people he meant women, clearly. She fought against the urge to roll her eyes. ‘I am not one of those people,’ she said pointedly. ‘I don’t particularly do emotional connections. I have always been perfectly happy with my own company.’ She didn’t tell him that it wasn’t really her choice to be so cold, simply a part of her make-up.
The Sheikh stood, pacing to the sideboard at the corner of the room and pouring himself a glass of iced water. ‘So if I am willing to go ahead with the arrangement, you wish to uphold your end of the bargain?’
Cressida took a deep breath, mulling over her words carefully before she spoke. ‘I think I would be willing, but only once I know that the terms will remain the same. That it will not be a...a true marriage.’
* * *
Khal paused at the slight tremor in the young Princess’s voice. She sat perfectly poised on the low-slung sofa, long slim legs tucked demurely to one side. One would never guess she had been virtually plastered to his front less than an hour before. He cleared his throat, pushing the images from his mind. ‘The legal agreements you have already signed state the general terms of the union. What they do not overtly mention is that absolute fidelity is required, along with every effort to maintain the perfect image. So while we might not be sharing a bed as man and wife, I assure you that I would still expect a true marriage.’
A strange look crossed her features. She took a moment of pensive silence before looking up to meet his gaze head-on. ‘Are those rules the same for you?’
