by Maya Blake
Anger and frustration sparked fire in her eyes. ‘You think I don’t know what he needs?’ She lifted a shaky hand to her temple. ‘I had a system in place. It wasn’t brilliant but it was working—until...’
‘Until?’ he bit out.
Despair replaced her anger. ‘He’s been so good,’ she whispered. ‘We were almost there.’
‘He’s relapsed?’ Remi guessed accurately.
She nodded miserably. ‘Now the hospital won’t take him.’
‘What hospital?’
‘The one I was taking him to for a kidney transplant.’ She shook her head and picked up the cup with a shaky hand. ‘Why am I even telling you any of this?’
He stepped forward and took the cup from her before she dropped it. For one unguarded moment he basked in the added leverage he’d been granted. Then he was reminded of life’s cruelties, and the wisdom of seizing opportunities when they arose. At some point between last night and this morning he’d decided this woman was the answer to his dilemma. He wasn’t about to be swayed by softer feelings.
He set the cup down.
‘What are you doing?’ she demanded. ‘I have to—’
‘Your father doesn’t need water. He needs urgent care.’
‘Yes—the kind that requires money!’
His eyes narrowed. ‘The money I’m paying you?’
‘Of course. Why else would I subject myself to your presence?’ she sniped.
Remi wanted to kiss those insolent lips, run his mouth, his tongue, his teeth over her flawless skin and keep going until he possessed her completely.
He suppressed the wild craving. Just as he suppressed the guilt. For whatever reason, this lust had a hold on him for now, but he knew the moment he had her the thrill would be over. For now he needed to concentrate on achieving his immediate goals.
‘What I’m paying you will be nowhere near enough to give him the proper care he requires.’
She frowned. ‘Of course it will. I spoke to the hospital myself. I know exactly what I need.’
‘Does that include long-term after-care? Does it include a contingency plan if he rejects the organ? Or treating the myriad complications that could arise? What about now he’s relapsed? How long was he to remain clean before they would perform the operation?’
‘Six months,’ she whispered, her face paler than before.
‘So you’re going sit around for another six months before you can reschedule?’
‘Enough with the questions. I really don’t need you to point out my problems to me.’
‘Good. Then allow me to provide a solution.’
Wary blue eyes met his. ‘What?’
He pushed his hands into his pockets, took a step back from her so he could think more clearly without the enthralling scent of her warm, perfumed skin fracturing his thoughts. ‘There’s a clinic in Switzerland, funded by my family. It’s secluded, with state-of-the-art facilities, and most importantly discretion is guaranteed.’
‘Don’t tell me—it’s where you royals go to dry out when you fall off your gilded wagons?’
Remi remained silent. He wasn’t about to confirm that Jules had been the main reason for their association with the Swiss clinic.
‘Why are you taunting me with this medical wonderland?’ she asked guardedly, her arms around her middle.
A deep twinge lanced his chest. He ruthlessly suppressed it. He was providing an immediate solution to a dire problem. One that suited them both.
‘It isn’t a taunt. I can have your father there within the next twenty-four hours.’
She sucked a breath. ‘Why are you helping me? My problems have nothing to do with you, and if I recall correctly I’ve agreed to do what I need to do to earn my keep.’
‘Because I require your services for longer.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘How much longer?’
He hesitated, simply because he hadn’t considered this. How long? Long enough to appease his people? His mother? His own desire for her?
The latter would scorch itself out sooner rather than later. The hotter the passion, the quicker it burned out, right? As for his mother—she’d come round to his idea too. As she’d said, they’d both been seduced by the idea of for ever, only to be disappointed by fate. This time he intended to use his head rather than his heart.
Which only left the well-being of his people. They’d been through one scandal in the recent past. Montegova required stability. Not stability that would cost him a lifetime but for the foreseeable future nevertheless.
‘Remi? What sort of services?’ There was apprehension in her voice, but also hope.
The twinge dissipated and he breathed more easily. ‘I’ll ensure your father receives the treatment he needs to get him back on his feet. You need never worry about him again.’
She took an unsteady breath. ‘And in return...?’ she pressed again.
‘In return, I want you to marry me.’
* * *
Maddie had misheard him. This was cruel payback for her abrupt departure from the hotel. His irritation on arrival on her doorstep, her unwillingness to allow him in, his distaste at being subjected to the evidence of her destitution... All of it amounted to this...this humourless joke at her expense.
The fact that her heart had stopped for several exhilarating seconds, that she’d wanted to snatch the words from the air, hold them in her heart, was equally cruel.
Remi wanted her. She wasn’t blind to that fact. But this... What he’d said...
She shook her head. ‘The door is behind you, Remi. Feel free to use it.’
Brackets formed around his mouth as he stared her down with intense displeasure. ‘Excuse me? Perhaps you didn’t hear—’
‘I heard you just fine. And I don’t appreciate you wasting my time with your jokes—’
‘You think my asking you to marry me is amusing?’
