something he wasn’t used to doing. Yet as he looked at the carefully calm face, the hands clenched together in the folds of her skirt as she braced herself for whatever might come next, it somehow became a little easier.
At worst she would refuse to help him.
That would be a genuine ‘worst’, Rik. You need her help, otherwise you’ll end up locked into a miserable marriage like that of your parents, or unable to help the people of Braston at all because this plan of yours has failed.
‘May I be plain, Melanie?’
‘I think that would be best.’ She drew an uneven breath. ‘I feel a little out of my depth right now.’
She would feel more so as he explained his situation to her. He had to hope that she would listen with an open mind.
‘The arrangement that I made,’ he said carefully, ‘was to bring your cousin over here and marry her a month later.’
Melanie responded with equal care. ‘You indicated that would be a temporary thing?’
‘Yes.’ He sought the right words. ‘The marriage was to end with a separation after three months and Nicolette would then have been returned to Australia and a quick divorce would have been filed for.’
‘I see.’ She drew a breath and her lovely brown eyes focused on his blue ones and searched. ‘You didn’t intend to let your father know those circumstances until after the marriage, I’m guessing? What did you hope to gain from that plan?’
‘Aside from my brothers, Nicolette, and my aide, no one was to know of the plan.’ He’d intended to outplay his father, to get what he wanted for the people without having to yield up his freedom for it. ‘This plan probably sounds cold to you.’
‘It does rather reject the concept of marriage and for ever.’ Melanie sat forward on the bench seating and turned further to face him. Her knee briefly grazed his leg as she settled herself.
The colour whipped into her cheeks by the cold air around them deepened slightly. That…knowledge of him, that awareness that seemed to zing between her body and his even when both of them had so much else on their minds…
Is something that cannot be allowed to continue, Rik, particularly if she is willing to agree to the business arrangement you’re asking for with her.
‘In my family, many lifelong marriages have been made to form alliances or for business reasons.’ He hesitated, uncertain how to explain his deep aversion to the idea of pursuing such a path. ‘That doesn’t always result in a pleasant relationship.’
Melanie’s gaze searched his. ‘It could be quite difficult for children of such a marriage, too.’
‘It’s not that.’ The words came quickly, full of assurance and belief as though he needed to say it in case he couldn’t fully believe it?
Rik had his reasons for his decision. He was tired of butting heads with his father while the king tried to bully him to get whatever he wanted. His father needed to acknowledge that Rik would make his own decisions. That was all. ‘There have been myriad problems in the past couple of years.
‘The first year the truffle crop failed it was difficult.’ People relied on the truffle industry for their survival. ‘Around that same time, my mother, the queen, moved out. That was an unprecedented act from a woman who’d always advocated practical marriages and putting on a good front to the public, no matter what.’
Melanie covered her surprise. ‘That must have caused some complications.’
‘It did. For once my father found himself on the back foot.’
‘And you and your brothers found yourselves without a mother in residence. I’m sorry to hear that. It’s never pleasant when you lose someone, even if they choose to leave.’ A glimpse of something longstanding, deep and painful flashed through her eyes before she seemed to blink it away. ‘I hope that you still get to see her?’
‘I see my mother infrequently when there are royal occasions that bring us all together.’ Would Mel