Modern Romance Collection July 2024 Books 1-4

CHAPTER FOUR

IGNOREHER?YEAH,RIGHT. Given the lack of other occupations, Princess Amelia Moretti had taken to sunbathing on the deck in one of the swimming costumes Cassidy had bought for her, which—Cassidy being a free spirit who’d grown up surfing—was barely sufficient to cover Amelia’s body.

His dreams had been filled with Amelia, with imaginings of her, naked and sensual, straddling him so her long hair formed curtains around her face, and yet now that he stared at her in a way that was making it impossible to keep his distance, he realised how much more desirable her body was in the real world, how much more beautiful and graceful, than he’d been able to conjure in his dreams.

So ignoring her wasn’t going to work, but nor could he act on his feelings.

Which basically put him in a form of hell for the next six days.

There was one way he could stay true to what he knew to be the right thing.

Eyes on Amelia, he removed his phone from a pocket and loaded up a text to Anton.

I have her. She’ll be home within the week.

He sent the message but didn’t experience an accompanying sense of relief. If anything, knowing that Anton was aware of the predicament felt strangely oppressive. It also felt like a direct betrayal of Amelia. To whom he owed nothing! And yet he found he couldn’t completely disregard her obvious misgivings about returning home.

From Benedetto’s perspective, the royal family of Catarno was surprisingly normal and loving, all things considered. He’d never had an example of that, of a real family. He’d been an only child and his father, while not physically abusive, had drunk too much and had a short fuse, meaning it hadn’t taken much for him to lose his temper and explode at whomever happened to be nearby—Benedetto, or Benedetto’s mother. As children in volatile situations often did, Benedetto had become adept from a young age at appearing to ignore the outbursts, to compartmentalise his fear and panic responses. When his father had died of a heart attack, and Benedetto was only fourteen, he’d been relieved.

Despite the fact the death had plunged Benedetto and his mother from living hand to mouth to abject poverty, the silence and lack of living on tenterhooks had been an immense relief, for both of them. They’d been happy, but only eighteen months later, his mother had been talking on the phone and stepped out from the kerb right into a bus. She’d died instantly. Her, he did mourn.

So his experience with family was limited. Meeting Anton’s brother and parents had blown him away—to see the easy love and connection, the way they were all so respectful of one another.

And Amelia had simply turned her back on that, as though it held no value whatsoever. It was a callous, childish, hurtful thing to have done, and yet he wasn’t sure Amelia was any of those things.

True, he barely knew her, but his childhood had made him an excellent judge of character. He also didn’t have the sort of pride that would prevent him from admitting when he’d made a mistake, and at least on this score he had, potentially, been wrong about Amelia.

And so what?he asked himself angrily. What did it matter to him? Beyond the wedding, he wouldn’t need to see her again. She’d be free to live her life.

And what would that look like?

Would she stay in Catarno? Would the wedding be the start of a new phase in her relationship with her parents and siblings? Or would she escape again as soon as she possibly could? Return to Valencia, or somewhere else, now that her cover had been blown?

She turned at that moment, tilting her face. He wasn’t sure if he’d moved, or done something else to draw her attention, but her eyes flicked sidewards and landed directly on his—catching him staring at her, pondering. He didn’t look away. He held his ground, arms by his sides, every part of him focused on her.

She tilted her face away again, looking out to sea, her expression mutinous.

‘It’s a far better idea if we just...ignore each other from now on.’

He’d said it. It was his idea, and it was the right idea, so why did he find his legs carrying him across the deck towards her against his own better judgement?

His shadow cast across her chest, long and dark, but it was a warm enough day not to make a hint of difference to Amelia’s enjoyment. If anything, his proximity fired something new to life inside her, so she stretched languidly, shifting one leg over the other, crossing them at the ankles, and positioning an arm behind her head, a study in relaxation.

‘Are you wearing lotion?’

She was so angry with him, and yet the hitch in his voice pulled at that anger, undoing it a little, making her vulnerable to an awareness of him she was doing her best to fight.

‘Is this your idea of ignoring me?’

‘I can hardly hand you over to your family with bright red sunburn.’

She bristled at that. ‘I’m not an object,’ she reminded him coldly. ‘No one is handing me to anyone else.’

‘I’ll take that as a no.’

She ground her teeth together. ‘It’s none of your business. I’m not your business, regardless of what you and my brother might have discussed.’

‘We have not discussed you often, cara.’

The term of endearment surprised her, but it surprised him more, going by the look on his face. He seemed to wish to swallow the word right back up again.

‘And yet you appear to know a lot about me. Or think that you do.’

‘I know what I’ve perceived, through your absence. Through how that absence has affected your family.’

She could easily believe her family was suffering, but it was nothing compared to the hell they’d be living through if she’d stayed, and they’d learned what kind of mess Amelia had exposed them to.

‘I had no interest in hurting them,’ she said truthfully. ‘And I can’t see why any of that matters to you. Friendship with Anton aside, this is a private matter.’

