She had to if she was going to survive the choice she’d made with her heart intact.
Cass glanced at Briony out of the corner of his eye as she leaned over to better hear what Linnaea’s minister of the treasury was saying. A smile crossed her face, and she laughed. Judging by the smitten look on the minister’s face, he was as besotted with Briony as the rest of the people she’d met.
He’d wondered for a moment if Briony was going to be able to handle the day. She’d kept her head down on the elevator ride from her wing to the main floor. She hadn’t said a word on the walk to the front of the palace. And when it had been time to step out onto the main staircase landing where the press conference was being held, Briony had stopped, her face pale.
But before he’d been able to swoop in and rescue her with a platitude, she’d inhaled deeply, squared her shoulders and walked out, one hand laid elegantly on his arm.
She’d handled the conference like a pro. Clara had avoided giving her anything to say in public, but she’d smiled at the press and gathered crowds with a genuine sweetness he knew would reflect well in tomorrow’s papers. That she had stopped to accept a flower from a little girl and given her a hug on their way to the carriage had made an entire country fall in love in the span of a heartbeat.
It had also made his earlier admiration flare into a fierce pride. His fiancée was a strong woman who was poised to become an exceptional leader.
Unfortunately, his esteem had opened the gateway for his suppressed attraction to also flame up. The carriage ride to the hotel had been pure hell. They’d sat next to each other, the cold winter day making the heat of her leg pressed against his even more intense.
And now he was experiencing...jealousy. Ever since they’d been escorted into the hotel’s ballroom, there had been a nonstop parade of people walking up to be introduced to Briony and congratulate her on her engagement, welcome her to Linnaea or, for a few calculating individuals, attempts to try to ferret out details about Briony’s lineage.
Briony handled it all like she’d been doing this for years.
The spotlight being focused on her had given him plenty of time to observe. Unfortunately, it also gave him plenty of time to think. He’d gone up to her suite to ensure she hadn’t changed her mind before the conference. He hadn’t expected to find her looking so stunningly beautiful. And he most certainly had not anticipated a mere graze of his fingers on bare skin would make his muscles lock up as he fought the thundering pound of his pulse demanding that he slide the zipper not up but down, baring her body for him and him alone to see.
Now that everything was official and Briony had been introduced to the public, now that she wore an emerald engagement ring on her finger and there were no immediate obstacles to their impending marriage, he was faced with the growing conundrum of his attraction to his fiancée.
If it was just simple sexual interest, that would be easy, even welcome. But the problem that had developed with Briony and didn’t show any signs of letting up was the strength of his attraction and how it had become interwoven with the emotions that surged forth no matter how much he tried to stifle them.
Why had he shown Briony his family’s house? He had seen shock, compassion, even begrudging acceptance of what their union could do for the people of Linnaea when he’d shown her the trash-ridden slums of Eira’s seedier underbelly. There had been no need to bare one of the most painful parts of his life.
But he had. A compulsion had seized him, a burning need for her to see him not as a spoiled prince wanting to get his own way, but as a man who had a duty to fulfill.
So why?That question had haunted him all night. Perhaps it had been the betrayal in her eyes when she’d walked into the study and confronted him, Daxon and Alaric. Or maybe it had been seeing the coldness she’d wielded like a shield last night, a stark contrast to her usual warmth.
Daxon approached, dressed in an impeccably tailored dark green suit with a light brown tie and brown shoes. He shook hands and smiled along the way. But his gaze stayed laser-focused on Briony.
Cass’s hackles rose as he stood and intercepted the king.
“Daxon,” he said with a smile for the cameras even as he gripped the older man’s hand in a tight grip. “What do you want?”
“I want to see my daughter,” Daxon replied with his own smile, clapping Cass on the back like they were old friends even as he winced under the pressure of Cass’s fingers.
“Your daughter?” Cass chuckled and leaned down so that no one else could hear. “Don’t you mean your bargaining chip?”
Daxon’s mask slipped a moment as his thin lips stretched into a taut line.
“You’re the one who proposed this, Cassius. You backed us into a corner.”
“You backed your entire country into a corner with your irresponsible spending—”
“Gentlemen.”
Both men turned to see Briony smiling at them with worry in her eyes.
“What’s going on? People are starting to look this way,” she said quietly as she slipped her hand into the crook of Cass’s elbow as if they’d been touching each other intimately for months.
“A reporter has asked for a photo of the two of us, but your fiancé has decided I’m not allowed to be around you,” Daxon said stiffly. “I don’t recall seeing that in the contract.”
Briony glanced up at Cass.
“You have enough going on today,” he replied in a low voice, ignoring Daxon’s snort. “I didn’t want him to add more stress.”
Something softened in her eyes, an appreciation that suddenly made him feel like a conquering warrior.