ARI COULDN’T CONCENTRATE. That didn’t bother him unduly—he could sleepwalk his way through this event. The reason for his lack of concentration was a few feet away, talking to the French ambassador’s wife, a little frown between her eyes as she focused on what the woman was saying.
He’d told Maddi on their way in to let him do the talking, lest anyone spend too much time with her and start to get suspicious. Although he was fairly certain most people here wouldn’t ever have met the Princess in person. And Maddi certainly looked enough like her to fool all onlookers.
He wondered at that again. They were so alike...could it really just be a coincidence? Simply the fact that they came from the same place? He hadn’t heard from his friend Antonio Chatsfield yet—which was unlike him. He made a mental note to chase him up.
He made his excuses to the people around him and went over to Maddi, taking her arm. He felt the way she reacted to his presence, as if a little jolt had gone through her body. A body he had every intention of exploring so thoroughly that she would cease to have this hold over him...
‘She’s never been to Santanger or Isla’Rosa before, and she’s never met Princess Laia.’
Maddi felt unaccountably defensive after Aristedes had come over to interrupt her conversation with the French ambassador’s wife.
‘That’s not why I pulled you away.’
Maddi looked up at Aristedes. ‘It’s not?’
He shook his head. ‘I pulled you away because we need to be the first on the dance floor.’
Dread pooled in Maddi’s belly as Aristedes led her into another room, where the sounds of a waltz enveloped them. Laia had told Maddi about the endless hours of dance practice she’d had to endure when growing up.
She hissed at Aristedes, ‘I’ve never danced like this before. I don’t know what to do.’
If people didn’t already suspect she might not be Princess Laia, then surely when they saw her wooden dance movements they’d guess in an instant.
Aristedes, unconcerned, swung her into his arms and said, ‘It’s fine. Just follow my lead and try to relax.’
Try to relax!
Maddi might have laughed if she hadn’t been so terrified. Doing something for the first time, surrounded by hundreds of people scrutinising her every move!
Aristedes’s arm was high across her back and he held her hand in his, close to his shoulder. He said again, ‘Just relax. Don’t look at them—look at me.’
That would be even worse than the hundreds of curious eyes. But she did it, and it worked to an extent. The world narrowed down to Aristedes and those amazing, unfathomable eyes.
A question came to her, unbidden, and it came out of her mouth before she could stop it. ‘Does anyone call you Ari?’
‘My brother does, and my mother used to call me Ari. Sometimes women would call me Ari, but it was an attempt to foster an intimacy that I didn’t appreciate.’
Maddi made a tsk-ing sound. ‘How cheeky of them.’
To her surprise she realised they were revolving easily around the dance floor, her feet following his. Other couples had joined them now, and the pressure eased a little.
Maddi was curious. ‘So, these women...there were a few...?’
‘Are you asking me how many lovers I’ve had?’
Maddi flushed. ‘No.’
Yes. And did he have a current lover?
‘You’re very impertinent.’
Maddi winced. ‘I’m sorry. I tend to speak and then think.’
Aristedes’s mouth twitched again. She was beginning to love that twitch. That sign that she could make him smile, even a tiny bit.
He said, ‘I’ve had my fair share. I’m not a monk. But I’m not going to violate my wedding vows. Once I’m married I will be faithful to my wife.’
She was surprised at the vehemence in his voice. ‘Even if you don’t...fancy her?’
He’d told her himself he’d never felt anything like that for Laia.
‘Dynastic marriages are built on far more solid foundations than chemistry and emotion. They have to be.’
‘Was that what your parents’ marriage was like?’
For the first time she felt tension in his body. His jaw clenched.
Maddi said hurriedly, ‘Ignore me. I’m asking too many questions.’
But he didn’t seem to hear her. He said, ‘It should have been. But my mother fell in love with my father. It was an arranged marriage. He didn’t love her. He had affairs. Lots of them. No secret. He flaunted them in her face, as if to punish her for the folly of loving him. It destroyed her.’
He looked at her then.
‘That’s why I have vowed to be faithful to my wife. I won’t put her through what my father did to my mother, just because he couldn’t control himself.’
He didn’t say it, but she heard the words. He was weak. Maddi was genuinely moved.
‘That must have been so hard to witness.’
‘My brother Dax bore the brunt of it. He was closer to my mother. I was occupied with the duties of becoming King one day. She depended on him. Too much.’
