by Kai Andersen
But he realized he should have known, or at least, guessed. This was the girl who had run from a strategic alliance and dreamed of marrying for love.
He looked at her now, her sexy rumpled appearance stirring his blood once again. In accordance with her wishes, he had kept his lust under rigid control. He pretended not to see her sexily tousled hair piled on top of her head in a loose bun, or her red kissable lips. He had actually forgotten about his lust for a few minutes as they bantered, and he tried to evade her question.
Now it all came rushing back.
He liked her, liked bantering with her and liked being friends with her. He admired her, and he was still in lust with her. No matter how much he suppressed it, he had to admit that lust was very much a part of what he felt toward her.
She must have seen the desire in his eyes or felt the sudden tension in the room, for her gaze turned wary. “What?”
“But I’m willing to forego all that, Serena, if you would marry me.”
Chapter Seven
Selena looked stunned.
Frederick was shocked, as well. Had he really blurted it out just like that? What about his deathbed promise? For though he had said that he believed her when she said she was a princess, what he really believed was that she believed she was a princess. There was a fine line there somewhere, but a line nevertheless.
He was sure she’d say “yes.” She had so much to gain -- wealth, power, status, respectability. She wasn’t immune to him, either, judging by her flushed cheeks. He groaned, remembering her dark, golden-tipped breasts. He reached toward her, the chess game forgotten.
“But -- but --” The words seemed stuck in her throat. Her eyes were round and huge as she stared at him.
“But what?”
“But you’re going to marry Giselda!”
Shock rendered him speechless for a long moment. When he finally found his voice, he asked, “Who told you that?”
“Giselda.”
A moment of pure silence … and then a great big sound burst from him. He laughed. He couldn’t help it.
Serena’s eyes narrowed. “What’s so funny?”
“Giselda --” He wheezed. “She can always -- make me laugh.”
Her back stiffened. “I’m sure that’ll be great for your married life.”
“She’s greatly delusional, that sister of mine.” He could see that she still did not understand. “Giselda’s lying.” He saw in her eyes the exact moment realization dawned on her.
“You mean -- you -- she -- you’re not -- not --”
“She was never my betrothed.” He had his laughter under control by now. “She is, and always will be, my sister.”
“I … see.” Fire flashed from her eyes. “Why did she lie to me?”
“I’m sure you can guess.”
A moment later, Serena nodded. “She wants you.”
“Not that she’ll have me. Now, about my proposal …”
He was disconcerted when Serena scooted backward, shaking her head. There was something like regret in her eyes, but it was hard to see.
“I can’t.”
His heart thundered in disappointment, and then quieted down. He forced a smile. “All right. I suppose you’ve a right to your choice.”
He, the man of every girl’s lustful dreams, had been rejected. His coveted marriage proposal turned down. How could this happen?
Serena righted her chair and gestured with her head toward the board. “I believe it’s your turn.”
Frederick bent his head over the chess board and pretended to be absorbed in studying the game. “So, how come I didn’t see you when I was scouring the world for potential brides?”
He felt her cautious glance on the top of his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Oh, c’mon. You were in hiding, weren’t you?” He made his voice deliberately mocking.
“I wasn’t!”
He hid a smile at her indignant tone. “Sure you were. I’ve seen every eligible -- and ineligible, for that matter -- princesses there are, and I didn’t even catch a glimpse of your shadow.”
“Maybe you haven’t been to all the kingdoms, as you like to boast.”
“Of course I have --”
“Can’t you hurry up? You’ve been staring at that board for the past fifteen minutes. No wonder it’s taking us hours to finish even one game.”
She spoke her mind, was disrespectful and blunt. And he loved every minute of it. It was such a refreshing change from the fawning and subservience that he normally encountered in the women he interacted with, bedsport aside.
“Okay, okay.” He moved his remaining bishop, only to have it snatched up by her knight. “Couldn’t you have warned me before you did that?”
“Certainly not.” Serena bared her teeth. “I have a competitive streak. I play to win.”
“I’ve noticed.” A sudden thought occurred to him. He stared at her. “You’re right. I was so fed up at the whole process that I cut my tour short. I wasn’t able to visit the southern kingdoms.”
“Your loss. Southern maidens are some of the most beautiful girls in the world, if you’ve heard the rumors. One of them might have been your princess.”
He caught the sudden pained look on her face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” She waved a hand in the air.
“I’ll have to go there one day, maybe as soon as this storm’s over.”
“I wish you luck.”
He studied her profile and admired the pert nose, the creamy complexion and the gleam of her wine-red hair. She seemed to grow more beautiful each second he stayed in her presence.
He remembered something. “But you told the queen that you came from the west --”
Serena slanted him a mysterious look. “Did I?”
“Yes, you did.”
“I didn’t do anything of the kind. She deduced it all on her own.” Her voice was mocking as she said, “How clever of her.”
Frederick’s eyes narrowed on her face, which contrived to look innocent as she concentrated on the game. “You deliberately misled her?”
