Plan B? What Plan B?
‘But surely if Alexander Caras doesn’t wish to marry me—and he’s not even going to be there—’ she began, but her father cut her off.
‘You will need to seduce a proposal out of the brother, obviously.’
Her heart catapulted into her throat at the steely determination in his expression. He couldn’t be serious.
‘But I’ve never met him…’ she whispered, her voice trembling, not with anger now, but with panic.
Had her father lost the plot completely? And why did she feel as if their relationship had just turned a corner, into something genuinely nightmarish?
‘You will have to make him want you, Freya, or your brothers will be on the next plane to the DeAngelo Academy in Italy.’
Her heart slammed against her ribs like a sledgehammer.
‘Do not worry, my dear,’ he added, his voice silky smooth with barely concealed malice. ‘If you are anything like your mother, seducing him will come naturally. I need a proposal by Christmas and a wedding in the new year. Do I make myself clear?’
His face was so hard, so unyielding, she nodded.
Had he ever cared for her? At all?
As she headed to her room, her mind reeled. And her heart felt as if it were about to pound right out of her chest. She had to figure out her own Plan B now.
She’d never considered running away from Galicos before. Always believing that although she and her father had issues, his recent obsession with marrying her off was because he had always put the interests of the monarchy first and foremost. But how could she stay now? When he refused to be reasoned with?
The only problem was, how did she make a clean break? She had very little money of her own, just some jewellery she had inherited from her grandmother. And she’d never had a real job. If she ran away without a place to go and a way to support herself, her father might find a way to drag her back…
But as she climbed the steps to her suite, she felt energised, excited even. She didn’t have to remain under her father’s thumb if she made her own life. One where she was no longer the pawn of any man.
Effectively, she had until Christmas—the deadline her father had set for her to finesse a proposal from the younger Caras brother. That gave her three months to plan her escape—and she would need every minute of those months to make this work.
She paused as she entered her suite of rooms, the opulent splendour damning her, because she finally recognised theluxury antique furnishings, the stunning view across the bay from her private balcony for what they were and had always been—a gilded prison.
But as her mind tried to figure out where to even start with her getaway plans, one glaring problem occurred to her.
She would still have to go to this damn event. Not only did she need to persuade her father she was going along with his plans, but she would also have to make it look as if she were seducing Alexander Caras’ younger brother! Who by all accounts was a notorious playboy.
Her panicked heartbeat ticked up a notch.
How was she going to pull that off? When she’d never even had a boyfriend? And men like Theodoros Caras probably ate sheltered virgin princesses like her for breakfast?
CHAPTER TWO
Two days later
TheoCarasstoodon the grandiose belle époque roof garden of Galicos’ premiere casino hotel—which his brother Xander had booked out months ago to host his engagement party. That would be the prospective groom, who was now a no-show—thanks to a chance encounter with a waitress three nights ago. Theo downed a shot of ouzo and stared out at the array of invited celebrities and VIPs in their designer finery busy gorging themselves on Caras Shipping’s hospitality, while silently cursing his older brotheragain.
Xander had dumped this mess on him—thanks to an inconvenient sense of honour that had reared its ugly head when his brother had discovered he’d got a waitress pregnant. The girl was cute enough, but if Xander really believed Poppy Brown’s baby was his, why didn’t he just pay her off? Maybe the girl had told them both, when Theo had met her on the Caras yacht three nights ago, she didn’t want Xander’s money, but Theo wasn’t buying it. The waitress was just holding out for a better offer.
But instead of bargaining with the girl, Xander had insisted on sailing off with her, thus screwing the deal with Prince Andreas and his daughter, leaving Caras Shipping with nowhere to park the luxury cruise liners that would be ready to launch by the end of next year.
The irony didn’t escape Theo that the cruise business had always been his brother’s baby. But Xander had finally admitted to him he’d conceived of the new venture to give Caras Shipping more class.
Why did they need class? When they had money? Theo didn’t get it. But he had realised, after Xander’s impassioned explanation, that the cruise business meant a lot to his brother… And for that reason, securing the land for Xander meant a lot to Theo, too… There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Xander, because he was the only person whom he had ever truly cared about.
Theo guessed most people would consider their childhood terrifying—scarred by poverty, hunger, and lawlessness—after their father had abandoned them both in a two-room hovel in Athens when they were both still kids. But for Theo, it had been exciting. He’d never much liked the huge bear of a man who stank of stale liquor and resentment. So he had silently rejoiced when he’d woken up one morning to find the bastard gone. And that tough start had made both him and Xander the men they were today: ruthless, focussed, single-minded and stupendously rich—with no unnecessary attachments. Well, apart from that pregnant waitress. But Xander would come to his senses soon and pay to make that problem go away.
As he nursed the aniseed liquor, he gazed out at the ornate roof garden full of the sort of people who wouldn’t even have wiped their shoes on him when he was a boy. He was wealthier and a lot more influential than every one of them now. Each morning spent scavenging for scraps by the docks, or lying through his teeth to the latest social worker or picking tourists’ pockets for gang members who would break his arm if he crossed them, had been worth it, because it had got him here.
