Читать книгу The Dreaming Of... Collection - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 37

CHAPTER NINE

‘BUT...THERE HAS to be another way!’

Reyes stared at Jasmine. Her lips were pressed together after her outburst.

‘Miss Nichols—’

Reyes held up his hand to stop his second advisor. ‘Go on,’ he said to Jasmine. His curiosity was getting the better of him by the minute. If what she was proposing was better than the idea of marrying a faceless stranger in order to maintain peace, he was all for it.

His one attempt to marry had left harrowing scars that he would never forget. Until his sister, Isabella, had dissolved her engagement recently, Reyes had accepted that he would rule Santo Sierra in his lifetime, then let his sister’s heirs inherit the throne.

But once again, the mantle was firmly on his shoulders.

‘What if we can prove that he was behind the treaty going missing?’

Reyes surged to his feet, knocking the chair over. ‘Gentlemen, give me the room.’

His men continued to stare at Jasmine with varying degrees of astonishment and suspicion. He slammed his hand on the table. ‘Now!’

They scrambled up and hurried out.

‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

She jumped back at his bellow. ‘I’m trying to help.’

He speared a hand through his hair. ‘By putting yourself in the crosshairs of a dangerous man?’ he demanded.

‘But this is your council...’

‘Some of whom are set in their ways and don’t welcome the sort of changes I hope to implement when I ascend to the throne.’

She frowned. ‘And you think if they know...?’ She stopped and gulped.

‘Until I know who I can trust, I’m not prepared to take that risk with your life.’ The knowledge that she’d almost given herself away greatly agitated him. He paced in front of her, trying to decipher why protecting her meant so much to him.

From the corner of his eye, he watched her reach out.

‘Reyes—’

‘No, don’t defy me on this, Jasmine. I won’t change my mind. I can’t have another destroyed life on my conscience.’ The words tumbled out.

They both froze. He saw the shock rocking through him reflected on her face.

‘What...what do you mean?’ Her voice was whisper-thin, puzzled.

He chopped off her question with a flick of his hand. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He took a deep breath to regain the balance he seemed to lose so easily around her. ‘I’m calling the council back. You’ll refrain from mentioning what happened in Rio. Am I clear?’

For the first time since he’d known her, she nodded readily.

He strode to the door, shock still rocking his system. His men came back. They tossed ideas around half-heartedly, until he clenched his fist.

‘Gentlemen, we need to discuss the subject of my bride.’

Jasmine made a rough noise of disagreement. He ignored her. Looking at her would remind him of what he’d let slip. Remind him how easily she got under his skin.

‘Well, in a way your current trade visits are a good way of introducing any prospective brides to the people. But...’ Alvarez cleared his throat ‘...you need to be a little less closed off, Your Highness.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I think any further visits should be less clandestine. The people need to see their prince embracing life a little. Remind them that you’re flesh and blood, and not a fairy-tale figure locked away in an ivory tower.’

Reyes pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Are you saying my discretion is a flaw?’

‘I’m saying the people don’t really know you. You brought Santo Sierra right up to the treaty table after your father fell ill, but the fact remains that the finish line was never crossed. And Santo Sierrans aren’t quite sure how to take that. You don’t want to estrange yourself from the people.’

Fury bubbled beneath his skin. Beside him, Jasmine’s tension slammed into him. Her face was clouded with a mixture of displeasure and misery. When her eyes met his, he glimpsed regret in them.

‘So you’re saying whatever I do, the people won’t be satisfied until they have me pressing the flesh, kissing babies with a promise of a royal wedding and an heir to swoon over?’ Reyes couldn’t suppress his sneer. The thought of putting himself out there, to be prodded and gawped over by the media, turned his stomach.

Alvarez knew Reyes’s personal history and how he felt about the media. But his councillor nodded warily. ‘That would be one way to reassure the people, yes.’

Gathering his fraying control, he turned back to his men. ‘And there’s no chance of presenting them with a royal wedding via Isabella?’ He tried for one last ounce of a reprieve. ‘Perhaps we can still rescue the situation with her ex-betrothed if we move fast enough...’

He stopped when Costanzo shook his head. ‘Her fiancé declared he didn’t want anything to do with Her Highness any longer after she broke things off. We had to pay his family reparations for the cancelled engagement. They won’t reconsider Her Highness as a suitor.’

‘Dios!’ He looked at Jasmine, his blood boiling.

That look was still on her face—worry, regret. He looked past that. To the luscious mouth that was parted slightly as her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths.

He wanted to forget that she was responsible for all this. Forget that the more he spoke to her, the more he doubted that her character was as black as he’d first thought. Reyes just wanted to forget. And in that moment, he wanted to use the most elemental way possible to achieve oblivion.

Her.

