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He waved a hand. ‘The people of Thallasia got over my inability to produce an heir. What’s to say they won’t honour you for giving me one?’

‘Or call me a liar, you a dupe, and the child someone else’s—no matter what the tests say.’

‘Are we caring about that?’

‘Aren’t you?’ Hard to believe he wouldn’t.

But he shot her a glance and just kept pacing. ‘I’ve been emasculated, called suicidal, and my rule has come into question—all in the last few months. If some want to add cuckolded husband to that list, let them. I want a real marriage with you. Your passion, your anger, your problems and your dreams—I want it all. In return you get me and all my flaws exposed for you to see. In this we would be equal. I’ll do my best to be a good father and husband. You will have horses. Helpers. Access to your family. Things to help you and our child be happy. It wouldn’t be like it was during my father’s reign. You have my word.’

‘Where did you go? When you left me just now? What did you do?’

‘As you say, I went for a swim to cool down and clear my head. And I have.’

Which was all well and good to say, but whether he really had or not was anyone’s guess. ‘You’re sure you wouldn’t like to, oh, I don’t know, sleep on it? Take advice? Wait?’ She stared at the blurry words on the paper. ‘I can’t even read this.’

‘Turn it over. It’s repeated in English on the other side.’

It was a simple enough contract. His offer of marriage, signed and witnessed. Her acceptance, still to be signed and witnessed. ‘Is this even a legal document?’

‘It is.’

‘I’ll bear witness.’ The voice from the doorway came from Valentine’s twin, a woman reputed to be flighty and none too smart. A woman obsessed with beauty and fashion and maintaining a perfect complexion. Except that wasn’t how Angelique remembered Vala at all. Instead she remembered a girl who’d held her tongue when her brother had fallen for the stable girl. The sister who’d covered for her brother’s unexplained absences more than once. A young woman who’d been outclassed on the polo field nine times out of ten but who’d taken her falls and got back up and dusted herself off with a sigh or a sob, and then gone to tend her horse, no matter her backside covered in grass stains or her hair full of dirt or the waiting stable hands whose job it was to care for the horses. She was not what the public made her out to be, this woman. Not by a long way. ‘Hello, Angelique. Has he convinced you of his undying devotion yet?’

Um...

‘Give it time,’ Vala said into the silence. ‘Do I need to witness this signature or not? I’m on a schedule.’

‘I’m not signing it.’

‘And I’m not leaving your side until you do,’ he said.

Valentine had a pen. Inside pocket of his perfectly cut blazer. He held it out to her in silent challenge and she crossed her arms and stared him down. ‘At least wait until you know it’s yours. Get the tests done. Go see a doctor so you know what’s going on with your health. Why did they call you infertile in the first place?’

‘I fell ill last year with a childhood illness I had no immunity to. I recovered. My sperm count did not.’

‘Can your fertility come back?’

‘They said not.’

‘Not ever?’

‘Do you think either of us would be in this position had they said yes?’

No, no they would not. He would never have spent his royal sperm so unwisely if he’d thought his fertility might come back over time. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘Say yes and sign the paper,’ he urged.

‘No. Can’t we just...?’

‘Just what?’

Frustration lit his words.

‘Just wait and get the tests done and then think about this a little bit more.’ She glanced at the paper he wanted her to sign. ‘See if we can come up with a solution that isn’t so...so...’

‘Permanent?’ He sneered. ‘You’re having my child. What the hell did you expect?’

She wrapped her hands tightly around her waist and looked away, unable to bear the confused despair in his eyes. ‘I didn’t ever expect to be in this position. Actually.’