AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I know. I had some time free this afternoon and thought I’d come and visit.’ If he’d noticed her breathlessness, he gave no sign, strolling over to where his son lay on the blanket and bending to pick him up. Leo squealed with delighted laughter as Galen tossed him playfully up in the air a couple of times before settling him in the crook of his elbow.
Leo loved being with his father and it was clear from the brilliant smile on Galen’s face that he loved being with his son.
But she knew that already. All the times Galen had visited, he’d attended to his son’s needs, whatever they were, without hesitation and with absolute authority, whether it was feeding him, changing him, playing with him, or putting him down to sleep.
It made her heart melt to see them together, and as she looked at him now, smiling down at Leo, a tiny part of her couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to have him look at her that way.
He never will. Why would he? Why would anyone?
Yet as soon as the thought had entered her head, Galen looked up and smiled, and her heart clenched tight as if he’d put his fingers around it and squeezed. ‘I’m also here because I need to talk to you.’
Despite his smile, Solace tensed. The sensation, which for years had been second nature due to the precarious nature of her life, felt foreign now and even more unpleasant for it.
You’re becoming too used to the good life. It’ll all come crashing down at some stage and you know it.
No, he’d promised that he wasn’t going to change his mind, that she could trust him, and he’d meant it. And so far, he hadn’t done anything to betray her trust. He hadn’t broken his word and sent her away, hadn’t forbidden her to see Leo. Hadn’t told her he didn’t want to marry her after all.
‘Oh?’ She tried to sound casual. ‘What things?’
Something in her tone must have given her away, because he frowned slightly. ‘Don’t look so worried,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing.’
‘I’m not worried,’ she responded automatically.
He gave her a dubious look, then turned his attention to his son, rubbing his little tummy to make him giggle, before putting him back down on the blanket.
Straightening to his full height, Galen gave her an assessing look. ‘I haven’t changed my mind. If that’s what’s concerning you.’
Solace could feel a blush threatening, which was annoying. She wasn’t especially comfortable with him knowing her well enough to be able to tell what she was thinking. It was a new experience for her, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. ‘I wasn’t thinking that,’ she said with some dignity.
The look in his blue gaze made it clear that he knew exactly how much of a liar she was, but, strangely, he didn’t press her the way he normally did. Instead, he put his hand in the pocket of his trousers and brought out a small velvet box. ‘I came here to give you this.’
She stared at the box, her heart giving another jolt. It looked like a ring box. ‘I—’
‘But before I give it to you, I need to know why you were lying to me just now.’
Okay, so she hadn’t escaped after all.Nowhe was going to press her.
Solace forced her gaze from the box to his face. ‘Only if you tell me why you felt the need to lie about my background.’
An expression she didn’t understand flickered briefly over his perfect features and then was gone. ‘It’s to protect you from any unwanted attention, I told you. And to protect Leo too. The press can be persistent.’
‘You told me my background didn’t matter,’ she pointed out.
‘And it doesn’t.’
‘Yet you want to lie to your people about where I came from? With that nonsense cover story?’
The lines of his face hardened. ‘You have a problem with it?’
‘I have a problem with lying in general.’ She hesitated. ‘If you’re so obsessed with not having any gossip or scandal attached to the throne, then why not just tell the truth? Or were you lying when you said my background didn’t matter?’
‘To be clear,Idon’t care about your background.’ His gaze was now distinctly chilly. ‘But the media will. The Kings of Kalithera marry aristocracy, it’s traditional, plus I’ve a certain reputation to live up to, a reputation I’ve had to work at building. What do you think the media will do if they discover that the heir to the throne is the product of a one-night stand?’
‘Why is your reputation so important though?’
He was silent, then after a moment said, ‘Years ago, at Oxford, I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory. I preferred partying to studying, drank too much, had many...liaisons. The media were all over it and the people here were less than impressed. They weren’t supportive of me being King and I couldn’t blame them. I’ve worked hard to show them those years are behind me, and I don’t want them to think I’m backsliding now.’
She hadn’t known that. She hadn’t known anything about his past, but this put his reluctance to court media attention into context.
