by Tara Pammi
Every cell in Mia jumped at the idea.
She could disappear before Nik returned. And this time, no threat of his could make her step foot in this blasted place again. She’d know what she was dealing with, she could resist him and his dictates for their life better.
Maybe, in time, he’d come to his senses and realize what a burden a wife and a child would be on his lifestyle.
In close confines, with her attraction to him the most irrational, unwise thing she’d ever had to face, Mia would weaken. Not her history with Brian, not her past could hold a defense against the Daredevil Prince.
Because, Nikandros Drakos was one of a kind. He’d trusted her word when another man of his ilk wouldn’t have. He was determined to do the right thing by this child, at least in intention.
And so wrong for her, in every which way.
“I should accept Nik’s order that we marry, just to spite you,” she threw out at the Prince, while her rational mind urged her to accept his help.
Run far, far away. Before you wish for that connection again. Before you want things you can never want with him.
“Nik asked you to marry him?” He stilled with his glass raised halfway to his lips. Thick lashes couldn’t quite hide his shock. “And you refused?” Some new, appraising quality entered his eyes now.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Despite the surreal situation, Mia couldn’t help snorting. “Hard as it may be for you to believe, I’m not interested in a husband. Even one from your illustrious family.”
The illustrious part of it was what had consumed Mia the past few days.
Ignoring the inscrutable Prince, she walked to the French doors and looked out. The air was thick with the fragrance of jasmine, and from this room high up in the palace, the royal courtyard she’d heard so much about was visible. Thousands of colored stones were formed into beautiful geometric patterns, with an open-air gallery.
Visitors were allowed inside some of the rooms once a week, she’d been told by the staff. On national holidays and other occasions, the royal family, dressed in full regalia, walked to the roof.
The King’s Palace, Drakon, the man who even now was trying his best to gauge their tenuous relationship—Nikandros had turned his back on all this. Had made himself into a man in his own right.
Death-defying adventure sports or not, no one could contest his ruthless sense of business, or his meteoric rise as one of the most successful entrepreneurs who hadn’t even reached thirty.
And she had reduced him to nothing better than a stud...a sperm donor. Even she, who knew very little of men and their egos, knew what an insult that had to be. Would she have liked if he’d told her she’d been a convenient screw?
A heaviness settled into her limbs.
Even with his prejudices about her marriage to Brian, Nikandros had been concerned about her the night of the press conference. A part of him had reached out to her that night, had understood what she’d lost.
And if she took this powerful man’s help behind Nikandros’s back, if she ran away, it would completely destroy any hope of an amiable relationship between them. Even worse, it would be a betrayal to Nikandros. And she just couldn’t do that.
The very idea of marriage made nausea rise in her throat, but for the sake of their child, Nikandros and she would have to begin somewhere. Had to put aside their differences. “I’ll not leave Drakon behind his back, and definitely not with your sneaky help.”
“You’re not his usual sort of woman, Mrs. Morgan.”
“I’m not his woman at all. That was a—” Fiery heat claiming her cheeks, Mia cut off her words. “Clearly, you know where he is. Be useful, Your Highness, and share it. I want to see him.”
A brow raised on his arrogant face, just like Nikandros’s did. “At a road race on the mountains of Iedas.”
The most dangerous racing circuit in all of Drakon. The death toll itself on that curve was crazy.
Mia’s heart thumped, a chill pervading her limbs. The grisly pictures from Brian’s car accident spread before her, making her vision blurry. Torn limbs, blood everywhere, lifeless eyes... Panic rose up like an engulfing wave. She couldn’t breathe, her lungs burned.
A firm hand on her shoulders guided Mia to a chair. “Head down between your knees.”
Oxygen rushed into her head and she huffed, as if she’d just finished a grueling training routine. Tears pinched her eyes and nose and she held them off, just.
