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Fortunately her father was too incensed to notice that she was struggling to come up with an answer and didn’t have the patience for her to formulate one. ‘After we had already agreed that you would marry Lord Richton this morning?’
Oh, dear. Lord Richton. She had completely forgotten about him. If the floor were to open up and swallow her whole right now, she wouldn’t mind.
‘Lord Richton is no longer in the picture,’ the Prince declared, his hard-packed body lethally tense beside her.
Alexa frowned at the way he took control of the situation, at the way he took control of her, as if he had every right to do so.
Just then a flutter of movement caught her eye and Alexa was appalled to note that they were no longer alone. Some of the King’s other overnight guests had also come out to the terrace to view the stunning gardens.
‘Why don’t we take this discussion inside?’ King Jaeger offered smoothly. ‘The terrace is hardly the place to discuss something of this magnitude.’
Her father looked like he wanted to argue but gave a curt nod.
Rafe settled his hand in the small of her back, causing a jolt of fresh awareness to race through her.
‘After you,’ he said politely.
Hanging back from her father and his brother, Alexa glanced up at him from beneath the fringe of her lashes. ‘Why on earth did you tell them we were betrothed?’ she whispered hoarsely, absently noting that Rafe had matched his stride to hers.
‘Because I could hardly tell your father that I wanted to take you to bed, and that you wanted to be there. I do value my life,’ he countered.
Not nearly enough, she fumed silently at his cavalier answer.
‘Just because I kissed you does not mean that I want to sleep with you!’ she hissed, wondering if she would have had the wherewithal to deny him this time if it had come to that.
‘My apologies, Princess. I assumed you wouldn’t want a scandal any more than I do, and you did ask me to marry you. I thought it was what you wanted.’
It had been. Last night. Last night, before he had kissed her and brought forth a whole host of emotions she didn’t want to feel. Before she had dreamt about the two of them in bed together. Naked.
Easing out a choked breath, Alexa nodded at King Jaeger as he held a door open. She reluctantly followed her father inside, with Rafe so close behind her she could feel his body heat through her clothing.
At least she understood his thinking now. He’d promised his brother that he wouldn’t create a scandal and so he’d improvised by taking up her proposal. Something she should feel much better about, given that it was her idea and it had been what she wanted.
Only the purpose of asking the Prince to marry her was to gain control of her life, and she somehow felt that she was about to lose it altogether.
She surreptitiously placed a finger against her temple, which had started to throb. She supposed there was no other option but to go along with it now because Rafe was right; she didn’t want to marry Lord Richton, and she had always viewed a fake engagement as a better option.
King Jaeger offered her father a seat but he refused, choosing to stand beside an oak dresser, his arms folded across his corpulent chest.
Rafe planted himself in the middle of the room, his legs braced wide on the silk rug, facing his brother. Not wanting to be the only person in the room seated, Alexa chose to remain beside him, even though her legs felt as capable of holding her up as matchsticks.
‘Well, now that we’re all standing,’ King Jaeger began with a resigned note in his voice, ‘would someone mind explaining what’s going on here?’
‘There’s nothing to explain,’ Rafe began. ‘Alexa and I share a certain chemistry, and have decided to take things further.’
Wondering why he hadn’t led with the political advantages their union would bring, Alexa was only grateful that he hadn’t chosen to reveal how she had approached him the night before.
‘When did this happen?’ her father asked suspiciously.
‘We spoke about it last night,’ Rafe answered, throwing her a heated glance that told her exactly which part of last night he was thinking about. ‘At length.’
‘If you spoke about it last night, Alexa—’ her father’s gaze pierced hers ‘—why did you agree to marry Lord Richton during the meeting this morning?’
‘Last night I got cold feet,’ Rafe interjected smoothly, placing his arm around her waist. ‘It put Alexa in an awkward position. After thinking things through however, I now know what I want. Do you think we could ring for coffee? I’m parched.’
‘I was addressing my daughter,’ her father snapped impatiently. ‘Alexa can speak for herself.’
Yes, but nowhere near as eloquently. She was almost in awe of how the Prince could reveal so much and yet so little at the same time.
