Their Royal Wedding Bargain

by Michelle Conder

  ‘Then don’t be obnoxious.’

  ‘I’m not being obnoxious.’ His brows drew down, matching the set of his mouth. ‘You’re not the clubbing type. If you want to do touristy things like shopping or going to the West End or the ballet, just let me know and I’ll have Hannah arrange it.’

  ‘Hannah?’ She was completely miffed at his condescension. ‘One of your old girlfriends?’

  ‘She’s my assistant.’

  Oh, right. She remembered Nasrin mentioning Hannah now that she thought about it, but she’d been too incensed by his attitude to place her. ‘I’m nowhere near as straight as you seem think I am,’ she said, wondering what he would say if she told him about how she had gone behind her father’s back to be with Stefano.

  ‘Yes, you are.’

  He retrieved his coffee and turned to face the kitchen windows as if that was the end of the discussion.

  Infuriated, Alexa glared at his wide back. ‘You’re as immovable as my father,’ she snapped, her temper spiking. ‘And you think you know everything, just as he does.’

  ‘Alexa—’

  ‘Are you usually this grouchy or is it having me here in your space that’s making you so unreasonable?’

  ‘I’m not a morning person.’

  ‘You don’t say. Well, I am, and when you walked in before I thought maybe we could find some common ground between us, maybe even become friends, to make the next two weeks easier, but you’re really making me rethink that strategy.’

  Rafe let out a rough breath as if the very sight of her annoyed him. ‘Good. It’s best if we’re not friends.’

  Not having expected such a brutal response, Alexa blinked. ‘Then what would you suggest?’

  He paused, his blue eyes as stormy as the Atlantic as he stared at her. ‘Nothing. I suggest nothing.’

  Alexa’s brows shot up. ‘So you want me to come up with all the ideas?’

  ‘No.’ He pushed a lock of hair back from his forehead, clearly frustrated. ‘I meant that we literally do nothing. This isn’t a forever thing, Alexa. We’re here because I mucked up and let chemistry get in the way of rational thinking. That won’t happen again.’

  ‘By chemistry you mean—’

  ‘Sexual attraction. Biology.’ His eyes pinned her to the spot and all she could think about was sex. Something hot and dark passed between them before he blinked, deliberately severing the connection. ‘I’m referring to this thing between us that you’d like to pretend doesn’t exist. Fortunately, it will fade soon enough. In the meantime I don’t need to know if you’re a morning person or a night person and I don’t want to know if there is any common ground between us. If you want this to go easier you’ll stay on your side of the bed—metaphorically speaking—and I’ll stay on mine.’

  Shaken by the harshness of his tone, and her own hurt response at how little he wanted to do with her, Alexa hid her emotions behind an arched brow. ‘Okay, well, that does make it easier. Now I don’t have to rack my brain trying to make small talk while I’m here. Thanks for the heads-up.’

  ‘Alexa—’

  ‘You know, if you ever get sick of women falling in love with you, just show them your grouchy side. It will cure them of any fantasies straight away.’ She kept her tone deliberately light but she could tell by his frown that he wasn’t buying it. Still, she didn’t care. She was close to tears because, after their brief moment of camaraderie the night before, she’d thought he liked her, if only a little.

  But that was what came from being too needy and she’d thought she’d learned that lesson a long time ago.

  And suddenly she was assailed by a feeling of loneliness she hadn’t felt since Sol had died, old feelings of inadequacy threatening to swamp her.

  ‘Alexa—’

  ‘Sorry, I have to go.’ Knowing that her emotions were way too close to the surface and refusing to cry in front of another man who didn’t want her, she quickly dumped the cold remains of her coffee in the sink and rinsed the mug. ‘I’m all sweaty after my yoga workout. Thanks for the coffee. Have a nice day.’

  Escaping down the hall, she headed for her bedroom, her ears straining to hear if he followed her. Of course he hadn’t. Why would he?