His chair pulled closer to hers, the Crown Prince took a seat and rubbed Mia’s cold hands. God, she’d give anything to keep him safe, anything to see his blue eyes darken in the throes of passion, to see his languid mouth curve into a...
The ache closed around her throat.
“I’d kill him with my bare hands if I could right now,” she mumbled, anger coming to her rescue. Anger was better than the breath-stealing fear. “I cannot do this.”
Their knees almost touching, his forearms leaning on his thighs, from one breath to another, the Crown Prince transformed. A shadow of ache in his eyes, he looked nothing more than a concerned brother. “Care about Nik?” he replied with a self-deprecating twist to his hard mouth.
“I can’t live through another death like my late husband’s, that’s all. I don’t care about Nikandros.”
“Worrying about Nik comes with the territory of knowing him, Mrs. Morgan. But I will tell you what I always tell myself when he goes off on one of his expeditions.” Amazement and, shockingly—for Mia would’ve thought no other man more self-possessed or born into his role—an echo of dread filled the Crown Prince’s words. “Nik has the luck of the very devil. Always.
“Did you know he’d almost been declared dead at least four times before he reached the age of sixteen?”
“What?” It was impossible to imagine that vitally masculine man as a sick child or adolescent. At death’s door for any other reason except that he’d taunted it. Over and over again.
Andreas nodded, a far-off look in his eyes. “The best medical team in the world thought he wouldn’t reach adolescence, much less live up to the age of thirty and go haring off to climb mountains or trek through Antarctica in the dark.
“But Nik has always defied odds and I always thought it was because of his very will, his zest for life.”
Mia buried her face in her hands, forcing her nerves to calm down. Thoughts whirled and eddied, one crystallizing—the thought of this world without Nikandros in it, was unbearable.
The thought of her own life without seeing those taunting blue eyes and that wickedly curving mouth was unbearable.
And it was too late, for their fates were already tied irrevocably.
Satisfaction gleamed in Andreas’s eyes. As if suddenly everything was falling into its place. “No one can deter Nikandros once he’s decided on a path. If he has proposed marriage to you, he’s committed to you and the baby. My brother has only ever lacked a clear path, not motivation. You have provided it.”
* * *
“What the hell is going on?”
The hairs on the back of Mia’s neck stood at the feral growl in that question.
With a soft pat on the back of her hands, the Crown Prince released her.
Drawing a fortifying breath, Mia turned.
Distrust glittered in Nik’s eyes. Whatever silent battle raged between them, both brothers looked away finally.
Heart thumping against her chest, Mia said, “You left me here.”
It was a miracle if he heard her because all the ache of knowing that he could have died any minute, or that he challenged his own mortality every day, choked her breath in her throat.
It was as if her worst nightmare had come true. Her heart had become encased in ice long ago waiting for her father to give up on his thrill. And now, she’d forever be doing the same with Nik.
Only it would be million times worse.
Because he’d already left a mark on her. All she could do was fight to stop him from taking o
ver her heart.
“I assumed you would not have need of me so soon, Mia. At least not for a while again.” Dark heat swirled in his eyes, setting the context to his words. “How may I be of service to you this time?”
Irrational fury filled every inch of her, propelling her across the room.
The endless waiting through the dark night when Brian’s car had crashed, the guilt and grief, the utter waste of a life just for the thrill of it. How dare he taunt her?
He just stood there, his gaze trained on her, six feet three inches of leanly muscled, rampant male.
Mia reached him and slapped him so hard that her arm jarred at the impact.
He didn’t buck or flinch or even blink. Just stood there like one of those mountains he was intent on conquering. Something dark and elemental glittered in his expression, and just as fast as it flooded her, adrenaline left her.
She swayed, feeling as if every emotion she had successfully submerged for years had returned with a vengeance. Everything was going all wrong. Her temper wasn’t supposed to splinter like this; she wasn’t supposed to care at all. And not for this man who played Russian roulette with his own life.
