Scorched (Surrender #4)(19)
Author: Melody Anne

“I thought we were in Corythia,” she said as she stood by his side, looking out at the vast ocean before them.

“We are. It’s just a small island off the coast of the main island,” he said. It wasn’t as if she would know where they were, even if she did manage to get to a phone — she’d left her cell phone with GPS built in at the resort. He still had six days to convince her that marrying him was the right thing to do.

Adriane had no doubt that Rafe would be able to locate him. It might take the man a little while to do it, but her brother wasn’t one to give up. This bought him some time, but Adriane knew Corythia couldn’t afford the diplomatic and consequently the financial fallout if Rachel didn’t come around to his way of thinking. His nation’s life’s blood, tourism, could take a devastating hit if he weren’t careful.

If Rachel still refused him after their week was up, he would have no choice but to let her go. There was no need for her to know that, though. He needed her to stay, needed her to be there with him to raise the child she carried. His child.

Luckily, the thought of being married to her didn’t repulse him. Not at all. He was beginning to picture a life with her, a life quite to his liking. The two of them created sparks together that he couldn’t ever see going away. She was a challenge, but even in their short time together, he found that he not only desired her, but also liked her.

Duty, his need to do the right thing, was beginning to turn into a pleasure for him, even with her constant battle against him. Maybe because of it.

And that helped him focus on his efforts to keep her.

“No wonder you have been so confident. All the while I have been making my plans of escape, you knew there was no chance that I’d get off this island on my own,” she said, now sounding defeated.

Her sudden change from outrage to despair — that was something he definitely didn’t like. Adriane turned toward her and noticed her lack of color. She didn’t look well. All traces of his frustration and anger evaporated as he looked into her eyes.

“Rachel, let’s get you back inside,” he said gently, and he placed a hand beneath her elbow.

“I don’t want your help,” she bit out, wrenching her arm from his as she spun around.

Adriane was going to let her go back on her own, but then he saw the trembling in her legs, and he held out his arms just in time to catch her as her eyes rolled back and she fell against him.

Lifting her, he raced back up to the castle and called for the doctor to meet him in her room.

This time, she wasn’t out nearly as long as before. The doctor examined her, and found she still wasn’t eating enough, her body was working too hard, and she wasn’t getting enough rest.

“Am I making it worse by keeping her here?” Adriane asked, hoping the answer was no.

“Honestly, Sire, I don’t know. She’s having a difficult pregnancy, and she had these problems before you brought her to Corythia. I think she needs to have constant supervision until she gets stronger. If you think she will get that back home, then maybe it would be best for her to go there.”

Adriane stood outside her door and thought about that. No. His Rachel was stubborn and didn’t like to ask for help. She wouldn’t seek it out, leaving her and his child in danger. This situation might cause her a little more stress, but at least he could ensure she was taken care of while she was in his sight.

“Thank you. No. She won’t take care of herself. She is much better off here, with you to keep an eye on her,” Adriane said before dismissing his physician.

He paced up and down the hallway as he waited to go and see her. It wouldn’t do him or her any good if he went in there barking at her. He needed to make sure he had himself fully under control before he spoke with her.

After looking at her door, he turned and resumed his pacing. This might take a while.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RACHEL PACED, TOO, once she began feeling better. The crackers and warm tea had done amazing things for her body, giving her back energy and taking away all traces of morning sickness. She still didn’t feel at a hundred percent, but it would do.

Good enough for the next confrontation with Adriane. She knew it was coming.

As if on cue, the man stepped into the room, once again not bothering to knock. Why should he? the arrogant ass was no doubt thinking, if he was thinking at all. It was his castle and he felt he had rights to every room in the place. But if she was stuck here for a few days with him, he was going to have to learn that wasn’t the case. She valued her privacy.

“This fighting is not doing your body any good. Can we please come to a reasonable solution, Rachel?” he asked, his voice low, as if he were doing something foreign. She was sure he wasn’t used to asking for anything.

He’d be learning how to do so as long as he was in her presence.

“The solution is for you to accept the fact that I’m not marrying you — certainly not just because I’m pregnant with your baby,” she told him.

“That’s not a solution, Rachel. I’ve told you that I can’t abandon my child,” he said as he sat down on her bed.

Not good at all. Having him there was calling up all sorts of wrong images in Rachel’s head. She cursed at herself for feeling any desire for him. Why did she have to go through this every time he came close to her?

As she stared at him in his harem-inspired room, he looked more like a king than ever before. How had there ever been a time she’d thought him just a simple man? Even in Florida, he’d exhibited a grace no regular man could possess.

That’s why she’d been so attracted to him. Now, however, it was a thorn for her to deal with. OK, so she was drawn toward the wrong sort of man — obviously — but that was something she was determined to fix about herself.

“Look, Adriane, I’m not princess material. I’m just a woman — a woman who has lived a good life, with great parents. I don’t want to be responsible for a kingdom. I don’t want people to watch me beneath a microscope. If I feel like wearing workout clothes, eating ice cream all day, and not putting on makeup, then I want to do that. I don’t want to be all over the media, to have to think about every decision I make, to be worried that I may embarrass your country. I just want to be me,” Rachel said as she sank down beside him on the bed. Maybe she could make him see reason.

“It’s too late for that, Rachel. And you don’t have to worry. You won’t be a princess,” he assured her.