A tangle of emotions lodged in her throat at Edwin’s softly spoken and unexpected words. The entire table just stared at him, nobody raising their glasses. A twitch began to beat in Edwin’s cheek.
Her mother stood up.
Oh, God, was she about to walk out of the room at the mention of Michael’s name?
Raising her glass, her mother waited with a quiet dignity and slowly the rest of the table rose to join her. Only then did she say, ‘To Princess Cristina and Michael.’
They all sat down. They had no sooner done so when His Highness added, raising his glass again, ‘And here’s to many grandchildren in the future.’
Edwin sighed.
Her parents stared open-mouthed at His Highness.
Her mother was the first to gather herself enough to splutter, ‘I really don’t think so.’ Sending a glare in her and Edwin’s direction, she added, ‘Please tell me you aren’t going to be so foolish as to bring a child into this?’
‘Of course not,’ Kara answered.
In a disgruntled tone, Edwin’s father demanded, ‘Why ever not?’
Her mother huffed. ‘I am not having my daughter left to raise a child on her own.’
Princess Maria, who was seated next to her father, asked with a bewildered expression, ‘Why would Kara raise a child on her own?’
‘Exactly my question,’ His Highness added, staring in Edwin’s direction.
Luis gave a cynical laugh and asked his father, ‘Are you happy with the mess you’ve caused?’
‘You never specified I have to marry for ever,’ Edwin pointed out, lifting his wine glass to his mouth but then lowering it to the table, not having taken a drink from it. He pushed it away from him as though irritated by the golden-hued wine.
Princess Maria gasped. ‘Are you saying—?’
His Highness interrupted with a flick of his hand, ‘Of course this is a marriage of convenience. Did you really think Edwin had changed his opinion on ever committing himself to a relationship? I had no choice but to force his hand. This country needs successors. This family needs a new generation.’
With a horrified expression, Princess Maria asked her brother, ‘Have you lost all sense?’
His Highness grimaced, but then sat back in his chair, a smile forming on his lips. He glanced in her direction and then Edwin’s.
A queasy feeling formed in her belly.
‘You saw the engagement photos for yourself. Are you seriously telling me that I was wrong in pushing Edwin to make a choice in his bride?’ Edwin’s father demanded.
Across the table, her father, red in the face, growled, ‘Can I remind you that they are divorcing in two years’ time?’
His Highness blanched. And then, leaning forward, he yelled at Edwin, ‘Two years? Are you serious? Two years is nothing. You’re not even prepared to give the marriage a chance.’
That twitch in his cheek now on overdrive, Edwin answered with poorly disguised fury, ‘You do not have a say in this.’ With that he stood and muttered, ‘I need some air.’
Kara stood and followed him.
Edwin’s father called out, ‘You can’t divorce. We’ve never had a divorce in this family and we’re not having one now.’
CHAPTER SIX
IN THE FAST approaching twilight, a figure ran out onto the road. Slamming on the brakes, Edwin cursed, his motorbike skidding on the gravel surface. The figure, about to be pelted with incoming stones, leapt out of the way.
Tugging off his helmet, he muttered a low curse. Kara was barefoot, her sandals in her hand, her dress, a fine layer of gold and yellow silk material, skimming over the gentle curves of her body. Thoughts on Kara’s body, no matter how delectable they were, were not where his focus needed to be right now. ‘Being mowed down by a motorbike is a drastic way to get out of our wedding tomorrow.’
She stepped off the grass verge. ‘I’m coming with you.’
He pulled on his helmet. ‘Stay with your parents. I’m sure they have plenty of things to discuss with you after that get-together.’
Oh, for crying out loud.
Kara went to get on behind him. He reached out to stop her but she slapped his hand away and climbed on. Muttering, he turned the motorbike back in the direction of the palace’s garage.
Inside the garage, which had once been part of the palace’s own flour mill, he climbed off. And waited for Kara to follow. But instead she sat there and pretended to ignore him.
He walked out of the garage.
Kara chased after him.
He followed the path towards the pool house and then made a quick divert away towards the sea. Still Kara followed him. ‘Are you going to follow me all night?’
‘Yes, until you at least tell me where you were going.’
Okay, so he was acting crazily. This was not the behaviour of a grown man, never mind one about to succeed to the throne. But his head was about to explode and there was no way he could be around Kara right now. ‘Look, I want some time alone—is that too much to ask?’
Gesturing in the direction of the palace, she said, ‘Well, you’re certainly not leaving me here to face that lot alone.’ Popping a hand on her hip she added, ‘And actually, yes, it is too much for you to ask of your fiancée. You should want to be with me.’
Want to be with her...that was the problem: he wanted to be with her, but for all the wrong reasons. And it was eating him up inside. ‘What do you want from me?’
Her mouth set hard, her eyes blazing, she answered, ‘To not wreck our friendship. We need to talk. Properly. We can’t keep burying our heads in the sand and pretending that marrying, your succession, the craziness that’s going on around us isn’t impacting on us as individuals but also as a couple.’ Then with an exasperated gesture with her hands she added, ‘At least Nick blew hot and cold...right now you’re just blowing cold constantly.’
