Chapter 8
Erica unzipped her windbreaker as she walked into the hangar where Gabriel’s jet was parked.
She wanted to check on the progress of the maintenance crew tuning up the aircraft for the honeymoon flight.
After her meeting with Raul and most of his family, it was good to be forced to focus on something other than how much she lusted after the prince and how inappropriate that was.
“Erica!” Gabriel rose from one of the folding chairs at the mechanic’s desk, startling her.
“ Senor! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” Probably because he was wearing his favorite all-black attire, and it was dim in the hangar. “How may I help you?”
Surely he wasn’t planning a flight out of the country so close to his wedding?
The duke tugged at his short ponytail in a surprising gesture of discomfort. “It is not me I wish you to help.” He gestured to the folding chairs. “Would you sit with me a moment?”
“ Por supuesto. Of course.” She loved the fact that her royal boss treated her with such courtly manners. It was one of the duke’s many charms. Quinn was a lucky lady.
When they were both seated, Gabriel set his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands together. “Raul enjoyed his time in the mountains very much. I haven’t seen him so enthusiastic about anything in a long time.”
“Guiding him was my pleasure,” Erica said automatically.
“It was a shame that he had to cut the trip short. He needed the break from work,” Gabriel said.
“And he’s beating himself up because he did something he considers stupid in spraining his ankle.
He has the idea that the press will focus more on his injury than on my wedding. Which bothers him, not me.”
“Accidents happen when you challenge yourself,” she said. “Especially when you don’t expect them.”
“Raul is hard on himself.” Gabriel sighed. “Too hard these days. And that is where I am asking for your help.”
“ My help?” What could she do to stop Raul from worrying about his ankle?
“It wasn’t just the camping and climbing that made Raul light up. It was you .” Gabriel pinned her with his gaze. “He talked about experiencing a sense of connection when he was climbing.”
So this was about her role as Raul’s guide. A little clunk of disappointment hit her, but she pushed it away. She should be relieved that no one had noted her attraction to the prince. “That’s because I was handling the belay rope. It’s necessary to form a sort of partnership to make that work.”
“He said he talked about the kidnapping with you. I have never known him to share that with anyone else. It’s a good thing for him to begin to let those feelings out.”
Erica shifted on the hard metal seat. Gabriel seemed okay with her having that knowledge, but was he really? “I, uh, we had both had some pitorro rum when he told me about that. And I work for you, which means I’m good with confidentiality.”
“A little rum would not loosen Raul’s tongue that much,” Gabriel said. “He has learned from hard experience to keep his feelings private. He trusts you in a profound way.”
“I don’t know why,” Erica said with brutal honesty, even as pleasure blossomed. Raul had shared his faith in her with his cousin.
“Well, I trust you to keep me and my passengers from plunging thirty thousand feet to our deaths, so it is not so surprising.” Gabriel’s smile flashed briefly before he grew serious again.
“Raul is the brother of my heart, and I worry about him. He has not been himself since the kidnapping.” He touched the lobe of the now-reconstructed ear that the kidnappers had sliced off, a gesture he rarely made since he and Quinn had fallen in love.
“He carries a lot of guilt,” Erica said, figuring Gabriel already knew that, so she could say it.
“And he insists on carrying it alone…except for talking to you. He needs to do that more.” Gabriel’s clasped knuckles were white. “All I am asking is that you be his friend.”
“I…I’m not sure how I can do that,” Erica said. “I don’t move in the same circles as he does.” A good reminder to her about how far above her touch the prince was.
“I can take care of that,” Gabriel said. “If you are willing.”
Being a friend to the Crown Prince of Caleva. The very hot crown prince whom she found mouthwateringly attractive. That was a heck of an assignment.
“I am not asking you to pry his emotions out of him,” Gabriel went on. “Just be there when he might decide to entrust you with them. Keep that sense of connection going.”
“If you think it will ease his guilt, I would be honored,” Erica said. Because what else could she say?
“This is not an honor,” Gabriel said. “It is a cry for help. You got through to him when no one else has been able to.”
“It was the situation, not anything special I did,” Erica said.
“You sell yourself short,” Gabriel said. “I understand why he opened up to you. You exude the kind of confidence that creates trust.”
A flush heated her face. Little did any of them know that she projected all that hypercompetence to cover her fear of never being good enough, especially not for a prince.
“What’s the plan, then?” she asked, giving up on the argument with the man who was her boss. She would just have to resist her unsuitable infatuation with Raul.
“I’ll put you on the secret roster we’ve set up to keep Raul entertained while his ankle heals.” Gabriel stood, and she did as well. “Let me know what times are best for you. I’ll get you a pass to the family wing.” He winked. “Don’t bring any weapons with you, or I’ll get in trouble with Mikel.”
