His face closed up even more and he expelled a harsh breath. ‘I’m recommending we talk when emotions are less heightened.’
With that he strode into his dressing room. He emerged five minutes later, dressed in the most casual attire she’d seen him in so far. Unbelievably, the dark cargo pants and polo shirt merely enhanced his attractiveness.
Thinking he was leaving, she caught her breath when he approached the bed. He stopped by the bedside table, snatched up the phone and calmly issued instructions before replacing the handset.
‘A meal is being brought up to you,’ he stated.
‘Are you leaving?’ she asked, and immediately wished back the needy words.
His gaze met hers for a moment before he turned away. ‘It’s better if I remove myself from here for now,’ he rasped.
‘Because you can’t stand to be around me?’
He froze, then whirled towards her. ‘Because our history of clashing tells me that we won’t make it through a meal together without you voicing what’s on your mind. Am I wrong?’
He wasn’t. She wanted to discuss this now, get it out of the way, while he was intent on staging a diplomatic retreat. ‘Even if you’re not, I can’t exactly stop you, can I?’
His nostrils flared. ‘No, you can’t. Rest, Maddie. I’ll see you in a few hours.’
It’s our wedding night, she wanted to scream. She swallowed the words. He didn’t need to be reminded. That bleak look on his face told her he hadn’t forgotten.
She watched him stride purposefully for the door, watched it shut with a decisive click behind him. Immediately Maddie felt as if a light switch had been thrown, plunging her world into darkness.
She’d made love to her husband on her wedding night without protection. And the first thing he had thought to mention was his dead fiancée. How clearer could it be that this marriage was doomed?
With shaking limbs, she sank back against the pillows, fighting for the breath that she couldn’t catch properly in her lungs. She should never have agreed to marry him. She should never have agreed to this devil’s bargain.
But then where would her father be?
Tears rose in her eyes as anvil we
ights of impossible choices pressed down on her.
She was still mired in despair when a soft knock sounded fifteen minutes later. The middle-aged woman who’d introduced herself as head housekeeper, when the staff had met them earlier, directed a younger maid, who pushed a silver trolley towards the bed.
Together they prepared a tray of food and a glass of pure Montegovan spring water and set it in Maddie’s lap. Belatedly, she wished she’d thrown on the robe when she caught their subtle stares. She mentally shrugged. At least the palace gossip wouldn’t include speculation on whether her marriage had been consummated or not. She even managed a blush when the housekeeper picked up her discarded gown and carefully laid it on the sofa.
She picked at the fruit, flat bread and cold meats, drank the juice and sipped at the water. She suspected Remi had instructed the housekeeper to ensure she ate, because the older woman found an excuse to linger until Maddie had finished most of her plate before, smiling and curtsying, she departed.
Left alone with her thoughts, she was aware that a single one had emerged from the churning quagmire. The consequences of their actions went beyond Celeste and a marriage that seemed doomed even before it had begun.
If fate chose a different path for her, she would emerge from her wedding night carrying the future heir to the Montegovan throne. And one thing was very clear. Her new husband couldn’t have been less thrilled about that prospect if he’d tried.
* * *
Remi paced his study, a single lit lamp the only illumination in the darkness. He embraced the gloom, let it amplify the sheer magnitude of what he’d let happen. He deserved this.
His carelessness was breathtaking. How could he have let himself be so blinded by lust that he’d forgotten himself at the very first opportunity?
Sure, he hadn’t planned on making love to her again that second time, but how was that an excuse when it had never happened before?
The truth was that he had lost himself.
Her beauty, her responsiveness, that tentative but determined exploration of her newly found sexuality...they’d all been a potent combination that had turned him on more than he would’ve believed possible before tonight.
He’d indulged himself, and in so doing had lost his mind. Spectacularly. And now he was faced with the possible consequences.
Maddie wasn’t on birth control.