Wedded for His Royal Duty

by Susan Meier

  His dark eyes met hers, and the bottle of wine he held fell to the bar top.

  She smiled.

  King Ronaldo said, “I understand you’ve met Alex in school.”

  Holding the gaze of his dark eyes, she said, “And we met this afternoon. Accidentally. At the stables.”

  Rose said, “Oh! You ride.” She winced. “Of course you do. It was probably part of your training. I’d love to go out with you one of these mornings.”

  Polite and proper, Eva faced Rose. “I’d like that too.”

  King Ronaldo said, “Funny. Alex didn’t mention seeing you this afternoon.”

  Feeling her pride return, Eva spared Alex a glance before returning her gaze to the king. “I don’t think he knew who I was.”

  * * *

  Alex felt his face redden like a teenager’s.

  “He handed me his riding crop and told me to make sure his horse got the star treatment.”

  The king gasped. “Alexi!”

  “Well, she didn’t look like this,” Alex said, pointing at her red gown and dark hair pinned up just enough to get it off her face while the rest spilled over her shoulders and fell in thick curls down her bare back. He thought of all that black hair fanned out on a white pillow and almost dropped the wine again.

  Eva casually said, “Perhaps he was just preoccupied.”

  The king said, “Perhaps,” but Alex stared at her red dress. The strapless top hugged her breasts and cruised to her tiny waist, before it flared out in a skirt made up of yards and yards of some kind of filmy material. It didn’t bell out. It just flowed smoothly, effortlessly with every one of her graceful movements.

  He didn’t know what he’d expected from this woman he’d met when she was little more than a child, but it wasn’t this grace. Or this sensuality. It was as if she was telling the world that she might someday be a queen, but she was also a sexy woman.

  Her lips lifted into a knowing smile.

  She had him stumbling all over himself, and she liked it.

  No. She reveled in it. And he supposed he couldn’t blame her. His family had yanked the good prince away from her and forced her to take him or nothing. Only a week after her own father had disgraced their crown, the Sancho family had decided it was time to make good on the terms of their treaty, forcing her to marry a lesser prince, then he hadn’t recognized her at the stable that afternoon. She wasn’t insulting him by telling everybody he’d thought her a stable girl. She was repairing her royal pride.

  The door of the drawing room opened and Alex’s gaze shifted as his brother and his wife arrived, and for the second time that evening he was struck speechless. Princess Ginny walked in on Dominic’s arm, wearing the same gown as Eva, except Ginny’s was a soft, romantic gray.

  Dominic said, “Sorry we’re late.”

  King Ronaldo and Queen Rose immediately shifted in their direction.

  Rose said, “Is something wrong with Jimmy? Is he sick?”

  Ginny laughed. “No, Mom. Your grandson is fine.”

  Princess Eva stood in front of the bar, motionless, as if stunned into silence, watching the happy couple.

  Alex leaned forward, across the gleaming wooden surface. “Well, now. What have we here? You and Ginny in the same gown. Except yours is red and hers is a pretty gray. Very innocent and sweet. While yours is...well, on the trashy side. It’s kind of like looking at those devil and angel pictures.”

  He saw her back stiffen and knew he’d struck a nerve. Good. She hadn’t even tried to tell him who she was at the stable that afternoon. She’d taken his crop. Led him to believe she’d be caring for Thor. Let him walk away. And then embarrassed him in front of his father.

  “Shut up.”

  He watched the muscles of her bare back shift as she straightened, composing herself. But he still saw the tension and knew his golden opportunity for getting even wasn’t over yet.

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind one bit being the brother to marry the devilish princess. I’m just not exactly sure this was the first impression you wanted to make on the guy who dumped you.”

  “He didn’t dump me.”

  “He isn’t exactly marrying you.”

  “He’s already married.”

  “And to somebody who looks like your polar opposite. Isn’t that interesting?”

  He saw vulnerability flicker in her gray-blue eyes as Dominic and Ginny approached her. He didn’t really know Eva, but he did know what it was like to be second best. To be the one not chosen. To be the one who stood behind his brother and dad, a king and a man who would be king.

  His chest clenched. She might be educated. She might be a tough crusader who could speak up for those who didn’t have a voice, but nothing could have prepared her for meeting the woman who’d stolen her fiancé from her.

  She was too damned pretty to be Dominic’s second. Alex wasn’t anybody’s knight in shining armor, but he did know a thing or two about fooling people into believing he was fine. Happy. That his life was perfect. And that was what Eva needed right now. To be rescued from an embarrassing situation that befuddled her so much that even the royal pride she’d just gathered was sinking fast.

  He raced around the bar. Sliding his arm along her waist, he whispered, “Here’s the story...when we met at the stables this afternoon there was an instant attraction.”

  She met his gaze. “Really?”

  “Would you rather be somebody who unexpectedly found herself crazy about me, or the woman left behind by my big brother?”

  Her head tilted in confusion.

  “Don’t be the one left behind in the dust. Leave him behind.”

  “Oh.”

  “You don’t have a lot of experience with men, do you?”

  “I’ve been engaged since I was four.”

