The crowd roared.
It didn’t matter that Luisa had turned from the microphone so the sound blurred, or that her accent wasn’t perfect. The fact that she made the effort to speak Maritzian, when everyone knew from the press release that she wasn’t fluent, endeared her to them.
The mayor beamed. Streamers waved and a ripple of applause rose.
Pride surged as Raul watched her smile at the throng. Only he, beside her, saw the stiff set of her jaw and how her hands shook as she clasped the heavy key.
Only he, the man who’d forced her into leaving everything she knew and adopting a role she’d rejected time and again, guessed what it cost her to put on this fa?ade.
Razor-sharp pain speared through him. He’d done what he must for his nation and Luisa had been the one to suffer.
A memory flashed of her pain last night as she’d spoken of her grandfather’s manipulation. Raul’s hands balled to fists. His own demands must have been like an echo of that dreadful time. The knowledge stirred an uncomfortable, unfamiliar sensation. Guilt.
He’d plucked her from her world, one where she was loved and appreciated, and dropped her into an alien place. Into a role even those born to it found challenging.
Last night they’d shared physical pleasure. But he’d persuaded and challenged her into it. Would she have come to him of her own volition?
‘Here, let me.’ He took the key, disturbed at the shame he felt. He wasn’t used to questioning his actions. He’d spent so long sure in the knowledge he acted for the public good.
‘It’s almost over,’ he murmured. ‘Just back to the car and that’s it.’
Finally Luisa met his eyes and shock sucker-punched him. Gone was the wonderment and warmth that, despite his attempts to rationalise, had turned last night into something remarkable. Something he refused to analyse.
For the first time since she’d agreed to marry, Luisa’s gaze was coolly remote.
Inexplicable loss filled him. He’d thought they’d begun to share something more than an acceptance of duty. Instinctively Raul reached for her but she moved away.
At the last moment he remembered to thank the mayor. By the time he’d finished Luisa was ahead of him, her spine erect and poise perfect. That hadn’t been learned in the last week. Her mother’s teaching?
He followed, his gaze drawn to the slim skirt that shifted over her curves with every step. That was why he didn’t see the bustle on the edge of the crowd. The next thing he knew, one of the security staff lunged across the open space while another hurried forward. Instantly alert, Raul raced across the cobbles, adrenalin pumping, ready to protect her.
He skidded to a halt beside her as she bent. That was when he saw the ragamuffin dog, all hair and lolling tongue, gambolling at her feet.
Raul’s heart crashed against his ribs. When he’d seen the security men swing into action he’d feared the worst. If anything had happened to her.
‘Luisa, he’s filthy.’ The words were brusque, sharper than he’d intended as relief flared. His wife gave him a wide-eyed stare.
His wife! The world shifted beneath his feet and Raul couldn’t tell if it was from shock or reaction to the reproach in her eyes.
‘He’s just a harmless puppy.’ She cradled the mongrel, looking down and murmuring in a soft tone that made the beast wriggle in ecstasy.
If Luisa smiled at him that way, whispering and rubbing his belly, Raul would lap it up too. His groin tightened. Damn it! This was ridiculous. She only had to smile and he got as hard as a randy teenager. He didn’t understand it.
A commotion caught his eye. A small boy was trying to get past Raul’s staff. Raul nodded to them to let him pass.
The kid cast a fearful glance over his shoulder then hurried forward. Raul saw a scowling red-faced man in the crowd where the boy had been.
For an instant memory side-swiped Raul. Of his own father wearing that same expression on one of the few occasions he’d deigned to spend time with his young son. Raul couldn’t remember what he’d done to earn his father’s wrath. Scuffed his shoes perhaps or earned a less than perfect mark in his studies. It hadn’t taken much to disappoint the old man.
Bitterness welled on his tongue and his eyes narrowed.
The boy stopped before them, his head sinking low.
‘Is this your dog?’ Raul had to wait for a silent nod and felt Luisa’s hand on his arm.
What? Did she think he’d rip into the kid?
‘Yes, sir. He means no harm, sir. The cord broke and—’
‘Completely understandable,’ Raul said. ‘With all that noise it’s not surprising he got overexcited.’
The boy raised his head and stared, as if unable to believe his ears.
‘He must have sensed the Princess likes dogs.’ Raul found himself talking just to reassure. He’d had no idea Luisa liked dogs till he saw her cuddle this one. She smiled at the boy and crouched down to his level.
Good with children and dogs. Raul watched the boy’s nervousness disappear under the warmth of Luisa’s approval and realised she was a natural with both. She’d make a great mother—warm and affectionate. He watched her hand the pup over and pat the kid reassuringly.
Raul could imagine her with an unruly brood, unfazed by soccer in the gloomy royal portrait gallery on a wet winter’s day or kids who wanted to run outdoors instead of perfecting their Latin before they were allowed dinner.
Something scooped a hollow deep in Raul’s belly at the thought of Luisa with children. They’d be his children.
For the first time the idea of fatherhood appealed, even though he had no experience of real family life.
He tried to imagine Luisa carrying his child and found the notion strangely satisfying. Though not as pleasurable as having her to himself, naked and needy.
‘It’s time to go.’ He took her arm and helped her rise. Then he steered his wife and the boy towards the beet-faced man at the front of the crowd.
He wanted his wife to himself, had wanted her since he’d forced himself to leave her this morning. But first he had business to attend to.
Luisa raised a hand to wave at the crowd pressed close to the road. Safer to look at them than the man beside her who continually bewildered her.
Self-conscious, she crossed her legs over the ladder creeping up her stockings where the pup had scratched. Then she wiped at the muddy stains on her designer suit.
‘Don’t fidget with your clothes. No one else can see the dirt.’
Startled, she turned. She’d thought Raul focused on the crowd on the other side of the road. Even now he didn’t turn. She had a perfect view of his austere profile as he waved. Luisa found her gaze lingering on his full lower lip as she remembered the way he’d kissed her last night.
Heat spiralled inside and she swallowed hard. It didn’t do any good. She couldn’t quench the need he’d ignited.
Obviously Raul wasn’t similarly bothered. He was utterly composed. No doubt displeased by her behaviour in picking up a grubby little dog that was anything but pedigree. Her eyes shut as she imagined the press pictures. Raul looking regal and she with a ladder in her stockings.
Well, tough! She hadn’t asked to be princess. He’d stampeded her into it. Now he could put up with the fact that she didn’t fit the mould.
She’d read his stern demeanour through the ceremony today. As if waiting for her to embarrass herself. Not even her carefully rehearsed lines, learned with Lukas’ help, had softened Raul’s severe countenance.