The King's Bride By Arrangement - Annie West Page 0,37

As if they were still upstairs in bed and the only thing on their minds was sex.

‘I disagree.’

‘You what? It was your idea!’ She felt her eyes round as she stared up at him. She’d never seen Paul look quite so...immovable. But then she’d never taken an opposing position to him before. Until last night.

Eva took in his widened stance, crossed arms and a glint in his eyes that signalled his intention to be very obstinate indeed.

‘Now, more than ever, we need to stick together.’ He spoke softly but his voice hit a low register that gave his words gravitas. As if his decision was best and there could be no reasonable argument.

Eva shook her head at his stubbornness. She took a sip of coffee, searching for the words she needed to end this once and for all.

‘You can’t afford the scandal, Paul. I know you’ve worked hard to put on a good front for the public. That you want to avoid anyone digging too deep into the royal family’s doings because they might uncover your father’s crimes. It makes sense to end this now, before the media storm gets worse.’

If Paul had looked obstinate and half-amused before, that expression vanished as he frowned.

‘You think that’s what motivates me? Fear of scandal?’

Eva’s brow puckered. That was what her father had said and it made sense, given what she’d heard about King Hugo’s involvement in fraud and outright theft from the public purse.

‘There are reasons I preferred that the press didn’t run with the full details of my father’s crimes at the time. St Ancilla’s finances were seriously compromised. A fortune in investment funds was squandered on the turn of a roulette wheel, money that should have gone into social development projects. Meanwhile, more public funds were syphoned off to cronies.’

A tic started up in the vein at his temple, something she’d never seen before.

‘Since then we’ve worked hard to refinance, attract additional investors and begin, slowly, to make good the losses. Because if the bare facts had been known earlier it would have caused such loss of confidence, the nation itself might have been in peril.’ He drew a breath that made that broad chest rise.

‘For major investors and many of our citizens, the royal family is St Ancilla. That’s why the full details haven’t yet become public. So we could keep afloat long enough to be viable again.’

‘I’m not accusing you of anything.’ He had too much integrity. She knew he wasn’t tainted by his father’s activities.

Paul shook his head and his dark hair flopped down across his forehead, making Eva’s fingers twitch with the urge to reach out and brush it back. It made him look less daunting and even sexier, despite the simmering indignation in his eyes. Instead she moved to put her cup down.

‘But you think I’m running scared of negative publicity.’ His stare bored into hers and heat drilled through her.

‘I don’t give a damn about protecting my father’s reputation. I only want to make good what he and his cronies took. We’ve had a team of forensic accountants and investigators tracking money and preparing briefs of evidence that will go to court soon. It’s taken years of complex investigations to get the necessary evidence.’ He shrugged. ‘And I’m not saying we’re out of the woods yet, financially, but things are better than they were.’

‘I had no idea.’

‘Why should you? We don’t discuss financial matters.’

We don’t discuss anything important. We don’t have that kind of relationship.

Or, they hadn’t. It felt as if last night had changed that.

Paul spread his hands in a gesture that invited trust. ‘If you think for a second I’d abandon you now when you need me, just to avoid bad publicity, then you don’t know me at all.’

‘It sounds,’ she said slowly, thinking things through, ‘that bad publicity is going to hit your family when the court cases start anyway.’

He shrugged. ‘So be it. Crimes were committed and have to be dealt with. Sweeping it under the carpet isn’t a long-term option. As for the publicity, it’s nothing I can’t handle. My siblings aren’t even in the country and my mother is retired from public life, living in France.’

So the decks were cleared. The one who’d face the media storm would be Paul. He had it all worked out.

Something about his expression gave Eva pause, her mind ticking over.

Had this been a factor in him wanting to end their engagement? He’d said he wanted to make good the dowry money his