Читать книгу Falling For His Convenient Queen - Therese Beharrie - Страница 12

CHAPTER THREE

‘YOU WANTED TO see me?’

Nalini’s voice pulled him from his work and Zacchaeus looked up to see her standing in the doorway of his library. She had changed from earlier and was now wearing black trousers and a white shirt. The shirt was loose, cut into a V at her neck, and gave him only the barest glimpse of bronze skin. It was in no way inappropriate and yet, by the way his body reacted, he could have sworn that she was hardly wearing anything.

‘Yes. Did you settle in well?’ he asked in a gruff voice.

‘Fine, thank you,’ she answered, her tone perfectly polite—cool, even—and so very different to the passionate tone she’d used earlier.

That was his fault, and he was helpless to change it. He’d acted exactly like the man he was trying to convince her he was. Power-hungry, cruel, selfish. And though he might not entirely be that man, he wasn’t who she wanted him to be either. In fact, he was probably closer to the man he’d told her he was than the man she wanted him to be.

Or did he just believe that because of how his parents had treated him?

‘Can I get you something to drink?’ he asked to distract himself.

‘No, thank you.’ She paused. ‘Why am I here?’

Right to the point then. Not that he could blame her. He gestured for her to sit and, after hesitating, she took the seat opposite him.

‘I was hoping I could talk to you about something my advisors brought to my attention.’

‘I’m listening.’

‘Well, they seem to think your suggestion that we spend time together... They think it’s a good idea.’

Her eyebrows rose. ‘Really?’

‘Yes.’

‘But...’

‘Publicly.’

‘Why?’

‘So that your soon-to-be people will get to know their future Queen, as you said.’ He swallowed, and wondered why he suddenly felt nervous. ‘They’ll get to see us together. The couple who will rule them. And it’ll help them become more comfortable with the idea.’

‘You had to have your advisors tell you that it would be a good idea?’

‘They had a good point.’

‘You just didn’t want to hear that point from me?’

He kept his mouth shut. Because he couldn’t tell her the truth. That he had thought she’d made a good point, but was worried that it wouldn’t turn out as positive as she’d made it seem. His kingdom had been...tense since Zacchaeus had become King and though they had seemed relieved that he was marrying Nalini, preserving the alliance between the isles, he didn’t want to tempt fate. Not until he had the chance to speak to his advisors.

‘So what would this entail?’

‘It would be a business agreement,’ he answered. ‘We’d make appointments to arrange things for the wedding. Together. Publicly.’

The time she took to respond had him holding his breath.

‘I had a conversation with Sylvia when you sent her to ask me here this evening. The woman who showed me to my room?’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘Just making sure,’ she said easily. Her expression gave nothing away. Unless, of course, it did, and he just couldn’t read it because he didn’t know her. ‘She was telling me how...challenging it’s been for the kingdom to accept their new King.’

He clenched his teeth. So much for not telling her about that. ‘You must have misheard.’

‘No, I don’t think I did.’ Her eyes darkened. ‘Clearly your advisors are trying to help you regain the trust of your people after the coup. And how better than a wedding? To remind them of the traditions of the royal family. Make them believe in fairy tales. Weddings are the start of something beautiful, hopeful, and seeing the King who ended the reign of their well-loved ruler—his father—at a new beginning might just make them more open to his new beginning. As King.’

‘You’re right. But I needed to check with them to make sure that what you were suggesting would work.’

He saw the surprise, but she only nodded. ‘That’s fair, I suppose.’

‘So you agree?’

‘I don’t exactly have a choice, do I?’ She clasped her hands together on her lap and he found himself saying words he knew he shouldn’t be saying.

‘You have a choice, Nalini. You’ll always have a choice here.’

Emotion filled her eyes before it was replaced by cool indifference. ‘Of course I will. I only meant that it wasn’t like I could return to Mattan.’ She blinked and quickly added, ‘Because it would put them in danger.’

‘That’s not what you meant.’

‘What else could I possibly mean?’

‘That’s what I’m asking.’ He studied her, noting that she was avoiding looking at him and knew his gut feeling had been right. ‘There’s more to why you’re here, Nalini, isn’t there?’

‘You didn’t exactly propose this arrangement as a question.’

‘Yes, but you’ve already told me you chose to do this. Tell me why.’

‘I have,’ she replied stubbornly. ‘I’m here for Mattan.’

‘And yet the more I get to know you, the more I think that isn’t the only reason.’

‘But since this is a business arrangement, as you said, I don’t have to tell you anything other than what I want to.’

Her face lit with the challenge, but there was a dullness in her eyes that...that bothered him. He couldn’t place a finger on why—wasn’t sure he wanted to—and instead he asked, ‘So, you agree then?’

‘Yes.’

‘Great. We’ll make appointments to plan the wedding. I’ll have my secretary arrange a schedule for us and I’ll send it to you for approval.’

She nodded. ‘Is that all?’

‘No, actually there’s one more thing.’ But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

‘You have something planned already, don’t you?’ Her mouth relaxed into what he thought was the beginning of a smile. His body tightened.

‘I don’t have anything planned. But there is...a plan. An appointment for us, really.’

‘What is it?’

‘An...engagement shoot. Tomorrow.’ Damn it, he felt foolish even saying it.

‘An engagement shoot,’ she repeated, and laughed. It was a soft, happy sound that made him think of a music box. ‘You must hate the thought of that so much.’

‘It has to be done.’

