The Dare Collection September 2018. Stefanie London

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СКАЧАТЬ that I could have fathered this child.”

      Benedict clears his throat. “Birth control isn’t foolproof.”

      “Christ.” Damien drags a hand through his thick, glossy black hair. The beard makes him look ever more the rogue, and yet I cannot deny my attraction. Damn this man.

      “Thank you for Sexual Education 101, seminary dropout,” he continues, and I wince at the way he treats his older brother. “But do you know what is foolproof? Not sticking my cock in a woman’s honey.”

      “Dear Lord! That’s why they call you the Backdoor Baron in Rosegate.” Evangeline covers her mouth with her hand. “Heavens. I thought it meant you were shy and reclusive.”

      “And I could have lived another twenty years and never heard this story,” the king mutters, face pale.

      I fist my hands at my sides. “You made love to me the...old-fashioned way,” I mumble, cheeks aflame. My parents had punished me with months of solitary confinement. But this moment is the worst I have endured. My humiliation is complete. All I have left is anger.

      “Another lie, Highness. I don’t make love,” he snarls. “I’m told I can’t even feel such a rarefied emotion, right, family?”

      “Why are you doing this?” I shout, my pulse loud in my ears. “What’s happened to you?”

      X steps forward before Damien has a chance to respond. “Prince Damien was dumped at the royal hospital two months ago. As you can see from the wounds not yet healed, he’d been severely beaten. And he appears to suffer from amnesia concerning the days surrounding his misadventure.”

      I suck in a sharp breath and turn my gaze to Damien, now understanding the earlier comment. “I thought X said you’d lost the whole year.”

      He taps his temple with his index finger. “It’s slowly returning as I heal,” he says. “The last I remember now, I’d won the Nightgardin Rally. Not long after, my body was dumped at the hospital’s service entrance. It all seems to add up. Except you, that is. I’d have remembered your pretty back door, and I guarantee you’d not be with child after such an encounter.”

      The king presses the heels of his palms to his eyes while I fight the urge to slap him silly.

      “My mother’s guards had you beaten for being with me. They weren’t exactly gentle dragging you away.”

      “You’re quite a storyteller, doll,” he snaps in a harsh tone. “Most likely I racked up too many gambling debts.”

      I stride closer to where he lounges in the chair, looking this stranger up and down. I may remember our weekend together, but certainly do not know this Damien.

      Ice and stone.

      I didn’t expect flowers and roses, but this is like being trapped in a waking nightmare.

      “I don’t know who you are, my prince. The man that I spent three magical days with was gentle and considerate.” Exhaustion permeates my every pore, and before I can topple over, X positions a small stool behind me.

      “How can we prove her story is true?” Nikolai asks as I sink down. His tone is not unkind.

      “A paternity test will take time, especially if the pregnancy is only two months along,” King Nikolai muses, stroking his clipped beard. “In the meantime, if we keep you here, your parents might well wage war to reclaim you.”

      I sigh heavily. “I know I have brought danger to all of you here, which should be reason enough to trust me. I would not risk so much for any other reason. But to carry a bastard in my belly, an Edenvale bastard at that—”

      “No niece or nephew of mine will grow up with such a stain on their future,” Benedict snaps with unusual feeling. “Brother, you will marry this woman today. Now in fact.” He looks to me again, eyes wide with realization. “Were you not meant to marry the Duke of Wartson this week?”

      I nod. “Tomorrow.”

      “Damien,” Benedict says, his voice laced with dark warning.

      “Never happening,” Damien shoots back.

      “I am not a priest, but I am a deacon in the Catholic Church, ordained to perform the sacrament of marriage. If what the princess says is true, and I sense no lie in her words, then this is how we can protect her, our own kingdom and the newest member of the royal family.”

      “I accept your proposal,” I answer in a firm, clear voice. I like this brother. He is logical and ethical.

      “His proposal.” Damien is on his feet in an instant, but not without a grimace. I force myself not to feel sympathy for his injuries, not when he so clearly wants nothing to do with me and our child. “What about me?” he asks. “My say?”

      Nikolai joins the fray. “You’ve put our family and country in danger.” His tone is an arctic blast. “Marriage is the only honorable choice. Hell, Damien. It’s the only safe choice. If the king and queen of Nightgardin find her before you right this wrong, do you think her intended will let bygones be bygones? They will execute her and your heir. And because of your...situation...in our court, I’m not sure we’ll be able to protect you. But make her princess of both courts...”

      “This is madness,” the king says.

      Prince Nikolai nods once. “But it is the only way.” The king doesn’t argue. “The Nightgardin court will hate it,” Nikolai continues. “But their fury will be less than if we allow you to make a whore out of their only daughter and heir. Apologies,” he says to me in a softer tone. “Those aren’t my sentiments. Your kingdom is more conservative.”

      I clear my throat, rest a protective hand over my belly. “I understand. My own mother said all of your words to my face...and worse. She cursed the day I was brought into this world. She told me that she wished that I had never been born. It’s only because Wartson never learned I’d been sullied that I am still alive—that the wedding is still on. But I obviously could not go through with it. Not with another man’s child in my womb. Not with Edenvale’s royal blood coursing through my child’s veins. So I fled.”

      “How?” Damien narrows his eyes.

      I shrug. “I tied four bedsheets together and escaped from my tower like any self-respecting princess. After slipping my servant girl a sleep aid, of course.”

      X steps forward again. “Sir, if I may,” he says, addressing Damien. “Either you marry this remarkable woman, or I will.”

      Benedict and Nikolai chuckle, but Damien betrays no emotion.

      I don’t understand this family. Even in crisis there is humor here, and evidence of love.

      “Do it not for her or even the child I believe will turn out to be yours,” the king adds. “Because the worst possible scenario here is that you impregnated our enemy’s heir, and face it, son. If there is a worst possible scenario, you will find a way to achieve it.”

      Damien winces at this, and despite the iron will I promised myself I’d have, my heart aches not for the wounds we all can see, but those he’s kept buried far beneath his gruff surface.

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