He attempted a smile and jammed his hands into his pockets, gazing at her with what seemed like the weight of the world on his shoulders. ‘Clotilde has gone out. I hope you don’t mind me waiting for you like this?’
‘No. No. Of course not. I wasn’t expecting you. This is a surprise. How are you?’ She didn’t know how to stop her tongue from running away with itself.
Now his smile seemed genuine, if sad. ‘I’m doing okay.’
‘Can I get you a drink?’
‘I’m good, thanks. I had a coffee with Clotilde.’
She swallowed and nodded.
‘She says you’re keeping well.’
‘We do our best.’ Suddenly she couldn’t bear another second of small talk. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I have something for you.’ He pointed to the bureau in the corner. There was a small box on it.
A little dazed, and more than a little confused, hardly able to think straight, she drifted over to it and opened the box. Inside it was jewellery. Catalina’s share of her mother’s jewellery.
‘I didn’t want to send it by courier,’ he explained, still standing on the same spot in front of the sofa.
She lifted out a rose pendant she had always loved seeing her mother wear and held it to her heart.
Oh, but this meant so much.
Nathaniel had done this for her. He’d rescued her mother’s jewellery. Now she’d have something to pass onto their child, something of the beautiful grandmother they would never meet.
‘How did you get it?’
‘I came to an arrangement with your father.’
‘You’ve been to see him?’ she asked, alarmed at the thought.
His lips curved wryly. ‘I’m not completely mad. Not yet. No, I sent my lawyer to see him. In exchange for your jewellery I signed an affidavit that I wouldn’t take the House of Fernandez to court and sue them for defamation.’
‘Can you take them to court?’ Such a notion had never occurred to her.
He shrugged. ‘Your country trades heavily with Europe. There were possibilities. But this was the final straw for your father. Helios has already influenced his Senate into imposing a travel ban on any member of the House of Fernandez entering Agon and was on the verge of imposing a trade embargo on all Monte Cleure goods and finances. The world is opening its eyes to the rottenness behind the throne, so now your father is back in damage limitation mode.’
‘Thank you.’ It was all she could say. Hot tears had welled in her eyes, which she blinked back. She hadn’t cried since the flight to New York. All her tears had dried up.
‘I also have a message for you from your father, given via our intermediaries.’
‘Oh?’
‘He says that if you come home you will be free to live your life as you want.’
‘How very kind of him.’ She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice. ‘Does that last until the dust settles and he and Dominic take me back under their control?’
‘If that long.’
Their eyes met. They both knew what her father was capable of. They both knew Catalina and their child would never be free if she set foot in her home country again.
‘Was there anything else?’ she asked, forcing brightness into her voice.
If only she’d been prepared for this visit she would’ve had time to calm herself down and put her old serene mask back on. She wouldn’t be gazing at him, desperately trying to control the urge to throw herself at his feet and beg him to stay.
She wouldn’t be howling inside.
‘That was everything,’ he confirmed quietly. But he made no effort to leave. ‘Thank you for the video of the scan.’
She’d asked Clotilde to forward it to him. It hadn’t been very clear even though it was taken using the most high-tech 4D scanner available. Their baby had been having far too merry a time playing with its limbs to lie still and pose for them.
‘You’re welcome.’
Now his feet did move, his legs forming long strides as he headed for the door.
She watched him leave with no words of goodbye. No kiss goodbye. Nothing but the slow ripping of her heart.
She waited to hear the sound of the front door closing so she would be safe to unleash the tears screaming to be released.
Nathaniel stood with his hand on the front door, willing his fingers to work and turn the handle.
He shouldn’t have come here. He’d sworn he would drop the jewellery off with Clotilde and leave. But being so close to her...
He couldn’t leave without seeing her and witnessing with his own two eyes that she was well.
When he’d sent her to New York he hadn’t intended to stay away from her for so long. All he’d cared about was getting her away from Monte Cleure and to safety, then taking some time to process, without her presence there to distract him, what had happened at the party and what he had learned.
Then he’d been told what happened at the airport minutes after he’d left. Catalina had been searching for him, screaming for him. She’d been inconsolable.
Her screams had been for him.
The words she’d said before he’d left...we can be a family... They’d kept echoing in his ears. Had he misheard her? Misunderstood her?
But he knew he hadn’t. Her brave words had been clear.
He hadn’t had a family for nearly thirty years.
It came to him then, that if he opened this door and walked out, he would never know...
