‘Hey…’ His thumb skimmed across her cheekbone, doing diabolical things to her heartbeat. ‘You’re not a burden. And we can end the marriage whenever the hell we want…’
‘So, it won’t be a real marriage, then?’ she asked, aware of the disappointment sinking like a lead weight into her belly.
What was wrong with her? Why was she hoping his offer could mean more than just a means to outwit her father?
‘How real we make it is up to us,’ he clarified. ‘But if you’re asking me if I want you in my life…’ his voice lowered to a husky purr ‘…and in my bed, for the foreseeable future, the answer’syes.’
She nodded, swallowed, the lump in her throat now the size of a boulder.
He wasn’t offering love, yet. But he was offering commitment. A part of her knew she should reject him. That by agreeing to marriage she was agreeing to playing this game by her father’s rules. She would be letting her father win.
But why did that have to matter? If she ended up having a chance to be with this fascinating, complex man, who seemed to challenge and excite her at every turn? And if he could keep her brothers safe? Theo might be doing this to help himself as well as her—she knew he still wanted the land deal to go ahead. But why shouldn’t he get something tangible out of their marriage, too? And once they were married, who said there couldn’t be more? And how would they ever know what they could mean to each other, if they didn’t give themselves time to find out?
She’d been lying awake each night, the hum of afterglow throbbing in her veins, his arms holding her as he slept, while battling the encroaching sense of loss, because each day that passed meant their time together was getting closer to the end.
What if it didn’t have to end so soon?
But marriage still felt like too much. Too soon. Especially as she knew she would want it to be a real marriage, if they ever chose to make that commitment.
‘Perhaps we could secure my brothers’ return by offering an engagement?’ she asked, frantically trying to control the bubbleof hope expanding against her ribcage. ‘There would be no need to marry straight away, right? He couldn’t make us? Could he?’
She didn’t want to bind Theo, or herself, too quickly. They needed a chance to get to know each other better… The last week had been intense—physically as well as emotionally. And returning to Galicos—and dealing with her father—was going to be tough enough, without adding the pressure of a royal wedding to the mix.
Something flickered in Theo’s eyes—that looked like guilt or even pity—but it was gone so quickly she must have imagined it. ‘Sure. An engagement should take the heat off.’
‘I’m not sure I’m ready to be a conventional wife,’ she managed. ‘I want to finish my education and think about a career. I want to be independent.’
He smiled, his lips lifting into that sensual grin she’d come to adore. ‘Do I strike you as the conventional-husband type?’
Her heart bounced in her chest. ‘Not specifically,’ she teased.
He grasped her arms, dragged her closer, until he could whisper across her lips. ‘Say yes, Freya. We have to go back to Galicos to get your old man and his threats off our backs. And rescue your brothers from a fate worse than death… But I’m not ready to let you go. Not yet.’
She lifted her arms to circle his neck, aware of the strident erection already lifting his towel—her head no longer listening to all the lingering doubts, because being in his arms had always felt so right.
‘Promise we’ll be a team? And that you won’t take my choices away from me…?’ she murmured, but she was already sure.
She trusted him. She loved him. He was giving her a way out, giving them both a chance to figure this out. And she wanted to take it.
‘You have my word, Your Highness,’ he said, the glint in his eyes as mesmerising as the rest of him. He grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into his arms.
Her heart soared as he strode back into the sauna, ready to seal their deal.
It was madness, of course, even to agree to an engagement after only a week—an engagement that might be very hard to break once the press had been informed… But he was doing this to protect her, and her brothers, and somehow it felt right to take this leap of faith, because her love for Theo Caras was as reckless and impulsive as the man himself…
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘YourHighness, wherehave you and Theo Caras been hiding?’
‘Is marriage on the cards, Princess Freya?’
‘Caras, did you kidnap the princess?’
‘Look this way, Your Highness, the people wish to see their runaway princess.’
‘Are you in love, Freya?’
Freya flinched, the barrage of questions—both hostile and fawning—were audible above the noise of the helicopter blades powering down as she and Theo stepped onto the tarmac at the Galicos heliport. Theo shielded her from the flash of bulbs, the discordant shouts, guiding her across the tarmac and past the phalanx of photographers and journalists barely constrained by the security guards.
