in fact. This was Ash the maharaja, Ash the leader and the ruler of his people. This was an Ash who instinctively she knew would stop at nothing to defend the probity and honour of his royal role, and a quake of very real apprehension made her tremble inwardly.
The speed with which his call was put through to King Eduardo told Ash that the king had been expecting it. Indeed it was Ash’s opinion that the royal spokesperson had given the statement he had specifically to ensure that Ash did contact the king.
‘Ash.’ The older man’s voice was harsh and Ash suspected the use of his own first name intended to make him a supplicant for the king’s forgiveness rather than an equal.
‘Highness.’ Ash still responded formally, though. ‘There has obviously been a misunderstanding.’
‘A misunderstanding?’ Anger grated through the king’s voice. ‘There’s no misunderstanding about the fact that you have publicly shamed this family and Sophia’s fiancé.’
‘I understand your anger, Your Highness, but I can assure you that nothing happened that either you or Sophia’s fiancé need be concerned about.’ Ash spoke crisply whilst Sophia listened, white-faced and feeling far more distressed than she wanted to admit to.
Was it because of that, because of what he could see in her agonised expression, that he told her father in a more conciliatory tone, ‘The truth is that Sophia was overwhelmed by the unexpectedness of your announcement of her engagement. In a moment of panic she boarded my plane unbeknownst to me, intending to make her way to London. An impulsive, ill-thought-out action, I acknowledge, but without any intention of causing anyone embarrassment.’
‘And you discussed this together in bed on board your plane, did you? Do you take me for a complete fool? Sophia may not want to get married but she has no choice. And that’s her own fault. She’s never out of the gossip columns, with her name linked to a different man every week, and now this.’
Her father was speaking so loudly and angrily that Sophia could hear what he was saying. Her face burned, and she might be hurting inside but she wasn’t going to defend herself. Her father didn’t understand her, he never had.
‘Well, there’s only one thing to be done now,’ said King Eduardo. ‘You must marry her yourself, and as quickly as possible. Unless and until you do, she will no longer be considered a member of this family. If you don’t marry her then I shall disown and disinherit her. She’s brought more than enough shame and trouble on this family. The only way she can redeem herself now and put a stop to this appalling gossip is by marriage to you.’
There was a sharp click as the king ended their call without giving Ash the opportunity to reply.
THE king had put him in a completely untenable position and Ash could see from Sophia’s expression that she had heard what her father had said. For himself he could feel the ferocity of the opposing emotional claims at war within him. His pride baulked at the thought of anyone, even a fellow royal, dictating to him what he had to do. Yet his own sense of duty to his heritage, to his friendship with Sophia’s brother, and in a sense to Sophia herself, to save her from the disgrace and humiliation she would suffer if he refused to marry her, told him what he must do.
‘My father doesn’t mean what he just said,’ Sophia told Ash unsteadily. Her father’s statement had shocked her, but what had shocked her even more was the swift pain it gave her to have to contrast her youthful dreams of what marriage to Ash would be like and the harsh reality of what was happening now. Then she had dreamed romantically of a relationship filled with love and happiness. The bitter taste of the ashes of those foolish dreams clogged her throat. ‘We can’t marry, Ash.’
‘We don’t have any choice,’ Ash responded brutally.
‘I want to marry for love.’
‘You lost the right to make that choice when you hid yourself away on my plane.’
His words hurt, but hadn’t she told herself all those years ago that she would never allow Ash to hurt her again, and that she would be completely immune to him? Immune to him? Just as she had been in the cabin of his plane. It should be her face that was burning but instead to her chagrin it was her body that was engulfed by heat at the memory her thoughts had brought her.
‘I lost it the minute I was born,’ she countered tartly, but Ash made no response.
Looking at him and seeing the resolution etched into his hard expression, the apprehension she had felt earlier turned into a much stronger fear. Just as those unwanted shocking moments on the plane had shown her a side of herself and the power of her own sensuality that had overwhelmed her, what was happening now was showing her a side to Ash that as a child and then a teenager she had never considered. As she had recognised earlier, the man in front of her was Ash the royal prince, the leader of his people, a man who would allow nothing to stand in his way of doing what he thought was right for the responsibility he owed to his people. Right now, she suspected, that included her, hence that icy trickle of fear that had just run down her spine.
A fear that was reinforced when Ash told her coldly, ‘I am in the middle of some very important business negotiations with people to whom the morals of those with whom they do deals are very important. If I don’t marry you my reputation as a man of honour will be damaged. I cannot allow that to happen. I have a duty to my ancestors—and more importantly, to my people. Their future, the education of their children and their childrens’ futures depend to a large extent on me bringing more money into our local economy and keeping it there to provide better opportunities for them. All that will be prejudiced if it becomes known, as it most assuredly will, that your father has insisted that I marry you and I have refused. That is the way it is amongst people of our inherited status and blood, Sophia. You know that as well as I do.’
Every word he said confirmed what she had already recognised. Now she knew exactly what his priorities were and they certainly weren’t her feelings.
Ash turned away from Sophia and looked out of the window.
This was the last situation he wanted, but he had no choice. The honour of his name had to come before his own personal feelings. And he had to marry someone. In the eyes of the outer world, their outer world, his marriage to Sophia would be seen as a businesslike and wholly acceptable decision. He had to have an heir. He had always known that. An heir created with Sophia in a dutiful coming together for that purpose? For an unguarded second he remembered how it had been between them on board his plane. He tried to close down on that memory but it was too late. Without looking at her he heard himself telling her more openly than his need to control his reactions liked, ‘We may both know that a marriage between us is not what either of us would have chosen, but since we have no choice, at least on the evidence of last night, we will share a mutually pleasurable sex life. And as I am sure you will know from your own experience, good sex enhances the lives of those who share that good sex.’
Good sex? Experience? Was this what her dreams of a marriage grounded in true love had been reduced to?
A buzz on the outer door to the apartment halted him momentarily to say, ‘This will be my appointment. Once it is over I shall set in motion the arrangements for our marriage. Under the circumstances, the sooner and the more quietly it takes place, the better. From your father’s point of view and our own, presenting the world with a fait accompli will bring an end to the current gossip and speculation far more speedily than a press announcement that
