The Prince She Had to Marry. Christine Rimmer

still reeling in shock to learn that Silly Lili, as he always used to call her when they were younger, was carrying his child. He should have read her damned letter, or answered one of her strange, frantic telephone calls. But he hadn’t read the letter. And when she called, she’d mentioned nothing about a pregnancy. He’d assumed she was just being emotional as usual, that she was only after an opportunity to exercise the unpleasant flair for the dramatic that she’d inherited from Leo. He’d been sure she only wanted a chance to cry and carry on, to call him a cad and a defiler of innocent women.

      How could he have touched her? He was completely disgusted with himself at what he had done. He wasn’t a defiler of innocent women.

      Or he hadn’t been. Until that day two months before, when he’d heard someone sobbing outside his palace apartment. He still had no idea what had possessed him to look and see who it was.

      He’d opened his door and stuck his head out. And there was Lili, all in white, kneeling on the inlaid tiles of the corridor floor, her long, pale gold hair falling forward, hiding her pretty face, her slim shoulders shaking with her sobs.

      She must have heard the door open because she glanced up. Still sobbing, her eyes red and her perfect nose redder, tears streaming down her cheeks, she caught sight of him in the doorway. With a cry of sheer misery, she leaped to her feet. “Oh, Alex. The most terrible thing has happened. It’s Rule.” She said his older brother’s name with another agonized cry. “He’s married someone else.”

      He should have retreated right then. He should have shut the door and locked it and not opened it again.

      Instead, he’d pulled the door open wider. She must have taken that as an invitation. She’d thrown herself into his arms and drenched the front of his shirt with her tears.

      By that point, he absolutely should have pushed her away and shut the door. But he hadn’t. He’d taken her into his sitting room and sat with her on the sofa and listened as she continued wildly sobbing, as she poured out her misery—that his brother loved another, that Rule would never be marrying her now, that Rule didn’t love her and never had. That she was nothing more than an honorary little sister to him, and always had been.

      When she finally paused to suck in a few shaky, hiccupy breaths, he’d handed her a tissue and told her exactly what he was thinking. “Calm yourself, Lili. There is so much true suffering that exists in this world. Don’t you realize how little your petty problems matter in the larger scheme of things?”

      His remarks had not gone over well. Lili had responded in her usual way. With an ear-flaying shriek of outrage, she’d drawn back her hand to slap his face.

      He should have let her do that, allowed her to vent a little more of her considerable frustration. But no. He’d automatically caught her wrist before she could carry through.

      And that was when it happened.

      He still had no idea how. Or why.

      All at once, she was in his arms. She smelled like her name, like some fine, sweet, exotic flower. She … overwhelmed him. There was no other word for it. Silly Lili overwhelmed him. Somehow, at that moment, having her in his arms was like holding hope and light and all the good things that were lost to him forever. Her skin was so soft and her eyes were the incomparable blue of lapis lazuli.

      And then her mouth was under his, opening, sighing….

      Something snapped in him. Something gave way.

      What happened then was raw and perfect and really quite beautiful.

      With Lili.

      Lili, of all people.

      Afterward, she smiled. So softly. Contentedly. And she reached up and laid her delicate, graceful little hand against his cheek. “Alex,” she whispered, as though his very name held wonder for her now.

      He couldn’t bear that. He didn’t need her looking at him like that. She should never ever look at him like that.

      And so he’d said without inflection, “You should go now.”

      She did go. She pulled on her clothes swiftly—and silently, for once. Without looking at him again, without so much as another word, she left him.

      After she was gone, he’d called himself any number of ugly and richly deserved names. And then he’d told himself it was best for her if they simply put the unfortunate incident behind them, if they went on with their separate lives as though it had never happened.

      That was what he’d been trying to do. And then she sent that letter that he hadn’t allowed himself to open. She’d called him. Twice. Both times she’d left messages demanding he call her but giving no reason whatsoever why he should.

      Now, at last, he knew why. Now it all made sense.

      There would be a child and that meant they couldn’t put what had happened behind them. Now they only needed to do the right thing. And both her father and his family were as eager as Alex was to turn this potential disaster around.

      A marriage between Leo’s only daughter and one of the Bravo-Calabretti princes would bolster the sometimes-strained relations between Alagonia and Montedoro. For years, most of the world had assumed that Lili would end up wed to Rule. But Rule’s heart had turned elsewhere. And none of the other three Bravo-Calabretti princes had seemed suitable matches for the Alagonian heir presumptive.

      The baby, however, changed everything. Diplomatically speaking, Alex would do just as well as Lili’s groom as his older brother would have. The marriage would not only give his unborn child his name, but it would also forge an important bond between his and Lili’s countries.

      No, he and Lili didn’t care much for each other. Nonetheless, their union would be a useful thing in more ways than one.

      At four that afternoon, in the sitting room of the sovereign’s apartment, with all the doors firmly locked against spying eyes and listening ears, Lili was still arguing, still trying to put the brakes on. “Why should I marry Alex? How many times do I have to say it? He doesn’t love me and I don’t love him. We don’t even like each other. And we’re only asking for disaster to race to the altar this way.”

      Leo sent her one of his fulminating glances—but at least when he answered her, he wasn’t shouting. “He’s the father of your child, Liliana. You are two months along. There is no time to waste and you have no choice.”

      Lili sucked in an outraged breath—and started in again. “No choice? Excuse me. Of course I have a choice. This is not the dark ages, thank you very much, Papa. Nowadays, even a princess has a right to—”

      “Shh, now, Lili. Hush.” Alex’s mother patted her hand. “It will be all right, my dearest. You’ll see.”

      “But, Adrienne …”

      His mother touched Lili’s cheek. “Shh. Think.” Gently she reminded Lili of what they all knew. “This could turn into an international incident. And no one wants that. I know it’s hopelessly stuffy and backward in many ways, but the rules for you, Lili—the rules for all of us—are different. We’re held to a higher standard. And neither your father nor Alex’s father nor I want our names or our family reputations dragged through the mud. No one wants a child of yours and Alexander’s to be born a bastard. Come now, Lili. You don’t want your child to be illegitimate, do you? Your child, by rights, will rule Alagonia one day. Why make it possible for anyone to question those rights?”

      “I, well, I …” Lili’s full lower lip began to quiver.

      His mother held out her arms. Lili went into them.

      Adrienne held Lili close and stroked her slim back and said quietly to the rest of them, “So, then, the plan is made. As far as the world is concerned, Lili and Alex have been secretly in love for some time now—and are already married. That should serve to eliminate any potential for unpleasant public speculation as to the legitimacy of the child.”

      They all nodded agreement.