He would never know if Catalina’s screams and distress had been because she...
And now, another bomb dropped on him.
He’d kept his distance because he’d been scared. He’d been scared—terrified—since their first night together. Coming here with her jewellery had been the excuse he’d been searching for without consciously knowing it.
His fears of hurting her...
They were all muddled up. He was scared she would hurt him.
If he opened this door...
If he opened this door he would never find out if that family could be...
Suddenly his legs were running back up the stairs and he burst the living-room door open, breathing heavily.
She hadn’t moved from the spot by the bureau where he’d left her.
‘Were you really preparing to hand our baby to me?’ he demanded.
She nodded, her eyes wide, fearful.
‘Why?’
‘I told you. I couldn’t see any other way to keep it safe.’
‘And you would have trusted me to do that?’
Her eyes were suddenly clear as she answered quietly, ‘There’s no one else on this earth I would trust more with my baby’s life.’
His throat had run dry. ‘At the airport, you said I could come with you and we could be a family. Did you mean that?’
Her bottom lip wobbled and she nodded.
‘How do you feel about that now?’
‘I...’ She swallowed and looked down at the floor.
‘Catalina?’
‘I still feel the same,’ she whispered.
All of a sudden he was standing before her. He didn’t remember walking over to her.
Gently, he placed a finger under her chin and raised it so she looked at him.
Chocolate-brown eyes gazed back at him, stark, fearful and full.
Now he was the one to swallow. ‘I’ve missed you.’
Her eyes widened.
With his chest threatening to close in on him, he said the words he knew he had to say if he was ever to find the happiness he so badly wanted but had been too scared to take. ‘I’ve been in love with you for ever. It’s the only reason I can think of why I decided to develop in your country in the first place. I wanted to be close to you. But
I didn’t know it.
‘I’ve been running since our first night together but, Lina, I don’t think I can run any more. You’re in my heart so completely I don’t know... I don’t know what to do. All I know is that I’ve never been so scared as when you ran away from me and I’ve never felt so empty as I have this past month without you. Just standing in the same room as you...it filled some of the emptiness. I told myself I didn’t want to hurt you but the truth is you have the power to hurt me and my heart knew it. I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever loved before and I was too scared to take that leap of faith. I was scared to admit my love, scared that it would mean I would lose you too.’
He placed his hands on either side of her face and stared deep into her eyes, willing her to feel the emotion in his words. ‘But if I don’t take that leap of faith, how can I ever know? How can we ever know? I want to be a family; you, me and our baby, but I haven’t had a family for so long... I don’t know how to do it.’
He waited for her to say something. Her mouth had opened but no words were coming out.
‘If you love me too, please, say it,’ he begged her. ‘Because I do love you. I need you. I know I don’t deserve you or any kind of happiness but...’
‘Don’t you ever say that,’ she said, suddenly animated and fierce. ‘Whatever happened twenty years ago is done with. It’s over.’ She reached her hands up to cup his cheeks. ‘We’ve both been running away from love. We’ve only ever known the pain love can bring. You, losing your parents and sister and then your uncle. Me, seeing my mother destroyed by love and experiencing the pain of losing her... Is it any wonder we carry the scars and have been afraid to let love in?
‘You’re the only man I’ve ever wanted. You’re the only man I’ve ever loved and the only man I’ve ever needed. I swore I would never give my heart to anyone, that I would protect it for ever, but you’ve lodged in there so deep...’ She sighed and raised herself onto her toes, and suddenly the mouth he’d been dreaming of for so long was pressed against his and she was breathing him in, and he was breathing her in and in the blink of an eye they were wrapped in each other’s arms, pressed so tightly together nothing could prise them apart.
* * *
A long, long time later, lying naked together in her bed, limbs entwined, cheeks pressed together, Catalina said softly, ‘Neither of us knows how to be a family. You’ve not had one since before I was born and the example I’ve had set for me has been about the worst there can be.’
‘We’ll have to make our version of a family.’ He stroked her cheek. ‘I didn’t think I needed saving but you’ve saved me. You’re my world.’
He kissed her again.
It suddenly struck him that he could kiss her for ever.
‘I love you,’ he said against her mouth.
Her arms hooked around his neck. ‘I love you too. Always.’
‘Always.’
Always.
EPILOGUE
CLAUDETTE GURGLED.
‘Clever girl,’ Nathaniel cooed quietly, rubbing his nose against her button one.