“I didn’t! I just hadn’t finished telling my story --” At his doubting look, she laughed out loud. “Okay, I did. I misled her. I deliberately misled all of you.” She disarmed him when she looked into his eyes. “I have to protect myself.”
Even as admiration welled up in him at her alertness and cunning, his thoughts flew to their conversation in the library early this afternoon. Was she lying to him about being a princess? Was that part of her strategy?
Seconds later, he chuckled. What did it matter? Whether princess or not, Serena wasn’t willing to marry him. She wasn’t willing to be his lover. He’d never met a female who was so unwilling to have anything to do with him. Maybe that, coupled with their enforced proximity, was why he found her so interesting.
Their conversation, even when it was nonsense, held his attention. Playing chess with her was also interesting.
Recalling her last statement, he felt a fierce surge of protectiveness go through him. He didn’t question it; it felt right as determined resolve filled him. “I will protect you.” His voice was grave and sincere. “No one will harm you again.” It was said in so solemn and fierce a voice that it was almost a vow.
Startled at his tone, Serena ducked her head. When her head snapped up a mere two seconds later, her eyes shot sparks at him. “Do you take me for a fool? I’m in enemy camp, and you are the enemy. I’d be a fool to entrust my safety into your hands.”
Frederick grinned, further startling her. It was a reaction she didn’t expect. “Good. I don’t have to worry about you then.” His meaning couldn’t be clearer.
Her spine stiffened. “It’s not your place to worry about me.”
Frederick chuckled. She’s behaving very princessly for an imposter. Time to learn something more about her.
He moved his chess piece before she could complain, though what piece he moved he couldn’t
say. “So, you’re from one of the southern kingdoms.” It was a statement.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it.”
“You jumped to that conclusion.”
“I still believe you’re from one of those kingdoms there.”
“I’m not answering that.”
“All right, then answer this: Why can’t you just tell your father that you don’t want to wed the old geezer? Aren’t there other women in your kingdom? A senior, unwed noblewoman, perhaps?”
She shot him a dark look. “The ‘old geezer,’ as you put it, wanted a princess. What would you have me do? Ask my sister if she wanted to take my place? Even if she were willing, our child protection laws would not allow her. Females cannot marry until at least sixteen, even princesses. And she’s only ten.”
“So you just leave your father to the mercy of a neighboring kingdom that might launch an attack because your king can’t produce the bride.” Frederick’s voice was sarcastic, though he couldn’t erase from his mind the horror of Serena being wed to a man old enough to be her father twice over. “Brilliant move, Serena.”
“Thank you. Actually, nobody knows I’m missing, except for my nurse and my mother. Mother ...” Here, Serena sighed. “She understood why Father had to have the alliance, but she didn’t like the idea of my marriage either. She believed Father could’ve made other arrangements to have the alliance he so wanted. So, she agreed to help me. I asked her to tell Father that I was dreadfully sick with a contagious disease that would infect anybody who goes within my chamber. Only my nurse, who wasn’t afraid of death, would stay in my chamber to take care of me. Food and stuff would to be placed outside my door, which would be consumed or thrown away by my nurse, of course.”
“That would indeed buy you time, and no war would be waged on your kingdom. Brilliant move.” This time, the words were said sincerely and with admiration.
“Thank you. Check.”
“Damn, I didn’t see that.” He certainly hadn’t, distracted as he was by the conversation and his tumultuous emotions.
Rodin came in just then, with two candlesticks in his hands. The room became brighter.
“Is it night already? I didn’t notice.”
“It would’ve been hard to tell, with the storm and all.” Serena’s voice was dry. “And guess what, we haven’t finished our game yet.”
Rodin set the candles on the table beside the chess board. “You might want to wind it up. The servants are already setting the table for dinner.”
Serena stood. “Maybe we can continue this tomorrow. We can’t let the queen wait for us.”
“She’s indisposed; she won’t be joining us tonight.” It was Giselda who had told him that little tidbit this morning, when he had been searching for Serena. He didn’t add that the little chit had also suggested they spend the day in bed -- his or hers, it didn’t matter.
Not wanting to think about unpleasant things, he changed the topic. “I remember you telling me that you hate music. So what do you like?”
When no answer was forthcoming, he glanced up from his contemplation of the game to see Serena hovering uncertainty. She didn’t seem to know whether to sit or to leave. It irritated him that she couldn’t bear to spend one extra second with him. “Sit! I want to finish this game.”
She sat. He hated the momentary look of fear that came to her eyes at his harsh tone. Then, she lifted her chin and the fear was gone. His admiration for her grew a notch.
“I never liked music. My fingers are clumsy and I’m tone-deaf.”
“But you played the piano pretty well.”
“I was forced to learn, and I hated every minute of it.”
“Anything that made you abhor it so much?”
Serena laughed. “To say I abhor it is too much. I just don’t like it, the way you might not like to eat spinach, for example. Especially --”
“Who says I don’t like spinach?”
“I saw you passing it to Rodin. Shame on you! Don’t you know greens are good for your health and --”
“You were saying about how you don’t like music.”
