“With who? Philip?” Marcello and Alex winced. “Or someone like him?”
Alex shook his head. “Cat–”
“No. You do not get to decide who I love.” She faced Eddie. “I love him. I love him so much.”
“I love you, too,” Eddie said gruffly.
Alex looked somber. “That’s not always enough. I’m sorry, but it’s true. To be a royal spouse, you need more than love.”
“We’ve got passion, too, don’t worry,” Cat said. “Lots of it.”
Alex looked to ceiling, as if trying to hold himself in check, then turned to Eddie. “You were supposed to be protecting my sister, not fucking her.”
“Alexander!” Genevieve said from the doorway. “Watch your language. Your sister’s injured.”
“I’m about to injure her former bodyguard.”
“Why?” Genevieve walked in, catching the pair in a locked embrace. “Oh. That’s why.”
“You’ll step away from my daughter right this instant,” Gabriel said from just behind Genevieve.
Eddie gave her a small smile, then let go.
It was one thing to ignore an order from her brothers.
It was another thing entirely to ignore an order from your king.
Though he let go, Eddie still stood near her and Cat slid off the bed to stand by him.
They were in this together now.
For better or worse.
“Papa, please listen to me.”
“Not another word, Catharine.”
“Papa–”
“Not. One. Word.”
Cat’s lips clamped shut. Over the years, there had been only a few times she’d seen him angry. Usually only her mother and Alex saw him in that state.
Now she could see why.
His entire body – from the tips of his salt-and-pepper mustache to the laces on his boots – was stock still. Rigid. At attention, as though he were still proving his worth in the military.
Alex stood like that sometimes, too.
As the icy edge of fear slithered into her belly, she shifted closer to Eddie.
Her protector.
Her lover.
Her fiancé.
Fiancé!
Just being near him gave her strength, let her find the strength she needed to face this.
She’d made her choice: Eddie. Now, it was time to answer for that choice.
“I love him, Papa.”
Eddie cleared his throat. “I love her, as well, Your Majesty.”
The entire room waited for Gabriel.
No one moved.
It seemed as though no one breathed.
Genevieve put a light hand on Gabriel’s arm. “Let me talk to our daughter.”
“Genevieve,” Gabriel began, his voice low and rumbling.
“Please? While I speak with Catharine, you can speak with Edward.”
Gabriel seared Edward with a long, disapproving look. “Fine. Marcello, escort him to an empty room. I’m going to take a walk to calm down first.”
Cat swallowed and clutched Eddie’s hand.
“I’m coming, too,” Alex said, his eyes locked on their joined hands.
Marcello walked over and tugged on Eddie’s arm, dislodging his hand from Cat’s. “Come on, Bash. Time to face the music.”
“In a minute.” Eddie turned to Cat. “I love you.”
A small amount of fear slid away. “They won’t harm you.”
“Yes, we will,” Alex and Marcello said together.
Cat shot them a stony glare, then softened when she turned back to Edward. “I love you, too.”
He gave her a brief, hard kiss that sent her toes curling. Before she could recover, he’d stepped away and was heading out of the room, Alex and Marcello on his heels.
The door closed again, this time leaving Cat with her mother. Genevieve looked, as always, stylish and graceful. Cat emulated those traits as much as she could, with her own unique flair.
However, she wasn’t sure they’d help her now.
“So,” Genevieve began, as she took Cat’s hand and they both sat on the bed, “you’re in love with Edward.”
“Yes.” Her voice was small, as though she was three years old again and she’d just been caught sneaking sweets from the kitchens. “I really do love him. I’ve cared for him for quite some time. We just ignored our feelings for each other until recently.”
“You’ve not been kind to him.”
Cat blinked. “What? I’ve always been nice to him. I never–”
“By encouraging a relationship, you’ve done him a disservice. What do you think your father’s doing in that other room right now? What do you think your brothers are doing? They’re not welcoming him into the family.”
“Well, they should!”
Genevieve sighed. “This whole situation isn’t about him. It’s mostly about you, and about how they found out about the pair of you.” She put a palm to her daughter’s cheek. “They adore you, as you know. You were our little surprise. The country’s surprise. Everyone’s doted on you. We couldn’t help it.”
“I know that. I love it.”
“It was never going to be easy for your father to let you go. He had a tough time at Arianna’s wedding; none of you children know how hard that was for him, to let his baby go, leaving not only the family, but Valleria as well.”
Genevieve sighed and dropped her hand. “You, however, were always going to be the toughest. Your father will never give you away to anyone he doesn’t feel is deserving of you.”
Her gut clenched. The bleakness of a wedding with no one to give her away fluttered through her mind, but she pushed it back.
Her family loved her. They would support her choice. She’d make damn sure of it. “Papa will come to understand. Eddie’s a good man.”
“He’s a commoner,” Genevieve reminded her.
“So are you. So is Rebecca. So is Grace.”
“Edward is significantly more rough around the edges than any of us girls are, and has a much darker past.”
“You know about that?”
She nodded. “I made it a point to learn more about him after he took a bullet for you. Your father knows, too. I just want you to be sure. You’ve never been in a long-term relationship. Are you sure it’s love?”
