Revelations of His Runaway Bride

And then came the reality of the price she’d have to pay. Because there was always a price. Her body was the currency of this union.

Never.

‘I’m not prostituting myself for a chance to dip my toes in the Aegean or for a ride on your boat!’

‘Yacht. Crewed by forty. And that’s what marriage is about. Fair exchange for services rendered.’

Yes, marriage was a cruel snare. She’d seen it imprison

her mother, and other women too. The wives of her father’s friends. Locked in gilded cages where they fawned and simpered for attention from callous men. She’d planned never to be fooled by that trap, no matter how cunningly laid. The lure of money or circumstance...or love would never bind her to another...

‘So cynical,’ said Christo. ‘On your wedding day too. You could have refused the offer at any time until we were pronounced man and wife. Yet here we are.’

‘Offer? You never asked me to marry. I was an afterthought. You and my father negotiated the terms of my servitude. One day I woke up engaged and was thrown a ring in a box. Stop trying to turn this into some grand sacrifice on your part.’

‘Don’t presume to know anything about my sacrifices!’

Christo’s words snapped like a whip-crack. Thea couldn’t see his face, shrouded in darkness as they were. But the cut of his voice carved right to her soul.

‘I was informed that you were satisfied with the arrangement. So you wanted a man on bended knee, professing love and adoration? If I’d done that what would your answer have been?’

Thea dropped her head, toying with the wedding and engagement rings which itched and burned her finger. She’d refused her father’s demands to marry at first, and so he’d cut off any meagre freedoms she’d still had.

Demetri’s methods of persuasion had been more brutal. The twin threats of social seclusion and physical force usually ensured her compliance, but she’d become braver since Alexis had entered her home. That day he’d stepped in to protect her had changed everything.

Her father then realised his importance to Thea. Not only as her bodyguard, but her half-brother. He knew she’d do anything to save him—the love child her mother had been forced to give up before entering a loveless marriage.

She wrapped her arms round her waist. Closed her eyes.

‘As I thought,’ Christo said. ‘You’re having a tantrum because I didn’t play Prince Charming.’

‘You can think what you like.’

‘I invariably do.’

She turned to look out at a world which had always passed her by. ‘I don’t care. Your good opinion of me doesn’t matter.’

Self-recrimination ran riot through her head. She should have run earlier. But when Alexis had confessed who he was, everything had changed. He’d told her of the promises he’d made to protect Thea if their mother couldn’t and each day had become a little more tolerable. So she’d stayed. Worked to ensure her future so she would be able to do more than eke out an impoverished existence like her mother had.

Yet when it had almost been time to leave, fate intervened. With Alexis paying the price for her cowardice.

She slumped in the seat.

‘Perhaps you should learn to cultivate a friendly benefactor,’ Christo said. ‘It could make your life easier.’

She adjusted one of the loathsome hairpins, now pricking into her scalp. ‘There’s no vacancy for the role of friendly benefactor in my life.’

‘Shame. If there was, I’d be available to fill it.’

Something had shifted his tone. Now there was a lightness. Was he entertained by this?

She looked over at him, and even in the dim light of the cabin she glimpsed the hint of a smirk. She wouldn’t be baited.

‘Since you’re more unsociable detractor, fortunately you don’t meet the job description.’

‘I’m known to be extremely affable in the right circumstances.’

The car’s interior closed in on her. She needed to get out of here.