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The spell broke and Kate shook her head, feeling stupid and also wary.
It took Marco a couple of seconds to focus on his daughter, for the thud of blood in his ears to grow quiet enough for him to respond.
‘I’ve never heard a lady snore.’ It was the literal truth. He had also never seen a woman without full make-up, which was why he had only just realised that the new nanny was not wearing any. His fingers flexed involuntarily as the thought of touching that skin embedded itself firmly in his head.
It was not his habit to spend the night with a woman. Love-making did not leave him feeling relaxed. He had never seen the appeal of pillow talk or the illusion of post-coital intimacy and during his marriage he and Belle had had separate rooms. He liked his own space and she had not questioned the arrangement, but then she wouldn’t have, he thought bleakly.
‘I do snore.’ He returned his focus to Kate, who was biting her lip.
‘Who told you that?’
Kate responded to the taunt with a thin smile. ‘My brother always said he could hear me through the wall.’ Though the walls in their three-bed semi were a lot thinner than the several feet of stone here, and neither of them lived at home any more.
‘You have a brother?’
Even without the flinch, the way her face closed down, he could tell he’d hit a nerve. Even if he had made the effort to locate this nerve he wasn’t sure he could have. This woman seemed to have almost as many shields as she did prickles.
He watched her notice he was staring at her hair—it was hard to miss it—and found himself saying, even though he didn’t need to explain himself, ‘Are you alike? I mean...’ he nodded to her shiny head, imagining the silky threads running through his fingers like liquid fire ‘...red hair runs in families.’
‘No, I...he...we...we were adopted.’ They were words she had never said out loud before and the effort it had taken to push them out did not receive a corresponding momentous response, just a shrug and the impression he’d tune her out the moment he left the room.
She might have suspected he was making conversation just to be polite, except he didn’t seem the type to feel the need, especially with a staff member, even if she was allowed to sit on the next-to-the-top table.
She was sure if she had accepted her place on her designated table she would have heard a much better class of gossip. As it was, she had gleaned some very interesting facts, like the guest list at the ball that was due to be held to celebrate the King and Queen’s golden jubilee. A model whose name had been linked to the Prince had been invited, which was creating a lot of speculation.
Kate had looked suitably interested, even though it seemed to her that this didn’t make the woman that special. The women the Prince dated might be a select club but the membership was not small.
She would have loved to be able to dismiss him as a playboy prince, but the general consensus was that he worked as hard as he played and was considered to bring with him a wind of welcome changes. So, she was going to reserve judgment.
‘I wish I had a brother,’ the little girl said wistfully. ‘But I need a mummy first.’
Kate turned her head but before her glance reached the child her eyes got enmeshed in the smoky silver stare of the father. The raw emotion written there only lasted a moment before his mask slid into place but the knowledge that the bleakness and pain existed came as a shock to Kate.
It had loosed something inside her that she didn’t want to feel...she didn’t want to name... Sympathy.
He held her gaze for a further uncomfortable moment, the laser-steel stare seeming to dare her to feel what she was feeling.
Which was fine by her. For once they were on the same page. I don’t want to feel anything around him, she thought fiercely... Well, mild contempt, she could live with that.
It wouldn’t bemildthough, that was the problem. Nothing she felt about him was mild, it was extreme. And not just over the top, but liable to swing from one extreme to the other.
She didn’t actually break free from the stare until he released her. She took a deep breath to compensate for the fact she had been holding her breath and hid behind her thick straight eyelashes.
Marco had been waiting for the pity to die, and it did, but in its place... Analysing those last few moments, he decided that chemistry covered it, but whatever the name you used she was hiding from it. He controlled it ruthlessly, because it wasn’t going anywhere. She was off limits.
‘I’m sorry...’ she muttered.
‘For what?’ His voice was hard as iron filings.
She lifted her head, feeling as awkward as hell. ‘Your wife... I...sorry,’ she ended feebly.
Can you ever just say nothing, Kate, or at least not the first stupid thing that pops into your head?
During breakfast she had barely been able to stop reacting with an eye roll when the table discussion had briefly drifted to the Crown Prince’s tragically short marriage. ‘Never a voice raised in anger,’someone had said to a murmur of agreement.
But that look she caught...the real pain... Her cynicism had taken a serious hit. Just because he was an arrogant pain didn’t mean he hadn’t loved and lost the woman he had intended to spend the rest of his life with.
Her glance was drawn to the wide gold band on his finger. Whoever came along to fulfil the advertised role of mother and lover would have quite an act to follow—it was hard to compete with a ghost.
