Page 14 of Back to Claim His Crown
But Lucian couldn’t let desire consume him. He had too much to do. He threw back the bedclothes and strode to the shower.
Hours later he stalked into the small dining room. He needed food and he needed a moment away from the suited, wide-eyed courtiers, police representatives and politicians. But he froze in the doorway, struggling to suppress his reaction as he registered who was seated at the polished table. The rush of revitalising energy was undeniable. It was as if she were a portable power pack. One that all but electrocuted his brain.
He grimly shook the paralysis off and stepped forward. Her face grew impossibly paler before flushing in a swathe of scarlet blotches. Once more she clearly hadn’t expected his arrival.
‘I didn’t realise you were still here,’ he muttered before thinking. ‘And I certainly didn’t expect to find you in my private dining room.’
He’d told that servant to attend to her properly. Perhaps her plane out of here was delayed?
‘I didn’t realise this is your private dining room,’ she hissed indignantly. ‘This is just where they put me to feed me.’
Yet she hadn’t done all that much eating, had she?
He sat opposite her and took in the vast untouched array of breads, salads and sliced meats separating them. He didn’t feel like eating any of it either. He’d not given a public speech in a long time and there were going to be millions watching him this afternoon. Analysing every word. Words he still hadn’t written.
He poured himself a strong coffee and sat back to study her. To his utterly inappropriate pleasure, she stared right back at him. In the resulting silence he realised he was absurdly amused. He ought to be working—he faced endless meetings, apologies, information to absorb, questions, diplomatic visits and decisions...not to mention that speech ahead of him in less than an hour. He needed this time to collect his thoughts. Instead, he succumbed to the urge to let her disturb his few moments of respite—making them a delight.
Those ridiculous talons had gone and, sure enough, her natural nails were bitten to the quick, unpolished and frankly painful-looking. She wore a high-necked jumper as if trying to hide the skin that gave her emotions away, but he could still see the blotchy colour at the neckline. The perfect princess in the cathedral had definitely been aided by make-up, diamonds and lace coverings. Good for her. Yet now she looked too young, too defenceless, and suddenly that cold anger resurged from deep within. For a man filled with regret, he had none about destroying her wedding ceremony. Not a single one. Anders would have been cruel. He would have destroyedher.
‘Can we get some fresh fruit, please?’ he finally glanced away and requested from the warily hovering servant. ‘Unpeeled and uncut.’
He wanted to bring the sparkle back to her eyes and banish the flicker of hopelessness that dulled them.
‘Did you getanysleep?’ she asked in a low voice once the servant had left the room.
Was that her way of telling him he looked as terrible as he felt?
‘Did you?’
‘The crowds kept calling for you all through the night.’ That colour washed her skin again. ‘And you’ve been busy.’ She gestured to the headlines on a tablet she had in front of her instead of food. ‘Garth’s been arrested for financial mismanagement. Anders appears to have banished himself.’
Lucian stiffened. ‘I’ll be happier when he’s found and faces justice.’
‘You’re looking for him?’
‘Of course.’ He hadn’t brought a large team with him, but he had people looking now. It wouldn’t be long before Anders surfaced.
‘You wanted to take him down in the most public way possible,’ Zara said. ‘You say that was for safety, but you can’t deny there wasn’t an element of revenge in there. You wanted to see the look in his eyes as he realised exactly who you were, and you wanted the rest of the world to see it too. You wanted to provide incontrovertible proof of his true nature to the world.’
He spread his hands. ‘Does that make me a monster?’
She shook her head. ‘No. It was the choice you made.’
‘What other choice was there?’
‘To come back sooner?’ She regarded him carefully. ‘Why did you stay away solong?’
The question burned. He would have to explain exactly this to his nation shortly.
‘You sound angry about it.’
‘If you’d come back sooner this mess with Anders wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t be in this position. I wouldn’t have had to—’
‘It’s quite amazing how you can turn all of this into my fault,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Are you saying you wouldn’t have considered marrying Anders if he weren’t going to be King?’
She stiffened. ‘You make me sound calculating. It wasn’t like that. I wasn’t being entirely selfish.’
He didn’t actually think she was. In fact, he felt a tug of understanding. Things were invariably more complicated than they appeared—like his reasons for being gone so long. Zara didn’t know he hadn’t been well for a long time. That he’d gone through not one but two near-death experiences—the accident itself and then pneumonia only days later. Nor did she know he still wasn’tgoodenough to take the Crown—he was only here because he was a better option than Anders. But he was hardly about to tell her all of that.
