Page 76 of The Billionaire's Royal Challenge

Warm hands wrapped around her shoulders, giving them a gentle massage. She stiffened instinctively.

“I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot,” he purred in her ear.

With a shrug, she slid from under his grasp and stalked across the room, putting the desk between them. “I do not. I’m sorry, Eric, but I do not love you.”

“Yet,” he answered.

“Never,” she shot back. “I am in love with Nathan Kingsley. He is the man I have chosen. I am sorry. I do realize this may not be what you hoped for, but it was unavoidable. And truthfully, is it so bad? Surely, you would prefer to find your own spouse.”

He clasped his hands behind his back, reminding her of her father when he prepared to give her a lecture. “No, it is not at all what I hoped for. As I understood it, we were to announce our engagement at the end of this visit. I arrived with what I hoped would be a lovely gesture for my soon-to-be bride, only to have the rug pulled out from under me.”

Elena heaved a sigh, trying to keep her patience and understand his point of view. But each word felt like a weight, dragging the conversation longer than she could bear. “I am very sorry for you, Eric. I do feel quite badly. I had suggested we inform you before your arrival, but my father did not agree.”

“With good reason, Elena,” he answered, his voice even.

She screwed up her face. “What does that mean?”

“Because you are not engaged to that other man yet. And youshould not be.”

Elena flexed her jaw as she blew out a long breath through her flared nostrils. “You may not dictate my life.”

“But your father may. And I have expressed my interest in having your hand.”

Elena slid her eyes closed. “Eric, my patience is wearing thin.”

“I believe your patience to be nonexistent the way you stormed in here. Though, I do not mind. I quite admire your feistiness.”

“I do not admire the way you speak down to me as though I am a child,” she said as she gritted her teeth.

He glanced at his feet with a shake of his head. “It seems I can do no right. Perhaps we ought to break from this conversation and reconvene when we have both had some time to allow our tempers to cool.”

“There is no need to continue the conversation, Eric. I have already told you. You are not my choice.”

“But why?” he demanded, heat entering his voice. “Why am I not your choice, Elena? Give me good reasons beyond the ridiculous ones.”

“Ridiculous ones? Love is not a ridiculous reason to choose someone.”

“Love changes, Elena. What you feel for Mr. Kingsley may be enchanting now, but what if it fades? What then? Will he still stand by your side as you attend to all the duties required of you as Queen? It is my understanding that your relationship developed under his assumption that you were a normal woman, not one bound by duty.”

Elena swallowed hard as Nate’s request of her to abdicate snaked through her mind. She shoved it aside, intent on staying true to him. “But we have nothing–“

“Yet,” he interrupted. “Nothing yet, Elena. Have you no concerns whatsoever about your relationship with himmoving forward? Has he integrated that seamlessly into royal life?”

“Royal life is not that difficult to integrate into,” she challenged, “and given his work at GenoTech, he is quite used to social engagements being part of life.” She shook her head, waving her hands in the air. “Wait, stop. I will not defend my choices to you, there is no need.”

He crossed to her, pulling her into his arms. “There is every need. I could be the man for you. You feel the need to defend them because you are unsure yourself. Admit it. Admit that you have reservations. That’s all I need to hear.”

She pushed away from him with a shake of her head. “But I don’t.”

He heaved a sigh. “Elena, I do wish you would see reason here. We are well-matched. And if you’d let me, I would very much like to show you that I can light your heart on fire as much as he can. I’m really not so bad, am I?”

“I am not certain marriage should be based on reason and ticked boxes as much as it should be based on love and commitment to the other person.”

“I can provide you both if you’ll let me. Give me the chance.”

She let her gaze fall to the thick rug beneath her feet. “But I would only be setting you up for failure. Toying with you, stringing you along when I have no intention–“

“Yet,” he said again.

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