The Royal Affair (The Palmera Royals) (3 page)

He reached past her and elbowed open the door, flicking on the light to reveal a decidedly feminine room.

She had wondered. Hoped. But he didn’t even try to coerce her to his room. Jonas Wilder’s mind was not wallowing where hers was. The man couldn’t have said it any louder. He wasn’t interested in her anymore.

“You’ll need something to um…sleep in, though I seem to remember you slept au naturale.”

Heat stole to her cheeks. “A T-shirt will be fine.”

“I remember you wearing my T-shirt and how it skimmed your thighs, your hair all tousled.” His gaze slipped lower, and every inch of her felt the wash of his gaze as if it were a physical touch. The air seemed to crackle between them, an electric charge that bound them together. “Is there anything else you need, Princess?”

A cuddle. A kiss. To touch you.
She cut those thoughts right off. “Nothing.” She snapped her arms across her middle. She had to break that connection at all costs. She held out her hand. “The T-shirt.”

Without uttering a word, he spun on the heels of his rough-hewn riding boots and stomped up the corridor and into a room right at the end.

See, he couldn’t even put you in a room next to his!

A few seconds later, he returned and held out a gray marl T-shirt, a Mustang emblazoned across its front. She reached for the shirt, but he held it back a moment.

“You always liked those silky contraptions. They were kinda sexy, and definitely fun to take off.” He stood so close, his cologne a fragrant reminder of other times, other nights.

Her fingers curled around the T-shirt. “That was a long time ago.”

“Four years.”

“A lot can change in that time.”

“Has it? Have you?”

“I’m no pushover. I’ve worked hard to get this far.”

“As Charlie Flanders’s bank account is about to find out.”

She smiled then, unrepentant. “Of course. I drove a hard bargain, but nor was I prepared to lose. You should know not to dare me, Jonas.”

His gaze narrowed, his expression stern, mouth set in a grim downturn. “You
have
changed.”

“I’ve grown up. I’m no longer controlled by what’s expected of me. I might be part of the Palmera royal family, but I’m independent too.”

Did she really believe that? A sudden niggling thought careered through her brain. She had tried so hard to make her own life, not dictated to by royal expectation. But…was she? She’d never doubted herself before. Until now—until meeting Jonas again had dug up hopes and dreams she’d buried all those years ago.

Now those silly dreams tried to resurface, and Marina shut them right back down. It had taken heartbreak for her to realize she couldn’t stay cooped up in her royal world, always doing what was expected of her. She’d broken free, and freedom tasted good.

Marina twisted the T-shirt in her hands. He shot her hands a humor-filled glimpse, and his lips curled upward, highlighting his beautiful, full mouth. “I bet right now you’re wishing that T-shirt was my scrawny neck.”

“So reading minds is one of your talents too.”

His gaze smoldered, dark and chocolaty, igniting tiny goose bumps across her body. He dragged a hand through his silky hair, frustration etched clearly in his expression, and shook his head. “Go to bed, Princess. Tomorrow is another day, and you can return to your world.” On that note, he retreated to his bedroom.

Just as he was about to close the door, she called out to him. “Jonas.”

He stilled, ahnd on the doorknob, and then turned to face her. There was something in his expression, something she couldn’t read. But she could read the sadness. “Yes, Marina.”

“I…I just wanted to say I’m sorry, about your wife, and…”

“She was my ex-wife when she died.”

“And your daughter. You never mentioned her.”

“No. I didn’t, and I’m sorry. I should have.” He stepped into his room and slammed the door shut behind him, and, if she wasn’t mistaken, she heard the faint click of the lock being turned too. Staring at the empty hallway, she let out an explosive sigh.

Walking into her bedroom, she closed the door, hesitating as her fingers hovered over the lock, and then she shook her head at the silliness of it all. No need to lock the door, because Jonas Wilder was definitely over her.

Sleep, however, proved elusive. Moonbeams radiated through the window where she’d purposely left open the curtains. It reminded her of times so many years ago when she would sit on her sill, staring up at the giant orb in its celestial heaven wondering if this moon were the same one that other little girls watched. She wondered too what their lives were like, unable to imagine anything different from her structured world. Then she found television programs—
Happy Days
and
The Waltons
—and would wish her life was normal, just like on television.

