The Prince She Had to Marry

“Never start a fight from a position of weakness, my darling,” Lili’s mother had advised with a Mona Lisa smile. “If you’re going in swinging, make sure you’re standing on firm ground or you’re likely to end up on your ass.”

Lili folded her arms across the front of her virginal nightgown, glared some more at the door Alex had just shut in her face, and admitted to herself that she was definitely in a position of weakness at the moment, that she was in no way on solid ground. If she went storming after him, she’d only come off the fool, the unwanted wife left alone in her marriage bed by her uninterested groom.

She had to give him credit, really. By leaving her alone in his bed, he’d made sex the issue—or rather, his unwillingness to have sex with her, even on their wedding night.

Sex was not the issue, she told herself firmly, although her wounded pride said otherwise. Their marriage, the agreements he’d made concerning their marriage and their innocent baby—those were the real issues. Gently, she laid her hand on her belly. “You, my dearest,” she whispered, “you are what matters most of all.”

All her life, so far, she’d followed blithely wherever her emotions led her. It was a rich and expansive way to live. But now she had the baby—and Alex, too, really—to consider. She needed to be guided more by her lost mother’s example than by that of her passionate father.

Thinking back to the agreements she’d made with her groom the night before, she realized there really had been no mention of sex, or even of the two of them actually sharing a bed. So, to be fair, he had not broken the letter of their bargain—only the spirit of it.

In the morning, however, he was obligated to share breakfast with her. They could talk then.

With a sigh, Lili plumped the pillows and turned off the bedside lamp.

She slept long and deeply.

When she opened her eyes again, it was after ten and the June sunshine streamed in through a space between the heavy, dark window coverings. She sat bolt upright in Alex’s bed and tossed back the covers.

After ten. Breakfast would be late. And her new husband had better be there if he knew what was good for him.

The door to the hallway opened just slightly.

Lili called, “I’m awake. Enter.” The door opened a fraction wider and a small, dark-haired woman in gray entered. Lili yawned and smiled. “Pilar, good morning.”

With a neat little bow and a quietly spoken “ma’am,” Lili’s favorite longtime attendant entered and drew the curtains. Pilar accompanied Lili wherever she traveled. The maid was a treasure—organized, pleasant and helpful. Also ever-available to attend to Lili’s needs was her kinswoman Solange Moltano, her lady-in-waiting. Solange was a bit distant and cool. She and Lili had never really hit it off. Lili traveled without her whenever possible. It hadn’t been that difficult to leave Solange behind this time because her father had spirited her off in the middle of the night.

Pilar said nothing about the absence of Lili’s husband. But Lili caught the look of concern in the maid’s dark eyes for a split second before she hid her true feelings behind a smile. Pilar’s loyalty was absolute, so Lili didn’t worry she might carry tales.

But there were a lot of servants in the Prince’s Palace and news traveled fast between them. The story was supposed to be that she and Alex were madly in love. Who was going to believe the story if it got out that he avoided her bed?

Yes, she and Alex would have a lot to talk about that morning.

She told Pilar what she wanted to wear and then padded barefoot into the bathroom. Within a half hour, she was dressed and ready for the day—ready to have a long talk with Alex about the promises he wasn’t keeping.

But then she emerged from the master bedroom to find that her groom was not in the apartment. There were several rooms. She checked them all. No sign of him. In the two other bedrooms, the beds were already made up—or had not been slept in at all.

The apartment had its own small galley-style kitchen so that the prince who lived there might have his meals prepared separately if he wished. In the kitchen, she found a large, muscular man with a bushy red beard. He was stirring something in a big yellow bowl. He introduced himself as Rufus Thermopolis. He said he loved to cook and would be happy to prepare anything Her Highness might desire.

Lili thanked him and asked for eggs and toast, which she ate at the small table right there in the kitchen. Why stand on ceremony with her husband’s man? And why eat alone in the apartment dining room when she could sit here in the cozy little kitchen and smell the lemon cake Rufus had just popped into the oven?

