‘I became King.’
‘At nineteen? But that’s so young.’
He handed her another type of pastry. ‘I was born to lead. For me it wasn’t an issue.’
Wasn’t an issue?
Regan stared at him. He might say it wasn’t an issue but she knew how hard it was to take on the responsibility of one brother, let alone an entire country. ‘It couldn’t have been easy. Did you have time to mourn him at least?’
She noticed a flicker of surprise behind his steady gaze. ‘I was studying in America when his light aircraft went down. By the time I arrived home the country was in turmoil. There were things to be done. Try the manakeesh.’ He indicted the food she forgot she was holding. ‘I think you’ll like it.’
That would be a no, then, she thought, biting into a delicious mixture of bread, spice and mince. His slight grin told her he knew that she’d enjoyed it. She shook her head, trying to make sense of their conversation.
He might sound as if he were talking about little more than a walk in the park, but Regan could tell by the slight tightening of the skin around his eyes that his father’s death had affected him very deeply. ‘How old was your sister at the time?’
‘My sister was eight.’ He tore off a piece of flatbread and dipped it in a dark purple dip. ‘My brother was sixteen.’ He handed her the bread.
‘You have a brother?’
‘Rafa. He lives in England. The baba ganoush is good, yes?’
‘Yes, it’s delicious.’ She licked a remnant of the dip from the corner of her mouth, frowning when she realised what he was doing. ‘Why are you feeding me?’
His piercing gaze met hers. ‘I like feeding you.’
Something happened to the air between them because suddenly Regan found it hard to draw breath. She reached for her water glass. Their conversation had taken on a deeply personal nature and it was extremely disconcerting.
‘I can’t stay here,’ she husked. For one thing, she needed to find Chad, and for another...for another, this man affected her on levels she didn’t even know she had and she had no idea what to do about it.
‘You have no proof that my brother did anything wrong.’
His gaze became shuttered. ‘That topic of conversation is now closed.’
Agitated, Regan stared at him. ‘Not until you tell me what makes you so certain Chad has taken your sister.’
Leaning back in his chair, he took so long to answer her she didn’t think that he would. ‘We have CCTV footage of them together and after she’d gone my sister left a mess
age on my voicemail informing me that she was with a friend.’
Regan frowned. ‘That hardly sounds like someone who has been taken against her will.’
‘Milena is due to marry a very important man next month. She would not have put all of that at stake if she wasn’t forced to do so.’
‘Maybe she doesn’t want to marry him any more.’
A muscle jumped in the King’s jaw. ‘She agreed to the marriage and she would never shirk her duties. Ever.’
His sister might have agreed, Regan mused silently, but having to marry out of duty would make most women think twice. ‘Does she love the important man she’s going to marry?’
‘Love is of no importance in a royal marriage agreement.’
‘Okay.’ Regan thought love was important in any marriage agreement. ‘I’ll take that as a no.’
‘You can take it any way you want,’ he ground out. ‘Love is an emotional concept and does not belong in the merger of two great houses.’
‘Merger? You make it sound like a business proposition.’
‘That is as good a way of looking at it as any.’