The Forbidden Prince (14 page)

She raised her head to look at Raoul and he could see a determination that reminded him so much of Mika that he had to smile back. He could respect that.

‘But what about Carlos?'

Francesca turned her head with a gasp. ‘Oh...my grandmother swore she would never say anything...'

Raoul blinked. ‘Who's Carlos?'

Gisele patted Francesca's hand. ‘Another passion, I think.'

Francesca's eyes filled with tears as she looked back at Raoul ‘I'm sorry,' she whispered. ‘I would never have said anything. And it's over now. It had to be...'

Raoul's smile was gentle. ‘I understand. Believe me...'

‘Of course he does,' Gisele said. ‘Now, I'm going to leave you two to have a talk. Just bear one thing in mind. Anything is possible.' She was smiling as she got to her feet. ‘Just look at what Raoul managed to do in his time away. And how well it was handled. Everybody understands true love.'

The silence in the room grew louder as he and Francesca sat there, both more than a little stunned.

‘What did she mean?' Francesca asked finally.

‘I think she knows more than I realised,' Raoul admitted. ‘I... I met someone while I was away.'

‘You're in love with her?'

Raoul swallowed. And then nodded. He cleared his throat. ‘And you're in love with...with Carlos?'

The glow in her eyes was more than enough to confirm it.

‘But you were going to go ahead and do your duty and marry
me
?'

It was Francesca's turn to nod.

He had been going to do the same thing but this changed everything, didn't it?

If there was one thing that Raoul had learned from his escape from his real life, it was that he was, at heart, a good man. Someone who could love, nurture and protect. A man who could trust his instincts about what was right and wrong.

And this was wrong. Was that the message his grandmother had been trying to leave him with? That it was possible to follow his instincts? That anything could be managed and forgiven in the name of true love?

‘We both have a position in life that carries a huge responsibility,' he said slowly. ‘A duty to do the best for all those that we are responsible for.'

‘Yes.' Francesca's head was bowed. ‘I'm only twenty-five,' she whispered. ‘But I feel like a parent. One with many thousands of children.'

‘Have you flown anywhere recently?'

‘What?' Her head jerked up. ‘Of course... I flew here. What's that got to do with anything?'

‘I don't mean on a private jet. I meant on an ordinary commercial flight.'

‘Oh, yes. I've done that.'

‘Did you watch the safety briefing?'

Francesca's eyes were wide and puzzled.

‘They tell you what to do if an oxygen mask appears,' Raoul continued. ‘They tell you that you should put your own on before you help others.' He took a deep breath. ‘We have a duty to many people, Francesca, but we also have a duty to ourselves. To make sure that we are in the best position to do our best for others.'

‘You mean...?' Her words died but he could see the birth of hope in her eyes.

‘I mean that you should be with the person you love,' Raoul said softly. ‘And so should I...'

* * *

The private helicopter with its royal insignia touched down in Positano late that afternoon. Carrying the heavy, beautifully wrapped parcel, Raoul and his bodyguards made their way as discreetly as possible to the
Pane Quotidiano.

Marco was sitting at his usual table on the pavement. His jaw dropped when he saw the group approaching.

‘I've come to see Mika,' Raoul told him. ‘I...have something for her.'

‘She's...ah...she's not here.'

Others had noticed his arrival. Bianca came outside.

‘She's gone,' she told Raoul.

‘Where?'

‘I don't know.' Bianca shook her head. ‘She just vanished. Days ago. I went to her room when she didn't show up one day but it's empty. She's gone...' She touched Raoul's arm. ‘You have to find her,' she said quietly. ‘It's important.'

CHAPTER TWELVE

I
T
WAS
A
fairy-tale palace.With tall stone walls and turrets and spires that were becoming a dramatic silhouette as the blinding sunshine of the day began to fade.

With her dark sunglasses, a big, floppy hat on her head and the backpack over her shoulders, Mika knew she passed as any ordinary tourist who'd come to these remote islands.

Someone who even advertised her love for the creatures this land was named for by wearing a tiny, silver replica around her neck.

She had walked up a big hill from the marina where her ferry had docked and she hadn't needed a map to find her destination. She might have sold her laptop but it had been easy to find an internet café, in the village where she'd been lying low for the last week or so. She'd done her research as thoroughly as she always did and the route to the de Poitier Palace was imprinted on her mind.

So was another email she had received. One that had given her confidence to face a new future. The
National Geographic
not only wanted to buy both her articles, they wanted more...

She could do this.

She could support not only herself but the baby she was going to bring into the world.

What she couldn't do was repeat the mistakes of the past.

Her baby was not going to grow up with no idea of who its father was. Not knowing a land where so many generations of his family had come from. He—or she—was never going to feel abandoned. Or unwanted.

