AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But there was no recovery. No time to process what had happened. He kissed her lower, on her throat, and then his hands moved to the waistband of her shirt, pushing under it and finding the lace cups of her bra.
She was incandescent with pleasure. As he drove her to the edge, she kissed him harder and he kissed her right back. They tumbled off the edge of the world as they knew it, together. He exploded with the force of a thousand suns, their climax mutual and devastating.
And entirely inevitable, just as he’d always said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
INSANITY HAD BROUGHT them together but it was dissipating quickly, leaving only confusion and regret in its wake. His body was heavy on hers and in another world, at another time, she would have lain beneath him all day, stroking his back, feeling him, wanting him anew.
But rage had been the catalyst for this and, with sensual heat evaporating, her rage surged afresh.
‘I can’t believe you did that.’
He pushed up on his elbows and looked at her with eyes that showed emotion—just not emotion she could make any sense of. ‘You were...that was mutual.’
Her stomach plunged. ‘I don’t mean sex. I mean the blood test.’
Relief flashed on his features briefly and he lifted himself off her, extending a hand in an offer of assistance she ignored. She stood on her own and stared down at her outfit—it was in disarray. Shooting him a fulminating glare, she straightened her skirt and tucked her shirt back in place. Her underpants were across the tennis court; she wouldn’t degrade herself by going in search of them.
He expelled a sigh. ‘My parliament requires it. We’ve discussed that. It is done now, in any event. There is no sense arguing over an event neither of us can change.’
It was as simple as that to Matthias. Simple, pragmatic, black and white. Just like their marriage. Just like everything. ‘You’re unbelievable,’ she muttered, looking towards the fairy tale palace with eyes that had started to see things as they really were. ‘I thought this marriage made some kind of sense,’ she whispered, letting her eyes close, and her heart close with them. ‘I thought I could live with it. And maybe I can.’ She could already see how addictive sleeping with Matthias would be. But it wasn’t enough. Every time would destroy her a little more. ‘But Leo shouldn’t have to. Leo... Leo deserves so much better than this.’
There was silence. A heavy silence that throbbed with anger and disbelief. When she looked at him again he’d pulled his shorts on, but his chest was bare so she saw the way it heaved in an attempt to calm his breathing. Finally, he spoke. ‘We are getting married tomorrow.’
‘But we’ll never be a family, will we?’ The words were raw, thick with emotion.
The sun sliced across him, warm and bright. ‘You will be my wife, and Leo is my son...’
‘Sure he is,’ she snapped. ‘Once you have the DNA test results.’
Matthias’s expression darkened. ‘A DNA match will make him my legal heir; it will satisfy parliament. I do not need it to know who he is. Leo is my son. That fact has never been in dispute.’ He spoke softly, perhaps attempting to soothe her, but it didn’t work. She was beyond mollification.
‘You’ll never love me,’ she said quietly. ‘Will you?’
His expression flared with something like panic and her heart shattered. Yet she held her breath and she waited and she watched and, stupidly, she hoped. Finally, he shook his head. ‘Love is not any part of this, as I have said all along.’
It hurt more than it should have. After what had just happened, she felt the rejection more keenly than anything else.
‘And it never will be?’ A glutton for punishment, apparently, she needed him to speak frankly. For him to be completely honest with her.
‘No.’
So emphatic! So certain!
‘So what just happened between us meant nothing to you?’
His square jaw tightened as he looked away from her. He was silent, and she took that silence as confirmation. It nearly tore her in half.
‘And what about Leo?’ she prompted, remembering his little bruised arm with fresh hurt. ‘You do love him, don’t you?’
The pause might as well have been an axe dropping. All her hopes crumbled in that moment. Reality was a pointed blade, one for which she had no shield.
‘He’s my son.’ There was fear in Matthias’s dark, swirling eyes. Fear and panic.
‘For God’s sake, he’s not a damned possession!’ she spat, forgetting her dislike for curse words and giving into the torrent of rage flowing through her like lava. ‘He’s not an accessory you can just put on a damned shelf! Leo is a living boy, a flesh and blood kid who doesn’t give a care about your throne and your traditions and your damned cold heart! All he wants is to have a mum and a dad to play with—parents who adore him and are proud of him, who want to spend time with him, and delight in his achievements.’
A muscle jerked in his jaw and he spoke slowly, as though his own temper was pulling at him, begging to be indulged. ‘That is not the way of royalty.’
