Page 24 of Forbidden Bastard
So he hadn’t grown up rich while she’d only known a comfortable life. She wanted to know more about the boy he'd been and understood Clara wanting the best for Charles. “I see.”
She put the cup on the small table and he immediately reached for her hand. “No, you don’t.”
Her body buzzed with excitement. She forced her head to turn away so she might breeze inside the house like she belonged here, in some alternate universe, but his touch kept her aware and edgy. She was a firework about to be set off from a simple gesture. Her face felt hot, which meant she had to be red. Not romantic at all! She fanned her cheeks and tried to calm down. “Wow. This is such an incredible view." Cool water, cool skin, cool. Finally she could think and she turned toward him again. “Now, tell me more about why you didn’t want Clara to be here. There was more to the story you told me.”
He was a breath away and her pulse zipped when he said, “I… I knew that Sheena had married a count and moved to Avce from Paris when I found out the exact details of who I was biologically. We’d dated for a while.”
“I met her already.” How deeply had he been in love? “You introduced her to Clara, but this doesn’t answer my question.”
He traced her fingers with soft strokes, as if he cared about her. He probably didn’t but her body didn’t know the difference. “I brought Clara to meet her, yes, but she warned me that Sheena would break my heart. Clara thinks I have a heart, and my job is always to protect Clara. I don’t want her being a target to use against me.”
“Now that I understand.” And of course he had a heart or he wouldn’t want to protect his mother. Everyone except evil people would feel the same. She pressed her lips together as he didn’t seem to agree that life was good too. “So, what did you do?”
He massaged the back of his neck again which was clearly how he calmed himself down. “I was…extreme…in saying that I wanted Sheena back.”
Everyone in Avce thought he loved his ex. Maybe he did. She’d never been in love, but if so, she’d likely shout her happiness to the world. She gave him a small smile as she said with understanding, “So you groveled?”
His pupils were big and dark as he stared at her like they were sharing secrets. “But the thing is, I didn’t want her back. Not really. I wasn’t in love with her and never really was.”
Her heart beat faster. It wasn’t love then? Reza probably talked about her the same way. He hadn’t cared about her either. She blinked quickly. “So why chase after a married woman?”
His voice was low like he was afraid someone might overhear him though there was nobody around. “I was approached by three different factions who all want to undermine the king’s rule.”
But that didn’t include Sheena, did it? She lowered her lashes, wishing to talk about love rather than royal plots. “Oh.”
“And in pretending I was heartbroken over Sheena, I could ignore the bribes, and was taken right to the king himself where he gifted me these lands and titles for my silence and my loyalty. Then I turned over the names of the factions who contacted me to security and that’s that.”
Her chest loosened. If Charles lived here, then he hadn’t betrayed his own country, right? She tilted her head and met his eyes. “Which you gave?”
“Gave what?” He blinked, as if he didn't understand her question.
Seriously? Had he taken some bribe that might get him killed? She pursed her lips as she repeated, “Silence and loyalty.”
His face went slightly red like he was embarrassed to admit it when he said, “Silence, not so much--my parentage is public knowledge, but yes to loyalty. I’ve no interest in being used in a politicalcoup d' etat, or painting a bullet on Clara’s back.”
So the country’s army wasn’t about to batter down his doors in the middle of the night. She nodded and smiled. “Good.”
He stood, and so did she, then they walked to the end of the patio. She surveyed the landscape where all they could see was ocean--not another building in sight. Charles said, “Yes. But that doesn’t deserve all of this. It’s too much.”
Well, she’d been a business major in school like that might help her make better choices and not continue to make bad choices, but she'd taken a psychology course. She enjoyed figuring people out, so she traced the marble ledge and asked, “Has the king, or your birth mother, approached you?"
He glanced away and turned toward the house and her while he said, “Yes. And no. And sort of.”
She reached out, clasping his arm and shoulder, holding him in place. “What does that mean?”
He met her gaze and she swore she read dismay in his eyes, though his expression remained clear. “It means I pretty much "run into" the king, or one of his sons, every week for some unexplained reason.”
Like the charity ball? Had they wanted to talk to Charles? If so, that wasn’t so bad, if it was about building a relationship. Sandi could smell his woodsy cologne as their bodies brushed closer without meaning to. She didn’t move away though. “So, they're keeping an eye on you.”
He gently tugged on her hips to keep her chest to chest. “They think I might betray the throne. I told their security about the bribes in the hopes they’d stop showing up or worrying, but then I just ended up seeing them anyhow.”
Charles wouldn't hurt the crown. Her mind buzzed the truth as she pressed her lips together--they'd begun to tingle like he’d finally kiss her again, though she threw cold water on that when she asked, “Hmm. And your natural mother?”
He let her go, pivoted to his side, and his shoulders dropped. “I only saw her twice and both times she ran in the opposite direction, like I frightened her.”
While her parents were not perfect she’d never once felt abandoned.
Charles must have been so angry. She’d be if she was him. “That had to hurt.”