This baby was going to be loved. And cared for and protected.

And that was what had finally given Mika the courage to make this journey.

Her father had never known she existed, so he'd never had the chance to fill even a tiny part of the gap that had been left in her life.

In a way, Mika was doing this for herself—to put right a past wrong. She was doing it for her baby, too, of course. And she was doing it for Rafe. He had the right to know that he was going to be a father. And, because she had no intention of hiding the truth from her child as it grew old enough to understand, the royal family deserved the courtesy of a warning.

It would cause a scandal one day, but maybe, with enough time to prepare for it, something could be arranged to protect the small, illegitimate prince or princess who was going to be born.

Mika had no idea how that might be done.

Now that she was here, she had no idea of what to do next. How did one go about asking to speak to a prince? She was just an ordinary tourist, standing here outside the palace, gazing through the enormous, wrought-iron gates. A rather wilted tourist. It had been such a hot day and a long walk up a decidedly steep hill.

The sound of an approaching helicopter made her look up. The sound grew louder and louder as the helicopter circled and came lower, finally disappearing on the other side of the palace where, presumably, there was a heliport.

Was Rafe at the controls?

Mika's heart skipped a beat and then sped up.

If she stood here long enough, would a guard of some kind come and ask her what she wanted? There had to be people watching. Security cameras at the very least.

And, if someone did come, would they simply laugh at her request or was it possible they could pass on a message of some kind?

* * *

It wasn't possible.

Raoul had barely caught a glimpse of the figure standing outside the palace gates as his helicopter had come in to land but he had known instantly who it was.

Had he seen her with his heart instead of his eyes?

He barely registered what the voice in his headphones was telling him.

‘She hasn't used her passport.' His head of security had been busy on the flight home. ‘Not at an airport, anyway. So she can't have gone back to New Zealand.'

‘No.' Raoul closed his eyes as the aircraft touched down gently. He could still see the shape of that small figure standing there outside his home. ‘I don't think she has. Don't worry about it any more, Phillipe. I can handle it now.'

Mika had come to find
him
...

Hope was filling the dark space he had entered after finding that she'd disappeared from the café in Positano.

He ducked his head to stride beneath the slowing rotors of the helicopter. He waved off his bodyguards as he avoided the nearest palace entrance. He knew there would be many eyes watching him as he ran through the gardens, only slowing as he finally reached the front of the palace, but he didn't care.

Would Mika still be there?

* * *

The turrets and spires weren't the only silhouette against the fading light. Indecision had kept Mika immobile but it seemed that her plan might be working. A guard was coming around the corner of the palace. Not someone in a military uniform that she might have expected but a tall man in a dark suit. He looked like a bodyguard. A member of some special forces, perhaps, who'd been dispatched to find out what she thought she was doing, standing here and staring for so long.

Except...there was something about the way this man was moving. And well before he got to her—when he'd only just reached a long, rectangular pond with its blaze of flowering water lilies and the fountain that was a whole pod of leaping dolphins—the massive gates in front of Mika magically began to swing open.

Inviting her in...

But she couldn't move.

Not until the figure got even closer. Until she could see the expression on Rafe's face. Until he'd taken off his sunglasses and she could see the expression in his eyes...

Even then, she couldn't move.

This was like nothing she could have prepared herself for.

Rafe didn't even know she was pregnant.

But he wanted
her
.

As much as she wanted
him
...

* * *

This was perfect.

If he'd had a magic wand to wave, this was the one place he would have chosen to bring Mika.

A place that could provide the things that she loved most in the world.

The sea.

And dolphins.

He'd done no more than take her hand as the palace gates swung shut behind them because he knew how many people were watching.

‘Come with me,' was all he said.

There was no one here on the private royal beach. Oh, it was quite possible his grandmother could see them, but if she was watching she would be smiling.

Crying, perhaps. The way she had when she'd taken him aside after Francesca had gone earlier today.

‘
You reminded me this morning of what it was like,'
she'd said.
‘When Henri and I were so much in love. If this is where your heart is, Raoul, you have to follow it. You have my blessing. You'll have the blessing of your grandfather, too, when I explain. And your people...'

Mika's backpack lay abandoned on the sand. He might have guessed she would be wearing that white bikini as her underwear. His own suit was discarded alongside the backpack. He had nothing more than his silk boxer shorts to swim in, but it didn't matter. The light was fading fast anyway and the rosy glow of the sunset made the shapes of the dolphins swimming around them dark and mysterious.

As dark as Mika's eyes as he finally pulled her into his arms and kissed her. They way he'd been dreaming of kissing her every night they'd been apart.

