The Night the King Claimed Her

CHAPTER SEVEN

Friday, 5.38 p.m.

ELSIEGLAREDUPinto Felipe’s eyes. ‘Why are you so determined I go to your stuffy banquet? I’m not some Cinderella.’ She refused to say yes to him. ‘Or is this just some way for you to assuage your guilt—giving lucky little me a make-over and a special trip to the zoo as if you’re my fairy godmother?’

‘The zoo?’ He laughed. ‘You might be right about that but I’m not your fairy godmother.’

‘No?’ Unable to maintain her ground against him, Elsie rested a little weight against the wall. ‘Because from where I’m standing that’s a lot how it seems.’

‘Oh?’ He lifted his arms and placed his hands either side, bracketing her in place, and leaned closer still. ‘How does it seem now?’

Elsie’s heart hammered as she battled the temptation to melt against him. It was the very urge she’d run from months ago. The one she’d not wanted to remember.

Because of him she’d been sent away again, when she was the happiest she’d been in years. She’d finally found a place where people didn’t know her past. Who only knew her as she was now. Until he’d ruined everything. Yet he was everything. That one day had been the most thrilling of her life. Meeting him. Discovering her weakness for him. The weakness she needed to resist now.

‘This isn’t appropriate.’ Elsie swallowed. ‘You’re supposed to be a king. A moral leader, right?’

‘You don’t think kings are power-hungry selfish types who do whatever they want without consideration for anyone else?’

‘You said different.’ She struck where she was sure he’d feel it. ‘But you’re not using me to cheat on your fiancée.’

But he merely smiled. And that made her angry.

‘Did you think I’d forgotten that you’re engaged?’ she asked.

He was marrying that beautiful princess from some Alpine country in Europe. Not that she’d searched it up in a moment of weakness or anything. It hadn’t been officially confirmed but there’d been a mass of speculation in a zillion articles.

‘I’m touched you remember that conversation.’ He leaned closer.

She remembered every word from that one day.

He lifted his hand and brushed back a loose strand of her hair. ‘But if I was engaged to someone else I wouldn’t even be talking to you right now.’

‘You’re never going to speak to another woman?’

‘Any other woman would be fine. Just not you.’ His pupils dilated. ‘But as it happens, you can relax. I’m not engaged.’

Relax? Her heart hammered and her mind spun out. She tried to focus. She’d got the archaic terminology wrong. ‘Betrothed, then. Are you using semantics to wriggle out of this?’

‘Not engaged. Not betrothed. Not getting married.’ His expression tightened. ‘Princess Sofia and I have decided not to ratify the betrothal once agreed upon by her father and my grandfather.’

She didn’t want to believe him. Didn’t want to feel a sudden effervescence and a head-to-toe shiver. ‘What a convenient excuse to dream up when you’re pinning me to the wall like this.’

His lips curved. ‘You don’t believe me?’

‘It hasn’t been reported on.’

That princess had been mentioned in the paper at the airport just today. There’d been speculation as to whether she’d be at the coronation and whether there would be an announcement regarding any imminent wedding.

‘You’ve been reading the press about me?’

‘No,’ she lied.

‘I’m waiting until after the coronation before letting all know there’ll be no wedding. I don’t want it to be a distraction from the coronation.’

Elsie struggled to absorb what he’d said. ‘So she didn’t want to marry you? I can’t imagine why.’

‘Can’t you? Your amazement flatters me.’ Something softened in his eyes. ‘But now you know, I’m neither your fairy godmother, nor am I someone else’s fiancé.’