‘Probably not.’ She couldn’t take her eyes off him. ‘Hormones and rebellion came late to me. Just over two months ago, to be precise, when I committed the only rebellious act of my life.’
He turned his head to meet her gaze for the briefest moment, and in that moment the intensity of his stare was so real and piercing that heat crawled through her, uncurling from her navel and spreading out into her limbs and up her neck.
It was the look he’d given her right before he’d peeled her robe off her shoulders...
The beautiful memories of that rebellious night were as fresh in her mind as they had been when he’d slipped from her room.
If she could take a silver lining from having to return to her home country, it was that Nathaniel was no longer treating her like an opaque ghost. She knew he was furious with her and fully accepted she deserved it, but his anger was a hundred times better than the indifference she’d been living with. He was finally treating her like a real person again, not as the perfect Princess who was judged incapable of lifting a kettle for herself.
The Nathaniel she’d desired from afar for all those years had returned.
The fire that had swirled through her at his stare reignited as she imagined him treating her like a woman again...
THE SNOW WAS coming down thick and fast and Nathaniel had to use all his concentration to navigate roads that were fast becoming treacherous.
All he needed was to get to the airport. His jet was waiting there and the airport staff were used to keeping the runway perfectly gritted and usable.
Catalina must have sensed his need to concentrate for she fell silent again.
If only he weren’t so aware of her...
This was why he’d avoided spending time alone with her. Every time it was just the two of them he had to fight with his own fingers not to reach out and touch the creamy skin, to gather the long, thick raven hair in his hands and inhale the sultry scent that had driven his senses wild from the very start. He knew he shouldn’t desire someone he no longer trusted, even if a part of him parroted her excuses, trying to justify her actions and pass the blame onto him.
Yet their conversation earlier had changed the whole complexion of their relationship. As much as he loathed what she had done, an understanding had grown between them. For want of a better term, they were now partners in crime, both prepared to put on a face to get what they wanted.
What he couldn’t trust was that she wouldn’t take her desired freedom if another opportunity presented itself.
‘We’re going to have to find somewhere to stop for the night,’ he muttered as they approached another small town. The snow was now so thick he couldn’t clear it quick enough to see through the windscreen before it was covered again.
‘I told you we should have stayed in the cabin,’ she said, smothering a yawn with the back of her hand.
‘You’re tired?’
‘A little.’
Wiping away the thought of rousing her in more senses than one, he crawled the car through the town’s entrance.
Unable to see more than a couple of feet in front of him, he brought the car to a halt. ‘Wait here a moment.’
The moment he stepped out of the car, the chill, along with what felt like a foot of snow, enveloped him.
Shielding his eyes with a rapidly freezing hand, he saw he’d parked safely enough. A neon sign with ‘Hotel’ on it glowed in the distance like some commercialised North Star guiding them.
He opened the car. ‘There’s a hotel up there. I’m going to see if they’ve got any rooms available.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
‘There’s no point in us both making a wasted journey.’
She rolled her eyes and unbuckled her seat belt. ‘Can you get my bag for me, please?’
‘Catalina...’
‘I don’t want to wait in here on my own. They’ll have room for us. Have faith.’
Faith was something he’d lost too many years ago to count, on the morning after a snowstorm much like this one.
Of all his memories of his family, that one, of the night before he’d lost them, was the clearest. They’d been in their log cabin, his and Melanie’s noses pressed against the window, watching the snow fall in delight and amazement. It had been evening and they should have been in bed but their parents had taken them outside to build a moonlit snowman.
Was the memory so clear because it was his last with them? Or was it just because it had been such a happy moment? If he closed his eyes he could still see his mother’s mischievous smile, his father’s twinkling eyes and his sister’s cute dimples. If he closed his eyes hard enough he could still hear the laughter that had carried through the windless cold air.
This was why he avoided the snow. There was no escaping the memories of all he missed.
He slammed the door shut and treaded carefully to the boot, grabbing Catalina’s small case and the rucksack filled with what was left of the stolen money.
Why had he felt like a tyrant taking the cash-crammed rucksack from her? It was his money. Catalina should never have taken it.
He opened the passenger door. She took his hand with her own gloved one and allowed him to help her out.
‘You must be freezing,’ she said, her teeth chattering. The temperature had dropped substantially since they’d started their drive. ‘Take my hat. I’ve more hair than you.’
‘I’ll be fine.’ He dismissed his offer. His coat was warm. The main thing was that Catalina was bundled up well under her thick snow coat and boots, her hair hidden under a black woolly hat, a thick scarf covering half of her face.
Keeping a firm grip on her hand, Nathaniel led them up the steep deserted road to the hotel, which upon closer inspection was a very pleasant-looking two-storey wooden lodge. They made it there without any mishaps, and opened the front door to a blast of warmth and the blare of distant music.
First impressions were good. The reception was airy and spacious, a place that, while maybe not fit for a princess, was good enough for a woman who no longer wanted to be a princess.
Nathaniel rang the bell on the front desk, which was answered by a frazzled-looking teenage girl.
‘Can we have two rooms for the night?’ he asked carefully in Spanish. He spoke it well but not as fluently as some of his other languages.
The girl stared at him and held up a hand, then called something over her shoulder in a tongue he didn’t recognise.
Catalina pushed forward and said something in what he took to be the same language.
The girl’s eyes lit up, and suddenly there were nothing but smiles and sweetness as the two women chattered away. A middle-aged man appeared from a door behind the desk, saw everything was in hand, and closed the door once again.
After a couple of minutes, Catalina turned to Nathaniel looking concerned. ‘Do you have your passport? She says she needs it.’
He pulled it out of his inside pocket while Catalina opened her small case and removed hers.
‘I didn’t know it was a law to show passports in a hotel.’ She blinked in amazement.
He bit back a laugh. ‘It’s a law us mere