For long moments she stared at him defiantly but then her mouth wobbled and she blinked hard. His heart sank. There were tears in her eyes. ‘I’m really messing up here, aren’t I?’
‘I can’t survive the next two years if you’re going to be this remote. I need your friendship, your support. I need to understand what’s going on inside your head,’ on a sigh her shoulders lifted, her eyes sad pools of blue, ‘because when I don’t I feel so sad and lonely. And I didn’t sign up for those things. And I know you didn’t either.’
He wasn’t sad or lonely. Was he?
An uneasiness spread through his bones, bringing a pressing need to end this conversation. But how was he supposed to walk away from those bruised blue eyes holding him to account?
His throat tightened when he realised what it was he needed to do. He had to stop running away into the safety of his own thoughts and isolation. He had to give Kara what she needed and deserved from him. Yes, it might mess with his head, make him deeply uncomfortable and frustrated, but that was his problem, not Kara’s. ‘I was going for a bike ride into the mountains to clear my head. And, given that you previously said you’d never ride with me again, I assumed you wouldn’t want to come.’
She bit back a grin, rightly knowing he was giving in to her. ‘I’ll try not to scream this time.’
Back in the garage he gave Kara the smallest bike leathers he could find, probably a relic from the time Luis was a mountain-bike fanatic, much to his father’s disapproval. For the teenage Luis, the faster and more dangerous the sport, the better.
Then he searched out a suitable-size helmet and boots. He waited outside the garage while Kara pulled on all of the gear.
She emerged a sensual mix of silk and leather. He grinned. ‘Great look.’ He ducked his head, pretending to be checking the hand clutch. His comment had been supposed to come out as a tease but instead had sounded way too familiar and suggestively carnal. He fired up the engine, trying to ignore the blush on Kara’s cheeks.
After half an hour they reached their destination. The viewpoint was set high up in the mountain, allowing a clear view of Monrosa City below them. On a headland to the east, the San Gabriel lighthouse flickered.
Kara removed her helmet and threw her head backwards. ‘Wow, so many stars.’
Leading her away through the forest, using a torch to guide their way, he brought her to the opposite side of the mountain to a clearing with picnic tables. She gasped and turned around in a slow circle, her neck stretched back to take in the endless night sky that hung over them like a glittering dark blanket just out of their reach.
‘It’s stunning.’
‘There’s no light pollution on this side of the mountain. Locally this area is called Angels’ Reach. People say it’s the closest point to heaven on the island.’
Balancing against the edge of a picnic table, Kara asked, ‘It’s a special place for you?’
‘It used to be, when I was younger.’
‘And now?’
Now he wasn’t certain what he felt for Angels’ Reach. He hadn’t visited the mountain for years. ‘Are you certain it’s not bad luck to see each other the night before the wedding?’
Kara studied him for a moment. ‘I’m not sure you can bring bad luck to a marriage of convenience.’ She gave a light laugh. ‘It’s not as though we have to worry about falling out of love or anything like that.’
Silence stretched out between them. Kara tilted her head again to stargaze, eventually asking in a soft voice, ‘Is this where you had been planning to visit before I stopped you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why here?’
‘I like the view. And, as I said, I needed space to think.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘And you couldn’t find some space to think in a seventy-room palace?’
He scuffed his boot along the dry earth, remembering what it was like to lie down on it and hear his mother whisper tales from the folklore of her native Aragon. ‘I should have brought something for us to drink.’
‘You’re shutting me out again.’
He started at the anger in her voice. Exasperation, frustration at his own avoidance, his inability to articulate the feelings that were tightly sewn into the fabric of his being and Kara’s impossible desire for him to unpick those feelings thread by thread had him respond just as angrily, ‘I don’t know how to let you in.’
She turned away from him. Went and sat on the bench of the picnic table and stared out into the darkness in the direction of the Mediterranean that the waning crescent moon did little to illuminate.
He went and sat beside her.
She shuffled away, leaning back against the tabletop. Waves of irritation pulsated in his direction. ‘Start with the small things—it doesn’t have to be anything profound. Tell me about the first time you came here, for instance.’
He tossed the flashlight between his hands, a jittery energy entering his bloodstream. ‘I can’t remember the first time—it was decades ago.’
Those waves of irritation from her moved across to him in even quicker pulses.
Dio, this was so hard. Why did he find it near impossible to speak? Why did it feel like torture?
‘My mother used to bring me here to celebrate my birthday. We’d sneak out before midnight and we’d sit here counting down the minutes until it was my birthday.’ Something caught in his throat, but he could tell that Kara expected more, so he forced himself to find the words that described memories he had deliberately ignored for years. ‘She used to say that she wanted to be the first to whisper happy birthday to me.’
Kara sighed. And whispered, ‘She sounds wonderful.’
