“Yes.” She shoved her hands in the pockets of the capri pants she’d found in the closet and came to stand in front of his desk. “You were right to appeal to my past in your arguments, Nik, because you know I will never abandon my child, nor will I expose them to an overdose of the pressure you were speaking of. To that end, I want to have the final say on any choices relating to our child. I want to be a hands-on mother. I don’t want nannies taking over my relationship with my child. I’ll be the one to set the schedule.”
“We will discuss that as required.”
“No.” She lifted her chin. “That is my condition for agreeing to this, Nik. As well as that I want to be able to travel frequently back to New York to check on the business as you promised. I need to be part of it.”
He nodded.
“I would also like to pursue my designing, so I would appreciate it if you would find me a space in the palace to do so. A quiet space with lots of room and good light.”
“Done.”
“As for us, I will play the role of your wife as required in public, but until we learn to understand each other, there will be no intimacy between us.”
“Define understand.”
“You need to believe me when I say I didn’t engineer this pregnancy. We need to have trust between us if we are going to be able to do this.”
He cocked his head to one side. “How am I supposed to believe a pregnancy wasn’t in your head when you suggest we forgo a condom, then all of a sudden we’re pregnant?”
Heat stained her cheeks. “I don’t know what possessed me to say that. I don’t know, I wanted that intimacy between us. But it wasn’t planned. The doctor is fairly sure it was my migraine medication that reduced the efficacy of the pills. I had no idea it would do such a thing.”
“Right.” He gave her a look as if to say he hadn’t been born yesterday. Her blood boiled. “Does it really matter at this point?” he suggested harshly. “It’s a foregone conclusion we’re having this baby.”
“Yes, it does. You want to lump me in with all the other women who have abused your trust. I won’t do it, Nik.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “My remaining celibate for the duration of our marriage is not an option.”
“Well, then I guess we have a disagreement we have to overcome, don’t we?”
“Quite.” He hit the button on the intercom to call Abram in. “We can get the ball rolling on an engagement announcement, then. The sooner the better.”
“What about the baby? It’s too early to confirm that.”
“We won’t.” His mouth curved in a sardonic twist. This is the time we’ll use to convince the people of Akathinia their king has made a last-minute, impulsive decision to pursue his happily-ever-after. A love match. We won’t confirm the baby for another few weeks, unless we have to. Abram has taken steps to ensure the confidentiality of your doctor in New York.”
Her stomach dropped. He had everything figured out. He was totally in control. And where was she? Completely at his mercy. Completely at the mercy of a palace machine that would strip her life of everything she’d built as soon as this announcement went out.
From this point forward, her life was never going to be the same.
* * *
Sofía’s stomach was still a mass of knots as she dressed for dinner with the royal family. An announcement of her and Nik’s coming nuptials was being prepared for release the next day, along with an invitation for the toast of Akathinian society to join them to celebrate the royal engagement at a party in two weeks’ time.
She had balked at the tight timeline, but calming her as he would an overexcited filly, Abram had assured it was all easily done by the palace event machine. All she had to do was be a stunning queen-to-be.
A thousand butterflies traced a swooping path through her insides as she smoothed the beautiful violet dress around her hips that she’d chosen from the selection in the wardrobe. The palace was flying in her favorite designer next week with a dozen dresses to choose from for the engagement party, which might seem like overkill, but when you were going to be photographed by the world, your dress pulled apart piece by piece by the fashion media, you made sure you got it right.
Her mother had sounded ecstatic when she’d called, too happy with her own engagement to pick up on the reticence in her daughter’s voice. Dreamy, she’d called Nik. “And a prince at that, Sofía.”
The fact that her mother and she were still so far apart emotionally had brought back a familiar ache. The resentment at never really having had a mother who had been there for all the big events of her life, so lost in herself as her mother had been.