Playing the Royal Game

‘It’s fine.’ She wanted to reach out and touch his shoulder, could see lines where her nails must have dug in, could scarcely believe the wanton woman he had made her, but the touch to his shoulder was a kinder one. ‘Alex...’

He turned his head and she saw that he was beautiful—he was a man who could have not just her body but also her heart in an instant, and she could not let him take all the blame.

She felt his skin beneath her fingers and there was arousal still hovering in the room like a rare mist awaiting its beckon to descend. If she pressed her fingers down just the merest fraction harder, she could blink and it would be summoned. ‘I don’t know how much of me I can give,’ she admitted. ‘Just to have it handed back...’

He paused before he gave her a nod that said he understood.

‘We have to be affectionate in company...’ Her voice faltered. ‘We have to pretend we’re in love, we have to share a bed...and any minute now, when your family have decided I’m too much trouble, or when the people dictate, I’m going to be sent back. There’s only so much I can give in the meantime.’

She stretched over him and selected a paper, leant back on her pillows as he did the same. She braced herself for the usual scandal when the Jacksons hit the headlines—except she sat speechless as she read the headline, holding her breath, worried to turn her head and see his reaction as he selected a newspaper of his own.

Bravo, Allegra!

Alex put the paper down and took another.

Will the People’s Princess Give the Prodigal Prince a Reason to Stay?

And the headlines were shocking, utterly and completely shocking—just not in the way he had predicted.

‘What does Bella Sposa mean?’ Allegra asked.

‘Beautiful Bride.’ He cleared his throat as he skim-read the articles. ‘This one says that the people of Santina await the wedding with deep joy. They love you. I can see that. They think you are the answer to the monarchy’s problems, the breath of fresh air the people want....’ He swallowed. ‘I did not even know that the people were so unhappy.’

He read on: ‘Apparently a wedding is what Santina needs....’ He was visibly appalled at the prospect. He balled the paper in his fist, scrunching it up, and she felt as if he were squeezing her heart, for his reaction told how her appalled he was at the very idea.

‘Us!’ He looked at Allegra, a woman who talked about feelings and what life could be like behind closed palace doors, a woman who straight up had told him she believed in fidelity, a woman who had said, only moments ago, that she could not live like this. She had no idea how it would be! If she thought this was impossible, then how could she even begin to deal with the road ahead if she were groomed to one day be queen?

He cursed again, stood and paced the room—for he had not just put Allegra in an impossible situation, he had failed the people of Santina too. Not necessarily today, but in the future. He glimpsed it then, the palace ricocheting from one scandal to another, from one headline to another, and he could not put them through this.

‘This was not how it was supposed to be—can you imagine?’

She found her voice, right there beneath the shame his reaction had triggered, right there behind the sting of tears in her eyes, and she hauled it to the surface.

‘No!’ She sounded as if she meant it. Hell, she meant it as he flung the paper across the room. ‘We agreed to a few days, a couple of weeks—it’s already been far longer than that.’

‘I will sort it.’ Alex wasn’t waiting for the butler; he was pulling on clothes and dressing in haste. ‘Right now, right this very morning, I will sort out this mess.’

She jumped at the slam of the door and then stared at the papers that were scattered across the bed, looked at the pictures of them. One especially drew her attention: the happy couple arriving in the huge ballroom, Alex looking down at her. She remembered his words of reassurance, the small squeeze to her waist, and something she must have said in response had produced his rare smile—the same smile that had enthralled her the day they had met. And clearly, it had enthralled her last night, her rapt expression was there for all to see, her eyes sparkling as brightly as the huge chandelier that glittered above them. In that moment Allegro knew the real reason she was here, why she had agreed to the charade, why she had found it impossible to walk away.