“You have one new message...”

“Know this, Catalina. You might be a princess, you might be wearing my ring, you might have taken 200,000 euros of my money...but you are carrying my child, and I will find you.”

Catalina had never stepped out of line, until one stolen Christmas night of irresistible passion with French billionaire Nathanial Giroud changed her life forever.

Now, hidden in the Pyrenees, Catalina is determined to protect the small life growing within her from the anguish of her own royal upbringing. Even if she has to defy the husband she so desperately craves!

‘I am staying in the palace tonight, in the same wing as you,’ Nathaniel said quietly, his breath blowing against the sensitive lobe of Catalina’s ear.

‘How…?’ It was a fight to breathe, let alone talk. ‘How do you know which wing I’m in?’

‘Because I made it my business to know.’ He inhaled deeply and she knew it was her scent he breathed in so greedily.

He kept his hold on her hand as he stepped back and gazed down at her.

He had a magnetism she had felt from their first introduction all those years ago.

He was the only man she had ever wondered about…

‘At one o’clock I will come to your door.’ He pressed a kiss to her knuckles. ‘I know your companion has the adjoining room, so I will not knock. I will be there, but I will leave our fate in your hands. If you don’t open it I will go back to my room and you can pretend I was never there. But before you make that decision of whether or not to open the door ask yourself this—when was the last time you did something solely for yourself that wasn’t bound up in duty? You’re a princess, Catalina, but tonight I can teach you how to be a woman too.’

One Night With Consequences

When one night...leads to pregnancy!

When succumbing to a night of unbridled desire it’s impossible to think past the morning after!

But, with the sheets barely settled, that little blue line appears on the pregnancy test and it doesn’t take long to realise that one night of white-hot passion has turned into a lifetime of consequences!

Only one question remains:

How do you tell a man you’ve just met that you’re about to share more than just his bed?

Find out in:

Her Nine Month Confession by Kim Lawrence An Heir Fit for a King by Abby Green Larenzo’s Christmas Baby by Kate Hewitt An Illicit Night with the Greek by Susanna Carr A Vow to Secure His Legacy by Annie West Bound to the Tuscan Billionaire by Susan Stephens The Shock Cassano Baby by Andie Brock The Greek’s Nine-Month Redemption by Maisey Yates An Heir to Make a Marriage by Abby Green Crowned for the Prince’s Heir by Sharon Kendrick The Sheikh’s Baby Scandal by Carol Marinelli A Ring for Vincenzo’s Heir by Jennie Lucas

Look for more One Night With Consequences coming soon!

Claiming His Christmas Consequence

Michelle Smart

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MICHELLE SMART’s love affair with books started when she was a baby, when she would cuddle them in her cot. A voracious reader of all genres, she found her love of romance established when she stumbled across her first Mills & Boon book at the age of twelve. She’s been reading—and writing them—ever since. Michelle lives in Northamptonshire, with her husband and two young smarties.

Books by Michelle Smart

Mills & Boon Modern Romance

The Russian’s Ultimatum

The Rings That Bind

The Perfect Cazorla Wife

Wedlocked!

Wedded, Bedded, Betrayed

The Kalliakis Crown

Talos Claims His Virgin

Theseus Discovers His Heir

Helios Crowns His Mistress

Society Weddings

The Greek’s Pregnant Bride

The Irresistible Sicilians

What a Sicilian Husband Wants

The Sicilian’s Unexpected Duty

Taming the Notorious Sicilian

Visit the Author Profile page at millsandboon.co.uk for more titles.

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To Geoff & Jan, with thanks and love for all the support and encouragement. xxx

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

One Night With Consequences

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU WERE RIGHT to end your engagement,’ Nathaniel Giroud murmured, nodding lazily at the dance floor where Prince Helios and his bride were dancing together, clearly enjoying themselves. ‘Helios would have made you unhappy.’

Princess Catalina Fernandez took a long drink of her champagne. There was the faintest tremor in her hand. ‘How can you be so sure?’

‘No chemistry.’ He paused before adding, ‘Not like the chemistry between you and I.’

Her heart-shaped chin pointed forward and she pushed her chair back from the table they were sitting alone at, the motion sending a small waft of her sultry scent into his path.

He longed to smell every part of her.

‘We cannot have this conversation,’ she said quietly. ‘What you are implying is impossible.’

He rested a hand on hers before she could get to her feet. ‘Why is it impossible?’

‘You know why.’ She slid her hand away and met his gaze. ‘I must save myself for my husband. My purity is my gift for him.’

‘A gift?’ The concept was so ludicrous he almost laughed but this was no laughing matter. He thought of Catalina’s brother, heir to the throne of Monte Cleure, sleeping his way around Europe without an ounce of penitence, allowing himself—and being allowed by their father—all the hedonistic delights he would deny his own sister on account of nothing more than the fact she had been born a woman.

Now she’d been dumped by Helios, whatever the sanitised whitewash of the official press release might have said, the rumours suggested she was promised to an aging Swedish duke. Nathaniel had no qualms about seducing her. Catalina wanted him. He knew it. And she knew it too.

‘So you are nothing but a possession?’

Confusion flittered in her dark eyes.

‘Is that what you’re saying?’ he pressed. ‘That you don’t have autonomy over your own body? Are you nothing but a vessel for the next generation?’

‘It isn’t like that. I am a princess. This is my life. It’s what I was born to be.’

‘You are also a woman.’

Her delicate throat moved.

He leaned a little closer, brushing his arm against hers, moving in for the kill.

Princess Catalina was a breed apart from all women. That she had class and poise went without saying but she was also incredibly beautiful too. And she carried herself with such stillness. Looking at her was like gazing at a portrait come to life. Tall and raven-haired with sultry eyes like melted chocolate, she had skin that seemed never to have sat in the sun, like clear, flawless alabaster. Today she was dressed beautifully in a knee-length peach dress that emphasised her full breasts and tiny waist without showing an inch of unnecessary flesh. Her hair had been piled into a wide, round bun on the top of her head, the effect of it all bringing to mind sixties glamour. It was a look only she could pull off.

