A Prince's Ransom: Kidnapped by the Billionaire (21 page)

Eric’s slow inward breath sounded physically painful as he attempted to restrain himself, probably against the idea of leaping at the redhead and strangling her. Katherine wasn’t really opposed to that idea, but it probably wouldn’t help right now.

But he wasn’t the one to speak; instead, Annette—
Queen
Annette, she thought desperately—moved closer, examining Katherine pointedly. At least she was appropriately dressed at the moment, and not in some ridiculous dress or miniskirt or some other thing that would absolutely undermine her. She had enough to contend with right now.

“You do have good taste in girls, Eric,” the queen remarked, her accent much thicker than her son’s, and Katherine found herself uncertain if she should take that as a compliment or not. “Although I do share some of Brigitte’s reservation about engaging with her in this matter. What we have heard suggests she is not…” The older woman trailed off, and Kat took a deep breath.

“Ultimately, it matters very little what this girl is like,” Grégory interposed, shaking his head. “Because arrangements have indeed been made for you to marry Brigitte—and you know very well that we are not a family to break our promises, regardless of what shine you have taken to others.”

“Arrangements made against my wishes and without my consent,” Eric countered immediately. “And with the assumption that I should accept them simply because they are your will—not even because we need what Brigitte’s family would give us in return for marriage. That, more than anything else, I staunchly refuse. Furthermore, regardless of what Brigitte has surely told you about Katherine, she is a bright, capable young woman who could do very well at my side given half the chance.” The prince had found his composure, steeling himself against his fury and indignation and delivering all of this without faltering once. Of course, it wasn’t lost on Katherine that all of them were speaking in English only for her benefit. That was a great feeling.

“Eric, you require a partner to rule beside you. Someone versed in affairs of state who can offer you true insight into how to govern a country and a people,” Annette said, turning to face him, clearly trying to appeal through motherly cajoling. “And you have a duty to your family and this country to provide an heir.”

“To
someday
provide an heir,” he corrected, refusing to hear it. “I have little reason indeed to start providing one
this very moment
, never mind the fact that I will do so far more efficiently with someone of my own choice and whom I actually find attractive. And you have taught me the ways in which I might rule on my own, at least for a time. I am more than equipped to handle such responsibility while I search for the right woman to sit beside me on that throne.” Katherine’s heart plummeted into her stomach: search for her? And yet, as if he had heard the thought, Eric’s eyes turned to her. “Or to allow her time to grow accustomed to such a role.”

“Oh please!” Brigitte snapped, sitting up in her chair and glaring between the two of them. “This girl will never grow accustomed to such a role, Eric, and you know that perfectly well. You just want to be able to make the decisions you want without someone to undermine them in the way a wife would be able to, assuming she knew how. Katherine would be your patsy, as the Americans would say, someone for you to shove off bad decisions on even though she would never know they were bad decisions when you made them! They’ll be calling her the next Marie Antoinette, ‘let them eat cake!’ and other ridiculous stereotypes like that! You would willingly put this girl in a situation that she would never be able to handle, simply because of your arrogance.”

Eric’s fury reignited itself instantly as he looked to the Lady. “And you just want to stake a claim on a throne that your family has been trying for generations to get their hands on. You just want the power and the queenship so that you can continue to be the apple of this country’s eye, even though you have repeatedly shown yourself capable of the worst sort of cruelty. I will not let you have this throne, Brigitte, not even if I have to abdicate it and allow Élise to ascend when she comes of age!”

The declaration seemed to rock the nobles in the room to their core, because all three stared at him. Finally, Brigitte got to her feet. “You do not mean that, Eric? Handing the throne over to your little sister—”

“There is no pressing need for an heir to be ready to ascend the throne this very moment. It has only been brought up now because I am old enough and I have observed my father for long enough that I have been deemed ready for that responsibility. But if I have to, then I absolutely will let Élise take the throne instead. Once she is old enough. I have little doubt that she would make a great queen, given a bit more instruction in those tasks,” Eric replied matter-of-factly, and then his eyes narrowed with a slightly victorious glint in them. “And your family does not possess anyone whom it would be appropriate for her to marry once she was old enough, meaning you would not get the throne in any way.”

