Читать книгу The Royal House Of Karedes Collection Books 1-12 - Кейт Хьюит, Шантель Шоу - Страница 50

IT WAS ten in the morning before Holly ventured to open her bedroom door. Sophia was sweeping the tiles around the pool—normally something Nikos did. Holly had been listening to her singing as she worked for the last hour and she’d finally figured Sophia was giving her reassurance that it was fine to come out. Not that she felt very reassured, but the moment she opened the door, she was.

‘He’s gone,’ Sophia said and Holly gasped.

‘G… gone.’

‘He says he should be back tonight but he commands you not to worry.’

‘Not to worry… What sort of a command is that?’

‘He says go for a swim. Enjoy the day, hey? You are not to trouble your head. But first, breakfast.’

‘I don’t think I’m hungry.’

‘Of course you’re hungry,’ Sophia said and beamed. ‘Courtship always makes a girl hungry. When such a man looks at you with such eyes… ooh, all the senses come alive. Smell, feel, touch, taste… I’ve been young too, remember.’

‘Courtship doesn’t come into this,’ Holly said, trying not to sound cross. She was wearing one of the most demure outfits from Andreas’s outrageous wardrobe—a silk kimono. It covered her but not enough. Still, if he’d really gone… She peered around the courtyard as if she thought Sophia might be telling lies. As though Andreas might be yet to pounce.

‘He’s really gone,’ Sophia said, smiling.

‘Where?’

‘Who knows? The royal princes… they are here, there, everywhere. The fuss about the old king’s death is such that there are a million things to do. His mother may want him home.’ Her face softened. ‘She’s had a hard time of it, the queen, no matter how brave a face she puts to the world.’

‘I wouldn’t know.’

‘That’s right. You’ve never met her. There’s so much in front of you,’ Sophia said and beamed.

Oh, goody. There was a reassurance.

‘But you need feeding,’ Sophia said, watching her face and deciding, obviously, that Holly needed distracting. ‘You want to talk to me as I cook?’

‘I can cook my own toast.’

‘You’re to be a princess,’ Sophia said seriously. ‘You need to get accustomed. You make your own toast—you offend a whole hierarchy of kitchen staff.’

‘Really?’

‘Really,’ she said. ‘Me, I don’t mind for you are not yet a princess. But when you are…’ She was still watching Holly’s face, but it was as if this was too important not to be said, just because she was risking upsetting the girl in front of her. ‘When you are, you’ll be taking on a whole role. You represent our country. You are royalty.’

‘I’m not royalty.’

‘What I see in Prince Andreas’s eyes… you will be.’

She wasn’t royalty.

She ate breakfast—as much toast as she could get down without choking—and then she escaped to the beach. Sophia packed her lunch so she could stay as long as she wished. ‘I’ll send word if His Highness returns,’ she told Holly and Holly thought it sounded like a warning.

But there was no escape. She was on Andreas’s island. She was bound to Andreas’s rules. She was bound to wait for Andreas, and think and think and think.

He didn’t come. She’d know if he came for if he’d left by plane he’d return by plane, but as the sun sank low in the sky she’d seen no sign of him.

Was it safe to go back to the house? It had to be. She was weary of lying on the sand trying to sort out her thoughts; floating in the surf trying to block out memories of last night’s kiss; trying to read and seeing only Andreas instead of the print on the page.

Nothing was clear except her fear for the future and her longing for the past.

She walked slowly back to the pavilion. Sophia and Nikos were in the kitchen—she could hear them arguing as they commonly did when they were alone. Loud, voluble arguments, highly passionate over who knew what. They’d been married for forty years, Sophia had told her. Forty years and five children. What did they have to be passionate about?

Why was she feeling like this? So lonely she could weep. She’d been solitary all her life. For the last few years it had just been herself and her father and her job, and her students were dislocated voices on the end of the radio. Now she was with people, yet her sense of alienation was so strong it was threatening to overwhelm her.

Maybe it was seeing Sophia and Nikos and what a long-term marriage could be.

Maybe it was seeing Andreas again and seeing what could have been if they’d been different people, in different worlds.

Maybe she could marry him. Maybe it wouldn’t be worse than living alone for the rest of her life. Maybe…

Maybe nothing. A plane was coming in fast from the east, a black blur against the sky. Andreas. She looked up and practically whimpered—and bolted for the safety of her bedroom.

‘Dinner is served.’

