Page 30 of Forbidden Passion

“She’s brilliant,” Ciara agreed. “I couldn’t believe it when I called her and asked her if she wanted to help out.” Sipping the wine, she watched Falk over the edge of the crystal glass. “Why are you here?”

“I agreed to be here to support Ramit and Maggie. Their secret wedding has to appear legitimate to the world.” He took a sip of wine, then continued. “Also, we’re creating a sort of political summit while the three of us are here. We’ll be meeting with other global leaders as well.”

She smiled as he leaned forward. “No, I meant, why are you here, in my suite? The torrential tears are over. And I’m so sorry about that. I’m usually better…controlled.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?”

She shook her head. “No,” she replied. Then she leaned back. There was a long silence as she stared down into the wine, her fingers twirling the glass. She thought back to earlier this afternoon. The song. The strange terror that had consumed her. The memories…they still haunted her, even after all this time.

Falk didn’t say anything. He held her hand and waited. Ciara appreciated his silence more than he could know. And because she felt safe, the story seemed to just…flow out of her before she’d made a conscious decision to share it with him.

“An old song popped into my head. A song that my nanny used to sing when she was…instructing me,” she explained, using non-inflammatory words for what had been literally a waking nightmare.

“What was the song?”

She looked up and opened her mouth to tell him that she never wanted to hear the song again. Instead, the lyrics to the song came out. “I can follow the rules. And we’ll have a…,” she choked on the words. Ciara cleared her throat and continued. “And we’ll have a good day. When we follow the rules.” She breathed in, closing her eyes to re-balance herself. When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t smiling. “There was more to the song, but you get the drift.”

Chapter 26

Falk watched Ciara carefully. She was normally so in control and happy. But the torrent of tears worried him. Something very bad had happened. Something that had brought up traumatic childhood memories.

“I remember that song as well. My nanny used to sing it to me when I was being unusually stubborn.” His thumb stroked over her fingers. “Why does it bother you so much?”

She fiddled with her wine glass and he wondered if she would answer him. He wanted her to trust him, but she wasn’t there yet. Soon, but not yet. He was just about to change the subject when she explained, “Because my nanny used to pinch me. Or slap me. Sometimes, she’d beat me with a thin cane whenever I wasn’t acting exactly as she thought I should,” Ciara finally got out, her voice choking on the truth. “She’d use that cane over and over again while singing that song to me. Then she’d continue beating me while she forced me to sing it back to her.”

He watched as she wiped another tear away. And then the meaning of her words hit him. Understanding, horror, and fury, felt like a white hot knife to his soul at the thought of an adult using…had she said a cane? “She…beat you?” he gasped. “With a stick?”

Ciara nodded jerkily and she couldn’t look him in the eye.

Falk clenched his jaw, every muscle in his body tightening with fury. “How often?” he growled.

She shrugged. “Daily. Sometimes she would only hit me once. Other times, she’d hit me over and over. Always while singing that song. Or if I didn’t follow her commands quicklyenough, she’d pinch me.” She closed her eyes and lifted her head. “Hard.”

Flashes of that last morning in Switzerland came back to him. She’d been so soft and sweet in his arms one moment, but then he’d…? He’d given her an order about breaking off her betrothal to Zayed. He’d commanded her!

And her nanny, the person who was supposed to protect her and coddle her, keep her safe, had been beating her! Daily? That was just…alleana!

Shaking his head, trying to focus on the present, he took her hand, relieved when she didn’t immediately reclaim it. “Ciara, why didn’t you tell your parents?”

She hiccupped and he wondered if that had been almost a laugh. “Because my nanny told me that they had ordered the beatings. And if I whined to them about her following their instructions, then they would order her to use a larger stick. And on the days when I was being especially rebellious, she’d shove me into a closet and tell me to be quiet until she came back for me.” She looked up at him. “Sometimes, I was locked away overnight without food, water, or a toilet. I was terrified of the dark for years after that.”

“Holy hell!” he whispered, finally understanding the trauma that she’d gone through. “Didn’t your pediatrician stop her? You had doctor’s appointments, right? A can would have left marks. Hell, an adult pinching a child would have left bruises!”

Ciara’s mouth twisted and she sighed. “Doctor Harroby noticed the bruises and welts. But he would merely chuckle, pat me on the head, and tell me that I should be more careful because I was clumsy.”

“Jahim!” Falk hissed, shocked that Ciara hadn’t had anyone to talk to. “And as a member of the royal family, you weren’t allowed any friends to discuss the issue with, right?”

She shrugged. “Eventually, my parents sent me away to boarding school and,” she stopped, biting her lip as yet another stray tear inched down her cheek. “Things were better there.”

“How?” he growled. “You weren’t abused daily anymore?”

She shrugged and forced a smile. “Yeah. It was a relief to not have the threat of that cane constantly hovering over me or the threat of being shoved into a closet.”

He scooted forward, then obviously wasn’t satisfied since he stood up and lifted her into his arms. Ciara had to balance the glass of wine carefully so that it didn’t spill and she wrapped her arm around his neck.

“There,” he grumbled when he had her back in his arms. “That’s better.” He smoothed a hand down over her knee, not going under the material like he wanted to do. Instead, he kept her safe, showing her that she could talk to him about anything. As long as he held her close, he thought. “Why didn’t you tell your brother? He would have stopped the beatings.”

Ciara leaned into him and Falk nearly purred with relief and an intense sense of rightness. They belonged together, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it quite yet. But now that he knew why she kept pulling back, he could work around it. He would woo her. He wouldaskher to marry him. Hell, he would beg her to marry him!

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