She was a woman without flaws.

But, of course, every person in the world had flaws, and he itched to discover what hers could be.

The rumours that her father, the King of Monte Cleure, was planning to snub Helios’s wedding had proven true. With Catalina’s brother now having disappeared with his latest pneumatically enhanced girlfriend, Nathaniel knew this would be his one and only shot with her.

‘Your first time should be special. It should be with a man who will worship you and take care of you, not some cold-blooded aristocrat doing his duty.’

‘I’m an aristocrat,’ she said, the same quiver he could feel in her delectable body so close to his own echoing in her voice.

‘Ah, but you’re different—beneath your icy exterior runs blood of lava.’

Spotting the Swedish duke making his way to their table, Nathaniel stood up.

Catalina stared at him, obviously confused by his abruptness.

‘Your rumoured fiancé is heading our way. I suspect he’s going to ask you to dance.’

Her gaze flitted to the aging duke.

‘He’s not my fiancé.’ She gave a long exhale. ‘Not yet.’

‘Then there is nothing to stop you dancing with me.’ He extended his hand to her, palm up.

Now her throat moved in an obvious swallow. ‘My brother told me to stay away from you.’

He’d just bet he had. ‘Do you always do what your brother tells you?’

‘Yes.’

He raised a brow and murmured, ‘And do you always want to do as you’re told?’

There was the slightest shake of her head.

The duke was only paces away from their table.

Suddenly, her hand shot out to take Nathaniel’s and in one graceful movement, she rose to her feet.

Her eyes darted to the dance floor as if she were searching for someone, before she looked at him and said, ‘One dance.’

He bowed his head. ‘If you insist.’

Her lips twitched. ‘It has to be just one dance. I have to think of my reputation. There are spies everywhere.’

One dance was good enough for him. Not giving her time to change her mind, Nathaniel led her to the dance floor, leaving the duke staring at their retreating backs with a scratch of his balding head.

When he found a spot for them, he kept her hand entwined in his, pulled her close and snaked his free arm around her waist, resting his hand above the lining of her dress so it lay against her bare back. Her skin had the texture of creamy silk.

She fitted into his arms perfectly.

The added height from her heels meant her head rested perfectly in the crook of his neck. He could smell the expensive scent of her shampoo, mingling so deliciously with the sultry perfume that drove his senses wild.

He pressed himself a little closer, close enough that she would be able to feel his racing heart.

‘Relax,’ he murmured, stroking her rigid back. ‘I don’t bite.’

But I think I want you to...

During Catalina’s short courtship to Helios and their even shorter engagement, they had danced together many times. She had never felt anything like this. Her heart had never beaten so fast that she could feel it clamouring against her ribs.

The heat that had steadily built in her most intimate area that day under Nathaniel’s relentless attention spread through her pores, a tingling desire that thrilled and terrified her in equal measure.

She’d seen desire for herself when she’d been an impressionable fifteen-year-old. The beauty of the moment had eventually counteracted the horror of who she had found in desire’s throes, awakening something inside her; a yearning...a wish...

Oh, how she had hoped she would feel it with Helios but the chemistry between them had been non-existent. The chemistry between herself and the duke was even less.

The skin on her back whirred under Nathaniel’s touch. She could feel every bump of his hand, the pads of his fingers. That yearning...that wish...heavens, she was feeling it.

But all too soon their one dance was over.

Catalina took a deep breath and made to step away but his hold tightened.

‘I am staying in the palace tonight in the same wing as you,’ he said quietly, the words whispering against the sensitive lobe of her ear.

‘How...?’ It was a fight to breathe, let alone talk. ‘How do you know which wing I’m in?’

‘Because I made it my business to know.’ He inhaled deeply and she knew it was her scent he breathed in so greedily.

He kept his hold on her hand as he stepped back and gazed down at her.

At thirty-five Nathaniel’s face was a craggy cast of crinkles and lines, his impossibly tall body hard and rangy, testament to a man who enjoyed a varied outdoor life. His nose was strong and bumpy, his eyes that always seemed to spark with amusement were a pale green and he had a generous mouth that smiled often to create a dimple in his left cheek. Topping it all off was short brown hair that seemed to fight any attempt to be neat.

He had a magnetism which she had felt from their first introduction all those years ago.

He was the only man she had ever wondered about...

‘At one o’clock I will come to your door.’ He pressed a kiss to her knuckles. ‘I know your companion has the adjoining room so I will not knock. I will be there but I will leave our fate in your hands. If you don’t open the door I will go back to my room and you can pretend I was never there. But before you make the decision of whether or not to open it, ask yourself this—when was the last time you did something solely for yourself that wasn’t bound up in duty? You’re a princess, Catalina, but tonight I can teach you how to be a woman too.’

And with those words, he let go of her hand, bowed, and left the dance floor.

Three weeks later.

The stick with the pink line stared at Princess Catalina Fernandez mockingly.

Merry Christmas, Catalina. Here’s your surprise present.

All the poise she had spent twenty-five years perfecting had gone. All she felt now was a rabid terror eating her from the inside out.

Two blissful minutes when Nathaniel had entered her for the first time without protection before he’d withdrawn and sheathed himself. Two minutes of madness.

What was she going to do?

The nausea swelled up again and she retched, but her stomach was now so empty all that came out was bile. She didn’t know if it was the terror causing it or the new hormones taking over her body.

She brushed her teeth for the third time that morning but could still taste the acid on her tongue. She patted her face dry and stared at her reflection, trying desperately to force a smile to her pale face. In six hours she would sit down with her family for their Christmas feast. Aunts, uncles, cousins; those who worked at the palace and those that didn’t. They would all be there.

She breathed deeply, the exhalation coming out in ragged movements from lungs that seemed to have closed in shock.

A knock on her bedroom door brought her to her senses.

