‘You do need to give us a little time,’ she said softly, glancing up at Rafael and smiling, as if this was something they’d discussed in depth. ‘My husband has just died, and Prince Rafael has only just been able to bring me back here. Yes, there’s been major damage done to the country by royal neglect. But injustice has been done to Rafael and to me, as well as to you, his people. Prince Kass forbade me access to my son. He refused to allow Prince Rafael or his father before him to assist you. These great injustices can now be reversed. I understand your anger. Rafael and I share that anger and we intend to do everything we can to redress the situation.’
It was brilliant, Rafael thought, stunned. In one fell swoop she’d deflected the anger, by linking herself to him, by acting as if they were a team. Yes, these people were furious that their country had been neglected, but this slip of a girl had been kicked out of the country and denied her child.
‘We thought you…we thought…’
‘There have been many lies spread about the Princess Kellyn,’ Rafael said strongly. ‘Those lies need to be redressed. As many things in this country need to be redressed. You people are from the village. What I want from you is a list of your immediate concerns and your suggestions as to what can be done to address them. Can you get that to me as soon as you can? I need to go further-get things moving throughout the whole country-but of course you people are our neighbours and maybe your concerns have to take priority.’
‘When will you be leaving again?’ one of the men asked, but the belligerence had gone out of his voice. He was clearly unsure.
‘I won’t be,’ Rafael said, and his voice was clear and calm and sure. He put a hand over Kelly’s. If she was to help…
If she was to stand by his side…anything was possible, he thought. The bleakness that had been with him since he’d heard of Kass’s death lifted for the first time. These people needed his help. He could do this.
‘There will be occasional trips abroad,’ he said, and it was a struggle now not to let this strange sense of exultation enter his voice. ‘Made out of necessity. I know there was anger that I left last week, so soon, but my priority was to restore Princess Kellyn to her rightful place. Now that’s been done, both of us will be based here. Ready to listen to what you need of us.’
‘My role is mother to Prince Mathieu,’ Kelly said, suddenly sounding nervous. ‘You understand that my brief marriage to Kass hasn’t fitted me for any other role. But I’ll be supporting Prince Rafael in the background.’
There was a murmur of approval. And sympathy. And…excitement?
‘We understand it will take time for you both to find your feet here,’ one of the men-the leader-said at last. He moved forward to shake Rafael’s hand. ‘We’ve heard enough tonight to content us. We’ll make this list and we’ll get it to you as soon as possible. And we look forward to working with you.’ He glanced across at Kelly. ‘With both of you.’
They walked out into the grand entrance, to the huge sweep of carved steps, to see the deputation off. The men climbed into their several cars and departed. Rafael and Kelly stood side by side until they were out of sight.
‘Thank you,’ Rafael said softly as the sound of the cars faded. ‘You saved my hide. They were all ready for a spot of anarchy.’ He moved away a little so he could see her. ‘Wow,’ he said softly. ‘Wow and wow and wow. You took their breath away. You took my breath away.’ He frowned. ‘But I thought you didn’t bring a dress.’
‘It’s part of my past,’ she said. ‘It seems I still have a wardrobe of dresses here. Mostly chosen by Kass.’
‘Kass never chose that.’
‘No.’ She ran her hands self-consciously along her sides and the luxurious silk felt smooth and lovely under her hands. ‘I chose this.’
‘You like clothes,’ he said on a note of discovery.
‘For my pains. I try not to.’
‘Don’t try,’ he said urgently. ‘You’re beautiful. The people will love you.’
‘You’re saying I should wear the clothes Kass chose for me?’
‘Of course I’m not. You could come to Manhattan with me,’ he said. ‘When we get this place sorted. Money’s not an issue-the royal coffers have an amount set aside that is purely for personal maintenance of the immediate royal family. That’s us. It’s enough to make you think that maybe buying a lottery ticket might be a waste of time. You and Matty could take a few days and come play on Fifth Avenue.’ He grinned and looked her up and down, his smile enough to make her blush-really blush. ‘Matty and I would love to watch you enjoy yourself setting yourself up for your new life here.’