The knock on the door wasn’t Sophia’s stern rap, or Andreas’s autocratic thump. The voice was that of Nikos. They’d sent a stooge, Holly thought. Nikos was timid around her. She couldn’t yell at him.

Nor would she.

Dignity. There was the thing. She’d spent the last hour trying to summon it. She’d decided to wear the same dress as last night—the way Andreas’s eyes had devoured her then, she wasn’t giving him the satisfaction of having something new to look at.

Boring, boring, boring, she thought. He was a prince. He might well be accustomed to a new woman a night. If he was going to get bored with her, it was better that she knew it now.

Or whatever. Nothing she was thinking was making sense. This whole situation didn’t make sense.

So go out and get it over with.

She opened the door. Nikos was waiting, smiling anxiously. He beckoned toward the dining table set once again under the stars.

Andreas was already seated, but he rose the minute he saw her. He was dressed to kill. Full evening attire. A dinner suit of deep, rich black, his white shirt brilliant against his dark skin. His eyes were black as night. He smiled at her and his smile flipped something inside her that stayed decidedly flipped.

He was sex on legs, she decided. It wasn’t fair for a guy to have so much… so much… Andreas.

‘You look beautiful,’ he murmured, crossing to meet her, and she tried to glower.

‘I look exactly the same as last night.’

‘Not so. Your nose has started to peel. Just a little.’

‘Leave my nose out of it.’

‘But it’s such a beautiful nose…

‘Andreas…’ Her voice broke and he stepped back. He’d been about to lightly touch her nose. Now he looked down at her in concern.

‘You haven’t had a good day?’

‘What do you think?’ she snapped. ‘You give me these appalling options and then you walk away and leave me with nothing to do but think and think and think.’

‘So what have you thought?’ he asked gravely and she tried to make her mind focus.

What had she thought?

‘That you’re a nutcase,’ she muttered. ‘That what you’re demanding is unbelievable. Totally unjustified.’

To her astonishment he smiled and kissed her lightly on the forehead, then led her over to the table.

‘I agree. I thought so last night. I left you and thought what we were asking was a one-sided agreement where we win. You get to play a princess but I, of all people, should accept that this is no great bargain.’

She felt as if all the wind had been sucked out of her. Andreas held back the chair and waited ‘til she sat. She plumped down and stared at him.

‘Well, then?’ she managed.

‘Well, then,’ he agreed gravely, and rounded the table to sit opposite.

‘So I can go home?’

‘You see, you can’t,’ he said apologetically. ‘The fate of too many people would be changed irrevocably for the worse if you refuse to marry me.’

‘Then nothing’s changed.’

‘Only my attitude,’ he said softly. ‘And the rules. I’ve spent the day negotiating. Oh, and shopping.’

‘Shopping,’ she said blankly. ‘You’re kidding.’

He smiled again. ‘Sophia?’ he called.

Nikos had disappeared back to the kitchen, back to Sophia’s comfortable presence. But he came out now, holding the door wide so Sophia could come after him.

Sophia was carrying…

A puppy.

It wasn’t just a puppy. Holly rose in astonishment as she saw the creature held in Sophia’s ample arms. It was a border collie, a ten-to-twelve-week-old bundle of wriggling pup, black and white, with big, intelligent eyes and a tail that was threatening to wag so hard a lighter pup might have taken off like a hovercraft.

‘He’s attached to you already, Your Highness,’ Sophia told Andreas, reproving. ‘He didn’t like you leaving him in the kitchen. See? He finds you and his tail starts to whir again.’

‘What …?’ Holly could barely get the words out.

‘You see, there was something absent,’ Andreas explained. He didn’t walk forward to the pup but instead stood back and watched Holly’s face. ‘Yesterday I saw you and I thought there was something missing. And then… it came to me. From the first time I saw you back at Munwannay, you had a shadow. Always. A black and white shadow wherever you went. Deefer, I believed you called him.’

‘Deefer Dog,’ Holly murmured, stunned.

‘An ancient cattle dog.’

‘A border collie.’ Like this pup. She couldn’t keep her eyes off the pup in Sophia’s arms.

‘My people told me everything about your circumstances,’ Andreas said, still watching her. ‘But there was no mention of a dog. There was no dog on the place when our people inspected it.’

‘I haven’t had a dog since Deefer died.’

He frowned. ‘Deefer was an old dog when I was there.’