‘Of course,’ she responded in a grave tone that echoed his, but her eyes sparkled with laughter.

His lips twitched. ‘So, you’re fine with this?’

‘My schedule happens to be open,’ she said wryly. ‘Why not?’

‘Good.’ He frowned. ‘I didn’t expect it to be that easy.’

‘I’m here to serve at your pleasure, Your Majesty.’

It took some time for her to realise that she’d said something provocative, and when she did her eyes widened and colour flooded her skin.

‘I didn’t mean—’

He couldn’t help the smile now, even though his attempts at dimming his body’s reaction to her unintended suggestion had proved futile. ‘I know.’

‘It’s because you make me nervous.’

‘Why?’

‘I’m not entirely sure.’ She gave him a chagrined smile, but there was emotion on her face that paralysed him and he couldn’t look away. ‘Maybe it’s because today was the first time you and I have really spoken. The events we’ve seen each other at...’ Her voice faded and he quickly figured out why.

He’d kept himself apart from the Mattanian and Aidaraen royal families at those events. Oh, he’d greeted, had done his duty, but the ease that had always been between the two families hadn’t included him. Of his own accord, he knew, and realised that Nalini was referring to that one-sidedness he’d embraced. But he’d known what was at risk if he’d become one of them. His family’s most well-kept secret.

His mother’s affair.

‘Or it could just be because you’re a little scary, King Zacchaeus.’

Despite what he’d been thinking of, that drew a smile from him. ‘You’re not the first person to say that.’

‘No, I don’t imagine I am,’ she replied softly, and her mouth curved up in the smallest of smiles.

For the first time, Zacchaeus realised he was in trouble. No, he corrected, taking in what that smile did to the already lovely features of her face—and what it did to his heart rate. He’d known he was in trouble the moment he’d come up with the hare-brained plan to marry Nalini.

He’d convinced himself, just as he had Xavier, Leyna and Nalini, that it had been for the sake of the alliance. And, up until that moment, he’d believed that that was the only reason. Except now he remembered how often his eyes had strayed to Nalini at every event. How her smile, polite as it had been, had made it the tiniest bit harder to breathe.

He thought about how he’d felt after he’d left the discussion with Leyna and Xavier the day he’d told them of his plan—the anger at their responses, the fear that it would put Kirtida at risk—and how it had changed when he’d seen Nalini in the castle passage. He’d felt longing. Hope.

And he’d wished with all his might that his hare-brained plan would work just so that he could have that feeling for the rest of his life.

‘Does it bother you?’ she asked, studying him. For one irrational moment he thought she was asking about his feelings for her. ‘That people think you’re scary, I mean,’ she clarified, and he told himself to get a grip.

‘I don’t care what people think of me,’ he said in a cool tone, hoping it would have the same effect on his emotions. ‘What I care about is that they do what they’re supposed to do. What I ask them to.’

‘I’m afraid you might not entirely succeed in that with me.’

‘Yes,’ he answered wryly. ‘I didn’t think I would.’

‘Now you’re not the first person to say that about me.’

He rested his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. ‘Do you mean Princess Nalini of Mattan was a problem child?’

‘Depends on who you ask,’ she said lightly, but all trace of humour disappeared from her face. ‘What should I wear for the shoot?’

The change in subject happened so quickly, so smoothly, that he had to take a moment to adjust. And, though he didn’t press, it intrigued him.

‘I’ve arranged for a few dresses to be sent to your room. You can choose whichever one you’d feel most comfortable in.’

She nodded. ‘Are we done?’

‘For now.’

‘Then I’ll see you tomorrow.’ She stood and smoothed the fabric of her trousers.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ he repeated and got up with her. They stood like that as the seconds passed and then she finally walked to the door, but turned back before going through it.

‘One meal.’ When he lifted his eyebrows, she continued. ‘We’ll share one meal a day. You can choose whichever one you’d like.’

He wanted to smile at the brazen request—at the nerve—but all he gave her was a grudging, ‘Fine.’ She walked out then, and Zacchaeus’s eyes stayed on the door until he realised he had no reason to keep staring at it.

He walked to his desk and, leaning back in his chair, took in the view through the glass doors leading to his balcony. The night was clear, seemingly unaffected by the misery of the afternoon. And, as he had so many times before, he silently thanked the designer who’d made sure the furniture arrangement would give him an unobstructed view of the sea.

The stretch of water always gave him a sense of purpose and, right now, he had to accept that that purpose was to protect his kingdom. And protecting his kingdom meant focusing on the negotiations he was having with Leyna and Xavier and getting to his wedding day so that he would finally be able to sign the papers that would ensure it.

He couldn’t afford to be enthralled by his fiancée. He couldn’t even afford to like her—if he listened to his father. Jaydon had warned him against trusting Nalini, though Zacchaeus knew Jaydon’s warning had come from his own experience with Zacchaeus’s mother.

The woman who’d caused the drama he was currently dealing with.

Zacchaeus couldn’t even be glad that she wasn’t in Kirtida any more. Not when her departure had made his father’s already weak heart worsen. Not when her leaving was the reason that Zacchaeus had been forced into being King before he’d been ready. Not when she was the reason his kingdom was being threatened by sanctions—perhaps even by war—because Kirtida couldn’t give in to Macoa’s demands.

Not if Zacchaeus wanted to keep his father alive.

Perhaps not liking Nalini was the best route to go. If only he could figure out how...