“I’m afraid we are out of plays,” Alex Skarg said with defeat in his voice.

Cort glanced up from the book he was trying to read. His head was starting to throb with the nonstop stress and strain of dealing with the Parliament. The council was standing firm by their decision and they had the law on their side. Changing a law was tricky and it would certainly have taken more time than Cort had and a lot more hurdles to be deflected before any progress would be really made on this issue. He was sunk. And everyone knew it.

“Keep searching,” Cort said.

Alex sighed heavily. “My Prince, there is nothing else to be done. You will have to find a bride, and do it soon if you hope to accept the throne. There is nothing else to be done. You are trying to cram years of constitutional debate and amendment within the span of a few weeks. It can’t be done. The only ones who can make exceptions to this are the council and they’ve made it clear that they are not budging.”

Cort threw the book across the room narrowly missing Alex’s head. It slammed into the wall and scattered across the floor. He hadn’t meant to get that close to his trusted advisor’s head, but the frustration was overwhelming. He wanted to scream and tear something up. He wanted to grab every member of the council and beat some good sense into their old heads.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “We tried.”

With that he left the room.

Cort lay on the couch for several minutes trying to collect his thoughts. His mind was racing and he felt like he was going to pass out with a full blown panic attack. Why did it so often feel that the entire world was against him? His moronic uncle was going to be in charge in a few weeks unless he went against every single fiber of his own moral character and made some girl a bride. He would probably have children with her while always resenting the decision he made. Would he even be able to love the kids that were the products of a marriage of convenience? A marriage borne out of nothing more than politics? He would, he knew. The children would not be to blame, but he would live out his days ruling with a woman at his side he might not even like in the long run, let alone love.

The only woman he’d ever felt truly close to was Teegan.

The thought arrived in his mind somehow cutting through the mess of chaos and confusion that surrounded his every synapse of consciousness. Teegan… A woman he’d known for only a few hours before she basically blew him off. A woman who would not answer his phone calls. Who might have even been back in America now, never to be seen by him again.

But she was the one…

Cort rubbed his eyes in anger until his vision was momentarily blurry. How could he be that in love with a woman who was almost a total stranger? The logic of it was absurd. It was like something out of a Shakespeare play and everyone knew how tragedies played out…

“I feel like I’m living in a tragedy,” Cort muttered to himself.

It was true. He was being forced to marry someone he did not love meanwhile he was pining for a woman who he didn’t even know and really didn’t know how to get in touch with. Of course he could find her. He had a number and he now had her name. But what was the point? She’d made it abundantly clear that she did not feel the same way he did. He hated to think that she’d just used him, but it did feel that way. But it wasn’t like that. They were two strangers who’d met in a bar amidst several drinks and a hot, passionate lust that still made him weak in the knees and mind numb with pleasure to think about it.

Oh, if Teegan were there with him right now…

Maybe she would be interested if she knew who he really was? Or would she be angry that he’d lied to her? She would probably laugh in his face if he tracked her down and proposed marriage to her so that she could become Queen of a country she knew very little about. The whole idea was laughable.

But it was possible…

He could imagine her sweet body on top of him right now riding up and down on his hard member, probing the inside of her deepest, wettest pot of desire. Oh, he wanted to taste her again, to feel that tightness that fit him like the tightest but softest glove, wrapping around his body as if they were designed for each other in some kind of Heavenly factory. Two parts coming together to become one strong, unit.

As he closed his eyes the fantasy took him over completely. He could literally feel her quivering over top of him, her sweetness manipulating his organ until he was nothing but a rigid, sputtering slave spreading his hot seed as far and wide inside of her temple as he could.

Cort awoke covered in sweat just then, his whole body shaking. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep. The dream was so vivid, so perfect. Tears threatened to sting his shaking eyes and he fought them back with fiery passion. His world felt as if it were all crumbling down around him.

He knew then what he had to do. It was so obvious. He’d known all along what was going to fix everything. He just had to get out of his own way and do what was required.

Cort knew that he would not be able to rest until he had Teegan right there in his arms. She had to know how he felt about her. He had to be with her.

If it was the last thing he did he was going to talk to her.