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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 (#ulink_e5a9f179-ac46-5d0d-8b90-46ac867f9dd5)
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.
