A Queen for the Taking?. Кейт Хьюит

raised an eyebrow, wearily amused. ‘Are you suggesting I do?’

      ‘No, but...’ She shrugged, spreading her hands. ‘I do not wish to be your life sentence.’

      ‘And will I be yours?’

      ‘I have accepted the limitations of this marriage in a way it appears you have not.’

      Which made him sound like a hopeless romantic. No, he’d accepted the limitations. He was simply railing against them, which as she’d pointed out was to no purpose. And he’d stop right now.

      ‘Forgive me, Liana. I have been taking out my frustrations on you, and I will not do so any longer. I wish to marry you and no other. You are, as I mentioned before, so very suitable, and I apologise for seeming to hold it against you.’ This little speech sounded stiltedly formal, but he did mean it. He’d made his choices. He needed to live with them.

      ‘Apology accepted,’ she answered quietly, but with no real warmth. Could he even blame her? He’d hardly endeared himself to her. He wasn’t sure he could.

      He reached for his wine glass. ‘In any case, after the debacle of my brother’s marriage, not to mention my parents’, our country needs the stability of a shock-free monarchy.’

      ‘Your brother? Prince Leo?’

      ‘You know him?’

      ‘I’ve met him on several occasions. He’s married to Alyse Barras now.’

      ‘The wedding of the century, apparently. The love story of the century....’ He shook his head, knowing how his brother must have hated the pretence. ‘And it was all a lie.’

      ‘But they are still together?’

      Sandro nodded. ‘The irony is, they actually do love each other. But they didn’t fall in love until after their marriage.’

      ‘So their six-year engagement was—?’

      ‘A sham. And the public isn’t likely to forgive that very easily.’

      ‘It hardly matters, since Leo will no longer be king.’

      God, she was cold. ‘I suppose not.’

      ‘I only meant,’ she clarified, as if she could read his thoughts, ‘that the publicity isn’t an issue for them anymore.’

      ‘But it will be for us,’ he filled in, ‘which is why I have chosen to be honest about the convenience of our marriage. No one will ever think we’re in love.’

      ‘Instead of a fairy tale,’ she said, ‘we will have a business partnership.’

      ‘I suppose that is as good a way of looking at it as any other.’ Even if the thought of having a marriage like his parents’—one born of convenience and rooted in little more than tolerance—made everything in him revolt. If a marriage had no love and perhaps not even any sympathy between the two people involved, how could it not sour? Turn into something despicable and hate-filled?

      How could he not?

      He had no other example.

      Taking a deep breath, he pressed a discreet button to summon the wait staff. It was time for the next course. Time to move on. Instead of fighting his fate, like the unhappy, defiant boy he’d once been, he needed to accept it—and that meant deciding just how he could survive a marriage to Lady Liana Aterno.