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She blinked and turned her head to the front, struggling to regain her composure while she frantically wondered what Eirik’s mother was doing here. Arielle shot a lightning glance at Eirik and guessed from his frown that he was surprised by his mother’s appearance at the National Council’s assembly.
One of the council members asked for more details about her proposal to encourage schools to organise beach-clean events for their students to take part in. Arielle explained about the beach-clean campaign she had been involved with in Cornwall and started to relax.
‘Miss Tremain...’ A journalist stood up and said that he was fromFjernland Today, the principality’s most popular newspaper. ‘What do you say about the allegations that you were aware that your father Gerran Rowse ran the biggest drug-smuggling operation in Cornwall? At his trial it was proved that millions of pounds’ worth of class A drugs were brought in on fishing boats and stashed at the remote cottage where you lived with your father. Yet you stated that you knew nothing of your father’s illegal activities.’
‘I didn’t know...’ Arielle tried to defend herself, but no one heard. Her voice had disappeared. She felt faint and gripped the lectern to keep herself standing upright. She could not bring herself to look at Eirik and see the disgust that he must feel for her.
‘Furthermore,’ the journalist continued, ‘a young police constable called Josh Bray was shot and killed by Gerran Rowse, but you told the court that you had not heard the shot that was later proved to have been fired by your father. According to the constable’s cousin, Danny Bray, you might not have pulled the trigger, but you were in the cottage when Josh died and as far as his family are concerned you are no better than your scumbag father.’
The room erupted in uproar. The other members of the press who had been invited to the National Council’s assembly rushed towards the dais where Arielle was standing and thrust microphones at her. Camera flashbulbs popped. Dimly she heard Eirik yell to the guards. ‘Clear the room,now.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EIRIKGRABBEDARIELLEand half carried her off the dais. He blinked in the glare of the cameras flashing all around them and knew that pictures of him holding his arm up to protect her from the rabble of journalists and photographers would add fuel to the firestorm that had just taken place. But he did not care. Nothing was more important than getting Arielle out of the assembly room.
‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me?’ he gritted as he pushed her into an empty office and slammed the door shut. She was so pale that he thought she might faint. ‘Sit down.’ He guided her over to a chair. Her stricken expression evoked a pain beneath his breastbone. She lookeddestroyed.
He wanted to put his arms around her, hold her, but she looked as though she might shatter. He wanted to protect her from the journalist who had made vile accusations against her, from the rest of the goddamned press and their intrusive cameras, from anyone and anything that tried to hurt Arielle. She did not deserve any of it. There was no doubt in his mind. His little mermaid was the sweetest, bravest, most honest woman he had ever known.
HisArielle? When had he started to feel possessive as well as protective of her? He shoved a hand through his hair. ‘You had better tell me everything,’ he said grimly. ‘I can’t believe you kept secrets from me.’
It felt like a knife in his chest to discover that Arielle had shut him out after he had opened up to her in a way that he’d never done with anyone else except his brother. Niels had been his best friend and confidant, and Eirik realised with a jolt of shock that Arielle was both of those and more to him. He pulled a chair round in front of her and sat down. ‘I need answers.’
She swallowed. ‘The journalist must have spoken to Danny Bray. There are several strands of the Bray family who have lived in Penash for generations. Josh was Danny’s cousin.’ Arielle would not look at Eirik. She twisted her fingers together. ‘It’s true that my father was a major drug dealer, and he...he killed Josh. But I swear I didn’t know about the murder or what my father did.’
‘I believe you.’
Her green eyes flew to his face. ‘You do?’ She let out a shaky breath when he nodded. ‘People in the village, mainly members of the Bray family, were convinced that I was involved in my father’s drug smuggling. I suspected that whatever he did was illegal, and I was sure the smallholding he ran was a cover to hide what he was up to. Strangers used to come to the cottage at night. Every few months my father would disappear for a while. He didn’t tell me where he went, but at his trial it emerged that he used the money he made from drug dealing to fund a lavish lifestyle in Dubai. He’d invested in a nightclub there and owned a fleet of flashy cars. At home he always kept one of the outbuildings locked, but once I managed to break in and found a bag containing bank notes. There must have been thousands of pounds. When I asked him about the money he...’
‘He what?’ Eirik prompted her.
She touched the scar on her cheek. ‘He hit me. The blow was so hard that I fell against the edge of the stone fireplace and must have cut my face on a piece of flint.’
Eirik bit back a savage curse. He was filled with murderous rage as he imagined Arielle lying on the floor after her father’s blow had sent her flying. ‘How old were you?’ he asked tautly.
‘Fifteen.’ She brushed her hand across her eyes. ‘He didn’t care that he’d hurt me. There was blood everywhere, but he just stood over me and told me that if I ever interfered again, I would get worse than the back of his hand.’
‘Where is your father now?’ Eirik clenched his fist, wishing he could use it on Arielle’s father.
‘In prison. He was given a life sentence for murder. Josh Bray was the local police constable. He’d gone to the cottage to question my father about a minor driving offence. But Gerran...’ she bit her lip ‘...I can’t bear to call him Dad, had been expecting trouble from another drug dealer, and he shot Josh with his hunting rifle. It came out in the trial that he’d thrown the body over the cliffs, hoping, I guess, that it would be swept out to sea on the tide. But Josh was found, and the bullet mark was linked to my father’s gun.’
Arielle stood up and hugged her arms around herself. ‘At my father’s trial I was questioned about what I knew. I admitted that I had heard a gun fired that night. I didn’t go and investigate because I was scared of Gerran. Danny Bray is right,’ she choked out. ‘If I’d gone downstairs, perhaps I could have helped Josh. But I was too much of a coward to stand up to my father.’
Eirik looked furious, and she could hardly blame him, Arielle thought miserably. The fiasco that had taken place at the National Council’s assembly was her fault. She shuddered as a new wave of humiliation swept over her. She was certain that Princess Hulda had arranged for her to be denounced in public and in front of Eirik. Arielle wanted to crawl under a stone.
Eirik had said he believed she had known nothing of her father’s crimes, but it did not change the fact that she was the daughter of a murderer. If the media guessed that the future Sovereign of Fjernland was involved with her, especially now when Eirik had just announced that he was not going to marry aristocratic Ida Lundberg, it would not paint him in a good light.
‘You shouldn’t have been seen with me,’ she muttered. ‘There are bound to be pictures of us leaving the assembly room together, and people might wonder if there is something going on between us.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll deal with the press and deny any rumours about us.’
Of course he would. She had been his dirty secret and Eirik would make sure he was not tainted by his association with her. An association that must end immediately. He had been on his phone for the past five minutes, trying to limit the damage to his reputation, no doubt. She did not blame him. Eirik did not want his succession to the throne to be marred by scandal. Although she had not committed any crimes herself, Arielle knew she could never escape the shame of what her father had done.
Eirik finished his call and came over to her. ‘How did the journalist know to contact Danny Bray and ask about your past?’
‘I suppose Princess Hulda tipped the journalist off,’ Arielle mumbled half beneath her breath.
‘My mother? Explain what you mean,’ he ordered.
