Princess in the Iron Mask - By Victoria Parker Page 0,33

eyes. ‘Calm yourself. A car will pull up at the bottom of the steps. Let them see the beautiful Princess has returned home. Hold your head high.’

‘No. They’ll follow us...’ She blinked at a flash. A memory. A noose wrapped around her heart tugged, choking the life out of her. How had she forgotten about that? ‘Like before...’ The car. The plink and flash of cameras. Her mother. The screaming. ‘I think I’m going to throw up.’

His expression grew dark and as taut as the fingers cradling her face. ‘Before?’

Throat burning, she gave a little shake of her head. Unwilling, unable to go back, revisit.

After a few beats he sighed. ‘They cannot pass the enclosure. We will not be followed.’ His voice turned fierce, indomitable. ‘I promise you. I am here. You are safe. I will not let anything happen to you.’

Claudia closed her eyes. God, she wanted his lips on hers. He made her forget everything. Lucas made her feel safe.

Her eyes snapped open. ‘And what happens when you drop me off at the palace and leave me there?’

Hands sliding from her cheeks, his gaze drifted to some place over her right shoulder. So strange that he was still right in front of her and yet it was as if he’d physically left. Leaving a numb sensation climbing up her spine. Because wasn’t that always the way?

‘You will have the best guards,’ he said, his powerful voice blazing with conviction, an oath written in blood. ‘I swear it.’

Everything inside her rebelled. ‘No. I want you. Only you. You brought me here.’ And he could damn well stick with her.

Reticence engulfed him, sharpening the air. ‘Very well,’ he said, his hand fisting against the tabletop as if the very idea was anathema to him. ‘I will be in charge of your full security.’ His gaze flicked back to hers. ‘Yes?’

She slouched back into her seat. ‘Yes. Okay. I’ll stay with you.’

‘What?’ he said, his thunderous voice caroming around the cabin.

‘That’s the deal. Surely you have a house...a spare room?’

‘You cannot be serious!’

‘Deadly,’ she said, switching off her pride button—a surprisingly easy feat when she considered the alternative. ‘You take me with you or you turn this plane around.’

‘Dios, Claudia, it is not appropriate. Have you lost your mind?’ he asked, incredulity contorting his features as if he was staring at a scary mad person.

It was a look that made her falter. Was she crazy? To ask for shelter under his roof. Yearning for his touch the way she did?

But after four hours cooped up on a plane she’d had time to put their kiss to rest. Clearly Lucas wasn’t interested, and in three weeks she would have her life back. That was all she wanted. Her freedom. Until then she needed to feel safe. And, without knowing how or why, she trusted him with her life.

‘We’ve just spent the last two days together,’ she said. ‘Was that appropriate?’

‘Sí. We were in a different country. And your father expects you at the palace.’

‘Just tell him I’m awkward and selfish and I need a little time. Nothing but the truth. Right?’

‘Right.’

His eyes plummeted to her mouth and she watched them ignite, flare into a sapphire blaze. An answering heat unfurled deep down in her core even as she told herself he was simply vexed with her.

His words, the way he ground them out, confirmed her suspicions. ‘The answer is still no. What you ask is impossible.’

Claudia lurched as the jet came to a dead stop. Reeled at the sight of a world long forgotten. Glanced at the harsh Mediterranean sun bouncing off the asphalt. Grappled with her shirtsleeves, pulling at the soft silk, desperate to be covered. ‘What you asked of me yesterday morning was impossible in my mind, Lucas,’ she said, the pit of despair gaping wider. ‘Yet here I am. So, you see, nothing is impossible.’

From the corner of her eye she watched him flex his neck, his wide chest heave.

‘We cannot always have what we desire, Claudia,’ he bit out.

‘Fine.’ She pinned her spine to the seat and pulled the cord on her belt to cinch the black strap nice and tight. ‘Refuel and take me home. Your mission is unaccomplished. Because I’m not getting off this plane.’

He raked his hands through his gorgeous sable hair and the silence stretched to a thick oppression. One she couldn’t seem to breathe through.

One of the male flight attendants swerved towards them and Lucas hollered, ‘Go the hell away.’ So loud Claudia