‘I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to find you,' he whispered, his lips still brushing hers. ‘I thought I would be missing you every minute of every day for the rest of my life.'

‘I'm here.' Mika was smiling against his lips. ‘I had to come. There's something I have to tell you...'

That she forgave him for the accusation he'd made? That she still loved him?

A note in her voice told Raoul that it was time they talked properly. This time in the water had taken them back enough to re-establish their connection. To wash away the pain of their time apart. It wasn't the place really to talk, though.

He led her from the shallows onto the sun-warmed sand. The air around them was still warm, too, but he picked up the jacket of his suit and draped it around Mika's shoulders. And then he sat beside her and took her hand again.

‘There's something I need to tell you, too.'

It felt like he was still out of his depth in the sea, looking into her eyes. As if he could drown...

‘I love you, Mika. And I'm sorry.'

‘For thinking I'd sold that picture? It doesn't matter.'

‘I'm sorry for more than that.'

Mika ducked her head and nodded. ‘I understand. I know you couldn't tell me who you were. It would have ruined everything, wouldn't it? We'd never have...' A soft sound escaped her lips. An incredulous sort of huff as she left her sentence unfinished. And then she looked up. ‘You saved me, you know? Three times...'

‘Three?'

‘Up on the track. From those men. And...and from maybe spending the rest of my life too scared to ever trust someone. Of never finding someone to be with like that. Of never...becoming a mother...'

It took a long, long moment for the implication of those words to sink in.

When it did, it took another long moment for Raoul to find his voice.

‘You're not...?'

Just a single nod and his world changed for ever.

‘I'm sorry. I really did think it was a safe time. I must have got my dates mixed up...'

‘And that's why you came here today? To tell me?'

Another nod. ‘I want this baby to always feel wanted. Loved. Even if we could never be together, I want it to know who its father is.'

Like Mika never had. Raoul's heart felt so full it was in danger of bursting.

‘He—or she—will always feel loved,' he said softly. The wonder of it was really sinking in now. He was going to be a
father
? ‘Will always
be
loved,' he added. ‘So will you...'

It was a long time before they could speak again but it made no difference because the touch of their lips and bodies would always be a conversation in itself.

How had he ever thought he could live without this woman in his life? By his side?

‘This is going to cause trouble, isn't it?'

‘No.' Raoul pressed another gentle kiss to Mika's lips. ‘It will be a cause for great celebration. My grandmother is going to be so happy. She wants nothing more than to see me settled and happy. To be married and raising a family.'

‘But...what about your fiancée?'

‘We were never officially engaged. And Francesca will be just as happy as we are. She's going to be with the person
she
loves. We will maintain a friendship and work together to strengthen both our countries.'

‘But...'

‘But what?' Raoul swallowed a sudden fear. ‘Are you worried that this isn't the place that you've been searching for? That you couldn't be happy living here?'

‘I've only seen a tiny part but I already know this is the most beautiful place on earth.' Mika was smiling as she looked out at the small bay, as if she could still see the beautiful creatures who had shared their swim. She turned back to Raoul. ‘And you know what?'

‘What?'

‘I've discovered something. A place isn't a
place
.' She touched Raoul's cheek softly. ‘Or it is, but it doesn't actually matter
where
it is. That place only exists because it's beside a person. You told me that, but I wasn't really listening.' Her voice sounded like it was choked with tears. ‘My place in the world is beside you, Rafe. Wherever you are, if I'm beside you, I'm
home
. But...'

Raoul was blinking back tears too. Because he couldn't have put it better himself.

‘But
...?'

Mika shook her head. ‘I can't marry you.'

Maybe the air wasn't as warm as he'd thought. The sudden chill went right to Raoul's bones.

‘Why not?'

‘Are you kidding? Me? A...a
princess
? It's impossible.'

‘You've forgotten something else I told you, haven't you?'

‘What?'

‘That you can be anything at all that you really want to be. It's one of the things I adore so much about you, my love. Your courage. And your determination. You could be a princess.
If
that's what you want.'

‘If it means being with you for the rest of my life, why wouldn't I want it?'

‘I was afraid you would never want to be part of my world. That's another thing I love about you. That wildness. Your freedom. Your...dolphin blood. There are constraints with being royal and it might be like putting you in a cage. A gilded cage, but the walls are still there.'

‘You'd be inside those walls, too.' Mika's smile was so tender, Raoul could feel his breath catch. ‘It's still the place I'd always want to be. But fairy-tales don't really happen. I don't have a fairy godmother out there to wave her wand, put me in a pretty dress and let me dance away with my prince...'

‘Oh, but you have.' Any fears evaporated as Raoul kissed her again. ‘You just haven't met my grandmother yet...'