She debated whether to ask Rufus where her husband might have wandered off to. It was probably safe to be frank with the red-haired giant. Alex wouldn’t have anyone in his quarters he didn’t trust absolutely—well, other than Lili herself, of course. She had no doubt her new husband didn’t trust her one bit.

He also had no compunction about breaking his word to her. At the very least, he could have left her some explanation for his absence. Lili sipped her breakfast tea and admitted that she had to face reality here. Alex had crossed the line between pushing the boundaries of their agreement and breaking faith with her outright.

It was all right, she told herself, although it most definitely wasn’t. He couldn’t avoid her forever. Eventually, he would have to deal with her.

But Alex didn’t deal with her. He ignored her. Actively. He made no pretense of keeping the agreements he’d made with her. All day, he was nowhere to be found. He didn’t return to the apartment until long after dinner. She was waiting up for him in the sitting room.

He appeared dressed in black trousers and a casual knit shirt and her heart did something nerve-racking at the sight of him. Too bad his eyes were as haunted and distant as ever. She had no idea where he’d been all day and well into the evening.

She rose when he came in. “Alex.” With a supreme effort of will, she kept her voice calm and even. “I’m very angry with you. This is all wrong. You haven’t kept your word to me.”

He actually had the stones to shrug. And he said, with nerve-flaying reasonableness, “I needed for you to marry me, for the child’s sake.”

Her throat clutched. She longed to clear it with a nice, long, loud shriek of outrage. But she didn’t. She remembered her mother, who never raised her voice, and her unborn baby, who deserved better from her. “So you lied to me.” She gave him back his damnable reason, and then some. “Straight to my face, without a qualm. You lied to me. You made promises you had no intention of keeping.”

“Spare me the drama, Lili.”

Her adrenaline spiked. She sucked in a calming breath and refused to give in to it. “Drama?”

“Drama, yes. Your stock in trade.”

“I beg your pardon. I’m not being dramatic. I have not raised my voice. I have not picked up a single object to hurl at that obstinate head of yours. I am simply asking you, why did you lie to me?”

“I just told you why I lied. You left me no choice.”

“Don’t you talk to me about choices, Alexander. You had a choice. You could have been truthful. You could have told me honestly that you had no intention of ever making any effort to be a real husband to me.”

And have you do something ridiculous, like run away or stage a big scene where you swore publicly never to marry me? No. There needed to be a marriage, and with as little fuss as possible. We owed that to the child. If you’re not happy with the way things are, so be it. Divorce me.”

She gasped and sputtered. “Oh, you ought to be ashamed.”

“I’m not ashamed. Not in the least. And as far as the divorce goes, consider the child, won’t you? Wait until he’s born, so his legitimacy will never be at issue.”

“You know very well I don’t believe in divorce. Marriage is forever.”

“What can I say? So then, get used to the way things are. Go about living your life and I will go about living mine.”

Lili shook her head. “I do not believe this. The way you manipulated me, that was so … clever,” she said in disgust. “The way you bargained with me, the way you refused to read books on love and marriage or to see a counselor or a priest …”

He arched a brow. “I had to make you believe I actually intended to do what you asked of me, to try, as you put it. If I’d given you an easy agreement to everything you demanded, you would only have become suspicious. You’d have guessed that I didn’t have any intention of doing what I agreed to do.”

She did more deep breathing. “You are impossible. Incorrigible.”

“Good night, Lili.” He started to turn.

She reached out and grabbed his granite slab of an arm. “Wait.”

He stopped, eased his arm free of her grip and told her flatly, “There’s nothing more to say.”

“Yes, there is. I have a... question, a question that’s been bothering me for weeks now.”

“Lili, please …”

She wanted to cry, to break down and sob her heart out. But somehow, she controlled herself. She held the tears at bay. “I just … I don’t understand, Alex. Why in the world did you have sex with me in the first place?”

That got to him. He actually looked at a loss for a moment. But then he regained his inhuman composure. He said in a tone that spoke of limitless boredom, “I’m a man. You’re a woman. It happens.”