Prince of Lies [COMPLETED]

Chapter 25

Arabella sank back into the chair and dropped her head in her hands. "What a mess. I shouldn't have come."

Frederick knelt by her side. "It's not your fault. You handled all the evening's rudeness with grace. So I have to thank you for sparing my father. I didn't expect you to let him walk away."

She scowled at him. "Frederick, what do you think I am? I would never harm the man you call your father. And I can see why. He loves you dearly."

"Oh, I think quite highly of you, woman," he said with a grin. "Remarkable, really. I only thanked you for sparing him because I was about to break his teeth in if not for your misguided apology."

She shook her head. "Break his teeth in? That's just awful, Frederick. And let me guess—you'd love to show me off around this place to embarrass him. Perhaps you'd like to stay married to me to piss him off?"

"No," he said quietly. "I'd like to stay married to you because I haven't had enough of you yet. Do you know how much I thought of you in these last two weeks alone? Take a guess."

Her tiny fang dented her bottom lip. "I wouldn't know. Did you think about me—even once?"

"Try every minute of the damn day," he said as seriously as possible. "I barely slept. Just look at me and see it for yourself."

She searched his face. "You do look exhausted, lover. But I doubt it's because of me."

"That's what you think?"

She stretched the long fabric of her sleeve, as if shy and needing a reason not to look at him. "I don't know, Freddie. Sometimes it feels like you hardly care about me at all."

"I hardly care?" he murmured. "I'm not the one who didn't show up to dinner after what we did in the stables."

She raised her brow. "You didn't say a word to me on the way from the stables to the castle. I didn't think you wanted to speak to me."

When they'd finished in that stable, he'd kissed her face tenderly, wanting to fuck her all over again. "You seemed ... distant. Like you didn't want to speak with me when we were finished. I thought you were cross with me. That you hated what we did."

"Well," she said, scratching her throat with her long black nails, "I might have hated one thing you did."

He rubbed the back of his head, no longer able to meet her eyes. "Gods, I'm sorry, Ara. I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to—with the grabbing—"

"No, not the choking. That drove me wild. I'm talking about what happened after."

"After ..." He raised his head. "You're talking about the way I finished?"

"Yes, Frederick. The way you finished. That was highly offensive."

His mind reeled with shock. "I didn't think you'd be mad at me for that. But you and I never discussed whether we wanted children, so I didn't want to do that to you without knowing what you wanted first."

She raised both dark brows. "Oh, really?"

"It's the truth."

"No, the truth is that you don't think I'm worthy of bearing your children. And perhaps I'm not. But gods, knowing you feel so strongly about my unsuitability for you really pissed me off."

"Ara," he said softly, taking her hand, "if anyone is unworthy, it's me. All right?"

Her irises flickered between red and brown. "You're such a bloody liar."

"Ara," he rasped, squeezing her hand, "I mean it. If I'd known that you weren't opposed to the idea of us having children ... would you have wanted me to come inside you?"