CHAPTER SEVEN
M AGNUS RECOGNIZED THE irony in telling Lexi to accept their situation when he was still wavering between denial and anger himself, wondering if the paternity test would let him off the hook.
He didn’t want it to. That was the truth. Beneath the rubble of this disaster was a pulse of anticipation. Lexi would be his, whether she was prepared to accept it or not. She wasn’t wrong that her reputation was inconvenient, but the rest was tremendously convenient. Now he could have a wife who lit his sexual fire.
And yes, that fact was hellishly dangerous, considering that giving in to his lust for her had put him in this life-altering position in the first place, but he still reveled in it.
Outside her exam room, he found two of his own guards waiting for him. They must have come in with Ulmer. Magnus had asked Vijay to release Ulmer from the purgatory of waiting in the car. He and Vijay were now in the room where Magnus had been shown when they arrived. Ulmer was tapping his tablet, as usual. Both men stood as Magnus entered.
“Did you tell the queen?” Magnus asked Ulmer.
“Her Majesty is aware there has been a detour.” He still sounded frosted by it, even though it had been a solid ten hours since Magnus had ordered it. “I told her that explanations are best coming from you.”
“You know why we’re here, though.” Magnus looked to Vijay, who kept his lips sealed and shook his head, indicating he hadn’t said a word.
“The service this clinic offers, and Mr. Sahir’s presence, speak for themselves.” Ulmer looked to his tablet. “Mr. Sahir and I have been running potential scenarios, projecting to a time when you might have a family to protect.”
By the time they left this facility, for instance. Ulmer might be a stuffy pain in Magnus’s behind, but he was very good at his job.
“Ulmer and the rest of our team can take it from here,” Magnus told Vijay. “One of my men can drive you to the airport.”
“I’ll find my own way. But may I offer you my congratulations, sir?” Vijay extended his hand.
It was a very normal thing to say to someone expecting a child, but Magnus was thrown by it. Every one of his thoughts from the moment he’d learned that Lexi was pregnant had been around how to mitigate this disaster. Even Lexi had said, I knew this wouldn’t be welcome news .
Now, without irony, Vijay shook his hand and wished him the best, as though Magnus’s impending parenthood was something to be celebrated. Not in the darkest corners of his heart because it meant he could trap Lexi into marriage, but because a new life was on its way.
Magnus thanked him, still dumbfounded, and Vijay left.
“I trust Ms. Alexander is well?” Ulmer said.
“Well enough.” He’d made her faint and cry. He had not said Thank you . Or I’m sorry .
Magnus steeled himself against self-hatred because mercy was also not a luxury he could afford to offer either of them. There was no escape from who he was. He knew that better than anyone, so he didn’t flinch from doing the other thing that he already knew would hurt a woman who didn’t deserve it.
“Stay,” he said to Ulmer as he called the palace secretary. “The queen is expecting my call,” he said when Yngvar answered.
Katla’s voice came on, crisp and wary. “Yes?”
“An heir is on its way, as requested.”
Her breath hissed in. “Not—”
“Yes,” he stated. “Lexi is due in October.”
“Paternity is confirmed?”
“Not yet. But it’s mine.”
There was a long pause, then, “Keep this confidential. Send me the results as soon as they’re available.” She kept her voice steady and impassive, but Magnus knew this was a blow. For her, decades of trying had resulted in nothing but heartbreak, whereas his casually strewn oats had sown in one stolen night.
An apology rose to his tongue, but he wasn’t sorry. Not nearly as sorry as he ought to be.
“You’re on your way home?” she asked.
“Once the doctor confirms she can travel, yes.”
“I’ll see you soon.” She ended the call.
Lexi was pronounced healthy and released from the exam room only for Magnus to call her into the visitor room where Ulmer also waited.
“I’ve settled your bill and procured a nurse to travel with us,” Ulmer told her, barely glancing up from his tablet. “The dining room will prepare an early lunch for you while I pack your things. What would you like to wear for travel?” He gave her sundress a squint, deciding, “I’ll leave out something appropriate for you.”
“Why on earth would you help me go to Isleif?” Lexi asked him with a catch of askance laughter. “You hate me.”
“I apologize if I gave you that impression, Ms. Alexander.” Ulmer was nothing but smooth equanimity as he lowered his tablet and gave her his full, polite attention. “Please tell me how I can make that up to you. Your health and comfort are of paramount importance to me.”
Lexi choked, then sent Magnus a look of disbelief, unable to find words.
