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She’d urged Jasmine to go along with her, but she hadn’t been in the mood. Besides, by the time winter rolled around she would be in the late stages of pregnancy.
Leaning her head back, she rubbed her hand over her belly. The morning sickness had finally waned and, according to the team of doctors tending her, both she and the baby were healthy.
In a way, she understood how anyone on the outside would believe her world was rosy. She had everything her heart could wish for...
Except a husband who loved her even a fraction as hopelessly as she loved him.
They arrived at the house. Her door opened and Raul helped her out. She smiled and stepped out. ‘Don’t worry about informing the palace. I’ll let them know when I get inside.’
‘Yes, Your Majesty.’
She wanted to ask him to call her Jasmine. But protocol was protocol. She could go inside her little house, pretend she was at her flat in London for a while, but the palace, the Santo Sierran people who’d welcomed her wholeheartedly, and her absentee husband would still be her reality when she stepped out again.
Jasmine climbed the steps into the house and shut the door behind her. Ten minutes later, clutching a bowl of warm popcorn and a bottle of water, she plopped herself down in front of the TV and activated the chess game she’d started last week.
She was in the middle of checkmating GrandChessMaster231 when the door burst open.
Her heart somersaulted, then banged against her ribs. ‘Reyes!’
‘Do you know how long the staff have been looking for you?’ he burst out.
She rose on shaky feet, the unexpected sight of him rendering her senses stupid. ‘But I...Raul knew where I was. I told him...’ She stopped and grimaced.
‘You told him what?’ he demanded.
‘I told him not to bother telling the palace staff where I was because I would ring them. I forgot.’
He kicked the door shut and clawed both hands through his hair. ‘Raul discovered a slow puncture after he dropped you off so he went straight to the garage without stopping at the palace. The staff have been searching for you for the past four hours, Jasmine.’
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think... I just wanted to be on my own for a little while.’
He dropped his hands, took a good look around the room, before he zeroed in on her again. This time, his gaze travelled from her head to her toes and back again. His hands slowly curled and uncurled at his sides.
‘I’ve been told you spend a lot of time in here.’
She shrugged and considered sitting back down before her weak knees gave way. But sitting down would make Reyes’s presence more overwhelming. So she settled for propping herself on the armrest.
‘When did you get back?’
‘This afternoon.’
They stared at each other a full minute before she managed to tear her gaze away. ‘How was your trip?’
He scowled. ‘I don’t want to talk about my trip. Why have you not been sleeping in our bed?’
The bitter laugh escaped before she could stop it. ‘It’s not our bed, Reyes. I sleep in it alone, even when you’re in Santo Sierra...even when we’re under the same roof, I sleep alone. I’m sorry I worried the staff but you know where I am now, so you can go back to...wherever you came from.’
He looked stunned at her outburst. Jasmine wanted to laugh again, but she couldn’t trust that it wouldn’t emerge a sob.
She plopped herself down on the sofa and released the pause button.
After several minutes, he sat down beside her. Awareness of him crawled all over her body. But she didn’t dare look at him or she was afraid she’d beg him to stay. Beg him to love her. While she wasn’t afraid of begging, she was terrified of the rejection.
Was it her imagination or had he moved closer?
‘Jasmine, we need to talk.’
Her hands shook. ‘So talk.’
He shifted his gaze from her face to the screen. Or so she thought until his breath caressed her ear. ‘Can I make a wager, por favor?’ he asked, his tone rough.
‘Can I stop you?’
‘Ditch GrandChessMaster231. Play me. For every game I win, you stop and listen to me for three minutes.’
Her pulse tripped over itself. Her head started to turn, but she snapped her gaze back to the screen. ‘Okay.’
He beat her at the first game in less than five minutes.
‘What did you—’
His lips took hers. It was thorough, hungry, incandescent. Even as her mind reeled Jasmine’s lips clung to his, already desperate for the pleasure only he could provide. The pleasure she’d missed more than breathing. Her nerveless fingers let go when he tugged the control from her grasp and dropped it on the floor, all without taking his mouth from hers.
