by Maisey Yates
“So they did not believe you,” he said. “Even when you made it clear that their choice of husband was a sociopath. And they didn’t believe your friend’s father, yet they swept your disappearance under the rug when threatened with their forcing to wed being exposed?”
“That’s the size of it,” she said stiffly.
“Where did they tell people you’d gone?”
She rolled her eyes. “To India. To find myself. They couldn’t very well tell everyone I’d gone into hiding to lose them.”
“How did you find Astrid?”
“She had put out inquiries in my circle about hiring a personal assistant. Of course, a queen does not advertise in the paper. But it made the rounds on the Upper Eastside, and I found out about it. I decided that it would be a fantastic place for me to seek shelter in. I knew a great deal about putting together functions. I had a great many contacts. And I had experience organizing a variety of different events, and schedules. I knew that I could do the job, and whatever I couldn’t do I would learn. Because it’s really quite amazing what necessity will do for you.”
“So Astrid hired you, and did not inquire about your identity?”
Latika shook her head. “I told your sister. I didn’t feel right about coming here for shelter without making it very clear that I was running. It wouldn’t have been fair.”
Some tension drained from his body. “So you have been honest?”
“Yes. Only Astrid knew the truth. But I felt that as long as Astrid did know it was fair.”
“I can’t fault you for that.”
“What is it you expect?” Latika asked. As if this had been his idea. As if he were the one who’d flung himself across the ballroom and into her arms. It wasn’t fair and she knew it. But she felt slightly helpless just now, and it pained her to feel this way.
“I expect for this to be a marriage,” he said. “Because there is little else that will keep him away from you.”
“I know,” she said, muted. “I did already think that through. An engagement would keep him at bay, and it would certainly give me more visibility. But, when we broke off the relationship I am certain that I would come out looking like the villain.”
He chuckled. “How would you come across looking like a villain after the loss of an engagement to a Playboy Prince?”
“There’s a very particular appendage you have that makes you much easier to forgive in the eyes of the public.”
“True,” he said. “I won’t pretend that I don’t know what you’re talking about. Being Astrid’s twin has not allowed for me to ignore gender disparity. She has behaved above reproach almost all the years of her life. And still, her ability to rule the country has been questioned, time and time again. I am the one whose competence should be questioned. And regularly. I have never once given the impression that I was overly competent or stable. I am. But I have never demonstrated. Astrid on the other hand has spent a lifetime devoted to Bjornland, and to cultivating a good reputation and yet...it never seems to be enough. It certainly wasn’t ever enough for my father, who thought that I would be the superior choice to be on the throne by simple virtue of the fact that I have a penis.”
“It is unfair,” she said. “But it is true. Additionally, there would be no point in trying to cast you as the villain. The entire point of this ball, the entire point of you getting married in the first place was to improve your reputation. Should we throw up a barrier by deciding to start a rumor that you were unfaithful to me... And infidelity is the only way I could possibly see me coming out the victor... No. I won’t do it. I won’t do it to Astrid.”
“And as you said already, it opens you up to vulnerability. No, legal marriage is likely the only thing that will keep him at bay. And a promise.”
“What?”
“We will offer him something. Some sort of diplomatic prize. If he is to set foot in Bjornland again, he will find himself in a jail cell. The fact of the matter is, I have spent a great deal of time running in the circles that he has enjoyed. And I have heard many allegations from women about his behavior. Allegations themselves may not hold up in court, but we have the luxury here in this country of bypassing due process provided the crown sees fit to arrest someone.”
“Could you really do that?”
“I could. It would create an incident. Likely a scandal the world over. But, I think that he is conscious enough of his own desire to stay out of prison that it will keep him well away from the borders of this country. Should he set foot over, should he show up in our immigration records, I will have him dealt with. But, that only protects you here. Outside of this place, it would not offer you protection. Only notoriety in marriage would. On that score, he was correct. But he was stupid to tell you. Stupid to think that you, a woman who has been in hiding to escape him for years, would not act in a way that was absolutely necessary to ensure your safety. Clearly, he underestimated you.”
“Clearly,” Latika agreed. “He underestimates women.”
“Likely.”
“Can we really have this done in two weeks?” she asked.
“We would be foolish not to. As you said. We must neutralize the threat. Legally tying you to another man, and embroiling you in a media circus so that everyone in the entire world knows your face... It is the easiest way to keep you safe. You must either be invisible or visible to all. And as you have lost your invisibility...”
“How long will the marriage last?” she asked.
“I am sorry, darling, but marriage is forever. At least, from my view it must be.”
“But I...”
