The Duke Takes a Bride (Entitled Book 2) by Suzette de Borja Read Free Book Online

when I die. Provided he does nothing more than break a rib trying to show off on his bike.”
    “That boy tries so hard to be just like you, Julian.”
    “I don’t engage in dangerous sports while roaring drunk. It’s foolish and irresponsible. Tell your dear boy he has to keep himself alive if he wants a shot at the dukedom.”
    Olga laughed, but her eyes were hard. She resented these quarterly meetings with him as much as Julian did, but as long as he was the duke and controlled her allowance, they had to meet to fulfill the conditions of his late father’s will. “Don’t be silly, Julian. I’m sure you’ll outlive us all.”
    She backed off to eat her salad at last. He noted the lack of any kind of dressing. After a few minutes, she began to chatter inanely about missing London and her friends and if she could hitch a ride in Julian’s private jet on his way back home. To which he replied that his itinerary was open-ended and he couldn’t give her a specific date when he would be able to fly out.
    She excused herself to go to the ladies’ room, allowing Julian to finish his meal in peace. He resolutely kept his eyes on his lunch, loath to make small talk with any acquaintance. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have minded the high-profile restaurant with its regular A-list and power broker set, but today he just felt…unsettled. A brunette at the other table was flashing him a come-hither smile. He smiled back politely and went back to something he found more interesting – his steak.
    His phone vibrated, and with a deep sigh, he pulled it out of his pocket.
    It was Stefan.
    “I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday. Your mobile’s dead.” There was a hint of accusation in the tone of the Prince.
    Julian knew his friend would try to call and turned off his private number. “I forgot to charge it during my flight.”
    There was a momentary pause, and he knew Stefan was trying to decide whether to call him out on his blatant lie. The jetlag must be weakening his powers of deception. Stefan let it slide.
    “I hope I beat them to it. I didn’t want you hearing about it from the press.”
    He saved Stefan the trouble. “I already know,” he said flatly.
    He heard Stefan swear in the local dialect of Seirenada, the principality in the Mediterranean he ruled as head of the monarchy. “Julian, I just called to apologize on my sister’s behalf. She was trying to call you but couldn’t get through. Apparently someone leaked that Fernandez had bought a ring and made their own conclusions.”
    The gravity in Stefan’s voice got to him. He tried to inject droll humor in the conversation. “Threats of stripping Lexie of her title and wealth didn’t work, eh?” He forced a chuckle to defuse the tension.
    There was another pause. “I just reminded Lexie of the stipulations in the betrothal contract.”
    Bloody hell. “It was a joke, Stefan.”
    But the irony wasn’t lost on Julian. A woman in the past who refused to marry him without wealth and title, and now a woman who was prepared to be stripped of those trappings by not marrying him. Really delicious irony. The kind he would have shared over whiskey with Stefan in the old days, before his friend had become so autocratic and no fun at all.
    “The engagement between you and Lexie was not a joke. The House of Ligueria does not back out of an agreement. It’s a matter of honor.”
    “Two misguided men, who are now both dead, contracted the agreement between a five-year-old boy and an infant. I say fuck off to the agreement.” A heavily made-up woman in the adjacent table glanced at him curiously. Julian tamped down on the bitterness that crept into his voice. He hated giving in to dramatics. It was so…messy.
    “My sister is your betrothed,” Stefan said tightly. “The arrangement still stands if you want it to.”
    “Your sister has cried off, Stefan. What do you want me to do? Threaten to break her fiance’s polo arm so I can force her into