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‘There is no such person. I haven’t yet selected a bride.’
Frankie felt as if her head was about to explode. ‘“Selected” a bride?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You make it sound like shuffling a deck of cards and drawing one at random.’
‘It is far from a random process,’ he said with a shake of his head. ‘Each of the women have been shortlisted because of their suitability to be my wife.’
‘So go back to your damned country and marry one of them.’
He swept his heated gaze over her body, and goosebumps spread where his eyes moved.
‘Think it through,’ he said finally. ‘What happens if I do as you say—if I return to Tolmirós and marry another woman. She becomes my Queen, and Leo is still my son. Our son, mine and my wife’s. I will fight for custody of him and, Frankie, I will win.’ A shiver ran down her spine at his certainty, because she knew he was right. She knew the danger here, for her. ‘I will win, and I will raise him. Wouldn’t you prefer to avoid an ugly custody dispute, a public battle that you would surely lose? Wouldn’t you prefer to accept this and simply agree to marry me?’
‘Simply?’ There was nothing simple about it. ‘I would prefer you to go right away again.’
He made a small sound—it might have been a laugh, but there was absolutely no humour in it. ‘No matter what we might wish, this is the reality we find ourselves in. I have a son. An heir. And I must bring him home. Surely you can see that?’
The city twinkled like a thousand gems against black velvet. She swallowed, her eyes running frantically over the vista as her brain tried to fumble its way to an alternative. ‘But marriage is so...’
‘Yes?’
‘It’s so much. Too much.’ She spun back to face him, and her heart thudded in her chest. Marriage to this man? Impossible. He had embodied so many fantasies in her mind but, over time, the lust which might have become love, given the proper treatment, had instead turned to resentment.
He’d disappeared into thin air, and she’d made her peace with that.
Now? To expect her just to marry him?
‘Why? People do it all the time,’ he said simply, moving across the room and pouring a generous amount of Scotch into two tumblers. He carried one over to her and, despite the fact she didn’t drink often and the wine had already made her brain fuzzy, she took it as if on autopilot.
‘Do what all the time?’ Her mind was still fumbling for something to offer that might appease him.
‘Get married because it makes sense.’
Now it was Frankie’s turn to make a strangled sound. Not a laugh, not a sob—just a noise driven by emotions emanating from deep in her throat. ‘People get married because they are in love,’ she contradicted forcefully. ‘Because they can’t bear to spend their lives apart. People get married because they are full of optimism and hope, because they have met the one person on earth whom they can’t live without.’
She spoke the words with passion, from deep within her soul; they were words that meant the world to her. Words by which she lived. But each word seemed to have the effect of making Matthias withdraw from her. His handsome face tightened until his features were stern and his eyes flinted like coal.
‘A fantasist’s notion,’ he said at length. ‘And not what I’m offering.’
It was such an insult that she let out a sigh of impatience. ‘It’s not what I’m asking for—not from you, anyway.’ She ignored the strange thumping in the region of her heart. ‘I’m explaining that marriage means something.’
‘Why?’ He took a step closer to her, his eyes so focused on her they were like a force, holding her to the spot.
She frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Why can it not just be that it makes sense?’
‘Making sense,’ Frankie said with a shake of her head, trying to break free of the power his gaze had over her ability to think straight, ‘would be us working out how we’re going to do this.’ It hurt to think
of sharing Leo, but she pushed those feelings aside. This was about Leo, not her. ‘You are his father, and it was always my wish that you’d be involved in his life. I can bring him to Tolmirós for a visit, to start with, and we can allow him to gradually adjust to the idea of being the heir to your throne. Over time, he might even choose to spend more time over there, with you. And of course you can see him when you’re in New York.’ Yes. That all made perfect sense. She nodded somewhat stiffly, as though she’d ordered a box neatly into shape. ‘There’s definitely no need for us to get married.’
‘I say there is a need,’ he contradicted almost instantly. His voice was calm but there was an intensity in his gaze. ‘And within the month.’
‘A month?’ Her jaw dropped, her stomach swooped and spun.
‘Or sooner, if possible. We must act swiftly. There is much you need to learn on the ways of my people. Much Leo will have to learn too.’
‘Hang on.’ She lifted her hand, pressing it into the air between them as though it might put an end to this ridiculous conversation. ‘You can’t talk like it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll marry you! You’ve suggested it and I’ve said, “Absolutely not”. You can’t just ride roughshod over me.’
His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. ‘Do you think not?’