She couldn’t care about Nikandros and come out intact.
Large hands incredibly gentle on her shoulders, Nikandros steadied her. The initial shock still hadn’t faded from those piercing blue eyes. “Mia...”
But she had nothing to say. Locking the tears in her throat, hands clinging to his waist, Mia hid her face in his chest. Slowly, her breath lost that erratic swing.
The scent of him, woodsy and so inherently male, calmed her. He felt solid, real, utterly male.
“What did you say to frighten her?” he said into the room.
“Mrs. Morgan and I have been getting to know each other.”
If anything, the hardness seemed to settle right into Nik’s bones. “Leave us, Andreas.”
Mia jerked back from him. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Mia.”
Barely had Mia taken two steps when a woman rushed into the room. Her petite figure was neatly encased in a long-sleeved white shirt and jodhpurs. While Mia willed Nik to look at her, the woman rattled off orders to the two aides that had followed her, much like a military general barking commands. They ranged from palace administration to the Crown Prince’s upcoming visit to the United States.
If not for the commanding authority in the woman’s tone, Mia would have assumed it was a secretary. But no, this was the curious middle sister, Eleni Drakos. The world knew very little about the woman, even though she was a constant presence by the side of her older brother.
The moment the aides left the room, Eleni hugged Nik tight.
His harsh features softening, Nik returned the hug.
Between the two giant and gorgeously striking figures her half brothers made, the Princess looked like a plain pixie. She was short but curvaceous, with muddy brown hair that was falling out of her French braid. Everything about her felt indistinct until she smiled.
Then her face glowed, as if she was lit up from within.
Assessing, intelligent eyes turned toward Mia and greeted her with genuine warmth. “Welcome to our home, Mrs. Morgan,” the Princess said, either oblivious or uncaring of the chilly atmosphere in the room.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Mia replied back automatically.
Eleni Drakos ushered everyone to sit, and waved her hand at Mia. “Please, no ‘Highness’ routine for me. Just Eleni. And stay. I came to meet you.”
“Then, please, just Mia,” Mia returned. “I hate being referred to as Mrs. Morgan, and the people who insist on calling me that.”
Mia heard the chuckle from the Crown Prince like some background score, all of her awareness, her breath and her every cell hinged on the icy blue stare that was eating her up from the opposite chair.
Her palm tingled with the need to cup that bristly jaw, to see that blue ice thaw. Longing twisted deep inside of her to feel the vitality of him in the most intimate way possible.
When his gaze lifted to hers, she looked away. What was happening to her? For years, she’d been strong, steady, with such tight control over her emotions. And now, it was as if nothing could corral them anymore.
“I hear congratulations are in order.” Grateful for Eleni’s interruption, Mia tried to smile. “Nik tells me the situation is far from ideal, and I’m sure Andreas has tried to twist your mind upside down until you don’t know what is right or wrong, so let me give you a little advice.”
A growl emerged from Nik’s throat, a sound that sent a path of fire down Mia’s spine. Andreas raised his hands in mock surrender. “Nik should marry Mia if that’s what he wants. After all, the House of Drakos is in sore need of heirs to pacify the public and here’s a ready-made one.”
Mia, Nikandros and Eleni all stared at the Crown Prince, horrified and disbelieving.
“For God’s sake, stop talking about my child as if it were a commodity we ordered by mistake,” Mia interjected acidly, her head swimming.
“Our child.” Nik’s low warning vibrated in the room.
Our child... It was something she had to get used to.
“You don’t look like you’re dying soon, Your Highness,” Mia added with a little acid, tugging her gaze away from Nik with Herculean strength. “And you have Eleni and Nik to follow you. How many heirs do the populace of Drakon need to be content?”
“I was born out of wedlock, and even though father adopted me, I can’t inherit anything,” Eleni added smoothly without missing a beat. “As for my advice, marry him, Mia. Illegitimacy becomes a boulder around one’s neck if you grow up around the palace or even in Drakon. And knowing Nik, he will not let a child of his grow up without knowing him.”