“You see?” Magnus said mildly. “Even Ulmer doesn’t have a choice. He has to be nice to you, now that you’re a member of the royal family.”
“But I’m not . And I don’t intend to become one.”
“Let’s talk about that while we eat.” Magnus escorted her to the dining room where they were seated in a sunny corner in an otherwise empty room.
Exasperated, she looked over her shoulder, suspecting Ulmer was gaining access to her suite despite her lack of permission for him to do so.
“Look, I accept that the baby deserves to know their father.” She was trying to sound reasonable but also in charge. “Your having a say in our child’s life was always on the table.”
“Good. I want my child born in Isleif. All of Isleif will want their future ruler to be born there.”
“I—” She clacked her teeth shut, feeling outmaneuvered. With a jerky nod, she said, “I can see that. But it doesn’t mean I need to go there now. It doesn’t mean we have to marry.”
“We’ll go there now because you’ve been cleared to travel. That could change as things progress. I had plans, too, you know.” He waited until they’d been served cucumber water and a wedge salad before he continued. “Before I learned who I was, I aspired to ski in the Olympics. The minute I arrived at the palace, Katla told me that racing was too risky for a future king. I had to give it up. Where are you at with this film of yours?”
“If you’re about to suggest I give that up, you’ll hear another hard no.” She had worked too hard for this chance to revive her career.
The truth was, however, acting was something she did because she was good at it and it provided the income she needed. As an art form, it allowed her to temporarily reinvent herself into someone else so she could escape the messiness of her real life, but she had often wished there was another way she could make her living that didn’t cost so much of her soul.
Not that she was willing to confess that to Magnus.
“The film is based on a book about a sex worker, isn’t it?” he asked. “That’s not an ideal topic for someone taking on the role of my wife.”
“Oh, is your wife a role ? Why didn’t you say so? Is there a script I could read before I commit? What’s my character like? What’s my motivation?” She blinked with facetious interest.
“I understand your resentment, but you’ll have to let it go.” Magnus let his eyelids droop to a bored half-mast. “It’s not appropriate to take things out on staff. Ulmer and I play a game of tit for tat, but he won’t be able to retaliate with you. I won’t allow it. Take a swipe at the queen at your own peril. She’ll find a way to punish you that won’t allow me to take the fall. That leaves bickering with me and that’s not a healthy way for us to behave as parents.”
A sting of helplessness rose behind her breastbone. She had weathered difficult times before. She had always found a way to move forward. To retrench and rebuild.
This was different. This wasn’t a case of checking her contract and threatening to quit if it wasn’t followed to the letter. She had a baby to think of.
Magnus was thinking of their baby, too, in his way. He might not be acting like the most lovingly engaged father in the world, but he didn’t want their child to be harmed the way he had been when he’d learned the truth about his own paternity. She had to respect his desire to be part of their baby’s life. But marriage?
“Look, I will concede to going to Isleif to have the baby. Okay? But surely we can wait on marrying? See how we feel?” She used her most reasonable tone.
“Our marriage is for your protection, Lexi. If I have any tips on navigating what you’re about to face, it’s to grab any power that you’re offered.”
“That sounds horribly calculating. Is that really how it is for you?”
“Often enough that you should get used to it,” he said drily. The pensive tension around his mouth told her he wasn’t joking. Not really.
“I don’t want to get married, Magnus. Not like this.”
“Like what? For the sake of our baby? What would you rather? Something romantic? A declaration of love?” He was looking bored again.
“No, actually. I don’t care about that.” She did, though. She blindly stared out to the glare on the pool, thinking she had always wanted someone to love her. Her. Not Paisley Pockets or the girl in the bikini or any of the other roles she had played.
Her baby would love her, but could Magnus? Ever?
She had her doubts and she refused to hitch her life to something so futile.
“I’m not a romantic. I haven’t been allowed to be.” She chased a cherry tomato with her fork. “I’ve always been a product. A vehicle for someone else to make money on. My own parents did it.” She shrugged that off, even though it was one of her deepest agonies. “People seek me out because I can make an introduction, or I’m a stepping stone to raise a fan’s profile online. The love I receive is always superficial, but the transactions around it give me something—income or free publicity or a favor I can call in later. Marrying you gets me nothing. In fact, I would lose my identity to a man who doesn’t even want me.”
“We’re talking about Monte Carlo again?” He hadn’t finished his salad, but he pushed it aside.