  “And I guess now you’re going to tell me you’re a virgin.”

  She said nothing, just held his gaze.

  “Well, I’ll be damned.”

  “You’ll absolutely be damned,” Dom said as he reached them. He held out his hand and Princess Eva presented her hand to him. He kissed the knuckles. “Princess Eva. It’s nice to see you. I’m so sorry we’re meeting again under awkward circumstance.”

  Like a champ, she slid her arm beneath Alex’s and stepped closer to him. “There’s no reason to be concerned. We’ve barely spoken to each other. Besides, I was lucky enough to meet Alex this afternoon at the stables.”

  Alex winked at her. “Love at first sight.”

  Dom said, “Really?”

  Alex laughed. “All right. Maybe lust at first sight.”

  Eva shifted her attention to Ginny. “And you must be the woman who stole Dom’s heart.” She smiled. “You have lovely taste in clothes.”

  Alex had trouble stifling a laugh. Still, from the way she’d put him in his place for not recognizing her, he should have expected she could hold her own. She’d simply needed help getting over the awkwardness of seeing Dom.

  Ginny laughed and glanced down at her gown. “You have good taste too. Maybe better. That red is divine.”

  “Alex told me I looked like a devil in this dress.”

  “And that you looked like an angel,” Alex said to Ginny. He kissed Eva’s cheek. “But you know I’d always rather have the devil.”

  “So,” Dom said, looking from Alex to Eva, appearing not quite convinced. “Things worked out for the best?”

  Alex tightened his arm around her waist. “We think so.”

  A servant quietly shuffled into the room and whispered something in King Ronaldo’s ear. He nodded once. When the servant was gone, the king faced the two couples at the bar.

  “Dinner is served. If you’ll all follow me to the dining room.”

  Dom and Ginny immediatel
y got in line behind his father, but Eva caught Alex’s arm to hold him back. When the room was empty she said, “I owe you.”

  He couldn’t help it. He grinned. She might be able to hold her own, but she’d needed him to get over that awkward introduction. “Yes, you do. I just saved you months of embarrassment—maybe years if the press decided to make an issue of Dom marrying someone else—and I have the perfect way for you to pay me back.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  EVA’S HEART CHUGGED in her chest. After Alex’s good guess about her virginity, she couldn’t imagine what he had in mind as payback, but she did know she owed him. So when he asked her to meet him at the stables at midnight, she hadn’t argued. She’d simply enjoyed the dinner, keeping up Alex’s pretense that their chance meeting that afternoon had sparked an instant attraction. Then she’d said polite goodbyes to the king and his new wife and Dom and his wife, before she walked her mom back to their quarters, changed into jeans and a lightweight sweater and headed for the stable.

  The moon rose high in the sky. A faint ocean breeze lured her down the cobblestone path. An island in the Mediterranean, Xaviera had January temps that were much warmer than the climate of her country, which was nestled between Finland and Russia. If she were home right now, she’d be wearing boots and a parka and battling a winter wind to get to her stables.

  She reached the big stone-and-wood building and entered through a door on the side. Though the stable was the cleanest she’d ever seen, the earthy scents of horse, hay and leather hit her. She glanced down the long row of stalls and saw Alex standing in front of the last one, petting the nose of his Arabian, Thor.

  She strode down the aisle.

  Alex heard her and smiled. “So you’ve come to dicker.”

  “I didn’t come to negotiate anything. I came to see what my payback will be for you saving me tonight.”

  He laughed. “It’s odd to hear somebody say that. Usually I’m the one who has to make amends.”

  “Quite a reputation my future husband has.”

  “Actually, that’s the point. The best way you can pay me back is to not marry me.”

  She gasped. “I have to marry you!”

  He bobbed his head, as if thinking through her comment, then said, “Not really.”

  “We have a treaty!”

  “Made decades ago.” He caught her gaze. “Were you mature enough at age four to commit to someone?”

  He knew the answer to that so she said nothing.

  “Of course, you weren’t. And then we pulled the rug out from under you. The prince you were supposed to marry is now married to someone else. You’re not getting the prince who was promised to you. You’re not even getting the good prince, the one who will someday be king. You’re getting second-best.”

  She looked at him, wearing a T-shirt with the front tucked into nice-fitting jeans, with his dark curly hair casually messed, and those intriguing brown eyes. For a beat of time, she wondered if she really was getting second-best. Dominic was handsome in the perfect, straitlaced way. This guy? Alex? He was rough-around-the-edges gorgeous. A sexy bad boy. And all hers in a few months—

  She swallowed hard as strange tingling sensations cruised through her.

  She ignored them. When all was said and done, this was about duty. Oil and safe passage for their tankers trumped which prince she would actually marry. And needing to make herself look strong and loyal to her country trumped both of those.

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  He walked toward her. “Actually, I read the agreement and the treaty. You might not have a choice. I might not have a choice. But we have a choice. If both of us decide not to marry, we can nullify it.”

  She gaped at him. “Nullify a treaty? Just because you don’t want to marry me?”

  “I don’t want to get married at all. And we wouldn’t be nullifying the whole treaty, just that one clause.” He sighed. “Look, I rescued you tonight because it’s not right that somebody as pretty as you are should be perceived as an also-ran, the woman who didn’t make the cut.”

