Page 76 of Modern Romance June 2025 5-8

Unless that woman was clear-eyed enough to recognise his autocratic tendencies. His unyielding drive to get what he wanted. How else could you describe his idea of them marrying?

Cold-blooded, that was what he was. Even if he made her feel hot and bothered.

His gaze snared hers and held it. And despite her distaste for what he was doing, she felt that frisson of awareness, not just of him, but of herself. The heat under her skin, the weight of her breasts against her lace bra and an achy emptiness in her pelvis.

‘It’s true. I take my duty seriously and that includes choosing a queen. I was in no rush. The woman in question and I know each other but that’s all. No promises were made.’

Just how well did they know each other? It wasn’t any of Annalena’s business, but she couldn’t help wondering.

Thatworried her. Heworried her.

Their interactions had been fraught with tension and distrust. Yet there’d been brief moments of something like communion, as when they’d entered this room. And too many other moments when she’d thought of him as a man instead of an opponent.

He messed with her head and she knew it wasn’t all intentional. Much of the time she sabotaged herself with her wayward thoughts. Her mind strayed to last night’s restless sleep and those disturbing dreams, all featuring Benedikt. And he hadn’t always been so formally dressed.

Her gaze skittered away.

‘Even so, it wouldn’t work. I couldn’t marry a man I can’t respect.’ In her peripheral vision she saw his head rock back. ‘Not even for my country.’

‘I told you, I’m not my father.’

His voice was colourless, the deliberate absence of emotion making her nerves jangle. Because only someone suppressing every emotion could sound so barren.

She looked back at him. Sure enough, despite his stillness, she saw traces of anger and wounded pride in his strong features.

‘Yet, even knowing how disastrous that hydroelectric project will be, you didn’t stop it when you came to power. You ignored all the evidence that proves it’s a mistake. Do you have a personal financial interest in it too?’

Benedikt didn’t step closer but his deep breath lifted his shoulders, expanding his chest, making her more aware than ever that she faced a formidable adversary. She felt a jitter of nerves but stood her ground.

‘That project is one of many. Until yesterday I hadn’t dug deeply into it. I’d accepted that a full feasibility study had been completed.’ As if anticipating her protest, he raised his hand. ‘Last night I read all the files. The only material there fully supports the benefits of the project. There’s no record of representations against the scheme. No other studies, no petitions, nothing.’

‘What?’She moved closer, as if proximity could force the truth. ‘They have to be there.’

He shook his head, and this close, his expression looked more like regret than anger. ‘I read it all and my personal staff double-checked every file. There’s nothing negative except an acknowledgement of losses by a few farmers, and a plan to recompense them generously for losing their land.’

Annalena gaped. ‘Iknewthe process was rigged. But this…!’ It was inconceivable. ‘How could theydothat?’

‘My father didn’t like dissent, particularly when he’d already made up his mind.’

Benedikt’s expression was so grim it cut through her fury. What had it been like, growing up with a father like that?

Worse than growing up fatherless.

He spoke again. ‘I’m rapidly learning how deeply that’s affected the administration here. I suspect that to keep their jobs, staff learnt to tell him only what he wanted to hear.’

‘To the point of falsifying public records?’

‘So it seems.’ For a moment he was silent. ‘The next ruler will have plenty to deal with.’

There was deliberate provocation in the way he watched her. As if daring her to reassert her claim to the throne. Almost as if he’d like her to take it. But that couldn’t be.

More to the point, did she believe that he hadn’t been part of this corrupt plan?

Her position would be much easier if she doubted his word. The trouble was that she couldn’t typecast him as a villain. He was so angry and resentful about what his father had done. And looked serious about the task ahead to make things right.

‘So you’re not pro-dam?’

‘Not if the evidence proves it’s a bad idea.’

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