Free Royal Affair by Laurie Paige Page A

weren’t going to notify me, were you?” His voice dropped to a deadly dangerous level.
    The fine, chiseled structure of his face seemed to harden while she debated her answer. Whatever else she’d anticipated from this moment, she hadn’t expected this raw anger from him, as if she’d tried to cheat him of his rights or something.
    â€œHow could I?” she finally asked. “You didn’t give me your real name. You let me think you were in Lantanya on business, the same as I was. It was only through a tabloid that I found out who you really are.”
    He waved that aside. “You left before we had a chance to talk the next morning. Had I been a mere business traveler passing through the area, I might not have been able to trace you. Fortunately, I was aware of Crosby Systems and the work your company was doing.”
    â€œYour father negotiated the contract last year before—” She stopped, realizing the death of his father wasn’t something she wanted to mention.
    Max’s face softened fractionally. “It was his dream, and my mother’s, that Lantanya would become the best-educated country in the world, all the way through the university level. Now it is my goal, a monument to both of them and their vision.”
    The faint sound of a siren came to them from the highway, then became louder as the ambulance raced up the hill to the hospital. Although she couldn’t see the E.R. portico from her patio, she knew when the vehicle reached its destination because the siren stopped.
    â€œAnother emergency,” Max said, his eyes narrowing. “That’s the third one since we’ve been sitting out here.”
    She realized she hadn’t noticed the other two. “You’re observant.”
    A slight bitterness tinged his smile. “I’ve learned to be, especially of late.”
    â€œWhy?”
    He shrugged.
    Seeing that he wasn’t going to answer, she asked,“What happens next?” She really wanted to know when he was going to leave. She needed to be alone, to think.
    â€œWe must marry.”
    Her hand jerked, making her spill the last swallow of iced tea. She set the tumbler down on the glass-topped table and shook her head.
    â€œWe must,” he insisted calmly.
    His smile unnerved her. He sounded so confident, as if he knew, not only what was best but what was inevitable.
    â€œI… We don’t really know each other,” she said, a weak argument but the only one she could muster.
    â€œI know you better than any other man ever has.”
    There was a knowing look in his eyes, and she had put it there. The heat rose in her again. “That was passion,” she protested. “One night doesn’t count as a lifelong friendship.”
    â€œKnowing each other in the biblical sense was a beginning,” he calmly stated. “That there is a very real attraction between us as a man and woman bodes well for marriage, don’t you think?”
    â€œNo! I mean…I don’t know what to think.” She pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to think things through and not be swayed by his seeming logic.
    A frown settled on his handsome face and he studied her for several long seconds. “When were you going to tell me about your condition?”
    â€œI wasn’t. That is, I hadn’t made up my mind about what to do. I thought, when I saw the doctor, I’d decide.”
    â€œThen I showed up and spoiled that plan.” He smiled, the humor after the anger surprising her. “What was plan B?”
    â€œI hadn’t got that far.”
    He nodded. “Hormones, as the doctor said,” he murmured, giving her a sympathetic look, which confused her and caused her heart to thump against her chest wall.
    The phone rang.
    â€œI’ll get it.” He rose and went inside, returning almost at once. “It’s for you.”
    â€œWell, duh,” she muttered. She took the