Revelations of a Secret Princess

by Annie West

  ‘You make it sound like a great mystery.’

  He laughed. ‘No, at least not now we’ve got agreement. I developed a self-perpetuating investment scheme. But instead of profits returning to investors they’ll be channelled into programmes for child victims of war and natural disaster. I came here to lobby some powerful corporations and governments. Especially corporations that need to rehabilitate their reputations as global citizens.’

  ‘Companies that could do with positive press?’ Caro could name a few. ‘You tapped into the high-level talks here to establish a charity?’

  The region regularly hosted talks between governments and attracted lobbyists from some of the world’s most powerful corporations.

  ‘There’s nothing like face to face meetings to drive a project, especially when you’re asking for substantial sums they’ll never see again.’

  Caro sat back, taking in the satisfaction on Jake’s face. He glowed like a man who’d sealed a deal to make his fortune. Instead the deal was for others.

  ‘Why children? Why in war zones?’

  ‘Not just war. In areas hit by tsunamis, hurricanes, any large-scale disorder.’ His eyes held hers. ‘You don’t think it a good cause?’

  ‘I think it’s wonderful. I’m just curious.’

  She’d thought she knew Jake. Living with him and Ariane, seeing him with his staff, she’d discovered many sides to his character. This was something new. He loved Ariane but she’d thought that was because he was her uncle. Maybe there was more to his motivation.

  His gaze slid to the window. ‘I spent a few years in the army. We were deployed in the Asia Pacific region mopping up after natural disasters, and once after a civil war. Some of the children...’

  He stopped and Caro realised he wasn’t seeing the glorious Swiss scenery. Her heart squeezed as his features tightened.

  ‘Children are the most vulnerable, especially if separated from family. It can take years to reunite kids with remaining family, if there is any. Most disaster support is for food and shelter. Only a few agencies address the longer term process of finding secure, loving homes for lost children.’

  Caro heard emotion beneath his words. She recalled images of disaster-ravaged zones worldwide and shuddered, imagining Ariane alone and lost.

  Jake must have seen her shiver. His hand covered hers. This time she didn’t object.

  ‘What you’re doing is important. Clever too, to target the big companies to contribute.’

  ‘It will be good PR for them.’

  Caro guessed Jake wouldn’t claim any of those kudos. She wanted to say she was proud of him but stopped herself. She had no right to sound proprietorial, even if she felt it.

  After her earlier revelation she needed to be careful.

  ‘I didn’t know you’d been in the army,’ she said, trying to distract herself.

  ‘It wasn’t a long career. I didn’t have the temperament for being ordered about.’ At her questioning look he said, ‘I got into trouble as a kid and my sister convinced me it was a ticket out of the place we lived.’

  No mistaking his bitterness. ‘You weren’t happy at home?’

  Reading the tension in those broad shoulders, she wondered if he’d answer. But eventually his lips curved in a rueful smile. ‘It probably wasn’t too bad but I was trouble. A misfit. My sister told me if I didn’t sort myself out I’d end up in gaol. I was starting to act out.’

  ‘Your sister, not your parents?’

  Gunmetal-grey eyes met hers. ‘I never knew my father and my mother abandoned us on a regular basis. She only came home when her latest boyfriend dumped her. The last time she left I was barely fourteen but Connie looked after me, stopped me from going into foster care.’

  The air whooshed from Caro’s lungs. No wonder he had a thing about lost children. And women abandoning their kids. She remembered his lacerating words when he thought she’d abandoned Ariane. No wonder he’d been so savage.

  ‘Yes.’ He nodded, as if reading her thoughts. ‘I’ve got baggage. Usually I keep it under wraps. But with you...’ He shook his head. ‘It was like a red rag to a bull. I’m sorry I—’

  ‘Don’t.’ Caro put her hand up. ‘It’s in the past. So you went into the army. That’s a far cry from finance.’

