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‘So you are both as proud and as stubborn as each other!’ Casimiro snapped

‘So it would see your leave, Your Majesty The car will be arriving for ain, sire’ Her voice wavered a little at this ‘And I wish you a long and glorious reign’

With this she gave a quick curtsey before hurrying back to her roonation bubbling up The King expected her to go and seek forgiveness fro to love a ive her in return

Her hands were tre in her case before sla it shut, but at least the fury she now felt helped dull some of the pain

But there was no for marble staircase into the lavishly tiled marble entrance hall Just Flavia, whose own smile of fareas as cool as if Cathy had been introduced to her only minutes before But Flavia was an aide who had spent all her life defusing emotion—because that hat royal life demanded of its players Cathy knew that It was the downside to all the jewels and fawning And I never wanted that, she told herself fiercely All I ever wanted was Xaviero—and he coh a price

Outside sat the li a soft roar of life when she appeared, and Cathy gave one last look around the beautiful courtyard, trying to iht, fragrant blooms The fountain which pluht blue sky and soft heat of the sun—as golden as the eyes of a et

Grateful for the sunglasses which shielded her bri eyes, Cathy slid into the back seat as the car pulled away She could just sink back into its air-conditioned luxury and say nothing until they reached the airfield and the plane which would take her back to England

And then?

She didn’t know and, at this moment, she didn’t particularly care She felt like a small animal which had wandered into a trap and escaped ounds which ht never heal

Painfully, she watched the city walls retreating, the wide roads leading to the airport growing suddenly narrower, and she frowned The driver was obviously taking a different route from the one by which she’d arrived

She didn’t knohen exactly it was that she began to get alaran to bump its way up a dusty road which looked as if it led to nowhere, and then stopped co on?