She said, ‘Caius, really, don’t worry.’ But her heart was hammering a little bit at the lightning-fast way Caius had intercepted.
When they got to a small mountain lake, Poppy got off her horse and they tied them off to trees nearby where they could access water and be in the shade.
They sat down on a picnic blanket and Caius took out the water and snacks they’d been given to bring. Poppy said, ‘I’m meant to be taking a meeting with Stephen.’
Caius said, ‘And I’m meant to be having a conference call with my team in New York. But you can count on me for distraction and deflection, I’m an expert.’
‘Distraction from what?’ Poppy asked. But then she remembered something he’d said that had struck her days ago, but it had got pushed aside in the heat of their mutual combustion, and before he could answer she added, ‘You said something back on the island about courting the media partly to get your parents’ attention. What else were you using them for, if not to distract?’
Caius looked at her. ‘Do you have some kind of supersonic memory?’
She smiled sweetly. ‘No, I’m just very intelligent and I listen.’
Caius looked visibly reluctant to answer but Poppy stayed silent, waiting. He sighed volubly. ‘I think I was always conscious of the fact that I’d been born for no other reason than to continue a line. I never felt like I deserved to be a king. Maybe it was because I picked up on my father’s suspicions…who knows? I was conscious of others looking at me and wondering what my purpose was. And I didn’t want Cassie to be brought into their crosshairs, so I distracted them.’
That struck Poppy as being incredibly poignant. She could relate to Caius’s feeling of being an outsider, albeit for different reasons. She knew he wouldn’t welcome her sympathy though.
He put a grape in his mouth as he handed her the bunch. She took a grape too and its sweetness burst in her mouth. She’d noticed that lots of things were more heightened since she’d become pregnant.
She hoped that could explain her fascination with Caius.
He said, ‘I was born specifically to fulfil a role and I failed.’
Poppy rolled her eyes. ‘You didn’t fail. Your parents failed. You didn’t ask to be born illegitimate, into a royal family.’
‘Nevertheless, I had a duty and now my sister has to bear that burden.’
Poppy could hear the self-censure in his voice. For the first time she had a full appreciation of how much Caius had blamed himself for something that had been completely out of his control.
‘Your parents had a duty to you, to support and guide and protect.’
Caius made a face. ‘My father suspected I wasn’t his, and my mother most likely knew. So between her guilt and his suspicion and their fights, there was no time for anything else. In any case, they had no ability or desire to care about anyone else but themselves.’
Poppy knew what that looked like. Lightly she said, ‘It looks like your sister has good support in her fiancé. They seem to be genuinely in love.’
‘Ares was my best friend. I sent him to protect Cassie and he ended up seducing her.’
Poppy laughed. ‘From the little I saw of your sister, I can imagine she had some say in the matter and I’m sure Ares is still your best friend.’
‘Maybe, when I can excise the images of them together out of my head.’
Poppy was touched by Caius’s obvious affection for his sister and friend. He could love. It made something dangerous inside her bloom.
He reached for her and pulled her down with him so she lay in sprawl over him.
‘I think you’re a fraud, Caius Mansur,’ she said.
His expression shuttered. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, I think there’s a lot more to you than you want people to think.’
He shook his head. ‘That’s just it, there really isn’t. This is it.’
But there was more to him. Poppy was seeing that now. He felt deeply, even if he wouldn’t admit it.
But before she could probe or see any further, Caius caught a lock of hair in his fingers and tugged her head down. Her mouth hovered over his for an infinitesimal moment as if she could pretend she was capable of resisting his pull, but he lifted his head, and their mouths touched and any hope of resistance was gone.
He moved them so that she was on her back and he was on his side. The kiss became hungry and desperate in seconds and Caius reached for her jeans, snapping them open.