  Jake spread his hands. ‘The army taught me discipline and that there was a big world out there. It gave me the drive to work hard and improve. Then my sister and I had a windfall. There were plans for a giant shopping complex in our suburb but the planners forgot to acquire a small parcel of land.’ He smiled reminiscently. ‘Ours. We lived in our grandparents’ tiny house in a rundown neighbourhood but suddenly it was worth a fortune. Connie used her share to travel. I invested mine and got a job in the city, learning finance.’

  ‘And never looked back.’

  Caro marvelled. From troubled teen to billionaire took a lot of doing.

  ‘Oh, I had setbacks. But I found mentors and learned from my mistakes.’

  Jake made it sound something anyone could do. Caro thought of herself, all those years giving in to her father, not even able to look after her own baby—

  ‘Hey.’ He cupped her chin. ‘What is it?’

  Her heart turned over at his gentle touch.

  ‘Nothing. Except that I’m incredibly impressed.’ She tugged in a sharp breath. She’d avoided the inevitable for too long. Time to confront it. ‘What did you want to talk about? You said it was time to leave.’ Caro was proud of her even tone. ‘Where will you go?’

  ‘Somewhere to make a home for Ariane. I’d thought of St Ancilla, till your father...’ He lifted those bare shoulders and Caro followed the movement, remembering how she’d clung to that broad expanse when they made love. ‘Maybe Australia or—’

  ‘Australia!’ Caro’s voice hit a shrill note. ‘If you take Ariane I’ll never see her.’

  He dropped his hand. Caro’s heart dropped too.

  ‘Unless you come with us.’

  ‘Sorry? You want me to move to Australia?’

  ‘Or somewhere else. I’m open to suggestions. Somewhere we can make a home for Ariane.’

  We. Her heart thundered. He’d said we.

  ‘What, exactly, are you suggesting, Jake?’

  He hesitated and to her surprise, Caro saw uncertainty on his face. It couldn’t be. This was the man who’d stalked through a royal ball like an avenging angel intent on retribution, uncaring of scandal. Who’d spirited her away from her father and kept her safe from his machinations. Jake didn’t do uncertain.

  ‘We could bring Ariane up together.’

  She couldn’t think of anything she’d like more. Her pulse tripped and she had to stifle a surge of elation. It didn’t seem possible.

  ‘Together, not taking turns looking after her?’

  ‘I want her to have stability and a loving family.’ He paused, his long fingers squeezing hers. ‘We could be that family.’

  Caro tried to speak but the words stopped in her chest. She told herself to breathe, think this through, not jump to conclusions. Yet her heart leapt.

  Less than twenty minutes ago she’d had a revelation, discovering the reason Jake affected her so profoundly.

  Because she loved him. She’d fallen completely, devastatingly in love with Jake Maynard.

  Her feelings for Mike hadn’t been love, more excitement at escaping her restrictive life, the thrill of being wanted. He’d been her first crush. And he’d cured her of crushes for life.

  Till Jake. Honourable, protective, tender, funny. He was everything she hadn’t dared hope for. And now he talked about them making a family.

  Because he’d fallen in love too? Excitement scudded through her.

  Jake leaned in, warmth in his eyes. ‘We could make it work, Caro. A marriage of convenience for Ariane’s sake. What do you say?’

&nb
sp; CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  JAKE SAW THE fire in Caro’s bright eyes die. It didn’t flicker or fade. It was snuffed out in an instant.

  In the same instant cold engulfed him.

  Her lips thinned as she pressed them together. Within his grasp her hands jerked then stilled. She blinked once, twice, the dark pupils widening, making her look wounded, as if he’d hurt her.

  Yet it was Jake who felt the punch to his gut, like a hunting knife jabbing flesh, piercing a vital organ.

  He forced himself to breathe slowly. She was surprised. She wasn’t rejecting him.

  ‘It’s a perfect solution, don’t you see?’ He sounded more confident than he felt. Like a desperate salesman giving a final pitch. That made him pause. He didn’t do desperate. There was no reason for the anxiety gripping his belly.

