Page 24 of Royal Salvation

It wasn’t lost on her how she referred to her cottage as home.

“I understand that and when we’re alone, I’ll be my usual uncouth self, but when people are around, I need to do this right. I’ve already pushed my luck speaking out as I did last night. I don’t regret it, but I don’t need to give the King another reason to fire me either.”

“I understand and thank you for what you did. I’m ashamed and embarrassed that you had to do it and that I wasn’t brave enough to stand up for myself. I’ve learned a lot about who I am this last week.”

A growl came from the front seat, and he looked pissed as he caught her eyes in the mirror. “You have fuck all to be ashamed about. You did nothing wrong. The idiots who don’t see you for the amazing person you are should be the ones feeling ashamed.”

Lucía smiled, her gaze moving from the vista speeding past to his eyes in the mirror. “You think I’m amazing?”

Justice shook his head, but she caught the twitch of his lips. “Don’t get excited, angel. I think Vegemite is amazing too.”

Lucía wrinkled her nose in disgust, making him laugh. The deep, masculine sound of it made her squeeze her knees together as a bolt of lust hit her between her legs.

Arriving at the centre where Books for All was located, she smiled at seeing a line of children and volunteers waiting for her, smiles wreathed on their faces. Waiting for Justice to open the door, she took his offered hand as she stepped out, the zing of electricity between them when they touched seeming to grow with each day. Lucía snatched her hand back on an indrawn breath, her eyes shot towards his face and saw he was as affected as she was but was obviously better at hiding it.

“Princess Lucía, how wonderful to see you again.”

Snapping out of her desire filled stupor, she turned her smile on Carlotta who ran the charity. “It’s so wonderful to be back.”

She was led inside and spent the next few hours going over what they’d achieved so far this year and what the plan was for the winter drive. She chatted with the staff, the volunteers, and some of the families who’d benefitted from the drive. She took several photos as well in the hopes she could use some of them for promotional work. She also chatted with the new leader of the Dyslexia programme they were running to try and encourage children with dyslexia to enjoy the written word. The whole time she could feel Justice’s presence beside her, his constant nearness was driving her both crazy and making her want him closer still.

He smiled at the children and greeted the parents with a friendly demeanour while making sure nobody got closer than he was happy with.

Over lunch made by some of the parents, she asked what she could do to help.

“We need more money and to get the word out. The new programme is great, but we need qualified people to implement the changes.”

Lucía moved her plate aside and crossed her legs. “How about a Christmas Ball? I could ask my father if he’d host it at the Palace.”

She felt Justice bend close to her ear from his place behind her chair, his breath tickling her neck as he spoke. “Angel, you won’t be here at Christmas. You’ll be overseas.”

“Oh yes, that’s right. I won’t be here, but I could ask my mother. She loves this kind of thing, and I wouldn’t be the draw anyway if I can get the King and Queen to attend.”

“It’s a lovely idea, Princess Lucía, but we’d dearly love you to be there.”

Lucía shivered as Justice bent down low again, so he could speak to her. “How about a Valentine’s Ball?”

Lucía tried to focus on his words, not on how he was making her feel like the air was depleted, all lightheaded and giddy. “Yes, a Valentine’s Ball would be perfect.”

“But how would we raise money from it?”

Lucía concentrated on Carlotta and what she was saying, not the man whose presence behind her was so deliciously distracting. “We could charge for tickets and have an auction with all proceeds going to this charity.”

Carlotta looked down pursing her lips. “But you’d be there?”

“Yes, I’d absolutely be there. I wouldn’t miss it.”

“That would be wonderful. Most of the parents are only involved because of you.”

“Because of me?”

“Why, yes. They adore you and they come for you, not anyone else.”

Pleasure bloomed in her chest at the thought that she was making a real difference here, not just her name but her as a person. “That’s very kind of you to say.” Lucía frowned. “How about we do something small in January just for the families and I can attend that as well?” She turned to Justice who was looking intense and gorgeous. “Is that possible?”

“We can make it work.”

After another thirty minutes, she knew it was time to move on to the next charity, which was a children’s charity that helped orphans of migrant parents find homes. Over her time as a war photographer, she’d seen so many displaced children with nothing and each time it broke her heart. It was the reason she set this charity up, to help bring some hope to those innocents who’d done nothing more than be born.