  She released a breath she told herself was relief, an ache in her chest she didn’t want to acknowledge. What did she care if he didn’t want to be friends? She didn’t need his friendship either. She didn’t need anything from him.

  Grabbing her laptop from her satchel, she set it on the bed and typed in her passcode. Two weeks stretched before her as endless as two years, and she pulled up the files she’d been working on before the wedding.

  If she did nothing else, these two weeks she could at least work. There was plenty of it, and she had to prove to her father that she could do this. And to herself. Besides, anything was better than this horrible hollow feeling of rejection inside her chest that she had never wanted to feel again.

  CHAPTER SIX

  A MAN’S HOME was usually his castle, but right now Rafe’s castle—his ‘castle in the clouds’—felt more like a prison. Only it wasn’t a prison keeping him locked in; it was a prison keeping him locked out. This past week he’d found it safer staying at the office for as long as possible rather than risk returning home, where he might run into his delectable wife.

  But even for a man who kept long hours, this routine was exhausting, especially since it was past midnight for the fourth night this week and he still wasn’t home.

  It was either stay away or be rude to Alexa again, as he had been that first morning. Finding her in tight-fitting yoga gear, frowning at his coffee machine like a cute disgruntled kitten, had nearly had him lifting her onto the counter, stepping between her legs and telling her that the only instruction she needed was in how to pleasure him.

  Just thinking about it was enough to make his body burn. So instead he’d been rude and hurt her when he’d dismissed her invitation of friendship. And he hadn’t liked hurting her. Hadn’t liked dimming the light in her clear, green eyes.

  Normally he was laid-back and calm. Normally he’d come home from a hard day at work and put on some rock music, maybe play a little jazz or classical Chopin depending on his mood. Sometimes he’d grab a cold beer from the fridge and turn on the football, catch up on some of the highlights. Other times, if he was tired after a night networking at one of his clubs, or being with a woman, he’d grab whatever Mrs Harrington had left for him in the fridge, wash it down with an accompanying Burgundy and head straight to bed.

  Simple. Easy.

  He rarely questioned his routine, and if he ever felt a little lonely, or restless, he hit the gym.

  Now he found himself looking for signs of Alexa in his home. Like the sweater she’d left over the back of a chair last night, and the hairband she’d left in the kitchen the night before that. He probably owed her an apology for being so distant all week, but that would involve speaking to her and the last thing he wanted to do was to encourage her to want to be ‘friends’ again. Friends didn’t want to tear the other person’s clothes off at just the sight of them, so that was out of the question.

  ‘We’re here, sir,’ Stevens said, alerting him to the fact that he was sitting in the back of the Mercedes and the engine wasn’t even running.

  ‘Great.’

  He gave Stevens a curt nod and headed for his lift, thankful when he found his apartment shrouded in darkness because it meant that Alexa would be once again in bed.

  Placing his computer bag on the sofa, he noticed a pair of socks sitting on the side table, along with an empty mug of herbal tea and a scattering of magazines.

  Shaking his head, he wondered how he was supposed to forget she was living with him when she left tiny reminders of her presence lying around. Not to mention the sweet scent of her perfume that lingered in the air.

  Gritting his teeth, he dumped her
mug in the sink and her socks in the laundry before heading to his room.

  Strangely, keeping people at a distance and compartmentalising his life had never been one of his issues before, but he had to admit that he was struggling with Alexa.

  Nine days.

  That was all he had left of her stay in his home. If he survived it with his sanity intact he’d deserve more than a gold star.

  He’d deserve her.

  Biting back an oath at the ridiculousness of that thought, he decided to ignore his hollow stomach and head for bed. God knew he didn’t want to tempt fate and run into the woman in his kitchen again. Which was when he noticed a light glowing from beneath his library door.

  Hoping Alexa had left the light on by mistake and wouldn’t be inside, he was pulled up short when he opened the door to find her slumped over the antique desk in the corner.

  With his heart in his mouth, he strode towards her, hoping with every breath in his body that there was nothing wrong with her.

  ‘Alexa?’