Maddi stayed silent. It put his brother into a new perspective. She knew what it was like to grow up with a parent who had suffered great heartbreak. But at least her mother had managed to pull herself out of it and get on with her life.
‘What happened to her?’ she asked.
‘She died in a car crash when I was seventeen. Dax was fifteen.’
So he and his brother had lost both parents within a year of each other.
‘I’m sorry, that must have been rough.’
He looked at her. ‘Any more questions?’
Maddi shook her head. But then she said, ‘I can understand why you’d settle for a passionless marriage now, but you can’t control someone’s emotions. What if your wife falls in love with you?’
Aristedes smiled mirthlessly. ‘I think all signs are pointing to that not being a problem.’
Was he admitting defeat? Giving up on his dogged refusal to acknowledge Laia’s reluctance to marry him?
But then he said, ‘Even if there was passion...which would certainly make the marriage more palatable...passion doesn’t last.’
Maddi struggled to think of examples of passionate, long-lasting relationships, but drew a blank. ‘You’re very cynical.’
‘So would you be if you’d grown up in my world. At least I know not to believe in myths and fairy tales. What a waste of a life.’
No doubt he was referring to his mother. And while Maddi agreed to a certain extent, because she’d always taken a very pragmatic view of love and relationships—largely after seeing her own mother choose to move on and settle down with someone who might not set the world alight, but who loved her and was kind—she felt a surprising need to counter Aristedes’s arrogant complacency.
‘That’s easy to say if you’ve never actually been in love.’
‘How do you know I haven’t? I might have been made cynical by a broken heart.’
Maddi ignored the pang near her heart at the thought of any woman capturing his.
She snorted. ‘I would like to be there on the day when you’re felled by love. I think that would be a very satisfying sight.’
Aristedes didn’t even dignify that with a comment. He asked, ‘What about you? Have you been in love?’
Maddi shook her head. ‘No. And while I hate to admit it, I agree with a lot of what you say. But I’m not arrogant enough to assume I’m immune.’
‘I prefer to think of it as realism.’
It was only then that Maddi realised the music was fading out and a new song was starting. They’d stopped moving and were just looking at each other. She became uber-conscious of her body, pressed against his. They fitted. Even though she was almost a foot shorter.
He said, ‘By the way, you can call me Ari.’
Her insides swooped. ‘Aren’t you afraid I might be trying to foster intimacy?’
He shook his head. ‘No, because you’re not like any other woman I’ve ever met. And we both know the truth of what’s going on here.’
Maddi felt breathless. She chose to interpret his statement that she wasn’t like any other woman as a good thing. ‘And what is going on here, exactly?’
The band was playing something a little jazzier now. Aristedes started moving again.
‘A very rare and unusual mutual chemistry. Something that I don’t think either of us expected.’
Maddi shook her head. She certainly hadn’t expected to still be here, impersonating her sister. She’d only started this with a view to helping Laia escape.
She couldn’t take her eyes off his mouth.
‘If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll be tempted to break protocol.’
She dragged her gaze up. ‘What protocol?’
‘We can’t be seen to be physically intimate before we marry.’
She frowned. ‘But...we’re not getting married.’
‘I know that...you know that. They don’t know that.’
As if waking from a trance, Maddi became aware of the avid crowd around them again. People were dancing past them, staring at them as if they were animals in a zoo.
She wanted to duck her head into Aristedes’s shoulder. She wanted to ask if they could leave yet. But she clamped her mouth shut. Because if they did leave...what then?
As if hearing her thoughts, he said, ‘Much as I would like to, we can’t leave yet. There’s more meeting and greeting to do.’
Maddi was used to this—albeit to the other side of it. She knew that it was like an endurance sport, and she’d been in awe of Laia’s stamina and patience. Now it looked as if she was to be tested to see just how well-suited she was to the role of princess.
A couple of hours later, Maddi was reaching her breaking point. Her feet were killing her. Her face was numb. She was dizzy from all the names and the people she’d met.
An aide approached the King and said something into his ear.
Aristedes put his hand on Maddi’s elbow. He looked at her. ‘Ready?’
‘For what?’ She might cry if there was another room to go to, where more people waited to meet them.
‘To leave?’
Relief made her weak. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Try to look a little less delighted,’ Aristedes commented dryly.
Maddi schooled her features as they were led out of the elaborate hall and their security followed them as they made their way down to the entrance where the car waited.
Maddi had never been so glad to sit down. She considered herself to be fit—she’d run a half-marathon with Laia in the last year—but this required next-level endurance skills.