  ‘I realise it’s an unusual solution to our situation.’ Actually it was perfect. ‘But think about it. Ariane needs stability and a family to love her. We’re that stability. We give her that love. Even after such a short time I see the difference since you came into her life. We can be all she needs. And we’re good together, you know we are.’

  Jake made himself stop. He wasn’t a snake oil salesman, pushing her into a purchase she’d regret. He knew she’d enjoyed this time together since leaving St Ancilla. It wasn’t only her relief at leaving her father’s kingdom, or even, he suspected, being with her daughter. Caro revelled in his company and his lovemaking. She’d been gratifyingly eager for both.

  Yet Caro looked anything but eager as she slipped her hands from his and hitched the sheet high. She trembled so much Jake could see it.

  The blade at his belly twisted, gouging deep.

  Jake had never laid himself open to rejection by a woman. Not after being rejected time and again by his mother. He’d kept his relationships with women to simple sexual transactions. This was the first time he’d put himself on the line.

  It was impossible she’d shun him.

  Yet his pulse juddered as he looked for a sign of understanding and agreement.

  ‘But...marriage?’ She frowned as if marriage to him was some distasteful medicine.

  ‘Why not?’ He shrugged his bare shoulders, chilling now despite the warmth of the room, and wished he’d waited instead of rushing into this. Instead of getting the easy agreement he’d anticipated, he had the unnerving sensation her response wouldn’t be an enthusiastic ‘yes’.

  Would he have done better dressed for business in his office, with Caro sitting on the other side of the desk? The idea was preposterous. Yet—

  ‘Isn’t it a bit extreme? Couldn’t we share custody, six months with you and six with me?’

  Something heavy shoved down through Jake’s middle. Disappointment or something stronger? Because she didn’t leap at his suggestion. He told himself they discussed a pragmatic arrangement, that she wasn’t rejecting him.

  ‘You said it yourself. If we live on opposite sides of the world one of us would miss seeing her when she’s with the other. This way she gets both of us.’

  And we get each other.

  ‘Besides, if you’re pregnant, wouldn’t it be the best outcome?’

  Any thought that argument would clinch the deal died as Caro’s face leached of colour. It was like watching flesh and blood turn to parchment and it curdled the hope within him.

  ‘You’re covering all bases, aren’t you?’ Instead of admiring his foresight, it sounded oddly as if Caro resented his pragmatism.

  ‘We have to be practical.’ He waited for her to agree. When she said nothing he went on. ‘Neither of us want to fight for Ariane in court.’

  Finally, to his relief, she nodded. At least there was one thing on which they agreed.

  ‘We need a solution for Ariane that will work for us both. Why not stay together? Build on what we already have? I can see it working.’

  He could see it so clearly he had to bite his tongue from insisting she must too. It was the best, the only solution.

  ‘Can you?’ Her gaze held his. It wasn’t the look of a happy woman. A woman offered security and caring, plus wealth beyond most people’s imaginings. Offered him.

  Suddenly, instead of a billionaire with the world at his feet, Jake felt like someone else. Someone unwanted, never good enough even to hold his parents’ attention.

  The sensation lasted only a second but it rocked Jake to the core.

  So when Caro thanked him politely and said she needed to think about it he merely nodded and stood, forcing himself to rise and walk away on stiff legs.

  * * *

  The sun was warm on Caro’s face as she drank in the peaceful scene. White-topped mountains that now seemed like friendly guardians rather than sombre presences. The alpine meadow dotted with the season’s first flowers was tranquil, the only sound her daughter’s voice.

  Caro inhaled the scent of meadow grass, listened to Ariane’s chatter as she played with Maxim, and willed herself to feel happy.

  She had so much to be thankful for. They were safe, they were together and they were far from her father’s influence. He still sent irate messages but it seemed he had more on his mind than pursuing his errant daughter. Money troubles, said Jake, who’d made it his business to find out. Significant money troubles, which explained why her father hadn’t done more than bluster about her absence.

