She seemed to be genuinely surprised, but he’d learned not to trust her. Still he would play this game out in order to achieve his ultimate goal—a final night in her bed before leaving her forever.
“The divorce wasn’t finalized. You, my dear, are still Mrs. Jonah Landis.”
Two
He had to be joking.
Eloisa dug her fingers into the leather seats, seriously considering making use of that bottle of bourbon in the limo’s minibar. Except indulging in a few too many umbrella drinks had landed her in this mess in the first place.
She’d taken pains to cover her tracks. Her mother had warned her how important it was to be careful. Keep a low profile. Stay above reproach. And never, ever invite scrutiny.
Eloisa looked out the window to see where they were headed. They passed nail salons and T-shirt shops along the beachfront, nightlife in full swing on open-decked restaurant bars. The chauffeur truly seemed like he was simply driving around, not headed anywhere specific—such as Jonah’s hotel.
She simply couldn’t pay the price for being impulsive again.”We signed the divorce paperwork.”
His blue eyes narrowed.”Apparently there’s something you neglected to tell me, a secret you’ve kept mighty close to the vest.”
Eloisa bit her lip to hold back impulsive words while she gathered her thoughts and reminded herself to be grateful he hadn’t stumbled upon her more recent secret. Her empty stomach gripped with nerves. She tried to draw in calming breaths, but had to face a truth learned long ago. Only when working at the library could she relax.
Best she could tell, there weren’t any books conveniently tucked away in this superbly stocked luxury ride. Although the backseat area was packed with enough technology to provide a command central for a small army. Apparently Jonah preferred to have the world at his fingertips. Odd, but she didn’t have time for distractions right now.
“What secret?” she asked out of a long-honed habit of denial. To date, no one had pressed the point so the strategy hadn’t let her down yet.”I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
His jaw went tight with irritation.”That’s the way you want to play this? Fine.” He leaned in closer until she couldn’t miss the musky scent of him mixed with his still-familiar aftershave.”You forgot to mention your father.”
Her chest went tighter than her hands twisting in the skirt of her dress.”My dad’s a tax collector in Pensacola, Florida. Speaking of which, why aren’t you home in Hilton Head, South Carolina?”
He gripped her wrists to stop her nervous fidgeting.”Not your stepdad, your biological father.”
Apparently, Jonah wasn’t easily diverted tonight.
“I told you before about my biological father.” A shiver passed over her at even the mention of the man who’d wrecked her mother’s life, the man she lied about on a regular basis.”My mother was a single parent when I was born. My real father was a bum who wanted no part in my life.” True enough.
Her dad—no more than a sperm donor as far as she was concerned—had broken her mother’s heart then left her to raise their child alone. Her stepfather might not have been Prince Charming—wasn’t that damn ironic?—but at least he’d been there for her and her mother.
“A bum? A royal bum.” Jonah stretched a leg out in front of him, polished snakeskin loafer gleaming in the overhead lamp.”Interesting dichotomy.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and wished it was that easy to shut out the repercussions of what he’d somehow discovered. Her mother had been emphatic about personal safety. Her biological father still had enemies back in San Rinaldo. She’d been foolish to tempt fate by going to Spain in hopes of unobtrusively learning about half her heritage on the small island country nearby. Damn it all, fear was a good thing when it kept a person safe.
She steadied her breath, if not her galloping heart rate.”Would you please not say that?”
“Say what?”
“The whole royal thing.” While her stepfather frequently called Audrey his”little princess,” he—and the rest of the world—didn’t know that Eloisa was actually the one with royal blood singing through her veins, thanks to her biological father.
Nobody knew, except Eloisa, her deceased mother and a lawyer who conducted any communication with the deposed king. Eloisa’s so-called real father. A man still hunted to this day by the rebel faction that had taken over his small island kingdom of San Rinaldo off the coast of Spain.
How had Jonah found out?
He tipped her chin with one knuckle as his driver slowed for jaywalking teens.”You may have been able to fool the world for a lot of years, but I’ve figured out your secret. You’re the illegitimate daughter of deposed King Enrique Medina.”
She stiffened defensively, then forced herself to relax nonchalantly.”That’s ridiculous.” Albeit true. If he could figure it out, how much longer until her secret was revealed to others? She needed to know, hopefully find some way to plug that leak and persuade him he was wrong.
Then she would decide what to do if his claim was actually true, a notion that could have her hyperventilating if she thought about it too long.”What makes you think something so outlandish?”
“I discovered the truth when I went back to Europe recently. My brother and his wife decided to renew their wedding vows and while I was in the area, I stopped by the chapel where we got married.”
A bolt of surprise shot through her and she couldn’t help but think back to that night. She’d been emotionally flattened by her mother’s death and had only just returned to finish her studies in Europe. She’d shared some drinks with the guy she’d secretly had a crush on and the next thing she’d known, they were hunting for a preacher or a justice of the peace with the lights still on.
Visiting the place where they’d exchanged vows sounded sentimental. Like that day meant more to him than a drunken mistake.
She couldn’t stop herself from asking,”You went back there?”
“I was in the neighborhood,” he repeated, his jaw going tight, the first sign that the whole debacle may have upset him as much as it had her.
He’d let her go so easily, agreeing they’d made an impulsive mistake rather than asking her to crawl back in bed with him and discuss it later. A huge part of her had wanted him to sweep away rational concerns. But no. He’d let her leave, just as her father never claimed her mother.
Or her.
She tore her eyes away from the tempting curve of his mouth, a mouth that had brought such intense pleasure when he’d explored every patch of her skin later that night after their”I do.” Except they’d exchanged vows in Spanish, which had seemed romantic at the time. Between her hiccups.”Everyone knows King Enrique doesn’t live in San Rinaldo anymore. Nobody knows where he and his sons fled after they left. There are only rumors.”
“Rumors that he’s in Argentina.” Jonah lounged back in the seat, seemingly lazy and relaxed, except for the coiled muscles she could see bunched under his black jacket.
She knew well he came by those muscles honestly. Her first memory of him was burned in her brain, the day she’d joined the restoration team on a graduate internship to assist with research. Jonah had been studying blueprints with another man on the construction site. She’d mistakenly thought Jonah worked on the crew, from his casual clothes and mud-stained boots. The guy was actually a couple of credits away from his PhD. He wasn’t just an architect, he was a bit of an artist in his own right.
That had enticed