By Request Collection Part 3. Robyn Donald

If anything happened to him …

      Terror was a jagged blade, slicing through her.

      This was the downside of love. She cared so much for Raul the thought of losing him was impossible to bear.

      He moved to step back but she burrowed closer. His arms tightened till she felt cocooned and safe.

      ‘Listen, Luisa. It really is over. These were just a handful of the lunatic fringe. The police had monitored them for some time so there was no danger. In fact their schemes have done everyone a favour.’

      ‘How?’ She arched back to meet his eyes.

      ‘I told you there’d been unrest. It got worse in the final stages of my father’s reign.’ Raul paused before finally continuing.

      ‘There were limits to what I could achieve as prince. In the last years as his marriage deteriorated, he became … erratic. He let his cronies grab too much power and didn’t think strategically about the nation’s well-being. Power blocs have been vying for position.’

      ‘Lukas said you’d worked to keep the peace.’

      ‘Did he? It looked at one stage as if the various parties might tear the country apart. The news that unstable elements saw that as an opportunity for a bloodbath made them all rethink and realise how important our peace and democracy are. It’s brought them back to the negotiating table.’ He smoothed his hand over her hair in a gentle caress.

      ‘When the coronation takes place and parliament resumes, we’ll be working together.’

      ‘But what about—’

      A finger against her lips stopped her words. ‘It’s nothing to concern you.’ He turned to the newspaper. ‘Let me find you something easier to read.’

      Luisa’s mind whirled. Raul had been in danger for his life. She’d assumed his talk of protecting the country was exaggerated to cover his desire to inherit.

      Her stomach hollowed, realising how serious the situation had been. That she might have lost him.

      That he hadn’t considered sharing even a little of the truth with her. Even now he didn’t want her to know.

       And she’d thought they’d been building a rapport!

      Raul might support her attempts to become a princess. He might take her to paradise with his body. But as for sharing anything more significant … How could she pretend it was possible when he kept so much from her?

      Pain twisted to raw anguish in Luisa’s heart. Even if he didn’t carry a torch for Ana, his distrust was so ingrained Luisa saw now her chances of truly connecting with him were doomed.

      He was a man she could love. The man she did love—strong, caring, capable and tender. But she knew no way to breach the final brittle shell of reserve he wore like armour. The shell that kept them apart even when she’d imagined they shared more and more.

      She’d fooled herself, believing that after their time together he’d begun to feel something for her too.

      He wouldn’t want to hear her declaration of love.

      He didn’t want to share himself.

      How would he react if she told him she suspected he’d shared enough of himself to create a child with her?

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      ‘THIS way, Your Highness.’

      Raul followed the urban planner across waste ground, listening to him extol the virtues of the site that would become a community garden. Another of Luisa’s projects.

      It had merely taken mention of unused public land in a disadvantaged area for Luisa to find a use for it. Castle staff lent expertise to help the community build a place to meet, play and grow food. But it was Luisa, with Lukas’ help, who’d checked zoning restrictions, negotiated with the council and met with residents.

      His wife had extraordinary organisational skills, honed keeping a struggling business afloat. He’d seen with pleasure how she put those skills to use in Ardissia and here in the capital.

      Raul admired her practicality, her drive to make things better.

      Who’d have thought a girl off the farm would be such a success? She was a breath of fresh air, cutting through hidebound protocol with a smile, yet sensitive enough to see when tradition was necessary.

      People loved her, drawn by her charm and warmth, and the royal fairy tale romance was a source of real pleasure after difficult political times.

      Raul urged the planner towards the group at the centre of the site. Luisa was there, wearing her trademark casual chic clothes. He stifled a smile, seeing a couple of girls in almost matching gear.

      Luisa’s couture gowns were seen now only at formal functions. Instead she’d set her own trend, the first Maritzian royal to wear casual clothes to meet the people. But on Luisa casual looked so good. Today she wore slim-fitting jeans, low-heeled boots of supple scarlet and a matching jacket over a white top.

      Only this time she hadn’t shoved up her sleeves so she could take a hands-on role. Her boots were pristine, not even a fleck of dirt. Her face wasn’t flushed with exertion and she didn’t have a hair out of place as when she’d cuddled some toddler in a crowd.

      He liked it when she looked a little flushed and rumpled. It reminded him of Luisa naked in his bed.

      Now she looked elegant with her stylish clothes and pale, fine-boned features.

      Raul’s eyes narrowed. Too pale, surely?

      Usually Luisa was a golden girl with her colouring and her tan. It complemented her infectious smile as she chatted with anybody and everybody.

      Now, though surrounded by people as usual, she stood a little aloof, hanging back from the discussion. She looked peaky and the smile she wore wasn’t the grin he’d become accustomed to.

      No one else seemed to sense anything wrong.

      But he’d come to know his wife.

      He tensed, premonition skating down his nape as he recalled recent changes he’d preferred not to dwell on. Times when Luisa’s warm impulsiveness had grown strained, appearing only in the heights of passion.

      Then she was all his, just as he wanted her.

      He repressed a scowl. Did he imagine she’d grown cooler? The suspicion had hit several times that she no longer wanted to share herself. As if she tried to hide the woman he’d come to think of as the real Luisa. Open, honest and exuberant.

       Or as if that Luisa had ceased to exist.

      An icy hand gripped his innards as he fought a rising tide of tension. A sense of déjà vu.

      He squashed the thought. Luisa was not Ana. Only Raul’s youth and the blindness of so-called love had ever convinced him Ana was the sort of woman he could trust.

      Yet still he couldn’t shift a sense of foreboding.

      ‘Is everything OK?’

      Luisa swung round, away from people waving goodbye. Raul had moved across the limo’s wide seat to settle beside her. He’d raised the privacy screen.

      Excitement zinged through her veins and drew the skin of her breasts and stomach tight. Her body betrayed her. She couldn’t resist Raul, even knowing their relationship was tragically one-sided. Lately too, the more she tried to pull back and develop some protective distance, the more determined he seemed to invade her space.

      Yet there was no gleam in his eyes now, just the shadow of a frown.

      ‘Of course. Everything’s fine.’ With a supreme effort Luisa pasted a smile on