Rafael…
She was kissing him back, as fiercely as he was kissing her, taking as well as giving, quenching her own desperate needs.
Needs she’d told herself didn’t exist.
Only, of course, they did. Six long years of nothing. Isolation and loneliness and betrayal.
Rafael…
The kiss went on and on. Neither wanted it to end. Neither could conceive of it ending. The night was still and warm. There was no movement in the forecourt-the castle staff had long gone to bed. There was only this man and this woman, taking what they both desperately needed.
And when the kiss finally ended, as even the best kiss must inevitably do, Kelly took a step back and put her fingers to her lips and knew that her world had changed.
‘N…no,’ she whispered and she saw her own shock mirrored in Rafael’s eyes.
‘No,’ he agreed, sounding as if he didn’t know what the word meant.
‘I didn’t want to kiss you,’ she whispered.
‘You’re Kass’s woman,’ he said blankly and that brought reality crashing back around the pair of them.
Kass’s woman…
The feeling of unreality dissipated. Here and now crashed right back.
‘How dare you?’
‘I don’t dare,’ he said. ‘That was dumb.’
She stared at him, confounded. The kiss had been dumb. Of course it had been dumb. But to say it…
‘Don’t you touch me,’ she stammered and the confusion in his eyes faded.
‘You don’t want it?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Of course not. We’re birds of a feather, Kelly. We want nothing to do with this.’
‘But it’s not this we’re talking about,’ she managed. ‘Not royalty. Not now. No, I don’t want any more contact than I’m forced to have with royalty to be a good mother to Matty. But as far as kissing you…’
‘You looked at me,’ he said as if that explained everything and she glared.
‘So you’re saying I goaded you into it. Like wearing red patent shoes.’
‘Pardon?’ he said, startled.
‘You don’t wear red patent shoes,’ she said patiently. ‘Everyone knows they incite the senses and reflect your knickers.’
‘Really?’
‘Not that it has anything to do with the here and now,’ she said, fighting to get a grip. ‘And I should never have worn this dress. When’s Anna coming?’
‘I told you. Tomorrow.’
‘Then starting tomorrow, let’s get this on a sensible footing,’ she snapped. ‘You and me…we see each other in terms of official duties. That’s all.’
‘That’s all I want, too.’
‘Because, of course, I’m Kass’s woman.’
‘I didn’t mean to say that.’
‘You did say it,’ she snapped. ‘And it hurt. I was dumb enough to fall for a good royal come-on, and if you think I’d be dumb enough to fall twice…Kass’s woman or not…you’d be out of your mind. So you needn’t look at me as if I’m trying to jump you or, heaven forbid, put another wedding ring on my finger…’
‘I’m not.’
‘Because I’m not,’ she snapped, refusing to let him interrupt. ‘I’m going to bed.’
‘Good.’
‘And Kass’s…the royal suite is round the far side of the castle,’ she said. ‘As far from my attics as it’s possible to get. And I can lock my doors.’
‘Kelly, I’m not trying to seduce you.’
‘You kissed me and that’s enough. More than enough. I don’t even want a handshake from a prince of the blood.’
‘I’m not…’
‘A prince of the blood. Yes, you are.’
‘As you’re Kass’s bride,’ Rafael said, sounding goaded. ‘Princess Royal. You represent everything I don’t want about this place.’
‘Well, it’s good we have that cleared up,’ she snapped. ‘Just so we’re clear. You dragged me back here and now you tell me I’m part of your problem. Sorry, Rafael, I have problems of my own to sort.’
She should stalk away. She should just turn and leave. Instead, she stood in the moonlight and watched him try to think of something else to say-something that would make sense of this crazy situation they’d landed in.
He couldn’t. He didn’t. And finally there was no choice. She turned away. ‘Goodnight,’ she said stiffly.
‘Kelly?’
She didn’t turn round. She simply stood still and waited for him to say what he needed to say.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said at last. ‘That should never have happened. It won’t happen again. I promise.’
‘Just as well,’ she muttered.
And went to bed.
But not to sleep.
What had she been thinking of-to let him kiss her and to kiss him back?
It was because he was…gorgeous?
Rafael de Boutaine, Prince Regent of Alp de Ciel. He’d kissed her senseless.
As Kass had.
No. He was as different from Kass as it was possible to be. Kelly lay in the lovely double bed Rafael had organized to be delivered into her attic room and watched the moonbeams play on the ceiling. She shouldn’t have the new bed, she thought. She wanted to be like a forgotten relation, left to penury while on the other side of the castle, on the royal side, Rafael swanned round in luxury, enjoying his magnificent suite of rooms, being…Prince Regent.
‘I’d hate it,’ she muttered.
She didn’t hate Rafael. She’d loved it tonight, she conceded. She’d loved feeling beautiful. She’d loved standing side by side with Rafael while he’d organized affairs of state. She’d loved the way he’d gasped as she’d walked into the room. And the way the warmth had stayed in his eyes.
In fact, the way she was feeling about Rafael…had to be suppressed. The part of her that had been wounded to the core five years ago clenched into horror.
To fall in love with another prince…
What was she thinking? How could she be falling in love? Just because the man had kissed her…
‘The man’s seriously fabulous,’ she told the ceiling and closed her eyes, as if she could block out the thought of him.
His partner would be here tomorrow-a woman called Anna. They’d get on with the ruling Laura told them was needed and she’d retire to her books. For the next twenty years.
‘Which is what I want,’ she whispered into the dark, ‘isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ her mind screamed but there was a tiny part of her that was stubbornly refusing to agree.
Why had he kissed her? Did he have no sense at all?
Yes, he’d agreed to take on the Regency, but that was as far as it went. He didn’t want to get any more fond of Matty than he already was, and he sure as hell didn’t want to get any more fond of Matty’s mother.
But he’d kissed her.
The thought shocked him. He hadn’t known what he intended to do until it happened and then…then it was too late. It was lucky that Kelly had sense for the pair of them.
It’s like quicksand, he thought savagely, the royal quagmire hauling him in.
He thought back to the days after his father’s accident. Up until then, Rafael had been cool with being royal. Kass, his older cousin, had been an arrogant, egotistical bore. Worried about the influence Kass might have, his parents had sent Rafael to boarding school. He’d thoroughly enjoyed it, but he’d loved coming back in the holidays.