  Caro and Ariane were building a real bond, which grew stronger daily. It was more than she’d once dared hope for.

  She owed Jake so much. He made this possible. He could have prevented her seeing Ariane till the legalities were sorted out but he wasn’t that sort of man.

  Unlike her domineering father, Jake didn’t play with people and their emotions for his own ends. He was decent, honest, reliable, and he cared for Ariane so much it was impossible not to love him for that alone.

  As if Caro didn’t love him anyway.

  Her chest tightened painfully. It shouldn’t be possible after so short a time but her feelings were clear. She loved him as surely as she loved her daughter.

  How much longer would he wait for her answer?

  How much longer could she pretend she didn’t know how to reply?

  Last week he’d offered her a convenient marriage as a solution to their tangled situation. Ariane would acquire a family. Caro and Jake would get to be with her permanently.

  It was simple and workable.

  Except Caro wanted more. She wanted someone to love her for herself.

  She reminded herself she’d have Ariane’s love. But she’d grown greedy. Having spent this time with Jake, she wanted it all. The physical intimacy and more besides. She wanted Jake to care for her, not as a co-parent but because she was unique, someone he didn’t want to live without.

  Not because she might carry his child.

  Caro looked at the tiny daisies in her hands, the flower chain she was making crushed.

  When she’d asked for time to think Jake’s expression had turned wooden. She’d seen the shutters come down before he strolled away to dress. Since then there’d been a barrier between them. Even in bed, at the height of passion, when Caro was on the verge of blurting out her feelings as he drove her to peak after peak of pleasure, she was aware of something different in Jake. As if he held something of himself back.

  Jake gave her everything except love.

  She’d lived without love all her life. She could live without it now, especially as she had Ariane. Her daughter would grow to love her, Caro felt it in her bones.

  In time, if she wanted, there’d be more children, and she’d love them too. She should take what she was offered and be content.

  ‘What’s wrong, Caro? You look sad.’

  She turned to find Ariane regarding her solemnly. Though her daughter was brighter and more relaxed now, she was sensitive to negativity, still easily worried.

 
; ‘Nothing at all.’ Caro smiled. ‘I was thinking how peaceful it is here.’

  ‘Maxim likes it. He’s not sure he wants to live somewhere else.’

  ‘Somewhere else?’

  The solemn little face nodded. ‘I heard Uncle Jake and Neil. We’re moving.’ The little girl swallowed. ‘Will you come too, Caro?’

  And that, of course, put her personal woes into perspective. What was more important than Ariane?

  Caro leaned in and cuddled her daughter. ‘That’s the plan, sweetie.’

  So it was decided.

  All Caro had to do now was tell Jake she’d accept his marriage of convenience.

  She’d marry the man she loved, yet it felt as if she gave up her soul. She’d have to spend her life pretending not to love him. Learning not to care when he wearied of their passion and sought pleasure with other women.

  Caro set her jaw and pushed her personal feelings aside. They weren’t as important as Ariane.

  An hour later, as Caro headed to Jake’s office to tell him her decision, her phone rang. She’d tired of her father’s staff calling her old number to harangue her and had changed it last week. Was it Zoe? This would save Caro calling to tell her there was no need for legal action.

  ‘Hello?’ Caro tried to sound bright and happy. But the smile she forced felt like a grimace.

  ‘At last.’ Her father’s voice struck like a blow. Caro stumbled to a halt, her stomach churning. Once more he’d managed to get her private number! Before she could gather her wits he went on, his voice serpentine with venom. ‘Don’t even think about hanging up, Carolina, or I’ll make your lover pay.’

  * * *

  The sun was sinking when Caro forced herself up from the window seat where she’d slumped. Every joint felt stiff, as if she’d aged a lifetime in an hour. Not that her father had stayed on the phone that long. His call had been brief but it had changed everything.

  Earlier this afternoon she’d felt sorry for herself, on the verge of marrying the man she loved to make a family with him and her daughter.

  She hadn’t known how lucky she was!