That would be Marion, her cousin and chief companion. Marion had brought Catalina’s breakfast to her earlier—the tray still remained untouched—and now would be ready to draw her bath.

She couldn’t confide in her. Marion had a sly side that Catalina had never warmed to. When she’d come of age and had been permitted to appoint her own ‘companions’, a House of Fernandez euphemism for personal staff, she’d been obligated to take Marion on. In a palace full of servants, personal staff always came from family, and Marion’s mother was sister to Catalina’s father.

She counted to five in her head and composed herself. Not with a single whisper of body language would she show that anything was amiss.

Stepping back into her room, she called out ‘Come in,’ and sat down at her dresser.

Except it wasn’t Marion who opened the door. It was her brother, Dominic.

There was nothing festive about the look on his face.

‘So...’ he said silkily, closing the door behind him. ‘It’s true. You’re pregnant.’

Thank goodness she was already seated or her shaky legs would have given way.

When the test had shown itself positive only half an hour ago she had known she wouldn’t be able to keep this a secret for long but she’d hoped for a few days’ grace.

She clamped her lips together and nodded. There was no point in lying. And little point in wondering how he knew. Privacy was an alien concept when it came to the female members of the House of Fernandez. Not trusting Marion, Catalina had been forced to take Aliana, a second cousin and one of her newer companions, into her confidence and had sent her out to get a pregnancy test. Aliana, barely eighteen, had left the palace on the pretext of some last minute Christmas shopping, promising to keep it a secret.

But nothing in the palace remained a secret for long. To keep one required a mental strength most people didn’t have, not when the King and his heir had a palace full of spies and the power to use the knowledge they gained to their advantage.

Catalina had kept her one true and most precious secret by never telling a soul.

Dominic took in her appearance with a critical sneer, then, without any warning, whipped his hand through the air and slapped her cheek. Hard. ‘Merry Christmas.’

Catalina didn’t allow herself to react, nor did she place a hand to her stinging flesh. Any response would give him what he wanted.

He loved nothing more than making her cry. He fed off it.

She hadn’t cried in front of him since their mother’s funeral seven years ago.

Suddenly she wished, with a desperation she hadn’t felt since the funeral that her mother were there. Just so she would be able to hold her and receive her words of comfort. How she missed her soft voice and gentle smile.

She even wished Isabella were there but her younger sister had escaped the House of Fernandez’s Christmas festivities to spend the period with her husband’s family.

‘Who’s the father?’

She pressed her lips together.

‘A virgin conception? How fitting.’ His mouth curved into another hateful sneer. ‘Nathaniel Giroud?’

Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t stop the little tremor that raced through her at the mention of Nathaniel’s name.

‘It is him.’

Such was the fury that spread across her brother’s face Catalina braced herself for another strike.

Instead, Dominic stooped down, close enough for her to smell his rancid breath. ‘You disgusting slut.’

She didn’t react. She wouldn’t react. It would only make matters worse. She didn’t even flinch when his spittle flew into her face.

‘Bad enough Helios dumped you, a pure-blood royal princess, for a commoner and that the whole world knows it, whatever the press release we issued might have said, but for you to then open your legs for that piece of scum...?’ Malice shone on his face. ‘You realise Johann was preparing to ask Father for your hand in marriage? That’s another prospect ruined.’

Bile crept up her throat, threatening to choke her.

‘You’re ruined; you know that? Johann won’t want you now you’re second-hand goods.’

She couldn’t breathe.

‘Giroud won’t want you either,’ Dominic jeered. ‘He screwed you to get one up on me. You were nothing but a game to him and an easy lay. I told you to stay away from him and now you must pay the price.’

He stared down at her, his face twisted in an ugly contortion. ‘Father will wish to speak to you. He will decide what needs to be done and what the consequences are to be.’

He made to leave then paused, turning back around to slap her other cheek. ‘That’s for disobeying me when I told you to stay away from Nathaniel Giroud.’

Straightening his tie, he left the room.

Alone, Catalina closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath.

The screams in her head rang out.

Placing a protective hand to her stomach, she forced herself to look in her dressing-table mirror. Bright red finger marks marred both her cheeks.

There was no way to fix the damage before Marion came to her rooms. All the same, she applied foundation with shaking hands, hoping to tone down the worst of it.

Breathe, Catalina, breathe.

When Nathaniel had left her room that morning three weeks ago, she had felt an inexplicable wrench to see the door close behind him.

She hadn’t heard from him since and she hadn’t expected to. They had both known it could only ever be for one night.

But she’d been aware of him for years.

Friends with the Kalliakis Princes, if not Catalina’s own brother, Nathaniel had often attended the same functions she’d been at; a tall magnetic figure her eyes had always been drawn to. She’d experienced a little pull in the pit of her stomach whenever she’d met his eye and experienced an even greater tug whenever they’d greeted each other with the kiss on both cheeks that everyone used. But she had never allowed herself to think anything about it. They were part of the same social network but they were not friends. Male friends were not permitted for a princess from the House of Fernandez.

Until Helios’s wedding, when Nathaniel had taken it upon himself to act as her guardian angel on the day that should have been her wedding, she had never exchanged more than pleasantries with him.

He was intensely private, so she knew little about him other than that his parents had died in an accident when he was very young—she didn’t know the details—and that he’d been raised by an uncle and had attended the same boarding school as Dominic and the Kalliakis Princes. He owned a string of hotels and business developments, along with the Club Giroud, a private members club for the most affluent, which had made him one of France’s richest men and a self-made billionaire before he’d turned thirty. Gregarious and charming, he was a notorious womaniser and hell-raiser, someone who enjoyed the lifestyle his wealth brought to its fullest extent.

But he’d shown a different side to her that day. He’d seen that she was vulnerable and had made it his mission to get her through the wedding with a smile on her face. Whether his motive from the outset had been to bed her, she didn’t care. She’d wanted him too. For the one and only time in her life she’d thrown caution to the wind and embraced a side she’d spent a lifetime suppressing.

