Modern Romance November 2016 Books 5-8. Rachael Thomas

fought for attention in his head, she looked him straight in the eye. ‘We don’t have to divorce.’

      He was taken aback.

      ‘The second I set foot back on Monte Cleure, you become my legal owner again,’ she continued. ‘My male ancestors have fine-tuned our constitution so female members of the House of Fernandez have very little rights, and that means I have no power of divorce. If you refuse to divorce me there is nothing my father can do about it, not unless he wants to rewrite a constitution that grants him so much power. It means I would never have to marry again and no other man would have any involvement in our child’s upbringing.’

      He listened with his jaw clenched. ‘As much as I can see that your idea has merit, I don’t want to be married.’ He was better on his own. He always had been.

      He didn’t want to be saved as so many women out there seemed to think he needed to be. He didn’t need to be saved. He had as much female company as a man could want and he did not want or need more. Not even from the woman he’d married and couldn’t shake from his mind. Especially not from her.

      He’d thought her different from her brother but she clearly had the same gift for deception Dominic so specialised in.

      Catalina had proven herself to be Trouble with a capital T.

      ‘I know you don’t want to be married; you’ve probably got a calendar somewhere where you’re marking off the days until you’re supposed to divorce me. But have you not been listening to me? I don’t want to be married either. Not any more. All I want is for our child to have the freedom I’ve been denied, away from my family’s influence, and to live the rest of my life free too. We won’t have to live together and you won’t have to watch someone else raise your child. Please, Nathaniel. I’d rather be a nun than the property of another man.’

      ‘It could work,’ he said with a slow nod.

      The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He didn’t want his child raised by another man. His hatred for Monte Cleure had developed to such a degree that he knew he would never conduct any further business there. He couldn’t think what had possessed him to develop there in the first place.

      The stiffness of her slender frame loosened a touch, just enough to let him see her relief.

      ‘We’ll have to return to Monte Cleure and satisfy your father that all is well. You’ll have to show your repentance. I want my land back and my reputation restored.’

      She nodded her agreement and took a sip of her tea.

      ‘As soon as I have my development back and the title deeds returned to me, I will start the process of selling it all.’

      ‘Really? But it’s not even finished yet.’

      ‘The buyer can finish it. I always knew there was something rotten about your country but now I know how deep the poison lies, I don’t want anything to do with it. I will talk to the Kalliakis Princes. They like diversity in the projects they invest in and they’re not men your father or brother would dare to threaten. It won’t be a quick process though,’ he warned her. He didn’t want her thinking that this could all be resolved in a couple of days.

      ‘As long as I know I’ll get my freedom, you can take as long as you need. But would they be interested in buying it?’ Her brow creased with doubt. ‘I thought they invested in small start-up companies.’

      ‘As a rule they do. Helios was the backer for my first project. Everything grew from that.’

      He watched her reaction to the mention of the man she had come so close to marrying. There wasn’t even a flicker of emotion in her expression.

      ‘I never knew that.’ She considered it for a while longer. ‘You’re much closer than I realised.’

      ‘Boarding school bonds,’ he answered with a shrug.

      ‘How does he feel about us marrying if you’re such good friends?’

      ‘Have you not asked him that yourself?’

      ‘No. Why would I?’ Her bafflement looked genuine.

      ‘No reason.’ He hadn’t realised he carried angst that she might still have feelings for Helios.

      He shouldn’t care if she did.

      She tilted her head. ‘I never loved him. I never had any feelings for him. But I would have been a good wife.’

      Something tight gripped hold of his vocal cords and he had to force them to work. ‘I am certain Helios will buy the development, not just because of our old boarding school friendship but because he’s been less than impressed at the way your father has treated Amy. But you realise that if we embark on this, it could see you permanently cut off from your family? Right now your father blames me and your pregnancy hormones for your disappearance. If I set you and our child up in another country, he will never forgive you.’

      There was only the slightest tremor in her hand as she took another sip of her tea. ‘My father cares only about the House of Fernandez and tightening his grip on power. My best interests are never in his heart and my baby’s aren’t either.’

      He gave a decisive nod. ‘Then that is what we will do. The sooner we can both be done with your country, the better. Finish your drink and get packing. I want to be gone from this place before it gets dark.’

      She drained her cup and placed it in the sink before looking at him again. ‘I would like to stay here for one more night...’

      ‘No.’

      ‘We don’t have to show ourselves in public for almost a fortnight.’

      ‘We have to put on a united front immediately.’

      ‘What difference will one night make?’

      ‘It’s out of the question. Go and pack.’

      Her frame rapidly tightened again and her chin lifted, her eyes spitting fire at him. ‘When you speak like this you’re as bad as my father and brother.’

      ‘I am nothing like them.’

      ‘Then don’t act like them. For the duration of our marriage—the one where we pretend to be a happy couple—you will treat me with respect and you will treat me as an equal, even when we’re back in the misogynistic land of Monte Cleure. Is that clear?’

      There was something magnificent about this angry yet concise Catalina. She would make an excellent queen, he decided.

      The backbone he’d always sensed she’d had was growing before his eyes. She might be a thief but he couldn’t deny his admiration for her breaking free from the box she’d been kept in for so long.

      ‘It was never my intention to treat you with anything but respect,’ he said stiffly. Admiration didn’t mean forgiveness. And her words didn’t mean he could trust her. If she had the same opportunity, would she run again? Would she take his child and leave him a second time?

      He would never give her the chance to find out. Until their baby was safely born, he would not let her out of his sight.

      ‘We need to leave now. There’s a helicopter waiting to fly us to the airport.’

      Her head bowed. ‘I’ll get my things together.’

      * * *

      Catalina pushed the keys for the cabin through the letterbox of the next cabin along, which was used exclusively by the owner, with a short letter of thanks for his hospitality.

      Nathaniel stood by his car, wiping away the fresh load of snow that had been dumped on them since his arrival. From the look on his face, it was a job he found abhorrent.

      ‘Are you ready now?’ he asked through gritted teeth. His handsome face conveyed perfectly his true thoughts, namely that she had better be ready.

      She had packed quickly enough but had refused to leave