Page 69 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

‘I made a mistake. I’m not cut out for motherhood. I need to—’

‘Caro.’ Her name was a caress as he closed his arms around her, pulling her gently back against him, revelling in the feel of her there, where she belonged, even if she was rigid with tension. ‘Tell me what’s wrong. I know something is. You’re a terrible liar.’

He felt the sob rack her though she stifled it. Still she didn’t relax. Instead her movements grew quicker, her breathing too, as she leaned away from his restraining hold, grabbing fistfuls of clothes and tossing them into the suitcase.

‘Please, don’t make this more difficult, Jake. I don’t want to marry you. We’d make each other unhappy and that wouldn’t be good for Ariane.’

‘And if you’re pregnant?’ He slid his palm to her abdomen. He’d told himself he’d support her if there was a baby. In fact he was thrilled Caro might carry his child. He’d begun to imagine what the baby would look like, how it would feel in his arms.

‘I won’t be. The odds are against it.’

She spoke so softly he had to crane to hear. Which brought him to the spice and warmth scent of her skin. Jake closed his eyes and inhaled. That undid him.

‘Sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong. I promise we’ll find a way to deal with it.’ Jake didn’t care that his voice revealed his feelings. ‘I want you with me. You and Ariane.’

If she’d been tense before it was nothing to her iron rigidity now. It felt as if she didn’t even breathe.

‘No! It’s impossible. We can’t.’

But Jake was listening now, really listening. He didn’t hear rejection but desperation. A woman who didn’t care for him or her child wouldn’t sound as if she were being torn apart.

Her pain wrenched at his vitals. He’d do anything to take the hurt away.

He kissed the curve where her shoulder met her neck and felt her instant response as if her knees gave way. He gathered her closer. Caro’s breath became a sigh and instead of fighting his hold she angled her head a fraction to allow unfettered access.

Triumph rose. Relief so profound it almost overwhelmed him.

Jake lifted one unsteady hand, pushing her hair aside, nuzzling that sensitive spot as she leant against him.

Even if she didn’t feel the same way about him, he could work with that. He was determined, single-minded and patient when he needed to be. He’dmakeher love him if it took years.

‘You want to be with me,’ he murmured against her skin, feeling her shivers of response.

She tried to move away, but Jake was implacable. He needed to understand and it seemed the only way to learn the truth was when he weakened Caro’s defences. Her words confirmed it.

‘Let me go, Jake. Please. You’re wrong, I don’t want you.’

Her body told another story, as did her voice. She sounded desperate but not convincing. Scared rather than angry. Of what? Surely not of a future together?

‘I don’t believe you.’

She stilled.

‘What happened, Caro? What are you frightened of?’

‘I...’ She shook her head as if she’d run out of lies to distract him.

Gently Jake turned her to face him. Her eyes were wide and her mouth a crooked line of pain but it wasn’t rejection he saw in those purple-blue eyes. It was fear.

Surely not of him? Jake was processing the possibility when abruptly his mind clicked into action.

‘It’s your father, isn’t it? He contacted you.’

The instant flare of her eyes told him he’d hit the truth.

Silently Jake cursed. He’d done everything he could to stymie the King’s attempts to reach Caro and thought he’d succeeded. What he’d learned in that confrontation between father and daughter at the palace had horrified him. Now the man turned even more vicious and unstable. Not simply because Caro dared defy him but because the house of cards he’d built around himself was being swiftly and methodically exposed.

Jake hadn’t hesitated to probe into the monarch’s affairs. Between them, professional investigators and Jake’s well-placed business associates had uncovered an unsavoury, not to mention illegal web of financial misappropriation and fraud. King Hugo regarded the public purse as his own, but the structures he’d used to hide his misdoings were crumbling under pressure.

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