‘What’s her name?’ Theo finally managed when the baby stopped whimpering.
‘Your niece, you mean?’ Xander replied, his gaze sharpening, the disgust in his voice unmistakeable. ‘Do you even care?’
‘Yes,’ Theo said, annoyed by the twinge of guilt. He had enough to feel crap about, he did not need his brother giving him a guilt trip, too.
‘Gemma,’ Xander said, pride thickening his voice. ‘We have named her after Poppy’s mother. She was born eight whole days ago and this is the first time her uncle has called.’
The judgment and disgust in his brother’s tone made Theo bristle.
‘I’ve been busy,’ he said, through gritted teeth. He had called his brother for perspective, not to be chastised as if he were that feral kid who had once thought nothing of endangering both their lives for a quick thrill. ‘If you’re busy, though, I can end this call now.’
‘Don’t you dare hang up,’ Xander said, clearly trying to keep a lid on his temper for the sake of his daughter. ‘Just tell me, have you slept with Princess Freya?’
What the fuck?
Theo stiffened. ‘How is that your business, bro?’ he replied, but he could hear the defensiveness as heat slashed across his cheeks.
‘So that’s a yes, then,’ his brother remarked, the contempt dialling up a notch. ‘It’s my business because her father has beencalling me every day for the past week.’ Xander swore in Greek, his voice low with fury. ‘What kind of man are you? The girl was a virgin. You kidnapped her and then seduced her?’
Shame washed over him, but right behind it was outrage. ‘I did not force her.’
‘I know you, and how damn charming you can be. You wouldn’t have had to force her. But that doesn’t make it right. She is vulnerable. Her father is threatening to call Interpol if she is not returned to Galicos by New Year’s Eve. That gives you two days, buddy. And frankly, as much as I despise the man, I don’t blame him.’ His brother let out a huff of resignation, which was somehow worse than the outrage. ‘She’s hisdaughter.’
He flinched, his brother’s judgment like a physical blow. Xander had always been on his side. No matter what he had done, his brother had found a way to excuse it, even when Theo had found it difficult to excuse himself… But he could feel the distance between them now in a lot more than miles.
‘She was willing,’ he murmured, hating the need to justify his actions. ‘She was running away that night from another arranged marriage. All I did was aid her escape. Her father has no intention of calling anyone—it is an empty threat. He simply wants his property returned to him. He does not love her.’
‘Uh-huh? And you do?’ Xander replied, the scepticism and judgment dripping from every word. As if Theo was lower than dirt. Unfortunately, he now felt lower than dirt.
Theo shrugged, trying to regain his usual nonchalance, despite the tension screaming across his shoulder blades. ‘Hearts and flowers is not my style.’
‘Yeah, I know your style is to do what you damn well please and to hell with who you hurt. But I wouldn’t be so sure Prince Andreas won’t set the authorities on you if you don’t return her… I discovered something a couple of days ago which means themarriage he’s been trying to arrange for her isn’t as arbitrary as we thought.’
‘What did you discover?’
‘Buried in the country’s constitution is a requirement that no one can own Crown land in the principality without being linked by blood or marriage to the royal family. That’s why none of the land owned by the Crown in Galicos has ever been sold before now—and why the prince suggested an arranged marriage with Freya to me all those months ago, because he couldn’t legally sell me the landwithoutthat marriage.’
‘That son of a bitch…’ Theo stared at his brother, his stomach knotting. He’d known there was something suspicious about Prince Andreas’ desperation to marry Freya off—first to Xander, then him, then Faron. Theo had suspected the motive wasn’t just to do with some vague desire to keep Galicos’ assets for the prince’s heirs. But this felt so calculated. He’d known the man didn’t love his daughter, certainly didn’t value her as an independent person… But this made him a monster. Didn’t it?
‘Why didn’t he just tell you that he couldn’t make the deal without the marriage?’ Theo asked, not quite able to believe Freya’s father could be this cold.
Xander shrugged, his hand stroking his now sleeping daughter’s back.
‘Pride? Or expediency or both. I suspect he didn’t want anyone to know he had so little control over the Crown’s assets. Maybe he was concerned it would weaken his negotiating position. Either way, the man is now desperate. As you know, he has been leveraging debt on his assets for years. He needs to sell the port land before those loans become due on January sixth—problem is, he can’t do that without marrying his daughter to the buyer. You haven’t just kidnapped a princess, Theo. You’ve stolen her father’s get-out-of-jail-free card. He’ll stop at nothing to get her back, including throwing you—and her—to the wolves.There’s already speculation in the media about where she is. She hasn’t been seen in public since December twenty-first, the night you abducted her. I don’t know where the hell you are, but, believe me, wherever it is, he’s going to find you.’
‘So what?’ Theo replied. ‘You think I’m scared of that entitled bastard? He doesn’t know what tough is. He takes me on, and I’ll end him.’
He’d dealt with bullies like Prince Andreas before, and he had the scars to prove it. He could still remember the face of that fence, the guy’s casual cruelty, the kicks he’d got out of beating up Theo until he’d been curled in a ball of misery and left to die in a back alley. He’d crawled all the way home. He’d been a child, a scared, angry kid in agony. That bastard had broken a few ribs, and ended his career as a cat burglar… But he’d hadn’t broken him. Not his spirit, not his confidence, nor his ability to find another way out of that squalid back alley.
‘I know that, Theo. But what about Freya?’ Xander said, sounding weary now.
‘What about her? She wants to live her own life… She doesn’t want to be his pawn any longer. It’s why she ran away,’ he said, fiercely proud of the defiant girl he’d once teased. She’d told him she didn’t think her father had ever loved her, with that sad expression on her face, but she’d found the courage to change her future.
‘The man I spoke to last night didn’t sound rational, Theo,’ Xander said, his tone grave. ‘He’s threatening to destroy her reputation. To accuse her of putting her sexual obsession with you above the future of her country. He’s already packed her two brothers off to some harsh military academy in Italy. You think the press will leave her alone after that? They won’t. She’ll be hounded wherever she goes. Women have always had to deal with a double standard, especially women in her position. You’veset her up for this by seducing her. If you care for her at all, you’ll bring her back. Let her make peace with her father.’
‘But he’ll force her to marry Faron, or some other old man—you know he will.’ And something inside Theo told him he couldn’t let that happen. Because she washis. In all the ways that mattered.
It wouldn’t last. How could it? He’d never made a lasting commitment to anyone or anything in his life that didn’t serve his own self-interest. But how could he throw her to the wolves? How could he let someone so vibrant be forced to marry an old man? Or, worse, be branded a whore for the rest of her life?
