BOUND BY DUTY CLAIMED BY DESIRE

CHAPTER SIX

“Gruesome?” The word echoed from him,as though it were in a foreign language.

“In what way? " he said. He got to his feet without realising it, discarding his glass on a side table.

She was staring at him wild-eyed,her face frowning

‘What do you mean, “In what way? ,She demanded

‘In every way. It's gruesome, absolutely gruesome to think of me marrying you.

Cold anger filled Rafael. He had taken a great deal from this woman,made allowance for her circumstances, but for her to stand there and tell him that his offer was gruesome..

She stared at him.for one long moment she met his gaze and then ,as if in slow motion he saw her facial expression change.

‘What else can it be ? She said,in a low voice.

His voice was stiff with tightly leashed anger.‘I do not see why’.

She cut across him

‘Look at me’.

‘How can you even think of it? Look at me'.

Her voice was taut . ‘It's gruesome to think of me marrying you.

Rafael looked at her.His anger had gone.

Then quietly,he said,‘We will find another way to sort this out’.

Elena lay in bed, but she was not asleep.Beside her on the far side of the bed, Ben's breathing rose and fell quietly.

How could he have done it? How could he have sat there and said that to her face?

She felt a cold sweat break out on her.

Gruesome,she had called it, and that was the only word for it.

The very idea of someone who looked like her, marrying someone who looked like him.

All her life , she'd known that she was not just unattractive,but actively repellent . It was a harsh word but it was true.

She'd learnt to see it in men's eyes,that instant rejection.

It was the exact opposite of the reaction Lizzy had got.

Lizzy, with her tall, slim figure and her lovely face.

Elena hadn't been jealous,Lizzy had been the beautiful sister,she the plain one. It was the way it had always been.

Lizzy, in her kindness,had offered to try and do something to improve her appearance, but Elena had never let her.

‘You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear ‘, her mother would say to her ,her mouth pressing tightly in displeasure as she looked over her older daughter.

Rafael stood under the shower and let the stinging needles of water pound down over his head.

He should be feeling relieved. He should be feeling like a condemned man deprived. but he wasn't.

An uncomfortable, writhing emotion twisted within him.

He kept hearing that word in his mind.

“Gruesome”.

How could any woman say that about herself? Feel that about herself?

Ok,she was plain, but that was not her fault. So why did she seem to flay herself for it?

A cynical voice spoke in his head.

She's just embracing the truth that's all. No man will ever want her, and she knows that . She knows just what an unlikely couple the two of you would make, the talking behind her back,the scornful looks,the offers to comfort you for your affliction in having to marry such a female.

He silenced the voice ruthlessly.

He stopped the water and stepped out of the shower,then wiped a towel around his body.

Once she had Ben in the palace,she would start to see for herself how a new life would be possible.

And he would like to make Luca and his father realize that somehow they had to set up a situation where Ben and his mother would live there.

His mind raced on. They don't have to live in a palace.They own enough property.

A villa by the sea, they'd like that.

Another thought came to his mind as he shrugged on a bathrobe and discarded the towels.

I'll get something done about her.with good clothes,a decent haircut and makeup, surely she'd look better?

It would be a good thing for her.

He headed for bed, feeling virtuous.

And finally relieved.

The jet was starting its descent. Rafael could feel the alteration in pitch.

‘We're starting to go down,Ben', he announced.

‘Will you agree to a visit? He asked her the next day. ‘Nothing more than that.

To allow my parents and brother meet Ben's. His voice has changed.

Please do not deny them that’, he'd finished quietly.

She had nodded , something seemed to have changed between them.

He didn't know what,but somehow it was easier to talk to her.

Maybe,he thought somberly, the scene that night had brought everything to a head.

Whatever it was,he was greateful that she agreed to move forward,that she finally seemed to have moved beyond the stonewalling denial that had made her so difficult to deal with.

He had spoken to Lucian this morning, telling him they were going to fly out the following day.

He would tell Lucian privately that there could be no question of a marriage of convienence. That the situation would have to be resolved differently,in a way that Ben's adopted mother was comfortable with.

Lucian had not been communicative,he had merely wanted to know that Ben was finally on his way and when they would be landing.

He'd seemed tense, preoccupied.

The stewardess came forward into the cabin to request they put their seat belts on. Rafael smiled reassuringly across at Ben's mother. She seemed outwardly calm.

Ben seemed excited.

Ironically, Rafael thought,Ben seemed more excited about flying in a plane than he did about the news, broken to him by his aunt and uncle,that was infact,a royal prince.

‘Will I have a crown?’ has been his only question, and when a negative answer had been returned to him,he had lot interest in the matter.

His interest in royalty was revived momentarily when they transferred to the car waiting for them at the airfield.

The car glided off. Ben chattered away to Rafael, asking him question after question. Besides him, Elena sat, willing herself to stay calm.

But it was hard.