‘Yes,’ she said, not trusting herself to go further. In truth Deefer had lived for only three weeks longer than Adam. Her baby and then her dog…

‘Can I ask why you never bought another?’

‘My father wouldn’t have one.’ The puppy was wriggling in excitement. She longed to reach out and touch him…

She wouldn’t. This was seduction at its finest.

‘But it’s a farm. A working farm,’ Andreas said, obviously still waiting for an explanation. She had to try and give him one.

‘Yes, but… it was also my father’s folly. Deefer wasn’t Deefer’s real name. He had a pedigree a mile long. All our dogs did. He was Cobalt Royal Rex or some nonsense. Deefer for short. But when he died that was it. My father had such pride—he’d never have a mongrel on our place and pedigree working dogs cost a fortune. I was never permitted to have another dog.’

‘You were never permitted…’ Andreas’s face was calmly assessing. ‘Yet according to my sources, you did all the work.’

‘It was my father’s farm. He made the business decisions.’

‘He made the decision to run the place into the ground rather than sell up and move on while he could.’

‘It was my decision, too,’ she snapped. ‘You think I didn’t have a choice? But I loved it. I love it still. Adam’s still there—and I want to go home.’

She gulped and dug her fingers into her palms and fought desperately for control while Andreas and Nikos and Sophia watched gravely on.

And then, as if coming to a decision right there, right then, Andreas lifted the little dog into his arms and he carried him across to Holly.

‘Sit,’ he ordered and she sat, for she couldn’t think of anything else to do, at the elegant table with the exquisite silverware and crystal and candles.

He put the pup on her knee and he lifted her hands and placed them on the pup’s collar.

‘This is my troth,’ he said gently.

‘Your troth,’ she said numbly.

‘My vow,’ he said, and then as Nikos and Sophia went to move away he made a curt hand signal for them to stay. ‘No. I want witnesses. This is not for public consumption but I know that you two can be discreet. You two of all our people will know what is happening. Holly, I’m asking you to marry me, for the sake of our people. For the sake of our country. But I’m saying that I’ll not hold you to this marriage for a moment longer than needs be. As soon as the fuss has died down—as soon as it’s seen that I’ve done the honourable thing by you and that my family can’t be called to account—we can’t be dispossessed by our past—then you can go home. Back to Munwannay.’

‘Back…’

‘Yesterday I offered to pay your father’s debts,’ he said. ‘But I watched you last night and I thought of what you faced alone and I thought it’s not enough. So what I’m offering is your life back. I give you Deefer Two.’ He smiled wryly at the pup. ‘Or whatever you wish to call him. And I give you Munwannay. I’ve arranged for my people to buy it outright at the price you’ve been asking. The deeds will be given to you on the day of our marriage. Plus a marriage settlement that will be generous enough to enable you to farm the place with everything you need and more—for the next fifty years if you like. This will be yours, Holly. I can’t take away my requirement that you marry me. You must. But this, I believe, is the honourable thing to do. All you need to do now is say you will and the thing is done.’

She gazed up at him, astounded beyond belief. Deefer Two wriggled in her arms and her fingers automatically started scratching behind his ears. He wriggled ecstatically, turned and gave her a long, slurping kiss from the chin to the forehead.

It had been years since she’d been kissed by a dog. And last night… she’d been kissed by a prince.

One thing at a time. Deeds to a farm. Marriage to a prince. Puppies were easier.

‘How did you find …?’

‘I worked,’ he said, his eyes crinkling into laughter. ‘All last night. I wanted a pure-bred collie dog that looked like Deefer. Right down to the white tip on the end of his tail. I put every available servant back at the palace onto it. From dawn I’ve had people ringing breeders across Europe.’ He shook his head. ‘You have no idea… I thought the Stefani diamond was priceless, but what we had to do to get you this pup…’

But he’d done it. Her prince. Her Andreas.

He was watching her closely, his dark eyes hooded, trying to conceal his emotions. But he was anxious. She could see a level of anxiety that couldn’t be suppressed.

Did he think she was still going to refuse?

Maybe she should. But.

But this man could order a small army to search for a dog for her.

And more. This man had said she could bring his country to ruin by refusing to marry him. He’d said his country’s future depended on their marriage.

Against all sense, she believed him.

And if she believed him, was there a choice? What was she but a failed farmer, a teacher who could easily be replaced? She was nothing against the fate of a country.

In the scheme of things, what price marriage? If it meant she could go home again…

Could she?