‘He asked me to retrieve you, and so I did.’

She jerked to standing, eyes flashing with his, and it was only when she met his gaze that she began to suspect he might have been deliberately goading her. ‘Retrieve me?’ she repeated with incredulity. ‘Seriously? Like a lost pet, or a missing suitcase or something?’

His smile irritated her even as she was captivated by the way it transformed his features.

‘Don’t laugh at me.’

‘I’m not.’ He lifted a hand in surrender. ‘You’re funny, that’s all.’

‘I’m not meaning to be.’

He lifted his shoulders. ‘You still are.’

She expelled a long, calming breath. ‘Did you come out here just to ask me about sunscreen?’ she asked, determined to shut down their conversation. Maybe he’d been right the night before? Maybe they needed to either ignore each other or at least pretend to, if every one of their conversations led to an argument.

‘Yes,’ he said, without moving.

‘Well, then, you’ve done your duty. You can go.’ She gestured across the deck for him to leave.

He arched a brow.

‘You’re the one who suggested we ignore each other.’

‘Easier said than done,’ he drawled.

‘God, Benedetto, you’re impossible.’

‘So I’ve been told.’

‘I’m serious. You’re like a whole bundle of mixed messages. Why don’t you just decide what you want and let me know?’ And with that, she settled back onto the sun lounger and pulled her glasses over her eyes, feigning sleep.

But not for long.

Not five minutes later a splashing sound alerted her to the fact she wasn’t alone, and a quick shift of her head showed Benedetto in the pool across the deck. He was swimming through the water, powerful and confident, and although the pool wasn’t Olympic length, he had enough space to complete a lap and turn under water, swimming back the other way, where he paused against the coping, his powerful, tanned arms mesmerising, covered in water and delightfully tempting.

She blinked away.

Only, he was right there, half naked, tanned, wet, relaxed, and even when she knew the smartest thing to do was disappear off the deck and away from temptation, she found herself lasting barely ten minutes before she stood and paced to the edge of the pool, an unimpressed scowl on her face.

‘Yes?’ he asked at the water’s edge, standing with legs braced wide apart, blinking up at her through eyes that were rimmed with dark, wet lashes, hair slicked back showing a high brow.

She glared at him. ‘Don’t you have work to do or something?’

‘I’ve been working,’ he replied with a shrug. ‘Late last night, and from early this morning. Does it bother you for me to have a break?’

That wasn’t what she’d meant. ‘It’s none of my business,’ she muttered, holding up her hands in surrender. ‘It just seems like you’re going out of your way to aggravate me.’

‘By swimming?’

She raised her brows. ‘By swimming when I’m right here.’ She gestured to the deck.

‘There are two of us,’ he pointed out. ‘You could go somewhere else if my presence bothers you that much. It’s a big ship.’

The water was so tempting, and suddenly all Amelia wanted was to dip into it, just for a moment, to cool off. She’d been lying in the sun for hours and she was quite warm all over. But there was no way she’d show even a hint of her thoughts to Benedetto. There’d be time later to swim—for now, she needed to escape.

‘Great idea. Thanks for the suggestion,’ she said with mocking obedience in her tone. She followed it up by doing an overly exaggerated salute. ‘See you later.’

She felt his eyes on her the whole way across the deck.

Inside, she fixed herself a sandwich and took it to her room to eat, brooding as she stared out at the ocean. Once finished, she decided she couldn’t pass the rest of her time sulking and staring into space, and there were limited alternatives on board. And so she made her way back to the library, intending to grab a book. But when she strode in, without knocking, it was to find Benedetto there, hair still wet, body mercifully covered now in a T-shirt and fresh, dry shorts.

‘Oh!’ She startled, and he looked just as surprised. ‘I didn’t realise you were in here.’

He regarded her for several seconds without moving. ‘Well, I am.’

‘I see that now.’

‘What can I do for you?’

‘I came to get a book.’ She gestured to the shelves.

‘A book?’

‘To read,’ she babbled, then clamped her lips together. Caught off guard, she was on the back foot, not sounding as assertive or confident as she wanted. ‘As I have literally nothing else to do, I presume you won’t mind?’

‘I don’t mind at all,’ he said, waving a hand to the wall of titles. ‘Take whatever you want.’

‘Oh, thank you so much,’ she replied, heavy with angry sarcasm. ‘What a considerate kidnapper you are. Is there somewhere online I can leave a five-star rating?’

Another smile, which he was quick to smother, but Amelia saw it and her stomach did a strange flopping motion.

‘There’s a cinema downstairs, you know.’

She glanced over her shoulder. ‘A cinema?’

‘And a gym. A spa. I was going to show you yesterday, but then you asked me to kiss you...’

‘I seem to remember you kissing me,’ she said, though in fact, while his body had come close to hers, it was Amelia who’d sought his lips. She coloured to the roots of her hair.

‘We’ll have to agree to disagree.’

‘You are seriously the worst.’

