The Prince's Chambermaid(21)

And that meant remaining as detached as he was.

'So my innocence is the sole reason for this fairy-tale proposal?'

Xaviero gave a quick smile. Was she trying to shock him with her sudden  bluntness? 'I think you underestimate your petite, blonde beauty, mia  tesoro,' he demurred softly. 'Though our marriage would of course be  impossible if you had been intimate with other men. But it is your  biddable nature which was equally important in helping me come to my  decision.'

Cathy stilled. 'What … what are you talking about?'

'It is one of your most commendable qualities-the fact that you are so  wonderfully compliant,' he murmured and he began to walk across the room  towards her. 'Such a wonderfully old-fashioned trait and it is because  you are not from aristocracy that you are in possession of it. I watched  you begin to learn about sex with an enthusiasm and an aptitude which  was thrilling to behold. Your eagerness to please and to improve bodes  well, Cathy-and can be applied to other fields outside the bedroom.'

'Compliant?' she repeated weakly, because now he was before her-his  glorious face in close-up, his own distinctive scent invading her  senses.

'Yes-compliant. You are like a blank canvas on which I can paint  whatever I like. Someone who will learn to be the perfect Princess, just  as you have learnt to be the perfect lover. Few women are as teachable  as you, mia bella Cathy. Now come here-'

His voice had dipped and Cathy heard the raw hunger in it-but she stood  stiff and unmoving when he took her into his arms. Say no, she silently  urged herself. Tell him what he can do with his insulting request. Tell  him that you're more than just an ex-virgin who learns quickly and will  grab at anything he offers you.

'Cathy,' he murmured, touching the tousled fall of her hair as he had  been longing to do from the moment she had entered the room, tangling  his fingers in its silken spill. 'Sweet, sweet Cathy.'

She tried to fight it, but desire was proving far stronger than  pride-and hadn't she hungered for his touch for so long? Hadn't he  hovered on the periphery of her every waking thought for each moment  they'd been apart-reminding her of how totally he could captivate her?

She had thought that she had tasted the last of him, and couldn't ever  have envisaged that she would be in his arms again. But now she was, and  it was even better than she remembered-obliterating everything but a  hot and urgent desire. He was smoothing his palms down the side of her  head, stroking her hair as if she were a cat. Each of his thumbs was now  tracing an outline on each side of her lips, sending them into a  helpless tremble. It was a fervent and curiously innocent gesture and it  was almost her undoing. 'Xaviero-'

'Kiss me,' he urged, his voice suddenly raw. 'Kiss me as you've been  wanting to kiss me since you walked in here. But do it now for we do not  have long-and then I must have your answer.'

Pride made her ask and she prayed that her eagerness didn't show. 'You still haven't told me wh-what's in it for me.'

Should he tempt her with diamonds and palaces? Or something more potent  still? The inexplicable something which had sizzled between them right  from the start. 'This,' he said roughly as his mouth drove down to meet  hers.

Later she wondered that if she'd had the strength not to let him kiss  her, whether her answer might have been different. But she was too weak  to resist and just one touch was like lighting the touchpaper on her  dormant passion. And hadn't he had that power over her from the very  moment he had first walked into her life-the man in denim with the lazy  smile? Hungrily, she clung to him as his lips began to plunder hers and  she gasped as he pulled her roughly against him so that she could be in  no doubt about the powerful strength of his arousal.

Cathy moaned softly. If he had stripped her bare and taken her there,  without formality on the marble floor of the elaborate room, she would  have let him-welcomed it even, for then he would have been simply a man  again, without all the trappings of his royal title. But he suddenly  terminated the kiss, his golden eyes almost black as they scoured her  face, his breathing as ragged as if he had just been running a race.

'You will be my bride,' he stated, necessity forcing him to swallow down  the urge to quickly join with her sweet, supple body, and then he put  his lips to her ear. 'Won't you?'