In the back of the car, she asked, ‘Do you ever get used to this?’
‘It’s a job, Maddi. And a privilege.’
‘That’s what Laia—I mean, Princess Laia says.’
‘You’re close to her.’ He said it as a statement.
Maddi nodded. ‘She’s my best friend, even though I’ve only known her a year.’
‘Clearly you’ll do anything for her. You’re loyal.’
Maddi shifted uncomfortably. Was she, though? When she was lusting after her sister’s intended? Even though Laia had no intention of marrying the man?
The car was winding through the streets of Santanger. Maddi saw people strolling along the pavements. Shops were open late. Restaurants had tables spilling out into picturesque little squares. Down by the marina sleek yachts bobbed on the water, some lit up with fairy lights. An almost full moon hung in the sky, sending out a pearlescent glow.
For some reason Maddi felt incredibly melancholic. She wished... She wasn’t even sure what she wished. And then it hit her. She wished she was here for real. That she could be herself with this man. Not hiding behind a much larger persona.
The fact that no one else seemed to have realised she wasn’t Princess Laia made her feel a little invisible...
‘Maddi?’
She swallowed the unwelcome lump in her throat. What was wrong with her?
Aristedes took her hand. ‘Maddi? What is it? Was tonight too much?’
She looked at him when she felt she could hide her emotion. ‘No, it was fine. I was just thinking it’s so lovely here. You have a beautiful country.’
‘I do. I’m very lucky.’
Impulsively she said, ‘You see me, don’t you?’
She stopped and bit her lip in case she said anything else.
He frowned. ‘Of course I see you. You’re sitting just inches away.’
‘I mean...you see me, Maddi Smith, not Princess Laia.’
Strangely, Ari knew exactly what Maddi meant. Because he had that sensation too. That people only saw King Aristedes. A figurehead. Not the man underneath.
He said, ‘The minute I knew you weren’t Princess Laia, I saw you.’
Maddi was direct. More relaxed. A little dreamy. Barefoot more often than not. Princess Laia—from what he remembered—was much more reserved. A product of her upbringing, no doubt.
Princess Laia wouldn’t bombard him with personal questions, like Maddi did, with the lack of guile of a child. Questions that he’d answered when he usually cut people off.
A sense of exposure made his skin prickle. He’d told her far too much.
His parents’ sordid history was an open secret within the palace, but not among the public—and yet he’d blithely spilled it all to Maddi as if she wasn’t here as some sort of Trojan Horse.
For the first time since this woman had impersonated her boss, the Crown Princess, since Ari had realised just how reluctant Laia was to marry him, he had a very fledgling sense of things shifting. Becoming less concrete. Less certain. Not least because he was about to throw caution to the wind and behave as uncharacteristically as he ever had. By ignoring the need to control everything.
Right now, none of that bothered him as much as it should. Because he was distracted by Maddi’s eyes. Huge and dark green, with tantalising hints of gold and brown. Glowing with some emotion that, inexplicably, he felt too, even though he couldn’t name it.
Didn’t want to name it.
What he wanted was far more base and carnal.
He lifted Maddi’s hand and tugged her closer. Her scent tickled his nostrils. Light and yet deep at the same time. With some mysterious base note.
‘I want you, Maddi.’ The words fell from his mouth as easily as breathing.
Her eyes widened. A flush of colour stained her cheeks. She really was beautiful.
‘But...is it...? Are we allowed?’
He almost smiled at her question. As if there was a higher power to answer to than him. Any other woman would be sliding into his lap at the merest hint that he wanted her.
‘In public we have to be relatively chaste, but within the palace, if we’re discreet, we can do what we want. After what the staff there witnessed with my father, an affair between me and my future Queen will be like a Disney movie.’
‘An affair...?’
‘We’re two consenting adults, Maddi. I’m not married yet.’
‘But you still intend to get married to Princess Laia...’
Did he? Those doubts he had took root. But Ari wasn’t about to reveal his inner vacillations to a woman bent on creating chaos wherever she went. Not least in his body.
He said, ‘We have an agreement. If she comes to her senses then, yes, of course I’ll marry her. However, if she won’t agree to the marriage then I’ll have to choose another bride of royal blood. I will be getting married, no matter what. I have to.’
‘You have to marry a bride of royal blood?’
Ari nodded. He really didn’t want to talk about this. That was all in the future. He was more interested in the present. Vastly more interested.
But his conscience compelled him to say, ‘You know nothing can come of this, Maddi. I will marry according to my duty and my responsibility and I will not betray my vows. This can only be temporary.’
