Page 29 of A Royal Temptation

She rose and grabbed up their empty plates. “Would you like another helping?”

He patted his flat, washboard stomach. “No, I’d better stop here.”

“Then no cherry cobbler? It seems the kitchen minions made a trip to the bakery.”

“Maybe later, Princess.”

She washed dishes and he dried. It was all so domestic. Well, as domestic as she’d seen on the Hallmark Channel. Her life was hardly a typical American tale. What did one do after the dishes were cleaned and the night loomed ahead?

Her gaze slid to Juan Carlos, wiping his hands on a kitchen towel. He folded the towel neatly, set it on the counter and smoothed it out. With a slight tilt of his head, he sought her out, a question on his lips.

Before he could voice his thoughts, the purr of an engine reached her ears. Juan Carlos strode to the kitchen window that faced the side yard. “It’s Eduardo. He ran an errand for me. Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

“Why?”

But he dashed out the door before giving her an answer.

She heard their voices and strained to hear what they were saying, but she couldn’t make it out.

The back door opened with the slight kick of Juan Carlos’s boot and he strode in holding a wire cage in both hands.

Meeeow.

The cats! Juan Carlos had the mama cat and her kittens.

Eduardo followed behind him, his hair rumpled, drops of blood staining his scratched hands. He looked almost as frazzled as the cat.

“Eduardo, you’re bleeding!”

“Hazard of the job,” he mumbled.

It took only a second for her to figure out what he’d done. What they’d both done. Juan Carlos had sent Eduardo on a mission to rescue mama cat and her babies.

“He wouldn’t let me go,” Juan Carlos was saying.

“My job is to protect you, Your Majesty.”

“Not from cats.” The king appeared annoyed at himself for allowing Eduardo to do the job he’d wanted to do. “I should’ve gone. Now look at you.”

“Better me than you. They’re nothing but a few scrapes. She put up a good fight.” Eduardo grinned. “She is a feisty one.”

Juan Carlos gritted his teeth. “Those injuries should’ve been on my hands.”

“Stop arguing, you two,” Portia said. “What you both did was very kind. Juan Carlos, take the cats in the living area. The room is dark and cozy. It might put mama at ease. Eduardo, come with me. I’ll take care of your hands.” She marched into the bathroom and heard footsteps behind her. Grateful that Eduardo had obeyed her order, she grabbed a washrag, filled a bowl of warm water and pointed for him to sit on the edge of the bathtub.

Goodness.

She sat, too, and took his big hands in hers, scouring over half a dozen scratch marks. “She must’ve been very frightened.”

“That made two of us.”

“Oh, Eduardo.” She began dabbing at the wounds. He flinched, but took the pain. She dabbed a little more gently, cleansing and dressing his wounds. “There.”

“The king is very angry with me. Luis and I both, we convinced him not to go. He wanted to do this thing...for you.”

Portia closed her eyes. “I...know.”

Her chest tightened. It was the sweetest gesture anyone had ever done for her. Or tried to do.

“He is a proud man. But don’t worry, he won’t be angry for long.”

“He won’t?”

“No. I think not. And thank you, Eduardo, for rescuing the animals.”

She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. He was large, built like a block of stone, but his expression softened and as he rose, he bowed to her with his eyes twinkling.

And she felt as though she’d made a new friend.

Six

“Do you think she’ll try to escape if we open the cage?” Portia asked as she sat facing Juan Carlos on the floor beside the fire. The cage was between them. The leery mama cat’s eyes were guarded and wide. Portia made a move to get a better look at the babies, and a mewling hiss, one born of fear more than anything else, pressed through the feline’s tight lips.

Juan Carlos shrugged. “She has nowhere to go. The house is locked up and the doors to this room are closed. Right now, I think she needs to see us and know we won’t harm her.”

“I think you’re right.” Portia tilted her head to one side. “You’re intuitive when it comes to animals.”

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