“What about this uprising?” another asked, shouting over the noise of the camera lenses as they took her picture. “What’s going to be the response of the King?”
Angelica wet her lips, anticipating this question and other difficult ones. After a few press conferences, she had learned to have the right reaction. “I cannot speak for my brother, but my family will be discussing the matter, I assure you. We will not stand for any harm to come to our people.”
“But it’s your people that are threatening to overthrow you,” a young reporter stated loudly, a familiar smile on her face.
Angelica narrowed her eyes on the reporter.
Emma Borell was the face of Aragon’s biggest news channel and newspaper, Global, and a bloodthirsty reporter when it came to a story. She had been the one to hound Angelica for an exclusive story after she was left at the altar and when Angelica had refused to do so, had smeared her reputation in the form of daily updates, saying that the princess was unstable and in need of medical and psychological treatment.
Angelica hated the reporter. “I assure you, we will find those that are responsible for this disturbance. My family has served this country faithfully for more than eleven generations and our people are our top priority.”
Emma smirked. “Is that why you chose to fly separately from your family then?”
“I do not see how that is any of your business, but I had matters to attend to. I am here now and am ready to find a solution to all of this.” Angelica gave the woman her best regal stare, not appreciating that she was dragging her personal life into this. “I must excuse myself. I am needed at the palace. My family will release information as soon as we are able.”
“Sources say you are in the market for a husband,” Emma continued, a gleam in her eyes.
Angelica’s blood boiled inside. She wasn’t going to be baited nor was she was going to stir up any trouble when they had plenty already. “I am not.”
No one would ever know the size of the sacrifice she was making for her people.
Lektenstaten, Lekten
Lekten Royal Bank
10:00 a.m.
Ludwig had been unable to go back to sleep after he returned home. He’d walked into his bedroom, took one look at the rumpled bed fresh from their last love-making session, and turned around and walked back out. He couldn’t stay there.
So instead, he’d gathered his briefcase and drove himself to work.
The tasks he set himself did a magnificent job of keeping his mind otherwise occupied. After almost a week without putting his feet in his workplace and with Angus away on his honeymoon, there were clients to talk to, contracts to finalize, budgets and billing reviews, and more, along with the reports on his latest projects in the neighborhood he was fixing up.
But after plowing through the list of things that needed his attention, he finally sat back and stared into space.
How many women have I left in bed? It was almost humiliating to be the one left behind, to be given the cold shoulder. Is it possible that she felt as little for me as I did for those I’d walked out on?
It can’t be. We were just getting started with something really good.
He had never taken another woman seriously before. He had never tried to date a woman, or to get to know her. The only thing he had ever successfully accomplished was being able to get women into his bed. Sometimes multiple women at the same time.
But Angelica shook his world. He actually liked her and wanted to continue seeing her. He didn’t want anyone else, and as odd as that was, he admitted to himself it was true. And the thought of her leaving him without a note? His heart hurt.
Have I ever felt this way for another woman before this?
The answer was a simple one. No.
He’d waited a few days, letting it all sink in for both of them. But he was not sure what he was going to do.
A knock sounded at the door.
He looked over, startled to find Egon standing there. The office area outside his window was starting to fill up as employees trickled in.
Egon leaned against the doorframe, with a raised eyebrow. “Got a moment?”
I…have all the time in the world. It was like staring down a very deep well of emptiness. “Of course. Come in and take a seat.”
Taking in a deep breath, Egon stepped into the office, closing the door behind him before sitting down.
“I’ve gone over the reports of the resort project.” Ludwig pulled them up on his computer. This was the single largest project his bank had at the moment. “I’m worried they’re overbilled.”
“Of course they are,” Egon said with a snort. “They need to float a little for proper cash flow.”
“I’m aware of all of that, Dicky.” Ludwig called him by the nickname he’d called him when they were younger, knowing it would irk the man. “But I fear they’re over-floating.”
“Over-floating.” Egon folded his hands in his lap and gave Ludwig a level look. “What’s really going on? You normally come back from a long weekend with a pretty woman and you’re in a much better frame of mind. But this time?” He shook his head.
No words came immediately. “I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it.”
“Too bad.” Egon gave him a bland smile. “You need to face the fact that your player days are at an end, Wiggy.”
Ludwig gave Egon a dark look but couldn’t reprimand his friend. He was only paying back in kind. Egon was right, of course. He didn’t even want to think about another woman. Not after he’d had Angelica. He turned away from his computer. “What if she will not have me?”
“You think she will not?”
“She’s a princess, Egon.” Those simple words opened the door to the doubts and uncertainties he’d been feeling whenever he considered the chances of their fling expanding into something more serious. “We live in two different countries and have two highly demanding jobs and responsibilities. I cannot tell her she has to move here and she cannot inform me I will move there.”
