By Request Collection Part 3. Robyn Donald

he hadn’t been able to hold back. As if she’d wanted him to!

      Her lips curved and her thighs squeezed as satisfaction curled within her.

      ‘Hold still while I get this veil.’ The feel of his hands fumbling in her hair sent rivulets of heat through her. Finally he drew the veil aside and tossed it onto a plush chair, a stream of heirloom lace. A reminder, if she needed one, that they came from separate worlds. She couldn’t imagine treating such a work of art so cavalierly.

      Then she remembered how she’d thrown herself at him, heedless of the beautiful things she wore.

       He brought out a side to her she didn’t know.

      The touch of Raul’s fingers at her nape made her breath catch as the mattress dipped behind her.

      ‘This will take a while.’ The couturier had insisted on a myriad of buttons, each with its own tiny loop.

      Raul sat close, his breath feathering her bare skin. She straightened, nipples tingling. In the silence she heard her breathing grow shallow.

      ‘I wondered …’

      ‘Yes?’ She’d never heard Raul hesitant.

      ‘Why were you so set against coming here? It wasn’t just the prospect of marriage. From the first you were negative, instantly opposed to inheriting.’

      ‘It bothers you that I didn’t swoon at your feet?’ Yet from the first Raul had got under her skin as no other.

      ‘If I ever expected that, I know better now. Besides, I prefer you as you are.’ Instead of annoyance, she thought she heard admiration in his voice.

      Did her senses conspire to fool her?

      His fingers brushed her back and her flesh drew tight. A coiling pulse began low in her belly. He devastated her defences. Luisa drew a sharp breath, seeking control.

      ‘Won’t you tell me?’ His voice was a dark velvet caress.

      She shut her eyes. What would it hurt?

      ‘When I was sixteen my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I looked after her.’

      ‘I’m sorry. That must have been hard.’

      She nodded, her throat tight. ‘At least I was with her. But the point is, just before that some strangers came to the farm, wanting to talk to me. They were sent by my grandfather.’ Even now she had to force that word out. The man didn’t deserve the title.

      ‘Not to see your mother?’

      ‘No.’ A sour taste flooded her mouth. ‘His offer was for me alone. He invited me to live with him and learn to be a real princess.’ She paused, clasping unsteady hands as she recalled the grandiose promises and the demands.

      ‘At first I was excited. I was thrilled to see him, to be in his home. It was like a fairy tale. Even though he kept me busy at the palace, training me, he said, for when I’d be ready to take my proper place with him.’

      ‘You actually came here? I didn’t know.’

      She nodded. ‘No one did. Obviously I wasn’t up to his high standards. But I was here long enough to get his measure and that of the people he mixed with. That put me off ever returning.’ She laughed hollowly. ‘I was naïve. It took a while to realise I was just a puppet to manipulate. No choices. No career. No control over my own destiny.’

      The skimming touch of Raul’s fingers was gentle, almost a caress. She knew a ridiculous desire to sink back against him.

      ‘When news came of my mother’s illness I saw him for what he really was. He insisted I sever all links with my parents. He hated that my mother had walked out on the life he’d planned for her—a duty wife to some crony. He never forgave her. When I begged for help to get her better care, he was furious. According to him, she’d ceased to exist the moment she’d left her home.’

      Luisa shuddered as she recalled the old man’s vitriol. His cruelty.

      ‘By marrying a commoner she’d diluted her aristocratic bloodlines. It was only his extreme generosity that enabled him to overlook my tainted birth and offer to take me in.’

      A stream of low-voiced Maritzian cut the air. No mistaking its furious, violent edge.

      ‘I knew he was old-fashioned.’ Raul’s voice was a lethal whisper. ‘But that’s just vicious.’

      Luisa felt tears prickle, hearing his outrage and sympathy. It wrapped round her like a warm blanket.

      She’d never told her parents. Couldn’t bear to repeat it, though she suspected her mum had guessed some of it.

      Relief filled her at finally spilling the awful truth.

      ‘So you went back to the farm.’

      ‘Mum needed me. And so did Dad. When she died it almost broke him.’

      ‘Which is when you started taking responsibility for the co-op. I’m sorry, Luisa.’

      She stiffened. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for. I wanted to be with them.’

      ‘I meant I’m sorry your first contact with Maritz was so poisonous. No wonder you hated the idea of the place.’

      Her laugh was bitter. ‘You can say that again. I thought the place full of the worst sort of people.’

      ‘Not just your grandfather?’

      She hesitated, aware she’d again strayed into territory she’d never shared.

      ‘Luisa?’ He paused. ‘Do you want to tell me?’ It was the concern in his tone that did it. The gentleness.

      ‘There was a guy a little older than me at my grandfather’s palace.’ She sucked in a breath. ‘No one knew I was the prince’s granddaughter but when we met in the gardens it didn’t seem to matter who I was. We talked and talked.’ She cut herself off. How gullible she’d been!

      ‘We met daily. And I … fell for him.’ He’d kissed her and she’d believed herself in love. ‘He wanted to elope but I refused.’ She’d wanted her parents at her wedding.

      ‘That upset him. He tried …’ Foul memories surged, chilling her to the marrow and she was grateful for Raul’s warmth. ‘He tried to force me but I fought him. He left with a black eye, but not before he’d explained the reason he’d bothered with me was because of who I was. He’d found out and decided to use that to his advantage. He was ambitious, you see. Marrying a princess would be a coup.’

      ‘Luisa—’ Raul’s deep voice was gruff ‘—I’m sorry.’

      ‘It’s not your fault.’

      ‘But it’s my country, my people.’ No mistaking his regret and indignation.

      A touch feathered between her shoulder blades as if he’d pressed his lips there. She was so tempted to ask him to love her again till the disturbing memories receded and all she knew was ecstasy.

      Raul made her needy. He made her want things she shouldn’t.

      On wobbly legs she stood, clasping the loose dress close. She needed to take control. She’d already revealed enough. Despite the relief of sharing, she felt raw.

      ‘I can manage now, if you point me to the bathroom.’

      ‘Let me help.’ From behind he tugged the dress.

      Resisting would tear the fabric so she cooperated, only to find her bra had somehow got caught up with the gown. Hurriedly she crossed her arms over bare breasts.

      ‘That’s enough. I—’

      He dragged the cloth down till it pooled at her feet.

      Too late she remembered her panties lay in shreds somewhere. She clamped a hand between her legs, feeling moisture there, a reminder