The Future King’s Love-Child (7 page)

‘I understand,’ she said. ‘We were probably not a good mix when I think about it. We brought out the worst in each other at times.’

‘She was always very fond of you.’

Cassie felt her heart contract. ‘I was…I
am
still very fond of her,’ she said, and then unguardedly added, ‘We had more in common than she probably realised.’

He gave her one of his narrow-eyed looks. ‘What do you mean?’

Her gaze skittered away from his. ‘The children of high-profile parents often have a lot in common. We are constantly followed by the press and anything we do or say is used against us. I think Lissa and I were alike in that we got fed up with it all and tried to get out there and live like other normal teenagers. But of course we could never be normal, Lissa more so than me. She, like you, has royal blood running through her veins.’

‘You are right, of course,’ he said. ‘I too had to pull in my horns, so to speak. The weight of responsibility does that to you after a while. Even if my father had not died so unexpectedly I was already feeling the urge to settle down.’

Cassie felt a pain like a rusty switchblade go through her. Sebastian had already mentioned a suitable wife had been selected for him. She could see him married to a beautiful woman who was
everything she was not nor ever could be: gracious, well-bred, with an immaculate reputation, well educated and comfortable in every social situation. No doubt his wonderfully suitable wife would bear him an heir and a spare, maybe even another couple of gorgeous children who looked just like Sam…

Even if she was thousands of kilometres away as she had planned, how on earth would Cassie bear it?

Sebastian instructed the driver to set up the picnic in a secluded spot near some tamarisk trees that provided a shelter of sorts a short distance from the stately royal holiday residence.

Within minutes a table with crisp white linen was set up, sparkling crystal glasses and crested silverware set out in preparation for a meal fit for…well, royalty of course, Cassie thought wryly as she watched a solid silver vase complete with red rose being placed in the very centre of the table. It was certainly nothing like the picnics Cassie had been on in the past, with floppy paper plates, plastic forks and knives that wouldn’t cut through melted butter let alone anything else.

The food provided by the royal kitchen was nothing short of delightful, every morsel was a
work of art in itself, and artfully arranged to entice even the most jaded of appetites.

Sebastian led Cassie to the silky fabric-covered chair opposite his, and, once he was sure she was comfortable, took his own seat, instructing the driver-cum-waiter to serve their meal.

Cassie had not felt in the least bit hungry, but as soon as the tiny dishes appeared in front of her she found herself partaking of a feast that was beyond belief. Char-grilled octopus, garlic mussels, plump prawns skewered on tiny sticks with a lime and coriander marinade, ripe olives and semi sun-dried tomatoes, followed by pesto-encrusted succulent grilled chicken with a variety of lightly steamed vegetables, and to top it off a vanilla bean crème caramel custard with plump summer berries.

Cassie had declined all alcohol, but the absence of fine wine had not for a moment taken away from the delectable feast she had partaken of. With her stomach replete and her taste buds still zinging with the fresh and fantastic flavours she had consumed, she felt as if she had been transported into another realm. After years of stolid prison food served haphazardly by other inmates, with the nagging suspicion of someone tampering with the meal as a payback for supposed misdemeanours, Cassie had not realised how much she had missed out on until now.

Did Sebastian have any idea of what he took for granted every single day? Meals were put in front of him morning, noon and night, nutritious, gourmet and delectable meals prepared by world-renowned chefs. He had never had to bargain or bribe to get a mouthful of food for himself, nor had he ever had to beg, borrow or steal to provide a tiny treat for his little son.

Sebastian poured himself a small measure of red wine, watching the fleeting emotions passing over Cassie’s face. She had been very quiet during the meal. He had watched as she had taken tiny bites of each morsel with her small white teeth, her eyes lighting up as she savoured each mouthful, chewing slowly, as if wanting the flavours to last as long as possible. She used her cutlery with the grace and elegance of someone brought up with a refined sense of dining. He had met and dated women who had spent a year in a finishing school who had less class and poise than Cassie, which was a credit to her father, he supposed, given Cassie’s mother had not been around.

