Page 211 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

“My apologies,” he said, again. “But, I do think that you can agree becoming a princess would dramatically improve your sister’s life.” He looked at the girls. “And yours.”

“Money is just money,” said Stevie. “And if I didn’t earn it, I don’t know how I feel about it.”

“You were willing to take a reward from me.”

“That I hadearned,” she said.

“You’ve earned this. Surely you’ve seen the media reports.”

“Yes. All the speculation that we… That we somehow had a torrid affair in the snow when you had a massive cut in your leg.”

“Yes. Those rumors.”

“I’ve been being hounded by the press. And I refused to tell them anything.”

“Another thing that makes you perfect. You haven’t played into their hands, and it is extremely refreshing. Most people would have tried to profit off the nature of the stories, but you did not. Further proving your worthiness.”

“I’m not a hunk of beef that you can try to evaluate. Or grade. I’m a woman. And I am not a prize in the bottom of your cereal box.”

“I’m not certain what the context of that is.”

“You’ve probably never had a box of cereal, have you?”

“No.”

She simply stared at him. “I like my life.”

He didn’t know what to do with this. It had not occurred to him that Stevie might resist his demand.

“You might like your life, but your life is also a struggle. If you could simply…exclude yourself from the struggle, why wouldn’t you?”

“Because life doesn’t work that way,” she said. “If you go cutting corners it’s always at the expense of somebody else.”

“I’m not asking you to cut corners. Ineeda wife.”

“Two weeks ago you were about to have a different one, which you did not tell me about, by the way and had you…” She looked at her sisters, then cut off her sentence. “What did you do, stash her in your attic?”

Ah. So this was the issue. She was stressed about being seen as the other woman.

“I told her very regretfully that she is no longer the ideal choice to be princess of Olympus.”

“That poor woman. Also, how murderous is she? Is she going to kill me in my sleep?”

“Drusilla is fine. Believe me when I tell you, she will have already found another prospect for a rich husband. We were not in love. My marriage was always going to be a dynastic choice. You know who I am now, Stevie, and you understand that my reputation has not always been the best.”

“That would be because your actions haven’t always been the best.”

“Granted,” he agreed. “But, I have a certain amount of popularity with the youth in my country. It is the older generation I have trouble with. But everyone is captivated by you. Everyone is captivated by the mere thought of you. And that is something that I wish to make the most of.”

“It’s something you want to exploit,” she said. “And I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that. It’s…craven at best.”

“Perhaps it is. But the world is craven. As you said, when corners are cut, someone pays. But you have an innate sense of justice, and a desire to see things change. Not only will you have money, Stevie, but you will have power. Not only will your family want for nothing, you will be responsible for making decisions that have an impact on a nation of people.”

“But I didn’t even go to college.”

“And what difference does that make? College doesn’t speak to intelligence, but privilege. Just as my position as Prince speaks to the very same. You have something. Something different. You are who I want by my side.”

“It’s not a very romantic proposal.”

---