“If you thought that you could use me as a temporary solution, I’m afraid that you were mistaken. You’re very clever, throwing yourself at my mercy and crying sanctuary. But we are a royal family. We cannot subject ourselves to the scandal of divorce.”
“Of course not,” she said, muted.
“Now, that did not stop my parents from having affairs.”
The very thought sent a burst of strange pain through her body. “I have no interest in affairs,” she said stiffly.
“Such is your devotion for me?”
“I see no need for it,” she said. “It opens us up to pointless censure. The sort of thing we don’t need.”
“Well then,” he said. “Feel free to conduct your business as you see fit.”
“And yours?”
“Sadly for you, you are not in a power position.”
He was correct. It was the thing that galled her so badly. She had used him. She had used the opportunity presented before her, because how could she not. But Gunnar had only been on his back foot for a few moments, and now it was clear that his was the position of power.
He had been intending to marry anyway, and whether or not it was her or anyone else would hardly matter to him. In fact, all she had done was deliver him an easier bride.
She was the one who would be grafted into a life she had not wanted.
Finding herself potentially shackled to a man she didn’t even like.
But you are fascinated by him...
It didn’t matter. He was ridiculous. A disreputable playboy.
With a multibillion-dollar company?
That made her wonder if there was more to him.
But she still couldn’t... She couldn’t fathom sharing a life with him. She could barely share a room with him without wanting to throw something heavy at him.
“I suppose...” She took a breath. This was the only part that would salvage it for her. The one thing that she wanted, above all else. “I suppose there will be children.”
“No,” he said, firm and decisive.
That shocked her. So much so she couldn’t believe he’d said them. “What?”
“I’ve no desire for children.”
The word settled over her skin, a strange, buzzing sensation fil
ling her ears. “You’re a prince. Surely you must produce heirs.”
“My sister has done so already.”
“What if something were to happen to him? God forbid, Gunnar, but it must be considered.”
“She will have more children. She and that husband of hers will likely fill the palace. He is Italian.”
“That is an incorrigible thing to say.”
“I am incorrigible.” He shrugged a shoulder. “My father was a tyrant. My time spent in a father-son relationship was unendurable. I have no interest in revisiting it. I have no interest at all in being father to anyone or anything. That word is forever tainted for me. And, as I have no need of producing children...”
“But think of what it would do for your standing in the media.”
“Oh, I daresay they will be fine taking photographs of us at various parties. You will be the envy of women the world over.”
“Because I’m with you?”
“Obviously.” He lifted a shoulder. “I’m rich and handsome. Titled as well. You will be a style icon because you are my wife. Many women would have wanted such an honor. And you have it now.”
“But no children.”
“Surely your position as one of the top influencers in the world will compensate for that.”
Anger vibrated in her core, but she said nothing.
This was worse than she could’ve possibly imagined. She had not simply trapped herself in a marriage, but she had trapped herself in a childless one. She wanted to be a mother. To fulfill that loneliness inside of her. To repair the distance that she had always felt in her relationship with her own parents, by being a better mother to her children.
And he was not allowing it. He was taking this from her.
It was a thing she could not endure.
But what could she do? She was completely and utterly trapped. Between a madman, and one who had just laid down an edict for her life that she did not know if she can survive. Still, she would have to take Gunnar. Because the alternative may very well actually kill her.
“Well,” she said. “If there are to be no children, and you are happy to have affairs. Then I see no point in the two of us having sexual relationships.”
Something in his gaze changed. It turned to ice. And then to blue flame. “Is that what you think?”
“As you said. You do not see any reason for a couple in our position to stay faithful, as your parents did not.”
“And you think that you can resist me?” he asked.
He was utterly sincere. And she would love to laugh in his face.
Sadly, she wasn’t immune to his body, whatever she might want to believe. In fact, his body transfixed her in ways no other man’s ever had. Even now, even as he dashed her dreams of the future to dust, she couldn’t deny the attraction that flared inside of her.
“It may have escaped your notice, but I have done an admirable job of resisting you for the past three years.” That at least was true. She hadn’t—as far as she knew—ever really betrayed her attraction to him. He might suspect, but he didn’t know.
“Well, that is because I have never truly tried to seduce you.”
She sniffed. “You do have a very high opinion of yourself.”
“Well, ask yourself this, Latika. When you needed a port in the storm, where did you look? You looked to me. And I would suggest that that makes me perhaps a bit more than you would like me to be.”
“I think perhaps your mind makes you a bit more than you are.”
“However you like. Don’t think I don’t recognize the heat between us. And don’t think I don’t realize that it is mutual. Whatever I feel for you...you feel it for me.”