Laughter erupted from her throat before she could stop it. She regretted it almost immediately. In her defence, she needed a coping mechanism against the wild hope that surged when he’d said those words.
I want you to marry me.
Cold reality set in. She looked around the tattered grey kitchen that strained to contain the powerful, endlessly magnetic royal planted in the middle of it. There were no visible contaminants, so she wasn’t hallucinating. No. Remi Montegova was in complete control of his faculties. And the force of his stare strongly suggested that he was awaiting her answer.
Dear God. ‘You’re not joking?’
His nostrils flared, a sure sign that he was offended by her response. ‘I assure you I am not.’
‘But...that doesn’t make sense.’
Her words triggered a shift in his expression. An understanding, almost. He nodded. ‘Perhaps I went about this the wrong way. I need to explain.’
‘Please do,’ she encouraged, still unable to believe her ears.
His gaze flicked to the grimy window before returning to her. ‘After my father’s death we uncovered his extramarital affairs and the existence of Jules. It caused a lot of instability within the kingdom. My marriage and coronation were supposed to allay that but then...’ His jaw tightened. ‘Then I lost Celeste and I had to put off taking the throne.’
‘Why does that matter? Your people still love you, surely?’
Something flickered through his eyes, but his demeanour remained austere. ‘My mother wants to step down from the throne,’ he announced solemnly.
The unexpected revelation drew a gasp. ‘That means you’ll be...king.’
He nodded. ‘It’s not exactly news, but it seems there’s a new urgency now.’
‘Why?’
‘The Montegovan people are forward-thinking in many ways, but they’re also traditionalists. They would prefer a widowed monarch than an unmarried one.’
&nbs
p; ‘You mean they think you’re unsuitable because you’re single?’
He shrugged. ‘To them I may be king, but I’m also just a man, subject to the weaknesses of the flesh. They don’t expect me to live a monk-like existence. And, as my father proved, even married monarchs aren’t infallible.’
The idea of Remi with a faceless woman shot a dart of anguish through her. She struggled to keep it from showing. ‘So to take the throne you need to be married?’
‘In the face of the challenges my family is currently facing, yes.’
She snatched in another shaky breath. ‘And you think choosing someone like me to be your...your wife is the answer?’ Even saying the word left her a little dazed. ‘Didn’t I read somewhere that you have a handy list of potential brides to choose from?’
His features clenched. ‘I won’t be dictated to on who I choose as my wife and Queen.’
Her heart stuttered again. ‘Are you telling me there aren’t committees and meetings and strategising before royal marriages are arranged?’
He remained silent for a minute. The atmosphere throbbed with charged emotions before he spoke. ‘Celeste and I met at a tea party thrown by the royal housekeeper for her grandson when I was six and she was three. My mother didn’t believe in separating the staff’s children from the royal children. Celeste could easily have been the granddaughter of the stable manager and we would still have been engaged to marry.’
‘But she wasn’t, was she? She was part of your world, approved by your mother,’ she insisted.
‘I didn’t ask for her approval then. I am not asking for it now.’
The knot in Maddie’s belly tightened as he spoke of his fiancée. She fought to see things from his point of view of cold rationality. They had mutual problems that demanded a solution. Still a cold breeze washed over her.
‘It’s that simple for you? That clinical?’
A grim smile twisted his lips. ‘It’s best if I approach this with my eyes wide open.’
As opposed to being in love? As opposed to swearing his undying devotion to the woman who was now six feet under and would probably hold his heart for ever?
The chill intensified within her and she shook her head. ‘Even if I wanted to marry you—and I don’t—all you would be doing would be inviting more speculation about you...about your choice of bride.’
His face slowly hardened. ‘Is that your final answer?’
She opened her mouth to say no, it wasn’t her final answer. She needed time to wrap her head around the shocking concept. To get herself on safe ground after the bombshell of his question.
Maddie closed her mouth again. With a deep breath, she looked deep into his eyes, searched his features. And with an unshakeable force she realised he truly meant it. Remi Montegova really was asking her to marry him.
She shook her head.
For several seconds he said nothing, those vivid eyes fixed on her face. When it got too much to bear, she dragged her gaze away. In the carefree days of her childhood, she’d daydreamed like most girls about that special moment when the man of her dreams would propose to her.
Not for a single second had she imagined it would be a clinical proposition from a real-life crown prince in the middle of a decrepit kitchen in a near-derelict flat.
‘Maddie.’ Her name was a burst of icy impatience.
She shook her head again. ‘I’m sorry—’
The words were barely out of her mouth before he turned and strode purposefully out of the kitchen. She remained frozen in place, the shock of his abrupt departure holding her prisoner until the sound of a hacking cough ripped through the air.
She came to her senses with a gasp, the stark reminder of her father’s condition and the growing dread that the only solution to his recovery was walking out the door galvanising her into movement.
Somewhere between rushing out of the kitchen and throwing herself against the front door to stop Remi from opening it, she wondered if she’d been struck with some sort of madness. But what choice did she have? Her father wouldn’t make it for another six months.
