“Your parents will be ecstatic. They’ve been pushing your older sisters at me several times a year since the first time your family came to visit our kingdom.”
Dominique nodded. “I see.” She got to her feet. “Well, you’ve given me a lot to consider. I’ll need a little time to?—”
“No.”
She blinked at him. For the first time, he could read her expression. She was confused. “Pardon me?”
“No, you cannot have time. I need an answer tonight. And if it’s not agreement, I’m afraid I’ll have to contact your parents and ask them for your hand in marriage.”
Her mouth fell open as she stared down at him. “You’ll have to what?”
Ronan also got to his feet. In her heels, she was only a couple of inches, maybe three, shorter than him. “You’ll agree to marry me, here, tonight, or I’ll contact your parents when I get back to Magic and demand your hand in marriage.”
Her mouth snapped shut as she continued to stare at him.
Ronan had painted her into a corner, and he knew it. Normally, he would have at least pretended to be gracious about it, but her distant, dispassionate demeanor had irritated him to the point that he didn’t care about diplomacy any longer.
“What shall it be, princess?” he asked.
CHAPTER TWO
Dominique wanted to throw something.Or hit something.
Maybe someone. Like Ronan.
She fought hard to remain stoic in the face of his smug question. The princess moniker was a nice touch.
Yes, he’d painted her into a corner with radioactive paint. No matter which way she turned, she was going to be screwed. If she said no, he’d contact her parents, and they would do whatever was necessary to force her to marry him. Even kidnap or drug her. She would have no power because they would also go to great lengths to keep her under their thumb. Then, they would go after Ronan.
No, she couldn’t let him go to her parents. She would have to agree to this ridiculous charade. At least she would have some bargaining power.
“If I do this, I’ll have conditions,” she said.
“Of course.”
“I’ve already explained that I won’t bear children for you, but I will not have sex with you, either. This marriage will be in name only. I understand if you need to seek company outside of our marriage, but know that it will go both ways should I find someone I’m interested in.”
She didn’t mention that she’d been celibate for five years. He didn’t need to know that the likelihood of her taking a lover was even lower than the likelihood of her agreeing to sell her business.
He stared at her, his blue gaze sharpening as he studied her face. “We need to give the appearance of a happy couple, a couple deeply in love, so there will be no other lovers for either of us. At least in Magic. If either of us need to scratch an itch, it will need to be in the human realm.”
Dominique nodded, smoothing her hands down her skirt and trying to seem unaffected by the gravelly timbre of his voice.
“Anything else?” he asked.
“It goes without saying that neither of us will treat the other poorly. There may be no place for love in our…” She paused before swallowing hard. “Our marriage, but there should at least be respect.”
He eyed her for a long moment, appearing almost angry. “Agreed.”
“Then, we have a deal. I will be married to you for no more than ten years of my life, and you will consider my debt to you paid.”
He studied her again for a long moment, his eyes dropping to her right wrist. Dominique fought the urge to cover it with her hand. She never hid the crescent moon of her curse mark, even in the human realm. She wore it as a constant reminder that innocent mistakes could have permanent consequences.
He glanced back up at her face, his expression no longer smug. No, it was a look she couldn’t decipher. “I’ll be in touch with the details of our upcoming betrothal.”
She watched him saunter out of her office, unable to tear her eyes away from him. He wore his power like a cloak. In the years since she first saw him, he’d grown into a dangerous male. One that she would need to be very careful of.
She waited until she was sure that he was gone before she went to her office door and stuck her head out.