Of course she could, she thought, trying to make her dizzy mind focus. What was she doing, dithering? The Royal House of Karedes was wealthy beyond belief—she’d always known that. What Andreas was offering was nothing in the light of his vast wealth.

And he meant it, she thought, dazed. This was no clandestine promise. He was making this offer not in private but in public, witnessed by Sophia and Nikos. It was a business proposition, no more, no less.

So…

So all she had to do was put aside the ignominious way she’d been bundled here against her will and take it from here.

And all she had to do was put away the way just looking at Andreas made her feel. As if there were something else possible behind a curt business arrangement. As if there were a love that had blazoned forth ten years ago and hadn’t died.

Both things had to be ignored. Andreas was a prince of the blood. She knew that. She’d always known that. He took his pleasures where he willed. He’d just come from a marriage that Sophia had told her was tempestuous—a jealous hell from day one. He had a wardrobe full of exotic clothes on his exotic island, waiting for woman after woman after woman.

He wanted a new bride like a bad smell.

But this was a business proposition. She had to make herself see it as that. Business.

And in her arms… His troth.

The pup was a pretty funny troth, she thought, and she rose to her feet and hugged the little dog close. His troth. Better than any diamond.

Deefer made it personal. Deefer made it seem… almost right. Almost as if there were some desire.

‘You say… you’re inferring we can divorce later on,’ she said, trying to make herself think. ‘But your divorce to Christine…’

‘Was different. Christine used the occasion to bad-mouth me at a time she knew we were vulnerable. The timing was awful—scandal after scandal was rocking the palace. The lies she’s told about me are one of the main reasons why it’s imperative I’m seen as doing the right thing now. If you agree I’d ask that our marriage stay in place until Sebastian ascends to the throne. After that it doesn’t matter what the people think of me. But Holly, I need this marriage. Our country needs this marriage. You have to believe me.’

‘But if I believe you… there doesn’t seem much choice,’ she managed, and it was really hard to get even that much out. ‘I’d have to marry you.’

‘Is there anyone else?’ he asked suddenly. ‘I assumed…’

‘Your people didn’t find that out?’

‘They said they thought not. Are they right?’

‘Of course they’re right,’ she snapped before she could stop herself.

He smiled. ‘That’s a blessing.’

‘For who?’ she demanded.

‘For me,’ he said and had the temerity to grin.

‘So you’re free to marry him?’ Sophia had been quiet long enough. She was practically jiggling with impatience. As they turned to look at her she gave a shamefaced smile. ‘It’s just… Your Highness, I have soufflés in the oven.’

‘Then for the sake of the soufflés, Holly…’ Andreas said, and his grin deepened.

And all at once Holly was smiling back, caught in the web of wonder she’d been trapped in ten years ago.

But… She couldn’t be illogical. Even for the soufflés. She had to be… businesslike.

‘So it’s to be a temporary marriage.’

‘Yes.’

‘I can go home when I want?’

‘As soon as the fuss dies down, yes.’

‘You’ll pay all my father’s debts.’

‘Of course.’

‘You’ll give me working capital as well?’

‘Yes,’ Andreas said. ‘Anything else?’

‘I can keep the pup?’ Holly demanded, refusing to be distracted.

‘He’s yours. He’ll need to be quarantined when he goes back to Australia, but I’ll cover the costs in the marriage contracts.’

‘So I’ll have real, fully legal contracts.’

‘If you want, then yes.’

She stared at him. He gazed calmly back, waiting for her decision. On the sidelines Sophia started jiggling again and looked despairingly toward the kitchen. She looked so desperate that Holly allowed herself to be distracted. The big picture was just too hard to focus on. So… why not focus on the detail?

Soufflés. Maybe soufflés were as good a reason as any to agree to a marriage she thought of as mad.

Was she mad? Probably, she thought. She felt as she had when, as a little girl, her father had taken her to a huge swimming pool in Perth. When he wasn’t looking she’d climbed the diving tower, right to the top. Before she’d known it she’d been at the edge of the diving platform, and older, competent divers had been queuing up behind her waiting for her to dive.

‘Are you going to dive or not?’ a kid had asked scornfully and she’d looked down at the water way below her in horror—and she’d jumped.

And that was what she did now. Crazy or not, she believed what Andreas was telling her. And if she believed him… there didn’t seem to be a choice.

‘For the sake of the soufflé, then,’ she said, forcing her voice to be calm, steady, all the things that she absolutely wasn’t. ‘For no other reason in the world, other than one small pup and a soufflé. Yes, Your Highness, I agree to marry you.’

