Catharine & Edward

by Marianne Knightly

  “I think you’ll matter more than anything else has before.”

  “Catharine.”

  “Do I matter?”

  His voice was gruff and low. “I think you could, if you can accept the man I am, even if your family can’t. But your family is such a large part of you and your life. I could never be the man that separated you from them.”

  Cat looked away from him for a few moments, then turned back. “I’m thirty-five, Edward. I know I’m spoiled. I know I’m indulged. I have been since I was born.

  “I always thought I’d be married by now, have children I could spoil, too. I want more from my life.”

  “You deserve more, Catharine.”

  “I may not have a choice to find the type of man I deserve. My mother’s edict aside, I’m tired. Tired of being alone, even in a room full of people. I want a partner. If I have to settle for him, I will.”

  “Catharine–”

  “However,” she began quickly, “if I had you, I don’t think I would be settling. Not unless I wanted to settle for the best.”

  He released her hand and steered the car over to the side of the empty country road. He cupped her face in his hands, his dark brown eyes searing into hers. His long thumbs brushed her cheeks, and she covered his wrists with her hands to feel his pulse; it beat fast and true.

  “I’ll try, Catharine.”

  Hope spread fast and fierce within her.

  “I’ll try because if I had you, I know I’d have the best.”

  “Edward.”

  “You’re going to learn a lot about me, do you understand?” She nodded. “You may not like what you hear, but you tell me if that’s the case. You do not hide anything from me, all right?”

  She swallowed. “What if you misunderstand a reaction I have?”

  “I understand everything when it comes to you.” He brought her face to his for a deep, brutal kiss. His tongue swept inside and the heat in the car practically sweltered. When he withdrew, both of them panting, he said, “Don’t pull away from me, Catharine. I’ll give you anything I have in my power to give. Just don’t pull away until you’ve heard everything. Then, if you’re through with me, I’ll leave, and you’ll never see me again.”

  “Edward, I wouldn’t–”

  “And never make me a promise you can’t keep.”

  She clamped her mouth shut, and nodded.

  He nodded in return, his intense eyes raking over her gaze before he gave her a swift, slick kiss, then straightened in his seat.

  As he put the car in gear and began driving again, she hoped she could do what he asked.

  What was he hiding? What was so terrible in his past?

  It wouldn’t be long before she found out.

  Chapter Ten

  Edward turned onto the small country road that led to his sister’s house. Catharine didn’t know this, but the lands they’d passed for the last ten minutes all belonged to his family. He’d wanted to create a home for his sisters, one that was safe and secure.

  He hoped he’d finally accomplished that.

  There were sensors in the ground for miles around. His team – consisting of his closest, most trusted friends, which included his brother-in-law – monitored the area. They took security jobs from time to time, and they had even worked with the RPS on special cases.

  They were the best of the best. Marcello knew that; he wouldn’t have trusted his sister to them otherwise.

  Then again, Marcello probably wouldn’t have trusted Edward if he knew what he and Catharine were beginning to feel for each other.

  Even he was having trouble believing it.

  He turned the car once more, this time onto an unpaved driveway. A large vineyard sat behind the house and stretched for acres, while a large field of lavender did the same at the front of the house. His father had managed the vineyards, but never owned them. The first chance that came along, Edward had bought them, and the miles of lands surrounding them.

  Given what had happened here years ago, the property had been incredibly cheap and Edward had picked it up for a song.

  The land was the closest thing they had to their parents now.

  “How lovely,” Catharine breathed. “Your family has a beautiful home.”

  “Thanks,” he said as he stopped in front of the main house. It was a large, three-story home, and took its design from a typical French country house. A series of smaller buildings dotted the landscape – barns, a stable, work sheds, a large building used to dry the lavender after harvesting. Many more buildings related to wine production were scattered several acres away, and older, unused buildings as well.

  His friends helped on the farm, too.

  As they stepped from the car, the front door flew open and two little girls ran out. “Uncle Bash!”