Even if she hadn’t been a princess and he a commoner whom her brother detested, she would never have expected more than one night. Commitment was an alien concept to him.

But she hadn’t been able to get him from her mind. Every time she closed her eyes she could see him. She could taste him. She could feel his skin under her fingers. In the privacy of her bed she would relive their night together, playing it over like a movie in her head. Every touch. Every caress.

She had assumed the next time she would see him would be at some function or other. She had assumed he would greet her with the usual kiss and that maybe his hand would press into her side a little longer than normal, a subtle acknowledgement of their time together. She had assumed she would hug their secret to herself for the rest of her life.

Since she could remember, it had been made plain her virginity was sacred, something to be saved for her wedding day. For twenty-five years she had accepted this.

She was a princess. She had a life of wealth and privilege. She was a representative of the House of Fernandez, expected to marry into a family that would strengthen her own family’s cultural links and power. She was expected to behave with decorum and propriety at all times and not once had she failed in this. She had never whispered a word of complaint that her brother was allowed to do whatever he wanted with whomever he wanted and neither had she complained that free spirit Isabella’s bratty behaviour was indulged by their brother and father alike.

Dominic had never raised a finger to Isabella.

Not once in her life had Catalina ever done anything that wasn’t for the good of the House of Fernandez. Not once.

And then she had.

She had cast aside duty for one forbidden night.

And now she would be punished for that moment of blissful madness for the rest of her life.

What she didn’t know and couldn’t begin to predict was what that punishment would entail.

* * *

Christmas was the one time of year Nathaniel detested. All that fake bonhomie, the commercialisation, the forced proximity with so-called loved ones. All of it.

It brought home as nothing else did that the three people Nathaniel had loved with all his heart were gone, had been dead now for twenty-eight years. On Christmas morning, the time traditionally spent opening presents and leaving a trail of discarded wrapping paper everywhere, the loss felt as fresh as it had the first morning he’d woken without them.

This year he’d made the decision to spend the period in Monte Cleure rather than in any of his other homes. Other than the fact it was the site of his most current development, Monte Cleure had a relatively temperate winter climate, situated as it was on France’s southern border with Spain, meaning there was little to no chance of snow.

He’d avoided snow for twenty-eight years.

The only sign of festivity in his apartment was the empty bottle of Scotch on the floor by the sofa, which was where he found himself when he was rudely awakened early on Boxing Day morning by the shrill tone of the intercom.

He sat bolt upright, clutching his pounding head and cursing himself for not making it to his bed. If he hadn’t given his household staff four days off each to spend the holidays with their families, he would let one of them deal with the caller.

Stumbling to his feet, he punched the intercom.

‘Yes?’ he growled. He’d left instructions with the concierge that he was not to be disturbed until tomorrow when the madness of Christmas was over.

‘Monsieur Giroud, His Highness Prince Dominic from the House of Fernandez is here to see you.’

‘What does he want?’

The concierge’s voice dropped to a scared murmur. ‘It is not my place to ask.’ Nathaniel might be the boss and owner of the entire building, but Dominic was heir to the throne of the entire country.

Nathaniel left unsaid his thought that the Prince might not be such a self-satisfied moron if people asked questions of him.

‘Send him up.’

While he waited for the elevator to bring Dominic to him, he staggered to the kitchen and downed a pint of water.

Whatever the Prince wanted could not be good.

A loud rap on the door announced his arrival.

Nathaniel pulled the door open. The burly figure of the heir to the Monte Cleure throne strode in, followed closely by a bodyguard.

‘What can I do for you, Dominic?’ he asked, deliberately not using his title. Then, also deliberately, he turned his back and walked through to the living area. ‘Here to celebrate some festive cheer with me?’

When there was no answer, he said, ‘Can I offer you a drink?’

‘From the look and smell of you, you’ve already had enough to drink,’ Dominic sneered. He had the air of a junior silverback making a show of asserting its dominance. If his head didn’t hurt so much, Nathaniel would find it amusing.

‘If I’d known you were coming I would have showered. So, drink?’

‘I’m not here for a social visit.’

‘I didn’t imagine you were. However, I am of the opinion that even the most boring business conversation can be sweetened with a pot of fresh Columbian coffee.’ It could only help his pounding head.

‘I’m not here for a business meeting either.’

‘Then why don’t you tell me what’s so urgent you turn up unannounced at my home demanding an audience.’

‘Your home?’

‘Bought and paid for. The title deeds to the Ravensberg building are held with my lawyer if you wish to see them?’ Nathaniel hadn’t rented since the first apartment he’d had when he’d been seventeen and his landlord had dragged his heels over fixing the broken heating system during a particularly cold spell.

He liked to be master of his own destiny, reliant only on himself. All his properties, business and personal alike—and he had so many he’d lost count—were solely his. He didn’t owe a cent to any person, bank or organisation. His business was his and his alone. No one could take it away from him. Bricks and mortar he could count on; permanent fixtures in a fragile world full of horrors.

‘Title deeds are only worth something if you own the land the property is built upon. Take your development here in my country for example.’

‘For sure,’ he agreed amiably. He knew it infuriated Dominic that his father had overridden his objections and granted Nathaniel all the necessary permissions. ‘But I think you will need to use a different example with which to make your point. I always purchase the land itself for any development I undertake.’

Nathaniel was over halfway through the construction of a hotel and business complex that would be Monte Cleure’s highest landmark. It was his most ambitious project to date, a skyscraper of magnificence and beauty. Architect Monthly magazine had declared it a potential contender for Building of the Decade.

So far he had invested one hundred million euros in the development and fully expected to spend the same amount again by the time the project was complete.

‘Now why don’t we stop all this pussy-footing around and you tell me why you’re here, and then I can go back to bed?’

‘My sister.’

‘Which one?’ he asked with a nonchalant shrug, although his head immediately began to whirl.

Dominic swelled up like an overinflated balloon, and his eyes grew cruel and dark. ‘Catalina.’