That stirring grew until his whole body thrummed with a carnal demand he couldn’t deny.

What was wrong with him?

His youngest advisor cleared his throat. ‘If Your Highness prefers, we can pursue this as a short-term union. Only until the economic situation in the kingdom stabilises.’ He tapped a few keys on his tablet.

Reyes drummed his fingers on the table as he waited.

Finally, the advisor looked up. ‘And I think Miss Nichols may be right. She’s suitably placed to help.’

‘She hasn’t brought up any new solutions to Santo Sierra’s problems that we haven’t already considered.’

‘No, but she could be the right person to broker a temporary marriage for you.’

‘Excuse me?’

Reyes’s eyes narrowed at her outraged tone.

His advisor glanced at her, then back at his tablet. ‘According to the information I have here, you brokered the marriage between a US senator and his mistress once you arranged a discreet divorce from his wife of thirty years.’

Jasmine’s mouth dropped open. ‘That’s supposed to be confidential.’

A douse of cold water cooled Reyes’s raging temperature. ‘Seems there’s no end to your dubious talent,’ he murmured.

Her face flushed. ‘I wasn’t responsible for him leaving his wife, nor was I responsible for finding the mistress, if that’s what you’re implying. I only assisted with the financial arrangements and ensured each party walked away happy.’

Her gaze swung to the men at the end of the table. How was it possible that one look from her commanded their silence? Reyes watched, intrigued, as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes for emphasis.

‘That’s not what you’re asking me to do, surely? For what you need for Re...His Highness, you require an elite professional matchmaker. That’s not what I specialise in. When I said I’d help I meant with the economic issues facing the kingdom.’

‘This is an issue facing the kingdom. And one that has to be addressed sooner rather than later. With Isabella’s marriage off the table, we need to give the people something to sustain their faith,’ Alvarez said.

Pressure built at Reyes’s temple. He wanted to deny what his council were saying. But deep down he couldn’t dismiss that his people needed a healthy dose of bolstering news. Reyes had dashed their hopes of a royal wedding once before, five years ago, when he’d thrown Anaïs out of his life.

With his mother’s subsequent death four years ago behind the wheel of her lover’s car, and his father’s illness soon afterwards, the only good news the Santo Sierran people had been given was the signing of the treaty and Isabella’s wedding.

Both had failed to materialise. In the meantime, Mendez was pushing his greedy fingers into Santo Sierran affairs. It needed to end.

But marriage...

The only template he’d witnessed had been one mired in deception, misery and acrimony. It wasn’t something he wanted to reproduce. If he was to take this road, it needed to be permanent. With both sides clear in their role and with no room for misunderstanding.

He looked down the table. Clenching his jaw, he nodded. ‘The marriage will be a permanent one, not a short-term try-it-and-see-what-happens. My life isn’t a scripted reality show to peddle to the people.’

Costanzo beamed with pleasure. ‘Of course, Your Highness. That’s a very wise decision. We’ll set the ball rolling straight away—’

Reyes held up his hand. ‘No, we’ll reconvene in three days.’

The smile turned into a frown. ‘But, Your Highness—’

‘Arrange for the royal press secretary to include an addendum to my Paris itinerary. They can sell it as an investment-stroke-leisure trip.’ He turned to Jasmine, noting that she’d gone pale again. ‘Miss Nichols will be responsible for finding me five suitable candidates. Fly them to Paris for interviews after my investment meetings.’

‘You’re going ahead with it?’ Her face was deliberately blank, but her eyes were pools of shock.

Somehow that bothered him. He shook himself out of the curious feeling. ‘For my people’s sake, yes.’

She drew in a shaky breath and looked down at her linked hands.

He surged to his feet, not liking the feeling that he’d been judged and found guilty. Nor did he like the sensation of a noose closing around his neck.

‘Three days, gentlemen.’

‘Yes, Your Highness.

In that moment, Reyes hated his title. Hated the responsibility weighing down on his shoulders. But despite the mixed emotions, there was one solemn vow he couldn’t deny. He owed his people a better life than they’d enjoyed so far. And he intended to do whatever it took to make right his mistakes.

* * *

‘You know you could’ve been done with me much quicker if you’d told them.’ Questions had been swirling in her mind since Reyes’s councilmen had left hours ago. But the one she’d wanted to ask wouldn’t form, so she was trying a different route.

Reyes turned from the view to stare at her. ‘Told them what?’

‘What my role was in...’

‘The treaty’s disappearance?’

Jasmine jerked her head, still surprised he’d joined her for dinner and even more so that he’d stayed after they’d shared a delicious Spanish tapas meal on the terrace. Although the meal had gone by in near total silence, she couldn’t help but feel a little less apprehensive of her fate.

