Chapters (16)
“You’re a fair and practical man, Alexander.” As she took a deep breath, something beyond his shoulder caught her attention and imagination. She didn’t smile, not yet. “Let’s consider this then in a fair and practical manner.” Reaching over, she drew the scales closer. “Let’s see, we have the duties and responsibilities of state.” There were some glass balls in a jar. She took a handful and placed two on one of the scales. “Then there’s the lack of privacy.” She added another ball.
“Eve, this is no game.”
“Please, I’m trying to think this through. There’s the fact that I would no longer live in my own country.” Three balls were added. “And the fact that I would very possibly be bored to tears by some of those functions I know Brie has to attend. There’s the press, the paperwork—I believe you left that out—and the traditions I’d have to learn.” Plus the new ones she’d do her best to begin. “Then there’s Deboque.”
She looked back at Alexander. “I won’t add any pretty colored balls for Deboque. Whether I agree or refuse, he remains who he is. Now, Alex, I have to ask you one question. Why do you want me to take this ring and the responsibilities that go with it? Why are you asking me to marry you?”
“Because I love you.”
Now she did smile. The rest of the weights went in the empty scale and brought it down. “That seems to more than even things out, doesn’t it?”
He looked at them in a kind of wonder. “I had to say nothing else?”
“That’s all you’ve ever had to say.” Throwing her arms around him, she brought him to her for a kiss, a bargain sealed, a life begun. She laughed and pressed her lips to his throat. “Fairy tales,” she said, half to herself. “I’d stopped believing in them.”
“And I.” His lips found hers again. “But no more. Tonight you’ve given me even that.”
“Oh, listen.” The clock in the hall outside began to chime. “Put the ring on, Alex, before it strikes twelve.”
He slipped it on, then kissed the delicate skin just above the jewels. “Tomorrow we’ll tell the world, but tonight this is only for us.” He rose then and drew her to her feet. “I haven’t fed you, and it’s after midnight.”
“I could eat in bed, Alex.” She rested her cheek against his chest, holding on to the magic. “Franco didn’t say I had to get into bed alone.”
He laughed as he swept her up. “Cordina is in for many surprises.”
“So are you,” she murmured.
If you liked Command Performance, look for the other novels in the Cordina’s Royal Family series: Affaire Royale, The Playboy Prince, and Cordina’s Crown Jewel, available as eBooks from InterMix.