Heir of Pendel (A Pandoran Novel, #4) Read Free Page B

took a half step closer, and I started feeling claustrophobic. So much for pushing him away with humor. "Even if it was my right to choose, I would choose you and I would love you."
    "Danton, you don't even know me."
    He stood so close that his gaze shifted as he looked between my eyes, and I resisted the urge to take a huge step back. "I know enough."
    I wanted to bring up the games and his duplicity, and how when it'd come right down to it, he hadn't chosen me. He'd chosen the unity stone. But I couldn't say any of that; I'd said more than enough already. He reached out and grabbed my hand in his, holding them between us. His hands were soft and delicate. Not at all like Alex's hands.
    "I won't pretend you're here because you feel the same," Danton continued. "I know your heart belongs…elsewhere, and had our circumstances not been what they are, you would never be standing here accepting my father's offer." He lifted his gaze from our hands and looked back into my eyes. "But I will be good to you, Daria. I will love you and maybe, someday, convince you to love me."
    All kinds of alarms were going off inside of me. Blaring, obnoxious, bright red and flashing alarms. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This was all wrong. The wrong man was holding my hand. The wrong man was looking at me and talking about love. Why was he bothering with feelings, anyway? He knew he had me. He knew I had no choice. Couldn't he just leave "love" out of it? "Love" certainly hadn't been a consideration when his father and my grandfather had drawn up the marriage contract.
    I inhaled deeply, more to give myself a few moments to collect my thoughts so that I could say what needed to be said without being simultaneously offensive, as was the norm for me. "As long as you follow through with your promise, and Orindor does everything in its power to help Valdon"—I stared straight into his eyes—"then I will…I will try my hardest to give you a marriage."
    I could see this wasn't exactly the response he wanted, but he was satisfied enough. There was a desire deep inside of him that trumped his pride, fortunately for me. Though it did make the alarms blare a little louder.
    "I'll talk with my father first thing in the morning," he said. "I'd speak with him now, but it's late and Father has been in a bad temper lately."
    "And you think telling him I agree to marry you will make it worse ?"
    An imperceptible smile cracked upon his thin lips, and his whole demeanor lightened. I, however, felt better and worse at the same time.
    "No," he continued, "but I'd rather tell him the news when he's able to set things in motion. Nothing will get done at this hour. Plus, I'll need to inform Lord Alistaire of the…change in situation."
    "That sounds ominous," I said. "Who is Lord Alistaire?"
    "Lord Alistaire Justine is Lady Isla's father. They've been staying with us for the past few weeks, but I can't send them home quite yet—not with how things are across the kingdom. It's too dangerous for them to travel all the way back to Campagna."
    "Ah." And this was the question I'd had earlier. "So should I assume there is some sort of…arrangement between you and Lady Isla?"
    " Was ," Danton corrected, squeezing my hand between both of his very un -callused ones. "Lord Vega is Lord Justine's brother-in-law, and they've been very eager to unite our territories."
    My suspicions were confirmed: Lord Vega had moved in during my absence. "And how do you think Lady Isla will react to this news?" Not that I cared much about her feelings, but I might have to be on high alert for retaliation. If Danton's mere attention had wrought fire ants upon my head, no telling what an engagement would inspire.
    "She'll be very upset, I imagine," he said, looking down at our hands. "I don't deny that I've given her good reason to be angry."
    I didn't really want to know what this "good reason" was, or which boundaries they may or may not have crossed, so I changed the focus. "You do realize all