‘Was it lonely for you growing up without a mother?’ Sebastian asked, hardly realising the question had fallen from his lips until the sea-washed silence was broken by it.

Her eyes moved upwards to meet his, a shadow
of something dark and mysterious lurking in their startling emerald depths. ‘I’m not sure it is possible to miss something you have never had,’ she said in an offhand tone that didn’t quite do the job of convincing Sebastian she meant it. ‘I had a series of nannies who looked after me when my father was at work. I had toys and entertainment, more than most kids have, or at least certainly more than the kids I deal with now.’

Sebastian surveyed her features as he cradled his wineglass in his hand. ‘You didn’t answer my question, Cassie,’ he said.

Cassie shifted her eyes from his and inwardly frowned. Why was he doing this? In the past he had hardly ever asked her about her life as a child. They hadn’t had that sort of relationship. Their love affair—strike that—
sex
affair—had had nothing to do with getting to know each other as people. It had been lust that had driven them into each other’s arms, a forbidden lust that had made it all the more exciting. Cassie’s body quivered as she thought of the things they had done and where they had done them. The thrill of being discovered had been part of the adrenalin rush.

Cassie shifted in her chair, her face averted from the all-seeing gaze of Sebastian’s. ‘I guess it would have been nice to have had a mother…especially during adolescence,’ she said, absently
fiddling with the edge of the tablecloth. ‘I try not to think about it too much. Lots of people don’t have mothers and survive. I am hardly unique.’

‘No, that is true, but you have never really talked about what it was like for you as a child,’ he said. ‘I guess I should have been more mature back when we were involved and asked you. But then like a lot of young men with hormones on their mind I didn’t get around to it.’

Cassie wasn’t brave enough to meet his eyes. She knew in any case what she would see there: desire, hot and strong, perhaps even stronger than what he had felt for her before. What she couldn’t understand was why. She was the last person he should be considering associating with. She had a black mark on her name that would never go away, no matter how far away from Aristo she travelled. Her life was never going to be the same again. Not that it had been all that crash-hot to start with.

Cassie had spent years of her early childhood desperately trying to please her father to no avail. She couldn’t quite recall how old she had been when she had changed her tactics and begun to rebel against him instead. All she could remember were the fights, the vicious slanging matches that had nearly always ended with her being—

‘Cassie…’ Sebastian’s deep voice jerked her out of her torturous memories.

Cassie blinked at him, trying to recall what they had been talking about, her mind still back in her bedroom with her father’s puce features glaring at her, his mouth a tight white line of livid rage, spittle pooling at the corners, his teeth audibly grinding together as his closed thick fist had raised, ready to strike…

She swallowed a painfully tight swallow that tore at the tender lining of her throat, her eyes skittering away from Sebastian’s. Nausea roiled in her stomach, her blood pressure dropped so low she could feel the sensation of fine grains of sand shifting in her extremities. She was going to faint… No…hang on a minute…she was holding on…but only just… Breathe…deep and even, that was the way to do it. It had been years since she’d had a panic attack. She knew the drill; it just took a little discipline and focus to pull it off.

Breathe…in…out…in…out…in—

‘Caz?’ Sebastian leaned forward across the table and took her ice-cold hand in his, his brow furrowed in concern. ‘What’s going on? You’ve gone as white as a sheet. What is wrong?’

Cassie forced her lips into a smile but it made her face feel strangely disconnected from her mind. ‘Nothing,’ she said in what she hoped sounded like an offhand manner. ‘I forgot what we were talking about. I was thinking about something else.’

He was still frowning at her. ‘Whatever you were thinking about must have been distressing for you,’ he said. ‘Was it something to do with your time in prison?’

Cassie sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. She was as close to crumbling as she had ever been, but some tiny rod of pride kept her spine upright. ‘You seem to be rather fascinated with my prison life,’ she speculated. ‘Is that because you harbour some sort of fantasy about an ex-criminal? Sex with someone from the slammer. It has a sort of ring to it, don’t you think?’

