“You want to talk about architecture with me?”
I shook my head. “No. Not exactly. I wanted to talk about you.”
“I think you’ve done enough of that already,” she said.
“Maybe. Do you know why you’re here, Bryce?”
“I assumed it was because you guys wanted a little photo op with my father. It’s good PR to have the old royal family make nice with the current one, right?”
I grinned hugely, really enjoying how quickly she had grasped that concept. Bryce was clearly a very intelligent girl, not to mention gorgeous and fiery. I found myself wanting to press her against the railing, slide my hands up along her legs, and feel exactly how soaking wet she was. I didn’t care who saw us.
“That’s right,” I said instead, “but it’s not the whole story.”
“Well, go ahead and tell me. I have nothing else to do.”
“Truth is, Bryce, I need an heir. In a monarchy, especially in a Starklandian monarchy, royal boy children are the most important thing. Since I’m without children, I need to make some, and quick.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What are you saying?”
“My advisors believe you’d be the perfect match,” I said. “You’re American and foreign, but you have royal blood in your veins. They think that if we got married, you could give me sons and strengthen my legitimacy.”
She gaped at me. “That’s what this is about?”
“That’s right,” I said. “My advisors want you to marry me. And I want to fuck that perfect, soaking pussy of yours and put my child inside you.”
She stepped away from me, her eyes wide. “We barely know each other.”
“True,” I said, agreeing. “We have two weeks to fix that, though.”
“This is crazy,” she said softly.
“Relax,” I said, laughing. “Nobody is forcing you into anything. I swear that no matter what, this will be your choice. But you should think about it. There are perks to being the queen of Starkland.”
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t want to be queen of anything.”
“Maybe not, but you do want to feel me between your legs. I can see it in your eyes.” I stepped toward her, smirking at her, my heart racing. “I know you want to taste my cock, feel my hands slap your ass as I fuck you until you come.”
“No,” she said softly. “You’re just a crude asshole.”
“Maybe, but I’m a crude asshole king. I can give you things you can only dream about.”
“I don’t want anything from you.”
“Not yet you don’t.”
“Not ever. No way.” She turned back toward the castle. “Take me back to my room.”
“If that’s what you want.” I followed her inside and nodded at my guards. “They’ll take you back. I need to return to the banquet.”
She followed Al for a few steps before stopping and looking back at me. There was something wild and intense in her gaze, something I couldn’t exactly read. She shook her head and then turned away and was gone.
That last look sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t know what it meant, and I was very good at reading people. One second the girl seemed to despise me, and the next I could see true passion in her eyes.
It was beyond exciting. I’d never met a woman like her who didn’t instantly throw herself at me. There were millions of women in Starkland who would do anything to be my queen.
But not Bryce Koch. She was just some foreign American girl of no real consequence, and yet I wanted her more than I could explain.
Maybe it was madness, or maybe there was something else. Either way, I was going to have her. By the end of this trip, Bryce was going to beg to be my queen, and once she finally did, I’d give her exactly what she wanted.
BRYCE
There was no way I was becoming some breeder for this royal asshole.
There was just no way. I didn’t come out to Starkland just to become Trip’s wife or whatever he wanted. That was just absolutely insane.
We didn’t know each other. Sure, he didn’t actually say that it was his idea, but he also wasn’t acting as if the whole thing was crazy.
It was crazy, though. Absolutely, definitely, totally insane.
As I sat down on my enormous bed, I was so furious and humiliated. That was why there were so many important people invited to that dinner. They all wanted to get a glimpse at the foreigner who might become the new queen of Starkland.
And I was betting that everyone knew but me. Everyone in that room had been talking and looking at me because everyone knew why I was really there. Meanwhile, I’d been sitting at that table like an idiot, totally unaware of what was happening around me.