The king was tense, wary, staring at his son with raging disbelief. Katherine had a feeling that his son had never expressed anything but the utmost desire to become king—and that even as he made this declaration, he was angry with himself. But Brigitte could destroy this country. She swallowed, and then cleared her throat a little bit.

“Um, as much as I enjoy being talked about as if I’m not in the room, I think I have a bit to say about this, yeah?” All their eyes turned to her at once, and she repressed the burning desire to be swallowed by a large hole in the floor, right under the spot where she stood. “I’m not gonna lie, I am definitely not queen material right now. I’m barely adult material at this point in time, all things considered, but I’m still in college and I think that’s fair. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to marry your son yet.” She heard Eric draw in a swift breath. “But what I’ve seen the past few days, I think is just… yeah, he’s ready to rule. He can rule, he’s been able to handle everything without straining himself at all. And I don’t think it’s fair to make him marry someone he doesn’t love or even like just because of an ancient notion of royal progeny.”

Brigitte scoffed and stepped toward her. “You know nothing of my relationship with Eric! He is angry right now, of that there is no doubt, because his plan in all of this has been foiled, but that does not mean—”

“I know that I’m not the first relationship of his that you’ve sabotaged, Brigitte,” she interrupted, shaking her head. “I know that you tried to come across as having my best interests in mind as you went on about how he treats other girls, but that was because he doesn’t want you. You lied to me, you manipulated me to try and get rid of me. He came after me, though, when you chased me away. He refused to let the things you said be the only way I thought about him.”

Brigitte’s face turned as red as her hair. The longer Katherine spoke, speaking her mind because that was the way she had been taught to behave and because she didn’t have to hide behind the veil of court politics, only infuriated her ladyship even more.

“You have no idea what you are talking about! You are just some ridiculous little American girl, you cannot possibly imagine the complexities of my relationship with Eric!” she shot back with a haughty anger that almost made Katherine laugh.

“I can’t? The ‘complexity’ of your relationship with Eric is that any other guy in the world would gladly have you because you’re beautiful and smart and rich, and you have a title—but the one guy you actually want doesn’t want you. He doesn’t need any of those things to make him happy because he has those things, too. And any girl would throw herself at him to get them.”

Brigitte sneered at her. “And you, Katherine? Have you not thrown yourself at him?”

She glanced towards the prince, who was watching her intently. “Oh, trust me, I did! But I figured out pretty quick that the ones who act that way don’t appeal to His Highness. Every single day, he’s surrounded by people who do just about whatever he says. The girl who could hold his interest had better bring a lot more to the table than just willingness. Eric wasn’t interested in any of the other girls. And I offered him something else.” Katherine stopped to look at Eric, to really look at him and see him for the first time as someone who was just as trapped as he’d tried to make her. He was every bit a prisoner of the palace as she’d almost been. “Bottom line, Brigitte, to him, you’re no more interesting than any other girl he’s
supposed
to be with, and that drives you insane. You’re used to being given what you want, what you think you’re owed, but you’ve never been able to convince him that he’s one of those things.”

The words had barely left her mouth when Brigitte’s hand connected with her cheek. Katherine gasped sharply and staggered into the table beside her, catching herself hard on the wooden tabletop and shattering a plate or a bowl. Damn, for a prissy noblewoman, she hit really hard. Katherine had been hit before—a few times, usually by jealous girlfriends, admittedly—but this time she shook her head and turned back to face this girl who might well be her rival. Brigitte may be her rival, but Katherine was winning.

“You are certainly not owed him,” the redhead hissed at her, even as Grégory rushed forward to stop his son from grabbing Brigitte for what she had done. “You are just some American slut he finds modestly attractive, you are not worth his time or his energy!”

“Brigitte!” Eric shouted, his composure lost all over again. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way!”

