Royals: His Hidden Secret - Kelly Hunter Mills & Boon M&B

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then finally he spoke again. ‘De Morsay says he’s in Sydney. He wants a meeting. And he wants to see the vineyard.’

      ‘It’s up to you, of course,’ she said delicately, not quite sure whether Rafael was asking for her advice or making a statement. ‘But I would be inclined to arrange that meeting.’

      ‘I will.’ Rafael slid her a sideways glance. ‘What’s it like, this little kingdom of his on the edge of the mountains?’

      ‘Maracey?’ said Simone. ‘It’s very rugged. A little bit wild.’

      ‘What’s its main industry? Its main source of income?’

      ‘Not grapes,’ said Simone. ‘Brokerage, I think. Maracey territory is neutral ground. A lot of unofficial politicking takes place there. Daddy once said that without de Morsay diplomacy, mainstream Europe would have given up on Spain decades ago.’

      They’d made it back to the cellar door car park. Rafe slid his truck into place beside the hired Audi.

      ‘Thank you for the tour,’ she said politely.

      ‘Thank you for the information.’

      They were being civil. He was not looking at her as if he wanted to bed her, strangle her or both. Clearly, it was time to leave.

      ‘So…I’ll see you at the wedding,’ she said as she got out of his truck and prepared to shut the door.

      ‘Looking forward to it,’ he said.

      Liar. She didn’t say it aloud. Apparently she didn’t have to. The look Rafe sent her acknowledged how hard he was going to find playing groomsman to her bridesmaid.

      ‘Play your part, Simone, and I’ll play mine,’ he muttered. ‘That’s all I’m asking.’

      ‘Of course,’ she said with a bright smile that masked every last one of her tumultuous feelings towards this man, not the least being anger at his assumption that she needed to be told how to behave. ‘I’m all for a wedding-day truce. On one condition.’

      His vivid blue gaze hardened. ‘I don’t do conditions.’

      He’d do this one. Simone smiled again. ‘I’ll keep my peace with you during this wedding ceremony and reception, Rafael. I’ll do it willingly, and not for you. But afterwards…don’t expect my patience with your boorish behaviour to continue.’

      He smiled tightly. ‘You’re not bored.’

      She could be gentle with him, just this once. ‘Neither are you. Why is that, do you think?’

      ‘Shut the door, Simone.’

      ‘In a minute.’ There was something else he needed to know. Something he would already know, damn him, if only he’d let himself remember the past. ‘Gabrielle and Luc are wonderful together, Rafe. I want their wedding day to be perfect. I want their marriage to be a success. The demands of the Duvalier empire can be harsh and unforgiving but Luc and I are aware of that. We’ll see to it that those demands don’t crash down on Gabrielle all at once. We’ll take good care of her. On my life and Luc’s, we’ll protect her as you have.’

      He nodded and looked away, his jaw set. ‘I know you will.’

      She stepped back and slammed the passenger door shut. She didn’t bother raising her hand as he drove away.

      He didn’t look back.

       Chapter Four

      GABRIELLE’S dinner fork clattered to her plate, lightly steamed carrot and snow pea still attached, as she stared at Rafael as if he’d grown horns and a tail.

      ‘Etienne de Morsay’s coming here?’ she said on a rising note of panic.

      ‘Yes.Tomorrow.’ Rafe studied his sister curiously from the opposite side of the dining table. ‘Is that a problem?’

      ‘Yes,’ she said tightly. ‘What does he want?’

      ‘He wants to look around the vineyard, and then he wants to discuss a vineyard restoration project he’d like me to oversee.’

      ‘Rafe, please…’ Gabrielle looked almost frightened. ‘You don’t want to work for this man. Cancel the meeting. Tell him he can’t come. Tell him you’ve too many wedding preparations to attend to!’

      ‘Everything’s done. Besides, apparently he’s a king. Can you cancel an audience with a king?’

      ‘You can do any damn thing you want,’ said Gabrielle fiercely. ‘You owe him nothing.’

      ‘Except an explanation,’ said Rafael dryly. ‘I’d like one too. What’s going on, Gabrielle? What do you have against me conducting business with this man?’

      ‘Nothing,’ she said quickly, as if only just realising how much her reaction would intrigue him. ‘Nothing, except that I’ve met the man, I don’t like him and I don’t think we should have anything to do with him.’ Gabrielle’s mouth set into a stubborn line. ‘He’s not an honest man.’

      ‘How so?’

      ‘Rafe, please!’ Gabrielle picked up her fork and Rafe watched in silence as her hand shook so badly that she had to put the fork back down. Bowing her head, she hid her trembling hand from his view. ‘I don’t want to go into it. Just…tell him not to come. It’s not a good time. The wedding’s in three days, Luc won’t be here for another two, and I just can’t cope with the thought of Etienne de Morsay right now. I can’t.’ Ashen-faced, she stared at him. ‘Please!’

      ‘All right. I’ll put him off until after the wedding. But then you’re going to tell me what this is all about.’

      Gabrielle looked away, but not before Rafael had seen in her eyes a mixture of unbearable pain, stark fear, and defiance. Rafe knew that look. He’d seen it throughout their miserable childhood, in his own eyes, as well as in Gabrielle’s. He never thought he’d see it here. ‘Tell me what’s wrong,’ he said in the dialect of their youth, in the language of Caverness and all that went with it. ‘Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.’

      ‘But you can’t fix it.’ Gabrielle stood and placed her napkin on the table. ‘Not this time. No one can. Don’t let him come here, Rafael. I’m begging you.’

      ‘Shh.’ Dinner forgotten, he rose and enfolded his sister in his arms as he attempted to ease her distress. ‘Shh. It’s all right. I won’t let him come here. Just tell me why?’

      ‘I can’t.’ Her arms tightened around him and she sobbed as if her heart were breaking. ‘I can’t.’

      The day of the wedding dawned silvery and clear and Simone thanked heaven for it as she eased the curtains from the sliding door and let the peace of early morning soothe her and chase away the remnants of her troubled sleep. Gabrielle had grown increasingly withdrawn and edgy in the days leading up to the wedding and nothing Simone had done had seemed to calm her down. It hadn’t been until Luc had arrived yesterday that Gabrielle had settled and regular bridal jitters had resumed. Simone could cope with the likes of those. What she didn’t like was knowing that something was wrong and not knowing what, and not being able to fix it.

      She hated that.

      Almost as much as she hated knowing that Rafael had once again been deliberately avoiding her these past few days and that her nerves were stretched almost as thin as Gabrielle’s because of it. Didn’t he know that familiarity bred contempt and that absence only made the want grow stronger?

      Didn’t he know that seeing his hand in the wedding preparations all around her and not once seeing him was likely to drive her loopy? The tens of dozens of old roses that Inigo had taken delivery of yesterday and hidden in one of the cool rooms had been Rafael’s doing, Inigo had told her. As was

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