‘What about Anna?’ she asked curiously, trying to get her colour under control. ‘Isn’t she due here?’
‘She should be here tomorrow,’ Rafael said. ‘I’ve organized the stuff from my development workshop to be freighted over and she’s supervising. But don’t worry about Anna. Any shopping we’re organising, she’ll have her hand up before me.’
‘Oh.’ She wasn’t quite sure what was happening here. The appreciation in his eyes was warm and intimate. Yet he spoke about Anna with matter-of-fact directness.
‘Why aren’t you in your attic?’ he asked, cutting across her train of thought.
‘I saw you out here.’ She hesitated. ‘I felt…I don’t know. Maybe if I can help I will. Just occasionally,’ she added hastily as she saw the leap of hope in his eyes. ‘Not on a regular basis.’ She bit her lip. ‘I…maybe I’ve been a bit mean. I am grateful to you. For Matty,’ she said softly. ‘I do need to thank everyone here. You’ve all done a lovely job of bringing him up. He’s a darling.’
‘And so responsible,’ Rafael said.
‘He doesn’t need to be responsible.’
‘As long as I’m responsible. Or you’re responsible. And look at us. We even look like royals.’
‘I’m play-acting,’ she said, ‘to help out. I’m going back to my attic tomorrow.’
‘That’s a damned waste.’
‘It shouldn’t be.’
‘You don’t need me.’
‘No?’
For a long moment he stared at her as if she’d just asked a question that was really dumb. She gazed back at him, bewildered. But then…
But then things started clicking into place.
It had been five years since any man had looked at her like Rafael was looking at her, but she knew the signs. He was staring at her as if he were hungry. As if she were…
Desirable?
‘No,’ she said and held up her hands as if in defence.
‘It’s all very well to say no,’ Rafael snapped, stepping towards her so fast he was suddenly way too close. ‘It’s the last thing I want. Or it should be the last thing I want.’
‘What?’ she said, confused.
‘You,’ he said and the world stood still again.
‘I…don’t,’ she said at last, somehow taking a step back, and he shook his head as if trying to clear a fog.
‘Yeah. Maybe I’m being dumb. Go to bed, Kelly.’
‘You’re sending me to bed?’
‘I’m sending you away,’ he said, exasperated. ‘I need you to go away.’
‘Like Kass.’
‘No!’ And, before she knew what he was about, he’d seized her hands and tugged her close. ‘That’s just it. Don’t you see-I’m not the least like Kass. Kass represented everything about this place that I hate. Royalty. The perfection of it…Do you know my father was thrown from his horse and maimed? He was crippled but as well as that he had a massive scar running down the side of his face. He lost the sight of one eye. Until then, he’d worked like a navvy in this place-that the Principality hasn’t bankrupted itself until now is solely down to my father’s economic acumen and the fact that the old prince never bothered to interfere. But as soon as my father was injured he wasn’t permitted any part of the running of the place. He was simply struck off. It just killed him-his injuries, but more-the fact that he was useless. My mother and I
could do nothing. And here I am, being useful again. Useful. And here you are and you’re Kass’s bride…’
‘Hey…’
‘And the last thing I want is to feel sorry for you,’ he said. ‘And I don’t and that’s just the trouble. Sympathy is something I could deal with. But you’re standing here looking so damned sexy it’s melting the soles of my boots, and the way I feel…I just…’
‘You just?’ She was trying to pull away but he was having none of it.
‘I just,’ he said and he tugged her tight against him.
And he kissed her.
The shock made her freeze.
For the first couple of seconds-those vital seconds when she should have pulled away, before his mouth even touched hers-shock didn’t let her move. His hands were holding hers with a warmth and a strength that locked her to him. She’d been tugging back-sort of-but not with real desperation. But now…
His hands tugged her tight and his mouth lowered on to hers. In shock she looked up at him, and then his lips claimed hers and it was a done deal. She was being kissed, whether she willed it or not.