“Well,” Egon said dryly, “she could order you to move there. I believe her job trumps yours.”
Which was another thing that didn’t sit well with him. He was the type of man who enjoyed having the control in the relationship. “And what would I do?”
“Start another bank, of course.”
“Angus is the mind behind Lekten Royal Bank.” Ludwig snorted. “I don’t enjoy the numbers as much as the people.”
“I know that, but don’t you think that perhaps the people of Aragon need a banker who cares for them? The people of Lektenstaten have enjoyed the privilege of your insight and protection. I have a feeling they could grow to share you.”
He hadn’t even dared to think that. To relocate when his life was here.
But that was what a life with Angelica would be like for him. Unless the political theatre shifted drastically. She had warned him that things might be going badly. She had left him to go back to a country in upheaval, and he’d let her?
Egon’s face split in a grin. “So, I take it you’ll be leaving again.”
He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t but the thought that Angelica might be in danger did things to him he didn’t appreciate. A dark anger filled him, and he didn’t know where to focus it. “Would you be terribly inconvenienced?”
“Of course not.” Egon leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’ve been waiting for this day for so many years.”
Ludwig wanted to ask him what day, but he knew. Egon had always told Ludwig he would have to settle down one day, that he’d find a woman that would make him want to, but he’d never believed it, had refused to listen.
“Go. Find your heart and make it happy.”
Ludwig shook his head. “Always the dreamer.”
Egon chuckled as he straightened. “One of us has to be. I’ll take care of things while you’re away. You know I will.”
“If anything major comes up…”
“I’ll call you.”
/> That was the only thing Ludwig needed to hear. A large weight was lifted just knowing he was going to see her again.
Though no one was nearby to see or hear, he laughed under his breath. He had laughed a great deal these last several days, but he couldn’t laugh the truth away.
He’d known she was trouble—had to be, as every female was. He’d wanted her, yes, but this was hardly the first time a woman stirred his lust. He lusted but he was always aware of the trap they were laying for him.
And the truth was, this time, the woman was perfect, and she hadn’t laid a trap for him. But he had walked straight into a pit deep enough, a mire thick enough to hold him.
With a grim smile, Ludwig rose and walked to the window to look at the snowy mountain peaks of his beloved country. He couldn’t stop what twisted and ached inside him. Her lips clinging to his; her hands holding him fast. Her soft cries of pleasure. She was soft and warm and tasted of apples and innocence, unbearably sweet.
He was trapped, yes. But he had been trapped before. He’d stood aching and lonely like this once before. But he’d made his schoolboy tormentors respect and envy him. He’d shown his father tenfold of what stuff he was made of.
Meine Kätzchen, I am coming for you.
Ludwig was determined to have what he wanted. And he wanted her like no other.
22
Aragon
Palacio del Al-Andalus
9:00 p.m.
The first thing Angelica had done that morning when she arrived, before she even went to her mother’s rooms to say good morning, was to order her things moved out of the main building to the Harem, a small palace on the far corner of the fortress which jutted out and sat suspended thousands of feet over a teal-and-turquoise lake, which served the purpose it was named for.
The Al-Andalus Palace was a massive quadrangular medieval Islamic fortress made of gigantic alabaster stones, with a rounded tower on each corner except for the one containing the Harem palace.
Sprawled over the few square miles which were reasonably plain on Aragon, it still reflected the splendor attained by the Arab independent kingdoms established in the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the 11th century. Its main Moorish style and the few additions which were done over the centuries very much preserved.
Angelica was suddenly very glad for the Arab male habit of that period of keeping a harem and being neurotic enough to keep said harem far, far away from the main building, on the other side of the fortress.
She needed time and space. She needed to be alone—when possible. Not something very doable in a palace where she not only worked, but also lived with her family—a very informal and noisy one at that, as all Latin families were.
With Celipa’s help, she selected a few employees who would not be missed to be part of her permanent staff of trusted people.
The move didn’t require a lot on her end. As she went over her schedule and read the most urgent papers, Celipa organized a staff to pack and transfer everything.
There was not much that needed to be done. She had no furnishings to move over since she didn’t own any. Furnishings always came with the residence, although she could move them around if she really wished. All she had to do was inform the royal estates minister the pieces she wanted and ask for them to be transferred. But even as she felt tempted to take her desk, she didn’t really want to take anything with her. Sure, she would be using the furniture in the small palace, but she wanted it to be a new start in every way.
But her personal belongings and her own collection of books? Those went with her. As did her rather ominous stack of work.
The idea hadn’t pleased Anchela much, but she accepted it graciously. Maria thought the idea was fabulous and she was already getting ideas in her head to do the same.
As for Valantín, he just shrugged, but something in his eyes told Angelica they would be having a conversation very soon.
With Celipa a few steps behind, Angelica nodded to the two palace guards standing outside the entrance of the Harem, descended the three large marble steps, and crossed the tranquil courtyard garden with its fragrant orange trees already in blossom.
