Read Online Prince With Benefits: A Billionaire Royal Romance by Nicole Snow - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nicole Snow
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your family doesn't have the resources to give him the chance he deserves. I can do that. As a show of good faith, that's the reason he's off to Mexico on one of my planes – they can do marvelous things there doctors aren't allowed to do in our slow, but civilized countries. He needs the very best, something experimental.”
My head is still reeling. It takes me a full minute with him hovering over me, eyeballing me, before I can bring myself to speak.
“And that's what you'll give me if I...marry you?” God. It scorches my tongue just to say it.
“Certainly, that's the major benefit. I'm also offering you a two million dollar stipend and all expenses paid for, while we're together. Far more than any glorified actress has ever earned. You'll sign a prenup overseen by the best lawyers in the kingdom, of course, and I may ask you to do something when our time comes to an end that turns your name in this country to fucking mud.”
“Oh.” My hands clench the edges of the chair, tightening in disbelief. “So, not only am I supposed to marry you, but you're asking me to piss off several million people?”
“Only for the tabloids.” Prince Silas frowns, waves his hand, as if it's no worse than asking me to do the dishes. “I can't have you going down like my late mother, you see. The people would never understand that divorce, if they love you. Especially after all the years my father had his flings behind her beloved back.”
It makes a sick kind of sense, knowing the history I've read about his family.
Jesus, though. I'm not really considering this...am I?
“I still don't understand why you want this, Your Highness. There must be something very important on the line for you to go to these extremes...”
“Our kingdom's entire future hangs on it. My family line continuing to rule, anyway. I have a certain...obligation.” The word sounds poisonous. He turns away from me, his hands behind his back, staring across the high rising tops of the capital below like a god.
Up here, I suppose he is, in all but name only. His head turns, and he stares at me coolly.
“Believe me, this is the last thing in the world I ever wanted to consider. You've read the trash on the internet and on the supermarket shelves. I'm not the kind of man who's content to pair up with a plain, inbred princess several countries over. I'm not ready to settle down. Not now. Maybe not ever.”
This isn't making sense. I don't understand how he's going to sell this fake marriage to the media, even if I decide to go along with this temporary insanity to save dad's life.
Dad. He's the only thing that gives me pause. If it were just money, I'd already be gone, on the fastest plane home to LA.
“I don't understand, Prince. I can't.”
“Let me break it down for you,” he says, coming closer, sitting on the edge of the chaise next to me. “I need a wife to smile and look pretty for the cameras. You're beautiful enough to be a princess, love.”
Bastard. He tells me with all his infinite charm, like it's really true. My face instantly overheats, and I wish I had one of those big, round ice cubes to calm the flush.
Worse, he isn't done talking.
“You're also a foreigner, without any investment in landing me for real, or ruining a royal name you don't own by taking my ring in all my infamy. You, Erin, won't make a fuss. You'll turn the other cheek when I stagger in from the club with too many drinks in my blood. Leave me to my parties. Look away when I disappear with other girls to fuck. You're a living, breathing gag for the playboy bullshit that's followed me like a plague. You'll be my human shield when I live like the man I am, and pretend I'm someone I'm not. Hell, we both will. That's all this is, Erin. Make believe.”
“Insane,” I tell him again, shaking my head. “ This is nuts, and so are you. Everything about it.”
“It's perfect, love. And so are you. My pretend princess. The American girl who came stumbling into my
My head is still reeling. It takes me a full minute with him hovering over me, eyeballing me, before I can bring myself to speak.
“And that's what you'll give me if I...marry you?” God. It scorches my tongue just to say it.
“Certainly, that's the major benefit. I'm also offering you a two million dollar stipend and all expenses paid for, while we're together. Far more than any glorified actress has ever earned. You'll sign a prenup overseen by the best lawyers in the kingdom, of course, and I may ask you to do something when our time comes to an end that turns your name in this country to fucking mud.”
“Oh.” My hands clench the edges of the chair, tightening in disbelief. “So, not only am I supposed to marry you, but you're asking me to piss off several million people?”
“Only for the tabloids.” Prince Silas frowns, waves his hand, as if it's no worse than asking me to do the dishes. “I can't have you going down like my late mother, you see. The people would never understand that divorce, if they love you. Especially after all the years my father had his flings behind her beloved back.”
It makes a sick kind of sense, knowing the history I've read about his family.
Jesus, though. I'm not really considering this...am I?
“I still don't understand why you want this, Your Highness. There must be something very important on the line for you to go to these extremes...”
“Our kingdom's entire future hangs on it. My family line continuing to rule, anyway. I have a certain...obligation.” The word sounds poisonous. He turns away from me, his hands behind his back, staring across the high rising tops of the capital below like a god.
Up here, I suppose he is, in all but name only. His head turns, and he stares at me coolly.
“Believe me, this is the last thing in the world I ever wanted to consider. You've read the trash on the internet and on the supermarket shelves. I'm not the kind of man who's content to pair up with a plain, inbred princess several countries over. I'm not ready to settle down. Not now. Maybe not ever.”
This isn't making sense. I don't understand how he's going to sell this fake marriage to the media, even if I decide to go along with this temporary insanity to save dad's life.
Dad. He's the only thing that gives me pause. If it were just money, I'd already be gone, on the fastest plane home to LA.
“I don't understand, Prince. I can't.”
“Let me break it down for you,” he says, coming closer, sitting on the edge of the chaise next to me. “I need a wife to smile and look pretty for the cameras. You're beautiful enough to be a princess, love.”
Bastard. He tells me with all his infinite charm, like it's really true. My face instantly overheats, and I wish I had one of those big, round ice cubes to calm the flush.
Worse, he isn't done talking.
“You're also a foreigner, without any investment in landing me for real, or ruining a royal name you don't own by taking my ring in all my infamy. You, Erin, won't make a fuss. You'll turn the other cheek when I stagger in from the club with too many drinks in my blood. Leave me to my parties. Look away when I disappear with other girls to fuck. You're a living, breathing gag for the playboy bullshit that's followed me like a plague. You'll be my human shield when I live like the man I am, and pretend I'm someone I'm not. Hell, we both will. That's all this is, Erin. Make believe.”
“Insane,” I tell him again, shaking my head. “ This is nuts, and so are you. Everything about it.”
“It's perfect, love. And so are you. My pretend princess. The American girl who came stumbling into my
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