Lisa Laurel - The Irresistible Prince

“I haven’t agreed to it yet.”

“Well, while you’re thinking about it, why don’t you give me a little better idea of what you’re looking for in a bride?”

Fair enough. And very simple. “I’m looking for compatibility,” he said. “I want a woman I have enough in common with to share my life with, someone who wants what I want.”

“Go on,” Annah said encouragingly, pleased at how he was opening up. As he talked, the bond that she had first felt that afternoon seemed to strengthen. “Is there anything specific that is important to you?”

He answered without hesitation. “Above all, she has to love children and want to have them.”

Annah felt each word fall on her heart like a hammer stroke. Reminding herself that she had asked for this by getting involved didn’t soften the blows.

At her silence he went on to clarify. “I’m not talking about procreating to fulfill the duty of providing heirs for the succession to the throne. What I really want is a woman who will be a good and loving mother to our children,” he said softly. “That’s the most important thing of all.”

Lucas looked away abruptly, this unaccustomed confession leaving him feeling as if he had just run a marathon. He took a sip of wine and steeled himself for more, but surprisingly she didn’t follow up with another question. He looked over, only to see her gazing into the fire, looking stricken. He wondered what was wrong with his answer.

Trying not to sound defensive, he said, “I don’t see why this should be a problem.” Again, he thought, frowning. “I thought women were supposed to want to have children.”

She pulled her gaze back to him, but her smile looked forced. “Most do,” she said, her voice oddly strained.

Something about the way she said it made him ask, “Don’t you?”

“Me? I...uh—” She shrugged. “Babies aren’t my thing.”

That explained her strange reaction. But it surprised him, given what he had seen of her. A small-town, matchmaking girl with a warm smile and a talent for dispensing cheer, hope and nourishment seemed like the maternal type to him. But then again, why should he be surprised that he had misread her so thoroughly? If he had been good at spotting that sort of thing he wouldn’t be in this predicament.

Not every woman wanted babies; that concept had long been a fact of his life. The ones that didn’t had their reasons. He didn’t care to ask what hers were, but he supposed Annah was more interested in her businesses. As strong as the issue was for him, he was fairminded enough to see that she could still help him, despite her personal preferences on that matter. He just wanted to be sure that she understood his. He leaned his hands on the kitchen table. “The woman I’m looking for, babies will most definitely be her ‘thing,”’ he said flatly.

She nodded.

“And if I have to go undercover to find her...”

She looked up at him. “You’ll go along with my plan, then?”

“First tell me precisely what you have in mind.”

“Okay,” she said briskly. “First of all we’d have to get you out of this castle, the sooner the better. An ordinary guy would have no reason to live here.”

“True. Are there any hotels in town?”

“A couple of bed-and-breakfasts, but they’re closed this time of year. Besides, if you want a hometown girl, you have to be a hometown guy. You can stay at my house,” she offered.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I think you should move in with me.”

She sounded so casual about it! He knew what an invitation like that meant in his homeland—if he slept one night under the same roof as a single woman, they’d be married by morning! He knew what an invitation like that meant from a jaded veteran of the ultrachic international circles, too. But he had no idea in the world it meant from a woman like her, in a place like Anders Point. “Move in with you?” he repeated.

“It’s perfectly logical. It will make it easier for us to work together, and I’ve got a spare bedroom you can have all to yourself.”

Sleeping arrangements aside, he couldn’t imagine two people living in that little dollhouse of hers—in the space that wasn’t taken up by her two businesses. Even this castle seemed small compared to his palace in the Constellation Isles. “I couldn’t possibly impose like that,” he said.

“Nonsense,” she said. “I want you to.”

Strange as it sounded, he believed her, and realized that he had just found out for himself what people meant when they talked about American hospitality.

“Your staying with me would also give us a reason for you to be in town,” she went on. “We’ll pass you off as Luke Hansson, an old friend of mine, while I get you together with women around here.”

He still wasn’t convinced it would be that easy. “Even with a different name, won’t I be recognizable?”

She had an answer for that, too. “You would be, if we didn’t change your appearance.”

“Change my appearance? How?”

“There’s only one way that a face that appears with such regularity on newsstands the world over is going to gain any kind of anonymity, even in a place like Anders Point,” she said seriously. “And I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

Neither did he, whatever it was. “What is it?” he asked cautiously.

“Well, the way I see it, the one thing that would work is if you get rid of your most recognizable feature. Your trademark.”

He leaned his forearms on the table. “Miss Lane—”

“Annah.”

“Are you suggesting that I shave my beard?”

“Oh no, I’m more than suggesting. I’m insisting.”

He pushed his chair back from the table. “Unthinkable,” he said with finality.

She crossed her arms. “If you don’t, you’ll never get away with this. Especially around women.”

“No.”

The word hung in the air between them for several minutes, while they faced off. “Then you’ll just have to come up with another plan on your own,” she said finally. “This is the only plan I have, and the only way it will work.”

Getting up from the table, he put another log on the fire and watched as the flames engulfed it. He lingered there long after he needed to for the sake of fire building, thinking about what she had said.

Annah watched the flickering light play across his brooding features while she cleared the table and stacked the dishes in the dishwasher. She was tempted to break the silence, but there was really nothing more to say. It was up to him now.

When she was finished, she could see that he was still weighing her plan in his mind. “I’ll tell you what,” she said. “I’m going home now, so you can finish thinking this over. But you need to make a decision tonight.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the castle is supposed to be empty.” Whit and Drew were honeymooning, and the caretaker was on vacation. “I can explain away the lights here this evening, because I’ve got a set of keys and a strong need to borrow an industrial-size coffeepot,” she said. “But if you’re here in the morning, the jig is up. You’ll be Prince Lucas, princess hunting in Anders Point.”

He registered that without a word, then disappeared while she was packing up her bags. A few minutes later, he came back with her jacket. He helped her put it on, then carried the big coffee urn for her.

Outside, her car was running. She looked at him.

“I thought I’d get it warmed up for you,” he said.

She found herself speechless at his thoughtfulness. He must have noticed her putting the keys in her jacket pocket when she arrived.

He opened the door for her. “Get in,” he said gruffly. “You must be freezing out here.”