Cat paused as she thought over her and Eddie’s time together. “Yes, Mama, I’m sure. He needs me, Mama. And I need him.”
Genevieve gave her daughter a soft smile. “Yes, I can see by your eyes that you mean it. Why didn’t you come to us sooner with this? Or even to me? I could have helped with your father. And, I confess, I was worried for a minute that this might have been some ruse to deal with my edict to you.”
Cat looked away, then back. “I thought about faking an engagement, Mama, I did. That edict, I suppose in my head I can understand it, but I don’t know if I ever will in my heart.”
Tears flooded Genevieve’s eyes. “I only wanted you to be happy, to be taken care of. To know love as I do. Your father was never very comfortable with the whole thing.”
“Neither was I,” Cat muttered.
“I know now it was wrong. You needn’t ever get married if you don’t want to, not even to Edward.”
“Eddie and I have been dancing around this for two years, Mama. Something happened between us a few months ago at the Holiday Ball, and it’s been growing between us ever since.
“You should know that I was the one who pushed us in the beginning. Eddie knew the challenges we’d face from the family, the press, all of it. He didn’t think he was good enough for me.”
Genevieve quirked an eyebrow. “Didn’t he? Well, then perhaps he is worthy of you. He’s certainly not naïve, in any case.”
“Do you really think Papa and the boys will hurt Eddie?”
“I think they’ll do everything I’m doing now, making sure you’re happy and that he could keep you so.”
“Oh, Mama.” Cat hugged her mother, her face pillowed against her familiar, soft shoul
der. “I’m so tired.”
Genevieve brushed back a lock of Cat’s hair, then began to run a comforting hand down her back. “Tired of what?”
“So much. My duties, for one. I need a break, and I’d like to take that time with Eddie.”
“Edward’s job – if he still has one once your father is through with him – is here in the palace. What would you do?”
She bit her lip for a few moments, considering, then decided now was as good a time as any. “Start my own fashion line? I wanted to once. I’d like to try, even if it turns out to be a complete disaster.”
She kissed the crown of her daughter’s hair. “You’ll be brilliant at anything you do.”
“You wouldn’t mind if I took a break?”
“No, of course not. Everyone needs a break.” Genevieve sighed. “Unless you’re speaking about your father and I. Kings and queens don’t get vacations, you know.”
“You’re really okay with all of this? Eddie and me? Everything?”
“Your father will see reason. It may take him a while, but he’ll see it. He loves you. He wants you to be happy.”
Cat stared at the door, wondering what was happening in the other room.
Chapter Nineteen
Eddie listened while all three men in front of him berated him, and questioned his judgement, his morals, and his manhood. Only the thought of his Catharine, likely enduring something similar from her mother, held his emotions in check.
Well, that and the fact the king himself was in the room.
He wanted to punch both Marcello and Alexander. One could get a punch in the face, the other would get one in his balls.
He hadn’t decided who was getting which yet.
Of course, even Eddie knew that you just didn’t punch the king’s sons while he was in the room. So, he’d wait for his chance.
“You don’t deserve my sister.” That was Marcello, the judge in the room. Eddie decided right then Marcello should get his balls punched.
“Abso-fucking-not,” said Alexander, the jury. Eddie wondered if people would notice if their future king had a black eye.
“You’re finished. You’re fired and banned from Valleria,” said King Gabriel, the executioner.
Too bad punching a king was tantamount to treason. “Before you make a hasty declaration, I suggest you speak to Catharine.”
“You’ll stay away from her,” Alexander said. “My sister shouldn’t have to see you again. I cannot believe you used her like this.”
Ding, ding, ding. They had a winner; Alexander should definitely get punched in the balls.
“Just wait a fucking minute,” Eddie said, anger making him forget not to curse with Gabriel in the room. “You want to say shit to me, say it. But you do not demean Catharine, or paint her to be some flighty female. We love each other. Something I thought the three of you had some experience with.”
Three sets of shoulders stiffened, but Eddie continued. “I’ve laid my life on the line for her, and I’d do it again. I do that for the people I love, whether or not I’m being paid to do it.” Eddie looked Marcello in the eye. “You know enough of my history to know that’s true.”
Eddie’s eyes darted between the men. “What you don’t seem to realize is that banishing me hurts her just as much it does me. Because she wants to be with me, and she will be with me. But she loves you and her family. You’re forcing her to make a terrible choice.
“If you gave her that ultimatum, she’d be happy with me, I’d make damn sure of it, but she’d always miss you. If the tables get turned, and she doesn’t go with me, then you’ll have her, but would she be happy?”
Now the men shifted on their feet, looking thoroughly uncomfortable.
Good. Eddie had managed to punch them all in the balls without lifting a fucking finger.
“I love her. I’ll always love her. You know I’ll always take care of her. You don’t have to like me, but you do have to fucking respect me.” Eddie shook his head. “I thought you already did, but that was my mistake.”
Eddie walked around the men to the door; not one of them stopped him. “I’ll be with the woman I love. When you’re ready to toss me out and forget I ever existed, let me know.”
