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His eyes met hers, and they were impenetrable, as though he were erecting a physical barrier to keep her locked out of his innermost thoughts.
To her surprise, though, he nodded. “Once. Some years ago.”
“Who was she?”
“Her name is Laurie.” His features tightened as he looked away. “Drink your tea.”
She continued to stare at him for several long seconds before lifting it to her lips and sipping, the sweetness and warmth soothing nerves that were frazzled. Laurie. The name meant nothing to her.
She kept the cup cradled in his hands, watching as he moved across the room to a timber chest she hadn’t noticed before. “Do you still love her?”
His back was turned but she saw him stiffen, and for a moment his hands were still before he continued, lifting something pale from the chest before closing the lid.
She was reminded of the helicopter flight here, when he’d simply ignored the questions he didn’t wish to answer. It had irritated her then but now, after what they’d shared and the fact he was steamrollering her into accepting a hasty marriage proposal, she was indignant.
“One thing’s for sure, your highness,” she said with brusque formality. “I will never marry a man who insists on keeping himself closed off to me. If you expect me to agree to be your wife, then you can at least do me the courtesy of answering some questions.”
He looked at her for several long seconds and then, to her surprise, laughed! A short sound, followed by a rueful shake of his head. “You are a woman who was born to be Emira.”
She blinked, the praise something she hadn’t known she needed to hear. “That’s strange. For so long, the fact I’m a princess has been an abstract concept. An unwanted, cumbersome title I would have done anything to shake. It never occurred to me to think of a royal life as my birth right.”
“It should have done.”
She reached into the bowl he’d provided, removing a plump dried apricot. It tasted like sunshine and happiness.
“So being able to make demands is within an Emira’s purview?”
His smile made her tummy roll. “Speaking with confidence, certainly.”
“Then I confidently command you to tell me who she was.”
His smile didn’t drop exactly, but it lost any of its warmth. “She was in love with someone else. Engaged to him. I should never have let myself develop feelings for her, but we spent a lot of time together and she was unlike anyone I’d ever met.” He lifted his shoulders in a deep shrug. “After that, I accepted a reality I’d always known but never fully understood. Love will not form a part of my marriage – nor is it necessary. I need children, Ella, and perhaps we have already been blessed with this. You are a princess and despite the fact there have been unsavoury articles about you in the press, this can be managed with a little PR.”
It was her turn for a grim smile. She looked away from him to hide the hurt in her eyes. Her brother had said something similar when she’d arrived in Mosar. It was why he was hell bent on sending her out on diplomatic missions, so photos of her carrying out official duties could begin to circulate, replacing the backlog of party-girl shots that peppered the internet.
“I understand why this marriage might make sense to you,” she said quietly, lifting a date from the bowl and holding it in her fingertips. “But it’s not enough for me.”
She took a bite of the date but despite the fact it was delicious, she had to force herself to finish. “I doubt I’m pregnant, and if it transpires that I am, then we’ll cross that bridge at that point. Not before. I won’t agree to marriage just because it’s convenient for you.”
His eyes darkened as he stared down at her. “And I will not let you leave my country when there is the slightest possibility you are pregnant with my baby.”
She sipped the tea because she desperately needed the strength and alertness it was giving her. “My country. My Baby. What about me, Elon? What about what I want?”
“It is too late for that. I should have stopped what was happening, given the lack of protection to hand. You should have told me you were a virgin, so that it would have been patently apparent you weren’t on contraceptives. We both walked into this situation with our eyes wide open – we must both now face the consequences of that.”
An ache burst through her. She felt like a difficult, troublesome hassle, an inconvenience he was having to deal with. Suddenly, she felt unequal, sitting on the floor staring up at him. Pushing to standing, she thrust her hands on her hips, then realised she hadn’t thought this through properly – their bodies were so close to touching, and every whisper of heat and awareness he’d stirred just by looking at her was leaping back to life.
“So when you say you won’t let me leave your country, you’re saying what, exactly? That you’ll keep me here against my will?”
Something sparked between them, fierce and electric. She almost shied away from it, but pride made her hold his gaze.
“If you cannot see the sense of my proposal, then I will keep you here until you are persuaded.”
“Your prisoner?” She demanded indignantly, only a slight tremble in her voice giving away the duplicity of her feelings.
His eyes flashed and her stomach pulled with raw desire. “My guest.” The words were low, throttled by his throat, and her blood began to pound with heat and need.
Her body responded to the promise of that, her nipples tightening against the soft fabric of his robe, her gut rolling.
