The Wedding Night They Never Had by Jackie Ashenden, Millie Adams

PROLOGUE

PRINCE CASSIUSDE LEON, second in line to the throne of Aveiras, sat in his limo after a hard night’s partying and contemplated his choices. Outside, four women waited, all beautiful and all eager to be his companion for the night.

He wasn’t going to rush choosing one, however. He liked to take his time when it came to deciding on his bed partners, because there were many important things to take into account.

Would the delicious brunette with the hot, dark eyes turn out to be passionate or shy? Would the curvy redhead with the infectious smile let him lead the way? Perhaps the tall, Amazonian blonde would be more demanding than the other brunette, the one with the dirty laugh, but did he feel like ‘demanding’? Or did he want someone more low-key?

It was a difficult decision; he didn’t like to disappoint and someone was going to have to miss out. Though...maybe not. He could have all four. He was, after all, feeling quite energetic tonight.

At that moment, the door to the limo opened and a fairy got in.

Cassius blinked.

No, not a fairy, but a tiny, fragile-looking woman wearing the shortest, most clinging black mini-dress in the history of creation. She was very pale, with long, silvery white hair that hung to her waist, and she stared at him from under lids heavy with garish blue eyeshadow and lashes gone spidery with inexpertly applied mascara. Her eyes were a luminous grey and the biggest he’d ever seen.

He blinked again.

No, not a woman. A girl. A teenage girl.

Cassius frowned. What the hell was a teenage girl doing climbing into his limo? It wasn’t entirely unheard of, but his staff was usually better at weeding out people who shouldn’t be approaching him.

‘Your Highness,’ the girl said earnestly. ‘I’m sorry. I know this is quite rude, but...um...well... I really need you to ruin me.’

Cassius blinked a third time. ‘What?’

‘I need you to ruin me. Quite urgently, in fact. Tonight.’ She glanced nervously out the window. ‘Right now, if possible.’

It was true that his reputation as a notorious womaniser was well-earned and he was famous for never saying no to anything that might prove to be enjoyable. However, that did not extend to teenage girls. And, if this one thought he customarily ruined teenagers, then his reputation was even worse than he’d thought.

Won’t your father be proud?

Cassius did not appreciate this thought so he ignored it.

‘First things first,’ he said, giving her a narrow stare. ‘How old are you?’

‘Twenty.’ Her grey eyes shone. ‘I’m not a child.’

He sighed. ‘Of course you’re a child. And, sadly for you, I’m not a pervert. Get out of the limo, little one. I have actual women to see tonight.’

The sprite frowned then reached into the tiny silver mesh bag slung over one narrow shoulder, pulled out a pair of glasses, rubbed the lenses on her dress then put them on her pert nose.

‘Look,’ she said very seriously, ‘You don’t have to do anything to me. I only need everyone else to think that you have.’

Cassius knew he should open the limo door and get one of his guards to get rid of her, and he couldn’t think why he wasn’t doing so now, especially when he had several delicious beauties all ready and waiting for the crook of his finger. But he was curious about, not to mention intrigued by, her boldness. It took guts to climb into the limo of a prince of Aveiras, automatically assuming he wouldn’t simply throw her out.

He stretched out his legs and shoved his hands in his pockets. ‘I assume you’re going to tell me why you need everyone to think I’ve taken a sudden liking to teenagers?’

Her forehead creased. ‘I’m not a teenager. Anyway, the reason is that my parents want me to marry this horrible, abusive man. But, if word gets out that I’ve spent the night with Prince Cassius, he’ll know I’m not a virgin any more and he won’t want me.’

Cassius waited for her to offer more, but she didn’t. So he opened his mouth to issue a gentle but firm refusal when she added, ‘The man is Stefano Castelli.’

Cassius closed his mouth.

Stefano Castelli was the head of one of the old aristocratic families. He was fifty if he was a day, childless since his wife had died some years before, and he’d made no secret of the fact that he was in the market for a new wife to deliver him heirs. What he did keep secret was the rumours of his...unorthodox sexual tastes. The man was a monster and, if this child was given to him in marriage, she wouldn’t stay a child much longer.

‘What’s your name?’ he asked, curious, because if an arranged marriage was on the cards she must come from one of Aveiras’s aristocratic families.

‘Inara Donati.’ She gave him an owlish look. ‘Well? Will you help me?’

He hadn’t heard of the Donatis. Then again, he’d never paid attention to the interminable lessons about royal protocol his father had put him and his brother through when they’d been children which, among other things, had required memorising the list of important Aveiran families.

Perhaps the Donatis were part of the nouveau riche who were desperate to claim links to the aristocracy in order to bolster their own social standing. Aveirans were notoriously snobbish when it came to their lineages and arranged marriages were common. Though they didn’t usually start them off that young.

Whatever the case, if what she said was true—and she probably wasn’t lying—then marrying off this child to Stefano Castelli was nothing short of criminal.