Rafael…
He felt…He felt…
She stopped trying to figure what he felt. She stopped trying to figure what she felt. She just…was.
She hadn’t touched a man for six years. She’d sworn to never…
So much for swearing, for there was no way any mere resolution could get in the way of this.
Her mouth met his, merged, and her body simply went into meltdown. She had no will to do anything but simply be-to let him take her as he willed, to let his hands create their magic, to let the sensations sweeping over her take their course, transform her as they willed, lift her out of her dreary yesterdays and turn her into a woman desired.
For that was what she was. There was no mistaking the urgency of how he felt about her. His hands had her firmly round the waist, tugging her into him so her breasts were flattened against his chest. She could feel his heart beating under hers. She opened her lips and felt his tongue begin a slow, delicious plunder that would have made her moan in pleasure if in doing so she might not have risked breaking the moment.
She was risking nothing. She was doing her own holding, taking what she needed from this man, soaking in the warmth and strength and arrant male desire.
It had been too long. Far too long.
Rafael…
She was kissing him back, as fiercely as he was kissing her, taking as well as giving, quenching her own desperate needs.
Needs she’d told herself didn’t exist.
Only, of course, they did. Six long years of nothing. Isolation and loneliness and betrayal.
Rafael…
The kiss went on and on. Neither wanted it to end. Neither could conceive of it ending. The night was still and warm. There was no movement in the forecourt-the castle staff had long gone to bed. There was only this man and this woman, taking what they both desperately needed.
And when the kiss finally ended, as even the best kiss must inevitably do, Kelly took a step back and put her fingers to her lips and knew that her world had changed.
‘N…no,’ she whispered and she saw her own shock mirrored in Rafael’s eyes.
‘No,’ he agreed, sounding as if he didn’t know what the word meant.
‘I didn’t want to kiss you,’ she whispered.
‘You’re Kass’s woman,’ he said blankly and that brought reality crashing back around the pair of them.
Kass’s woman…
The feeling of unreality dissipated. Here and now crashed right back.
‘How dare you?’
‘I don’t dare,’ he said. ‘That was dumb.’
She stared at him, confounded. The kiss had been dumb. Of course it had been dumb. But to say it…
‘Don’t you touch me,’ she stammered and the confusion in his eyes faded.
‘You don’t want it?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Of course not. We’re birds of a feather, Kelly. We want nothing to do with this.’
‘But it’s not this we’re talking about,’ she managed. ‘Not royalty. Not now. No, I don’t want any more contact than I’m forced to have with royalty to be a good mother to Matty. But as far as kissing you…’
‘You looked at me,’ he said as if that explained everything and she glared.
‘So you’re saying I goaded you into it. Like wearing red patent shoes.’
‘Pardon?’ he said, startled.
‘You don’t wear red patent shoes,’ she said patiently. ‘Everyone knows they incite the senses and reflect your knickers.’
‘Really?’
‘Not that it has anything to do with the here and now,’ she said, fighting to get a grip. ‘And I should never have worn this dress. When’s Anna coming?’
‘I told you. Tomorrow.’
‘Then starting tomorrow, let’s get this on a sensible footing,’ she snapped. ‘You and me…we see each other in terms of official duties. That’s all.’
‘That’s all I want, too.’
‘Because, of course, I’m Kass’s woman.’
‘I didn’t mean to say that.’
‘You did say it,’ she snapped. ‘And it hurt. I was dumb enough to fall for a good royal come-on, and if you think I’d be dumb enough to fall twice…Kass’s woman or not…you’d be out of your mind. So you needn’t look at me as if I’m trying to jump you or, heaven forbid, put another wedding ring on my finger…’
‘I’m not.’
‘Because I’m not,’ she snapped, refusing to let him interrupt. ‘I’m going to bed.’
‘Good.’
