Captured and Crowned by Janette Kenny Page A

people. She’d spoken with the Angyrans on their level. She’d gained their trust.
    They saw her as one of them, soon to be elevated to the exalted role of Queen. Because of her impending marriage to him, they accepted Kristo as King. For now.
    All in all it was enough to boost Kristo’s much lagging ego as he made the trip back to the palace. Now if he could come to terms with his bride-to-be as easily…
    He desired her. There was no denying that. But he would never trust her.
    As for the love she sought…
    It was unbelievable that she thought he could ever lose his heart to her—that she’d even want his affection.
    Even if he had been prone to fall victim to such tenderemotions—which he most certainly was not!—he’d never fall in love with the woman who’d betrayed his brother.
    His one concession—or was it in actuality a weakening toward her?—was allowing Demetria to design her wedding gown. That could have been a mistake. Not that she wasn’t more than capable of designing a gown that would be much celebrated, that would rival any designer in the world, and would surely make him proud to have her on his arm!
    No, the problem rested in that he feared she would continue to ask for more. If he wasn’t watchful, she’d eat away at his defenses to gain more and more freedoms. Like her eagerness to take over the task of conservationist.
    The very idea of her doing that boggled his mind. He suspected she’d put the same passion into that as she did everything else.
    It would be like her to turn even that into a national holiday. He would not put it past her to create T-shirts for the school-children to wear. Perhaps host a parade to celebrate the sea turtles returning to nest.
    And she’d be away from the palace more than she was there.
    If he were not watchful she’d likely usurp his role as King. Already she had the people’s favor!
    She tested his patience at every turn. Yet he wanted to make love with her so badly he physically ached.
    In fact when he reached the palace it took effort to find his own apartment instead of hers. Even then, as he collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion, his last coherent thought was the pleasure he’d feel if she was lying in his arms.
    Â 
    Despite his short night, Kristo was up at six, savoring his coffee while he carefully checked the stock market online. It was a ritual he’d established long ago, when he’d been inthe process of tripling his fortune. As it stood now, he was wealthier than any of his relatives—though he suspected Mikhael would rival him in that regard soon.
    His concentration was broken when Vasos marched into his apartment, and by the look on the bodyguard’s face he dreaded the news. “We have a problem.”
    â€œWhat now?” he asked, curious as to why Vasos had marched directly to the television and turned it on.
    A leading celebrity gossip TV show out of Athens filled the screen. “Your upcoming marriage is this morning’s top story.”
    â€œWe’ve not hidden the fact that we are to marry in a little more than a week,” Kristo said, having no interest in listening to the show’s fanfare.
    â€œWait,” Vasos said when he made to turn it off. “There is far more to the story than that.”
    Before Kristo could question his bodyguard, a picture of Demetria filled the screen. In the background was another image, one of an older man he didn’t recognize.
    â€œOur sources have discovered that there is much speculation regarding Demetria Andreou’s birth,” the immaculately garbed reporter said. “Less than a year before Demetria was born, her mother had a torrid affair with a noted Italian vintner.”
    Kristo stared in stunned silence as the reporter gave the highlights regarding Demetria’s mother’s story. Like Demetria, she’d been affianced to a wealthy Greek. And, like her daughter,