She lay frozen, her face still buried in her arm as the last vestiges of that bliss ebbed. And then shame flooded in. Bitter, galling shame.
She twisted, suddenly desperate to escape. But he grasped her hips hard, prevented her moving even an inch.
‘Stop hiding,’ he growled savagely. ‘There are things we must discuss.’
‘Discuss? You think you discuss anything?’ She threw her arms wide and snarled at him. ‘You dictate.’ He bulldozed. ‘And you...you...’
‘Take action.’ He finished her sentence for her, as breathless and angry as she. ‘And I’ll continue to do so. And first up, you’re not going to marry Prince Xander of Santa Chiara. You’re going to marry me.’
CHAPTER SIX
‘I’M NOT MARRYING YOU,’ Eleni snapped, furiously shoving him. ‘I’m not marrying anyone.’
‘Right.’ He lazily leaned back on his heels and sent her a sardonic look. ‘That’s why the world is currently planning party snacks for the live stream of the royal wedding of the century.’
She was sick of his smug arrogance. Awkwardly she curled up her legs to get past him and angrily pulled her skirt down, too mortified to hunt for her knickers. ‘I wasn’t going to go through with it.’
‘Really?’ He stood in a single, smooth movement, mocking her with his athletic grace. ‘What was the plan?’
She loathed how inept he made her feel. How easily he could make her lose all control. How much her appallingly stupid body still wanted his attention. ‘You have no idea how impossible it is for me to get away.’
‘As it happens, I do have some insight into the technical difficulties.’ His gaze narrowed. Hardened. ‘So you were going to go through with it.’
She’d never wanted to but she’d known it was what was expected. Since she’d suspected her pregnancy her desperation had grown. She glared at him from the centre of the room. ‘I didn’t know what to do.’
‘Why not try talking to him?’
She rolled her eyes. He made it sound so easy.
‘Giorgos wouldn’t listen.’
‘Giorgos?’ Damon’s eyebrows shot up. ‘What about the man you were supposed to marry?’
Who? Oh. He meant Xander. As if she could talk to him—she barely knew him.
‘I’m guessing you don’t love him. Prince Xander, that is,’ Damon added sarcastically.
She turned away from Damon. Her heart beat heavy and fast and she perched on the edge of a small chair—far, far away from that sofa. ‘Obviously not or I wouldn’t have...done what I did with you.’
‘Then why marry him?’
‘Because it is what has been expected for a long time.’
‘So it’s duty.’
‘It would benefit our countries...’
‘Because a royal wedding is somehow going to magically smooth away any serious issues your respective countries may be facing?’ He laughed derisively. ‘And you’ll throw in some rainbows and unicorns to make it all prettier and perfect?’
‘You don’t understand the subtleties.’
‘Clearly not,’ he muttered dryly. ‘And was my child meant to be the fruit of this fairy-tale unity?’ he demanded. ‘When in reality she or he will grow up lonely in a house devoid of warmth and love with parents absent in every sense.’
Eleni stared, taken aback by his vehemence. And his insight.
‘I’ll never let my child be used that way.’ His eyes were hard. ‘I know the unseen impact of a purely political union and I’ll do whatever it takes to ensure my kid doesn’t endure that kind of bleak upbringing.’
‘I’m not going to marry him,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I know I can’t.’
‘But if you don’t marry someone, your child will be labelled a bastard. We might live in modern times, but you’re a princess and there are certain expectations. What kind of life will your child have without legitimacy? Will she be kept cloistered in the shadows, even more stifled than you were? Look how well that turned out for you.’
She flinched. He saw too much and he judged harshly. But the horrible thing was, he was right. She had to think of a better way. She leapt to her feet and paced away from him, twisting her cold hands together. She didn’t want to involve him—he twisted everything up too much.
‘I need to call Giorgos,’ she said. It must be almost two hours since she’d left Palisades and her brother would be irate already.