His daughter gurgled again and gave a toothless grin.
‘Now you must go back to sleep. Mummy needs to rest.’
Another gurgle.
He checked her nappy was dry and sent up a silent prayer of gratitude that she hadn’t soiled it while in his charge. He knew Aliana—who had turned up at their New York home out of the blue, announcing she had ‘defected’ from Monte Cleure—and Clotilde, who had each given themselves the title of nanny, would have happily fought to change it. But night time was private, a time for only him and Catalina and their baby.
He placed Claudette back in her cot, checked the baby monitor, and then tiptoed out of the nursery.
As he climbed back into the warm bed in the room next door, babbling rang out from the monitor, a happy sound he would never tire of listening to.
Catalina turned over and raised a sleepy hand to caress his face. ‘Merry Christmas, my love.’
‘Merry Christmas, mon papillon.’
And for the first time in almost thirty years, Nathaniel knew that this would be a merry Christmas. His leap of faith had paid off.
Outside, a snowstorm fell hard, covering the whole of New York in a thick layer of white that would delight all the children waking up to it.
It delighted him.
Snow no longer evoked the cruel memories of all he’d lost. His past now only reinforced everything he’d gained. His wife. His daughter. His family.
A fortnight ago, the King had turned up with a full retinue of servants asking if he could meet his granddaughter.
Knowing the King couldn’t touch them here—but keeping a healthy amount of security around just in case—they’d let him in and had watched Claudette melt his heart. Well, defrost it a little. When he made noises about them bringing her to Monte Cleure they’d politely refused but had told him he was always welcome to visit Claudette there in New York.
Nathaniel nuzzled into his beautiful wife’s neck. ‘Do you want your present now?’
‘Is it a big present?’
He pressed his growing erection against her thigh. ‘Enormous.’
She laughed softly and wrapped her arms around him.
Yes. It was a very merry Christmas indeed.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Michelle Smart
WEDDED, BEDDED, BETRAYED
HELIOS CROWNS HIS MISTRESS
THESEUS DISCOVERS HIS HEIR
TALOS CLAIMS HIS VIRGIN
Available now!
And don’t miss these other ONE NIGHT WITH CONSEQUENCES themed stories
THE SHEIKH’S BABY SCANDAL
by Carol Marinelli
A RING FOR VINCENZO’S HEIR
by Jennie Lucas
Available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from MARRIED FOR THE ITALIAN’S HEIR by Rachael Thomas.
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Married for the Italian’s Heir
by Rachael Thomas
PROLOGUE
Two months ago
PIPER LOST ALL sense of reason as his kiss seared her s
kin and his accomplished touch brought her body to life in a way she’d never known. The pain and grief that this day held for her were blotted out as he whispered words of Italian that sounded romantic, but she had no hope of understanding them.
She gloried in his embrace, for the first time in many months feeling treasured, wanted and needed. What would come after this moment she couldn’t think about now. She didn’t want to face the emptiness. All she wanted was to abandon herself to this man and his passion, to yield to his kisses and give herself utterly and completely to the moment—and to him.
She gasped in frustration as he stopped kissing her. He pulled away and looked down at her, his sinfully dark caramel eyes full of desire—for her. Empowered by this, she smiled at him, unable to hide the longing that was tearing through her faster than lightning. She’d never been desired by any man, and had certainly never been kissed the way he had just kissed her. But, more than that, it was the way she wanted him to kiss her again and again.
This man was a skilled lover, and the way he was looking at her now, with raw lust that vibrated through the semi-darkness of the hotel room, she knew there was no turning back—not that she wanted to. The attraction between them had been too fierce, too strong, even before he’d suggested they leave the party.
Tonight she would give herself to this man. But she was well aware there wouldn’t be a tomorrow. She might be an innocent woman discovering the pleasure of a man’s touch, but she knew not to expect more. She’d worked as a waitress at many society parties in Sydney and in London and she had recognised him as a playboy—a man who wanted one uncommitted night of passion, who loved and left women. Tonight she didn’t care about her dream to settle down with the right man. Tonight she wanted the wrong man.
She wanted to drown her sorrow in the passion even she couldn’t deny, which had ignited between them from the very first moment their eyes had met as he’d arrived at the party. It had arced between them as if they were meant to be here together, caught up in a moment of passion which would surely change her...change her life. How, she didn’t know. She just knew that this moment was one she had to explore.
Claiming His Christmas Consequence Page 17