Wedding Party Collection: Marrying The Prince: The Prince She Never Knew / His Bride for the Taking / A Queen for the Taking?

His father hadn’t minced words; he never did. Queen Sophia and her mother were friends, he told Alyse, and they’d considered a match between her and Leo. Leo knew that hadn’t exactly been true; his mother had wanted someone with slightly bluer blood than Alyse’s to marry her son. Leo had gone to that birthday party with only a vague and passing knowledge of Alyse’s existence and it was the media hype that had turned it into something else entirely.

‘In an ideal world,’ King Alessandro had said with a geniality Leo knew his father did not remotely possess, ‘you would have got to know each other, courted. Seen if you suited. But it’s not an ideal world.’

Alyse had simply stared.

Leo, of course, had known where this was going all along. He’d talked to his parents already, had received the assignment from on high. You must marry her, Leo. The public adores her. Think of what it will do for your country, your kingship.

He’d known what they really meant: what it would do for them. They’d done enough damage to Maldinia’s monarchy with their lies, affairs and careless spending. He was the only one left to clean up the mess.

He’d understood all that, but Alyse hadn’t. She’d just looked thunderstruck. She’d barely spoken for that whole meeting, just listened as the King went on about the benefits of a ‘decided’ marriage—a much more innocuous term than arranged, Leo had thought cynically. Or commanded.

She’d only spoken when she’d begun to perceive, dimly, just what kind of charade they would be perpetuating and for how long. ‘You mean,’ she’d said in a voice only a little above a whisper, ‘we have to...to pretend we’re in love?’

‘Feelings come in time, don’t they?’ Alessandro had answered with that same false joviality, and Leo had looked away. No, they didn’t. If Alessandro held up his own marriage, his own family, as an example, it showed they never came. And you couldn’t trust them anyway.

But Alyse had nodded slowly, accepting, and their engagement had been announced the next day along with them posing for requisite photos.

And the rest, Leo thought now, lacing his arms above his head, was history. Repeating itself over and over again.

The door to the bathroom opened and Alyse emerged, wearing the woman’s robe. Leo wondered if she’d try to sleep in that bulky thing. He supposed a little virginal shyness was natural.

He watched as she skirted the bed and then hesitated on the far side, her fingers playing with the sash of her robe. Leo reached for his bedside lamp.

‘Shall I turn out the light?’

‘If you like.’

Actually, he didn’t like. He was suddenly rather curious as to what Alyse looked like in the skimpy negligee. He’d seen her in plenty of designer dresses and well-coordinated outfits, hair and make-up immaculately styled, always primped to perfection.

But he’d never seen her like this—wearing a bridal nightgown, her chestnut hair loose about her shoulders, grey eyes wide, about to climb into his bed. He felt an insistent stirring of arousal; it had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. A very long time.

He switched the light off, but the moon spilling through the open windows was enough to see by anyway, and as he lay back against the pillows he saw her slip the bulky robe from her body. Dressed as she was in only the slinky negligee, the moon gilded her slender curves in silver.

He could see the shadowy vee between her breasts, the dip of her waist, the hidden juncture of her thighs. Then she slid hurriedly under the covers and lay there, rigid and unmoving.

Leo had never felt so far from sleep and, judging by how she lay there like a board, he suspected Alyse was the same. Perhaps they should have agreed to consummate their marriage tonight. At least it would have given them something to do.

He considered talking to her, but after six years of enacting this parody of love he had nothing of consequence to say, and he didn’t think she had either. Which was how he’d wanted it.

Yet in the darkness and silence of that moment he felt a sudden, surprising need for conversation, even connection. Something he’d taught himself never to crave.

And he had no idea how to go about creating it now.

‘Goodnight,’ he finally said, his voice coming out gruffer than he’d meant it to, and he felt Alyse tense even more next to him.

‘Goodnight,’ she answered back, her voice so soft and sad that Leo felt caught between remorse and exasperation at her obvious emotion—and his.

With a barely suppressed sigh, he rolled onto his side, his back to Alyse, and willed himself to sleep.

CHAPTER THREE (#u868a45cb-b13c-511b-ac2c-67cadacd9a70)

ALYSE AWOKE GRITTY-EYED and still feeling exhausted. Lying next to Leo, she hadn’t slept well, conscious of his hard, powerful form just inches away from her even when she’d been falling into a restless doze.

Now as sunlight streamed through the windows she wondered what the day would bring. They were meant to fly to St Cristos, a private island in the Caribbean, that morning to begin their honeymoon. A week completely alone, without the distractions of television, telephones, computers or any other people at all. A week, she still hoped, when they could get to know one another properly, or even at all.