  Her pulse slowed, then speeded up again. Forget all about Dominic dumping her. Forget about the treaty. Alex thought she was pretty? He was one of the most eligible bachelors in the world and she was a woman whose dad had tossed their family into an unfathomable scandal. Alex should be running from her as fast as his feet would take him. Instead, he thought she was pretty? Too pretty to be known as the princess who didn’t make the cut.

  “But I’m not anybody’s knight in shining armor.”

  He hadn’t mentioned her father’s betrayal, or the fact that she’d soon become a queen, but she was well aware of both and the consequences. Alex might not want to rescue her, but he was her only option to show her subjects that her family still remembered their call to service.

  She lifted her chin. “Like it or not, you have to be mine. Or your country is in violation of our treaty.”

  “I told you we can—”

  “No! My father disgraced us enough! I have to prove I will do my duties!”

  His eyes narrowed. His full lips pursed. “You’re refusing my plan.”

  “Yes.”

  He stepped closer. Instinct told her to step back. Common sense told her he’d see that as a sign of weakness. So she held her ground, looked him in the eyes, as he circled her, inspecting her as if she were his next purchase. Waves and waves of chill bumps trickled down her spine.

  “Why would a girl as pretty as you are want to marry someone she doesn’t really know?”

  “I told you I have to—”

  “Prove you’ll do your duty,” he interrupted her. “Got it. And I believe that’s part of it.” He stopped at her side and slid his hand under the thick lock of hair that fell over her shoulder to her breast. Running the silken strands through his fingers, he said, “I would think you’d be eager to find somebody your own age. Maybe somebody who shared your interest in land mines and whatnot.”

  “First, I’m not part of the land mine fight. Second, you are my age. Five years isn’t that much of a difference.”

  He flipped the strand of hair over her shoulder, and the tingles that rained down on her when his fingers brushed her skin nearly made her shiver.

  “So you like me?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  He smiled knowingly, stepped close. “Just attracted then.”

  “To you?” She’d meant for it to sound like a scoff. It came out as a squeak.

  “Or maybe you’re simply not clear about what attraction is. Being a virgin and all.”

  If the feelings tumbling around her right now were attraction, then he was correct. This crazy combination of fear that he’d touch her again and longing to feel his fingers graze her skin totally confused her. Her chest was tight. Her body wanted to shiver. Even her lips tingled.

  “I’ve had boyfriends.”

  “So you wouldn’t mind if I kissed you.”

  “As a way to get me to drop the idea of marrying you? How badly do you kiss?”

  She’d barely gotten the word kiss out of her mouth before he grabbed her by the shoulders, drew her to him and planted his lips on hers. The shock of it buckled her knees. His arm fell to her waist, anchoring her against him as wave after wave of warmth flowed through her. But as quickly as he’d yanked her to him, he released her.

  She stared at him. Her nerve endings glowed like the sparks from a Roman candle. She couldn’t quite get air into her lungs.

  He grinned.

  Not sure what to say, what to do, she fell back on dignity. As haughtily as possible, she said, “I’m still marrying you,” before she turned on her heel and walked out of the stable.

  Head high, she marched up the cobblestone path so afraid he was following her that her neck hurt from fighting the urge
to look behind her.

  When she reached her quarters, she breathed a sigh of relief, though her hands shook and her knees still wobbled.

  Her mother awaited her on the sofa. “So how did it go?”

  How did it go? In twenty seconds, he’d reduced her limbs to jelly, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t get her heart to stop thumping.

  “He doesn’t want to marry me. He says if we both say we want to step away from the marriage, that section of the treaty will be nullified.”

  Her mother gasped. “Oh, no! Our family has disgraced our country enough! You have to do something to prove you’re still loyal enough to the crown to do your duty!”

  She fell to the sofa beside her mom. “I know. I told him that.”

  But convincing him of her duty was only part of her problem. One twenty-second kiss had thrown her for a loop. Made her feel hot and cold. Changed her breathing. Given her chill bumps. When she’d pictured marrying Dominic, the images were warm and sweet. When she thought of marrying Alex, the images became hot and steamy.

  And, oh, dear God, she was not a hot and steamy girl.

  “Our family has been respected as leaders of Grennady for centuries. But your father has put us in a precarious position. You cannot look weak or wishy-washy. You cannot walk away from a treaty mere weeks before you become queen. The press will crucify you. Your entire reign will be tainted.”

  Eva’s brain tried to pay attention to her mom but couldn’t. She couldn’t stop thinking about how experienced Alex was and how little she knew. How did a virgin please a playboy?

  Her mother grabbed her hands. “You’ve got to marry Alex.”

  Her chest filled with anxiety. There was no good option here. If she returned to her country without marrying Alex, it would appear she had no respect for treaties. If she married Alex, she was so far out of her depth she’d most likely make both of them miserable.

  “I don’t think he’s going to give up on trying to get me to bow out.”

  “Then you have to make him like you.”

  Right. Leave it to her mom to reduce this to something that sounded simple but really wasn’t.