Something large and significant twisted in his chest at the soft wistfulness, the respect in Kara’s voice. He held her gaze, his heart tumbling, tumbling, tumbling again and again and again at not just the understanding in her eyes but also the eagerness there, the eagerness to know more about his mother. ‘Yes, she was.’
‘Tell me more.’
An image of his mother, down on all fours on the palace lawn, chasing after him and his two brothers, pretending to be a grizzly bear, had him smile. ‘She was playful, constantly thinking up new things for us all to do, new adventures for us to undertake. One summer we created our own pirate island on the palace’s private beach—we even made our own lookout tower using old wine barrels she found in the cellar. And she used to dream up ways to trick the media into not following us, which of course was like something out of a spy movie for us.’ He rolled his shoulders, his heart clogged with emotions he didn’t want to have to process. ‘It’s hard to describe but somehow she just managed to make me feel secure, certain about the world.’
Kara twisted towards him. ‘You wanted to remember your mum tonight.’
He shrugged.
‘I’m sorry she’s not going to be there tomorrow.’
A fissure opened up in his heart. ‘Me too.’
‘I’m sure she wouldn’t be impressed with your dad forcing you into a marriage of convenience.’
He laughed at that, imagining his mother’s reaction. ‘She would have gone crazy.’ Then, catching Kara’s eye, he admitted, ‘But she’d have liked you.’
Kara gave a snort. ‘I’m sure she’d have wanted a more suitable bride for you, someone who understands royal protocol and doesn’t constantly ruffle feathers, which I seem to be making my speciality.’ She let out a sigh. ‘Victor isn’t happy that I’m refusing to back down on my tour of Europe to raise awareness for Young Adults Together. He wants me to dedicate more time to attending events with you instead. And the chamberlain is putting every obstacle possible in the way of my plans to open up parts of the palace to the public. And as for my proposal to start an apprenticeship programme within the palace for disadvantaged young school leavers... I’ve never heard so many reasons as to why something won’t work. I get that there’s a tradition of roles being passed within families—but nepotism like that is just plain unfair.’
He grinned and bumped his shoulder against hers playfully. ‘Please don’t stop questioning everything. The household needs a shake-up and you’re also taking the heat off me.’
Kara pursed her lips and eyed him suspiciously. ‘Are you saying I’m your fall guy?’
Did she really have to draw his attention to her mouth like that? It wasn’t as though he was ignoring it in the first place. And why was he so damn distracted by her knee touching his thigh?
Her leather jacket was moulded to her curves like a second skin, its zip hanging just at the valley of her breasts like an agent provocateur. Blood pumping through him in hard beats, he placed an arm behind her back. ‘Never a guy.’
Her eyes widened. She gave him an uncertain smile.
His hand touched her arm.
She jumped but then settled, leaning ever so slightly towards him, allowing his fingers to curl even more around the soft leather of her jacket. Soft leather. Soft lips. Soft skin.
Silence, darkness, unfinished business.
He eased her closer. She didn’t resist.
Her loose hair tickled the back of his hand.
Memories of her scent, floral with an undertone of something earthier, wiped out the forest scent surrounding them.
Her shoulder slotted under his arm, the softness of her body pressed close to where his heart was hammering.
He touched a finger to her chin, tilting her head so that their gazes married. He breath
ed deep at the heat in her eyes, the parting of her lips. He inched towards her mouth, all thought wiped out by pure physical need. Their lips touched, her mouth even more sensual and lush than before. He tried to hold himself back but that lasted all of five seconds before he was deepening the kiss, wanting to taste, inhale every part of her.
And her hand on his neck pulled him even deeper into the kiss.
Kara was moving.
Panicked, he jerked away, worried he had read this all wrong and Kara was trying to get away.
She pulled him back, her bottom landing on his lap. He chuckled into their kiss and he could feel her lips draw up into a smile. But they didn’t stop.
He pulled her hip in against his belly, fire raging through him, her hands raking through his hair.
He fumbled for the zip of her jacket and lowered it, his thumb tracing down over the smooth skin of her breasts.
He groaned again. Her bottom wriggled on his lap.
He wanted to part the material of her dress, expose the lace bra he could feel beneath the silk. He wanted to twist her fully towards him and have her wrap her legs around his waist. He eased away, his head swimming with crazy, destructive thoughts.
But only seconds after he broke their kiss, less than an inch away from her, with a sound of protest she pulled him back, both hands clasping his neck.
Burning, urgent, unthinking need yelled at him to stay there. To lose himself in her. But he had to stop. Before the mess of their impending marriage became an even more tangled chaos of emotions.
He unclasped her hands. Drew back from her mouth.
She stared into his eyes, dazed.
And then with a sound of disbelief she flew off his lap, gawked at him and rocked on her heels before collapsing back down on the bench.
She yanked her jacket zip back up, clamping the skirt of her dress between her legs. ‘I hope there’s no paparazzi with night-vision cameras hiding in the woods.’
He laughed, glad she was making light of the frenetic intensity of what had just happened.
Best Friend to Princess Bride Page 10