Wicked in Your Arms (Forgotten Princesses #1)(60)

Her stomach heaved. She pressed a hand to her lurching belly. “I’d rather not.”

“You’ll be a marvelous queen. Think of the insights you will have. All the good you can do.”

She angled her head, considering that for the first time, and suddenly not feeling so . . . scared anymore.

“I hadn’t thought of that before.”

Cleo nodded encouragingly. “You can be a voice for the people. Someone real, not some royal so elevated and removed from the common man’s existence. You’ll be one of them, and they’re going to adore you!”

Grier dropped her hand from her stomach, suddenly a little more optimistic. She could do something . . . make a difference. Yes. “I shall miss you. You must visit. And Marguerite. Even Jack.”

“As if you can keep me away. And you know Jack will be there.” Cleo gave her hand a squeeze. “You’ve found your fairy tale, Grier. You’re going to be so very happy.”

Would she? So much of that seemed wrapped up in whether Sev would be happy with her as his queen. It still seemed an impossibility. Her momentary optimism fled.

Would Sev wake one day hating her, regretting his impulsive decision to wed her? A knock sounded at the door before a maid entered. “Your presence is desired in the study, Miss Grier.”

Her stomach plummeted to her feet. She nodded jerkily.

“Have a good time!” Cleo called cheerfully as she departed the room.

Grier sent her a bewildered look over her shoulder. Did she think she was going for a jaunt in the park?

Shaking her head, she descended the stairs, carefully masking her face, for when she first met Sev’s gaze. Would she already see the chill of regret there? Would it begin now?

Upon entering the library, she saw that it was only Sev. Her father was nowhere in sight as she expected.

Sev stood at the window overlooking the street. She hovered on the threshold, the only sounds those of the clacking of hooves and the creaking of wheels from outside.

She must have made a sound that alerted him to her presence. He turned, arms still locked behind him. He looked so stern and forbidding that she blurted the first thought that crossed her mind.

“We don’t have to do this.”

He said nothing. Merely gazed at her with an implacable expression on his face.

She moistened her lips and continued, “I won’t hold you to it. I’ll tell everyone I refused your offer. No one will think less of you.”

He moved, walking steadily toward her. Her breath hitched as he closed the distance between them.

Then . . . he walked straight past her.

She swung around, heart hammering. She watched in bewilderment, her eyes wide and aching in her face.

Was he leaving? Was this it then? She’d given him the out he desired?

He stepped from the room, arms extending until he clasped the latch on each door and shut them soundly, closing them in from prying eyes.

“What are you doing?” She squeezed her hands together in front of her.

He turned to face her, his gold eyes glinting. “Giving a newly affianced couple a few moments of privacy.”

“Sev.” She shook her head. “What are we doing? This is madness. Let’s stop this before it goes any further.”

“There’s no going back now, Grier.”

“How can you possibly marry me, Sev?” She shook her head and sliced a hand through the air. “Your country needs a proper queen. Not some girl who was a game master in a past life.”

“I decide what’s proper, do I not? I’ll be king someday. No one’s authority supersedes mine. What is it you’re so afraid of? Who, precisely, do you think will object to you?”

“Your grandfather—”

“My grandfather shall have nothing to say once we hand him his first great-grandchild. He’ll be too busy weeping joyful tears.”

Heat flushed her face and she looked down at her hands, secretly delighted at the mere thought of having a child. Sev’s child. Hardening her heart, she looked back up to stare him in the eyes. “And what if that doesn’t happen? You yourself proclaimed me old. What if I can’t—”

“And I believe you proclaimed me a jackass,” he cut in. “I rather think you were correct.”

She choked on laughter even as her eyes burned with tears.

He strode forward and took her hand. With a tug, he lowered her onto a settee next to him. “It’s too late to go back now, so stop talking about it.”

“But you didn’t want this—”

He pressed a finger to her lips. “I want you. More than any other woman I’ve crossed paths with in my search for a bride.”

She swallowed down the sudden lump in her throat and snatched his finger from her lips. “But I’m not what your grandfather sent you here to—”

“He can’t object to your fortune.”

“But he can object to me.”

Sev smiled then, his lips a crooked grin that made her belly twist. “No matter how much you try, you’re not going to talk me out of this.”

She sighed in exasperation.

“Trust me,” Sev coaxed. “Will you?”

And she wanted to. Desperately.

I want you. His words almost convinced her. Except she’d heard them before. And she knew a man’s desires changed with the wind.