A knock sounded at the door and before Alyse could say or even think anything Leo was snaking his arm around her waist, drawing her close against the seductive heat of his body. Shock turned her rigid as she felt the hard contours of his chest and thigh against her backside—and then the unmistakable press of his erection against her bottom.

‘Vieni,’ he called and then murmured against her hair, ‘Sorry, but the staff will gossip.’

Alyse barely took in his words. She’d never been so close to him, every part of her body in exquisite contact with his. The crisp hair on his chest tickled her bare shoulders, and the feel of his arousal pressing insistently against her bottom sent sizzling darts of sensation shooting through her.

She shifted instinctively, although whether she was drawing away or closer to him she didn’t even know. She felt a new, dizzying need spiral up inside her as his own hips flexed instinctively back. Leo groaned under his breath and his arm came even more firmly around her. ‘Stop wriggling,’ he whispered, ‘Or I might embarrass myself. I’m only human, you know.’

It took a few seconds for his meaning to penetrate the fog of her dazed mind, and by that time two young serving women were wheeling in a breakfast tray, the smell of fresh coffee and breakfast rolls on the air.

Embarrass himself? Was he actually implying that he wanted her that much? That a mere wriggle of hips could send him over the edge?

Leo let go of her, straightening in bed as he adjusted the duvet over himself. ‘Grazie,’ he said and the two women giggled and blushed as they left the room, casting covert looks at the two of them in bed. Alyse realised the strap of her negligee had fallen off one shoulder, and her hair was a tangled mass about her face. Did she look like a woman who had been pleasured and loved? She felt like a mess.

She tucked her tangled hair behind her ears and willed her heart rate to slow. Despite the obvious evidence of his arousal, Leo now looked completely unfazed and indifferent as he slid out of bed and went to the breakfast tray to pour them both coffee.

‘Sorry about that. Basic bodily function, at least for a man in the morning. I think we convinced the staff, at any rate.’

Disappointment crashed through her. Basic bodily function. So, no, it had had nothing to do with her in particular. Of course it didn’t. ‘It’s fine,’ Alyse murmured. She took a steadying breath and forced herself to meet his wry gaze. ‘We’re married, after all.’

‘So we are.’ He handed her a cup of coffee and sipped his own, his expression turning preoccupied over the rim of the porcelain cup. ‘But I imagine all this pretending will get tiresome for both of us after a while.’

Alyse stared into the fragrant depths of her coffee. ‘Like you said, the press will get bored of us now that we’re married. As long as we seem happy in public, they won’t really care.’ It hurt to say it, to imply that that was what she wanted.

‘Perhaps.’ Leo nodded slowly, and Alyse imagined he was wondering just how soon he could return to his simple, solitary life.

And when he did what would she do? Over the last few months she’d bolstered her flagging spirits by reminding herself that, just like Leo, she had a duty. A role. As princess and later Queen of Maldinia she would encourage and love her people. She would involve herself in her country, its charities and industry, and in doing so bring hope to a nation.

She tried to hold onto that idea now, but it seemed like so much airy, arrogant nonsense when she considered how the majority of her days were likely to be spent: in loneliness and isolation, separated from a husband who was perfectly happy with their business arrangement.

‘When do we leave for St Cristos?’ she asked, not wanting either of them to dwell on the bleak future they both clearly envisioned.

‘We leave the palace at eleven o’clock for a public appearance in the front courtyard. Photo opportunity and all that.’ He smiled and Alyse saw the cynicism in the twist of his lips, the flatness in his navy eyes. He never used to be so cynical, she thought. Pragmatic, yes, and even cold, but he’d approached their engagement with a brisk and accepting efficiency she’d tried to match, rather than this jaded resentment.

Was he feeling as she did, that marriage had changed something between them, made it worse? Pretending after the vows had been said seemed a greater travesty than before, something she’d never considered as Leo’s fiancée. She didn’t think Leo had considered it either.

‘I’ll leave you to get dressed,’ he said, putting down his coffee cup. ‘I’ll meet you downstairs in the foyer a few minutes before eleven.’

Wordlessly Alyse nodded, seeing the practicality of it yet feeling a needling disappointment anyway. Was every interaction going to involve a way to avoid each other? Would her life consist of endless awkward exchanges without any real intimacy or emotion, ever? Something would have to change. She couldn’t live like this; she wouldn’t.

Maybe, she thought with no more than a flicker of weary hope, it would change on St Cristos.

Several hours later they boarded the royal jet and Leo disappeared into a study in the rear of the plane. Alyse had been on the jet before when she’d flown between England and Maldinia, yet the opulent luxury always amazed her. Her own family was wealthy and privileged—her father had built a financial empire and her mother had been an heiress—but they weren’t this kind of rich. They weren’t royal.