  He reached out and gently shook her shoulder, relieved beyond reason when she made a small snuffling sound and buried her face against her arm.

  Thank God. She wasn’t unconscious, or worse, and his heart rate steadied once more.

  She looked angelic in sleep, her glorious hair piled on top of her head in a messy topknot. Rejecting his body’s immediate reaction to the sight of her, he frowned as he took in the mountain of paperwork scattered over the desk.

  Work, he realised as he studied the papers, remembering how her assistant had told her she wasn’t to do any. She must have printed the documents from the laptop that was on sleep mode beside her.

  ‘Alexa?’ He tried again to rouse her but she gave another grumpy little whimper and tried to flick him away. Presumably, since she was a morning person, she wouldn’t be chirpy at being woken in the middle of the night.

  He found he quite liked seeing her all rumpled and sleepy, and then cut the thought off at the knees.

  ‘Alexa, you need to wake up.’

  Coming to with a start, she blinked up at him, and it was all Rafe could do not to reach down and kiss the sleepy pout from her lips. To distract himself he jerked his glance in the direction of the papers spread around her. ‘Have you been at this all day?’

  ‘Oh, hello.’ She yawned and stretched her arms above her head. ‘Mostly. It took longer than I thought. I did go for a walk in Hyde Park, but I had to put the sightseeing I planned on hold—Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you.’ She glanced away from him and when she spoke next her tone was decidedly frosty, as if she’d recalled their last interaction and hated him. ‘What time is it? No, don’t answer that. I’ll find out for myself.’

  ‘It’s after midnight. And you don’t have to treat me like a villain.’

  ‘I’m not,’ she said coolly, stacking her papers together.

  Rafe scowled. ‘Have you been at this all night? You’ll wear yourself out if this is the pace you keep in Berenia.’

  ‘That’s not your concern.’

  ‘Okay.’ He held his hands up in front of him. ‘Will it help if I apologise for being a first-rate jerk the other morning?’

  She glanced up at him from beneath long sooty lashes, and Rafe’s jaw clenched against the punch of instant attraction.

  ‘Perhaps.’

  ‘Then I’m sorry. I wasn’t in a great mood, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable around me.’

  ‘I don’t. I’ve had work to do.’

  Which brought him back to how tired she looked. ‘Work you’re not supposed to be doing.’

  She shrugged. ‘Someone has to do it or it won’t get done.’

  ‘Delegate.’

  ‘It’s not that simple. We need to hire new staff, and—’

  ‘Duty called.’

  ‘Yes. Something I would have thought you would understand even if you don’t like it.’

  ‘I understand it. I even lived it for a time, particularly when Jag was studying in the US. Unfortunately, I didn’t live up to my father’s expectations as a suitable fill-in.’

  She blinked at his harsh tone. ‘How could you not?’

  Rafe’s jaw hardened. ‘I wasn’t Jag.’

  A slight frown marred her forehead, her eyes fixed on his as if she saw more than he had intended her to see. ‘But that’s—’

  ‘Irrelevant.’ He cut off her sympathetic response. He never talked about the past. Not even with his siblings. ‘If the people of Santara should ever need me I would be there for them, but this isn’t about me. This is about you needing to find balance.’ He perched on the edge of the desk, his fingers itching to push back the strand of hair that curved over her cheek. ‘I told you before that you need to say no more often.’

  ‘I’m not good at no.’ She gave him a brief look. ‘I suppose that makes me the dutiful little mouse in your eyes but—’

  ‘I should never have said that,’ Rafe interjected. ‘You’re dedicated and focused and that will make you a great queen, but you should stand up for yourself more.’

  ‘Well, thanks. For the compliment.’ She huffed out a breath. ‘As to the rest... I do try to say no, but there’s so much to learn. And it’s so easy to make a mistake.’

  ‘Mistakes are how we learn.’

  ‘They’re not how I want to learn.’ She shook her head. ‘They cost too much.’

  Rafe frowned at the vehemence in her voice. ‘You’re speaking from experience.’ And not a good one, he guessed.

