BOUND BY DUTY CLAIMED BY DESIRE

Untitled Episode

CHAPTER FIVE

Rafael was in his bedroom, the phone rang in his ear.

He stood with one extended, resting his hand on the folded wooden sash window. From where he stood, he could see the gardens.

At the other end of the phone line, Rafael's brother was speaking.

What do you mean, she won't give him up? She's nothing more than his aunt, what right does she have?‘ A watertight legal one, replied Rafael dryly.

There was a pause . Then Luca spoke.

‘She wants more money, will I get it?’. His voice was sharp.

‘The boy is only her nephew’, his brother insisted.

‘She raised him as her son, and he regards her as his mother.

Which legally, she is.

She adopted him at birth and if she does not want to part with him, we have to accept that’.

There's nothing we can do about that. We may not like it, but that's the way it is.

Our only way forward is for her to live in San Valderra with the boy.

I have to persuade her of that, and I will do my best to do so.

I'll report back to our father. He won't like that.

Rafael could almost hear Lucian shrug. “ Look, I'll phone you back.

The line went dead. Rafael's gaze dropped again on the figure playing on the lawn below with Ben. She was wearing some kind of grey tracksuit, baggy and shapeless, and her frizzy hair was tied back in an unflattering bunch.

She really was extraordinarily unappealing.

Rafael stared at his brother. He had been summoned back to San Valderra the following morning, and now that he was there, Lucian dropped a bombshell on him.

This is a joke, right? And as such, it isn't funny.

‘It would solve the problem we are facing’.

Are you mad? It's not a question of solving problems, this is about my life.

And I'm not about to sacrifice it for the reasons you think I should.’

‘ It’s hardly a permanent sacrifice. Besides, I thought you said you love the boy.

‘That doesn't mean I have to be the sacrificial lamb’.

‘Yes,I understand. But listen, Rafael, what other option is there?

She's the legal guardian of Rico's son.

You are saying that the only way for us to have Pablo's son is to have her as well, but how?

‘Damn you for this, Lucian’.

Lucian raised his eyebrows. ‘ Damn me all you like, but do this for us all,' he retorted coldly.

The sleek, powerful car ate up miles between the airfield and the rented house. But for Rafael, it was too slow.

He wanted to drive faster, much faster.

‘You’re doing it for the boy,’says Octavio. ‘And for your late brother’.

Keep reminding me of that too, says Rafael.

Ben greeted him excitedly, rushing to him with a cry of pleasure.

Rafael scooped him up. The boy's little arms circled around his neck, his sturdy boy strong against Rafael's chest.

Gently, he lowered his nephew to the ground. His eyes slid past him to the figure standing there, looking out of place as she always did.

She looked worse than ever. Her skin had gone mottled, and her hair seemed frizzier than ever. She was wearing faded cotton trousers and a fit top.

Revulsion raised through him.

‘How have you been?’ he asked.

She gave a half shrug and didn't quite meet his eyes. She never did, he realized.

‘How did your father take it?’ she asked.

“ The fact I won't let Ben be parted from me'?

He looked at her.

‘Another way of resolving the situation has been arrived at’.

Anything involving taking Ben from me is.

He held up a hand, silencing her.

That will not happen.

‘This is not the right place to discuss the matter’.

He cast a look at Ben, who had gone back to his toys, to rearrange some things. ‘Have you dined?’

She pressed her lips together. ‘ I ate with Ben,’she said.

It saves the form doing two meals. ’

Out of the corner of his eyes, Rafael saw Ben's aunt slip away.

He settled down to play with his nephew. It was a lot easier when she wasn't around.

Ben was asleep, drifting off even as she finished reading his bedtime story to him.

But tonight, she had to go downstairs again, and face the prince.

Grimly, she left the door to the bedroom ajar, letting in light from the landing, and then headed downstairs.

She was shown into the room, and the prince was already there. He had a glass of brandy in his hand, Elena noticed.

She also noticed something else. Something she instantly did her best to suppress, and yet it was impossible.

Impossible for her and every other women in the world.

Impossible to ignore that he is the most drop-dead gorgeous male she'd ever seen.

Embarrassment flushed through her. It seemed wrong to be so aware of his ridiculous good looks.

He turned as she advanced into the room, and his eyes rested on her.

‘Willn’t you sit down?

Awkwardly, Elena lowered herself on to the sofa.

He started to speak.

‘I know you have found it very hard to accept what has happened,’ he began, his voice slow and careful.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he hadn't finished.

‘ Hear me out. Before you say anything, hear me out.

‘ There is no easy way out of this situation. But a way does exist. And that is what I'm going to propose to you.

He started blankly into the face of the woman sitting opposite him. A woman who was a complete stranger,But to whom he had to say the following words.

‘We will get married,’ said Rafael.

She didn't move. That was the most unnerving thing of all.

She went on sitting there, hands clenched in her lap, face white.

Rafael felt his gut tighten. Has he really just said what he had?

Why wasn't she responding? She hadn't moved, not a muscle.

A spurt of anger went through him. Did she imagine this was easy for him?

‘You’re’, she said, and there was something wrong with her voice, ‘ completely mad.'

‘ Not mad, he said repressively, ‘ just stating the facts.

Sit down again, if you please.

She sat. Rafael got the feeling it was not to obey him, but because her legs wouldn't hold her upright.

‘ If you marry me, he began, many problems will disappear.

Ben is a royal prince of the House of Valderra, and he must be raised as such. He cannot be raised in a country, and he cannot be raised by you alone.

‘ If you marry me, this problem would immediately disappear.

‘I appreciate’, he began, in the same deliberate fashion, ‘that you may find this hard to comprehend. Let anyone accept but…’

‘ How can you say it? How can you even say it? You can't sit there and say something like that.

Abruptly, he held up a hand.

‘ It’s a matter of expenditure, that is all.

She sat there, looking as if he'd just hit her over the head with a sledgehammer.

It's impossible.'

Her eyes were flaring wi

The emotions. What I'm saying is that it's insane. It's Gruesome !

Rafael's expression froze