‘And Kass’s…the royal suite is round the far side of the castle,’ she said. ‘As far from my attics as it’s possible to get. And I can lock my doors.’
‘Kelly, I’m not trying to seduce you.’
‘You kissed me and that’s enough. More than enough. I don’t even want a handshake from a prince of the blood.’
‘I’m not…’
‘A prince of the blood. Yes, you are.’
‘As you’re Kass’s bride,’ Rafael said, sounding goaded. ‘Princess Royal. You represent everything I don’t want about this place.’
‘Well, it’s good we have that cleared up,’ she snapped. ‘Just so we’re clear. You dragged me back here and now you tell me I’m part of your problem. Sorry, Rafael, I have problems of my own to sort.’
She should stalk away. She should just turn and leave. Instead, she stood in the moonlight and watched him try to think of something else to say-something that would make sense of this crazy situation they’d landed in.
He couldn’t. He didn’t. And finally there was no choice. She turned away. ‘Goodnight,’ she said stiffly.
‘Kelly?’
She didn’t turn round. She simply stood still and waited for him to say what he needed to say.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said at last. ‘That should never have happened. It won’t happen again. I promise.’
‘Just as well,’ she muttered.
And went to bed.
But not to sleep.
What had she been thinking of-to let him kiss her and to kiss him back?
It was because he was…gorgeous?
Rafael de Boutaine, Prince Regent of Alp de Ciel. He’d kissed her senseless.
As Kass had.
No. He was as different from Kass as it was possible to be. Kelly lay in the lovely double bed Rafael had organized to be delivered into her attic room and watched the moonbeams play on the ceiling. She shouldn’t have the new bed, she thought. She wanted to be like a forgotten relation, left to penury while on the other side of the castle, on the royal side, Rafael swanned round in luxury, enjoying his magnificent suite of rooms, being…Prince Regent.
‘I’d hate it,’ she muttered.
She didn’t hate Rafael. She’d loved it tonight, she conceded. She’d loved feeling beautiful. She’d loved standing side by side with Rafael while he’d organized
affairs of state. She’d loved the way he’d gasped as she’d walked into the room. And the way the warmth had stayed in his eyes.
In fact, the way she was feeling about Rafael…had to be suppressed. The part of her that had been wounded to the core five years ago clenched into horror.
To fall in love with another prince…
What was she thinking? How could she be falling in love? Just because the man had kissed her…
‘The man’s seriously fabulous,’ she told the ceiling and closed her eyes, as if she could block out the thought of him.
His partner would be here tomorrow-a woman called Anna. They’d get on with the ruling Laura told them was needed and she’d retire to her books. For the next twenty years.
‘Which is what I want,’ she whispered into the dark, ‘isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ her mind screamed but there was a tiny part of her that was stubbornly refusing to agree.
Why had he kissed her? Did he have no sense at all?
Yes, he’d agreed to take on the Regency, but that was as far as it went. He didn’t want to get any more fond of Matty than he already was, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get any more fond of Matty’s mother.
But he’d kissed her.
The thought shocked him. He hadn’t known what he intended to do until it happened and then…then it was too late. It was lucky that Kelly had sense for the pair of them.
It’s like quicksand, he thought savagely, the royal quagmire hauling him in.
He thought back to the days after his father’s accident. Up until then, Rafael had been cool with being royal. Kass, his older cousin, had been an arrogant, egotistical bore. Worried about the influence Kass might have, his parents had sent Rafael to boarding school. He’d thoroughly enjoyed it, but he’d loved coming back in the holidays. He’d lived on horseback, roaming this beautiful little country with an ever-growing appreciation.
But then his father had been injured, and over the course of one summer life had changed. Kass and his father had simply cut off the brother and uncle who’d once been useful to them, but whose use-by date had been the moment he’d become uncomfortable to look at.
The last time he’d come outside…It had been just before Rafael was due to go back to school. Laura had convinced her husband to get some sun, so she and Rafael had pushed him into the garden.
Wanted: Royal Wife and Mother Page 10