Propositioned By The Prince: The Prince's Pregnant Bride

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He returned late at night, sticky and tired from combing through the jungle. It probably hadn’t done his soul much good that he was hoping against hope that they’d find a body, not a live Vanu with an ugly smirk on his face. As it turned out, they’d found nothing at all and the search was scheduled to resume the following morning.

No one spoke much at dinner, and Priia retired early, begging a headache.

Lani seemed very tense, avoiding his gaze. No doubt she felt guilty that she’d made love to another man while her husband might still be alive.

“It’s not your fault,” he murmured. “You had no idea he might still be out there.”

“I know.” She didn’t meet his gaze. “No one could have known.”

“The fire chief thinks he’s alive.” He studied her face. A muscle spasmed in her cheek. “They found traces of a fire in another natural cave. Looks like someone stayed there.”

“That’s wonderful.” Lani’s voice sounded oddly hollow. “It would be such a miracle for him to survive for so long by himself.”

“He never was the rugged, outdoors type.” AJ frowned.

It was hard to imagine Vanu picking a berry to feed himself, let alone lighting a fire. He’d required a large staff just to get dressed in the morning. “But I suppose anything is possible. People can act differently in a life-or-death situation.”

“Yes.” Lani sat ramrod straight. Unapproachable. Not that he’d even think of trying to touch her now. How odd, when he’d enjoyed touching almost every inch of her luscious body only hours earlier.

His life seemed to be spinning like a weather vane in the wind lately. He’d had calls from L.A. this afternoon asking if—due to the shift in circumstance—he’d be back to oversee the edits for Hellcat. He’d replied honestly: that he had no idea.

The dim light in the dining room picked out the gold threaded through Lani’s lustrous hair. Soon, perhaps Vanu would be running his bony fingers through it again. AJ fought a wave of revulsion. “How are you feeling? I’m sure the stress must be hard on you when you’re pregnant.”

“I’m okay.” She shot him a wary glance with those wide, honey-colored eyes.

He cursed the surge of lust that jolted through him. “Must be a little odd to be dangling between two men like this.” His words sounded cruel, and maybe that’s what he intended. Pain tightened his muscles and hardened his heart.

Lani shuddered and a small sob escaped her mouth. “It’s terrible.”

AJ’s hands itched to reach out and touch hers. But that would only deepen his torment. “No one will ever know what happened between us today. It’ll be yet another secret we’ll keep forever.”

Lani nodded. Tears glittered in her eyes. “Yes. I won’t tell anyone. Especially Vanu.”

AJ’s flesh crawled at the thought of her talking to Vanu again, sharing intimacies. In such a short time he’d developed powerful feelings for Lani. He’d never felt anything like them before in all his years of adventures with the fairer sex.

And the child. His initial revulsion at the deception had quickly transformed into a firm conviction that he could raise this child and love it as his own. He’d been prepared to lie and pretend and carry out a charade to everyone else’s fantasy of the perfect royal family come true.

He glanced up and saw Lani’s delicate profile turned to look out the window. Just yesterday his bold and tender new feelings had been convenient rather than crazy. Now they were disastrous. He had to comfort and support the woman he craved as she hoped and prayed for the safe return of her husband.

Pain crashed over him in an untidy wave. He staggered to his feet and sucked in a breath of moist night air.

He’d spent his childhood in his brother’s shadow, and now it stretched out from the grave to cast him into darkness once again.

Lani didn’t love him. Didn’t have any feelings for him other than a sense of duty and some rather unexpected lust. He’d been fool enough to mistake that for far more.

He’d never let himself make that mistake again.

Lani paced back and forth in her room all morning. The crews were out for the second day, combing through the jungle on the uninhabited atoll.

She hated the way they described it as “searching for Vanu,” as if they’d find him there, perhaps lazing on a sandy beach, waiting for them to take him home. No one said anything as grim as “hoping to recover a body.” Priia wouldn’t hear any of that. As far as she was concerned, he was alive and well and on his way home.

And Lani knew she was probably cursed to eternal damnation for hoping otherwise.

How could she wish someone dead? Only a truly evil person would have a thought like that. Obviously she wasn’t the “nice” girl AJ had originally mistaken her for. She’d certainly jumped on him with reckless abandon, and she couldn’t even blame it on “duty” anymore. She’d made no effort to hide her lusty enjoyment of AJ’s body.

She blew out hard. Everything had been so perfect for those few brief hours. Now she was back, snared in the web of pretense and pain that had been her marriage to Vanu. Pretending to be happy—or at least content—while inside she was longing for freedom.

A knock on the door startled her.

