Page 103 of Raul
The next one was time-stamped half an hour later.
Following up to make sure you saw my previous text. Are you available later today?
The third one had registered ten minutes ago.
I understand you’re already en route to Kyran Redda’s island. I’m sorry I missed you. If you’re flying, your wounds must not be severe, which relieves me. Please take care of yourself, though. The dragon has been tagged and returned to her meadow in las Montañas de Fantasmas. She appears to be undamaged by her adventure, although who knows about the psychological trauma? The eggs are being incubated at the Centro del Dragón. The experts felt they had been jostled so much that it would be better to take special care of them rather than burying them back in the wild to take their chances.Mil graciasfor your invaluable help in saving both mother and babies. I wish I could tell the world about your role, but because of al-Buya, our rescue must be kept a secret.
As she finished reading the third text, another one showed up on her phone.
I thank you even more for understanding how important this was to me.
Tears welled in her eyes, and she blinked rapidly to fight them off. It was all too tempting to put her head down on the table and sob.
Because she understood too much.
She understood that they had made a true connection somehow. As weird as it was, given their very different positions in life, she could read his feelings and even empathize with them.Maybe it was because they shared the experience of larger-than-life fathers. Maybe it was because they both believed in the importance of duty to others. Yet she had rebelled, and he never would. Nevercould. Perhaps she was his alter ego. The person he would be if he wasn’t the prince.
It didn’t matter why. Her heart didn’t care about the reason. It just knew this was the man she loved with all her being. She choked down the sob trying to escape from her chest.
She had known she shouldn’t fall in love with the prince. Except she had fallen in love with the man—the fascinating, sexy, guilt-ridden man—behindSu Alteza Real,no matter how many times she had warned herself not to.
Imbécil!
There could be no future for them because he had obligations that she was well aware of. He had to consider who would rule alongside him as the queen. A woman who knew the players in the royal circle and could move among them with grace and assurance. A woman like those at the wedding reception who wore priceless jewelry and designer gowns without even thinking about it. Perhaps even someone who brought new power or influence to the Dragóns.
She was none of those.
The texts blurred as more tears filled her eyes, and the searing pain of loss lanced through her, making her double over, which pulled at the gashes across her ribs.
“Captain?” Lizanne’s voice was concerned. “Are you all right?”
She swallowed hard and straightened. “A little stomachache from too much rich food last night, that’s all. Nothing serious.”
“Ah, I have a remedy for that,” Lizanne said, disappearing into the galley and returning with a bottle of antacid tablets.
“Muchas gracias,”Erica said, accepting a couple. No harm in chewing on them to cover up her real problem.
The interruption had dried up her tears, so she could attempt to frame an answer to Raul’s texts.
That’s great news about mama dragon and her eggs. All back where they belong in Caleva.
She debated a moment but decided it was a legitimate question, so she added,Were you able to retrieve Halcón’s helicopter?
Did she have to respond to his final text? She reread it. Yes, she did.
We all have to do the things that feel right to us. I did nothing more than that. No thanks are necessary.
She hesitated a moment before she hitsend.
Then she muted her phone and returned to the cockpit.
The moment Raul left the palace dining room at the end of the post-wedding brunch, he pulled his phone out of his trousers pocket.
Yes! A text from Erica.
He read it twice, looking for something he had no right to expect. Growling in frustration, he responded, assuring her that the helicopter had been safely returned to her instructor. His thumbs hovered over the screen as he longed to say things he shouldn’t. He shook his head and shoved the phone back in his pocket before he typed anything stupid.
He limped through the corridors of the palace to hishabitación,where he ripped off his tie and suit jacket and toed off his shoes before he threw himself onto the couch. There was no Erica to gently set his foot on a cushion, so he kicked at the throw pillows until one tipped over to give him a place to prop up his painful ankle.
