Read Online The Prince She Had to Marry by Christine Rimmer - Free Book Online Page B

you married for one reason and one reason only: love.”
    * * *
    The next morning after breakfast, they departed on their honeymoon cruise. Alex and Lili boarded the Princess Royale side by side, holding hands. He was very much aware that they were being watched and photographed. The paparazzi were thick on the ground.
    Her hand felt small and cool in his. He thought about touching more than her hand. He thought how it was his duty to be close to her, to reassure his people and hers that they were truly together and deeply in love.
    She turned to him as they walked up the gangway, and she flashed him a bright smile, which he returned. He noted that her beautiful mouth quivered a little at the corners. She was wearing large sunglasses, the lenses very dark. He couldn’t see her eyes, but he knew that those blue, blue depths would be still. Distant. Without warmth. Her long hair, thick and rich as spun gold, caught the sun.
    They stood at the bow and waved. The people on the dock, a lot of them actually, waved back and applauded and called out their good wishes for a happy, memorable trip.
    From Montedoro’s deepwater port of Salacia, taking their sweet time about it, they would sail east to Italy and then down along the Italian coast. They would stop to explore Sicily. And then around and up to Venice. From there it was back down to Ravenna and then southeast to some of the more beautiful islands off Croatia. Eventually, they would turn west, stopping again in Sicily and from there heading northwest to Barcelona, going ashore at several small ports and picturesque islands along the way, and also spending a couple of days with Leo in Alagonia at D’Alagon. And then, at last, they could return home.
    So far, Lili had hardly spoken to him. He’d been expecting her to try to talk to him, to blame and reproach him, after they finished up the painful meeting in his mother’s office. But she’d only walked unspeaking beside him, the heels of her dainty shoes clicking angrily against the inlaid tiles of the palace corridors. That was truly eerie: to spend several minutes in Lili’s company and not have her utter a single word.
    When they reached their quarters, she disappeared into the master bedroom. He’d hardly seen her since.
    But now they were here, aboard the Princess Royale . They were going to be sharing a stateroom, for pity’s sake. They had to come to some sort of understanding.
    From the dock, the people kept on cheering.
    Lili waved and smiled. She wore skinny, white cotton trousers, platform sandals and a butter-yellow shirt and she was so beautiful that it hurt him to look at her. But he didn’t look away.
    He had a job to do. And now was as good a time as any to begin. He touched her shoulder.
    She turned her head his way, remembering, at the last second, to smile. Her flesh beneath the fine-textured yellow shirt was warm, giving, infinitely tender. A slight wind was blowing and her scent tempted him.
    He took her other shoulder. She stiffened but kept her smile in place. He turned her toward him.
    She came, but with resistance, as the people onshore cheered even louder. “What?” Her voice was cool, but she didn’t stop smiling.
    “You look beautiful today.” He spoke the flattering words easily. After all, they were only the truth.
    “Why thank you, Alex.” The smile didn’t waver, but he could see that she spoke through clenched teeth. “Aren’t you the romantic one?”
    The crowd clapped harder as he touched her hair. She didn’t flinch, but the corners of that damnable too-tempting mouth quivered just a little. “Your hair is like silk.”
    She smiled even wider. “Silk?” she whispered. “Come now, Alex. You can do better than that.”
    “Satin? Velvet? Candyfloss?”
    “Never mind. It doesn’t matter what word you use. I know you don’t mean a thing you say.”
    “Don’t sulk, Lili. You agreed to this.”
    “I am not sulking,” she insisted. Sulkily.
    “Good, then.” He curled a