“Dinner is ready.” The shy girl servant darted in and out like a lizard. No one would look her in the eye since Vanu’s boat was found. They’d all been so thrilled about the plans for the wedding and AJ’s return to Rahiri, and now they were supposed to be overjoyed about Vanu’s possible survival.

No one knew what to think or how to behave. Least of all Lani. AJ was giving her the cold shoulder, too. She understood that he was in an awkward situation, but it was upsetting to suddenly feel as if she couldn’t talk to him.

She wandered along the hallway slowly, not looking forward to the meal. Terrified of any further news of Vanu’s miraculous survival.

When she arrived in the dining room, she saw Priia sitting in her usual chair, sobbing, while AJ wrapped his arms around her.

All the servants hung their heads and ducked their gazes as she passed.

“They found his body.” AJ looked up and mouthed the words softly, then tugged his gaze away immediately.

Relief welled inside her like a flood. “Oh, no,” she managed, trying to sound upset. Her hands started shaking and her heart pounded. She wanted to jump up and down or shout because she’d been so afraid of being Vanu’s plaything again. Happy tears sprang to her eyes and she let them roll down her cheeks.

She resisted a sharp urge to ask for details to make his death real, but managed to restrain herself. What did it matter how he died, as long as he was really gone for good.

AJ looked up at her tears, then glanced away. Priia’s sobbing was merciless, inconsolable, as it had been in those first days and nights after Vanu disappeared.

“I’m so sorry, Mama,” whispered Lani. She stroked Priia’s hand. “It was too much of a miracle to hope for.” Her own tears splashed into her mother-in-law’s lap and mingled with Priia’s, despite their very different motivations.

“At least we’ll have his child,” rasped Priia. Lani’s eyes widened. Apparently in her grief she was forgetting that no one knew about the pregnancy. She glanced around. The servants had tactfully left the room. Still…

AJ’s brow was lowered and his expression dark. He wouldn’t meet her gaze.

“The child will give us something to live for,” continued Priia, through her sobs. “It does seem cruel that we have to go through mourning him again. I was finally coming to terms with his loss, and now…” Her shoulders shook.

Lani squeezed her hand. “We’ll just have to go on as best we can.”

“I’ve got some phone calls to make.” AJ’s voice was gruff. Lani looked up, startled, as he strode from the room. She wanted to run after him, to ask him for details about Vanu’s death—perhaps to reassure herself that this time he really was dead.

She also wanted reassurance that everything was still okay between them.

Her stomach contracted and a wave of nausea rose through her. Her first in several days. She had a grim feeling that everything had changed between her and AJ. That Vanu’s unexpected reappearance, even in death, had somehow ruined everything.

AJ stormed along the palace corridor, blood pounding in his brain. How had he ever thought this could work? Had he really believed he could step into Vanu’s shoes—precious Vanu, the beloved eldest son who could do no wrong—and take over?

Ridiculous. He must have been totally addled by lust. It was hard to blame himself because, after all, Lani was undeniably one of the most beautiful women on earth. He’d let desire interfere with his common sense and even convinced himself that she had feelings for him.

But of course she hadn’t fallen madly in love with him right after her husband’s death. She was still in shock, especially with the pregnancy messing up her hormones. He’d come on way too strong and she’d reacted as she felt she was supposed to. Just trying to be a “nice Rahiian maiden,” when all along she was carrying a torch for Vanu.

He shoved into his room. The room he’d spent his childhood in and been glad to leave. Which seemed ungrateful, since not many people would complain about spacious chambers in a royal palace. But they’d felt like a prison to him once, and now the decorative carvings started to look like bars again. He’d almost—almost—been trapped into living someone else’s life.

He picked up the phone and pushed the third button on his speed dial. His producer, Jerry. When Jerry answered he didn’t mince words. “I’ll be back tomorrow. Sooner if I can get a flight.”

“But I thought your brother turned up dead.”

“He did.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that so crudely. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I know. It’s okay.” Being honest that you were glad someone was dead was one of the last taboos left.

“Doesn’t that mean that you need to take over?”

“You can’t take over from a living god, and I’m not going to walk in his shadow the rest of my life. I’ve got a good life in L.A. and I’m coming back to it.”

“Isn’t there some tradition that you have to marry your brother’s wife?” Jerry’s tone didn’t hide his curiosity—the same kind of prurient interest that had sent the media chasing down to Rahiri to ogle them.

“There was, but I’m breaking with it. Why should she be forced into marrying someone she doesn’t care about?” Not to mention giving her late husband’s baby to him to raise. His chest tightened.

“That is a bit heavy. Still, you two looked good together on Entertainment Tonight.”