They didn’t have to wear silk dresses or learn to curtsey to aging relatives, and know their entire family history back five hundred years. Other little girls got to go McDonald’s, while she got to go to parties with the proviso that her bodyguard went too. Marina learned early on that her life was restrictive, and freedom became her silent war cry. Creating her business empire had been her bid for freedom.

She’d succeeded.

So why did she feel as if something was still missing?

Chapter Three

As the first rays broke through night’s veil, Marina tugged the duvet up and over her shoulders and stared out at the new day dawning. She awoke refreshed, but she also awoke determined to leave as soon as possible. Road closed or not, she would find a way out of
Dodge, because hopes and dreams could not be rekindled. Nothing good could come of staying in Jonas’s circle any longer.

Hearing the clip-clop of horse hooves outside, she tossed aside the duvet and stood. For a moment, she simply took in surroundings she’d completely ignored the previous evening.

The room was decorated with wallpaper in a similar shade to the floor, the soft furnishings a combination of blues and pinks, the white-painted furniture all imitation Rococo; it was definitely over the top. Marina couldn’t help but wonder whose taste this was. Surely not Jonas’s. The thought of him enmeshed in such sugary pastels brought a giggle to her lips.

Outside, the horse neighed, and Marina snapped out of her brain fugue and stepped over to the window. A hazy mist lay over the green pasture, the pale hues of the sun eking through.

In the distance, she discerned a shadowy figure on horseback riding across the gently undulating landscape. The vision seemed ethereal, the mist swirling around rider and horse, the burgeoning streak of dawn at the rider’s back.

It was Jonas.

She leaned closer to the window as if those few inches would afford a better view, and traced his outline across the chilly windowpane. Suddenly, he reined in the horse, then, rounding to the right and with a spurt, they took off again.

The animal’s strength and beauty were hypnotizing as it raced across the field. Muscles taut, its stride long, precise, the thud of its hooves were a resounding beat against the earth.

Dressed in jeans and a khaki shirt, he rode bareback, his legs hugging the animal. It was beauty as nature intended. Man and horse, together.

Then, just as suddenly, he changed direction and came back toward her, closing in on a gate. He spurred the horse on. Faster. Faster. He neared the gate and hunkered down to the horse’s strong back, readying to jump.

Fear pitted in her belly. It was too high. Too dangerous. She wanted to shout,
Don’t! Wait!

The horse took to the air, pulling its hooves clear of the gate and landing with ease. Marina exhaled her relief and slumped to the cushioned bay window seat. As the horse came to a halt, Jonas dismounted and led his horse up the cobbled drive toward the stables.

Every now and then, he would stop, brush a hand down the horse’s mane, leaning into the huge beast, seemingly talking to it. She would love to know what words he whispered. Did he say the same words she uttered as she worked with her horses? Whispers of her hopes and dreams, things she would not share with others.

As suddenly as he appeared from the mist, he drew to a halt and gazed toward her window. Marina slipped back nervously, unsure why she didn’t want him to know she watched him.

Because you’re lusting after him, that’s why.

Dear God, she was, and it definitely had to stop. Just as well she was leaving today. Moving away from the window she headed straight to the bathroom. A shower was needed.
So you expect to wash that man right out of your hair?
She did. She had to.

Fifteen minutes later, dressed in the only clothes she had with her, Marina headed downstairs to find her bodyguards in the large country-style kitchen, devouring the last of their breakfast. They stood to attention the moment she walked in.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” they said in unison.

“Morning.”

Jacques reached for the coffeepot. “Would you care for coffee?”

“No, thank you. I think we need to check if the road is clear and get on our way.”

“Thankfully it is, Your Highness. However…” He hesitated with a nervous cough. “We could have gone last night.”

“But I thought the road was closed.”

“It was. Mr. Wilder, however, has a helicopter,” Pierre intervened.

“A what?”

“A—”

“Yes, yes.” Her brain whirred with this new bit of information. “Are you saying we didn’t need to stay?” Jacques nodded.
Wilder, you’re in big trouble.
“The conniving, manipulating hunk.” Marina caught the speculative glances of her bodyguards and clammed up.

Just then, the door opened and Jonas strode in. A sheen of perspiration slicked his bare torso, the shirt he’d worn loose now held in one hand.

He came to an abrupt halt the second he saw her, suspicion slicing across his eyes as he flicked his attention from her, to her bodyguards and back again. “Good morning.” His voice was the same. He looked the same—exquisitely sexy—but there was a shadowed wariness in those far too sexy eyes of his.

