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He guided her down and waited till she was seated on the buggy. Reyes wasn’t at all surprised when she kicked off her shoes and sighed with relief.
The sight of her dainty feet gripped his attention. Mesmerised, he watched her rub her big toe along her other instep. Heat flared through his gut and pooled in his groin. Pulling himself out of the daze, he reversed the buggy and stepped on the accelerator.
Floodlights illuminated their path as he drove towards the northernmost point of the palace. Beside him, Jasmine oohed and aahed at the elaborate fountain his great-grandfather had built for his children to splash in, the huge lake containing white majestic swans gliding serenely in the rising moonlight, and ruins of an amphitheatre set into a cliff.
Jasmine pointed to the spotlights strung along the outer edge of the theatre. ‘Do you still use it?’
He nodded. ‘Isabella holds a children’s Christmas concert every year.’
‘That’s so cool. Everything about Santo Sierra is so cool,’ she amended with a husky chuckle. Then she glanced at him. ‘But snapping at Isabella like that? Not cool.’
Reyes’s fingers tightened around the wheel, but his reaction was more to do with her laugh and less to do with his sister.
He brought the buggy to a stop on the grassy landscape and helped her out. She started to put on her shoes.
‘Leave them. You won’t need them where we’re going.’
With a happy smile, she dropped them.
Hiking up her dress to keep the hem off the grass, she stepped out.
Reyes tried not to stare at her feet. ‘We have a temperamental relationship, Bella and I. She’ll have calmed down by now.’
Jasmine frowned. ‘But you won’t apologise? I think you should.’
‘Sí, I will apologise. In the morning, when I’m convinced she won’t bite my head off.’
She laughed.
He stopped in his tracks as the intoxicating sound transfixed him.
When she realised he’d stopped moving, she froze. ‘What?’
He cleared his throat to dislodge the uncomfortable knot. ‘You should laugh more. It’s an entrancing sound.’
She blushed as her eyes rounded, then her expression turned gloomy. ‘I haven’t had much to laugh about. Not since...’ She stopped and bit her lip.
He held his breath. ‘Since?’
‘Since Rio,’ she muttered. ‘And especially since I found out what my actions caused.’
The sincerity in her voice shook the foundation of his armour. He searched her face. Her eyes met his with frank appraisal and in that moment he was sure she’d never been more sincere.
He held out his hand, his breath lodged in his chest.
She hesitated, and his hand wavered. Looking down, she indicated her dress. ‘I don’t want to let go in case I get grass stains on it.’
His breath punched out. ‘It’s just a dress, Jasmine. I’ll buy you a hundred more. Let go.’
She made a face. ‘Yes, Your Bossiness.’ She released her grip on the dress and slid her hand into his. Warm. Firm. Almost trusting...
A simple gesture. And yet he couldn’t stop thinking about it as he walked her twenty yards up the small hill.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked breathlessly.
He realised he’d been marching and slowed his pace. ‘Up there.’ He pointed.
She stopped and gazed at the stone monument planted in the earth. ‘What is it?’
‘You need to get closer to see it.’
She followed him. When she tried to free their linked fingers, he held on, unwilling to let her go. Smiling at him over her shoulder, she stepped closer to the stone and ran her fingers over the ancient markings set into the rough surface.
Still clinging to her fingers, Reyes walked her round the stone, then led her to the jagged crevice.
‘Oh, my God,’ she whispered. Reyes watched the wonder on her face as she peered into the black three-foot-wide crack scorched into the earth. ‘How deep is it?’
Stepping behind, he let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her waist. ‘No one knows. All past rulers of Santo Sierra have forbidden the site from being explored.’
She leaned back in his arms and stared up at him. ‘But how did it get here?’
He bent his head, and his lips brushed the top of her ear. ‘Legend has it that the original Crown Prince of Santo Sierra ran off with the betrothed of the Prince of Valderra the day before they were to be married. The jilted prince hunted them down and caught up with the lovers at this spot. They fought to the death and both lost their lives. The day after they were buried, the subjects woke up to find the fissure here. The two kingdoms have been separated ever since.’
