Page 9 of Royally Matched

“You can’t be serious,” Max yelled with dismay. “I’m perfectly capable of picking out my own wife, when and if I’m ever ready to do so.”

“You’ve made it perfectly clear, you are incapable of managing your own life, which is why as your king and father, I am stepping in to rectify the situation.”

“Father, you can’t realistically be supporting the idea of an arranged marriage for us. They’re a relic of an outdated past,” Lily stated with indignation.

“In most cases, I would agree,” the earl stated with a nod, “but in extreme cases, extreme solutions are required. We must all do what is best for Triola.”

Lily wanted to argue that she knew her father’s true motivation had nothing to do with what was best for Triola, but more for what was best for the Lockhart family. If Lily married Max, she would one day be the queen, which would make them the second most powerful family in all of Triola. He had been angling his entire life to get as close to the king as he could, even sending Lily to Grantmire when she was young hoping to get Max to marry her out of school. Of course, all of that had gone tragically wrong when Max had betrayed her and kissed Georgina, which made all of this so much worse. She hadn’t told her parents the truth and let them believe he had ended things rather than tell them the embarrassing truth he had cheated on her. If she had, they would have been furious with her inability to keep Max happy.

She secretly wondered what it would be like to be married to the man she shared her first kiss with eight years ago. There was no way, however, she would be with a man who made it clear he was a playboy and had no qualms about keeping lots of women around him at all times. Marriage wasn’t a high priority for Lily, but if she ever made those type of vows, it would be once, and to a man she could trust. She knew from experience, Max couldn’t be that guy.

Taking a deep breath, Lily declared, “I won’t agree to this. This is the 21st century, and women have the right to choose their own husband.”

“Agreed,” Max stated with a nod. “I don’t agree with this course of action either.”

“Of course you don’t,” the queen stated with frustration. “You would much rather keep wasting the crown’s money while living your bachelor lifestyle.”

“But one way or the other, that ends today,” the king declared. “You will marry a woman of my choosing, or you will no longer be a part of this family. If you want to keep receiving the benefits of being a royal, you will do as I command.”

Max’s face turned white as he whispered, “You wouldn’t. I mean, you’ve threatened to do so before, but you actually wouldn’t do it.”

“Try me,” the king said through clenched teeth. “I have reached the end of my rope with you, Maxwell. I see no other way.”

Lily stepped back and moved towards the door. “You might have leverage on the Crown Prince, but there is nothing you can do to make me compliant in this situation.”

“But isn’t there?” the king asked with smugness. “I know the way to your heart, Lady Liliana, and if you agree to this arrangement, I will make you the head of the Triola Philanthropic Foundation.”

The offer stopped Lily dead in her tracks. “There is no such thing,” Lily pointed out. “I know that the crown takes care of the people here, but there’s never been a formal foundation to do it.”

“Oh, it would go much further than that, my dear,” the king said, as if dangling a carrot in front of a horse to motivate it to comply. “Yes, you could use the extensive funds of the foundation to help the people of Triola, but it will also allow you to use portions of the funds abroad. Meaning, you could use it to overhaul that orphanage in China you have been working to save.”

Tempting ideas for several projects she had encountered abroad, including the orphanage, came to the forefront of her mind. All she had ever wanted to do was help the less fortunate people of the world, and she was being presented a clear way to do it. It would mean sacrificing her own freedom and marrying a man who had hurt her in the past, but, if she made it clear to Max that it was simply a business arrangement between two people, maybe she could make it work.

“Since you haven’t finished leaving, I can assume that means you will move forward with this plan?” the king asked in a way that made it more of a statement than a question.

Lily nodded her head, realizing that she felt like she was making a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. But if it meant she could help countless people all around the world, she would have to find a way to make peace with that.

As her father took her hand and placed it in Max’s, a bolt of electricity shot up her arm. The instant connection restarted a part of her heart that had been dormant since she ended things with Max eight years ago.

Her eyes quickly darted to his. As she looked into them, she realized rather than being concerned with the king, she should be worried about the fact she was agreeing to marry a wolf in sheep’s clothing. A wolf that was very, very good at getting under her skin.

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