Page 219 of Modern Romance Collection March 2025 (1-4)

“Like he was doing his best to neutralize them. To counter them.”

“And what is your father going to think of me?”

“He was not best pleased with my decision,” he said. “But I’m never going to be the King that my father is. And what I need in a wife is different than what he seems to think I need. Because I need differently than what he does.”

“Of course I actually know who you are,” she said. “I didn’t ever follow tabloid stories about you, but I know of you. By reputation. It seems to me that you would want a wife who is as worldly as you are. Sophisticated. Well-traveled.”

“You’re a pilot. You aren’t well-traveled?”

“I fly one route across the country, and anyway, I meant that as a euphemism forsex. Because I’ve only ever had sex with you.”

He felt that like a gut punch. He had never considered that she had been a virgin when he had taken her so roughly in the plane. And now he felt… He felt something that was strangely like guilt, and guilt wasn’t something that he was accustomed to.

“You… You had never had a lover before?”

“When would I have had the time? I was busy. Taking care of my family, working, I… You know, I never especially wanted to be in a relationship. Not after what I saw happen with my father. I don’t ever want to love somebody so much that losing them makes me lose all of myself. My father was never a cruel drunk, Adonis.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know how I feel about that name.”

“Nobody does. But it grows on you.”

“Does it?”

“No,” he said.

“Anyway, my dad was just sad. He was sad, and he couldn’t ever find himself again. I never want that. It’s hard enough to lose somebody. Hard enough to go through grief let alone when it’s…your person. The one that holds you up. I never wanted to be dependent on someone else to hold me up. It’s impractical.”

“I don’t disagree. Though I come at it from a slightly different direction. Human beings are liars. And whatever they say, it is to accomplish their immediate goals. I don’t see myself ever having enough faith in another person to feel the way my father once did about my mother.”

“It’s all the same, really. Love is just too expensive.”

“Indeed,” he said. He looked at her proud profile. She was a strange little creature. She seemed to be soft skin stretched over bones of steel. She had supported so much, carried so much for so long, and it was apparent in the way she held herself now. The way she vowed with her words to never depend on another person. It was a good thing. Because he needed her to be strong. And because no other person had ever depended on him, and he would hate for her to be the first one.

“You probably know most especially that I shouldn’t be counted on.”

“You’re going to lead a whole country. Is that what you’re going to tell your people?”

He smiled. “No. But I think we can both agree that perhaps being depended on to be a symbol, and being depended on as a spouse are two different things.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I’ve been through a plane crash with you, Stevie. I’m not especially worried.”

As they took off, she looked out the window, her expression resolute. “I love flying,” she said. “Because it’s about freedom.”

“Is it?” he asked.

“For me it is.”

“And you need freedom, don’t you? From the burden of family?”

She looked at him, her expression fierce. “I would never call my family a burden.”

“Love can be a burden,” he said.

Unfortunately he knew that from experience. If he didn’t love his mother, then there wouldn’t be a problem that she had left.

The scorched earth left behind by love was something he was all too familiar with.

“The crown is a burden. Having to marry and produce children is a burden. And I do it. It’s even something that I want to do, in some ways.”

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