Page 50 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SHESWITCHEDONa lamp and its mellow light turned her into a mediaeval illumination with her rich auburn hair, violet-blue eyes and deep purple gown.

Jake sat on an armchair opposite and reminded himself not to trust her. Just because she made his pulse hammer with longing, because her mix of defiance and melancholy twisted him inside out, didn’t mean he could relax his guard.

Yet it was hard to reconcile the woman who’d clung to him as if he were her whole world with the scheming liar he knew her to be.

He ignored the treacherous urge to sit with her on the sofa. This time he’d think with his head, not another part of his body.

‘How did you change your hair, your eyes?’ It wasn’t the most important question but he still wasn’t accustomed to her flagrantly exquisite colouring.

She looked like a painting by an old master brought to life. Except the memory of her toned, surprisingly strong body was vivid. This woman was no delicate work of art. She was bold and so alive his skin tingled being close to her.

Because you still want her. Despite everything.

Their eyes locked. Jake’s pulse thudded.

‘Coloured contacts and a rinse. I visited a hairdresser in St Ancilla to get me back to my natural hair colour for this week. The rinse wouldn’t have lasted anyway and that would have given me away. But I was impatient to see Ariane.’ Her mouth crinkled in a moue of self-derision. ‘When I finally discovered where she was I couldn’t wait. I acted rashly, but I had to see her as soon as possible.’

She shrugged and Jake was surprised at how the simple movement of bare shoulders could so entice. He jerked his gaze back to her face but Caro wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were fixed in the distance.

‘What was the plan? To snatch her?’

Now Caro looked at him, her face full of astonishment. An act?

‘I’d never do anything like that. Apart from anything else, Ariane just lost the only parents she knew.’ Did he imagine her voice wobbled on the word ‘parents’? ‘She’s struggling to cope with the changes in her life. Kidnapping her...’ Caro shook her head, staring as ifhewere the one at fault. ‘She needs stability, not more trauma.’

Caro drew a deep breath. He watched as she sat straighter, chin up, hands loose in her lap. With the movement she became more regal, more untouchable. He fought the urge to go over there and reduce her to the desperate lover she’d been minutes ago. Sexual awareness still thickened the atmosphere and his body was taut and eager.

‘I acted on impulse applying for the job. My lawyer advised me to wait before confronting you. And I thought if I told you the truth you wouldn’t let me see her.’

Jake’s hackles rose. There, she finally admitted it.

‘You plan to claim Ariane.’ Bitterness filled his mouth.

‘She’s my daughter.’

Caro spoke quietly but with a pride Jake couldn’t mistake. Nor did he miss the sparkle in her eyes.

Just as well he’d taken the precaution of increasing his niece’s security. He hadn’t brought her to St Ancilla. He didn’t trust this woman’s royal relations not to twist the law in their own country and rip Ariane from him.

He shook his head. ‘You gave up your rights to her when you abandoned her.’

Despite her wounded look he didn’t hide his disdain. He abhorred mothers who deserted their children.

‘Let’s get one thing straight.’ Jake leaned forward, his hands fisted on his knees. ‘You’re not Ariane’s mother. My sister was. She and her husband were the ones who sat up with her through the night as a baby. Who suffered the sleepless nights. Who played with her and loved her and taught her everything she knows.Notyou. It neverwillbe you. Not while I’ve got breath in my body.’

Jake’s words were arrows, piercing her heart. Reminders of all she’d missed. All she hadn’t been able to give her daughter.

Would Ariane ever forgive her for that?

Caro swallowed convulsively, ignoring the blistering pain as the acid of his hatred penetrated. How could she have given herself to a man who despised her?

Yet even on opposing sides, Caro felt that trembling awareness that was always present around Jake. Shame engulfed her. Even now she couldn’t conquer her yearning.

‘It wasn’t like that. I didn’t abandon her.’ Caro drew a shuddering breath. ‘She was taken from me.’

Jake lifted his eyebrows in disbelief.

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