Nathaniel made sure to keep his features neutral.

He hadn’t breathed a word about his night with the Princess. Not to anyone. He didn’t for a moment think Catalina would have spoken of it either, not when she had her virginal reputation to protect. From the moment she’d admitted him into her room she’d made it clear it was something that could never be spoken of or alluded to.

It had been the perfect one-night stand, one in which there would never be any danger of the woman waking in the morning and dropping casual hints about getting together another time.

He’d left Catalina’s room as the sun had risen, both of them knowing their goodbye kiss would be their last.

What they’d shared had been one incredible night that could never be repeated.

Dominic had to be here on a fishing expedition. His spies had probably reported that Nathaniel and Catalina had danced together at Helios’s wedding.

He hadn’t seen her since. She hadn’t attended Helios and Amy’s Coronation last week. A few discreet enquires had determined that she’d had a stomach bug...

Something cold snaked up his spine.

He leaned back in his chair and inhaled. ‘What about her?’

Dominic’s eyes glittered with malice. ‘She’s pregnant.’

CHAPTER TWO

NATHANIEL’S HEART SHUDDERED to a halt.

His brain whirled and it took a few beats before he found his voice. ‘Catalina’s pregnant?’

Immediately his mind flew to those first glorious moments when he’d abandoned an adulthood of protection to enter her unsheathed.

What had he been thinking?

This could be a joke. A trap. It was no secret that Dominic hated him. Their mutual loathing had been a fixture of their lives since their schooldays.

‘Yes, you sick playboy. My “virgin” sister is pregnant and you’re the father.’

The way Dominic emphasised the word virgin made Nathaniel’s fingers itch to punch him. He restrained himself, sinking onto a sofa, hooking one ankle over his knee and folding his arms loosely across his chest in a pose he knew would infuriate the Prince far more than physical threats of violence.

‘What makes you think I’m the father?’

‘She’s admitted it. She sent one of her companions to get a pregnancy test for her. A different companion—one with more loyalty to the House of Fernandez—was suspicious and found the box hidden in her rooms. She informed me immediately.’

Every curse Nathaniel had ever learnt in every language he’d ever been taught flew through his mind.

‘Catalina took the test yesterday morning. Our personal physician did an additional test that also came back positive. Merry Christmas. My sister is pregnant and you’re the father.’

‘Where is she?’ He would not take Dominic’s word for anything, let alone something of such importance. ‘I want to see her.’

‘She’s at the palace. As you can imagine, the news quite ruined Christmas for us.’

‘My heart bleeds for you.’

Dominic gave a cruel smile. ‘Father and I have discussed the matter in great detail. Catalina can still have a future within the House of Fernandez but first we need to contain this situation. You will be required to marry her for a limited time to legitimise the child.’

Nathaniel laughed.

Was it possible he was locked in some alcohol-induced nightmare?

‘Oh, I’m being very serious.’ Dominic finally took a seat, spreading his legs out in a way meant to convey dominance. ‘You will marry her or you will find the title deeds to your development revoked and the building repossessed by the palace. The Ravensberg building will also be repossessed.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

Dominic paused before answering, clearly unnerved by Nathaniel’s placid tone. ‘I’m simply telling you of the consequences. I can have you removed from Monte Cleure at the snap of my fingers.’

‘I’m sure you can.’

A malevolent expression spread over the Prince’s face.

‘The stupidity of some people really does astound me.’ Nathaniel shook his head sadly. ‘To think someone would threaten to take away land legally bought and bring a halt to a development that will boost Monte Cleure’s economy exponentially... Why would someone make threats like that? If word was to get out that land legitimately purchased could be snatched away at the whim of a despot ruler, who would want to invest in such a place? Why would someone put their whole economy in peril?’

Dominic turned puce. ‘Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to confiscate your land and expel you from our country and to hell with the consequences. We would recover from any short-term financial hit. However, my father will not allow a bastard to be born into the House of Fernandez. Catalina has brought enough shame to our family in recent months...’

‘What, by ending her engagement to Helios?’ Nathaniel said scornfully, cutting him off. ‘Was she supposed to marry him knowing he loved someone else?’

‘We both know Helios ended it, whatever the world was told. If Catalina had done her duty and held his interest she would never have been dumped for a common whore and would now be Queen of Agon.’

How Nathaniel stopped himself from punching Dominic square in the face he would never know.

‘Your sister has spent her whole life doing her duty.’

‘Clearly not or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’ Dominic straightened in his chair. ‘And it’s not just Helios—Father had found another suitor for her.’

‘The Swedish duke?’ He felt fleeting satisfaction at the way Dominic’s lips tightened with displeasure as he realised Nathaniel was privy to private palace information.

‘Yes. Another excellent prospect ruined. If the matter were left to me, Catalina would be cut off, but my father takes a slightly different view. He’s of the opinion she still adds value to our royal family and is prepared to give her one last chance to redeem herself. And that’s where you come in. Either you marry her or she will be cut off. She will be thrown out of the palace without a single cent to support her.’

Nathaniel shrugged. ‘Do it. I’ll support her and the baby.’

Now Dominic’s malevolence shone so brightly it almost glowed. ‘How? Catalina will be forbidden from leaving the country. Her passport will be revoked. She will be forbidden from opening a bank account. She will be homeless and penniless, and you will be deported and banned from re-entering Monte Cleure—orders will be issued for your immediate arrest if you set foot on our soil.’

‘You would do that to your sister?’ Nathaniel thought back to his own sister, who had died with their parents all those years ago. If she’d lived she would now be thirty-three. He didn’t remember her clearly but remembered the intensity of the sibling relationship. It sickened him that Dominic could be so evil towards his own flesh and blood.

A huge pang of guilt rent through him.

This was all his fault. He should have left Catalina alone. He’d taken advantage of her vulnerability at the wedding where she should have been the bride and not a mere guest. He could have left her alone but the opportunity to bed the one woman he’d thought would be unobtainable for ever had been impossible to resist. Even knowing of her virginity hadn’t deterred him in his pursuit.

