Page 67 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

So it was decided.

All Caro had to do now was tell Jake she’d accept his marriage of convenience.

She’d marry the man she loved, yet it felt as if she gave up her soul. She’d have to spend her life pretending not to love him. Learning not to care when he wearied of their passion and sought pleasure with other women.

Caro set her jaw and pushed her personal feelings aside. They weren’t as important as Ariane.

An hour later, as Caro headed to Jake’s office to tell him her decision, her phone rang. She’d tired of her father’s staff calling her old number to harangue her and had changed it last week. Was it Zoe? This would save Caro calling to tell her there was no need for legal action.

‘Hello?’ Caro tried to sound bright and happy. But the smile she forced felt like a grimace.

‘At last.’ Her father’s voice struck like a blow. Caro stumbled to a halt, her stomach churning. Once more he’d managed to get her private number! Before she could gather her wits he went on, his voice serpentine with venom. ‘Don’t even think about hanging up, Carolina, or I’ll make your lover pay.’

The sun was sinking when Caro forced herself up from the window seat where she’d slumped. Every joint felt stiff, as if she’d aged a lifetime in an hour. Not that her father had stayed on the phone that long. His call had been brief but it had changed everything.

Earlier this afternoon she’d felt sorry for herself, on the verge of marrying the man she loved to make a family with him and her daughter.

She hadn’t known how lucky she was!

Now that choice was denied her. She had to give Jake up and Ariane too. Her father had made that clear. He was a man who didn’t make empty threats.

It didn’t matter that Jake had done nothing wrong, had broken no law. If her father vowed to destroy him he would. Even if it took years, he’d manipulate the truth, plant evidence, bribe people, all that and more, to destroy Jake’s reputation and his business. The King had the contacts and the lack of scruples to do it. He’d even threatened extradition to St Ancilla on trumped-up charges relating to the disbursement of Jake’s sister’s estate and alleged mismanagement of an investment scheme there. He’d ensure Jake didn’t get a fair trial. Destroying his reputation would devastate his business.

Unless Caro gave up her daughter and returned, alone, to the palace.

He’d taken his time planning his revenge for the way she stood up to him. It was something he excelled in. How had she let herself forget that?

The threat had made her realise too that her father would continue to influence their lives, spreading poison that would eventually infect Ariane, unless she, Caro, gave her up. There’d be no escape and ultimately Ariane would suffer.

Caro’s throat constricted but she refused to cry. Now, more than ever, she had to be strong.

She didn’t know how she was going to walk away from Jake and Ariane but she had to believe her daughter would be fine without her, because she’d have Jake. It wasn’t as if Ariane knew Caro was her mother. Now she never would. Caro would have to get Jake to promise that at least.

Yet, here in her room, the room she hadn’t slept in since returning from St Ancilla, Caro wondered how she’d find the strength to do what she must.

But surely it was simply one step then another, like after Mike’s betrayal. And when she’d believed her baby dead.

Drawing a deep breath, Caro took a step, then another, towards the wardrobe where her suitcase was stored.

Jake had waited long enough. The days had stretched out and still Caro hadn’t given an answer. She drove him crazy.

She made love as ardently as before, yet their emotional connection had severed.

He’d given up being patient. It was time for answers.

Answers he got as he opened the bedroom door and saw Caro with her back to him, suitcase open on the bed.

For a second that seemed to last for ever his feet stuck to the floor. He couldn’t move, could barely process what he saw. But only for a second. He crossed the room and she swung around.

There was a flash of something in her eyes. Relief? Pleasure? Something that made the bleakness inside ease and hope surge.

Then it disappeared. Those violet eyes turned dull and shadowed, dropping to his chin.

He knew why. She’d decided he wasn’t good enough. Why marry a commoner when she had handsome aristocrats hanging off her every word? He’d seen them at the ball, panting after her.

The weight within his ribs crushed him. His lungs laboured. Jake had to force himself to stand still and not haul her to him and insist they could work this out.

‘This is your answer?’ Another time he’d have winced at the raw emotion in his voice. ‘Were you going to tell me or just let me work it out when you vanished?’

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