  A broad grin split his face as he deftly picked up his five- and three-year-old nieces and swung them around in his arms. “How are my girls doing today? Did you miss me?”

  Their giggles filled their air. “Yes!”

  He couldn’t help his own joyful laugh; if his nieces laughed, he was usually not far behind.

  “My sister’s so big now, Uncle Bash,” the eldest, Marina, said. Her dark brown hair was in messy braids, and her eyes – which were a bright blue like her mother and grandmother’s – glittered in excitement.

  “I know I big,” Samantha, the three-year-old, said. Her dark blond hair flew free yet tangled, and her black eyes – which came from her father, along with her hair – rolled at her sister’s obvious statement.

  “I don’t mean you, silly. I mean the baby. That sister.”

  “The baby my sister, too,” Samantha said with an adorable pout.

  “She was my sister first.”

  “Nuh-uh. She my sister.”

  “She isn’t.”

  “Is, too!”

  “Isn’t.”

  “Is, too! Tell her Unca Bas.”

  His smile didn’t slip once through their arguing; God, but he’d missed it. He gave them both a kiss on the head, then set them down and kneeled to speak to them eye-to-eye. “I have a special treat for you two if you can stop arguing.”

  Marina started pumping her arms in the air, like she did when she was excited. Samantha, their bundle of energy, started jumping and clapping her hands. “Presents!” Sam shouted.

  “Something like that.” He stopped smiling and gave them his ‘serious’ face. “Now, I need you both to listen to me.”

  Marina looked at him wide-eyed. “Is the present a secret?”

  “It’s a really, really big secret, so you can’t tell anyone about it.”

  “I can keep a secret,” Marina said immediately.

  “So can I,” his little Sam said, not to be outdone.

  “Good, because I brought a friend to stay with me.” He pointed to Catharine, who looked amused as she watched him with his nieces.

  “Oh,” Marina said and ran over to her. “Are you his girlfriend?”

  Catharine’s mouth fell open. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly–”

  “Don’t you like Uncle Bash? Everyone does. Why don’t you like him?” Marina asked.

  “I do like him, of course I do, it’s just that–”

  “Then you should be his girlfriend. A boy asked me to be his girlfriend,” Marina said, and it looked as though Catharine was trying to hold back a laugh.

  Edward, however, was not laughing. She was five! “Boyfriend?” Edward growled to his sister and brother-in-law, who stood watching the scene from the front steps with bemused smiles.

  “But Papa said I was too young to be a girlfriend.”

  “Well, I’m sure your Papa knows best,” Catharine said.

  Sam had also run over to her. “How old are you?”

  “Oh, I don’t think that’s important,” Catharine said.

  “Papa said I can be a girlfriend when I’m thirty,” Marina said. “Are you thirty? Then you can be Uncle Bash’s girlfriend.”

  There was nothing for it
; even Edward burst out laughing along with the rest of the adults. “Girls, come here.” They ran back over to Edward. “Now, listen carefully. Are you listening?” They nodded.

  “Good. Because she – and remember, this is a secret – is a princess.”

  Both girls gasped. “A real princess?” Marina asked.

  “A real one. She’s one of Valleria’s princesses. That’s Princess Catharine.”

  “Wow,” the girls said.

  “Now, remember, this is a secret. You can’t tell anyone she’s here.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s a secret why she’s here. Can you keep a secret?”

  They both nodded. “I can keep a real good secret, Uncle Bash,” Marina said.

  “I can keep better than her,” Sam said.

  “Cannot.”

  “Can so!” Sam said, her tiny hands balled into fists at her hips.

  “I’m better,” Marina said, her stance mimicking Sam’s.

  “No, I better!”

  “All right, girls,” their mother said while she cradled her youngest daughter in her arms. “Inside, both of you.”

  “Uncle Bash, will you have a tea party with me?” Marina asked.

  “No, have one with me, Unca Bas,” Sam said.

  “My tea parties are better.”

  “No, mine better.”

  “No, mine.”

  “Mine!”

