Katherine Garbera - The Tycoon Takes a Wife / His Royal Prize - The Tycoon Takes a Wife / His Royal Prize

“Two of them.”

“That must have seemed strange to say the least.”

“I have a half sister, remember? It’s not like I don’t understand being a part of a family unit.” Her voice rose with every word, more than a little hurt leaking through.”I’m not some kind of freak.”

He turned to face her again. Her desk was so damn neat and clean a surgeon could have performed an open-heart procedure right there. Germs wouldn’t dare approach.

Jonah, however, had never been one to back down from a dare.”Your mother would have already been remarried by the time you were seven.”

“And Audrey was a toddler.” She clasped her hands in front of her defensively.

Her words sunk in and … holy hell.”Your mom went to see her old lover after she was married to another guy? Your stepfather must have been pissed.”

“He never knew about the trip or any of the Medinas.” She stood straight and tall, every bit of her royal heritage out there for him to see. She ruled. It didn’t matter if she was sitting in a palace or standing in a dark, cramped, little office. She mesmerized him.

And she called to his every protective instinct at the same time. What kind of life must she have led to build defenses this thick?

“Your stepfather didn’t know about any of it?” Jonah approached her carefully, wary of spooking her when she was finally opening up, but unable to stay away from her when he sensed that she could have used someone to confide in all these years.”How did she explain about your father?”

She shrugged one shoulder.”She told him the same thing she told everyone else. That my father was a fellow student, with no family, and he died in a car accident before I was born. It’s not like Harry talked about my dad to anyone else. The subject just never came up for us.”

Jonah skimmed his fingers over the furrows along her forehead.”Let’s not discuss your stepfather. Tell me about that visit when you were seven.”

Her forehead smoothed and her face relaxed into a brief flicker of a smile.”It was amazing, or rather it seemed that way to me through my childish, idealistic eyes. We all walked along the beach and collected shells. He—” she paused, clearing her throat”—uhm, my father, told me this story about a little squirrel that could travel wherever she wanted by scampering along the telephone lines. He even carried me on his shoulders when my legs got tired from walking and sang songs in Spanish.”

“Those are good memories.”

She deserved to have had many more of them, but he kept that opinion to himself. Better to wait and just let her talk, rather than risk her clamming up out of defensiveness.

“I know it’s silly, but I still have one of the shells.” She nudged a stack of already perfectly straight note slips.”I used to listen to it and imagine I could hear his voice mixed in with the sound of the ocean.”

“Where is the shell now?”

”I, uh, tucked it away in one of my bookcases at home.”

A home she’d decorated completely in a seashore theme. It couldn’t be coincidence. He gripped her shoulders lightly.”Why don’t you go see him again? You have the right to do so.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

“But surely you have a way to get in touch with him.” The soft give of her arms under his hands enticed him to pull her closer. He should take his hands off her, but he didn’t. Still he wouldn’t back off from delving deeper into this issue.”What about the lawyer?”

She avoided his eyes.”Let’s discuss something else.”

“So the lawyer is your point of contact even if the old guy never bothers to get in touch with you.”

“Stop it, okay?”

She looked back at him again hard and fast. Her eyes were dark and defensive and held so much hurt he realized he would do anything, anything to make that pain go away.”Eloisa—”

“My biological father has asked to see me.” She talked right over him, protesting a bit too emphatically.”More than once. I’m the one who stays away. It’s just too complicated. He wrecked my mother’s life and broke her heart.” Her hands slid up to grip his shirt.”That’s not something I can just forget about long enough to sit down for some fancy dinner with him once every five years when his conscience kicks in.”

He churned over her words, searching for what she meant underneath it all.”I miss my father.”

His dad had died in a car wreck when Jonah was only entering his teenage years.

”I told you I don’t want to see him.”

Jonah cupped her face, his thumb stroking along her aristocratic cheekbone.”I’m talking about how you miss your mother. It’s tough losing a parent no matter how old you are.”

Empathy softened her eyes for the first time since they’d stepped into her office.”When did your father pass away?”

“When I was in my early teens. A car crash. I used to be so jealous of my brothers because they had more time with him. Talk about ridiculous sibling rivalry.” He’d always been different from them, more of a rebel. Little did they know how much it hurt when people said he would have been more focused if only his father had lived. But he refused to let what others said come between him and his family.

Family was everything.

“We almost lost our mother a few years ago when she was on a goodwill tour across Europe.” The near miss had scared the hell out of him. After that, he’d knuckled down and gotten his life in order. His skin went cold from just thinking of what had almost happened to his mother.”An assassin tried to make a statement by shooting up one of her events.”

“Ohmigod, I remember that.” Her fists unfurled in his shirt and her hands smoothed out the wrinkles in soothing circles.”It must have been horrible for you. I seem to recall that some of her family was there…. You saw it all happen?”

“I’m not asking for sympathy.” He clasped her wrists and stilled her hands. She might mean her touch to be comforting, but it was rapidly becoming a serious turn-on.”I’m only trying to say I understand how you feel. But, Eloisa, once you’re in the spotlight, there’s no way to step back out.”

“I completely get your point,” she said emphatically.”That’s why I’ve kept a low profile.”

He brought her hands together, their hands clasped as he tried to make her understand.”You were born into this. There’s no low profile. Only delaying the inevitable. Better to embrace it on your own terms.”

“That’s not your call to make,” she snapped, pulling her hands away.

God, it was like banging his head against bricks getting this stubborn woman to consider anything other than a paradigm constructed a helluva long time ago.”Are you so sure about your father’s reasons for choosing to close himself away?”

Her spine starched straight again, ire sparking flecks of black in her eyes.”What are you hoping to accomplish here?”

He’d been hoping to learn more about her in an effort to seduce her and had ended up pissing her off. But he couldn’t back down.”You don’t have to play this their way anymore, Eloisa. Decide what you want rather than letting them haul you along.”

Her hands fisted.”Why does this need to get so complicated, and what the hell does it have to do with you?”

Anger stirred in his gut.”I’m the guy who’s still married to you because it’s so complicated. Damn it, Eloisa, Can you understand my need to do something, fix this somehow?”

“Maybe there’s nothing to fix. And even if there is, do you know what I really want?”

”Okay. Mea culpa.” He thumped his chest.”You’ve got me there. I haven’t got a clue what you want from me.”

“Well, prepare to find out.” She clasped his face in her hands, only giving him a second’s warning.