  ‘Yes, but we all make mistakes, don’t we?’ she replied defensively. ‘Even you.’

  ‘I don’t deny it. Most of mine get splashed across the Internet. But I doubt you’ve ever made a mistake worth talking about.’

  She narrowed her eyes and took the bait as he hoped she would. ‘I told you the other morning that I’m not as straight as you think I am. I nearly caused a scandal once.’

  Rafe raised an eyebrow. ‘I doubt that.’

  ‘You think me so boring?’

  ‘I don’t think you’re boring at all.’ He thought she was the most beguiling woman he’d ever met and, to his surprise, he wanted to know her secrets. Especially this one. ‘Tell me about your scandal.’

  Her lips twisted distastefully and for a moment he thought she’d tell him to mind his own business again.

  ‘I was seventeen and naive.’ She arched a brow as if daring him to mock her. ‘He was Italian with nice arms and he worked in the stables.’

  ‘Ah, I think I see where this is going,’ he said, hoping he was wrong. ‘Pray, continue.’

  ‘It’s not that ground-breaking, actually... He told me that he loved me and took me to bed. Then he went straight to my father and used my virginity as a bargaining chip so we’d be forced to get married.’

  She was right; the story wasn’t ground-breaking, just totally humiliating for the one who had been used so callously.

  Knowing how bad it felt to be judged out of hand, he kept his tone as light as hers. ‘I take it that your father didn’t exactly jump for joy at the information and welcome him into the household with open arms.’

  Alexa gave him a wry grin. ‘I still don’t know how much he paid Stefano to leave and never contact me again, but sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly low, I like to imagine that he put the country into debt because of it.’

  Rafe laughed at her dryness, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to shove this Stefano’s teeth down his throat and bury him beneath the blazing sun with just his head showing, as his ancestors would have done.

  ‘If you give me his full name I could find him and have the Chase brothers beat the cretin to a pulp.’

  Unless he got to him first, of course.

  ‘You’d do that for me?’ She blinked at him in surprise, as if no one had suggested it before. ‘Not even my father sai
d that, and you’re the ultimate heartbreaker. You leave women crying all the time.’

  ‘That is not true,’ he said curtly, for the first time wishing that his playboy reputation didn’t exist. ‘I only enter relationships with women who know that I won’t fall in love with them, and I’m upfront and honest about that from the beginning. If they cry when it ends it’s not because I duped them.’

  Her green eyes grew thoughtful. ‘How do you know you won’t fall in love with them?’

  ‘Because I don’t need love. And I make sure to never confuse emotion with sex.’

  She paused as if that information required some effort to digest. ‘I need to be more like that. But at least Stefano taught me what to look out for when it comes to choosing a life partner. Or what not to look out for.’

  ‘What he should have taught you was how good it can be between a man and a woman in bed.’

  He saw her throat constrict at his words and suddenly his hands itched to touch her. That Italian idiot might not have been able to show her a good time, but now Rafe couldn’t stop thinking about how much he wanted to replace her bad memories with good ones that he’d personally created.

  Needing to stop himself from reaching for her and doing something he’d later regret, he pushed away from the desk.

  ‘We should go to bed.’

  Alexa blinked at him, her eyes as wide as a baby owl’s. ‘Together?’

  The muscle in his jaw clenched tight as his brain easily conjured up an image of her naked on his sheets. Before he could figure out how to respond to that, a streak of hot, mortified colour scored along her cheekbones. ‘Forget I said that. I’m clearly more tired than I thought.’

  Wanting to defuse the situation, Rafe nodded. ‘I get it. My club is opening tomorrow night and I could use a few hours myself.’

  ‘Right.’ She blinked up at him from beneath long silky lashes. ‘About that. Am I still banned from your club?’

  ‘Yes.’ No way did he want her at one of his clubs, distracting him constantly.

  ‘Won’t that look strange?’ she persisted. ‘As your wife I would be expected to go to support you.’