‘A handshake would have done,’ she whispered.
‘Nah,’ he said and suddenly he grinned and it was like the sun had come out. He was suddenly like a kid in mischief. ‘Where’s the fun in a handshake? A kiss is much more satisfactory. Don’t look like that, Your Highness. I meant no disrespect.’
‘I didn’t think…’
‘It’s just as well you don’t think,’ he said. ‘As the mother of the Crown Prince, you could probably have my head skewered and served on a platter for breakfast for doing what I just did. So let’s just forget the kiss. Good though it was.’ He lifted his dress sword and slid it into its scabbard. His smile faded.
‘So, like it or not, we have a deal. We’re in this together, Kellyn Marie. I won’t see you now until we leave. Can you be ready to return with me on Tuesday? Yes? Unless you want to be overrun with media before then, I shouldn’t return here, and now I’m outed I’ll have to do the full diplomatic round. Tell Matty I love him, and tell him he has a mother in a million.’
‘Even if she’s a blackmailing cow.’
‘She’s not so bad for a blackmailing cow,’ he said and grinned. ‘I’ve seen worse things come out of cheese.’
What the hell had he done?
Rafael walked out through the darkened historical village and thought he must have gone completely mad.
He’d just agreed to stay in Alp de Ciel until Matty was twenty-five.
He didn’t have to. He could promise and then leave anyway once Matty was safely back in the country.
He couldn’t. He thought back to Kelly’s face by the firelight. She trusted him.
He was trustworthy. Hell!
He’d kissed her.
Why had he done that?
It was just that she was so damned kissable. She was such a juxtaposition of sweet, meek and… dragon, he thought ruefully. Life had slapped her around and that was what she looked like, that was how she sounded, but underneath there was a fierce and determined sprite.
What had Kass been thinking to treat her so appallingly?
She’d just blackmailed him into moving his life to Alp de Ciel.
His mother would be delighted.
But Anna…
Whoops.
He needed to talk to Anna before she learned of things via the media, he thought. Kelly might come across as a bit of a dragon but that was nothing to how Anna came across when she was angry.
Would Anna relocate to Alp de Ciel?
Ha.
Too hard. It was all just too hard.
Pete was on the gate, obviously waiting for him to leave. Rafael tugged a note from his wallet to leave him something for his pains, but Pete shook his head at the offering as if he was personally offended.
‘I don’t want your money.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Rafael said, surprised.
‘I just don’t want you mucking our Kelly about,’ Pete said strongly. ‘She’s had a rough trot, our Kell.’
‘You could help by not telling anyone I was here tonight. And not telling anyone Kelly has a strange little boy staying with her.’
‘You think I’d do that?’
‘No,’ Rafael said with a faint smile.
‘You really are a prince?’ the old man demanded, and Rafael nodded.
‘Yes.’
‘And the wee one…’
‘He’s Kelly’s son,’ Rafael said, for there was no use dissembling here. ‘The Crown Prince of Alp de Ciel.’
Pete gave a long, low whistle. ‘Well, I’ll be damned. Our Kelly, royalty. We always knew there was something…’ But then he returned to what had obviously been gnawing at him. ‘She’s upset. Anyone can see she’s upset.’
‘It’s been a harrowing day for her.’
‘You’ll be taking her back to…where…Alp de Wotsit?’
‘She’s agreed to go, yes.’
‘Then I’ll say something to you now, boy,’ the old man growled and, dress sword or not, Rafael found himself backed against the wall with the old man’s gnarled finger poking him in the midriff. ‘You take care of her. She’s gone through the mill, that one. Oh, we’re not supposed to know, but there’s not many of the staff here don’t know that she lost her kiddy. We thought maybe he’d died. She’s wanted to be anonymous, she hasn’t wanted to talk about it, and we’ve respected that. We’d keep her secret for as long as she wants. But this place is almost family. She might not have a mum and dad but she has all of us and if she’s mistreated we’ll…we’ll…’
‘Send the dragoons?’ Rafael asked faintly, and the old man relented a little and gave a crooked smile.
‘Yeah, well, the troops we have here may only be make-believe but we can surely make a fuss. So watch it. Watch her.’
‘She’ll be okay.’
‘You guarantee it, sir?’
Now there was an ask. What was he letting himself into? As Prince Regent he was responsible for the well-being of the Crown Prince. Now he was being asked to make guarantees about Kelly.
But Pete was waiting, and behind the belligerence was anxiety. He was genuinely fond of her, Rafael thought. He was genuinely anxious.
So once again he promised. ‘I guarantee she’ll be okay.’
‘You’ll watch over her.’
And stay permanently in Alp de Ciel? With or without Anna? With or without his business?
Anna would kill him. To make such a decision without talking it through with her… But the decision was made.
‘I’ll watch over her,’ he said weakly, and thought, Anna without Fifth Avenue? Without pastrami on rye? His business without Anna?
‘I’ll watch over her,’ he promised again and he was allowed to leave.
But the pressure of Pete’s finger in his chest stayed with him. Pressure… Hell!
* * *
He’d kissed her.
How had that happened? Why? Kelly watched Rafael disappear down the main street towards the exit, then started to get ready for bed. She undressed by the fire, thinking that she didn’t want to get undressed in her bedroom yet. Matty was too much a stranger. Her little boy…
It was set. She was going back to Alp de Ciel to take her place as mother of the Crown Prince.
Rafael had kissed her.
She raised a finger to her lips. They still felt bruised, which was crazy. He hadn’t kissed her hard enough to bruise.
But she could still feel where he’d kissed her.
She tugged her nightgown on, then sank into the rocker by the stove, flipped open the fire door and watched the flames. To leave here…
The thought was terrifying.
She had to leave on Tuesday.
There was no choice. She’d known that the moment she’d set eyes on Matty. No matter what she had to do, now she’d seen her son again she would move heaven and earth rather than endure further separation.
Rafael had kissed her.