Page 11 of Back to Claim His Crown
She glared at him, hoisting her dress again with her hands on her hips. ‘Really?’
Her movement made him glance down. Now he stared at her hand and his voice was very soft. ‘You are probably equally unaware that the ring you wear once belonged to my mother.’
Her anger evaporated. She wanted to die. Right now. She couldn’t breathe as she tried to get it off her finger while still trying to hold her skirt up, but it was a desperate disaster. ‘Please take it back. Please. I don’t want it.’
‘If you’ll stop panicking and stand still for half a second, I’ll do just that,’ he snapped.
They both stilled. He was breathing as hard as she now. Both of them a whisper away from loss of control. But that intimacy resurged as he carefully worked the ornate ring from her finger. His scent enfolded her, his heat, his shocking gentleness, and her emotions were on the biggest rollercoaster—she wasnotgoing to cry in front of this man.
At last he held the ring and she stepped back. The precious stones glinted in the light.
His expression became that stark mask again. ‘I came here to stop Anders’s marriage because I know what lies beneath his facade. You’re not collateral damage and you may now return to your home.’
‘Imay.’ She echoed his patronising permission. ‘What if I don’t wish to return home?’
Why would she ever want to return there now?
His expression shut down. ‘I have no desire nor need for a wife at present.’
She gaped. ‘Do youseriouslystill think I’m here to offer myself to you? That I would go from one groom to another in a single afternoon?’
But the awful thing was, shewasattracted to him. It was very sudden. Very strong. And she was trying so,sohard not to stare at his magnificent chest.
There was a slight twist of his lips,almosta smile. ‘Well, what am I to think when I find you attempting to undress yourself in my bedroom...?’
‘You’re to think that I was being honest when I told you this room was assigned to me. That I’ve been staying in here all week.’
All week while she’d been alone—ignored by her prospective groom and her family.
‘But you’re not sure who—if anyone—is honest, are you?’
His expression shut down again. ‘You no longer need to sacrifice yourself for family or country.’
‘I chose to accept the engagement to Anders,’ she said proudly. ‘It wasmydecision. It wasn’t forced upon me by my greedy family, if that’s what you’re thinking. I didn’t need you to rescue me. I was here on my own terms with my eyes wide open.’
‘Is that right?’ he said with soft sarcasm. ‘Because you knew your fiancé so well. You knew all about his particular preferences.’
She swallowed, unsure of what he meant but understanding at least that it was something ugly.
‘And would an arranged, passionless marriage really have fulfilled you?’ he added with a glint in his eye. ‘Didn’t you want more?’
Zara hadn’t wanted to admit that Anders’s crude insult had hit so hard mostly because she’d feared it might be true. At least regarding him.
‘There are other things that lead to fulfilment,’ she said obstinately. ‘A physical relationship is not always necessary.’
‘What if you’d fallen in love with someone else?’
‘How was I going to meet someone to fall in love with? My lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to finding lovers easily.’
She’d been cloistered in the castle in the country all through her childhood, slowly taking on more and more care of her ageing parents while being told over and over by her sisters how much life there suited her—that she was lucky because she was too shy and too awkward to enjoy working in the city.
‘Well, now you are free to do as you wish,’ he said stiffly.
‘Free?’she said bitterly. ‘You do not understand the perilousness of my position.’ It was appalling. ‘My lack ofpreciousness. I am a third-born princess who—’
‘Do you really think your only value is your virginity on your wedding night?’ he interrupted harshly. ‘What century do you think this is?’
‘Well, by everyone’s calculations it seems I have little else to offer.’