Cat’s breath caught when Eddie entered the room. She stood, knowing exactly what the grim look on his face meant.
“They didn’t approve, did they?” she asked softly.
Eddie walked in further, leaving the door open, and gestured to her with his hands. “Come here.”
She ran to him, her body colliding with his on a jerk. “Oh, Eddie.”
“We’ll be fine. Both of us. Whether we’re together or apart.”
She tightened her arms around him. “Eddie, no.”
Genevieve sighed. “I can just guess what my husband and idiot sons said to you. I’ll straighten them out.”
“No need, my dear.” Gabriel walked in, followed by Marcello and Alex. “I’ve been a fool, Edward. I don’t appreciate how I found out about this. You both should have been upfront and honest with me.”
“Papa–” Cat began at the same time Genevieve said, “Gabriel–”
Gabriel held up his hands. “However, I was wrong in the way I handled it.” He sighed and walked over to Cat, who loosened her hold on Eddie.
She stepped to Eddie’s side and her father took her hand. “You won’t understand, perhaps not until you have your own daughter, but a man loses something quite beautiful when his daughter builds a new life, one that doesn’t include her ‘Papa’ as much.”
Cat squeezed his hand. “I’ll always need you, Papa. Married or no.”
Gabriel kissed the back of her hand, then let go and faced Edward. “It may take us some time to become accustomed to you both as a couple. That’s our failing, not yours. The press, everyone will only know that we approve the match.”
Her father approved!
“Both of you?” Eddie asked with a glance to Genevieve.
“Yes, both of us.” Genevieve took her place by Gabriel. “We were shocked to learn of the two of you, but we can see you’re both sincere. The public will, too.”
“You were right, Bash,” Marcello said. “What you said to us, you were right. You’re a good man. I know it, and I’m sorry for the way I acted.” Marcello held out his hand, and Eddie shook it.
Marcello approved!
“Me as well,” Alex said. “I apologize. You deserve respect, and you’ll get it. From all of us.” Eddie shook his outstretched hand as well.
Alex approved, too!
“You’ve already earned my respect,” Gabriel said. “I know it wasn’t easy to speak as you did to us. That itself shows how much courage you have.” After a beat, Eddie shook Gabriel’s hand, too.
Tears welled in Cat’s eyes, but she held them back.
They approved; her family approved of Eddie.
Eddie cleared his throat. “Thank you. I understand what you three said was difficult as well, and I appreciate it. I have to ask, though: am I still fired?”
The three exchanged glances before Marcello spoke. “You want to stay, Bash, you can, but you’d need to move to another division. Protecting Cat doesn’t make sense anymore.”
Cat cuddled closer to Eddie. “We’ll talk about it, and let you know what he decides.”
Alex and Marcello smirked, while Eddie gave her a bland look. “You have something else in mind?”
“We should talk about it, and we will.”
“Do I get a say in this discussion?”
“Of course you do. You get to talk, but only after I speak first.”
The others in the room laughed, except Eddie. “Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll see.”
Cat narrowed her eyes, but held her tongue. Her family had just accepted them as a couple; she didn’t want to have a fight with Eddie in front of them.
At least not yet. Maybe after their wedding. Definitely not before. She knew her family would stand by their word,
but she also knew she’d better not push their luck.
“Let’s leave the lovebirds alone,” Genevieve said and ushered them from the room, closing the door behind them. “I’d like a word with you three.”
Cat didn’t have to see their faces to know they winced. She couldn’t hold back the smile that came bursting through.
“What are you smiling about?” Eddie asked once they were alone again.
“Just enjoying the fact my mother’s going to scold Alex and Marcello, and maybe even my father.”
“Oh? Well, I suppose that is amusing. You know what’s not amusing?” She shook her head. “Decisions made about my career without consulting me first. I do not find that amusing.”
“Were you going to keep protecting me?”
He pulled her into his arms. “Always, but I’m not getting paid for it any longer.”
“Well, what did you want to do?”
“What did you want me to do? I know you, My Lady, and I know that look. You’re plotting something.”
“I’m a princess; of course, I’m always planning something. There’s always so much to do.”
“I said plotting, not planning.”
She looked down at her hands, which rested against his chest, before facing him again. “I spoke to Mama.”
“About my career?”
“No, about mine.”
“Oh. What did you talk about?”
“Me taking a break from royal duties and starting my own fashion line.”
“You’re not afraid anymore?”
She shook her head. “No. It was foolish to be afraid of my dreams, and I’ll like to try to reach for them now. The thing is, I don’t need to do that in Valentia. I don’t need to stay here in the palace. If you wanted to go back to Chames, I could work from there.”
He blinked. “You wouldn’t want to live in Valentia? In the palace, near your family?”
“Truthfully, I don’t really care where we are as long as we’re together. Though I wouldn’t mind a field of soft lavender nearby.”
“Catharine.”
“Would you be happy there?”
“I’ll be happy as long as you’re with me. I could work with my boys, take on extra security jobs.” He tangled one of his hands in her hair. “You’ll never be without. I’ll make damn sure of it.”
Catharine & Edward Page 21
