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“Not poor at all, she’d end up a very wealthy independent woman. In fact, this sort of arrangement is made often in the monarchy. It wasn’t until the marriages of the recent British royals that princes married for love at all. Love was never considered. She has the choice to pursue a lover, one who could be her husband in a few years and has chosen not to go down that path. I’ve certainly given her the permission several times over and if she were to call me today, I’d give her that permission again.”
“So? Um… why me?” I nearly had a heart attack even asking the question.
“I find you exciting and because we know virtually nothing about one another, there will be a world of things to discover.” His eyes began to sparkle. “Also, I’m out of time.”
“What if you end up hating me?” I felt nauseous suddenly.
“We’d be entering the same kind of arrangement I would have had with Lucy. It’s already drawn up by my lawyer, just the names need to be changed. My father has a vague idea that I’m doing something like this, but he doesn’t care. Having a divorce in the monarchy will not be nice, especially in such a Catholic country, but I’ve been a bad seed in the press since I started university, one more mark against me won’t really tarnish the tartan. Hopefully, in the years before our divorce, I can turn public opinion around.”
“And what would I be doing during our marriage? I have a budding career and a business here and if I have kids and you in Ireland, wouldn’t I need to stay in Ireland? I mean they wouldn’t just let me leave my husband and take their little princes and princesses?” I was beginning to be irritated by the whole matter.
“You could work remotely, and Ireland isn’t far from New York—only a seven-hour plane trip so, a day’s journey. You could come back often especially for charity events like the one last night. My kingdom would gladly support those.”
While I was starting to pull away from him, he was drawing closer. I think just the idea of my considering his crazy proposition was getting him excited.
“What exactly would this look like for me?” Why was I even considering this?
“Well, should you agree, I’d have you sign a contract today. We’d spend the day having sex or seeing the town, whatever you want. For the next week, we’d go to events that my public relations company would arrange here in New York and make sure that we end up front-page news. Then, you’d pack your bags and head home with me to Ireland. In Ireland, we’d have an engagement party and plan our wedding. Since royal weddings are such a huge deal you wouldn’t be doing much else so whatever you have on your work roster might need to get pushed back a few months. We’d then have the wedding, somewhere in around that time you stop taking birth control, my suggestion is if you sign the contracts today, you should stop taking it today, just so that your body gets ready for conception. We then go on a honeymoon somewhere class and posh and be seen in public again. We’d do another publicity jag when you’ve got your little baby bump showing, I’ll be crowned king, we have our first little royal. We give it a rest for a year and gear up for royal baby number two as it is customary to have an heir and a spare. Since my parents had me late and weren’t able to have another child after me, this will be a nonnegotiable stipulation in the contract. After baby number two is toddling around we can start divorce proceedings. The whole arrangement will last, if all goes well biologically, about five years. The contract is written for ten, but it can be amended after year five. Also, um… my father truly wants four grandchildren. I had to fight him to keep that out of the contract, so he might be more amenable if we stopped and divorced after baby three.”
“Wow.” I was so overwhelmed my head and heart were in knots. “And on the off chance, we don’t hate each other and want to give a real marriage a whirl? Is there a contract for that?
“Yes, there is an addendum which states that the terms can be renegotiated. In this case, a prenuptial agreement can be reached or simply a statement by both of us that we intend to stay married like every other normally married couple in the world.
“Is that why you were so worried about becoming accidentally pregnant? It would mess up the whole contracted marriage thing?” I started to understand how this man ran his world.
“Yes. It would have removed your choice in the matter. I’d be obligated to marry you whether you wanted it or not. Either that or the child would have to be hidden. The monarchy still adheres to rules that don’t really allow us to live in these modern times. So, if I got you pregnant by accident, we’d be planning a wedding.”