“No worries.” After the camping trip, she had taken the gun out of her backpack and locked it up with a sense of relief.
Gabriel lightly rested his hand on her shoulder. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
He pivoted and strode out of the hangar, leaving Erica to wonder how she had gone from being a jet pilot to playing amateur therapist to a prince.
As the door closed behind his father and stepmother, Raul settled onto the pillows Eve had rearranged for him. It wasn’t so terrible to be fussed over occasionally. Maybe his injury wasn’t such a bad thing…except for the timing.
He glanced at his phone, surprised to discover that his parents had stayed for almost an hour.
The time had flown as the three of them talked about anything except work.
He should be flattered that his father had taken such a large chunk of time out of his packed schedule—and brought the queen with him.
Raul grimaced at the ceiling. It was a measure of how concerned his father was about him.
How could he reassure his parents that he was fine?
His phone dinged. A moment later, the door opened to admit Mikel Silva, dressed in his usual dark suit, white shirt, and dark green tie, his brown hair neatly swept back from his forehead.
Mikel gave an abbreviated bow. “I hope you are feeling better, Su Alteza Real. You wished to speak with me?”
The man’s face was a mask of polite interest, but his pale blue eyes held an edge, as always. Not for the first time, Raul wondered what Silva’s history was before he had arrived in Caleva. Only the king knew.
“Thank you for coming to see me.” Raul waved to a chair. Although Mikel was not a particularly large man, he exuded menace, and Raul preferred not to have the security chief looming over him. “A phone call was all I needed, though.”
“I was nearby, and it is always a pleasure to see you, Senor .” Mikel seated himself with the dangerous grace of a panther. For a moment, the mask slipped, and the man looked tired.
“How are the preparations for the wedding coming?” Security would be a nightmare as Mikel tried to balance the need to let the press and the public view the celebration with the protection of all the royals and nobles.
Not to mention that all the foreign dignitaries would bring their own security teams, which would require a great deal of coordination. No wonder Mikel was stressed.
“According to me or according to Quinn?” Mikel asked with a brief smile. Gabriel’s fiancée worked in Mikel’s private office. In fact, she had been instrumental in tracking down the kidnappers…and bringing Gabriel back to life.
“It shows how much Quinn loves Gabriel that she’s willing to go through all the pomp and circumstance.” Raul answered Mikel’s smile. “I’m pretty sure she’d rather get married on a deserted island with just herself, Gabriel, and a priest.”
His stepmother had struggled with a similar decision. Eve had had no desire to be the queen, yet she loved his father enough to step into the very public position.
Raul smothered the jab of envy. Plenty of women had shown interest in being his princess, but that was the problem. He needed a woman like Quinn or Eve who loved him in spite of his title, not because of it.
“I would support Quinn’s wish one hundred percent,” Mikel said with a spark of humor. “But how may I be of service to you?”
“Someone is poaching our dragons.” Raul gestured toward his injured ankle. “The pit I stepped in was an empty nest, the eggs and dirt around them removed.”
Mikel’s dark brows snapped down in a frown. “How do you know that?”
“My guide, Erica Ortiz, and Pascal found the claw marks of a dragon’s digging. I also saw two upupa birds nearby. They dine on baby dragons.”
“Wouldn’t the mother be guarding the nest?” Mikel asked.
“Erica and Pascal believe the poachers took her too.” Raul paused before saying, “It requires specialized knowledge to find a nest in such a remote location. Someone knew where to look.”
“It could also be that the poacher simply bought the information.” Mikel slipped his phone out of his breast pocket and tapped at it. “We’ll examine the finances of anyone who works with the dragons or in that area of the mountains.”
“You won’t ask Quinn to do this with the wedding coming up,” Raul commanded.
“On the contrary, she will be relieved to have something to focus on that doesn’t involve lace, flowers, or receiving lines,” Mikel said with a half smile. “Furthermore, she can handle an assignment like this with both hands tied behind her back.”
Raul had a vision of Quinn typing with her nose and chuckled. “ Muy bien. Please let me know what she finds.”
Mikel rose and gave another half bow. “ Bien, Senor. And now I must leave you.”
Raul stifled a sigh. “Back to video games, then. Adios .”
After the door closed behind Mikel, Raul pulled out the tablet he had hidden under the sofa and brought up a report he had just received.
He realized he had read the first paragraph three times before he gave up and sat back against the cushions to gaze unseeing at the carved rafters of the ceiling.
He let his mind go where it wanted…to Erica, with her cloud of dark hair, her gray-brown eyes, and her curves that made him long to feel them against his palms. If only that were all. Being attracted to a woman’s looks was something he could control.
But he was also attracted to her whip-smart brain, her courage, and the strange feeling that he could tell her anything, and she would not judge him.
Even more, she would understand him.