But he hadn’t expected this consequence.

And Catalina...

She must be terrified.

No one can know. Those had been her whispered words as she’d let him into her room, before placing her fingers to her lips and pointing to the adjoining door that led to the room her chaperone—sorry, companion—had been sleeping in.

It had been like a game. A game with unimaginable consequences.

‘You forget who rules this land. This isn’t a democracy; my father’s word is law. There is nowhere to turn for appeal.’

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ Nathaniel held onto his veneer of calm by a whisker. ‘Is this revenge for Jenna?’

A twitch passed over Dominic’s face. ‘This has nothing to do with Jenna.’

‘I would hope not. It was nearly twenty years ago.’

‘And in another twenty years I will still hate you for it. Jenna was mine.’

‘What can I say?’ Nathaniel shrugged. ‘She threw herself at me.’

The all-girls’ sixth form college that shared their boarding school’s facilities had been invited to the Christmas party. Hormones had run rife.

They’d been caught semi-naked when Dominic had burst into the room. The house master had quickly arrived and broken up the fight before any real damage could be done. Both boys had been hauled before the headmaster. Dominic had been sent to bed. Nathaniel, whose family had neither titles nor power or even much money, had been expelled on the spot.

He’d been sent back to France and back into the care of his uncle and his uncle’s wife.

That night of hijinks and hormones had lit the fuse to a chain of events that continued to affect his life to this day.

It sickened him that that one incident had the potential to ruin Catalina’s life too.

‘You’ve always been an obnoxious, arrogant ba—’ Dominic seemed to remember they had an audience, glancing at his bodyguard who stood propped against the wall in the corner of the room.

His face as red as a tomato, Dominic continued, ‘This is not about Jenna or my sister. This is about the House of Fernandez.’

‘Catalina’s a loyal member of it.’

‘Not with a bastard in her belly she isn’t. Unless you marry her and legitimise the pregnancy, she will be nothing. She will be worth nothing.’

Nathaniel thought hard and quickly. Dominic’s demand that he marry Catalina came from his father, the King.

The threat to his business interests in Monte Cleure was bad enough but Catalina...

Her safety and the safety of the tiny cluster of cells in her womb were not things he could play a game of chance with. If she was carrying his baby...

‘Tell me what your future plans are for her,’ he demanded.

‘You and Catalina will be married long enough for the child to be born and the child’s legitimacy to be unquestioned. A year should do it. Then you will divorce and Catalina will publicly repent a hasty marriage with a worthless piece of scum. Your marriage won’t just legitimise the child it will legitimise her and allow us to find a suitable husband for her.’

‘You’ll marry her off again?’ He shook his head, incredulous that the King and his heir would go to such lengths. ‘She really is nothing but a possession to you.’

A smug look settled on Dominic’s face. ‘Catalina is in agreement with this. She knows her place and her position.’

Speaking through gritted teeth, Nathaniel said, ‘If I agree to this I want full rights to the child.’

‘You forget who is in control here.’

Nathaniel leaned forward and stared hard at the Prince. ‘I can walk out of this building and onto my jet and you’ll never see me again, and there is nothing you or your henchman can do about it.’

Dominic swallowed.

Nathaniel bit back a smile of contempt. For all his swagger and cruelty, the Prince was as hard as an overset blancmange. Inches shorter than him, Dominic had turned soft and flabby over the years. He would probably hit the twenty-stone mark before he hit the age of forty. His henchman was muscular and used to throwing his weight around but Nathaniel would bet his fortune the bodyguard wasn’t used to the fight being brought to him.

‘If Catalina confirms your claims then I will marry her, but only if my rights as a father are guaranteed and as long as you understand I will not spend one night under the roof of your palace.’

If she was pregnant—and he had no reason to think Dominic was lying; it was too fantastical for the Neanderthal to dream up—then he was going to be a father.

Now the whole of Dominic’s face contorted. ‘On that we are in agreement. You think we want scum like you living in the Royal Palace of Monte Cleure? While you two are married, Catalina will live with you. You can both consider it an additional punishment.’

Knowing that to spend another minute with Dominic would result in him smashing his fist into the Prince’s face, Nathaniel got to his feet. ‘Tell your father I will come to the palace this evening to discuss things... On second thought...’ He pulled out his phone and held it up. ‘I will tell him myself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a bed to fall into. Please, see yourselves out.’

And with that, he headed off to his sleeping quarters, smiling grimly when he heard the front door slam shut.

The smile lasted seconds.

The pounding in his head seemed to have turned into a pneumatic drill.

* * *

Catalina sat in the private family drawing room, drumming her nails against the hardwood of the armchair and staring blankly at the walls. She’d been sitting there, as ordered by her father, for over two hours.

Her father’s anger at the situation, although less violent than her brother’s reaction, had been fearsome to behold. After twenty-five years of impeccable behaviour, the perfect daughter had blown the engagement he’d spent decades engineering. Then, having been found another suitable husband, she’d promptly added to the humiliation by getting pregnant by a notorious womanising commoner. Her apologies for the shame she’d brought on the family had fallen on deaf ears. She doubted he would ever forgive her.

‘You’ll have to marry him,’ he’d said coldly. ‘That’s the only way we’ll be able to mitigate the negative publicity of you getting pregnant like a common whore. And you will not refuse. You will marry that piece of garbage and legitimise the bastard growing in you.’

She’d stood there, taking the abuse, refusing to show any emotion but inside she’d screamed.

Her child was not a bastard. Her child was innocent.

And Nathaniel might be a womaniser but he wasn’t garbage. He’d worked for his fortune, not had it handed to him by an accident of birth.

The Christmas festivities had gone ahead as planned but the atmosphere had been toxic. She didn’t doubt the entire palace knew of her situation, most likely thanks to Marion, who’d spent Christmas dinner throwing her faux sympathetic glances. As if she didn’t know Marion, who thrived on secrets and intrigue and loved to spy, had been the one to tell her brother.

