Read Online His Arranged Marriage by Tina Leonard - Free Book Online

if he’d had Serena under his spell as much as he’d thought, or if she’d merely been pleasing him—humoring him.
    Less sure of himself now, Cade said, “It was no trouble at all. I’ll see you at dinner,” and excused himself from the kitchen. A ride on his favorite horse would give him time to think over his marriage—and his wife. Perhaps he could come up with some answers as to how to convince this beautiful princess that there was a huge difference between consummate and conjugate.
    Serena didn’t turn around, but a secret smile lifted her lips as the sound of Cade’s boots left the kitchen and echoed down the hall. She watched from the kitchen window as he headed toward the stables.
    He might have married her to save face for his family, but he was going to relinquish his heart to her. She had dreamed of a prince all her life. Cade might not want to be a prince, but he was going to be hers, by whatever definition he wanted to call it! He wasn’t the only one who understood seduction.
    She had been raised in a palace, where seduction came in many disguises. His disguise was to think he had helped out his brother and mother by being noble. He was noble, and that was admirable.
    However, he didn’t yet realize how much he wanted her. She was not going to be merely another duty to him.
    And that was where the real seduction would begin.
    Unfortunately, she was positive there wasn’t much time to put her plan to work. Her father might be unhappy about the prince switch, or Layla might stir up so much trouble at the court that her father would have to send for her to come home with her prince. Sending in a spy with a potion meant thatLayla was ready to take advantage of any holes in the marriage. If Serena’s presence—and that of her prince’s—was demanded to allay concern about the lack of required pomp and ceremony, Serena knew that Cade would not want to return to Balahar. And that would cause problems. It would be very risky to return if their marriage was still dissolvable.
    He wanted an American courtship, a period of dating. “I need to convince him,” she murmured to herself as she stroked the skin off the last potatoes, “that a royal match is different. A royal match…needs to be lit or it might get extinguished!”

Chapter Seven
    Cade went to the barn in search of his favorite horse, fully intending to ride off the confused mood the princess had put him in. A little seduction should have gone a long way where she was concerned—then why was he feeling he’d had the tables turned on him?
    “Whoa, cowboy,” Mac told him, busting Cade out of his sour thoughts. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
    “For a ride.” Cade pulled down a saddle.
    “Somebody shoot your dog?”
    Cade looked at his brother. “If you’re referencing my mood, I can confirm that it has been in better shape.”
    “I know it was in better shape before you went into the house. Trouble in the love nest?”
    Cade frowned at his brother. “It’s a pain in the ass being a prince sometimes.”
    Mac laughed and tossed him an elaborate silverand leather bridle. “You’ve never spent a thought on royalty before the princess brought her vision of loveliness to the ranch.”
    “I know. That’s the problem. I don’t much know how to proceed with her.”
    “I’m so glad it’s you and not me, bro, trying to figure out that tangled problem. Although I appreciate you doing me the favor,” he said hastily. “I mean, I’m very much aware that it’s my boots, er, wedding band you’re wearing—”
    “Shut up,” Cade said, replacing the bridle over a heavy nail in the wall. “I’m not wearing your boots or your wedding band. I wanted her, I’ve got her, I’m trying to figure out what the hell to do with her.”
    Mac snickered, earning him a black look from his brother.
    “Well, heck. Sometimes Serena looks at me all sweetly, and my insides turn to jelly and I think I’m going to explode. And sometimes she