“How do you know I feel a thing for you?” she asked.
“You were awfully comfortable coming up and kissing me.”
Heat stung her face. Shame lashing her like a whip. “When people are in burning buildings, they are awfully comfortable jumping out of five-story windows hoping that they land favorably. I was willing to take my chances with you.”
“Call me whatever you like,” he said. “A panic button. The fire you jumped to from the frying pan. A last resort. But your mouth doesn’t lie when it touches mine. It may when you speak, but you cannot deny chemistry such as ours. Not where it counts.”
“I can.”
Because he was denying her children. And so, she would deny him her body. There was perhaps no convincing him she didn’t want him, but that didn’t mean she would weaken in her resolve.
He stared at her, hard. Those blue eyes seeming to look beneath her clothes, beneath her skin. Her heart was thundering, her whole body beginning to tremble. Why did he affect her like this? How?
“You truly expect that we will be married for the rest of our lives and never explore this chemistry between us?” he asked.
She had no defenses left. None but the truth. “It should be no hardship to me. After all, I’ve reached the age of twenty-four without ever having been with a man. What’s twenty-four more years?”
“I did not realize you were so young,” he said, his expression strange.
“I don’t advertise. Do you think my parents waited until I was very old to try and marry me off? Of course they didn’t. They had dynasties to try and make.”
“You think we’ll only be married twenty-four years? That’s not very much time for the rest of your life.”
“I was thinking yours,” she said, her tone stiff. “After all, your age is much more advanced than mine. And also, I may poison you.”
He shrugged. The casual, disaffected gesture such a stereotype she wanted to hit him. “So long as it’s in a good whiskey, I may not even mind.”
“No commentary on the state of my hymen?”
“I’m not surprised,” he said dismissively. “Given how frosty you are, it’s little wonder.”
Damn. The. Man.
“Well then. It seems that you’re not missing anything by being denied my bed and my body. In fact, you should be very happy.”
“Consider me overjoyed. I may find a porn star to celebrate our engagement with.”
“It’s neither here nor there to me, Gunnar. Provided you practice discretion. But then, that’s your part. The improving of your reputation. All I need is to be saved.”
“I hope you enjoy planning your wedding. We haven’t been able to hire you a replacement.”
The man was made of ice. She had expected him to protest...to...to something... Act surprised when she threw her virginity down as a gauntlet.
To act disappointed when she said she wouldn’t sleep with him, which wounded her feminine pride in ways she would rather not admit. But no. He reacted to nothing.
And he never wanted children.
“Do you care for anyone?” she asked. “Do you even care for your sister really?”
“What does the evidence tell you, darling? For while you may not be able to lie with your body, I can lie with anything I want. I will be much more likely to trust you than me in any situation.”
“Well, then I will continue to do so.”
She would have to trust herself. She might have used Gunnar, but she couldn’t trust him. She would have to remember that. She could trust only herself. And in that regard, while many things felt different in her life at this moment, that one truth remained. She had to rely on herself. And she would. Because she was strong. That truth was the only thing that kept her from slipping completely into despair.
CHAPTER SIX
LATIKA WAS A VIRGIN. Or so she claimed. She was also intent on denying him access to her body. Clearly the last-ditch effort of feelings of control in the situation. Or maybe, an attempt to punish him.
Or maybe... Maybe she truly did not desire him in the way that he did her.
But, that seemed unlikely.
Twenty-four.
<
br /> She seemed much older than that.
All these revelations had shocked him to his core. And yet, he could not allow her to see it. And she had the nerve to ask him if he even cared for his sister. She had no idea. No idea of why he lived the way he did. He had done everything he could to protect Astrid, not just from his father. But everything he was supposed to learn in his father’s name. What Gunnar’s father had tried to teach was an abomination.
His father had tried to plant the idea in his mind that women were inferior to men. He’d tried to poison Gunnar’s mind. The cost of his resistance had been great.
Latika thought she knew who he was, based on the lies he’d told the world about himself. She was clearly under the impression that he was every inch the debauched playboy.
It could not stand.
He was going to take her to his office in the States. He would show her what he was.
He couldn’t tell her. Not everything. Not about his father. But he could show her that he was more.
But he would wait. He would wait until after their wedding. Because the thing that he wanted more than anything in the world was the chance to prove her wrong using nothing more than her own body.
She thought she was kept at night stewing in her irritation over him, but he knew differently.
She was only a woman. And he was only a man. Neither of them were above the basic biology that demanded their bodies mate.
Of course, thinking of it in terms of biology brought him back to the moment Latika had thrown down her virginity revelation.