Marina stiffened her spine against the magic of the man. “Don’t you good morning me, you scheming, low-down, lying…”

She stepped toward him, and he backed up to the door, holding his hands up in protest. “Whoa, Princess.”

“And don’t you princess me either, Jonas Wilder.”

“What’s all this about, Prin…Marina.” He shot a questioning look to her bodyguards, who simply offered cheesy smiles right back.

“I’ll tell you what it’s about.” She stabbed a finger at his chest, connecting with muscle.

Oh, bad move. Very bad.

“Not in front of them, you won’t.” Jonas grabbed her wrist before she had time to pull away. “If you’re going to flay me alive, Your Highness, we’ll do it in private.” And with that, he flung open the kitchen door and dragged her outside.

So much for her being in control. Her feet had no hope of gaining purchase, and she stumbled right after him.

“Right.” He dropped her hand. “Now, what the hell is all this about?”

She clicked her tongue with disgust. “Don’t you come all innocent and high and mighty with me. You’re the one who lied.”

“Lied? About what? I gave you a bed to sleep in, for God’s sake. Hell, I even gave you a T-shirt so you didn’t have to sleep naked.”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, I get it. You can give it but don’t like getting it right back, huh? But then I suppose Totara Park isn’t up to your super-rich five-star needs.”

“What? That’s got nothing to do with it. Your house is lovely. But you lied to me by omission.”

“About what, precisely?”

“About having a helicopter.”

For two heartbeats, he said absolutely nothing, then his eyes widened as understanding hit. “Oooh, that.”

“Oh, that,” she said, imitating him.

A broad grin lit his face, eyes crinkling at the corners and the twinkle of gold glittering in their rich chocolate depths returned. Smiled! He smiled for goodness’ sake! Blast the man. He shrugged his broad shoulders. “When
you
say it, your mouth goes all sweet and sexy.”

“Sex— Oh, shut up!” She clamped her lips together and curled her hands into fists at her sides. “This is not about sex. And besides, you’re getting off topic.”

He grinned. “Yeah, but it’s a great topic.”

“No, it’s not. It’s over, and don’t change the subject. So what about your helicopter?”

“It’s behind the stables.” He thumbed in the direction of one of the large buildings.

“And you didn’t think to mention it last night? We could have flown out of here.”

“Could have.”

Her disappointment in him amplified. “So you agree?”

“Yep.”

“And yet you didn’t bother to mention it, or offer? Why Jonas? Why?”

Because he had wanted her to stay, because…

He knew he was running scared and guilty as hell. He should have told her he was leaving all those years ago. But all he could think about was Suzie. About getting home to her.

Then he’d tried to contact her several times, picking up the phone to say
Hi, I’m sorry.
He’d hung up each time, too scared to tell her he missed her. Wanted her. Suzie had to come first. Before anything else. Before love.

Oh, don’t go there, buddy. Not a good idea.

“Because last night, as we drove from Charlie’s, the fog was already settling in. We get heavy layers of the stuff as autumn takes hold, and flying in that kind of weather at night isn’t a good idea.”

“But you didn’t even mention you owned a helicopter.”

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up. Didn’t see the point. I wasn’t prepared to risk my life just because you wanted to run back to civilization and your posh hotel.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. I never said anything of the kind.”

She was right. She hadn’t. Instead, he’d grabbed hold of any reason to get her to stay one night. One night was all he could manage, though. He couldn’t risk having her around any longer. He’d known inviting her to stay, hell, just about hauling her over here had been a dumb-ass thing to do, because all he wanted to do was hold her, kiss her. Make love to her.

Spinning from temptation, Jonas strode toward the stables, only to be excruciatingly aware of the sound of Marina’s heels on the gravel underfoot as she followed him.

“You have a pretty low opinion of me, Wilder.”

Instead of replying, he glanced up at a window on the second floor of his home—and remembered.

Suzie. Life was all about Suzie now. “You’re wrong.” He drew hard on his strength of purpose and reinforced his determination. “Because I don’t have an opinion at all.”
Liar.

Just then, Jacques rounded the corner in the SUV they’d followed Marina down in yesterday. He drew up alongside and exited the vehicle. “We are ready to leave, Your Highness.”

