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

him and asked for eggs and toast, which she ate at the small table right there in the kitchen. Why stand on ceremony with her husband’s man? And why eat alone in the apartment dining room when she could sit here in the cozy little kitchen and smell the lemon cake Rufus had just popped into the oven?
    She debated whether to ask Rufus where her husband might have wandered off to. It was probably safe to be frank with the red-haired giant. Alex wouldn’t have anyone in his quarters he didn’t trust absolutely—well, other than Lili herself, of course. She had no doubt her new husband didn’t trust her one bit.
    He also had no compunction about breaking his word to her. At the very least, he could have left her some explanation for his absence. Lili sipped her breakfast tea and admitted that she had to face reality here. Alex had crossed the line between pushing the boundaries of their agreement and breaking faith with her outright.
    It was all right, she told herself, although it most definitely wasn’t. He couldn’t avoid her forever. Eventually, he would have to deal with her.
    * * *
    But Alex didn’t deal with her. He ignored her. Actively. He made no pretense of keeping the agreements he’d made with her. All day, he was nowhere to be found. He didn’t return to the apartment until long after dinner. She was waiting up for him in the sitting room.
    He appeared dressed in black trousers and a casual knit shirt and her heart did something nerve-racking at the sight of him. Too bad his eyes were as haunted and distant as ever. She had no idea where he’d been all day and well into the evening.
    She rose when he came in. “Alex.” With a supreme effort of will, she kept her voice calm and even. “I’m very angry with you. This is all wrong. You haven’t kept your word to me.”
    He actually had the stones to shrug. And he said, with nerve-flaying reasonableness, “I needed for you to marry me, for the child’s sake.”
    Her throat clutched. She longed to clear it with a nice, long, loud shriek of outrage. But she didn’t. She remembered her mother, who never raised her voice, and her unborn baby, who deserved better from her. “So you lied to me.” She gave him back his damnable reason, and then some. “Straight to my face, without a qualm. You lied to me. You made promises you had no intention of keeping.”
    “Spare me the drama, Lili.”
    Her adrenaline spiked. She sucked in a calming breath and refused to give in to it. “Drama?”
    “Drama, yes. Your stock in trade.”
    “I beg your pardon. I’m not being dramatic. I have not raised my voice. I have not picked up a single object to hurl at that obstinate head of yours. I am simply asking you, why did you lie to me?”
    “I just told you why I lied. You left me no choice.”
    “Don’t you talk to me about choices, Alexander. You had a choice. You could have been truthful. You could have told me honestly that you had no intention of ever making any effort to be a real husband to me.”
    “And have you do something ridiculous, like run away or stage a big scene where you swore publicly never to marry me? No. There needed to be a marriage, and with as little fuss as possible. We owed that to the child. If you’re not happy with the way things are, so be it. Divorce me.”
    She gasped and sputtered. “Oh, you ought to be ashamed.”
    “I’m not ashamed. Not in the least. And as far as the divorce goes, consider the child, won’t you? Wait until he’s born, so his legitimacy will never be at issue.”
    “You know very well I don’t believe in divorce. Marriage is forever.”
    “What can I say? So then, get used to the way things are. Go about living your life and I will go about living mine.”
    Lili shook her head. “I do not believe this. The way you manipulated me, that was so...clever,” she said in disgust. “The way you bargained with me, the way you refused to read books on love and marriage or to see a counselor or a