The car was pulling to a stop in the main palace courtyard. Ari could see the staff waiting to jump into action.
Maddi pulled her hand back. He felt her distance herself. Physically and emotionally.
Ari signalled discreetly to the staff not to disturb them. Well-worn cynicism told him she was sensing an opportunity to bargain for something in return for agreeing to this affair. Now that he’d laid out in no uncertain terms that she would never become a favoured mistress.
He’d been through this with lovers before. Usually when he ended things.
She said, ‘I don’t know if it’s a good idea... There’s a lot of...stuff between us.’
Ari felt a sense of disappointment snake through him. He really had thought she was different. More fool him. The woman had been playing him since she’d arrived.
He leaned back. ‘What is it you want, Maddi?’
She looked at him. Blinked. Long lashes cast shadows on her cheeks. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘This game you’re playing now that you know the parameters of our relationship.’
She shook her head. Her face looked pale.
Ari ignored it.
She said, ‘What game? I wouldn’t know how to play a game even if I was given a rule book.’
‘Says the woman who worked in a casino?’
Maddi’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened. ‘You know what? I’ve changed my mind. You’re the last man I would ever have an affair with. You’re a cynical, arrogant—’
Maddi’s door was opened unceremoniously and she almost fell out. An unwitting staff member obviously hadn’t seen the signal not to disturb them.
Ari cursed, the feeling of having made a mistake already curdling in his gut as he saw Maddi scramble inelegantly out of the car to get away from him.
Because he realised what he’d seen in her expression along with shock just now. Hurt.
By the time he had stepped out and caught up with her it was obvious she was steaming mad. Ari took her elbow. She was stiff as a board.
He said tersely, ‘Just keep walking and don’t cause a scene.’
Miraculously, she did as he asked. They reached his private rooms and he dismissed his valet for the night.
Once they were alone, Maddi pulled away from his hand and stalked into the reception room. She whirled around. ‘How dare you insinuate that I’m on the make for something?’ She hitched up her chin. ‘I grew up with just enough to get by once my education was paid for, and I’ve worked for every cent I ever earned. I still do. I don’t expect a handout from anyone.’
Ari’s gut clenched. Either she was an undiscovered award-winning actress or he’d read this very wrong. He ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t usually find himself apologising to anyone.
‘Look, I think I’ve misread the situation...’
‘You think?’
Maddi had her hands on her hips now. She reminded him of how she’d been that first evening she’d been here, when she’d thrown the phone out of the window. Magnificent and strong. Defiant.
He put his hands out. ‘Okay, I’m sorry. I definitely misread the situation. I just... I’m used to people wanting things from me.’
Maddi looked slightly less angry. She folded her arms across her chest, which only had the effect of pushing her breasts upwards. Ari valiantly kept his gaze up.
‘I guess I can understand that. You’re a wealthy man. A king. I know not everyone is...’
‘As pure as you?’ Ari supplied.
She looked at him and all the colour in her cheeks leached away, leaving her looking stricken.
He walked forward. ‘What is it? What did I say?’
She shook her head. ‘Nothing. I’m...fine. Look, I don’t want anything from you, Ari. All I want is for Princess Laia to get what she wants—which is not to become your wife.’
Ari ignored the bit about Princess Laia. He moved closer. ‘You’re lying, Maddi.’
She glared at him. She looked as if she wanted to stamp her foot.
‘What will it take to prove to you that I want nothing?’
Ari reached out and plucked the pin from her hair, making it tumble down around her shoulders, thick and wild. Understanding dawned in her eyes.
‘Okay, fine...there is something I want,’ she admitted grudgingly.
Every nerve in Ari’s body tingled at being so close to her but not touching her yet. ‘What’s that?’
She looked up at him and his control wavered dangerously. Did she have any idea how she was looking at him? With a provocative expression of hunger mixed with awe mixed with something else he couldn’t figure out.
She bit her lip for a second, and then she said in a rush, ‘I want to be touched by you. Kissed. Made love to.’
‘I want you, Maddi...more than I’ve ever wanted anyone else.’
She shook her head. ‘You don’t have to say that. I know what this is...you’ve made that very clear.’
But even if Ari had tried, he couldn’t have stopped the words spilling out. This woman made him utter things he’d never have dreamt of saying to anyone else before.
He reached out and trailed his fingers along her jaw. A delicate line. But strong. She quivered under his touch. He burned.