Captured and Crowned. Janette Kenny

heart ached for Gregor, for though there was no affection between them it pained her to think that his life would be cut short.

      “That poor man. I’m deeply grieved to hear this.”

      “Spare me your false sympathy. We both know you care nothing for my brother. If you did, you never would have offered yourself so freely to a stranger.”

      She reeled back, as if slapped by the accusation. Denial was pointless, for she had succumbed to Kristo. Yet she wouldn’t sit here and take his verbal abuse either.

      “Yes, I committed a grave error of judgment, and I have regretted my lapse of morals every day since,” she said, refusing to cower when his dark brows snapped together over his patrician nose. “But I was powerless to stop the fierce attraction I felt for you.”

      There. She’d said it at last. But her confession only seemed to anger him more.

      Where was the carefree beach bum she’d met that day? Who was this hard, cold stranger who stared at her with open disgust?

      “Are you victim to these fierce attractions often, Demetria?”

      “Never before or since.”

      He snorted and stared out the window. “Of course you’d say that.”

      As the car smoothly drove on, she stilled the urge to scream in frustration, and asked as calmly as she could manage, “Since you clearly find it so disagreeable to be in my company, why did you come for me?”

      “I told you why. I’m escorting you to Angyra.”

      “This makes no sense,” she said. “If Gregor has abdicated, why would I still be required to marry him?”

      The beautifully sculpted mouth that had ravished her before pulled into a mockery of a smile. “You won’t. The moment my brother rescinded his duty, birth order demanded that I assume the crown and his contractual obligations. I am the King of Angyra. You will marry me.”

      Never! But she bit back that retort. “You can’t force me to marry you.”

      “Ah, but I can, Demetria. I can.”