  “No, mine!”

  Edward put a hand on each of their shoulders. “Girls, I’ll have a tea party with both of you together, but only if you listen to your mother and go inside.”

  “I can listen,” Marina said and ran inside.

  “I listen better!” Sam said as she ran after her.

  Lisette walked over to him. “As you can see, nothing’s changed.”

  “Why would it?” Edward gave his sister a kiss on the cheek. “Lisette, allow me to introduce you to Her Royal Highness, Princess Catharine. My Lady, my sister Lisette, her husband Blake, and this little one,” he said as he lifted the baby into his arms, “is Abella, younger sister to Marina, who’s the oldest, and Samantha.”

  “It’s lovely to meet you all.” Catharine shook Lisette and Blake’s hands. “And, please, no formality. Just call me Catharine, or Cat, if you prefer. I can’t thank you enough for helping me. I know it must be an inconvenience.”

  “Not at all,” Lisette said, her smile genuine. “Come in and I’ll give you a quick tour. I say quick because it’s only a matter of time before the girls start fighting again or destroy something.”

  Cat laughed, the light sound seeming at home in the peaceful place. “Having three sisters myself, I can commiserate. We always drove each other – and our parents – crazy, but we loved each other like crazy, too.”

  Lisette’s smile broadened. “Just like my girls, then.” As they began walking inside, Cat noticed he and Blake weren’t following. “They’ve got manly things to discuss,” Lisette said. “Let’s leave them to it.” With a slight frown and a flash of worry in her eyes, she followed Lisette inside.

  Edward glanced down at Abella. She’d gotten so much bigger in just a few months. Her dark hair was covered by a soft knit cap in pale yellow. Her body was loose in its swaddle, her steady breaths coming through parted lips while she slept. Edward would need to visit more often or he’d miss everything.

  Or, if Catharine decided she couldn’t live with his past, he’d quit and come back home, working the farm and the odd security job when needs arose.

  “What’s the word?” Blake asked as he ran a hand through his messy blond hair. “Anyone follow you?”

  Edward shook his head, his eyes still taking in his niece. “Clean trip. The sensors catch me when we got close?”

  “Both ground and motion. We’ve got some in the fields, too, but with all the animals nearby, we set them a little less sensitively than the ones on the roads.”

  Edward looked up at Blake with narrowed eyes. “That’s exactly what some sick fuck will count on when they sneak in through the fields.”

  Anger flashed in Blake’s black eyes. “Give us a break. You think I’d do anything to put my family in danger?”

  Edward glanced down at Abella again; the little girl almost hadn’t made it into this world. “No. I know you wouldn’t put your family at risk.” He gave Abella a kiss on her impossibly soft cheek and she scrunched her nose at the intrusion in her sleep.

  Adorable. So adorable, he couldn’t help but smile.

  He tucked her close as Blake led them to one of the buildings. From the outside, it looked like a decent-sized work shed. Inside, however, it had a secret door that led to their command center, which was also accessible from a secret door and passage in the house.

  “Anything new on the threat?” Blake asked.

  “Nothing new since my last update. Once I check-in with Marcello, I’ll know more.”

  “Your princess is very pretty.”

  “She’s not my princess.”

  “She wants to be.” Edward gave Blake a long look, but he was undeterred. “I mean it, Bash. Lisette isn’t an idiot, either. She saw the way the princess looked at you, especially when you were with the girls.”

  “I defy anyone to not like these girls.”

  Blake smiled like the proud father he was as they entered the shed and accessed the secret door. “Yes, I would agree with you. Even when they’re fighting, they’re fucking adorable. Lisette hates it, though. When she’s trying to scold them for fighting, I’m usually just standing there with a big smile on my face.”

  Edward adjusted Abella, tucking her face onto his shoulder, as they walked down a small hallway. “The boys all here?”

  Blake nodded. “Luke and Gideon just finished up some work in Masillia for Prince Lorenzo. The RPS asked them to stay on longer. For what, RPS didn’t say, but we figure it was to help with coverage until the threat was over. We, however, mentioned that we had another job lined up already.”