‘I agree.’
She spun on the spot. ‘You do?’
‘Of course. It’ll be better if you’re completely honest with him. Do you think you can be—or are you going to need help with that again?’
She flushed, remembering just how Damon had dragged the intimate truth from her only minutes ago. Now his biting sarcasm hurt and she felt sick enough at the thought of confessing all to her brother.
‘What, you expect me to cheerily tell him I’m here of my own free will?’ She flared. ‘That you didn’t bundle me into a boat and set sail for the high seas before I could blink?’
‘The choice was yours.’
‘What choice did you give me?’ she scoffed.
‘To speak the truth, or give you time. I think it was a reasonable choice.’
‘It was blackmail. Because you’re a bully.’
‘You’ve already admitted you didn’t know what to do. You couldn’t figure a way out. Here it is and you’re happy about it. Don’t dramatise me into your villain.’
Eleni rubbed her forehead. Damon’s words struck a deep chord. She’d been refusing to admit to herself how glad she was he’d stolen her away. She’d been unable to think up an escape and he’d offered one. She wasn’t as much mad with him, but mad with herself for needing it—and for layering on complications with her wretched desire for him. Her emotional overreactions had to end.
She’d been too scared to admit to Giorgos how badly she’d screwed up. But if she wanted her brother to treat her as an adult, she had to act like one.
‘Okay.’ She blew out a breath and turned to look Damon in the eye. ‘I’m not sorry you took me away. You’re right. I needed this time to think things through. Thank you.’
‘How very gracious, Princess,’ Damon drawled. ‘But don’t be mistaken. Like I said, this isn’t a rescue. I’m not doing you a favour. I’m claiming what’s mine. And I’m protecting it.’ He picked up a handset from a small side table and held it out to her. ‘Phone your brother.’
Eleni’s hands were slick
with sweat as she tapped the private number onto the screen.
‘Giorgos, it’s me.’ She turned away from Damon as her brother answered his private line immediately.
‘Eleni. Where are you?’ Giorgos demanded instant answers. ‘Come back to the palace now. Do you have any idea of the trouble you’ve caused?’
‘I’m not coming back yet, Giorgos. I need time to think.’
‘Think? About what?’ Her brother dismissed her claim. ‘Your fiancé is already here. Or had you forgotten that you’re about to go on tour with him?’
‘I can’t do it, Giorgos.’
‘Can’t do what?’ Giorgos asked impatiently.
Eleni closed her eyes and summoned all her courage. ‘I’m pregnant,’ she said flatly. ‘Prince Xander isn’t the father.’
Silence.
Seven long seconds of appalled silence.
‘Who?’ Giorgos finally asked in a deadly whisper. ‘Who?’
‘It doesn’t matter—’
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll bloody—Tell me his name.’
‘No.’
‘Tell me his name, Eleni. I’ll have him—’
‘Call off the hounds, Giorgos.’ She interrupted her brother for the first time in her life. ‘Or I swear I’ll never return.’ Her heart broke as she threatened him. ‘I will disappear.’
Her guilt mounted. Her horror at doing this to the brother she loved. But she pushed forward.
‘It doesn’t matter who it was. He didn’t seduce me. I was a fully willing participant.’ She screwed her eyes tight shut, mortified at revealing this intimacy to her brother, but knowing the way he’d assume she’d been taken advantage of because he still thought of her as an innocent, helpless kid. She needed to own this. ‘I made the mistake, Giorgos. And I need to fix it. Tell Xander I’m sick. Tell him I ran away. Tell him anything you like. But I’m not coming back. Not yet. Not ’til I’ve sorted it out.’
‘Are you with the bastard now?’ Giorgos asked impatiently.
‘I’m not marrying him either,’ Eleni said.
She didn’t catch Giorgos’s muttered imprecation.
‘This child is mine. Pure Nicolaides.’ She finally felt a segment of peace settle in place inside.