Playing the Royal Game. Carol Marinelli

she added. She wanted to signal the waitress, wanted a glass of water, hell, she’d take the jug and pour it over herself this second.

      ‘I’m sure I could find you something….’

      That really would be out of the frying pan and into the fire, Allegra thought, offering him back his card with a shake of her head. But her hand trembled slightly as it did so, because what a lovely fire it would be to burn in.

      ‘I’ll find something.’

      ‘I’m sure you will,’ Alex said. ‘Keep it. You might change your mind.’

      ‘Do you normally go around hiring your staff in bars?’

      ‘I leave the hiring to others. If you ring that number you would only get as far as my assistant, Belinda. I can tell her to expect—’

      ‘That won’t be necessary,’ Allegra interrupted. ‘I’m just talking, not asking for a solution.’

      ‘It is how my brain works,’ Alex admitted. ‘Problem—solve it.’

      ‘When sometimes all you have to do is listen.’

      She watched as he visibly wrestled with such a suggestion, guessed that this man was not used to sitting idly by in any situation, that he was more than used to coming up with a rapid solution. But as he took another drink and stared out to the bar where he had stood with his colleague last week, perhaps it dawned on him then that not everything came with a solution, and he gave a small nod. ‘Charles had many plans for his retirement—he was talking about them last week. I guess it got me thinking.’

      Allegra nodded.

      ‘All the things you want to do,’ he continued, ‘intend to do… cannot do.’

      ‘Cannot?’ Allegra asked, because surely a man like Alex could do anything he wanted. He had looks that opened doors, and from his name, from the cut of his hair to the beautifully shod feet, she knew it wasn’t his finances that would stop him.

      ‘This time next year…’ He was unusually pensive, not that she could know, but now, this afternoon, he felt as if time were running out. ‘I’ll be married.’

      Allegra gave him a very wide-eyed look. ‘If you’re engaged then you should not be joining women in a bar and sharing a bottle of champagne with them. Shouldn’t be…’ She halted, not wanting to voice the word, because for a little while there they’d been flirting—not even flirting, far more than that. It had felt as if they had been kissing. She really was going now anyway; he’d nearly finished the bottle. And maybe it was an overreaction to leave so hastily, but there was something about him that screamed warning. Not that he was inappropriate, more the wander of her own thoughts, because his mere finger on a glass had had her mind wandering. Something about him told her he’d make it terribly, terribly easy to break very firm rules.

      ‘Don’t leave…’ As she put down the note his fingers pressed over hers, wrapped them around the bill and held them a fraction. It was first contact and it was blistering; she could feel the heat from his fingers warm not just her own but race, too, to her face. ‘I’m not in love… I’m betrothed.’

      ‘There’s a difference?’ She smarted, though she was curious as to his unusual choice of word. She’d never heard a man, never heard anyone, describe themselves as betrothed. What was the difference?

      ‘God, yes.’

      Go, her mind told her, just turn around and go! Except his hand was still curled around her fingers and there was sudden torture in the dark eyes that held hers.

      ‘I am Crown Prince Alessandro Santina.’ He was too weary to dodge the facts and so rarely wanting of conversation, strangely willing to reveal his truth. ‘I have been told I am to return and fulfill my duties.’

      She could not have known just how many times she would replay that moment—could never have guessed how often she would look back to the very last time that she could simply have walked away.

      She didn’t though.

      Despite herself, Allegra sat and heard the rest.

      CHAPTER TWO

      ‘SHE was chosen for me.’

      She knew about arranged marriages, except she was rather surprised to hear that that might be a problem for him. He didn’t look like a man who would do anything he didn’t want to, and he was hardly a teenager. ‘How old are you?’ She said it without thinking and then winced at her own rudeness, realising he could guess at her thought process, but he gave a begrudging smile before answering.

      ‘Thirty-three.’ He even gave a half-laugh, gave her a glimpse of those beautiful white teeth, then he sighed. ‘And yes, completely able to make my own decisions. It is rather more complicated though. It would seem that my party time in London is over.’ He gave a shrug. ‘That is how my family see it. I have, in fact, been working, extremely hard, but it’s time, my parents tell me, to come back, to face duty.’ He drained his glass and refilled it. ‘To marry.’

      ‘Do you love her?’

      ‘It’s not a question of love, more that we are suited. Our parents are close—it was decided long ago.’ He tried to explain what he had been thinking about before she had entered the bar. ‘I am happy here in London. There are many things I still wish to do with the business.’

      ‘And you can’t once you’re married.’

      ‘Once married I must assume royal duties—full-time. Produce heirs…’ He saw her blink. ‘I’ve offended—’

      ‘Not at all,’ Allegra said. ‘I’ve just never heard it referred to as that—’producing heirs.’ The term’s usually ‘have children.’”

      ‘Not when you will one day be king.’

      ‘Oh.’ She seemed to be saying that an awful lot, but really, she had no idea what else to say. It was not exactly a world she could envision.

      ‘I am told I cannot put the official engagement off.’

      ‘Can’t you just end it?’ Allegra asked. ‘Just call it off?’

      ‘For what reason?’ Alex asked. ‘It would shame her if I said I simply did not want to marry her. She does not deserve that.’

      ‘Does it worry you?’ How utterly he intrigued her! ‘I mean, if you don’t love her, are you worried about…?’ She wanted him to fill in the word, but of course he did not. ‘Well, I do read the magazines. I might not have known you were a prince, but I do know the name, and if I remember rightly, you do have a bit of a reputation. Does it worry you settling down?’

      ‘Fidelity?’ He was so direct, so straight to the point, that she could not help but fidget. She scratched her temple and tried to think of a better way of wording it, but settled for a nod instead, to show him that was indeed her question. ‘That won’t be an issue—as long as I am discreet.’ She was far too expressive, because she screwed up her nose.

      ‘You’re walking into a marriage knowing you are going to be unfaithful….’

      ‘It’s a duty marriage. Anna has been chosen for she will one day make a most suitable queen. It is not about love,’ he explained, but her lips were pursed. ‘You don’t approve?’

      ‘No.’ It had been her champagne, he’d chosen to join her—she had every right to be honest, every right to give her opinion if he chose to sit here. ‘I don’t see the point in getting married if that’s how you feel.’ She was speaking from the heart—Allegra actually had very firm views on this. She adored her parents, but their rather unique interpretations of marriage vows had had her crying herself to sleep so many times growing up that, on this, she would not stay silent.

      ‘Our ways are different. I am not saying that I will…’ He never discussed such things, his family never discussed such