Therese Beharrie - Falling For His Convenient Queen

Not for the first time, Nalini thought of how much easier her life would have been if she’d been more like Alika. Willing to accept and obey. But she also knew that easy meant different things to different people. Yes, it meant less conflict and more safety. She knew because she had been more like Alika since that day. But it had also kept her living in a little box, so confined, so afraid that she’d felt as if the real her—the excited, happy her—had been whittled away slowly until she was only that way with her siblings.

And not because she wanted to be. Because she thought they needed it.

Even though it hadn’t been there before that afternoon, Nalini twisted the engagement ring on her finger as though the nervous habit had accompanied her all her life. She’d been surprised when Zacchaeus had offered it to her, but he’d done it so unceremoniously that she hadn’t had the chance to feel emotional about it.

Not that she would have felt emotional, she told herself. She didn’t expect love or romance any more—wishing for such things was foolish. She’d learnt her lesson with Josh, hadn’t she? Besides, she only had to look at her siblings to confirm it. Sure, Xavier’s life was a lot happier now that he’d found love with his one-time best friend, but he’d gone through plenty of heartache before he’d got there.

No, Nalini wasn’t interested in love or romance any more. What she was interested in was making sure her family knew that she’d changed. She also wanted autonomy in her life, and love wasn’t going to give her that. An arranged marriage, on the other hand...

She stopped when she found the photographer, and watched as he squinted against the late afternoon sun. The man had insisted that they take the outdoor photos then, though now Nalini wasn’t entirely sure he was confident in that decision. He cursed as he worked, taking practice shots of the stream that led down to a large pond.

‘Is it just me, or does it feel like we’re interrupting something?’ Zacchaeus’s voice sounded in her ear just as it had the day before, on the boat. Now, though, Nalini didn’t have the sea breeze to blame for the shiver that went up her spine.

But you’re not interested in acting on it, a voice in her head told her in a mocking tone that she didn’t appreciate.

‘Artists,’ she replied. ‘Temperamental creatures.’

‘That’s a broad statement.’

‘And not one I thought you’d call me on,’ she said with a smile. ‘I don’t think all artists are temperamental. I do think this one is, which is why we’d better get into that frame before it’s night and we have to do this again tomorrow.’

‘You’re right,’ Zacchaeus said and took her hand, dragging her to the stream. ‘Are we okay here, Stefan?’

‘Yes, sir, that’s perfect,’ Stefan answered, but took at least a dozen more shots before getting to them. ‘Could you please move closer together?’

‘I told you,’ Nalini murmured and took a step forward to close the distance between her and Zacchaeus. Her heart immediately thumped louder, harder, in her chest and she stopped before she touched him.

‘Why does it feel like you’re the one treating me like a disgusting wounded animal now?’ he asked, and placed a hand at the bottom of her spine. With little effort he pressed her against him, and her heart rocketed—out of her chest and, she was pretty sure, out of her body.

It hadn’t been like this before. Their official photos had been close, yes, but there she’d been at his side. There she’d held his hand, which wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be. But being face to face like this, their bodies aligned...

It made that attraction a lot harder to ignore. Especially since her mind chose to pay attention to the hard muscles of his body right at that moment.

‘Your Royal Highness, could you move closer?’ Stefan called from behind his camera.

‘Yes, Your Royal Highness,’ Zacchaeus teased. ‘Move closer.’

‘I think I’m close enough,’ she answered, but pressed her body a fraction closer to his.

‘Now smile,’ Stefan called again, and now Nalini felt as though the entire thing was ridiculous.

But she had to acknowledge that it was only ridiculous because she had to focus on making sure Zacchaeus didn’t think he was making her nervous while remembering to smile and to relax her body.

‘Turn your heads to face one another,’ Stefan asked after a few minutes, and Nalini held her breath as she turned back to face Zacchaeus. Without prompting, Zacchaeus slid his arms around her waist. Her breath caught, and Nalini wondered—illogically, she knew—what it would feel like if the action hadn’t been forced for the sake of the photos.

If it had been more...intimate.

The thought sent a wave of heat to her face and she ducked her head, hoping that Zacchaeus wouldn’t notice it. He banished that hope by moving his mouth to her ear and whispering, ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing.’

‘You’re lying.’

‘I’m not,’ she said, her voice sharper than she intended.

‘Nalini.’

The tone of his voice had her looking up again.

And the moment she did she realised she’d made a mistake.

She hadn’t noticed before that his eyes held specks of light around the irises. It made his face less intimidating, she thought, and wanted to reach up to smooth the creases between his eyebrows to make it even less so.

‘That’s perfect!’ Stefan shouted, shocking her hands into immobility. ‘Now kiss!’

Her entire body froze as Zacchaeus’s eyes instantly changed from amused to something darker. To something more intense. Electricity crackled from them, hitting her with a voltage that woke all her nerves. It startled her, the intense response of her body to his.

And suddenly she became aware of how taut his muscles had become, how hers had responded. If she kissed him, if she just touched her lips to his, maybe that tension would ease...

Before Nalini fully knew what had happened, pain stunned the breath from her as she found herself on her butt. The bottom half of her body was completely wet from the water of the stream she now sat in. It took a moment for her brain to realise what had happened, but she didn’t fully have the time to contemplate it before she heard a splash of water.

‘Nalini, are you okay?’ Zacchaeus asked, crouching beside her.

‘I’m fine.’ She was pretty sure that she was, at least. ‘You shouldn’t be in here though. You’ll spoil your uniform.’

‘It’ll survive,’ he said wryly and offered her a hand. ‘Will you accept my help or are you going to ignore it to avoid touching me?’

‘Don’t be silly,’ she answered, though she hesitated before she took his hand. When she was standing, she looked down at her dress, no longer falling in an A-line around her hips but flattened to her sides. ‘I’ve spoilt this dress.’ She looked up at him. ‘You shouldn’t have come in and spoilt your uniform too.’

‘The uniform doesn’t matter, Nalini. Neither does your dress. But you do.’ His eyes searched her face. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Of course I am,’ she replied, straightening her spine. Trying to maintain what little dignity she had left. ‘Besides my pride, I’m perfectly fine.’

‘I have to agree on that one.’

‘You do? Why?’

‘My pride’s tingling a bit too. After all, you did just fall into a stream to get away from me.’

‘That’s not what happened,’ she retorted, and then frowned. Was that really the reason she’d fallen into the stream? To get away from Zacchaeus? Now that the fogginess of the stun had cleared, she could remember taking a step back, away from him—no, she corrected. Away from kissing him. She hadn’t meant to make it obvious. She’d just wanted space to think, and to get away from the way her body felt when she touched him.