Claiming His Christmas Consequence. Michelle Smart

she would never have been dumped for a common whore and would now be Queen of Agon.’

      How Nathaniel stopped himself from punching Dominic square in the face he would never know.

      ‘Your sister has spent her whole life doing her duty.’

      ‘Clearly not or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’ Dominic straightened in his chair. ‘And it’s not just Helios—Father had found another suitor for her.’

      ‘The Swedish duke?’ He felt fleeting satisfaction at the way Dominic’s lips tightened with displeasure as he realised Nathaniel was privy to private palace information.

      ‘Yes. Another excellent prospect ruined. If the matter were left to me, Catalina would be cut off, but my father takes a slightly different view. He’s of the opinion she still adds value to our royal family and is prepared to give her one last chance to redeem herself. And that’s where you come in. Either you marry her or she will be cut off. She will be thrown out of the palace without a single cent to support her.’

      Nathaniel shrugged. ‘Do it. I’ll support her and the baby.’

      Now Dominic’s malevolence shone so brightly it almost glowed. ‘How? Catalina will be forbidden from leaving the country. Her passport will be revoked. She will be forbidden from opening a bank account. She will be homeless and penniless, and you will be deported and banned from re-entering Monte Cleure—orders will be issued for your immediate arrest if you set foot on our soil.’

      ‘You would do that to your sister?’ Nathaniel thought back to his own sister, who had died with their parents all those years ago. If she’d lived she would now be thirty-three. He didn’t remember her clearly but remembered the intensity of the sibling relationship. It sickened him that Dominic could be so evil towards his own flesh and blood.

      A huge pang of guilt rent through him.

      This was all his fault. He should have left Catalina alone. He’d taken advantage of her vulnerability at the wedding where she should have been the bride and not a mere guest. He could have left her alone but the opportunity to bed the one woman he’d thought would be unobtainable for ever had been impossible to resist. Even knowing of her virginity hadn’t deterred him in his pursuit.

      But he hadn’t expected this consequence.

      And Catalina...

      She must be terrified.

      No one can know. Those had been her whispered words as she’d let him into her room, before placing her fingers to her lips and pointing to the adjoining door that led to the room her chaperone—sorry, companion—had been sleeping in.

      It had been like a game. A game with unimaginable consequences.

      ‘You forget who rules this land. This isn’t a democracy; my father’s word is law. There is nowhere to turn for appeal.’

      ‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Nathaniel held onto his veneer of calm by a whisker. ‘Is this revenge for Jenna?’

      A twitch passed over Dominic’s face. ‘This has nothing to do with Jenna.’

      ‘I would hope not. It was nearly twenty years ago.’

      ‘And in another twenty years I will still hate you for it. Jenna was mine.’

      ‘What can I say?’ Nathaniel shrugged. ‘She threw herself at me.’

      The all-girls’ sixth form college that shared their boarding school’s facilities had been invited to the Christmas party. Hormones had run rife.

      They’d been caught semi-naked when Dominic had burst into the room. The house master had quickly arrived and broken up the fight before any real damage could be done. Both boys had been hauled before the headmaster. Dominic had been sent to bed. Nathaniel, whose family had neither titles nor power or even much money, had been expelled on the spot.

      He’d been sent back to France and back into the care of his uncle and his uncle’s wife.

      That night of hijinks and hormones had lit the fuse to a chain of events that continued to affect his life to this day.

      It sickened him that that one incident had the potential to ruin Catalina’s life too.

      ‘You’ve always been an obnoxious, arrogant ba—’ Dominic seemed to remember they had an audience, glancing at his bodyguard who stood propped against the wall in the corner of the room.

      His face as red as a tomato, Dominic continued, ‘This is not about Jenna or my sister. This is about the House of Fernandez.’

      ‘Catalina’s a loyal member of it.’

      ‘Not with a bastard in her belly she isn’t. Unless you marry her and legitimise the pregnancy, she will be nothing. She will be worth nothing.’

      Nathaniel thought hard and quickly. Dominic’s demand that he marry Catalina came from his father, the King.

      The threat to his business interests in Monte Cleure was bad enough but Catalina...

      Her safety and the safety of the tiny cluster of cells in her womb were not things he could play a game of chance with. If she was carrying his baby...

      ‘Tell me what your future plans are for her,’ he demanded.

      ‘You and Catalina will be married long enough for the child to be born and the child’s legitimacy to be unquestioned. A year should do it. Then you will divorce and Catalina will publicly repent a hasty marriage with a worthless piece of scum. Your marriage won’t just legitimise the child it will legitimise her and allow us to find a suitable husband for her.’

      ‘You’ll marry her off again?’ He shook his head, incredulous that the King and his heir would go to such lengths. ‘She really is nothing but a possession to you.’

      A smug look settled on Dominic’s face. ‘Catalina is in agreement with this. She knows her place and her position.’

      Speaking through gritted teeth, Nathaniel said, ‘If I agree to this I want full rights to the child.’

      ‘You forget who is in control here.’

      Nathaniel leaned forward and stared hard at the Prince. ‘I can walk out of this building and onto my jet and you’ll never see me again, and there is nothing you or your henchman can do about it.’

      Dominic swallowed.

      Nathaniel bit back a smile of contempt. For all his swagger and cruelty, the Prince was as hard as an overset blancmange. Inches shorter than him, Dominic had turned soft and flabby over the years. He would probably hit the twenty-stone mark before he hit the age of forty. His henchman was muscular and used to throwing his weight around but Nathaniel would bet his fortune the bodyguard wasn’t used to the fight being brought to him.

      ‘If Catalina confirms your claims then I will marry her, but only if my rights as a father are guaranteed and as long as you understand I will not spend one night under the roof of your palace.’

      If she was pregnant—and he had no reason to think Dominic was lying; it was too fantastical for the Neanderthal to dream up—then he was going to be a father.

      Now the whole of Dominic’s face contorted. ‘On that we are in agreement. You think we want scum like you living in the Royal Palace of Monte Cleure? While you two are married, Catalina will live with you. You can both consider it an additional punishment.’

      Knowing that to spend another minute with Dominic would result in him smashing his fist into the Prince’s face, Nathaniel got to his feet. ‘Tell your father I will come to the palace this evening to discuss things... On second thought...’ He pulled out his phone and held it up. ‘I will tell him myself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a bed to fall into. Please, see yourselves out.’

      And with that, he headed off to his sleeping quarters, smiling grimly when he heard the front door slam shut.

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