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‘You want to know about the scars?’ His tone was harsh. ‘They happened the one and only time I trusted someone. I was eighteen years old and so arrogant I was blind to everything except my own importance. She was thirty. Sophisticated, intelligent—or so I thought. The attraction was instant. I was young, governed by testosterone and not much else. I was a prince and I had no idea what to do about that. My brother was the heir. I had no role apart from finding new ways to enjoy myself. I thought I could take whatever I wanted.’
Izzy swallowed. ‘And you wanted her?’
‘I chased after her like a stallion after a mare and she refused to be caught. It was months before I could see what a clever game she’d played.’
Izzy winced because it was so easy to predict what was coming. ‘Social climber?’
The sun glinted off his dark hair. ‘At first I didn’t think so. She refused to be seen with me in public. She was almost ridiculously discreet. I thought she was perfect. Turned out she was keeping her best till last.’
He was silent for so long she was about to prompt him but then he spoke. ‘I was about to leave to take up my place at Cambridge University when the package arrived.’
‘What was in the package?’
‘A film she’d made of us having sex. Revealing photographs. And with it the blackmail. Pay or else.’
It was all so horribly predictable. ‘Kiss and sell. What did you do?’
‘The worst thing anyone can do in that situation. I tried to fix it myself. I was young and very angry.’ His voice was soft. ‘I arranged to meet her in a secluded place to talk
about our relationship. I wanted to make sense of it.’
Izzy’s heart clenched. Hadn’t she felt the same way when useless Brian had dumped her? ‘You can’t make sense of someone else’s manipulative behaviour.’
‘I was furious, humiliated, appalled that I’d put myself and my family in this position.’ He ran his hand over his face and breathed out slowly. ‘I arrived at the summer house where we’d been meeting in secret. I had one security officer with me because when we were growing up we were never allowed to go anywhere without a bodyguard in tow. He was supposed to wait at a discreet distance.’ There was a brief pause. ‘I told her that she disgusted me and that I’d never pay her a penny. And that was when her brother appeared. My security officer. The man appointed by my father and assigned to protect me.’
Izzy stared. ‘She was his sister?’
‘They’d plotted it between them. They expected me to pay. I refused. Turned out that was another bad decision on my part, although I did give him more trouble than he’d anticipated.’ The brevity of description together with the scars she’d seen on his torso told her just how severe that beating must have been.
‘Who rescued you?’
‘They left me unconscious. It would have looked like a random mugging had it not been for the fact that my father’s head of security had received reports about people using the summer house and chose that afternoon to check it out for himself. He arrived as they were leaving. They were arrested and I was flown to hospital.’
‘How seriously were you hurt?’
‘Four broken ribs, ruptured spleen, two broken fingers on my left hand. The scar you saw on my back was where he dragged me over a gravel path.’
‘So that’s why you box. And why you don’t have bodyguards.’
‘I do, sometimes, but these days I prefer to be responsible for my own security.’
Izzy burned with outrage. ‘I hope she gets wrinkles and has a horrid life.’
‘She did me a favour.’ His face was expressionless. ‘Because of her I learned not to let myself get close to anyone. I realised that women were attracted to my title and position, not me. Maybe not all of them—’ he gave a humourless smile ‘—but I learned that it was impossible to judge. It was the last time I allowed myself to trust anyone.’
And now she understood why he’d behaved the way he had towards her. ‘Right from the start you thought I’d be bad for the royal family. You thought I’d damage your reputation or try and squeeze money out of you.’
He breathed deeply. ‘Yes to all that.’
Izzy bit her lip, comforted by his honesty even though it was painful to hear. ‘You loved her, didn’t you?’
‘I thought I did.’
‘I did a search on you. Why is there nothing about this on the internet?’
‘My father has had decades of experience of handling delicate situations. Only a couple of people knew the truth. The press were told I’d come off my motorbike.’ His laugh was bitter. ‘An excuse I objected to strongly because I have never had an accident in my life.’
‘And what happened to the film?’
