Her heart missed a beat as she held her breath, sensing tragedy. 'And?'
He swallowed. 'My brother has tonight awakened from his coma.'
Chapter Eleven
THE car drove them straight to the hospital-but Cathy was still reeling from her husband's shock announcement and his inexplicably bleak response to it.
'I thought … I thought you'd be overjoyed about your brother's recovery, and yet … ' she said slowly, registering the sombre set of his features in the dimmed light of the limousine. 'What exactly have they told you?'
'That he suddenly opened his eyes and began to speak. They're running tests now-but they say … ' His voice thickened. 'They say he's going to make a full recovery.'
'So why … ?' Dared she? Dared she? 'Why your restrained response?'
'I'll believe it when I see it for myself,' he said harshly as the car drew up outside the brightly lit and modern hospital, where the medical director was waiting for them.
The news was good. In fact, the news was pretty unbelievable, Cathy thought as she sat in the big, airy office and listened while the doctor explained that every test they'd run had been favourable. That every system was functioning and that the King was demanding physiotherapy as soon as possible because he wanted to-as the doctor relayed with the hint of a smile-'get the hell out of here'.
Xaviero felt a pulse working at his temple. 'That sounds like Casimiro. So when can I see him?'
'I can take you to him now, Your Highness.'
He turned to her, but the golden eyes were shadowed, distracted. 'Come, Catherine.'
Cathy was suddenly acutely aware that she was dressed in a scarlet evening gown-even though her shoulders were covered in a pashmina which had been thrust at her by an aide before their hasty departure. And aware too that her presence was superfluous to what would-and should-be an emotional reunion between the two brothers. She shook her head. 'No. Better that you see him alone,' she said quietly.
Eyebrows arrowed together in a frown. 'You're sure?'
'Quite sure.'
She sat drinking coffee while she waited, unable to stop the stream of thoughts pouring into her mind-no matter how much she tried to stop them. But shamefully the one which dominated all others was purely selfish. And while Cathy's heart felt fit to burst for joy that the young King should have come back to life, she wouldn't have been human if a deep dark wave of fear hadn't washed over her.
Because my place here is now redundant.
Xaviero didn't need her any more. He didn't need a wife by his side to ease the burden of unwanted duty thrust upon him by circumstance. He didn't even need to be here himself-not now. Judging by what the doctor had told them, the King was well on the way to recovery and would soon resume his rightful place on the throne.
She was so caught up in her troubled thoughts that when Xaviero appeared in the doorway for a moment she scarcely recognised him. Because this was a man she had never seen before-one transformed by a sudden sense of joy. It was as if he had been carrying around with him an impossibly heavy burden-and someone had suddenly lifted it from his shoulders and the weight had vanished. He was free, she thought-with another shiver of foreboding.
'How … how is he?' she asked.
'It's unbelievable.' Xaviero expelled a ragged sigh-because hadn't the past come back to haunt him as he had stood beside his brother's bed? Didn't he know better than anyone that doctors sometimes raised hopes when those hopes were better to let wither, and die? But the spectre of his mother's own failed recovery had been banished by the first sight of his brother's smile. 'He's … '
He had been about to say that Casimiro was the same as he'd ever been, but that would be a lie. His brother had changed-Xaviero had sensed that from the moment he had walked into the intensive care unit. And when you stopped to think about it an experience like that was bound to change you profoundly-for didn't death's dark shadow throw the rest of your life into focus and force you to reevaluate it?
'He's going to be okay,' he said, in a shaky voice which didn't sound like his own voice.
Her own fears forgotten, Cathy went to him then-putting her arms very tightly around him and resting her head against his shoulder, breathing in the raw masculine scent that was all his.
'Oh, Xaviero,' she whispered. 'I'm so very happy for you. So happy for him.'
'Not as happy as I'm feeling right now,' he whispered, his arms snaking round her waist as he buried his face in the silken tumble of her hair.
The car took them back to the palace, and, after telling the assembled staff the news, they hurried to their suite with matched and urgent steps. Xaviero was on fire, and so was she-he barely waited until the door was shut before impatiently sliding the soft silk-satin up over her hips. Questing fingers found her searing heat and he didn't even bother to remove the delicate lace panties-just hurriedly thrust the panel aside, as he unzipped and freed himself and pushed her back against the wall.
Cathy gasped as she felt the tip of him nudging intimately against her-wanting to squirm her hips to accommodate him-longing to feel his hard power filling her and completing her. But as he prepared to thrust into her-it was she who realised what was about to happen. Who cried out a little protest before firmly pushing against his chest before it was too late-before he risked trapping himself again, only this time by something which was preventable.
'C-c-contraception!' she gasped out.
Xaviero's mouth hardened as he haltingly complied with her wishes-the mood not exactly broken, but certainly changed by her shuddered command. And something in the act of putting the barrier between them distilled some of the jubilant wildness which had been heating his blood. His thrust was still deep, but his movements were more measured. Instead of the fiery, fast consummation he had sought, he now controlled the pace almost cold-bloodedly-nearly bringing her to fulfilment over and over again until at last she sobbed out his name in a helpless kind of plea.
Only then did he let go, feeling her convulse about him before allowing his own-strangely bittersweet-orgasm to follow. Afterwards he carried her over to the bed and ripped the silk gown from her body-thus ensuring she would never wear it again, for its associations were now too strongly linked to powerful emotions he would prefer not to remember.
It was a long and erotic night. He made love to her over and over again and, even while Cathy revelled in the incredible sensations he evoked in her, it felt almost as if he were trying to prove a point. What point was that? she wondered distractedly. To establish that he could reduce her to boneless longing any time he wanted to?
She woke to find him already dressed, and realised that it was the first time she had seen him in jeans since she'd arrived on the island. It was a strange moment-as memories fused and became tangled. It reminded her of the first time she'd seen him, when she had been crazily convinced that he was an itinerant worker!
Was he dressing down and reverting to the old Xaviero now that he had been freed from the burden of responsibility? And were his shadowed eyes an acknowledgement that perhaps he had been a little too hasty in acquiring a bride-that maybe he should have waited a little longer before encumbering himself?
She sat up in bed, pushing back her tousled hair-aware of the aching deep inside her body and the soft glow of her flesh. 'You're-you're up early.'
Golden eyes flicked over her. 'An emergency meeting of the government has been called.' The sight of her rosytipped breasts was making him want to tumble her back down among the already-rumpled sheets and Xaviero walked over to the safe distance of the window. 'We have to discuss what kind of statement we need to issue to the press,' he added tersely.
'Oh. I see.' He was standing in the shadows-she could barely read the expression on his face, but that wasn't such a new thing, was it? Wasn't his face fathomless even in brightest sunshine-the man who never gave anything of himself away? Tell him now. Tell him while you have the courage. 'Xaviero … this … changes everything.'
'I know it does.'
His instant confirmation added yet another brick to the fast-building realisation that what they had between them was as fragile as one of those flowers which bloomed in the desert. Glorious for one short day-and then gone for ever.
'You won't want to stay on the island once Casimiro is fully recovered.'
'I think I might cramp his style somewhat,' he observed drily, and sent her a sarcastic glance. 'Don't you?'
Don't be swayed by that glimpse of mocking humour, she told herself fiercely as she pulled a silken nightgown over her head-feeling less vulnerable now that her nakedness was hidden. Concentrate on what is real and what is not. You can't trap him-it isn't fair. And you can't hold him to a union which was made in haste for all the wrong reasons. So set him free, Cathy. If you really love him-you'll give him his liberty.