Sebastian felt his desire for her rise in his body with the force of an earthquake. It rumbled through him, it shook him, and above everything else—it challenged him.

He would have her
.

It didn’t matter how far apart their worlds were now. He would have her again to assuage this achingly tight need in his body that refused to go away. After all, wasn’t that the way she had played it with him in the past? She had teased him, led him on and on until he had been out of his mind with lust. It had all been a game to her, but he was going to play it by his own rules this time around, not hers.

Sebastian knew how her mind worked. She was as good as penniless now. Sure, she seemingly
enjoyed working at the orphanage, but the Cassie Kyriakis he had known six years ago would have turned her nose up at such menial, poorly paid work. He just couldn’t imagine her soothing sobbing infants or wiping dripping noses, much less changing dirty nappies. He even remembered her telling him at one point how she never wanted to have children, that she intended to spend her life constantly partying, making the most of the wealth her father had accumulated.

Sebastian hadn’t let it bother him too much at the time; he had dated plenty of rich young women with exactly the same mindset. And he had been well aware of his royal duty when the time came to find an impeccable wife who would willingly bear his royal heirs. Not for a moment had he thought Cassie Kyriakis a likely candidate… and yet…

Sebastian gave himself a stern mental shake. So what if his physical relationship with Cassie had for all these years since been unsurpassed? That did not necessarily mean there was no other woman out there who could not meet his needs in the same way or better. Anyway, it was only the deluded romantic fools of the world who claimed there was only one perfect soul mate for each person.

What utter nonsense!

Sebastian would show how misguided such a
philosophy could be. He was even prepared to bet he would be disappointed in a repeat performance with Cassie. Memories did that to you. They glorified the past until the real thing was often a letdown, making you wonder why you had craved it so assiduously in the first place.

God knew how many men she had opened her legs for since him. It coiled his gut with writhing, vicious vipers of jealousy to think of the men she had been with during the time they had been secretly conducting their affair. How could he know how many men she had given herself to?

Yes, it was perhaps sexist of him to judge her by different standards from his own, but she had
lied
to him, damn it! She had told him making love with him was the most amazing, out-of-this-world experience, and fool that he was he had believed her. How many other men had she gazed up at with those shining emerald eyes of hers, her lips swollen with passion, and said the very same thing?

‘Would you like some more water?’ Sebastian asked with no hint of what he had been thinking evident in his polite, solicitous tone.

‘No…thank you…’ Cassie said, placing her napkin down on the table. ‘The meal was delicious. Thank you for going to so much trouble. It has certainly raised the bar on any future picnics I might have in the future.’

‘It was nothing,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘I didn’t lift a finger. I wouldn’t know how to make a canapé if you paid me.’

There was a stretched-out silence with only the raging sea below to break it.
Boom…crash…
boom…crash…

‘What about coffee?’ Sebastian asked over the suddenly deafening sound of the waves against the shore. ‘Stefanos has arranged coffee and chocolates inside. I wanted to make the most of the sunset but the breeze has stiffened now the sun has gone down. You have goose bumps—would you like my jacket?’

Cassie didn’t like to tell him the pinpricks on her skin were from apprehension rather than cold, even though, as he had said, the breeze from the rough water below had only recently picked up its pace. She could see the galloping white horses of the waves, each one racing to crash against the shore in a foamy, almost angry wash against the rocks and sand. But before she could refuse the offer of his jacket he was on his feet and behind her chair, covering her shoulders in the warm citrus-scented folds of his coat.

Cassie felt as if she had just stepped into his skin, so intimate was the gesture, the light but firm touch of his hands on her shoulders as he set the jacket in place rendering her speechless
with longing for more of his touch. She breathed in the spicy fragrance, all of her senses suddenly hyper-vigilant, and her heart in very great danger of making the same mistake it had made six years before.

Sebastian escorted her on the short trip to the private royal residence, a massive villa with views from every vantage point. Stefanos was nowhere in sight, but Cassie assumed he had been given instructions to make himself scarce. She couldn’t help wondering with a jab of pain how many other times he had been issued with the same orders while Sebastian entertained other women.