Marrying Her Royal Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page A

unusual .”
    “Say yes, Kostas, or this isn’t happening.”
    He gave her a long look. “ Kala. You can have a seat on the council. But I warn you it will not be an easy ride. Akathinia may be enlightened, but Carnelia is still stuck in the Dark Ages.”
    “I like a challenge. Clearly. Second, I will continue my work with the current organizations I support unless my schedule proves to be excessive.”
    “I have no problem with that. You do great work. What you cannot do is waltz around active war zones. It’s too risky.”
    Heat lanced through her. “I do not waltz , Kostas. The photograph of me with those children raised millions of dollars toward the support of a regional disarmament treaty.”
    He tilted his head. “An unfortunate choice of words. But the fact remains, I need my queen alive.”
    Not because he cared, because she was of value to him.
    “Third,” she continued, “you will not take a mistress. Should you do so, I will have the power to divorce you immediately. It will not require a decree signed by government.”
    “I’m not your father, Stella. I have no intention of indulging in affairs. Why would I when I have a woman like you in my bed?”
    Her gaze rested on his. “Speaking of which, this will be a political marriage. As such, I will not be under duress to sleep with you.”
    His gaze narrowed. “That might be a problem given the fact I need to produce an heir quickly in order to secure the Laskos line. Also, your fourth point seems to be in direct contradiction to your third. I can’t have a mistress, but we aren’t going to have sex?”
    She waved a hand at him. “The heir—we can make that happen.”
    “How does that work?” He took a step closer, dwarfing her with his height and breadth. “We have conjugal visits? I seek you out when the temperature is right?”
    She tilted her head back to look up at him, every cell in her body going on high alert at the proximity of such blatant masculinity. “Something like that.”
    A dark glitter filled his gaze. “Setting yourself up as a martyr, Stella? The sacrificial lamb sent to slaughter for the king’s pleasure?”
    Her chin lifted. “I would not be the first princess to sacrifice myself to the call of duty. History is littered with them. We are valued for our beauty and poise, our compassion and empathy , but in the end are viewed as nothing more than glorified broodmares.”
    He gave her a long look. “I am offering you far more than that. This would be a true partnership.”
    “Along with the heir you so urgently require.”
    He flicked a hand at her. “What happens when you are not acting as my broodmare ? When I have normal male urges?”
    Her cheeks flamed at the erotic image that spurred in her head. She knew what he looked like from that night she’d waited for him in his bed...knew how heart-stoppingly virile he was in every respect. It made the blood coursing through her veins fizzle with heat. Singe her skin.
    Diavole , but this was not how this was supposed to go. She lifted her chin higher, a belligerent expression on her face. “That’s not for me to figure out, Kostas. That’s your job.”
    “Is it?” His gaze touched her fiery cheeks. “I think when you let go of the past, when you finally forgive me, when you acknowledge how good we are together, we will be as potent a match in the bedroom as we will be ruling my country.”
    “No,” she said, even as a pulse of electricity ran between them, magnifying the sizzle in her blood. “That isn’t going to happen. Women are objects to you. I am a means to an end. I would be stupid to forget that and cede power to you.”
    “You will be my wife , the woman by my side, not an object.” His dark lashes arced over his cheeks. “And who said you would be ceding power? Just because I walked away from you that night didn’t mean I didn’t want you, Stella. That I haven’t replayed that scenario in my head with a far different outcome. You would have