The loud, liquid song of a late nightingale filled the air, and the courtyard, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, was a golden place.
Or a golden cage, depending on the point of view.
For the women who had been imprisoned in the Harem, for certain it had been a prison.
And for her…she was not sure yet.
Her gaze scanned the area. Somewhere, hidden under the rocks of the Harem riad were the secret tunnels that led to a discreet exit a few miles from the palace. She recalled her father telling her mother it was an emergency escape route in case the palace fortress was ever breached but she didn’t knew exactly where it was.
If maybe—just maybe—Ludwig came to visit, perhaps they could use the underground passage to meet. Not that she would have high hopes of that. He’s a womanizer and he’s probably already with another woman.
The image of a voluptuous woman kissing six and a half feet of a gorgeous, naked, aroused Ludwig appeared in her mind. The picture hung there, bold as the lamps illuminating her path to the main palace and it twisted her insides into knots and made her want to kill someone.
I’m not jealous. She tried to convince herself of that, but as new images of other sexual positions appeared, him making love to a faceless woman, saying dirty words in her ear, she failed.
She stopped dead in her tracks. She was not simply jealous, she was madly so.
He had been an amazing lover, and even more so, exquisite to explore. The hot texture of his flesh, the size of his cock; the feel of him amazed her. Just thinking about it made her blush furiously in embarrassment and desire.
Stop that, Angelica. You have more serious problems to—
“Are you coming, or do I need to find an American to lasso you?”
Angelica’s head snapped up. Maria was waving frantically at her from the side entrance of the main building. Where does she get these ideas? “I don’t think they all know how to lasso, Hermanita.”
“I don’t care. I’ll find one to lasso myself.” As soon as Angelica stepped inside the palace, Maria pulled her into an empty room, closing the door in Celipa’s face. “Now, let’s talk.”
When their mother said the same phrase it filled Angelica with a sense of dread. She was always scrambling, asking herself what she’d done wrong that time. But with Maria, it was different. She knew only that they would discuss things she couldn’t normally share with anyone else.
“I want to hear everything.”
The girl is incorrigible. “It was…interesting.”
“Oh, please. If it was just interesting, you wouldn’t have stayed for a week there.” Unlike their more soft-spoken, diplomatic brother, Maria Quitéria was straight-ahead, flinty and opinionated like nobody she knew. “Among other things.”
“Hmm.” Amused, Maria Quitéria sat on the arm of a wide armchair.
There were probably several things she shouldn’t share with her easily impressionable young sister, but she needed to tell someone and Maria was her best friend. Angelica recalled the night of the Romani wedding and the absolute magic that had seemed to fill the air. And she couldn’t help the dreamy smile that opened on her face. “It was amazing.”
“Excellent.” Maria almost squealed, her dark eyes filled with wonder and contentment. “When will you see him again?”
“I probably won’t.”
“Oh.” Maria blinked, disappointed. “How very modern.”
“But that’s the reason I chose him. I knew I could have a lovely tryst with him, and then I wouldn’t have to see him again.”
“Really.” Maria looked up at her in startled amazement. “What were you thinking?”
Angelica sighed and leaned back on the sofa, looking up at the intricate work on the wooden ceiling. “That I wanted a moment of fun and freedom, that’s what.”
“W
ell, you certainly had that. Are you afraid of being pregnant?”
“Of course not. I’m on birth control.” She expected that sort of reaction from the men in her life, like her brother, but not her sister.
“When will you see him again?”
“I’ve answered that question already.” She didn’t mean for it to come out so brash and she added, “You need to understand something, Hermanita. He’s a ladies’ man.”
“Who might have fallen for you just as much as you fell for him.”
What? “I didn’t fall for him.” Angelica laughed. “Besides, he’s a businessman whose life is in a different country.”
Maria’s face folded in a frown and her shoulders slumped. “But if it is meant to be, it will work itself out.”
“No, Maria, it won’t. I am a princess of a country that needs me. He’s a man who deeply adores his own. It’s one of the things I—” She almost said a word she wasn’t ready to utter. Never. She never wanted to utter that simple word. “It’s easy to respect the man for it. But at the end of the day, we have two very different lives and we will remain separate.”
“But…”
“It’ll remain as it is.” Angelica shook her head. “A lovely vacation that has no place in reality.”
She didn’t want to admit to herself just how much that hurt.
After dinner, Valantín, Maria, and Anchela lounged along with Angelica in what they called the family parlor. The first floor was mostly from the renaissance period, with its much more familiar European style and a mix of formal portraits hanging on the walls and family photos on the grand-piano.
Logs snapped and flamed in the big stone fireplace. Sancha, Anchela’s Shetland sheepdog curled in front of it and Angelica sat next to her with the sheepdog’s puppies.