She cradled the as yet untouched glass of red wine in her hands, watching the sun set on the horizon. Trying not to stare at Reyes Navarre’s stunning profile as he leaned against the large pillar, facing the garden.

‘Because if I had you’d be on your way to a maximum security prison in Santo Sierra. Your crime would be condemned as treason in my kingdom.’

Her heart stopped and her palms grew clammy. ‘Aren’t I headed there anyway? Something about getting a permanent tan?’

‘Perhaps. But you might want to do something about delaying your arrival there. Before I came to Rio, I was in the process of enforcing a law that prohibited male and female prisoners being housed in the same penitentiary. That law hasn’t passed yet.’

She inhaled sharply. ‘You mean men and women are kept in the same prison?’

He shrugged. ‘The old council deemed all criminals to be worthless regardless of their gender.’

Ice cascaded down her spine. ‘But...that’s barbaric!’

‘They didn’t care that they were potentially turning criminals who could be rehabilitated into irredeemable monsters. So do you regret my silence on your behalf?’

She slowly shook her head. ‘No, I don’t.’ Her eyes met his. Whatever he saw in hers made him lift an eyebrow. Jasmine looked away quickly. ‘I... Thank you.’

His mouth compressed. ‘I neither want nor accept your gratitude. Retribution is still coming your way, one way or the other.’

The warning sent further chills dancing over her skin. While a part of her wanted him to spell out her fate and get her punishment over and done with, another part of her wanted to plead with him for mercy. She’d wronged him. Wronged his country. And he’d still saved her, albeit temporarily, from whatever the consequences were for her acts.

Reminding herself that this was the man who was contemplating marrying to please his people, she took a fortifying breath.

‘My stepfather was kidnapped.’

His head whipped towards her. ‘Excuse me?’

‘First he was blackmailed through me, then kidnapped. He has...or had a gambling problem. He’s been battling with it for almost twenty years. He embezzled government funds. And I’m not talking pennies. It was serious money. Getting caught would’ve meant a long prison sentence for him. So he borrowed money from a loan shark.’

‘Who then turned the tables on him and demanded even more?’

She nodded. ‘He said unless I brought him the treaty, he would harm my stepfather.’

Chilled grey eyes narrowed. ‘Who was the loan shark?’

‘His name was Joaquin Esteban. I don’t know whether that’s his real name or not—’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll find him. So he took your stepfather?’ he asked.

She nodded. ‘In the middle of the night, right in front of my mother. They roughed him up. Broke his arm.’ She shivered and he straightened from the wall.

‘Did they hurt you?’ His was voice was grave, intense.

‘No. It happened when I was...with you, on your boat.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t recall you receiving a call.’

‘You were asleep. My mother called. She was beside herself. I didn’t want to do it, Reyes, please believe me, but I couldn’t leave him in the hands of those men.’

If she’d expected sympathy, she was to be sorely disappointed. But for a heartbeat, his expression altered. Softened a touch.

‘So where is this moralistic gambler of a stepfather, then? Still in his comfy government position?’

Irritation snapped along her nerves. ‘Yes. But he’s seeking help.’

‘How noble of him.’

‘He doesn’t know what I did. He suspects but I don’t want him to know. He’ll be devastated. We can’t all be perfect role models. Some of us try to put unfortunate deeds behind us and seek better lives.’

‘And some of you fail miserably at it.’

Turning sideways, she set her glass down on the table. ‘You have a right to condemn me. Believe me, I’ve condemned myself countless times. But I wanted you to understand why I did what I did. Obviously I was wasting my breath.’

Reyes twirled his wine glass, one broad shoulder still leaning against the white pillar. Dressed in a white shirt and casual trousers, he looked sinfully breathtaking. Until she glimpsed the shadows in his eyes.

Her heart lurched as his words once again swirled in her mind. I can’t have another destroyed life on my conscience.

Her eyes rose back to his face. He was watching her with that incisive look that seemed to see right into her soul. He took a slow sip, savouring the wine before swallowing.

‘Contain your righteous indignation. You’ll have to fall on your sword a hell of a lot more times before you breach the surface of my mercy. But I have a few minutes to spare, so please...carry on.’

She sighed. ‘I’m sorry. I never intended for you to...for anyone to suffer for what I did.’ Her gaze dropped to his midriff. His mouth tightened. ‘If you could find it in your heart—’

His mocking laughter stopped her painful pleas. ‘My heart?’

She gripped the edge of the table. ‘I don’t see the funny side to what I just said.’

‘My heart is the last organ you should be attempting to appease.’

‘I don’t... I’m afraid you’ve lost me.’

His smile held that hint of sadness she’d glimpsed at their first meeting in Rio. ‘You’d be wasting your time trying to appeal to something that doesn’t exist.’