And despite the misgivings which ran as deep as her desire, Cathy knew  that she couldn't say no to that soft, urgent entreaty. This renewed  contact with him had made her realise just what she'd been missing, how  much she had ached for him during his absence-and the thought of leaving  him tore at her heart like a rusty nail. It was true, he wasn't  offering her what men usually offered when they asked a woman to marry  them-but he was offering himself.                       
       
           



       

And wasn't that enough?

Couldn't she make it enough?

'Yes, Xaviero,' she said slowly, her heart thudding beneath one swollen breast. 'I will be your bride.'





Chapter Nine



IT WAS, by necessity, a quiet and hasty wedding. With the young King  lying hovering between life and death in a hospital bed, any lavish  display of celebration would have been seen as being in extremely bad  taste.

In the event, Cathy found the low-key tone of the event a relief.  Imagine if it had been a full-blown royal wedding, she thought-attended  by all the world's top dignitaries and politicians? The kind of nuptials  which had apparently been enjoyed by Xaviero's own parents and which  had been splashed over glossy magazines the world over. How on earth  would she have managed to pretend that her own union     was all for  real-and that her royal groom was madly in love with her-if there were  battalions of cameras around? Until she reminded herself that she  wouldn't be here if it were a 'normal' royal wedding-because Xaviero  wouldn't have needed a bride in such a hurry.

Flavia was assigned to help Cathy settle into the beautiful and closely  guarded house within the palace compound which was to be her home until  the marriage-and to school her in the automatic changes which the  ceremony would bring.

'You understand that with the making of your vows, you will automatically become a princess?' the older woman asked.

'Yes.'

'And that in future, you will be known as Catherine.'

Cathy smiled. 'I prefer Cathy, if you don't mind.'

Flavia's expression hadn't changed. 'Actually, that won't be possible,'  she said apologetically. 'The Prince Regent has ordered all your  stationery to bear the name Catherine.'

For someone whose identity had already been in crisis, this was the  final straw-and Cathy went marching off to the Prince Regent's room. And  then was humiliatingly forced to endure an hour-long wait while Xaviero  finished off with some government business before he could see her.

When she was eventually ushered into his office, he took one frowning  look at her and then dismissed all his aides until they were alone  together-something which had not happened since the day when he had  proposed marriage to her.

His eyes narrowed as he indicated the seat in front of him, knowing that  he had a meeting with the transport secretary in half an hour and a  whole stack of reading to get through before then in order to get his  head round the new road plans. For the first time in his life, he was  realising that he couldn't use his immense wealth to delegate-that the  buck really did stop with him. And that maybe this kind of power wasn't  all it was cracked up to be … 'Sit down,' he said.

Distractedly, she shook her head. 'I don't want to sit down!'

He let that go. For now. Was the frustration of being apart so much  getting to her as much as it was to him? If that were the case, then he  would forgive her discourtesy-but she would have to learn soon enough  that he would not tolerate being spoken to like that. Not even by his  wife. 'Something has upset you?'

'I won't change my name!'

He laid down his fountain pen and studied her, a nerve beginning to work  in his cheek. 'You have interrupted my busy morning schedule to talk to  me about a name?' he questioned in disbelief.

Couldn't he see that it was more than just the matter of a name? That  she was left feeling like a puppet which was having its strings  jerked-and that now even her identity had been torn from her? 'I won't  change it, Xaviero.'

'It is not a question of choice. You must.'

'Must?'

Compliance had been one of the main reasons he had selected her as his  wife-but she was displaying none of that compliance now. Xaviero's mouth  hardened. If she was to learn the hard lesson of obedience to her royal  husband, then was it not better she did so as soon as possible?

'Yes, must,' he bit out, ignoring yet another phone sending out its  silent, flashing demand. 'Which part of the word don't you understand?'

Cathy flinched. 'Am I … ?' She was aware that her voice was trembling-but  that was less to do with her sudden sense of powerlessness and more to  do with the gleam of quiet fury which was emanating from the golden  eyes. 'Am I allowed to know why?'