Читать книгу The Dreaming Of... Collection - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 36

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘JASMINE!’

Reyes caught her by the arms and watched her pull herself together. She’d gone deathly pale at the sight of the handcuffs and for a moment he’d thought she would pass out.

She continued to stare at the restraints as if they were poisonous serpents ready to strike at her.

She willingly admitted to being a criminal yet the sight of handcuffs terrified her. Surely she was used to them by now?

Puzzled, he slipped the cuffs into his back pocket and dismissed his bodyguard. Her trembling had increased and even though she tried to hide it, he caught the haunted look in her eyes.

Dios, something had happened to her.

‘Jasmine.’

She didn’t move. Didn’t react. It was almost as if she hadn’t heard him. Stepping closer, he gripped her tighter. Felt her tremble. An unwelcome emotion shifted through his chest.

‘You will respond when I address you.’

Her reaction was immediate. She wrenched herself from him, almost violently. Eyes wide, she glared at him, but he was sure her consciousness was elsewhere.

‘No! I won’t let you use those things on me!’

‘It’s fine. It’s okay,’ he murmured, brushing her soft, silky cheek. He realised what he was doing and removed his hand, puzzled and annoyed with himself for offering comfort where he should be doling out punishment.

She stared at the hand suspended between them. Then she searched for the handcuffs before her wide, frightened eyes darted back to his face.

‘Do you want to tell me what just happened?’ he asked.

She sucked in a shaky breath and gathered herself with that strength of will he couldn’t help but admire. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

A cold hand clamped around Reyes’s neck. How many times had he heard his mother utter those same words? When he’d demanded to know what she was doing in the papers being photographed in the arms of a man other than his father...when Reyes had confronted her about the alcohol on her breath or the hazy look in her eyes, she’d always uttered those words.

I have no idea what you’re talking about, Reyes. Don’t be so fanciful, Reyes.

‘So you deny that the sight of the restraints disturbed you? Then you won’t mind if I use—’

She tried to snatch her hands away. ‘No. Don’t use it. I promise...I won’t leave the villa.’

He was dying to know what had happened to her. But not so badly that he wanted to be lied to. He might have tried to fool himself into believing that it didn’t matter, but Jasmine’s untruths somehow managed to get under his skin. Sting that little harder.

‘Your promises are worthless to me—surely you know that by now? So I’m afraid you’ll have to do more than that.’

She swallowed. ‘What do you mean?’

Reyes stepped back and indicated the door to his study. ‘You’ll stay where I can keep an eye on you.’

‘So I guess a request for a trip into town is out of the question?’

Reyes let his cool stare speak for him.

She rolled her eyes before her gaze dropped to his pockets, where the cuffs were hidden out of sight. ‘Fine. I’ll go and find a book to read.’

For some reason, Reyes couldn’t suppress a smile as she firmed her lips and sent him a glance of pure loathing.

He stopped her as she stepped past him. ‘Wait.’

Surprised, she looked up. Then frowned. ‘What now?’

Reyes grasped her elbow and examined where she’d rubbed it before. Faint marks marred her skin. A touch of fury flared within him. He would be having words with his bodyguard later. ‘You didn’t tell me whether you were hurt or not?’ he repeated his earlier question. Why was that so important to him? He stemmed the mocking voice and waited for her answer.

‘It’s nothing I haven’t endured before.’ As if realising her slip, she bit her lip.

The memory of doing the same to those lips, and much more, slammed into him. His groin stirred to life. Smashing it down, he concentrated on her words.

‘You’ve been manhandled before?’ The very thought made something tug hard in his chest.

‘Not without fighting back, I can assure you.’ The blaze of defiance and determination flared higher in her eyes.

He wasn’t reassured. Intrigued, he stared at her for a long time before he could form the words. ‘You will not be treated like that under my roof. Be assured of that.’

‘So what do you call using those handcuffs tucked away in your pocket? An early Christmas present?’

His mouth twisted. ‘Perhaps I should rephrase that. No one but I will be allowed to touch you while you’re under my roof.’

‘Well, that makes me feel heaps better.’ Despite the bravado in her voice, a dart of apprehension crossed her eyes.

About to reassure her again that she would come to no harm, he stopped himself. Reminded himself of what this woman had done. To him. To his country.

