CHAPTER NINE

      ‘BUT...THERE HAS to be another way!’

      Reyes stared at Jasmine. Her lips were pressed together after her outburst.

      ‘Miss Nichols—’

      Reyes held up his hand to stop his second advisor. ‘Go on,’ he said to Jasmine. His curiosity was getting the better of him by the minute. If what she was proposing was better than the idea of marrying a faceless stranger in order to maintain peace, he was all for it.

      His one attempt to marry had left harrowing scars that he would never forget. Until his sister, Isabella, had dissolved her engagement recently, Reyes had accepted that he would rule Santo Sierra in his lifetime, then let his sister’s heirs inherit the throne.

      But once again, the mantle was firmly on his shoulders.

      ‘What if we can prove that he was behind the treaty going missing?’

      Reyes surged to his feet, knocking the chair over. ‘Gentlemen, give me the room.’

      His men continued to stare at Jasmine with varying degrees of astonishment and suspicion. He slammed his hand on the table. ‘Now!’

      They scrambled up and hurried out.

       ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’

      She jumped back at his bellow. ‘I’m trying to help.’

      He speared a hand through his hair. ‘By putting yourself in the crosshairs of a dangerous man?’ he demanded.

      ‘But this is your council...’

      ‘Some of whom are set in their ways and don’t welcome the sort of changes I hope to implement when I ascend to the throne.’

      She frowned. ‘And you think if they know...?’ She stopped and gulped.

      ‘Until I know who I can trust, I’m not prepared to take that risk with your life.’ The knowledge that she’d almost given herself away greatly agitated him. He paced in front of her, trying to decipher why protecting her meant so much to him.

      From the corner of his eye, he watched her reach out.

      ‘Reyes—’

      ‘No, don’t defy me on this, Jasmine. I won’t change my mind. I can’t have another destroyed life on my conscience.’ The words tumbled out.

      They both froze. He saw the shock rocking through him reflected on her face.

      ‘What...what do you mean?’ Her voice was whisper-thin, puzzled.

      He chopped off her question with a flick of his hand. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ He took a deep breath to regain the balance he seemed to lose so easily around her. ‘I’m calling the council back. You’ll refrain from mentioning what happened in Rio. Am I clear?’

      For the first time since he’d known her, she nodded readily.

      He strode to the door, shock still rocking his system. His men came back. They tossed ideas around half-heartedly, until he clenched his fist.

      ‘Gentlemen, we need to discuss the subject of my bride.’

      Jasmine made a rough noise of disagreement. He ignored her. Looking at her would remind him of what he’d let slip. Remind him how easily she got under his skin.

      ‘Well, in a way your current trade visits are a good way of introducing any prospective brides to the people. But...’ Alvarez cleared his throat ‘...you need to be a little less closed off, Your Highness.’

      ‘Excuse me?’

      ‘I think any further visits should be less clandestine. The people need to see their prince embracing life a little. Remind them that you’re flesh and blood, and not a fairy-tale figure locked away in an ivory tower.’

      Reyes pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Are you saying my discretion is a flaw?’

      ‘I’m saying the people don’t really know you. You brought Santo Sierra right up to the treaty table after your father fell ill, but the fact remains that the finish line was never crossed. And Santo Sierrans aren’t quite sure how to take that. You don’t want to estrange yourself from the people.’

      Fury bubbled beneath his skin. Beside him, Jasmine’s tension slammed into him. Her face was clouded with a mixture of displeasure and misery. When her eyes met his, he glimpsed regret in them.

      ‘So you’re saying whatever I do, the people won’t be satisfied until they have me pressing the flesh, kissing babies with a promise of a royal wedding and an heir to swoon over?’ Reyes couldn’t suppress his sneer. The thought of putting himself out there, to be prodded and gawped over by the media, turned his stomach.

      Alvarez knew Reyes’s personal history and how he felt about the media. But his councillor nodded warily. ‘That would be one way to reassure the people, yes.’

      Gathering his fraying control, he turned back to his men. ‘And there’s no chance of presenting them with a royal wedding via Isabella?’ He tried for one last ounce of a reprieve. ‘Perhaps we can still rescue the situation with her ex-betrothed if we move fast enough...’

      He stopped when Costanzo shook his head. ‘Her fiancé declared he didn’t want anything to do with Her Highness any longer after she broke things off. We had to pay his family reparations for the cancelled engagement. They won’t reconsider Her Highness as a suitor.’

      ‘Dios!’