So she placed herself before him, forced herself to look up into the stone-hard, brutally gorgeous face of Crown Prince Remi Montegova and said one word. ‘Wait.’
One very regal, very haughty eyebrow lifted. ‘You need to say more. I wish to hear the words, Maddie.’
‘Are...are you sure this is what you want?’
Ruthless determination blazed through his eyes. ‘I’m sure of what I want. Be sure of what you want and tell me.’
Maddie swallowed, and with the strongest notion that she was stepping into a dangerous abyss she whispered, ‘I’ll marry you.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
MADDIE CLENCHED HER jaw tight against the urge to take the words back, to step away from the precipice of the wild unknown upon which she somehow found herself poised. But an even greater power kept her rooted to the spot, kept her words locked in her throat as she stared up at the man she’d just agreed to marry.
In turn, he stared down at her, the light that gleamed in his eyes moments ago gone, and in its place a flat regard that set a whole new wave of anxiety blooming beneath her skin.
What had she done?
She finally managed to unglue her tongue, but before she could speak he stepped up to her. One hand rose, hovered next to her face before his fingers slowly brushed her cheek, her neck, rested on her shoulders.
‘A word of advice before this thing goes forward, Maddie. This is merely a transaction—a marriage of convenience for the sake of Montegova and my people. It would be wise not to think any more of it.’
Something withered and died inside her—something she hadn’t even known existed until she’d lost it. The yawing emptiness it left behind made her furiously regroup, tighten the reins around her scattered emotions.
‘Are you warning me not to fall in love with you?’ She infused her voice with as much haughtiness as she could and knew she’d struck the mark when his eyes narrowed.
‘That is exactly what I’m saying,’ he confirmed.
She inhaled shakily and for a moment was ashamed of her treacherous body and the weakness Remi evoked within her. Was it that same weakness Greg had seen in her and taken advantage of?
The thought straightened her spine. ‘Thank you, but that somewhat presumptuous warning isn’t necessary. I’ve already learned my lesson once before. You may be a great catch in your royal circles, but you’re not exactly my type.’
His expression morphed from coldly forbidding into...something else. Something that removed the flatness from his eyes and replaced it with a gleam of challenge.
Maddie ignored the skitter of alarm and attempted to shrug off the hand that lay too close to the pulse hammering at her throat. His hold lightened, turned into more of a caress as it drifted down her arm to rest at her elbow.
‘And what exactly is your type?’
Less charismatic. Less overwhelming. Less...everything.
She didn’t voice the words. He was gorgeously imperious, irresistibly arrogant enough.
A round of deep coughing shattered the thick silence, dragging her attention from the enticing magic of his touch. When she darted away from him Remi dropped his hand, but he didn’t step out of her way.
‘I have to go and see to my father,’ she said.
‘We have further issues to discuss.’
She swallowed, the enormity of what she’d agreed to hovering like an electric storm. ‘I know.’
He nodded. ‘But first I’ll make arrangements for your father to be moved from here in the next few hours.’
Surprised by the dizzying speed of his actions, she nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘I’m merely facilitating your smooth transition into my life, Maddie.’
A transaction. Nothing more. ‘I’m still grateful,’ she replied.
Something shifted in his gaze, but he looked away before she could decipher it. With a hand on the door, he paused. ‘I expect you back in the suite by six o’clock. Pack whatever you need from this place. You will not be returning.’
He was gone by the time the mild panic freezing her vocal cords had receded. She looked around the soulless hallway, wondering if the last ten minutes had truly happened. Had she really just agreed to marry the future King of Montegova? A man who’d warned her not to fall in love with him?
The vice that had wrapped around her chest at the warning tightened. Breathing through it, she hurried into the living room. Her father had fallen into a light sleep, his chest rasping with every breath.
She’d been more frightened than shocked when she’d received Mrs Jennings’s call. She had disposed of the painkillers she’d found after a frantic search, knowing full well it was already too late for her father’s operation.
But it wasn’t too late to save him. And if the answer was to marry Remi...
Even now she couldn’t complete the overwhelming thought. Was this price too high to pay?
She stared down at her father and firmed her lips.
No price was too high.
But as she tucked a blanket around him and hurried to her room she knew that wasn’t altogether true. There was a reason her instincts had warned her to stay away from Remi the first time she’d seen him in that nightclub. But, unlike her blind trust when she’d believed Greg, she was walking into this with her eyes wide open. Besides, Remi wasn’t plying her with false promises.
That reassurance firmly in place, she fished out her suitcase.
Maddie took her most valued possessions—pictures and mementoes of her and her parents in happier times, the necklace they’d given her on her sixteenth birthday...
She was still locked in a semi-haze when a team of six medical staff arrived on her doorstep two hours later.
Their firm, efficient manner reassured Maddie that her father was in good hands. Her anxiety abated further when Henry accepted his new situation with surprising alacrity. He even emerged from his stupor to return her grip when she held on to him for one last minute before he was loaded into the private ambulance.