“Jerry, you and I know better than anyone how easy it is to create an illusion with a camera.”

“Too true. Well, if you’re ready, we’ll soon be right back at it. Give me a call when you hit town and we’ll hash through some details.”

“Perfect.”

AJ put down the phone, a mixture of conviction and regret mingling in his heart. What a vivid fantasy it had been, for a few brief days. King AJ and his lovely family, ruling the island paradise he’d finally come home to.

Way too sappy to put in a movie, so why would he think it could happen in real life?

He jerked open the closet door and grabbed an armful of clothes off the rack. Shoved them right into his suitcase. He didn’t need servants to fold and fluff everything for him. He’d gotten along just fine without them for over a decade and he was damned if he’d turn into a spoiled fop like Vanu.

He went into the bathroom and swiped his toiletries off the marble shelf and into a plastic bag. A scan of the room confirmed that he’d removed all traces of his brief presence.

Now to confront Lani.

His chest ached. He’d so much rather have slipped away without seeing her again. Experience had proved he didn’t have much self-control around her. Getting to know her hadn’t helped, either. Did he really have to find out that she was warm and thoughtful as well as gorgeous? It would have been better if he’d left right after the funeral.

He would have preferred as well not to know how responsive and exciting she was during sex. If that’s how she performed with a man she was being forced to marry while still mourning her husband, imagine what she’d be like if she was really in love?

Don’t. There was no point in thinking about what-ifs. He was not going to participate in this arranged marriage charade any longer.

He zipped up his suitcase and pulled out the handle. Soon he’d be marching along the corridors at LAX, a free man again.

Finding Lani wasn’t easy. He walked all over the palace, asking everyone he met for almost an hour, tension building in his muscles, before he finally tracked her down on a stone bench by a reflecting pool in the garden.

She glanced up, startled, as he approached.

“Don’t worry. I’m not staying.” He almost growled the words, then regretted his hostile tone. This whole mess wasn’t really her fault. She’d been bullied into it, the same way he had.

He glanced at the round pool, where reflected leaves danced across its shimmering surface, hiding its depths from view. “You’ll be a good queen until the baby comes of age. The elders are wise and thoughtful and really don’t need any help to run the country, though I’m sure they’ll welcome new ideas about education and—”

“You’re not really leaving.” Her eyes widened.

“I really am. Booked on tonight’s flight. Back on the course I should have stuck with from day one.” Before he’d become intrigued, then utterly seduced, by her.

Her face totally still, she stared at him, apparently lost for words. And why should she have to come up with words? They were all tired of saying things they didn’t mean. She that she was thrilled to be marrying a total stranger, he that he was so sad his rotten older brother was dead. Enough with the pretense.

“It’ll be hard on Mom. That’s the one part I really regret.”

Lani blinked. He saw her shoulders stiffen. “Yes. But why are you leaving? Is it because of me?” Her lips tightened.

“It’s not because of you.” He shoved a hand through his hair. He owed her his honesty after all they’d been through over the last few days. “If anything, you’re the reason I almost made the wrong decision to stay. You’re a good person, Lani, as well as a very beautiful one. But you’re my brother’s wife, not mine. I can’t step into his life and walk in his footsteps. I have my own life that I made for myself, and that’s where I need to be.”

“Everyone wants you to stay.” Her voice was oddly hollow.

AJ straightened his back. “Everyone? I doubt it. I don’t think people pay much more attention to who’s in the palace than to who’s on Instant Millionaire every Wednesday. I’m going to make an announcement to the media so there won’t be any guessing and suspense.”

“Have you told Priia yet?” Lani twisted her hands into her skirt.

AJ’s stomach clenched. “I’m going to tell her now, and I know it won’t be easy.”

“She’ll be devastated.”

“I know, but it can’t be helped.” Better than entering into a marriage with a woman who hadn’t chosen him, and who’d never stop being his brother’s wife.

Lani looked down at her lap, avoiding his glance. Maybe she resented the fact that he’d decided to put emotion before duty. After all, she’d demonstrated her readiness to sacrifice everything for the good of Rahiri.

He wasn’t made of such stern stuff.

And he really did want her to be happy. “I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly.” His voice softened. “And that the birth is uneventful. You’ll be able to tell everyone that it’s Vanu’s baby now. No more living a lie.”

Lani swallowed. “Yes. I suppose that’s good.” Her voice sounded flat. “Things did get awfully complicated.”

“Which should have been the first clue we were heading in the wrong direction.” His fingers itched to touch her, just one last time. To feel her soft skin beneath his palm and inhale her delicate floral scent.