“You only spoke to me because your friend wanted to meet me.” The creak in her voice was humiliating, but she pressed on. “You refused to see me when I asked, but the minute you learned about this—” she waved at her middle “—you want to marry me. Do you have any idea how debasing that is? How unimportant I feel?”
“Yes.” He didn’t move, didn’t blink. “As someone who carries DNA that forces me to live a life I didn’t want, yes. I completely understand your bitterness.”
Oh, she wanted to hate him for his cool logic and supreme detachment. At the same time, she hurt for him. He must have wanted to crawl out of his own skin when he learned the truth.
“Then you understand why I don’t want to be your wife.”
“Princess,” he corrected drily. “Queen, eventually.”
“Now you’re mocking me, which tells me I don’t even have your respect.” She pushed her own salad away.
“I’m speaking the truth. You might not think those titles have value, but they do.”
She offered a distracted smile when their plates were removed, but on the inside she was a fractured mirror, everything offset and webbed with cracks.
“You said this pregnancy was your fault,” she reminded him. “But I know you’re suspicious of me. Do you realize that you need trust between players to make a role convincing?” Her eyes were hot, her heart heavy. “How could I pretend we’re happily married when our marriage doesn’t even have the most basic foundation? We have nothing , Magnus.”
“Lexi.” He set his hands on the tablecloth between them, palms up. Then he waited patiently for her to get the message that he expected her to give him her hands.
It was pure weakness on her part, but she couldn’t resist touching him.
The moment she hesitantly settled her fingers into the heat of his palms, a sensual jolt traveled up her arms and into her chest where it rang like a bell.
He closed his grip before she could reflexively pull away.
“You know what we have.” He squeezed again, as though deliberately causing that jolt of power in her chest. Her breath grew tight and the spark in his gaze flew into her, setting her heart alight.
“Passion doesn’t last forever,” she whispered.
“Nothing does.” His thumbs swept across the backs of her wrists. He might as well have caressed her from head to toe, given how her whole body felt brushed by velvet. “That’s why we should enjoy it while we can.”
Her pulse was skipping under the caress of his fingertips.
“I don’t know—” she had to clear the rasp from her throat “—if I can do that.”
The doctor had said there was no physical reason she couldn’t have sex, but Lexi wasn’t sure if she wanted to. She wasn’t the svelte woman Magnus had lifted onto his shoulders and pinned to a wall. She felt unlike herself. Awkward and far too vulnerable to withstand that kind of intimacy, especially when she couldn’t shake the feeling of being rejected. Unwanted.
At least, that’s how she felt before he chided, “You think I didn’t ask?” in a way that sent a sensual shiver down her spine. “There’s no physical reason you can’t.” His expression sobered and he released one of her hands so he could tenderly sweep a tendril of hair behind her ear. “I’ll let that be your choice, though. I’m ready when you are.”
“You left it in my hands last time,” she reminded him on a choke of humorless laughter, sitting back and settling her hands on her bump. “I think that’s your way of absolving yourself of responsibility.”
“No. I meant it when I said the fault was mine.”
“I don’t want anyone to be at fault.” She scowled, disgruntled at his continued use of that word. “That makes it sound like this baby is a mistake and I won’t call them that.”
“Fair enough.” He sat back, too. “I do respect you, by the way. Otherwise, I would have restarted our affair in Monte Carlo and forced you to hide it.”
Her heart swerved. She searched his deepwater eyes, then shook her head with uncertainty.
“No. You had already decided in Paris that I wasn’t someone you could trust.” She swallowed the lump that rose into her throat as she recollected that.
“You know what I think is strange?” His brows came together in puzzlement. “You say deeply personal things about yourself so it seems like you’re an open book, but your actions tell a different story. You don’t trust me . That’s why you don’t want to marry me. You don’t want to rely on me. You’re terrified to trust me. Aren’t you? Be honest,” he warned in a hint of taunt. “So we can start building this trust we need.”
“No, I don’t trust you,” she admitted, feeling as though the admission peeled the skin from her chest, leaving her heart exposed. “I don’t trust anyone. Everyone I’ve ever known has let me down or betrayed me. An hour ago, the man I paid seven figures to protect me broke my confidence and told you I was pregnant.”
“Because you didn’t pay him,” he said with an ironic curl of his lip. “I told him not to take your money. But I hear you.” He nodded, pensive. “I’ll work on it. You’ll need to be in Isleif for me to do that. Are you hungry? Or should we be on our way?”