‘Did you know she was his girlfriend?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you target her deliberately?’
‘No. We were both drunk and she came on to me.’
He didn’t look at her, not wanting to see the disgust and disapproval bound to be on her face.
‘Dominic said you only slept with me to get one up on him. Is that true?’
‘No.’ He shook his head emphatically. ‘I admit, you being his sister gave it an extra frisson but I wanted you regardless.’
She contemplated him in silence for a while, her porcelain mask still in place.
‘Your brother has hated me since we were eight,’ he said. ‘I have no idea what triggered it but trust me when I say the loathing was—is—mutual. We had more than our share of fights during our school years but, whatever you might think of me, I would never have seduced you to hurt him. I slept with you because the opportunity was there and I’d wanted you for years.’
Her head rocked forward. ‘Thank you for being honest with me, brutal though the truth is.’
‘I was honest with you from the start.’
Her gaze didn’t falter but her face screwed up a little with concentration, as if she were deciding whether to share what she was thinking. Eventually she gave a sharp nod and said, ‘My father sent Dominic to the same boarding school as the Kalliakis Princes specifically to cultivate a friendship with them and strengthen the ties between our two nations.’
‘Your brother knew this was why he was sent there?’
‘Of course.’ She gave a surprising low laugh. ‘I think that’s why he disliked you so much. They accepted you, a commoner, as their friend—as one of them. Dominic was born of royal blood and he found himself being treated exactly the same as you, which he detested. You were supposed to know your place, not be more popular than him. If you stole his girlfriend I don’t imagine that endeared you to him. And now that he knows you’ve...’ She cleared her throat and looked away. ‘That you and I...’
‘Were together?’ he supplied, his body tightening as he recalled the exact feeling of being inside her.
She nodded sharply. ‘Dominic and I have never had the closest of sibling relationships. Couple that with his loathing of you... He would have been more accepting if Satan himself had impregnated me. If Dominic held the throne he would have thrown me out on the spot.’
Nathaniel rubbed his temples, letting her words soak into his brain. He would never tell her that her suspicions were correct, but it was much worse than she thought; that if he’d refused to marry her, she would have been thrown out, and the order would have come right from the top, from her father.
‘I concede that Dominic has hated me for years but I don’t get why you think I might be in danger from him. I’ve agreed to the marriage. Our child will be legitimate. And then I will walk away and leave you free to marry someone of equal nobility. He will have everything as he wants it.’
‘I know he’s something of a joke to you but I worry you underestimate how dangerous he can be. He is more than capable of hurting someone.’
There was something in her tone that made him look at her carefully. He’d heard rumours over the years about Dominic’s free and easy hands with some of his girlfriends. Was there truth in those rumours? He recalled Catalina’s reaction when her brother had come back into the room at the palace, the subtle withdrawal. ‘Has he ever hurt you?’
‘What a question to ask,’ she said, her voice light.
‘And what a non-answer to give.’
Her head tilted slightly but she kept her gaze on the stage where the opera was in full flow. ‘All siblings argue. I might be making something out of nothing but, in Dominic’s eyes, you’ve humiliated him. He is not a man to mess with.’
‘And neither am I. Trust me, if your brother attempts anything against me or my business interests, he will regret it.’
The curtains closed for the end of the first act and applause echoed through the theatre.
Spotting an opportunity, Nathaniel drained the last of his Scotch and got to his feet. ‘Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?’
‘You’re leaving?’
‘I told you, I despise opera.’ That was only the partial truth. The full truth was that their private box was shrinking by the second, Catalina’s scent seeping into all the crevices, filling his senses.
A flash of colour heightened her cheeks. ‘We’re getting married next week. Shouldn’t we talk about that and what our marriage will entail?’
‘Our marriage will entail nothing more than getting you and the baby safely through the pregnancy. I will ensure your every need is met. Now, can I offer you a lift home? Or do you want to stay and watch the rest?’
‘Thank you for your generous offer,’ she said, irony heavily lacing her voice, ‘but I’ll stay.’
‘As you wish.’ He bowed his head. ‘I thank you for sharing your concerns with me—I know loyalty and duty to the House of Fernandez are things you believe strongly in. It can’t be easy to speak of your brother like this.’
It must have taken a lot of courage for her to speak out against him. That the Prince was a bully was indisputable. How many times had he turned that nasty tongue on her? Catalina being pregnant with Nathaniel’s child would surely only make his viciousness worse.
While Nathaniel didn’t relish giving up his freedom, at least having Catalina under his own roof rather than in the palace would give her space away from her brother’s malevolence.
And at least when she remarried she’d be far from his influence then too, and so would their child. The contract he and the King had drawn up had given Nathaniel very specific rights to his child. If the King tried to renege on it, he knew hellfire would rain down on him and his country.
She turned her head, those chocolate-brown eyes that fixed on him void of emotion. ‘I know you’re only marrying me because you’ve been blackmailed into it, but you’re the father of my child and that means I owe some loyalty to you too, for our baby’s sake.’
‘So your personal feelings towards me...?’ He deliberately let his words tail off so she could fill the silence.
Was the attraction she had held for him still there or had their night together quelled it? With any other woman he would be able to make a good judgement call, but Catalina was a princess, trained from birth to hide her emotions. Outwardly, she did not give anything away.
What would she do if he were to trace his fingers up her spine then move his hand around to cup one of those heavenly breasts? Such was the privacy the box gave them, he could lay her down and make love to her without anyone seeing...
He fully understood now why she’d been given three chaperones. She really was the most naturally sensual of women. And he needed to get out of this theatre before he did something stupid. Like seduce her all over again.
‘Are non-existent.’ Her mouth snapped shut and she turned her gaze back to the empty stage. ‘Have a safe drive home.’
Catalina didn’t breathe again until she heard the door to the box close. Only then did her lungs expand enough for her to gulp in some air.
Nathaniel couldn’t have made it clearer that he considered marriage to her akin to sleeping in a tank of snakes.
Whatever secret dreams she’d had she would keep to herself. If there was one thing she had learnt throughout her life it was to keep her emotions in check. She wasn’t in love with him but she wasn’t going to lie to herself and pretend she didn’t