  “Did the boys mention that job was the princess?”

  “Do you really have to ask?”

  He didn’t; he’d trust these men with his life, and his family’s. Now, he was also trusting them with Catharine’s.

  They passed a series of locked doors in the hall, accessible only to the correct people; they had installed fingerprint scanners there, similar to the ones in the palace. The hall ended in a ‘T’ and they went right, towards the main control room. Going left led them to the weapons room, holding rooms, conference rooms, and more.

  There was also a secure bunker underneath the floor that was quite extensive. Not as complete as the palace’s bunker, but it would do for him and his.

  The control room was a hub of activity. Screens covered three walls, and his top tech people – Zach and Louise, who went by Lou – watched the security feeds on some and scoured information on the others. Luke sat at the large table in the center of the room, his fingers flying fast over a keyboard hidden just underneath the table, and spoke in rapid French through his headset. Gideon was nowhere to be seen.

  Edward gave Abella another kiss, and placed her in the crib set in the corner of the room, shielded from the screens and room at-large. It was fair to say that Lisette felt that Blake should be involved as much as possible with the kids, including watching the baby so she could get some things done. The crib had been placed there when Marina had been born, and hadn’t yet left.

  He knew when it was time to remove it – Abella would be their last – even Edward would get emotional. Babies and war didn’t mix, but it was nice to be reminded that, in the middle of a war, the innocence and joy of a baby still existed in the world.

  He got a chin jerk of acknowledgement from Zach and Luke, and a smile from Lou. While Blake stepped behind Luke, Edward went over to the screens. “Everything clear?”

  “Crystal, Bash.” Lou pushed up her thick-rimmed glasses. “We caught you on the cameras as soon as you crossed the property line. No one’s followed and no one who’s passed
has pinged the system.”

  “Double check everything. Just because the surface looks good doesn’t mean the ground underneath is.”

  She tucked a strand of her pale blond hair, that was currently streaked with bright purple, behind her ear. “Sure thing, Bash. Princess getting settled?”

  Edward nodded, knowing his sister would make her feel at home. “I’ll introduce her to all of you before dinner tonight. Where’s Gideon?”

  “Inventory,” Zach piped up without turning from the screens in front of him. “Wants to make sure we’re covered.”

  Edward turned to Blake. “We use up a lot on the last job?”

  “Didn’t need much. Went mostly smooth as silk.”

  Gideon sauntered in and took a seat at the table, propping his feet on top. “Bash. You bring that hot looking princess with you?”

  Gideon was excellent at busting balls, but Edward wouldn’t let him mess with Catharine, even in jest. “Show her some respect.”

  Gideon raised an eyebrow. “Would if I knew how.”

  Edward walked over and batted Gideon’s feet off the table. “Why don’t I teach you?”

  “Please do.” Gideon shot up from his chair and got in Edward’s face. Where he was tall and lean, Gideon was thick and burly; both were muscular and could take each other down. Usually, their fighting was playful. Now, however, with a sick bastard out for Catharine, he was in no mood to play.

  “Boys,” Blake said in an even voice. “We’ve got work to do and a baby in the room. Save it for later.”

  Edward waited for Gideon to back down first, which he always did. Not because he wasn’t up for the fight, but because he would never win a staring contest. He didn’t have the patience for it.

  After Gideon sat down again – feet firmly on the ground this time – Edward touched the built-in screen on the table and brought up a secure connection to the palace mainframe. After a few taps, he had the latest notes from Marcello.

  Blake frowned. “Looks like RPS brought Muffy in for questioning.”

  Gideon scanned the interrogation notes. “Kind of a dick move, if you ask me. Whoever Muffy’s working with is bound to find out.”

  Edward looked through the rest of the missive from Marcello, but saw little else about Muffy. “They will find out, and that might accelerate their timeline. Maybe that’s why RPS brought her in, to finish this off faster.”