file.
This was what she’d wrecked.
The trade agreement would have created thousands of jobs, made countless lives better. She’d jeopardised all those lives to save one.
Caught between the fresh vice of guilt and the loyalty that wouldn’t be snuffed out, she wrapped her arms around herself. Then, unable to sit still, she jumped up.
‘Let me help. Please...’
Four sets of eyes slashed to her. Condemnation. Bitterness. Curiosity. Contemptuous dismissal. All expressions she’d seen before displayed through varied gazes when she was growing up.
Seeing most of those in Reyes’s eyes, she felt a lance of hurt pierce her heart.
What had she expected? That he would simply forget that she was the reason he was here, now, instead of back in his kingdom?
She cleared her throat as their gazes continued to sear her. ‘I’ve assisted in a few international brokerage deals that—’
‘Excuse me, Miss...?’ Costanzo Alvarez glared at her.
She bit back a retort and breathed deep. ‘Jasmine Nichols,’ she replied.
He gave a curt nod. He looked at the youngest advisor at the table. The man gave a subtle nod and started tapping the tablet keyboard in front of him.
‘What we’re dealing with here isn’t a petty squabble between two fashion houses. Or a divorce settlement where you decide who gets to keep the prized goldfish. We’re dealing with—’
‘I know what you’re dealing with,’ she retorted.
‘Then perhaps you should sit down and—’
‘Let her speak.’ A low, terse command from Reyes.
Jasmine looked at him. His eyes were narrowed, displeasure weaving through the grey depths. But he wasn’t displeased enough to instruct her to be quiet, which was a small blessing. Or perhaps he was waiting for her to make a fool of herself so he could mock her some more?
She licked her lips.
His gaze followed the movement. Electricity zapped her spine as she recalled how the potency of his kisses, the expert way he’d ravaged her, made her yearn for more.
‘Have you changed your mind? Or do you wish for a dictionary to find the right words?’
She snapped herself free of the mesmerising, surely overblown, memory and struggled to focus. If she managed to prove her worth, maybe redeem herself a little in this room, she could begin to right the wrong she’d done.
‘The previous treaty was skewed in favour of Valderra, we all know that. And yet Mendez never went through with it.’
‘He didn’t go through with it because the only copy of the Santo Sierran version, which had been witnessed by the King and legalised by each member of the council, went missing. To this day we do not know what happened to it.’
Jasmine’s gaze snapped to Reyes.
The clear warning in his eyes stilled any words she’d been thinking of speaking. Fighting to keep her composure, she faced the council as Alvarez continued. ‘And also because he’s propelled by greed, but at the moment he holds all the cards.’
Jasmine shook her head. ‘He holds all the cards because you choose to hide away in the dark.’
‘Excuse me?’ Reyes rasped.
An icy shiver raced across her skin but she persevered.
‘Why don’t you just call his bluff?’
‘I won’t gamble my kingdom’s economic future on a bluff, Jasmine. If the choice were mine to make, I’d cut him off at the knees. But I can’t do that. Not yet.’
The sound of her name on his lips produced another shiver. One that stalled her breath and made her lose her train of thought.
Jasmine frowned. ‘So...what’s the alternative?’
Silence descended on the table. The hairs on her nape stood up and Jasmine had a sense of foreboding so strong, she stumbled back and sank into her chair.
Reyes locked eyes with each member of his council before linking his fingers together. Poised, regal, his profile was so captivating, she couldn’t have looked away if she’d tried. But she still knew she didn’t want to hear what he was about to say.
‘Unless another solution is forthcoming, or a new treaty is negotiated in the next few weeks, it seems my solution is to buy time by finding myself a bride.’
‘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.
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