‘It was none of your business,’ she said haughtily.
‘You don’t think?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘That’s where you’re so wrong. And who you sleep with is now my business too.’
‘I’m. Not. Marrying. You.’ She utterly refused.
‘It won’t be for ever, Eleni,’ he assured her dispassionately. ‘We can divorce easily enough in time, without destroying the union of two entire nations,’ he added pointedly. ‘I will retain custody of our child. You will go back to being a princess.’
‘Pardon?’ The air was sucked from her lungs.
‘I’ll raise our child alone, without the pressure of public life.’
‘What?’ She stared at him, horrified to read the utterly cool seriousness on his face. ‘But I’m this child’s mother. A child needs her mother.’ If anyone knew that, she did.
There was a thick silence.
His expression shuttered. ‘A child needs parents who want her. Who love her. And if they’re together, they need to be in love with each other.’ His words dropped like heavy stones into a still pond. ‘While we want each other, we don’t—and won’t—love each other. This isn’t some fairy-tale romance, Eleni. This is real. And we have a real problem to deal with. As adults.’
Not a fairy tale.
She knew theirs was a connection forged by nothing but lust and hormones. But now? What he’d just said came as a greater shock than any the day had brought so far.
He wanted to take her baby from her.
‘You’ve had a long day. You must need something to eat.’ He changed the subject easily, as if he hadn’t just shaken her whole foundation.
‘I couldn’t...’ She was too shocked to contemplate something so banal as food.
‘Suit yourself.’ He shrugged carelessly. ‘You obviously need sleep to get your head together. But starting tomorrow we’ll look at ensuring your diet is appropriate.’
Appropriate? What, he thought he was going to dictate every aspect of her life now?
‘How lovely of you to care,’ she said acidly.
‘I care about my child.’ He turned his back on her. ‘I’ll show you to your quarters.’
Silently she followed him along the gleaming corridor of the large yacht that was still steaming full-speed away from Palisades.
He stopped almost at the end. ‘You’re in here,’ he said briefly, gesturing through the doorway. ‘I’m in the cabin next door, if you decide you do need something.’
She didn’t move into the room immediately; she was too busy trying to read him. Beyond the too-handsome features, there was intense determination.
A fatalistic feeling sank into her bones. There was no escaping, no getting away from what he wanted. And he didn’t actually want her—only her baby.
But earlier she’d felt his hardness, his heat, she’d heard his breathlessness as he’d kissed her into ecstasy. Surely he’d wanted her? But he hadn’t taken her. And he could have, they both knew that.
All of which merely proved that it had been just sex for him, while she’d thought it had been somehow special...
Strain tightened his features. ‘I’m not going to kiss you goodnight,’ he muttered. ‘I’m too tired to be able to stop it from escalating.’
As if she’d been waiting for him to kiss her? Outraged, she snarled. ‘You don’t think I could stop it?’
‘Maybe you could,’ he said doubtfully. ‘But I’m not willing to take the risk.’
She stepped into the cabin and slammed the door right in his face.
Not a fairy tale.
No. This was nothing less than a nightmare. She glanced angrily at the large, smooth bed. As if she were ever going to sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
‘ELENI.’
The whisper slipped over her skin like a warm, gentle breeze. Smiling, she snuggled deeper into the cosy cocoon.
‘Eleni.’
She snapped her eyes open. Damon was leaning over her, his face only a breath from hers.
‘Oh...hey... What are you doing in here?’ she asked softly.
‘Making sure you’re okay,’ he answered, equally softly.
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ She’d been buried deep in the best sleep she’d had in weeks.
His smile appeared—the magnetic one that had melted all her defences that night at the ball. The one she hadn’t seen since. ‘Well, I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up.’
Why would he think she wouldn’t? Had he been trying to rouse her for hours already? His smile diverted her sleepy thoughts onto a different track—had he been about to try waking her with a kiss?
Blood quickening, she clutched the sheet to her chest and tried to sit up.
‘Easy.’ He held her down with a hand on her shoulder. ‘Not so fast.’ He sat on the edge of her bed and pointed to the bedside table. ‘I brought food and water. You must be hungry now.’
The dry crackers on the plate brought her fully awake with a sharp bump. This was no fairy tale. Damon had no thought of romance, only practicality—preventing her morning sickness from surfacing.
‘Thank you.’ She pulled herself together, determined to be polite and battle him with calm rationality. No more emotional outbursts that only he drew from her. All she needed now was for him to leave.
But clearly he didn’t hear her unspoken plea, because he watched her expectantly. With an expressive sigh she lifted the glass of water.
‘You normally sleep this late?’ Damon asked.
‘What time is it?’
‘Almost eleven.’
She nearly spat out the mouthful of water she’d just sipped.
That amused grin flashed across his face again. ‘I take it you don’t usually sleep in.’
Of course not. Never in all her life.
‘Has anyone been in contact?’ she asked, trying to distract herself from how infuriatingly gorgeous he looked in that old tee and jeans combo.
‘You’re asking if they’ve tracked you down?’ He shook his head. ‘Radio silence.’
She didn’t quite know how to feel about that. ‘Perhaps they’re planning a rescue raid and are about to break in and arrest you,’ she muttered acidly. ‘Any second now.’
‘You came willingly.’ That evil amusement lit his eyes. ‘More than once.’
Uncontrollable heat washed through her, threatening an emotional outburst. Eleni levered up onto her elbow and glanced about for her robe. It wasn’t there. Of course. None of her wardrobe was. The clothes she’d worn yesterday were on the floor where she’d left them. She blushed, imagining the reprimand.
Lazy, spoilt princess.
Awareness prickled. She snuck a look at him from beneath her lashes.
‘Got a problem, Princess?’ The slightest of jeers, low and a little rough and enough to fling her over the edge.
‘Yes,’ she said provocatively. ‘I don’t have anything fresh to wear.’
His eyes widened and for the briefest of seconds his raw reaction to her was exposed. He wanted her still. She was too thrilled by the realisation to stop.
‘Hadn’t thought of that in all your evil planning, had you?’ she purred.
But his expression blanked. ‘Maybe I felt clothes weren’t going to be necessary.’
‘Oh, please.’
But he’d turned that desire back on her, teasing her when she’d wanted to test him.
‘You love the idea.’ He leaned closer, his whispered words having that warm, magnetic effect on her most private parts. ‘And as we’re going to be married, there’s no need to be shy.’
Her reaction to his proximity was appalling but all she wanted now was to know he was as shattered as she.