shook her head. ‘It doesn’t contain any alcohol.’
Jasmine picked up the drink and took a sip. Different textures exploded on her tongue, the dominant one a tangy sweetness that sent a delicious chill down her spine. ‘Wow.’
Isabella smiled and sipped her own peach-tinged drink. She drifted out onto the terrace, and she stood staring at the horizon.
Lights came on as darkness fell and her thoughtful gaze rested over the view of San Domenica. ‘In case you’re wondering, I’m really pleased about your wedding to my brother. The council is right. We need a boost of good news. We’ve lived with doom and gloom since Mamá died.’ She shook her head. ‘I know I followed my heart in not marrying Alessandro, but I had been wondering lately if I took the selfish route.’
Jasmine shook her head. ‘You would’ve caused each other too much pain in the end. Once the rose shades come off, relationships are an uphill struggle of hard work.’ Especially without love.
‘Are you speaking from experience?’
Despite her subtle probing, Jasmine warmed to Isabella. The princess had an open, honest face that went with her take-no-prisoners attitude.
‘I watched my mother turn herself inside out for men who didn’t deserve her love.’
Isabella’s mouth pursed. ‘My mother had all the love a man could give a woman, yet she went searching for more. Over and over, and in the wrong places. My father has never overcome the knowledge that he wasn’t enough for her.’
‘One-sided love is just as hard to keep up as no love at all.’ Her heart lurched as she said the words, but Jasmine refused to examine why too deeply. She was too scared to find out. She went to take another sip and realised she’d finished the cocktail. The servant stepped forward with another. She smiled her thanks, took it, and turned back to the view.
‘How is your father?’
Isabella looked towards the south wing of the palace, and sadness cloaked her face. ‘He’s hanging in there. I don’t mean to sound callous and it’ll break my heart when it happens, but I just wish he’d let go. I want him to find peace—’
‘Isabella!’
She jumped at the admonishing voice.
Reyes stood behind them, his face more thunderous than it had been before.
‘I’m...sorry, mi hermano, but you know I’m right.’
Reyes’s fists bunched. ‘If those are the sorts of views you choose to share with Jasmine, then perhaps you should consider eating dinner on your own.’
Eyes widening, Isabella gulped. Then her face closed with rebellion. ‘Fine. I think I will.’
Before Jasmine could draw breath, the princess had stormed off.
Her gaze collided with Reyes’s. ‘Upsetting women seems to be your speciality. Are you sure you don’t want to relocate to a faraway monastery and live the rest of your life as a monk?’
His expression lightened a touch. Grey eyes surveyed her from top to toe before they lingered at the drink in her hand. ‘The silence I can probably handle. The chastity would unfortunately be a deal-breaker. How many of those have you had?’ He nodded to her drink.
‘This is my second one. Isabella recommended it. That local fruit...santosanda? It’s delicious.’
‘It is, but did she mention that, once fermented, it’s also a powerful aphrodisiac?’ he asked silkily.
REYES WATCHED HER eyes widen in shock, before a flush of awareness reddened her cheeks. She glanced at the drink, then back to him.
‘No, she didn’t!’ Her voice had grown huskier. She blinked slowly as she passed her tongue over her plump lower lip.
Dios, had she even noticed the effects taking hold of her?
She’d been languidly caressing the lip of her glass for the last several minutes. And her nipples were hard and clearly outlined beneath her dress.
Reyes swallowed. ‘I think you’ve had enough,’ he rasped. He took the half-empty glass and handed it to the hovering waiter. Picking up two glasses of water, he thrust one into her hand.
‘Umm...thanks.’
He nodded tersely.
Walking onto the terrace, he’d been hit between the eyes again by her stunning beauty. So much so, he’d stood frozen while her conversation with Isabella had unravelled.
It wasn’t until his sister’s utterance that he’d shaken off the red haze of lust that seemed to enclose him when he was around Jasmine.
Watching her now, he recalled what she’d said to him before they’d landed in Santo Sierra.
And the resulting tailspin his emotions had been flung in. Once he’d been able to draw breath, he’d tried to analyse his reaction. Yes, the knowledge of Jasmine’s pregnancy had been the catalyst that had driven everything forward. But he could just as easily have maintained the initial date of his wedding. He was a modern enough man to admit the distance between his wedding day and his heir’s birthday didn’t bother him. And he was sure it didn’t bother Jasmine.
So why had he been intent on rushing her to the altar?
He’d tried and failed to convince himself it was because of his need to make his people happy. A week’s difference wouldn’t have mattered. Neither did it matter that Jasmine’s past would be an issue once it became public knowledge. Unlike his mother’s behaviour, Jasmine’s reasons for her unfortunate past were a result of trying to survive her horrific circumstances. He was sure his people would forgive once they knew.
Just as he’d forgiven her? Just as he suspected his reasons for marrying were more selfish than he wanted to admit to himself?
Reyes thrust his balled fists into his pocket, willed the confusing emotions away, but they returned stronger. More demanding.
He didn’t do feelings. Hadn’t let any in, except maybe for his father, since he’d thrown Anaïs out of his life, and then stood at his mother’s graveside mere months later.
But Jasmine was making him feel. Making him want...no, need. As for the thought that his child was growing in her belly...it pounded him with terrifyingly powerful emotions every time it blazed across his mind.
Would the mistakes that he’d made with his own father affect his child? Was failure emblazoned in his blood for ever?
More and more he’d found himself wanting to take Jasmine’s example. She had found a way out of the barren wasteland of not having anyone to lean on, anyone to trust. But she’d let herself trust, allowed her faith in the goodness of humanity to be restored. Despite the harrowing experience of juvenile detention and a mother who clearly wasn’t equipped for the job, she’d found herself back
