Page 59 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

It meant everything to have breathing space to decide what to do next. To know her daughter, and she, were safe for now.

Caro felt stiff facial muscles twinge as she smiled. ‘You’re sure you’re the same man who stalked into the palace last night with vengeance in his eyes?’

He’d looked like an avenging angel.

There was no answering humour in Jake’s features. If anything he looked even grimmer.

Warmth enveloped her hand and she looked down to see he’d captured it in both of his. Heat radiated from his touch and the tension stringing her muscles began to ease.

‘I owe you an apology.’ Jake winced. ‘I jumped to conclusions about you that were unfounded and hurtful. Can you forgive me? I cringe when I think of what I said. The way I treated you, in private and in front of others. You didn’t deserve that. I lost control and I’m ashamed.’

Caro read his remorse. His words, his contempt, had hurt. Badly. With a lancing pain that drove right to her heart. But he hadn’t known the truth.

‘I can’t blame you for doubting my word. I came here in disguise, lying to you.’ She paused. ‘I apologise for that. My only excuse is I was desperate, scared I’d lose the chance to see my daughter.’ Caro tried to summon a smile but it felt like a grimace. ‘I was afraid if I told you who I was you’d stop me seeing her when I’d just learned she was alive.’

‘Caro, you don’t—’

‘I do have to explain. I hated lying. I knew soon enough that you loved her and wanted to protect her, but I knew you’d see me as an enemy, particularly when I told my story. It was so far-fetched. You were right, it does sound like something from an old story.’ The sort that had evil stepmothers and awful curses.

Caro’s stepmother wasn’t evil. Just wrapped up in her own family with no warmth to share for another woman’s child. As for her father, he was larger than life with his selfish, manipulative ways and towering temper.

Not for the first time she wondered what life would have been like if her mother had lived. Everyone said she was gentle yet fun-loving. Caro had a horrible feeling life with her royal husband would have been hellish.

‘Nevertheless, I should have waited to be sure of the facts.’ Jake’s stern voice sliced her thoughts. ‘Abandoning children is a hot button for me. I saw red and acted before thinking. Believe it or not, that’s not my usual way.’

He looked down to where his thumb described a half circle again and again on the back of her hand. He seemed so abstracted she guessed he had no idea of the powerful, delicious sensations his caress evoked.

Here she was, fleeing her country, her father and her King, with her life in chaos. Yet she found it impossible to concentrate on her problems because of Jake Maynard and the feelings he evoked.

She tugged her hand free, ignoring that twitch of dark eyebrows.

She cradled her fingers, warm from his touch, in her other hand. ‘Don’t worry. I’m tougher than I look.’ She’d had to be. ‘I’m not about to collapse in tears or have a breakdown.’

Caro was acutely aware of the fact Jake had seen her at her lowest ebb, unable to stop the grief she’d carried for so long. She’d wept in his arms, finding a solace she’d never known before. But she wouldn’t do that again. The humiliation of having him witness that scene with her father still cramped her insides. Even though it had convinced Jake she told the truth, she hated him thinking she was a helpless victim.

His smile when it came was crooked but totally disarming. It set light to her last defences like flame to paper. She could almost hear the whoosh of conflagration as her resistance crumbled to ashes.

‘It seems those stories about your breakdown years ago were exaggerated.’ His smile died and Caro read concern in his smoky gaze. ‘You don’t have to convince me you’re strong, Caro. To get through what you did, to keep going, and deal withhim...’ He shook his head. ‘That takes guts.’

Caro’s heart swelled. It was the first time she’d received such a compliment. ‘I’ve never held my own against him before. I let him—’

‘Don’t!’ Jake raised a palm to stop her. ‘Don’t blame yourself. He was your father and your King and he held all the power.’

Jake’s stare pinioned hers. Instead of her feeling cornered, her confidence rose, a warm glow that felt like happiness.

They stood, gazes locked. Caro didn’t want to move. The quality of Jake’s regard, how he made her feel about herself, were new and precious.

‘I’ve got one question.’ His voice made her blink.

‘Yes?’ Absurdly, now the worst was over, she was breathless.

‘Do I have to call you Carolina now?’

She smiled and took a half step back, suddenly aware she’d canted towards him. ‘I’ve come to loathe my full name. My father insists on it but as he’s usually in a bad mood he makes it sound ugly. My friends call me Caro.’

Jake bent forward in a formal bow as if he were a master of court etiquette. ‘May I call you Caro?’

Did that mean he saw her as his friend?

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