LITMIR.BIZ

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brothers playing in the room. Had Leo and his brother Alessandro been close? Had he missed him when he’d left? She had so many questions, but she knew Leo wasn’t ready for her to ask them.

      ‘I didn’t really play in these rooms,’ Leo answered, his hands shoved into his pockets, his gaze distant as he let it rove around the room. ‘We were mostly confined to the nursery.’

      ‘We?’ Alyse prompted, and his expression didn’t even flicker.

      ‘The children. And of course, as I told you before, I went to boarding school when I was six.’

      ‘That’s rather young, isn’t it? To go away.’

      He shrugged. ‘It was what my parents wanted.’

      She thought of the remote King, the haughty Queen. Not the most loving of parents. ‘Did you miss them?’

      ‘No. You don’t miss what you’ve never had.’ She didn’t think he was going to say anything more, but then he took a deep breath and continued, his gaze focused on the sunshine spilling through the window. ‘If you’ve ever wondered how my parents got the idea of having us pretend to be in love, it’s because that’s all they’ve ever done. They were only interested in me or my— Or any of us when someone was watching.’ His mouth twisted. ‘A photo opportunity to show how much they loved us. As soon as it passed, they moved on.’

      ‘But...’ Alyse hesitated, mentally reviewing all the magazine inserts and commemorative books she’d seen about Maldinian’s golden royal family: the posed portraits, the candid shots on the beach or while skiing. Everyone smiling, laughing.

      Playing at happy families.

      Was Leo really saying that his whole family life had been as much a masquerade as their engagement? She knew she shouldn’t be surprised, yet she was. It was so unbearably soulless, so terribly cold.

      No wonder Leo didn’t believe in love.

      Her heart ached for Leo as a boy, lonely and ignored. ‘That sounds very lonely,’ she said and he just shrugged.

      ‘I’m not sure I know what loneliness is. It was simply what I was used to.’ Yet she didn’t believe that; she couldn’t. What child didn’t long for love and affection, cuddles and laughter? It was innate, impossible to ignore.

      But not to suppress. Which was what it seemed Leo had done for his whole life, she thought sadly. Now her heart ached not just for Leo as a boy, but for the man he’d become, determined not to need anyone. Not to love anyone or want to be loved back—only to be let down.

      ‘Anyway.’ He turned from the window to face her, eyebrows raised. ‘What about you? You’re an only child. Did you ever want siblings?’

      She recognised the attempt to steer the conversation away from himself and accepted it. He’d already revealed more than she’d ever anticipated or even hoped for. ‘Yes, I did,’ she admitted. ‘But my parents made it clear there wouldn’t be any more from a rather early age.’

      ‘Why was that? Did they have trouble conceiving?’

      ‘No. They just didn’t want any more.’ She saw the flicker of surprise cross his face and explained, ‘They were happy with me—and mainly with each other. They were a real love match, you know. They may not be royalty, but they’ve still been featured in magazines. Their romance was a fairy tale.’ Her voice came out a little flat, and Leo noticed.

      ‘Your mother’s some kind of American heiress, isn’t she?’

      ‘Her father owned a chain of successful hotels. My uncle runs it now, but my mother was called the Brearley Heiress before she married.’

      ‘And your father?’

      ‘A French financier. They met at a ball in Paris—saw each other across a crowded room and that was it.’ She gave him a rather crooked smile. ‘You might not believe in love at first sight, but that’s how it was for them.’

      Leo didn’t speak for a moment and when he finally did it was to ask, ‘And growing up in the shadow of that...how was it for you?’

      And with that telling question he’d gone right to the heart of the matter. ‘Hard, sometimes,’ Alyse confessed quietly. ‘I love my parents, and I have no doubts whatsoever that they love me. But...it was always the two of them and the one of me, if that makes sense. They’ve always been wrapped up in each other, which is how it should be...’

      She trailed off, realising belatedly how whingy she must sound, complaining about how much her parents loved each other. Leo had grown up in a household of bitterness and play-acting, and here she was saying her own home had had too much love? She felt ridiculous and ashamed.

      ‘But it was lonely,’ Leo finished softly. ‘Or so I imagine, for a little girl on her own.’

      ‘Sometimes,’ she whispered. She felt a lump rise in her throat and swallowed hard. Leo reached for her hand, threading her fingers with his, and the simple contact touched her deep inside.

      ‘Strange, how we grew up in two such different families and homes,’ he murmured. ‘Yet perhaps, in an odd way, our experience was just a little bit the same.’

      ‘I can’t complain, not really.’

      ‘You weren’t complaining. I asked a question and you answered it.’ He drew her towards him, his one hand still linked with hers while the other tangled itself in her hair. ‘But perhaps now we can put our families behind us. We’ll start our own family, one day.’ His smile was knowing and teasingly lascivious as he brushed her lips against his. ‘Maybe today.’

      ‘Maybe,’ Alyse whispered shakily. They hadn’t used birth control, hadn’t even discussed it—and why should they? An heir was part of the package, part of her responsibility as Leo’s bride and Maldinia’s future queen.

      Leo’s baby.

      She wanted it: him, the promise of a new family, a family created by love. Leo broke the kiss. Patience. This was still so new, still just a beginning.

      But a wonderful one, and with a smile still on her lips she leaned forward and kissed him back.

      * * *

      Alyse gazed at her reflection in the mirror, smoothing the silver gown she was to wear for tonight’s reception in one of London’s most exclusive clubs. It had been four days since they’d returned from St Cristos, four wonderful days—and nights.

      She still had to guard herself from leaping ahead, from longing for more than Leo was ready to offer. I don’t know how much I have to give. And yet he was giving, and trying, and with every new conversation, every shared joke or smile, every utterly amazing night, she knew she was falling in love with him. Falling in love with the real him, the Leo she’d never even known.

      She loved discovering that man, learning his habits, preferences and his funny little quirks, like the fact that he had to read the entire page of a newspaper, even the adverts, before turning to another; or that he liked chess but hated draughts.

      And she loved learning the taut map of his body and hearing the shudder of pleasure that ripped through him when she kissed or touched him in certain places...

      Just remembering made longing sweep through her body in a heated wave.

      It hadn’t all been perfect, of course. The strictures of palace life, of their royal appearances, had created moments of unspoken tension and Leo’s inevitable emotional withdrawal. Just that morning they’d appeared in front of the palace to fly to London, and at the sight of the cheering crowds they’d both frozen before Alyse had started forward, smiling and waving.

      ‘How is married life?’ one young woman had asked her.

      ‘More than I’d ever hoped for,’ she’d answered.

      The woman had beamed and Alyse had moved on, but she’d caught a glimpse of Leo out of the corner of her eye and uneasily noted his stony

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