His eyes bored into hers. ‘Do you want to finish the tour?’

‘I can probably work it out for myself,’ she said after a beat.

‘Afraid to be alone with me?’

She ground her teeth together. ‘Of course not. Just trying to follow your instructions.’

‘Okay.’ He didn’t move, and her stomach dropped to her toes, the emotion easily identifiable as disappointment. ‘Suit yourself.’

Amelia’s lips parted but she left the room before she could say something really stupid and beg him to show her.

Unfortunately, when Amelia made her way to the end of the corridor and down the wide stairs, it was to discover a door at the bottom wouldn’t open. Had he known?

With a noise of frustration, she turned on her heel, strode back into his office without knocking, hands on hips. ‘It’s locked.’

Head bent over some documents, Benedetto took a moment before looking at her. She hadn’t really given his desk any proper attention, but now she saw it was incredibly ordered, as though he could only function when everything was in its place. There was a laptop, a pile of papers, a leather-bound diary, and, from where she stood, the back of a photo frame. Curiosity had her wanting to move forward to see what kind of picture a man like Benedetto would keep on his desk, but Amelia would die before she’d show that much interest in his life.

‘I’ll open it, then,’ he said simply, standing.

‘Why is it locked? We’re on a boat.’

‘It’s a security feature—the door’s self-locking. It doubles as a safe room. There’s an alternative bridge down there, a backup command system. In case the boat’s ever breached.’

She blinked at him, the thought unsettling. ‘Is that likely?’

‘I’m a very wealthy man. It’s not unlikely.’

She shivered.

‘You’ve lived with security precautions all your life. You can’t be surprised by that?’

‘I just...you’re a private citizen.’

‘Yes, with a lot of money, which motivates some people to do very bad things. Hence the security features.’

‘What else?’ she asked curiously, falling into step beside him.

‘Planning your escape or your rescue? I should tell you, neither’s likely.’

She blinked up at him. ‘Do I need to be rescued?’

‘I haven’t decided yet,’ he said, but without humour. ‘Maybe I’m the one who should send out an SOS?’

‘Oh?’

‘I’m starting to think you’re trouble with a capital T.’

‘You can always let me off at the nearest port.’

‘And call the Catarno guard to come collect you? That’s not a bad idea.’

She stopped walking, staring at him. ‘Benedetto, listen to me—’ She inhaled sharply, searching for words. But how could she get through to him? He seemed so determined, without even a hint of doubt about his plan to return her to the family she’d left for their own good.

‘I know you’re doing this out of loyalty to Anton. I know you think you’re doing the right thing, but you’re really not. Nothing good can come from making me go back.’

He stopped walking, stared at her for a long time, silence crackling between them.

‘Did someone there hurt you, cara?’

She flinched. Not because his term of endearment was unwelcome, but because it was entirely too welcome, too comforting. It made her want to cry to think even for a moment that this man might be on her side. He wasn’t. Of course he wasn’t. He was operating on Anton’s behalf, and while she loved her brother, in this matter their wishes were diametrically opposed. But what if Benedetto saw Amelia’s perspective? What if he actually went in to bat for her? She couldn’t fathom what it would be like to have a defender such as Benedetto.

‘Amelia?’ he demanded, his expression pinched, as though genuinely worried about what might have happened to her.

She swallowed hard, blinking away. Yes, someone had hurt her. Daniel had destroyed her childish faith in love, he’d taken her trust and trampled it. And worse, he still knew a secret that had the power to destroy Amelia’s family. Fear rose in her throat, making it hard to breathe. What a mess it all was.

‘I can’t go home.’ The words were bleak. ‘If you have any decency in your heart, any whatsoever, you’ll take me at my word and let me go.’

He looked momentarily surprised and then anguished. ‘Why does it bother me,’ he mused a moment later, ‘for you to say I have no decency?’

Her emotions lurched all over the place. ‘I don’t know.’ A whisper. Tears were threatening. She looked away, determined not to show such weakness.

‘Do you know why I decided to take you to Catarno by boat?’

She lifted her shoulders. ‘Because it was a sure-fire way of getting me out of Valencia?’

‘True, but I have a helicopter on board. I could fly you there tomorrow and be done with this.’

Fear made her heart hurt.

‘I thought this would be best for you. To have time to get used to the idea, to work through whatever issues you have with your family, to make your peace with the necessity of seeing them again and being at your brother’s wedding. Of being able to put your best foot forward and show your family that you’ve changed.’

But Amelia hadn’t changed. She was still an illegitimate love child, a secret, a shame. And a target for blackmail because she’d opened her big mouth to the wrong person.

‘Am I supposed to thank you?’ she whispered, anguished.

‘No.’ He moved closer, putting a hand on her arm solicitously, staring into her eyes with obvious concern. ‘Tell me why you ran away.’

‘I can’t.’ Her voice caught. ‘I really can’t. But believe me when I tell you it was the best thing for everyone. I can’t go home, Benedetto. I can’t.’