But what? What could he possibly do to prove to Emberly he intended to love her the way T.W. had previously encouraged him to—so completely that he would die for her?
As T.W. shuffled toward his wife, Max’s mind began to spin with a plan, a way to show Emberly she was not only his one and only but his world, his everything, his life. Maybe he wouldn’t actually die for her in this situation, but he could show her he was willing to sacrifice everything to have her.
23
At the banging against the front door of the cottage, Emberly pulled the covers over her head and burrowed deeper into her pillows.
After a restless night, she wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping, but her body still felt sluggish, her eyelids were heavy, and her head ached. She had no desire to get out of bed and wanted to make it her permanent place of residence.
“Emberly, answer the door.” Kade’s voice outside her cottage was followed by more pounding.
She peeked past her comforter to find daylight streaming through her bedroom window over the simple furnishings and her simple bed. It was a new morning. That meant the worst day of her life was finally over—the day she’d discovered the man she was totally and madly in love with had married her because he needed a wife by his thirty-fifth birthday in order to become the next king of his country.
Apparently, kings weren’t single and had to have wives. Who knew?
She should have known. After all, every king in history had wanted a wife to bear him children—particularly sons who could inherit the kingdom. Why would Max be any different?
In googling the laws of Karltenberg last night under her covers and in between fits of crying, she’d learned there wasn’t a law requiring the heir apparent to get married. But the son in line to be king had always taken a wife, usually by the timehe was in his mid-twenties. Max being in his thirties and still unmarried had created some unrest.
She also hadn’t needed to search the internet much further to discover the king and parliament’s pressure upon Max to choose a wife by his thirty-fifth birthday. How had she missed the articles during her previous searches? She supposed she’d been more focused on his personal and family history and hadn’t been paying attention to articles that mentioned the king and parliament.
This time, though, she was keenly interested in discovering anything she could on an ultimatum by the king and parliament. The news articles made it seem as if Max had very little choice in the matter, that he would either need to marry or allow someone more settled—like his brother Alex—to take his place.
He’d already proven what a top-notch leader he was as the CEO of KWB Group. Every article praised him for his skills and abilities in making the bank so successful and expanding it throughout the world.
If he could lead the bank so well, he would be an excellent ruler of his country.
Actually, there was no doubt in Emberly’s mind that Max would be a good king. During his visit at the ranch and while he’d been stranded with her at the cabin, she’d seen easily enough how much Max loved Karltenberg. He had been ready, willing, and eager to be king.
She also had no doubt that Max was ready, willing, and eager to have a wife so that he could move into his role as king with the approval of his father and his people.
That’s why he’d been considering marrying Sarah—because an arranged marriage would appease his father and parliament. So why not marry an innocent and willing American who he found more attractive than Sarah? Especially a woman who would fall for him in no time at all.
Emberly blew out a raspberry. She’d fallen all right. And part of her hadn’t even seen herself tripping and tumbling. It had happened so fast.
“Emberly, if you don’t open up,” Kade’s voice echoed through the house, “you’ll force me to get the master key and come in.”
So, so fast. Fast, furious, and forever. Yes, she’d experienced the McQuaid legacy of love and had realized it wasn’t just for the men in the family after all, that she could have it too...
Except that her husband had married her for what she could do for him and not because he loved her in return, hadn’t he?
His twenty-plus texts said otherwise, as did the dozen or more voicemails.
He’d also stood outside her cottage door for hours—at least four—before her dad had convinced him to leave. She knew because she’d been sitting on the floor against the door for most of that time, listening to Max try to convince her that their marriage and his love for her were genuine. He’d claimed many times that the birthday deadline had not crossed his mind when he’d decided he wanted to marry her.
Logically, she knew he couldn’t fake the affection she’d felt from him. He wouldn’t have kissed her the way he had if there hadn’t been at least some depth of feelings.
Even so, she hadn’t been able to convince herself he was telling the truth as her heart had been breaking and the tears had streaked her cheeks. When he’d left, he’d bumped the door, presumably with his head, and told her he loved her and that he would be back.
Then silence had descended.
“Emberly, I’m coming in!” came Kade’s obnoxious call.
Her family had given her some space yesterday and last night. But now they were obviously done allowing her to wallow and had sent Kade.
Would he have Max with him?
Emberly scrambled out of bed and slipped into a sweatshirt to cover her pj’s. Then she peeked into the mirror attached to her dresser to find that her hair was unruly and messy. Worse than that, her face looked splotchy and swollen.
