Rafe nodded. ‘For some time, the country’s fiscal position has been...precarious.’
He’d mentioned economics on their pretend honeymoon, then avoided the conversation. Everything in her stilled. ‘How precarious?’
‘The prime minister advised me that by the end of the year the government may not be able to pay the public service.’
She sank to a seat in spite of herself. This was something her father must have known of. Her mother, her brother too. How could she have been kept ignorant? Especially Rafe, when the perfect moment had arisen only days earlier. But then he hadn’t wanted anything to ruin the perfect weekend of attempted seduction, had he?
‘The government’s plan includes support from me, provision of financial advice and a number of austerity measures.’ He shuffled some papers, placed them into the red folder and handed it to her. ‘It’s all in here.’
She looked at him, leaning on the desk. One foot crossed over the other. The only thought swirling through her head was that he didn’t seem surprised. At all.
‘How long have you known?’
He hesitated, his mouth thinning to a taut line. He was thinking, and that told her all she needed. She’d bet the kingdom on him having known for—
‘That the treasury has been in financial trouble? About five months.’
Bingo. He’d been told at about the time he’d begun seeking her out in earnest. At the time she’d thought he might be interested in her.
‘That the economy’s at risk of collapse,’ Rafe added. ‘About twenty minutes.’
The flame of humiliation and then hatred burned bright. She wasn’t sure who she hated now, but since her father was dead and Rafe was here...
‘My father offered you a princess, didn’t he? To get your co-operation and assistance in digging Lauritania out of this mess.’
‘Lise—’
‘No. Stop right there.’ She held up her hand. ‘Iknow. My father needed your help, so he offered me as your reward.’
It was clear now. The desperation to get her to marry. The fury when she refused. Why couldn’t her father have trusted her with the information? To save the country, she might have accepted the plan.
‘Is that what you all saw in me?’ she hissed, the pain of realisation too much to bear. She blinked away the hot sting of tears, ‘A financial cost of doing business? Something to be traded?’
He cocked his head. Regarded her. Those dark eyes of his all-knowing.
‘I saw a passionate young woman. A woman seeking permission to be herself.’ His voice ran soft and silky across her skin. ‘Something you should never have had to ask for.’
She hated that he knew so many of her secret desires, the old hurts. That he could read her so well. Even though she shouldn’t think this way, he still called to her on some deep and hopeful level. That his seeming passion for her hadn’t been faked. She crushed those sentiments. Stood, holding her head high.
‘I’ll take that report and read it. Decide how to manage the situation.’
‘It gets worse.’
She stiffened her spine. She would not crumble. She wouldn’t. ‘How can it beworse?’
‘Read the report, Lise.’
The betrayal stabbed deep. Her family dead, her country in ruins. She grabbed at her chest, unzipped her hoodie. She couldn’t breathe.
‘I’ll need to assemble the best financial minds in the country—’
‘I am the best financial mind in the country.’ It was said with no humility, but no hubris either. Still, Rafe was the last person that she wanted to talk to, even if he was the best at everything he did.
‘I’d like a wider choice.’
He pushed away from the desk. ‘It shouldn’t be anyone who helped to cause the situation.’
She nodded. The suggestion seemed sensible, but she hated that he’d thought of it first. She picked up the red folder from the desktop then headed for the door.