Catalina’s hopes that a good night’s sleep would soften her father’s attitude had been dispelled when he’d dispatched Lauren, his private secretary, to her rooms that afternoon. Lauren had informed her she was to dine alone with only Marion for company in the family room and then wait there until further notice.

Dominic had well and truly poisoned their father’s mind against her. It gave no satisfaction that it had taken twenty-five years for him to achieve this feat.

Marion’s spying and sneaking skills had come into their own. She’d abandoned her post for twenty minutes, returning to inform her that Nathaniel had arrived at the palace and was in a meeting with her father.

That had been an hour ago.

Her initial jolt of excitement had long since dissolved. Her nerves were balanced as if on a tightrope, the time dragging on so long it was a relief when Dominic finally entered the room.

‘Marion, leave us,’ he said without any preamble.

Catalina knew their cousin would hover by the door in the hope of catching wind of something juicy to spread around the palace.

‘He’s agreed to marry you,’ he said, standing over her with folded arms and a smug expression that didn’t quite hide the fury in his eyes.

She knew perfectly well that if her fate had been left to Dominic, she would have been banished in disgrace. If she’d got pregnant by anyone other than Nathaniel things would be a lot different. Dominic loathed Catalina, but Nathaniel was his nemesis.

‘You will marry in a fortnight. They’re finalising the details as we speak.’

She didn’t answer. Her involvement and consent were not relevant in this situation. Her consent was rarely required for any situation. All the same...

Her lungs expanded properly for the first time in two days. Nathaniel’s consent was not something she’d taken for granted. Nathaniel was a lone wolf with an aversion to relationships and not a man to be intimidated by anyone, not even a king. That he’d accepted responsibility and agreed to marry her...

Little whispers of excitement skittered over her skin, her heart thundering hard beneath her ribs.

She was going to marry Nathaniel.

Never in her wildest dreams had she allowed herself to imagine such a thing. In all the years she’d known him he’d been part of her social circle but somewhat apart, a commoner to be welcomed graciously but kept at arm’s length. He’d always been considered far beneath what her family expected of her.

Her entire life had been geared towards ensnaring one of the Kalliakis Princes, men equal to her station. That Nathaniel was the only man she’d ever found physically attractive had been something she’d hardly dared acknowledge to herself.

Making love to him had been beyond her wildest dreams.

Her veins heated just to think of his touch, and turned into a furnace as she finally allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to share a bed with him again.

‘The lawyers are on their way,’ Dominic continued, looking at his watch, oblivious to her private thoughts.

‘What are they coming for?’

‘To draw up the contract,’ he answered.

Oh, yes. The contract.

‘How did you get him to agree?’ She couldn’t hide the flicker of hope that he’d agreed without any coercion and, more than that, that he’d insisted their marriage be a real one.

She knew it was the most pathetic, flimsiest of hopes even before Dominic flashed her his cruel smile; the same smile he’d given when he’d told Catalina her pet dog had died. ‘Ah, pretty Catalina is imagining a marriage of fluffy clouds and pink icing. Although I hate to destroy your dreams, be in no doubt this is a business decision by Giroud—I told him he would be expelled from Monte Cleure and his business development confiscated unless he married you.’

The effect of his words was as if ice had been thrown at her.

‘So you did have to blackmail him.’

‘You thought he would want to marry you?’ He laughed. ‘He was only happy to agree once he’d been assured the marriage would only last a year.’

Before he could continue, a secretary appeared at the door, informing them Nathaniel had finished speaking with their father and was on his way to them.

Dominic cast Catalina his vindictive smile one last time. ‘He doesn’t want to marry you, pretty Catalina. He doesn’t care that you will remarry immediately after your marriage is dissolved. He has no interest in your baby. All he cares about are his business interests. You must think of it as a business arrangement too. Your end of the deal is to uphold the honour of the House of Fernandez.’

She held her brother’s gaze for long seconds before inclining her head sharply. ‘I will remember.’

‘Good. Now is your chance to begin your redemption.’ His gaze turned to the door. Catalina’s stomach performed a somersault to see Nathaniel stride in as if their private quarters were rooms he’d visited on many occasions.

‘Nice place you’ve got here,’ he said, looking around the luxurious living quarters with a distinctly mocking eye.

If she didn’t have so many contradictory emotions raging through her, Catalina would have found his irreverence funny. Gasps of appreciation were the usual response when people entered their private rooms for the first time.

Knots formed tight in her stomach as she gazed at the one man who had seen her naked. Her heart seemed to have gained a life of its own and the palms of her hands grew damp.

He didn’t look at her. His focus was on her brother, who he towered over. ‘You may leave us.’

If she hadn’t been trained from birth to never show inappropriate emotion, she might very well have given a hysterical laugh. The only person she had ever heard give an order to her brother was their father, who certainly didn’t use the lazy, almost dismissive tone Nathaniel had just used.

Dominic turned red. Very red. Catalina half expected steam to escape from his ears.

‘I wish to speak to your sister alone,’ Nathaniel said when Dominic made no attempt to leave. ‘We cannot speak freely without privacy.’

‘You can have five minutes.’

‘Ten.’

To her amazement, Dominic pursed his lips together and stormed out of the room.

Gripping tightly to the armrest, she tried to adopt the serene, half-vacant look that had served her so well throughout her life.

Green eyes fixed on her, Nathaniel sat on the uncomfortable armchair opposite. His irreverence had left the room with her brother. All she saw was cool contemplation, although it gave her fleeting gratification to judge that he looked like a man with a serious hangover.

‘So it is true. You are pregnant.’ He spoke quietly, unwittingly repeating the words her brother had used the day before.

Had it really only been yesterday? They had to count as the longest few days of her life, and it wasn’t over yet.

‘Can you tell?’