Cassius seldom stirred himself for others, because he was nothing if not committed to his life of supreme self-indulgence, but he didn’t like that thought. At all.

‘I need more information,’ he said. ‘Your real age, for example.’

She looked irritated by this. ‘I don’t see how—’

‘If you please,’ Cassius commanded.

The girl pulled a face. ‘Okay, fine. I’m sixteen.’

It wasn’t illegal to be married at sixteen, not if you had your parents’ permission, or in this case your parents’ insistence.

‘I see,’ he said carefully. ‘And why are they so set on the marriage?’

‘Because the Castellis are an old family and my parents want to be part of the aristocracy.’ Inara fiddled with her bag. ‘Is that all?’

‘What about other family members who could help you? Or friends, perhaps?’ It was a perfectly reasonable question, but he thought he knew the answer to that already.

She shook her head. ‘I’m an only child and no one will stand up to my father.’

A difficult situation. Even more difficult when her parents had a legal responsibility for her until she turned eighteen.

You could help her, though. No one will say no to a prince. And perhaps this is your chance to show your father what you’re made of.

Cassius didn’t care what his father thought of him, but the old man had been on his back about his behaviour recently and it was getting tiresome. Because, while it was true that when his brother ascended the throne Cassius would be expected to be his right-hand man, Cassius wasn’t going to be king himself, so why should he have to conform?

Still, this girl had come to him for help, and she was looking at him as if he was her saviour. This was something of a novelty, when his family tended to view him as the disappointment he was, while his lovers were only hungry for the pleasure he could bring them.

No one looked at him as though he could save them, as though he was the answer to all their prayers.

He liked it.

Except...being this girl’s saviour would be difficult. She was under age, and therefore still under her parents’ guardianship, and, though he might be able to find her a refuge, if her parents claimed her he wouldn’t be able to stop them. No one was above the law, not even royalty.

There was the police, but the filing of reports took time, as did investigations into abuse allegations, and that was probably time this girl didn’t have.

He could ask the King for help, of course, but his father never looked kindly on his activities. Besides, a small piece of him didn’t want to ask his father for help anyway. A small piece of him wanted to save this girl himself.

Yet how? If he could somehow become her legal guardian, that would be ideal, but also impossible, considering her parents were still alive.

The girl frowned at him. ‘It’s easy. All you have to do is keep me for a couple of hours and everyone will think—’

‘Everyone will think that my tastes run to under-age girls and, while it’s true that I don’t care much about my reputation, I care enough not to want rumours like that attached to my name.’

She bit her lip. ‘Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.’

‘Clearly.’ He kept his tone dry. ‘Also, I’m afraid that, while virginity might be valued in some circles, I’m pretty sure Stefano Castelli wouldn’t care if you were one or not. He just wants heirs.’

Her forehead creased, a line appearing in the smooth skin between her brows. She looked...anxious. No, more than that. She looked scared.

‘Then what should I do?’ Desperation suddenly glowed in her eyes. ‘I could leave the country. I could—’

‘Where would you go?’ he interrupted gently. ‘You have no passport, I’m assuming, and no money. And, even if you did, the courts would soon make sure you were sent back to your family.’

She took a soft breath and looked away, blinking hard. It was obvious she was trying hard not to cry. ‘Then,’ she said in a shaky voice, ‘I suppose I have no choice. I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’d better go.’

But Cassius had already made a decision. She was distressed and in danger, and she’d come to him for help. Not to his brother, the noble heir who could do no wrong, but to him.

To her he wasn’t the dissolute, no-good second son. To her he wasn’t a careless, self-centred playboy prince.

To her he was a hero...her potential saviour.

So that was who he’d be.

‘Wait,’ he said, his brain moving at lightning speed, sorting through all the most likely options and then discarding them.

There was only one way he could think of to become her guardian. Only way to save her from marriage to a monster and to keep her parents happy at the same time.

He’d marry her himself.

It was a shocking decision that would likely appal his parents, and there’d no doubt be a scandal. But that was too bad. He’d never be the kind of prince they wanted him to be and he’d long since given up trying.

He’d be a hero for this girl instead.

And as for her parents, well, they’d probably be delighted to have a prince for a son-in-law instead of some minor lord.

He’d offer her the protection of his name and, in essence, she’d be his ward. He’d look after her until she reached her legal majority.

Two years. That was all it would be. And then they’d divorce and she’d be out of her parents’ clutches for ever.

It was unorthodox, certainly, but the main thing was that she’d be safe. And he would be the one to save her.

She was looking at him with big eyes, as if her entire existence waited on his next word.

Which it did.

‘There is one way I can help you.’ He met her gaze very directly. ‘But I’m afraid you might not like it.’

‘It can’t be any worse than having to marry Stefano Castelli.’

‘That depends,’ Cassius said. ‘How do you feel about marrying me instead?’