AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Okay,’ she said slowly. ‘But you didn’t seem to mind a media firestorm when I threatened to upload my pictures on the Internet. So, why are things different now?’
‘Because I’m going to marry you.’ There was a faint edge to his voice. ‘You’ll be bound to the same rules I am, since any scandal attached to your name will then reflect on me.’
‘Yes, but it’s been years since you were at Oxford, Galen. And your people love you. Why would you care about that now?’ Pushing this would no doubt end up making things worse with him, but she couldn’t let it go. If this was going to be an issue at some point in the future, she had to know now. ‘And what if people find out about me anyway? You can’t hide everything for ever. Surely if it got out that you lied about me, that would cause an even bigger scandal?’
‘Oh, you can hide a great many things and for years, believe me.’ His cool blue eyes were sharp. ‘Are you worried about it getting out? Because I can assure you, it won’t. The cover story my team put together for you is specifically designed to generate very limited interest. Enough to explain your miraculous reappearance from the dead, but not enough for anyone to investigate further.’
There it was again, that strangely ‘off’ feeling. As if he wasn’t quite telling her the truth. Because maybe his people hadn’t wanted him on the throne before, yet they certainly did now. He’d proved himself, surely? After over a decade on the throne?
She shook her head. ‘I still don’t understand. Do you not trust your people, Galen? Is that why you feel the need to lie to them?’
‘I’ve told you why. I don’t need to explain further.’ His expression had become icy and hard; he looked every inch the proper king he was supposed to be. Very muchnotthe man who’d taken her hands on the night of the ball, the man who’d seduced her thoroughly in the back seat of a limo, who’d pinned her beneath him only the week before. It was as if that man didn’t exist.
But he did exist, didn’t he? Behind those icy blue eyes and his cool and contained front, there was a different man, a passionate man. A man he was hiding from her, she was sure of it. She just didn’t know why.
Solace came over to him and looked up into his perfect face. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me, Galen? What is it?’
‘Nothing that concerns you.’ He seemed like a stranger now, as if the warm, passionate man she’d known didn’t exist. ‘And I suggest you leave the subject alone in future.’
Her chest ached and she realised with a kind of shock that it hurt he wouldn’t tell her what the issue was. Almost as if she wanted him to trust her just as much as she wanted to trust him.
Have you ever thought that he might not trust you? Trust is a two-way street, remember?
Except she hadn’t remembered. For too long her life had been only about survival, having to focus solely on her own needs, because who else would? Having her son to care for felt like a natural extension of that, but Galen?
He wasn’t a child, but a man with thoughts and feelings of his own. Another person. A person she wanted to trust, but of course that went both ways.
Do you want him to trust you?
She looked up into those cold blue eyes. A mask he wore, she knew, a front. But there was a man behind that front, a man she wanted very much to know if only he’d let her. And yes, she did want him to trust her.
‘I’m going to marry you, Galen,’ she said with some determination. ‘And while it’s true that I don’t know much about marriage, I do know that any relationship has to start with trust. You told me I could trust you. So how about you do me the same courtesy?’
His expression didn’t change. ‘The subject is off-limits, Solace.’
If he thought that was going to put her off, he had no idea who he was dealing with. ‘I see, so is that the marriage we’re going to have? You dictating what we can and cannot talk about? And me meekly accepting it?’ She lifted her chin. ‘What kind of example does that set for our son? What kind of dysfunction will that lead to? Because, believe me, I’ve seen dysfunctional families. I’ve lived in them. And I won’t have that kind of life for Leo. I won’t.’ She let him see her certainty, just so he knew what he was dealing with. ‘So, if that’s the kind of path you want to head down, then I’m telling you now that I won’t marry you.’
At first Galen was conscious of nothing but shock. Then a wild fury burst up inside him that seemed totally out of proportion with a mere refusal.
She couldnotrefuse him now. She’d agreed to the marriage, and he’d swung his whole PR team into action to put together a decent story of her origins and their love affair for the media. Enough to make sure Kostas didn’t start making any trouble.
He’d started looking at his diary for possible wedding dates—asap of course—and had already postponed a visit to Isavere to see Augustine and Khalil, since Augustine was playing host that month. Both his friends had demanded an explanation, but he’d been vague. He hadn’t wanted to tell them about Solace just yet. What he wanted, though, was a honeymoon, because he’d restrained himself from taking her for the past week and he was so hungry for her he could barely think.
Perhaps that had been a mistake. Perhaps he shouldn’t have kept his distance. Part of it had been wanting to make sure Kostas didn’t start paying too much attention to his visits to the little house where Leo was, and wondering why he was going more than usual and staying for longer. And part of it was wanting to test himself. It wouldn’t be necessary, not once they were married, but the challenge would do him good. Because marrying her didn’t change the fundamental problem: he wore a crown that might not be his and his past was still an issue while his uncle remained a threat.
He’d also thought she’d need some time to adjust.
Except he hadn’t wanted her to adjust so far that she’d changed her mind about marrying him after all.
Trust. Why was she talking about that? She’d given him hers that night in the palace and he hadn’t betrayed it. He never would. But surely she couldn’t expect him to tell her everything? He couldn’t tell her his secret. Even one other person was one person too many, and, when it was his country’s safety at stake, he couldn’t be too careful.
‘No,’ he said, iron hard, trying to crush the possessive fury that threatened to strangle him. ‘You cannot refuse. You will be marrying me and that is final.’
But she kept shaking her head. ‘You can’t make me, Galen.’
‘I can make you do anything I please,’ he snapped, before he could think better of it. ‘I’m the King.’
‘Really?’ she snapped back, grey eyes going silver with annoyance. ‘I would never have guessed.’
