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Rafe gave a mocking stare. ‘Your face gives you away, Princess. Don’t ever play poker. You’ll lose the bank.’
‘Okay, yes, in some small way I was rebelling, but not because I’m perfect, or pampered. Far from it. I don’t want to marry anyone right now, and because I knew my father didn’t approve of you I never imagined he would push us both to the altar the way that he has.’
‘Appears you were wrong.’ He paced away from her to stare out of the window. ‘It seems the bad brother is just as good for his Princess as the good one.’
Alexa frowned. ‘You mean King Jaeger?’
He turned back, his brow lifted in a cynical arch. ‘I do only have one brother.’
‘I... I’ve never compared the two of you like that.’
‘Like I said, don’t play poker.’
‘Okay, fine,’ Alexa conceded. ‘But you can’t deny that you’re totally different from each other. By your own admission you’re not interested in duty and commitment, and you don’t care about Santara or politics. Honestly, your life is completely alien to me.’
‘Because it’s based on pleasure?’
‘Because it’s hedonistic.’ Her face flamed as his eyebrow arched again. ‘What I mean is, you do what you want, whenever you want, regardless of what others think of you. You live by your own rules, and I don’t know anyone else who does that. Frankly, I envy it.’
For a moment he didn’t say anything. Then he sighed and dragged a hand through his overlong hair. Alexa didn’t want to remember how thick and soft it had felt beneath her fingertips but she couldn’t help it. Her gaze drifted over his unshaven jaw and paused on his well-shaped lips. Lips that were skilled and warm.
Suddenly aware that he was watching her just as closely, she lifted her chin and forced her gaze to remain steady even though she was quaking inside.
‘Well, regardless of how this all came about, your father has effectively checkmated us both.’
‘So it would seem.’ Unable to sit still with so much energy coursing through her body, Alexa rose from the sofa, her mind in a whirl. ‘And now we have to un-checkmate ourselves.’ Not that she had any idea how to do that. Her father was more stubborn than a mule when he chose to be.
‘That won’t be possible.’
Alexa frowned as the Prince stared moodily into the glass he was holding.
‘It has to be.’
‘Not without seriously angering and embarrassing both our Kings.’
Feeling trapped, Alexa absently reached for the glass in his hand, taking a fortifying gulp before handing it back with a grimace. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘We do what your father wants. We marry. You get to appease your father and help your country and, if you’re right, the violence between our countries ceases. I get to pay off a long-standing debt I owe to my brother and ease his load.’ He tossed back the remaining contents of the glass and placed it on a low table. ‘But nothing else changes. You live in Berenia. I live in London. At a time that is convenient to us both we’ll agree that the marriage isn’t working and end it.’ His gaze sharpened. ‘Six months should be long enough.’
‘I don’t know if that will work. My people will expect you to move to Berenia.’
‘I expect billion-dollar deals to fall into my lap every day but unfortunately that doesn’t happen either.’
Ignoring his sarcasm, Alexa paced away from him. ‘You really think this will work?’
‘Why not? I have stories written about me that aren’t true all the time. Only this time I’ll be the one in charge of creating the story. I find I quite like the idea.’
Alexa gnawed on the inside of her lip in consternation. ‘I still think we can find a way out of this if we try.’
‘Fine. If you find one, you let me know. As long as it doesn’t make things worse for my brother I’ll be all over it.’
‘And what if six months isn’t long enough to convince everyone that this is real?’
‘Six months will be plenty. But if you’re worried you can just gaze at me adoringly from time to time.’
‘That would only feed your ego.’
‘Something I’m all for.’ His gaze settled on her lips, and heat spiked deep inside her. Suddenly she was thinking about kissing him again and, as if he knew exactly where her mind had gone, his gaze lifted to hers, amusement highlighting the dark blue depths.