Right at this moment, he had members of Santo Sierra’s council in his study, trying to find a way out of their current predicament. So far they seemed to be agreed on only one course of action. One that Reyes was determined not to give in to.

Meanwhile, here he was trying to placate the woman responsible for causing the turbulence in his kingdom.

Twisting on his heel, he barked, ‘Come.’

‘You want me at your meeting?’

‘I want you where I can keep an eye on you.’

He heard her footsteps behind him as he entered his study. Two of his advisors gaped at his guest. The third, most senior of them, frowned as Reyes shut the door and directed Jasmine into the seat in the corner of the room.

His senior advisor shifted in his seat. ‘Your Highness, what we’re discussing is highly confidential. I hardly think it appropriate to have a stranger—’

‘Miss Nichols is here as my guest. She won’t divulge anything we say in this room.’ He looked at her. She read the clear warning and nodded.

He sat down but not before his gaze caught her bare legs as she crossed them. Again heat lanced his groin. Those legs had curled around his waist, urged him on as he’d thrust inside her.

Inside her duplicitous body...

He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. ‘You said you know how many people were thinking of backing the new treaty?’ he addressed his senior advisor.

Costanzo Alvarez nodded. ‘It is currently seven to nine, Your Highness. With each day that passes, the older members are being swayed to the idea of the original treaty your father agreed to sign.’

Reyes’s hackles rose. ‘Those terms are no longer on the table. The new treaty will create at least another five thousand jobs.’

Alvarez shook his head. ‘Mendez won’t sign the new treaty, and Santo Sierra needs economic stability sooner rather than later. Any delay in providing that stability is a delay we can’t afford.’

His second advisor leaned forward. ‘As Costanzo said, stability is what will steer the people into calmer waters. I think Santo Sierrans are more afraid than anything else of what the future holds—’

‘Make your point,’ Reyes cut across him.

‘Should you marry and produce an heir quickly, it’ll restore the people’s faith in—’

‘Are you seriously suggesting that the only way to please the people is to marry? I’m supposed to be garnering economic support for Santo Sierra, not hunting Europe for a bride.’

‘Santo Sierra has always thrived in direct proportion to how well its monarchy is thriving. With your father’s health in rapid decline, the people are worried about their future, yes, but they’re also worried about you.’

Reyes frowned. ‘So I’m to conjure up a bride out of thin air, marry her and produce an heir instead of pursuing our economic growth?’

Alvarez tented his fingers. ‘No reason why you can’t do both. But we suggest you do it more...visibly. You’ve always been a private person, Your Highness. Even when you’re in Santo Sierra you’re hardly seen. Besides the council, most people believe you’ve been at the King’s bedside for the past few weeks. Only a handful of people know differently.’

Reyes shook his head. ‘Even if I agree to this plan, even if I calm my people for a while, we still need to bring Mendez to the table to sign another treaty.’

He heard a muffled sound and glanced at Jasmine. Her eyes met his and he read the bleak apology in them.

He wanted to believe her. Wanted to believe she was anywhere near sorry for the wrongs she’d done. But he’d let himself be fooled in the past. Let his guard down enough to believe his mother’s lies.

Each time, she’d stabbed him with savage lies and callous indifference. She’d done the same to his father. Reyes and his sister had watched their father, the King of Santo Sierra, wither with each deception, each act of adultery.

And yet, if Jasmine was to believed, she’d done it not for personal gain, but to save someone she cared about. She’d sacrificed her safety, her reputation for the sake of another...

The curious tug at his chest made him tense. There was no redemption in what Jasmine had done. He was a fool to look for any.

* * *

Jasmine bit her lip as Reyes turned away. His whole body bristled in rejection of her silent apology.

She looked down at the file she’d picked up as the men talked. She refused to acknowledge that dart of discomfort that had lodged itself in her heart when the idea of Reyes marrying had been brought up.

It had nothing to do with her. She had no claim on him. She never would. She was only in this room because Reyes didn’t trust her to wander his house without making a run for it.

Once he’d decided what her punishment was to be, she would serve it and be done. The fate of his country was his to deal with as he saw fit.

And yet...

