Leo stroked her cheek gently with one finger. âYouâre lovely.â
Alyse stared at him, ensnared by the heat of his gaze, the touch of his hand. She saw something hard in his gaze, something cynical in his smile, and still she couldnât keep from wanting him.
âI wonder,â he mused softly, his finger still stroking her cheek, âhow do you make something thatâs been false, true? Whatâs fake, real?â
Her heart seemed to burst within her, as if fireworks had gone off in her soul. The very fact that he was even asking the question gave her a hope that was painful in its intensity.
âI want to,â she whispered, her heart beating so hard now that it hurt, the thuds slamming her chest. âI want this to be real, Leo.â
His lips twisted again, caught between a grimace and a smile. He bent his head, his lips a whisper away from hers.
âThis is real enough,â he murmured, and then he kissed her.
THE DIOMEDI HEIRS
Who will become the next King of Maldinia?
To restore the reputation of the monarchy, darkly brooding Prince Leo has sacrificed everything.
His marriage might be for show, but the feelings his new bride Alyse evokes in him are threatening his iron-clad control.
Black sheep Prince Alessandro has returned home to claim the throneâand the woman he discarded years agoâbut he meets his match in the woman Liana has now become!
The worldâs media is waiting with bated breath for the estranged brothers to be reunited and the rightful Kingâwith his chosen Queenâto be seated upon the throne!
KATE HEWITT discovered her first Mills & Boon>® romance on a trip to England when she was thirteen, and sheâs continued to read them ever since. She wrote her first story at the age of five, simply because her older brother had written one and she thought she could do it too. That story was one sentence longâfortunately theyâve become a bit more detailed as sheâs grown older. She has written plays, short stories and magazine serials for many years, but writing romance remains her first love. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, travelling and learning to knit.
After marrying the man of her dreamsâher older brotherâs childhood friendâshe lived in England for six years, and now resides in Connecticut with her husband, her three young children and the possibility of one day getting a dog.
Kate loves to hear from readersâyou can contact her through her website: www.kate-hewitt.com
Recent titles by the same author:
HIS BRAND OF PASSION
(The Bryants: Powerful & Proud) IN THE HEAT OF THE SPOTLIGHT (The Bryants: Powerful & Proud) BENEATH THE VEIL OF PARADISE (The Bryants: Powerful & Proud) THE HUSBAND SHE NEVER KNEW
Did you know these are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
To Maisey, Caitlin and Jennie, who first inspired me with the idea for this story! Love, K.
CHAPTER ONE
TODAY WAS HER wedding day. Alyse Barras gazed at her pale, pinched face in the mirror and decided that not all brides were radiant. As it happened, she looked as if she were on the way to the gallows.
No, she amended, not the gallows; a quick and brutal end was not to be hers, but rather a long, drawn-out life sentence: a loveless marriage to a man whom she barely knew, despite their six-year engagement. Yet even so a small kernel of hope was determined to take root in her heart, to unfurl and grow in the shallowest and poorest of soils.
Maybe heâll learn to love me...
Prince Leo Diomedi of Maldinia seemed unlikely to learn anything of the sort, yet still she hoped. She had to.
âMiss Barras? Are you ready?â
Alyse turned from her reflection to face one of the wedding coordinatorâs assistants who stood in the doorway of the room sheâd been given in the vast royal palace in Averne, Maldiniaâs capital city, nestled in the foothills of the Alps.
âAs ready as Iâll ever be,â she replied, trying to smile, but everything in her felt fragile, breakable, and the curve of her lips seemed as if it could crack her face. Split her apart.
The assistant Marina came forward, looking her over in the assessing and proprietary way Alyse had got used to in the three days since sheâd arrived in Maldiniaâor, really, the six years since sheâd agreed to this engagement. She was a commodity to be bought, shaped, presented. An object of great value, to be sure, but still an object.
Sheâd learned to live with it, although on today of all daysâher wedding day, the day most little girls dreamed aboutâshe felt the falseness of her own role more, the sense that her life was simply something to be staged.
Marina twitched Alyseâs veil this way and that, until she gave a nod of satisfaction. It billowed gauzily over her shoulders, a gossamer web edged with three-hundred-year-old lace.
âAnd now the dress,â Marina said, and flicked her fingers to indicate that Alyse should turn around.