He gave a quick, rueful smile. ‘There is something different about you. If I didn’t know you were expecting I would assume you were ill.’ He blinked a couple of times and refocused on her. ‘Are you ill?’

‘Not particularly. A little sickness, that’s all.’

‘Is that why you missed Helios and Amy’s Coronation?’

‘I thought I had a stomach bug.’

He rocked his head forward and grimaced. ‘When is the baby due?’

‘The doctor thinks the end of August. A scan will determine it with more certainty.’

‘And you are happy to marry me?’

‘My happiness is irrelevant,’ she answered coolly. ‘Besides, it will only be for a year.’

‘And you are in agreement with your father’s plan for you to remarry once we’ve divorced?’

‘I will accept whatever is good for my family and the House of Fernandez.’

Nathaniel studied her carefully, looking for a chink in the elegantly worn armour. There was nothing to be found. The passionate woman who’d come out of her shell for one glorious night had gone. The Princess he had known from a distance for many years had returned, her mask back in place. This was a woman raised to do her duty and who fully believed in it too.

Whatever Catalina felt on a personal level about the pregnancy and their situation as a whole she was keeping to herself.

If he didn’t still have such vivid memories of the night they had created this mess he could believe she was a wind-up porcelain doll. But he knew there was so much more to her than this façade. He’d kissed her most intimate area and had felt the shudders that had taken her over. He could still feel her fingertips on his scalp.

He shook the memories away.

If this was the way she wanted to play things, then all to the good. This situation was beyond either of their control. Keeping things professional was the best way to proceed.

Resting his elbows on his thighs, he leaned forwards. For her part, Catalina, dressed in tight white trousers and a dusky pink silk blouse, was sitting straight with her legs gracefully crossed. Her thick raven hair had been tied into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. The last time he’d seen her it had been loose, falling almost to the base of her spine. He’d gathered it in his hands and buried his face in it...

As the day had gone on and the initial shock had dissolved with it, he’d come to the conclusion that, regardless of Dominic’s threats, marrying Catalina was the right thing to do. For a start, it would give him proper rights to their child. Meeting the King, Catalina’s father, had only confirmed these feelings.

The King was a formidable man whose only concern was the reputation of the House of Fernandez and as far as he was concerned this was an exercise in damage limitation. Nathaniel might be a hugely successful businessman with more money than he could ever spend, but the King ruled an entire country. Even with all the resources Nathaniel had at his disposal, the odds of him gaining any custody in this country without marriage would not be in his favour. Marrying Catalina guaranteed him cast-iron legal rights to their child.

‘When we part I will make it abundantly clear that you are blameless.’ That much he could do for her. ‘I will do everything in my power to ensure your reputation is not damaged. We can play our parting for all its worth so the whole world’s sympathy will be with you.’

‘That’s very kind of you,’ she said with a tight smile. ‘But what about your reputation?’

He shrugged. ‘My personal reputation is already ruined. And I’m not a princess. Our marriage will be as quick and as painless as possible.’ Although not quick enough for his liking.

He’d known from the age of seven that he had to look after himself. A decade later he’d been cast aside by his only living relative and he’d been on his own ever since. He liked it that way. He didn’t have to worry about hurting people, or worry what effect his actions would have on someone else.

He liked being single and never stayed with a woman long enough for emotional ties to form.

His marriage to Catalina would be like a business relationship. He would not allow it to be anything more.

She gave a stiff nod. ‘I’m sorry you’re being forced into this.’

He shrugged again. ‘We both are.’

‘I will be doing my duty,’ she pointed out, ‘but I understand Dominic threatened to expel you from the country unless you agreed, and threatened to confiscate your development. That’s very different.’

‘Your brother made his position very clear, just as I made mine.’ As Nathaniel spoke he watched her closely. Judging by her demeanour, there was nothing to suggest Catalina had any knowledge of her father and brother’s threat to cut her and the baby off. It was better she didn’t know, he decided. It was too cruel and too personal a threat from her own flesh and blood, and not something that would ever come to fruition, not now that he’d agreed to the marriage. Catalina and their baby would be safe.

A glimmer of a smile played on her pretty lips but the hint of sadness surrounding it negated any humour. ‘My brother takes his role as heir and protector of the House of Fernandez very seriously.’

He cleared his throat, biting back the retort on his lips. Whatever his personal feelings towards Dominic, he was her brother and her loyalty would lie with him. ‘Getting back to the business at hand, I want to be clear that you’re in agreement to everything your father’s demanding.’

‘Yes. I am in agreement.’

‘Then it is done.’ He got to his feet. ‘I need to make a move.’

Her remarkable chocolate eyes were fixed on him. ‘Already?’

He didn’t like the tinge of disappointment in her voice. ‘I have somewhere to be.’

Dominic chose that moment to come barrelling into the room. ‘You’ve had your ten minutes.’

Nathaniel noticed the way Catalina withdrew into herself at Dominic’s return, how her lips tightened in the most subtle of fashions.

He remembered the malice on Dominic’s face when he’d threatened to make Catalina homeless and penniless. The Prince was the least deserving person of his title he could think of.

‘This really is my cue to leave.’ He had no wish to spend another minute in the palace. This family room was as plush as anywhere he’d been, lavishly adorned with antique furniture and portraits dating back centuries. But there was nothing homely about it, not even with the enormous Christmas tree sitting in the corner. This room, as with the rest of the sprawling stone palace, was cold.

‘Father will be hosting a select party for you two on Saturday,’ Dominic said. ‘My people have made contact with La Belle magazine—’

Nathaniel cut him off before he could speak any further. ‘Tell your father he’s welcome to host a party but I will not be there and I will not be speaking with any magazine.’

‘He has already—’

‘Let me make this very clear—I will not be a part of the House of Fernandez circus. I will marry your sister to legitimise our child and formalise my legal rights to it, but that is the end of my obligation. I don’t want a title or anything else from your family.’ He nodded at Catalina, who appeared to be frozen in her seat. ‘I’ll see you at the wedding.’

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