The Mills & Boon Ultimate Christmas Collection. Kate Hardy

of your possessions will remain in the palace. He has staff in place to package the remainder during the celebrations for you.’

      ‘Marion, get my father on the line for me,’ Catalina said in a far snappier tone than she normally used.

      First the press release issued the other day without any prior warning, stating that all her royal duties and patronages were being suspended ‘for the foreseeable future’, ostensibly to allow her time to settle into her new marriage, and now this?

      What punishment would her father inflict next? Would he force her to strip to her underwear and do the walk of shame like her ancestors had done in medieval times?

      From the look on her cousin’s face, Marion was as much in the dark as she was. That was the only bright spot in this situation.

      But either her father really was unavailable or he didn’t want to talk to her. Marion reported back that he would see her when it was time to walk her down the aisle.

      Her mind awhirl over what this all meant, Catalina forced herself to remain outwardly calm. There was nothing she could do about any of it at that moment.

      But when an excited Aliana and Louisa arrived, and Catalina was sitting at her dresser as they began their work, she couldn’t switch off her mind.

      Was it really such a shameful thing she had done? After all, Isabella, her younger sister, had been allowed to marry non-royalty. Their father had even given his blessing. But then, Isabella’s husband, although he was a commoner too, didn’t have Nathaniel’s lousy reputation.

      And Isabella had always been able to twist both their father and Dominic around her little finger.

      Catalina had always been the good, dutiful daughter but now one mistake had turned her into an outcast.

      Make that two mistakes. She’d let Helios go. In her father’s eyes, their broken engagement was her fault and the subsequent perceived shame heaped on the House of Fernandez her fault too. In his eyes, she hadn’t tried hard enough to keep him. The daughter he had groomed to marry one of the Kalliakis Princes—and any of them would have done—had let them all slip through her fingers, destroying the Great Marriage he had engineered from the day of her birth.

      Isabella was lucky she had fallen in love with Sebastien before any of the Kalliakis Princes had married, Catalina thought ruefully. Their father had given his blessing to his favourite daughter, arrogantly assuming Catalina would snare the greatest prize.

      As serene as she tried to appear to be, as she sat there with her companions fussing over her, applying her make-up and doing her hair, it felt like nails scraping down a blackboard to witness Lauren and her assistants trawl through her wardrobes and jewellery boxes, carefully and efficiently itemising each and every single one of her possessions. One of them even made a note of the earrings she had on.

      Nothing felt right. She’d left the opera with little peace, and the disquiet within her had grown as the days had passed. She was marrying Nathaniel for the sake of her family. All her life she had put duty above her own feelings. Always, she had accepted that was the way things were. But for the first time, she wanted to rail against it. The serenity with which she had endured her life had dissolved and now bubbled in her veins like carbonated lava.

      Knowing Nathaniel was only marrying her to protect his investment...it sent those bubbles into a frenzy. It was the polar opposite of the way she’d felt while engaged to Helios, who had only intended to marry her for the blueness of her blood and the heir she was supposed to provide. Whoever she married after Nathaniel would also expect an heir.

      Somehow being regarded as a blue-blooded breeding machine didn’t evoke a fraction of the anger the thought of marrying Nathaniel did.

      Marrying Nathaniel...

      She had never felt so many heightened emotions in her life.

      She had never been more scared in her life.

      She was also scared for her future. How would Johann, the Swedish duke, or whoever she was forced to marry after Nathaniel, treat her child? How would they treat her?

      ‘I bet you wish your mother was here to see this,’ Marion observed in a faux sympathetic voice in the moments before they were due to leave Catalina’s rooms. Aliana, who was straightening the tiara, glared at her. Marion was not a popular member of the household.

      Catalina met her cousin’s reflection in the mirror, unwittingly scrunching the ivory satin skirt of her dress between her fingers.

      She had done everything in her power not to think of her mother that day. Marion would have been kinder if she’d plunged a knife into her back.

      Tilting her chin up, Catalina said coldly, ‘Thank you for reminding me of what I’m missing out on. Your support today has been invaluable.’

      While her cousin stood there frowning, clearly unsure whether Catalina had just paid her a compliment or put her down, Catalina took Aliana’s hand and got to her feet.

      If her mother were alive it would have been her hand she’d be holding for support. Her mother had been the one person Catalina had never had to put the mask on for.

      She blinked rapidly to rid herself of the unexpected tears welling in her eyes and placed a hand to her stomach.

      If her mother were alive everything would still be the same as it was now. Her mother had always put the House of Fernandez first. Duty above desire. Duty above love. Catalina would still be expected to hold her head up high and do her duty.

      But if her mother were still alive she would be able to hold her hand while she did it.

      * * *

      Even for this supposedly small and private wedding, around one hundred guests were crammed in the Monte Cleure Palace Chapel. Nathaniel was quite certain that if Catalina were marrying a fellow aristocrat, the ceremony would take place in her country’s famed cathedral with fellow royalty and world leaders as guests. It would be a full weekend of celebrations, not the short service followed by the palace banquet they would shortly be having.

      For anyone else, today’s events would seem a wedding to be proud of. For Catalina, it would be seen as another punishment.

      He had to hand it to the King—he was playing an excellent hand. A wedding such as this showed the world his support for his daughter but also his subtle disapproval of his new son-in-law. When the marriage was dissolved a year from now, the King would be perceived as a wise, loving father who had put his daughter’s happiness above his own doubts.

      What would the King do, Nathaniel wondered idly, if he refused to divorce her? What would Dominic do? Imagining their apoplectic rage amused him for a few seconds before he dismissed the notion.

      Whatever his personal feelings towards the House of Fernandez, this was Catalina’s life and she was a willing participant in her family’s future plans for her. He’d screwed her life up enough without destroying it completely, and he’d already destroyed enough lives for any person to have on their conscience.

      His job, as he saw it, was to get Catalina through the pregnancy, keeping both her and the baby safe. Nothing more. And if the vivid memory of being inside her didn’t fade away, he would just have to live with it.

      It had pleased him to see the crowds of people lining the palace’s perimeter. At least her people loved her. And so they should. Catalina was an excellent ambassador for her country, celebrated the world over for her ethereal loveliness and gracious manner of dealing with people.

      While he recognised most of the guests in attendance, he personally knew only a handful, which suited him perfectly. Who wanted to make false vows in front of people who really mattered? Not him.

      Not that there was anyone left in his life who did matter.

      He tried to imagine the child forming in Catalina’s womb. His child. A fragile life that would need his love and protection. The vows he was about to make would enable that.

      In the back of the chapel, a