And she was left lonely in her little turret in the palace. Damon saw how easily it had happened. She was loyal and sweet but also trapped and stifled.
‘I’m supposed to marry a royal,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s tradition. I know you think it’s stupid, but it’s how it’s always been. I wanted to do the right thing for Giorgos.’
‘Well, I’m not a prince and I never will be.’ Damon took a seat. ‘But won’t it be easier to divorce me, a commoner, than cause conflict with two countries if you divorce your Prince?’
Her lips tightened. ‘I’m not supposed to get divorced,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s not part of the fairy tale.’
‘Times change. Even royals live in the real world, Eleni. And they get divorced.’
She looked anywhere but at him. ‘I barely know you.’
‘Do you know Prince Xander?’ Damon asked bluntly.
The shake of her head was almost imperceptible.
‘Then what’s the difference between marrying him and marrying me?’ His muscles pulled tighter and tighter still in the face of her silence. The urge to go to her, to kiss her into acquiescence, made him ache. Despite her denial earlier he knew he could do it. All he’d have to do was kiss her and she’d be breathless and begging and he needed to get away from her before he did exactly that. He wanted to hear her say yes to him without that. ‘Am I an ogre?’
‘You want to take my child from me.’
‘And you tried to deny the child was mine. I figure that makes us even.’ He stood, unable to remain in the same room as her without succumbing to reckless action. ‘Take your time to think about your options, Eleni. I’m in no rush to go anywhere.’
* * *
Why didn’t she want to marry Damon? Eleni couldn’t answer that honestly—not to him when she could barely admit the truth to herself. She’d never wanted anyone the way she wanted him. Her marriage to Xander would have been a loveless union. But safe compared to the tempestuous gamut of emotions Damon roused in her. She was terrified of what might happen to her heart if she stayed with him for long.
She scoffed at her inner dramatics. She needed to grow up and get a grip on her sexual frustration. Because that was all this was, right? Her first case of raw lust.
She turned off the large computer screen and foraged in the bookcase lining one of the walls, her thoughts circling around and around until her stomach rumbled and she realised how ravenous she was.
Quietly she left the room and found her way to a sleek galley kitchen. No one was in there, thank goodness, because she was starving. She located the pantry, pouncing on an open box of cereal.
‘You okay?’
‘Oh.’ She swallowed hastily as she turned. ‘You caught me.’
He had been swimming, probably in the pool on deck. Eleni stared, fascinated by the droplets of water slowly snaking down his bronzed chest until they were finally caught in the towel he’d slung low around his hips.
‘Not yet.’ He walked forward. ‘What are you doing that is so awful?’
Staring at your bare chest.
‘I shouldn’t have helped myself,’ she mumbled. ‘Eating straight from the packet.’
‘That’s not awful. That’s survival instinct.’ He reached into the box she was holding and helped himself to a couple of the cereal clusters. ‘Don’t you go into the kitchen at the palace?’
She shook her head, forcing herself to swallow.
‘You just ask one of the servants?’
‘What do you expect?’ She bristled. ‘I live in a palace and that comes with privileges.’
‘But what if you wanted to just make a sandwich?’
‘Then someone makes it for me.’
‘You never wanted to make your own sandwich?’
‘It’s not my place to.’ She refused to rise to his baiting. ‘I’m not going to take someone’s job from them.’
He looked at her as she snaffled another cereal snack. ‘What would you have done if being a princess wasn’t your place?’
‘I studied languages and art history.’ She shrugged. ‘I’d probably teach.’
‘But what would you have done if you could have chosen anything?’
Eleni sighed. ‘My brother loves me very much but he is very busy and most of my education was left to an older advisor who had ancient ideas about the role of a princess.’
‘You’re there to be decorative.’
‘And quiet and serene—’
‘Serene?’ He laughed. ‘You’re a screamer.’
She sent him a filthy look.
‘So?’ He teased, but pressed the point. ‘What would you have done?’
‘I wanted to be a vet.’ But she’d known it was impossible. The hours of study too intense when she had public duties to perform as well.
‘A vet?’ He looked taken aback.
‘I like dogs.’ She shrugged.
‘You have dogs?’
‘I had a gorgeous spaniel when I was younger.’
‘So why not vet school? Did you not have the grades?’
‘Of course I had the grades.’ She gritted her teeth and turned away because she knew where he was going with this, so she didn’t tell him she’d wanted to do Fine Arts first. Again she’d been denied—too frivolous. She was a princess and she had to remain demure and humble. But was hers really such an awful life to bestow upon a child? Yes, there were restrictions, but there was also such privilege. Couldn’t she make it different?
‘You know I can offer our child a level of freedom that you can’t,’ Damon said. ‘Isn’t that what you want, your child not to have to “perform” the way you’ve had to all your life?’
‘I want the best for my child in every way,’ Eleni said calmly. And she knew exactly what she had to do for her child now. Nothing was ever going to be the same. She sucked in one last deep breath. ‘They’re all going to figure out that I was pregnant when we married.’
He stilled; his gaze glittered. ‘Either we lie and say the baby was born prematurely, or we say nothing at all.’ He cleared his throat. ‘The second option gets my vote. There will always be whispers and Internet conspiracy theories but we rise above it with a dignified silence and carry on.’
She nodded. ‘I understand what you’re saying about giving our child freedom, but I’m its mother and I won’t walk away from it. Ever.’ She braced and pushed forward. ‘If you’re serious about doing what’s best for our child, then you won’t ask me to.’
He carefully leaned against the bench. ‘So you’ll marry me.’
‘If we work out a plan. For after.’ When their marriage ended, it needed to be smooth. ‘I think there are precedents in other countries for a child not to take a royal title,’ she said bravely. Giorgos would have a fit but she would have to try to make him understand. ‘We can keep him or her out of the limelight and work out some kind of shared custody arrangement.’
Her heart tore at the thought, but her child had the right to be loved by both its parents.
‘Then we’ll work it out.’ Damon looked out of the window.
‘So now you’ve got what you wanted,’ Eleni said.
He looked back at her. His blue eyes had darkened almost to black. ‘And what’s that?’
‘Me. Saying yes.’ She watched, surprised to see his tension was even more visible than before. ‘What, you’re not satisfied?’
‘No.’
‘Then what do you want?’
He took the two steps to bring himself smack bang in front of her. ‘I want my tee shirt back.’
Desire uncoiled low and strong in her belly. ‘But I’m not wearing anything underneath it.’
‘Good.’ His blunt expression of want felled her.
‘Are you wearing anything under the skirt?’ he asked roughly, gripping the hem of the tee.
She could barely shake her head. ‘I thought you said this would only complicate things.’
‘Now we’re in agreement on the big issues, we can handle a little complicat
ion.’
He tugged the tee shirt up. She lifted her arms and in a second it was gone. She was bared to his gaze, his touch, his tongue.