“My little talk with the Crown Prince made me realize I shouldn’t be objecting.”
He was lazily sprawled in his chair, the epitome of rebellion against every atom of tradition in the room, and yet all of Nikandros’s focus stayed on her. They might as well have been alone. “First time in our lives that my brother has done something useful for me.”
She made her voice cutting even as her insides twisted. “All these extreme adventure sports and races, you’re going to kick the bucket soon and I’ll be rid of you anyway. Why fight that fate?”
Eleni gasped but Mia forged on relentlessly, her throat like shredded glass. “Twice widowed before I’m twenty-six and all the benefits that come with being the widow of the Daredevil Prince of Drakon. At least, our child will have a legacy, if not a father.”
“My bride-to-be is relentlessly practical, if nothing else,” Nik said, his gaze drilling into Mia. He turned to Andreas. “I’m ready to be pronounced the Hereditary Heir.”
Another shock, and if she hadn’t been sitting, she’d have crumpled to the ground.
Hereditary Heir? Did that mean he was settling down?
Heart pounding, Mia struggled to make sense of this. A stupid, silly part of her even wondered if he was doing this just to prove her wrong.
“Why are you doing this?” she burst out.
Nikandros shrugged, as if it were every day that he considered a drastic change in his life. “It makes sense for my life now.
“I will not tolerate any interference from you, Andreas,” he continued. “We will clearly demarcate what I’m willing to take on and what I will not touch. I know how to make the economy boom again, and my marriage and the fact that I’m going to have a child soon should let up the pressure the Crown Council has put on you.
“Also convince the people of Drakon that there will be a steady supply of heirs in the coming years.”
If they’d been alone, if there wasn’t a small football-pitch-sized table separating them, Mia would have slapped him again to wipe that arrogant smirk off his face.
And he knew it for that gaze taunted her to try it.
“What about your company?” she threw at him.
“I’m selling it. As for dying soon,” his mouth
curled into a dark smile, “no one has more respect for life and all its myriad challenges than I.
“I’ve discovered a new challenge, one that comes with lifelong dividends.”
“I’m not a challenge to be conquered,” she retorted, her face flaming.
He shrugged, a satisfied gleam in his eyes. She’d started this in front of his siblings and it was clear he felt no shame in finishing it. “I not only intend to enjoy a long life, but a fruitful marriage so that I can teach you a lot of things. After all, a lifetime is not going to be enough for us to learn each other.
“Is it, Mia?”
Breathless and shaky, Mia could only stare as a soft heat chased the shock out of her body.
It was the last thing she’d expected of him. To share his brother’s duty to Drakon. To devote himself to the life he wanted to create with her, for the sake of their child. But would he be satisfied with life as a husband and a father and his princely duties? Could a man who had chased a thrill all his life stand still for long?
Her belief that he could actually see this through, without craving that life again, fought to hold.
Was there hope? Was she actually considering this?
Was she willing to put herself in competition again with some intangible thrill he’d chase?
Because she knew as clearly as her pounding heart, that he wouldn’t let her put any distance between them, even to protect herself. The chase was in his blood and he’d decided to make her his prize.
He was far more ruthless than Brian had ever been, far more calculating and dangerous even in the risks he took.
What separated Nikandros from her ex was that the Daredevil Prince played to win.
* * *
“You’re no more equipped to be a father and a husband than you are to become the Prince that Drakon needs.”
Her bitter words still fresh in his mind Nikandros considered and discarded the idea of chasing Mia through the corridors of the palace. Instead, he stayed put in that vast room, sifting through the reactions to his announcement.
Even in his dementia, Theos had not liked that Andreas had invited Nikandros back into the fold. That Nikandros had once walked away and succeeded in the outside world, that he’d dared to defy the great King Theos would always be held against him.