As the excited crowd, kept back by a strictly enforced cordon, called out questions and messages of love to their Princess, Nathaniel suddenly understood why her father was so desperate to keep her in the fold.
Catalina was the member of the royal family the public loved. While her brother screwed his way around the planet under the guise of being on official visits—and many unofficial ones in seedy establishments—and her sister had turned from a wilful brat into a married woman travelling the world with her new husband, Catalina had been the one who had always been there for her countrymen. She’d visited hospices, opened junior school fetes, publicly supported many varied charities, all while attending functions and charming visiting dignitaries. The people of Monte Cleure loved their kind, beautiful Princess. Without her, the House of Fernandez would lose its crowning jewel.
Nathaniel would bet her father had come to realise this since they’d married, too. Hiding Catalina away as a punishment had only hurt the House of Fernandez. Without Catalina there to deflect all their countrymen’s attention, that attention had focused on the remaining family members. Her rumoured disappearance had only made the discontented mutters worse.
‘Are you going to miss all this?’ he asked when they were safely in the back of his car.
‘Miss what? The press?’
‘Being a princess. Having the love of your people?’
For a moment her expression clouded then she met his gaze. ‘None of it’s real. They don’t love me, just the image they see. So long as our child is free from palace interference, that’s all I care about.’
‘We’ll be out of Monte Cleure before our baby is born.’ The King had sent a message during their flight back demanding a private meeting with Nathaniel.
The hard work was just beginning.
* * *
Her return to Monte Cleure wasn’t as dramatic as Catalina had feared. The crowd at the airport had lifted her spirits and, rather than the armed guards she’d secretly feared arriving to spirit her away, she’d received a personal invitation from her father for lunch in two days. Nathaniel wasn’t invited.
Nathaniel had left the apartment within minutes of dropping her back, citing a meeting that he needed to attend. He arrived back to find her gazing at the invitation.
‘I thought this would happen,’ he said.
‘Why?’
‘I didn’t say anything earlier because I didn’t want to cause you worry, but the meeting I just attended...it was at the palace.’
‘And? Has he given the deeds back to you?’
He shook his head. ‘He’ll give it all back after his birthday party. We’ve arranged to meet again on the Monday after. He’ll hand the deeds back to me and issue a press statement revoking the fraud allegations.’
‘That’s a start.’
‘This invitation is so he can satisfy himself that you’re going to toe the line from now on. You need to convince him that you’re sorry.’
‘I can do that.’
He stared at her thoughtfully.
‘What is it?’ she asked after a pause.
‘I think you should give me your passport for safekeeping.’
‘Why?’
‘A gut feeling. Running away was your second rebellious act in a matter of months. He’s suspicious. Dominic is too.’
‘He was there?’
Nathaniel’s jaw clenched as he nodded. Dominic had sat in on that meeting, the look of a bulldog on his ugly face.
The King had been in charge but there was no doubt in his mind Dominic was pulling the strings.
He was certain Catalina’s instinct that Dominic was behind the fraud allegations and the title revocation was correct. Dominic didn’t care that the public loved his sister. On the contrary; that was probably what infuriated him so.
‘I’d like to keep hold of my passport myself, thank you.’ That passport was hers. It was her only guaranteed document that gave her freedom.
‘That’s fine but you need to convince your father,’ he reiterated. ‘Show him you’re serious about sticking to your part of the bargain. Convince him you’re still prepared to remarry an aristocrat of his choosing. Once I get my deeds back I can get moving on the sale.’
She nodded. Convincing her father would be easy. She had spent her whole life putting on a façade for both her family and the world at large. Any underlying guilt at lying to her father she smothered. Her father cared more for the House of Fernandez than he did for her and her child, something she would not allow herself to forget. She couldn’t forget it. ‘I will do whatever is necessary. But...’
‘What’s on your mind?’
‘Next time you meet my father or have other meetings that concern me, please don’t lie about it.’
‘I didn’t lie.’
‘You didn’t tell me the truth either. I don’t want protecting any more.’
‘I’m not used to accounting for my whereabouts.’
‘I’m not asking that. I’m only asking you to let me know of anything that affects me. We’re a team, remember?’
‘Bonnie and Clyde,’ he said with a wry grin. ‘Okay. I’ll remember.’
* * *
The one person genuinely happy about Catalina’s return was Clotilde, who’d been on leave on their return to Monte Cleure. She arrived in Catalina’s room two days later with a beaming smile that could have powered the country. When she discovered that she wasn’t expected to do as much as Catalina’s companion as she had before, the smile dropped.
‘But I like doing things for you,’ she said, her expression woebegone.
‘I know you do,’ Catalina said gently. ‘And I appreciate everything you did and everything you’ll do. I still need a companion while I’m here, just...maybe a little less attentiveness, okay?’
‘Okay.’ Then the smile came back and Clotilde leaned in conspiratorially. ‘Julie tells me Nathaniel spent the night in here with you.’
‘Did she?’ Catalina said innocently, knowing the flush of heat rising to her face would be a giveaway.
Even after their night together in the hotel she hadn’t dared to think it could happen again. It had been an emotional day and evening for both of them. They’d both revealed things about themselves and their pasts neither had shared with anyone before. Making love had been a release for them both. A joyous, glorious night of bliss.
On their first night back they’d dined out at a hotel in Monte Cleure. Nathaniel had entertained her with tales of his school days, stories of the strange people and customs he’d encountered due to his various developments across the globe. Neither of them had mentioned her family or their situation. After all the angst she’d been living with recently, it had been a welcome relief to simply enjoy the moment without worrying about the future and what it held.
When they’d returned to the apartment, he’d poured himself a nightcap then, without her knowing who had taken the first step towards the other, she had been in his arms. He’d carried her to her room like the heroine of an old black and white movie, and laid her down on the bed...
He’d joined her last night too.
‘She did,’ Clotilde assured her. ‘Does this mean...?’
‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ she said quickly. ‘Would you like to brush my hair?’
She knew how much Clotilde had longed to brush it