Good job. Maybe then he could actually begin to think again. He turned to face her, holding out his hand. “Well, it’s been nice to ah…meet you again, Your Highness.”

“What happened to ‘Marina’?”

“Royalty happened.”
Liar. You’re just scared again.
Jonas hated the truth. He nodded toward her vehicle and the royal insignia discreetly displayed on the rear bumper, even though he knew it was an excuse.

“It never bothered you before.”

“You never asked.” Wimp! If he said her name, he would be lost, and right now it was all about getting her the hell away, fast.

“So is that why you just upped and left without a word?”

Jonas scowled, his gut churning as her words sank in. It hadn’t been her fault. Suzie had needed him, and when he’d finally come up for air, it all seemed too late, reinforced when he’d spied her beautiful smile gazing out of the society pages with a Russian oil magnate hanging off her arm. “Didn’t seem necessary since you moved on pretty quick.
How is Dimitri, by the way?”

Her eyes dimmed, and the color that at times matched the blue of cornflowers or the sky on a clear summer day morphed into the darkest of sapphires. “Oh, Jonas.” Hearing the sadness in her voice, the disappointment, he nearly gave in. Nearly…but not quite.

The sound of tires crunching over the driveway proved his savior, stalling their conversation as a battered station wagon came to a halt several meters away. A car door slammed, and little feet raced toward him.

Suzie launched at him, and he caught her in his arms. “Hiya, pumpkin, how ya doin’?”

For a split second, hope surged, only to be shattered all over again. Suzie didn’t utter a sound. Unexplained mutism, they called it, attributed to the accident when her mother and mother’s lover died. Suzie had been tossed like flotsam in the back of the vehicle and awoken to her mother’s unseeing eyes staring at her. Was it any wonder his sweet child wanted to shut out the world?

Hugging her to him, Jonas shut down his disappointment. No way did he want Suzie to see his distress.

“Sorry we weren’t here earlier,” his sister Emerald said, closing the jeep door and carrying a small baby as she headed toward them.

“No worries.” Actually, Jonas was really glad they weren’t there earlier. If his sister knew Marina had stayed the night—the first time he’d had a woman cross his threshold since Talia walked out—he’d never have heard the end of it.

Unfortunately, Emerald had already spied Marina. With a speculative look in his direction, his sister stepped over to his royal visitor and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Emerald.”

Marina’s heart skipped a beat.

“Emmie.” Jonas’s tone held a distinct warning note. “Your Highness, this is my sister, Emerald. Emmie, this is Princess Marina Palmera from San Torrevna.” Marina shot him a questioning look. “Your sister?”

“My baby sister,” he said with a quick smile to Emerald. “Stella, my other sister, was your sister-in-law’s bridesmaid.”

“Yes, I remember.” Marina offered her hand to the young woman. Baby in one arm, Emerald shook Marina’s hand, then caressed her baby’s head. Something inside Marina twisted. The baby reached out a chubby fist to her.

Marina caught that little fist in her hand, and for just one moment, her heart felt as if it would explode, the sweet baby smell overwhelming. A baby. A family. Love and commitment.

But you have the freedom you’ve worked so hard for.
So why at this moment did she feel so empty? Lonely. The baby offered her a toothless grin.

“I didn’t know you had a house guest,” Emerald commented with an intuitive smile.

“Your brother kindly offered my bodyguards and me accommodation when the road was closed after the accident last evening.”

Emerald’s eyes, which perfectly matched her name, widened with blatant interest. “That’s so sweet of you, brother. Really hospitable.”

“Yeah, wasn’t it?”

Suzie unhooked her hold on Jonas, slid down his length and stared wide-eyed up at Marina. Marina crouched down to her. “Hello, Suzie.”

“Suzie’s…” But Jonas didn’t get to finish as Suzie pivoted round and raced inside the house. “Suzie? Suzie?” He went to run after her, but Emerald grabbed his arm, and his boots dug into the gravel.

“Don’t fret, Daddy, she’s just doing what kids do. They run and play and—”

“Speak, Emerald! They speak.” Jonas yanked away from his sister and scrubbed a hand over his face, bleak eyes staring up at the house. “They talk nonstop. Have you heard her do that? Have you?” He threw his hands up in the air. “I know, I know, it’s all about time. But it’s been years. How much longer will it take?” The croak in his voice was palpable, a man on the brink.