“Eric!” his father interjected roughly, trying to make him calm down.

Katherine gently touched the tender spot of her cheek, staring up at the much taller, much lovelier girl whom she had managed to get so riled up. “You’re angry because you know I’m right. Eric will never be yours, no matter what you think of me or what he thinks of me or what his parents think of me. And all things considered, you definitely don’t deserve him.”

“I think I have heard quite enough,” Annette said quietly from where she had been standing off to the side, silently watching the argument between the two younger girls. “Certainly enough to make a decision regarding a few things. First and foremost, I think Eric is right to have taken our arrangement with you and your family with a grain of salt, Lady Brigitte. Whether or not the accusations leveled against you are entirely true, you certainly have an unpleasant demeanor when you see yourself with the possibility of losing. Thus, although it is a disagreeable matter, we will be voiding the contract regarding Eric’s impending nuptial’s to you.”

Brigitte’s green eyes widened in horror. “But—you cannot do that! We had an agreement! You promised him to me!”

“Not at the cost of him abdicating the throne, which would mean that you would not have access to the queenship,” she replied, absolutely unruffled by her announcement.

The king had released his son, who stepped forward, almost as stunned as Brigitte was. “Mother?”

Annette turned to him. “You have always been very passionate about taking the throne, and I am well aware that you would not suggest abdicating it for anything less than circumstances that you found extremely troubling. I believed that directing your attention to Brigitte officially would curb some of your… appetites... but I see now that your disinterest was borne of other matters entirely. That engagement is now broken—and I expect such matters to remain private, or they will not be the only things leaked to unflattering sources.” Her eyes flashed to the livid, panicked Brigitte, who took a step back and then fled. Katherine let out a breath, looking up at Eric. He took a protective step towards her.

“However,” the queen continued, folding her arms over her chest and lifting an entirely too speculative brow. “I have not given any sort of blessing regarding…
this
. And I do not intend to, as things stand. Amazingly enough, Katherine, holding your own in front of Brigitte suggests that you do actually have the potential to learn the art of statecraft and court politics, but it is only a potential. I will not risk the wellbeing of this country on a foreigner who first met my son through entirely inappropriate circumstances.”

Katherine winced; she had caught onto that, had she? It was Eric who spoke, though.

“Mother, it is a potential which can be nurtured. I have seen a great deal from Katherine in the last few days and trust that she is fully capable of bearing the mantle of the throne, particularly at my side. If you can trust my judgment about matters such as Brigitte, can you not trust my judgment about matters such as this?”

“Because I know you, Eric,” she answered instantly, turning to face him. “You are my son, and I am not blind. Whatever Brigitte told this girl about your past behavior with women, not all of it was lies in order to frighten her off. You have as much admitted that you were drawn to her because she was easy, and because she would give you a way out without truly handing over half of your power upon the throne to whomever you married. And now you make proclamations about her fitness to rule? Her unwitting part in this was so you could get away with your grand scheme, and the other part is that you have come to genuinely care about her.”

Eric’s jaw clenched; Katherine could almost laugh. His mother was really good about getting to the heart of a situation, and not taking any crap in getting there.

“Look, I can pretty much agree with you on both counts,” Katherine said,, brushing back strands of her tousled hair and hoping there wasn’t too much redness where she had been hit. “But there is also a part of me which genuinely cares about your son. While I don’t know how all of that is going to end, and it might end with us parting anyway… I’d like a chance to try. I’d like a chance to see where our relationship goes.”

Annette lifted a brow at her again. “You preempted me, my dear, for it was my intention to suggest just that. On a very short, very trial basis, Eric will introduce you properly to court instruction and atmosphere, and we shall see how you do. If your potential becomes more than potential, then I will allow your relationship with my son to go its natural course, provided you continue growing in that area. If you seem unable to do such things, however, you will return to America, and you will never breathe a word of this to anyone. Both of you will go your separate ways and never have
any
contact with one another ever again. Do I make myself clear?”