CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘SHE KNOWS,’ SAID LUC, the words leaving his mouth as if they were poison. ‘Princess Sophie knows about the baby and it’s over between us.’

      He watched Lisa grow still, like an animal walking through the darkened undergrowth suddenly scenting danger. Her green-gold eyes narrowed as she looked at him and her voice was an uncertain tremble.

      ‘B-but you said—’

      ‘I know what I said,’ he agreed. ‘But that was then. This is now. Or did you really think I was going to take another woman as my wife when you are pregnant with my child? This changes everything, Lisa.’ There was a heartbeat of a pause. ‘Which is why I went to see the Princess before I came to England.’

      She winced, closing her eyes briefly—as if she was experiencing her own, private pain. ‘And what...what did she say?’

      Luc picked his words carefully, still trying to come to terms with the capriciousness of women. He didn’t understand them and sometimes he thought he never would. And when he stopped to think about it—why should he, when the only role models he’d known had all been paid for out of the palace purse?

      He had been expecting a show of hurt and contempt from his young fiancée. He had steeled himself against her expected insults as he had been summoned into the glorious throne room of her palace on Isolaverde, where shortly afterwards she had appeared—an elegant figure in a gown of palest blue which had floated around her. But the vitriol he deserved hadn’t been forthcoming.

      ‘She told me she was relieved.’

      ‘Relieved?’

      ‘She said that a wedding planned when the bride-to-be was still in infancy was completely outdated and my news had allowed her to look at her life with renewed clarity. She told me that she didn’t actually want to get married—and certainly not to a man she didn’t really know, for the sake of our nations.’ He didn’t mention the way she had turned on him and told him that she didn’t approve of his reputation. That the things she’d heard and read in the past—exploits which some of his ex-lovers had managed to slip to the press—had appalled her. She had looked at him very proudly and announced that maybe fate was doing her a favour by freeing her from her commitment to such a man. And what could he do but agree with her, when he was in no position to deny her accusations? ‘So I am now a free man,’ he finished heavily.

      Lisa’s response to this was total silence. He watched her walk over to the desk and pour herself a glass of water and drink it down very quickly before turning back to face him. ‘How very convenient for you,’ she said.

      ‘And for you, of course.’

      Abruptly, she put the glass down. ‘Me?’ The wariness in her green-gold eyes had been replaced by a glint of anger. ‘I’m sorry—you’ve lost me. What does the breaking off of your engagement have to do with me? We had a one-night stand with unwanted consequences, that’s all. Two people who planned never to see one another again. Nothing has changed.’

      Luc studied her defensive posture, knowing there were better methods of conveying what he needed to say and certainly more suitable environments in which to do so than the shop in which she worked. But he didn’t have the luxury of time on his side—for all kinds of reasons. His people would be delighted by news that his royal bloodline would be continued, but he doubted they’d be overjoyed to hear that the royal mother was an unknown commoner and not their beloved Princess Sophie. He would have to ask the Princess to issue a dignified announcement before introducing Lisa as his bride, for that would surely lessen the impact. And he would get his office to start working on image control—on how best to minimise the potential for negative repercussions for him and for Mardovia.

      ‘Everything has changed,’ he said. ‘For I am now free to marry you.’

      Lisa’s heart missed a beat, but even in the midst of her shock she reflected what cruel tricks life could play. Because once Luc’s words would have affected her very differently. When she’d been starting to care for him...really care. When she’d been standing on the edge of that terrifying precipice called love. Just before she’d pulled back and walked away from him—she would have given everything she possessed to hear Luc ask her to marry him.

      And now?

      Now she accepted that the words were as empty as a politician’s sound bites. The mists had cleared and she saw him for who he really was. A powerful man who shifted women around in his life like pawns in a game of chess. Why, even his brides were interchangeable! Princess Sophie had been heading for the altar, only to be cast aside with barely a second thought because a pregnant commoner counted for more than a virgin princess. And now she was expected to step in and take her place as his bride. Poor Sophie. And poor her, if she didn’t grow a backbone.

      She drew in a deep breath. ‘You really think I’d marry you, Luc?’

      The arrogant smile which curved his mouth made it clear he thought her protest a token one.

      ‘I agree it isn’t the most conventional of unions,’ he said. ‘But given the circumstances, you’d be crazy not to.’

      Lisa could feel herself growing angry. Almost as angry as when she’d looked down at her dead mother’s face and thought how wasted her life had been. She remembered walking away from the funeral parlour hoping that she had found peace at last.

      She’d been angry too when Brittany had dropped out of her hard-fought-for place at one of England’s top universities because Jason had wanted her to have his baby, and nothing Lisa had said could talk her sister out of it, or make her wait. Another woman who had allowed herself to be manipulated by a man.

      But maybe she no longer had a right to play judge and jury when now she found herself in a situation which was wrong from just about every angle. She stared into Luc’s face but saw no affection on his rugged features—nothing but a grim determination to have things on his terms, the way he always did. And she couldn’t afford to let him—because if she gave him the slightest leeway, he would swamp her with the sheer force of his royal power.

      ‘I think we’ll have to disagree on the level of my craziness,’ she said quietly. ‘Because you must realise I can’t possibly marry you, Luc, no matter what you say—or how many inducements you make.’

      His sudden stillness indicated that her reply had surprised him.

      ‘I don’t really think you have a choice, Lisa,’ he said.

      ‘Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. There is always a choice. And mine was to have this child alone and to love it with all my heart. It still is.’

      ‘But I am the father.’

      ‘I know you are. And now that it’s all out in the open you must realise that I shan’t deny you access to your child.’ She smiled up at him. ‘We’ll keep emotion out of it and try to come to some satisfactory arrangement for all of us.’

      He didn’t smile back.

      ‘You seem to forget that you carry a prince or princess,’ he said softly. ‘And it is vital they should grow up on the island they will one day inherit.’

      She met his gaze. ‘I didn’t realise illegitimate offspring were entitled to inherit.’

      A muscle began to flicker