Reyes...married to a princess befitting his station. An equal who would complement his heritage, who would have his babies and be gifted the privilege of waking up next to him for the rest of her life.

Her throat tightened. This time the bile that rose had nothing to do with nausea and everything to do with blind, raging jealousy.

Gripping the file, she forced herself to read the copy of the trade treaty that she’d handed to Joaquin.

Each kingdom had agreed to supply resources to one another. On execution, the two kingdoms would have combined power equivalent to the United Arab Emirates’ control of the world’s oil and steel. Despite Santo Sierra being the smaller kingdom, it held the richer resource. No wonder Mendez had his greedy eyes set on it.

Jasmine finished reading and closed the file.

This was what she’d wrecked.

The trade agreement would have created thousands of jobs, made countless lives better. She’d jeopardised all those lives to save one.

Caught between the fresh vice of guilt and the loyalty that wouldn’t be snuffed out, she wrapped her arms around herself. Then, unable to sit still, she jumped up.

‘Let me help. Please...’

Four sets of eyes slashed to her. Condemnation. Bitterness. Curiosity. Contemptuous dismissal. All expressions she’d seen before displayed through varied gazes when she was growing up.

Seeing most of those in Reyes’s eyes, she felt a lance of hurt pierce her heart.

What had she expected? That he would simply forget that she was the reason he was here, now, instead of back in his kingdom?

She cleared her throat as their gazes continued to sear her. ‘I’ve assisted in a few international brokerage deals that—’

‘Excuse me, Miss...?’ Costanzo Alvarez glared at her.

She bit back a retort and breathed deep. ‘Jasmine Nichols,’ she replied.

He gave a curt nod. He looked at the youngest advisor at the table. The man gave a subtle nod and started tapping the tablet keyboard in front of him.

‘What we’re dealing with here isn’t a petty squabble between two fashion houses. Or a divorce settlement where you decide who gets to keep the prized goldfish. We’re dealing with—’

‘I know what you’re dealing with,’ she retorted.

‘Then perhaps you should sit down and—’

‘Let her speak.’ A low, terse command from Reyes.

Jasmine looked at him. His eyes were narrowed, displeasure weaving through the grey depths. But he wasn’t displeased enough to instruct her to be quiet, which was a small blessing. Or perhaps he was waiting for her to make a fool of herself so he could mock her some more?

She licked her lips.

His gaze followed the movement. Electricity zapped her spine as she recalled how the potency of his kisses, the expert way he’d ravaged her, made her yearn for more.

‘Have you changed your mind? Or do you wish for a dictionary to find the right words?’

She snapped herself free of the mesmerising, surely overblown, memory and struggled to focus. If she managed to prove her worth, maybe redeem herself a little in this room, she could begin to right the wrong she’d done.

‘The previous treaty was skewed in favour of Valderra, we all know that. And yet Mendez never went through with it.’

‘He didn’t go through with it because the only copy of the Santo Sierran version, which had been witnessed by the King and legalised by each member of the council, went missing. To this day we do not know what happened to it.’

Jasmine’s gaze snapped to Reyes.

The clear warning in his eyes stilled any words she’d been thinking of speaking. Fighting to keep her composure, she faced the council as Alvarez continued. ‘And also because he’s propelled by greed, but at the moment he holds all the cards.’

Jasmine shook her head. ‘He holds all the cards because you choose to hide away in the dark.’

‘Excuse me?’ Reyes rasped.

An icy shiver raced across her skin but she persevered.

‘Why don’t you just call his bluff?’

‘I won’t gamble my kingdom’s economic future on a bluff, Jasmine. If the choice were mine to make, I’d cut him off at the knees. But I can’t do that. Not yet.’

The sound of her name on his lips produced another shiver. One that stalled her breath and made her lose her train of thought.

Jasmine frowned. ‘So...what’s the alternative?’

Silence descended on the table. The hairs on her nape stood up and Jasmine had a sense of foreboding so strong, she stumbled back and sank into her chair.

Reyes locked eyes with each member of his council before linking his fingers together. Poised, regal, his profile was so captivating, she couldn’t have looked away if she’d tried. But she still knew she didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.

‘Unless another solution is forthcoming, or a new treaty is negotiated in the next few weeks, it seems my solution is to buy time by finding myself a bride.’