“Oh, yes. Especially when my mother beat me once with a cane.”
“She beat you!”
“Yes.” A reminiscing smile danced about her lips. “I remember running through the castle with a dozen servants after me. Mother didn’t run, of course. She just waited until they caught me and then she beat me.”
“That must have hurt.”
“It did. I hated Mother for months. And then I was forced to learn the piano or else --”
“You’d feel the cane again.”
“Precisely. I came up with dozens of excuses why I shouldn’t have anything to do with music, but Mother didn’t buy any of it.”
Frederick could imagine Serena as a little girl, using her wits and cunning even then to get out of things she didn’t want. “So what happened in the end?”
“I negotiated a deal with Mother. I would learn to play one piece and one piece only, and that was that.”
“That piece you played the other night --”
“Was the only one I knew. It’s a good thing the queen didn’t ask for another performance. I would’ve been sunk.”
“What did your mother get out of the deal?”
Serena shot him an innocent look. “Why, she’s got a daughter she can be proud of, a daughter she can count on to play at least one entertaining piece of music for the guests.”
“I like your style.” Every minute, he was learning things about Serena, about her courage and strength, about her soft approach to things, and when that didn’t work, about how she’d take the bull by the horns and tame it to her will. “So what do you like?”
Goddess, she was so lovely, the way her eyes lit up with excitement and passion, so much passion hidden underneath her prim exterior. “I’ve always wanted to be a scientist, a researcher. I want to improve my people’s lives through scientific innovations. I want to discover a way to make better breeds of cattle, horses, everything. If there were some way to isolate bad genes and replace them with good ones --”
“Whoa there.” He was amazed. “You’re serious.”
She was annoyed. He could tell by the way she wrinkled her nose. “Of course I’m serious. Do you think I just love hearing the sound of my voice saying intelligent things?”
“You and Frederick have much in common then.”
Stupefied, she looked at Rodin. She’d almost forgotten he was in the room with them. “He loves the sound of his voice?”
“No!” Rodin chuckled. “I didn’t mean it that way. I meant Prince Frederick has done a lot for his people too, over the years --”
“Rodin!”
“Go on.” Serena trained her gaze on him. “I want to hear this.”
“As you can see, our prince is a bit humble when it comes to his own accomplishments.” Rodin smiled, ignoring Frederick’s pointed glares.
“Rodin, if you don’t shut your mouth --”
“Before he kills me, I’ll give you one concrete example.” He talked very fast as he inched toward the door. “Ten years ago, he passed a proposal to install an irrigation system throughout Mithirien’s agricultural lands. It was a big help to the farmers and --”
“-- I’ll shut it for you!”
“You get the idea, Serena. I’m outta here.”
When Rodin was gone, Frederick sat back in his chair to see Serena gazing at him in amusement. There was also a new light in her eyes. His heart tripped. He almost didn’t recognize it, so seldom did he see it in women’s eyes. It made him feel one foot taller.
“You don’t accept compliments graciously.”
He dropped his eyes to the board in front of him. Whose turn was it? “There’s nothing to compliment. I was simply doing my duty.”
“If you’re so shy, how were you able to accept the accolades of your people?”
“They didn’t know.” He fiddled with the white pawn -- Serena’s -- t
hat his bishop had “eaten” earlier in the game.
“But how --”
“I passed the proposal through one of the senior ministers, who’s one of my father’s oldest friends.”
“So he took the credit.”
He shrugged. “What matters is that it was successful. The people, and subsequently the kingdom, benefited from it.”
“But that isn’t right --”
“I was only twenty years old then, Serena. Why would anyone take me seriously?”
“Because you’re the crown prince?”
“But a green youth nevertheless.”
“You’re really taking this humility thing a bit far.” Serena leaned toward him, her emerald gaze earnest. “Don’t you think your people deserve to know that their prince is a capable man? You’re going to lead them someday, Frederick. They need to believe in you, just as you need their faith and support.”
Frederick hadn’t thought of it that way before. He had to admit that his reputation as a ladies’ man was getting wearisome in recent years. Now that Serena had mentioned it, he realized that he’d like his people to know that he had more to offer them than his generative capacity. He especially liked the respect and admiration that he saw in Serena’s eyes.
“I’ll think about it.” The strange emotion clogging his throat caused his voice to sound gruff.
“You do that.”
Giselda flounced in the open door and stopped short. “You’re still at it? It’s time for dinner.”
“It’s a game that needs patience.”
Why did she have to show up now?
“Since the queen won’t be joining us, we can basically do as we please and eat when it suits us.”
“Yes, I’d told you that this morning, didn’t I?” Giselda sidled up to him and laid a hand on his chest.
Great. He walked into that one.
He shrugged off her hand.
“Mother’s resting. The storm seems to be affecting her badly. Her whole body’s aching.”
A solicitous frown appeared between Serena’s brows. “Nothing serious, I hope.”
More likely, she had ruled out Serena as a possible rival and didn’t think it necessary to keep a close watch on her anymore.
