He understood immediately. She didn’t have to explain the fine art of negotiation. He was the prince; he knew what she was doing. “But Bamphina sounds better, and what we decide today will resound through the ages.”
“Scepter?” She pointed to it. “Sereminia.”
She watched him struggle with himself. The small scepter had a ring of diamonds, or maybe the same crystal as the crystal case. But the bigger scepter had a jewel she thought must be an opal, for it glowed with flames of red and a blue the same color as Danior’s eyes. He deserved to carry it, and truth to tell, she didn’t care. But she would force him to compromise now, or suffer his arrogance all her life.
“Evangeline . . .” he groaned. Then rapidly, before he could change his mind, he said, “Sereminia.”
She let go of the bigger scepter and watched him take it and cradle it in his arm. He handed her the other scepter and pulled back the velvet. The two seal rings rested there where Santa Leopolda had put them one thousand years before. Lifting the smallest, he slipped it on her finger. The larger fit him perfectly.
“What a disappointment,” he said. “Now we have nothing to fight about.”
“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “We’ll find something.”
About the Author
CHRISTINA DODD is the author of over twenty romances that have made regular appearances on the national bestseller lists, including the New York Times. She has won numerous awards, including Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart and RITA awards.
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Books by
Christina Dodd
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers
CANDLE IN THE WINDOW
CASTLES IN THE AIR
THE GREATEST LOVER IN ALL ENGLAND
A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER
MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH
ONCE A KNIGHT
OUTRAGEOUS
TREASURE IN THE SUN
Avon Books by
Christina Dodd
IN MY WILDEST DREAMS
LOST IN YOUR ARMS
RULES OF ATTRACTION
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
RULES OF SURRENDER
RUNAWAY PRINCESS
SCOTTISH BRIDES
(with Stephanie Laurens, Julia Quinn, and Karen Ranney)
SOMEDAY MY PRINCE
THAT SCANDALOUS EVENING
A WELL FAVORED GENTLEMAN
A WELL PLEASURED LADY
Coming Soon
MY FAVORITE BRIDE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE RUNAWAY PRINCESS. Copyright © 1999 by Christina Dodd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © MARCH 2003 ISBN: 9780061794940
Version 09282012
First Avon Books printing: March 1999
06 07 08 09 10
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