Temporarily His Princess by Olivia Gates Page A

on both this time, as hard as she could.
    “No, we’re not going to Castaldini,” she hissed.
    He caught his lower lip in beautiful white teeth, wincing in evident enjoyment at her violence, rubbing the sting of her blow as if to drive it deeper, not away. “Why not?”
    She barely held from whacking him again. “Because you conned me.”
    “I did no such thing.”
    “When you said we were flying, I assumed it would be to another city or at most another state.”
    “Am I responsible for your faulty assumptions? I gave you all the clues, said I’m taking you where the most exclusive jewelry on the planet awaits you. Where did you think that was?”
    “I didn’t realize you were playing Trivial Pursuit at the time. And why go all this way for a ring? What’s that hyperbole about Castaldinian jewelry? Is that exaggerated national pride where you claim everything in Castaldini is the best in history?”
    “I don’t know about everything, but I’m pretty sure Castaldini’s royal jewels are as exclusive as it gets.”
    “Castaldini’s royal j—” Her teeth clattered shut before she completed parroting this latest piece of astounding info. Shock surged back a moment later. “You can’t be serious! I can’t wear a ring from Castaldini’s freaking royal jewels!”
    “ You can’t be serious thinking my bride would wear anything else.”
    “I’m not your bride. I’m your decoy. And that only for a year. But as you said, a year can be a very long time. I can’t take the responsibility for something that…that priceless….” She pushed his hands away when they attempted to draw her back into his embrace. “For God’s sake, during the height of Castaldini’s economic problems, before King Ferruccio was crowned, people were saying that if only Castaldini sold half of those jewels, they’d settle the national debt!”
    “Oh, I did propose the solution. But Castaldinians would rather sell their firstborns.”
    “And you want me to wear a ring from a collection that revered, for any reason, let alone a charade? You expect me to walk around wearing a kingdom’s legacy on my finger?”
    “That’s exactly what you’ll do as my bride. In fact, you yourself will be a new national treasure. Now that’s settled…”
    “Nothing’s settled,” she spluttered, feeling she was in a whirlpool that dragged her deeper the more she struggled. “I won’t go to Castaldini. Now tell your pilot to turn back.”
    A look came into his eyes that made her itch to hit him again. One of such patient reasonableness. “You knew you’d go to Castaldini sooner rather than later.”
    “I thought you said I could say no to your blackmail.”
    His nod was equanimity itself. “I said I wouldn’t expose your family if you said no. But if you say yes, I’ll make sure they will never be exposed.”
    Ice crept into her veins again. “Wh-what do you mean?”
    “They’ve committed too many crimes. It’s only a matter of time before someone finds out what I have. Marry me and I’ll do everything in my power to wipe their trail clean.”
    “That’s just another roundabout blackmail.”
    “Actually, it’s the opposite. Before, I said I’d hurt them if you say no. Now I’m saying I’ll help them if you say yes.”
    Her head spun, her thoughts tangling like a ball of twine after a wicked cat had gotten to it. He was the feline to her own cornered mouse.
    “I don’t see how that’s different. And even if I say yes…”
    He caught her hands, pressed them into the heat of his steel muscles. “Say it, Gloria mia. Give me your consent.”
    “Even if I do…”
    “Do it. Say you’ll be my bride.”
    She squirmed away from his intensity. “Okay, okay, yes. Dude, you’re pushy.”
    He huffed mockingly. “Such eagerness. Such graciousness.”
    “If you think I owe you either, you’re out of your zillion-IQ mind. And this doesn’t mean anything’s changed. Or that’s it’s not still under duress. It certainly