He took several deep breaths, feeling as though he were walking upon a precipice.“I told you.If there’s a child, I will provide for both of you.”
She shook her head slowly.“We made the mistake once.Not again.If I bore a child, you would resent me.”
He couldn’t understand what she meant.“I would never resent you.”
“I thought that if we were together, even if I were nothing but your mistress, you might eventually want to marry me.”She lowered her head.“It was a foolish thought.As the crown prince, there is no chance of it.”
“I don’t live by the decisions of others.”
She ignored him.“You could marry a princess.Or a duchess.Anyone you please.”
His anger ignited.“Do you think I give a damn about social status?”He stood, his shadow falling over her.“Are you demanding that I marry you?Because I don’t think that’s what you really want.”
She stiffened, and he continued.“You want a man with a title and several estates.You want a respectable name and separate bedrooms with an adjoining door.When you sit at your dinner table, you want a man at your side whom others admire.Not a man like me.A soldier, responsible for the deaths of hundreds of men.”
She spoke not a word, and he realized he’d been hoping for her argument.He’d hoped she would deny it.But he suspected he’d been her temptation, a sinful indulgence that she didn’t want forever.
“If I thought you wanted me, I’d find a minister right now,” he murmured, sitting down.“I would make you a princess.But you wouldn’t say yes, would you?”
Because she knew where he came from.She knew who he truly was—a man from the streets.
For the longest moment, Michael stared into her bleak face.Waiting for her to tell him he was wrong.Waiting for her to embrace him or offer words of reassurance.
“No, I wouldn’t,” she said at last.Her face was pale, but determined.“I’ll help you acclimate to the Schloss.And after that, I’m leaving for Germany.”
The door closed behind Michael, and Hannah buried her face in the pillow, weeping hot tears.The wretched pain of forcing him to leave her was more than she could bear.
His idle remark, that he’d make her a princess, made her shudder.He didn’t know what it was like to live in a gilded cage, the way she did.
Hannah understood exactly what it was to have her appearance inspected every few hours, her food selected based on what would keep her figure slender, and her life ordered to a stringent set of rules.
For a princess, it would be far worse.
The hot tears caught up in her throat, for it had taken every bit of her willpower to hold firm on the decision.She had fallen in love with Michael Thorpe, but not once had he spoken of his feelings toward her.And the thought of living in a Schloss, hoping for a scrap of affection or a night in his arms, was too much to bear.
She’d rather be the wife of a nobleman or a commoner.Someone who would let her have a taste of the freedom she’d never possessed.
Michael’s life would be controlled by the strings of politics, his future no longer under his control.If he were the crown prince, he couldn’t avoid his fate.
But she could.
And though it broke her heart into a thousand pieces, she couldn’t endure life as a princess unless he loved her back.
Chapter Nineteen
Thoughhewashealingfrom his bullet wounds, the Graf von Reischor was still unable to walk.While Michael waited in the coach with Lady Hannah, the older man’s servants used a wheeled chair to push him into the Schloss.
“Do you think he’ll manage an audience with the queen?”Hannah asked, watching as they disappeared inside.
“I have no doubt of it.”
“What about the royal guards?The prince ordered us to leave the country.Surely, they won’t allow it.”
“They haven’t seen us yet.For now, they believe the ambassador is paying his respects to the queen.”
They waited for nearly two hours before the Graf returned to the coach.The man looked exhausted, but satisfied.To Michael, he said, “I’ve arranged an audience.The king has agreed to meet with us, overruling Fürst Karl’s orders.”
“What about the queen?”Hannah asked.“Will she see us?”