What did she do after she’d just agreed to marry a prince? She ate soufflé, of course, a feather-light confection of cheeses that melted in her mouth and felt as insubstantial as the night.

Everything felt insubstantial. She felt as if she were floating in some weird bubble. Any minute it’d burst and she’d be catapulted back to her lonely life; the realities of coping with Munwannay by herself.

It’d happen. But it’d happen with enough money for her to make her property viable.

She was trying to stay distant from the man seated at the other side of the table. She’d agreed to marry him, but it was a bargain. A means to the end for both of them.

She’d need to buy in cattle, she thought. Good cattle, the kind she’d always dreamed she could run at stud. She could rebuild the garden. She could get the dry rot out of the floorboards. Maybe she could also think about doing what she’d always wanted—taking in select holidaymakers who wanted a real cattle experience in the outback.

It’d mean it wouldn’t be so lonely.

She hadn’t set Deefer down. The pup had had a very long day and was more than content to lie draped over her knee while she ate her soufflé and the rest of the magnificent dinner Sophia put before her.

And all the time Andreas watched her, his eyes dark and fathomless.

‘This is what you want?’ Andreas said at last as Sophia poured coffee and left them.

‘Do I have a choice?’ she asked, surprised.

‘I can’t coerce you,’ he said. ‘You know that. But I believe it’s a fair bargain.’

‘It is.’ And of course she wanted it. Munwannay was where Adam lay. To be given the ability to stay there, for always…

‘The divorce won’t be possible until after my brother is crowned,’ Andreas reminded her, and that hauled her thoughts away from one tiny grave and back to the man across the table from her. ‘It seems presumptuous to talk about divorce before we’re actually married,’ he said. ‘But I believe it’s better that we have a plan.’

Plans sounded good. What was in her head now was an enormous knot of confusion. If he could somehow unravel it into bits she could understand then she might be able to cope.

‘Tell me where we go from here,’ she asked, and the little dog on her lap looked up at her as if in concern. She hugged him tight—a warm, familiar certainty in the face of internal chaos.

‘We need a royal wedding,’ he said. ‘Not a huge affair—we’ll leave the pomp and pageant for Sebastian, but the people will react well to a proper wedding.’

‘I can hardly wear white,’ she said and his brow snapped down.

‘Of course you can wear white. It’s not as if you’ve carried some other man’s child.’ It was said strongly, angrily—even possessively—and Holly flinched.

‘No,’ she murmured. ‘Only yours.’

‘So it means you can be a true bride if you wish,’ he said. ‘And maybe it’d be for the best if you are. There’s rumours sweeping the country that I seduced you and I abandoned you. That your child died through poverty and neglect. I know,’ he said as her eyes widened in shock. ‘We’ll set the story straight. But your isolation has meant that people will feel sorry for you, and maybe we have to play to that. The fact that you’ve had no other man—as far as we know—makes it possible for the people of my country to believe that you can be a truly worthy bride.’

‘Oh, very good,’ she managed. Only it wasn’t. Here were the echoes of an anger that had been put aside for a little. ‘So if I’d, say, had another boyfriend or six in the interim it would have been much…’

‘Better,’ he finished brusquely. ‘If my people believed you were a trollop, then I might not have to marry you.’

‘You don’t have to marry me.’

‘I do have to marry you,’ he snapped. ‘I have as little choice as you.’

Her coffee suddenly tasted like mud. She set the cup down on the delicately etched china saucer and pushed it away from her.

‘So we have two people forced into a royal marriage of convenience.’

‘That sums it up.’ He sighed and looked across the table at her. ‘Don’t look like that. You were starting to look… better. More cheerful. Like there was an advantage to this somewhere.’

‘There is,’ she said and hugged her dog. ‘Deefer and my farm. I’ll need to figure the quarantine regulations for getting him back into Australia.’

‘The breeder gave me the details but let’s not apply for that just yet,’ he said. ‘Let’s get married first.’

‘So… when?’

‘Three days.’

Her eyes flew to his, shocked. ‘Three days?’

‘Back on the mainland. I’ll introduce you to my family and we wed that afternoon.’

‘You must really be scared.’

‘My brother thinks he’s about to lose the crown,’ Andreas said. ‘Yes, he’s scared. But so is half the country. We will not be swallowed by Calista.’

‘And I’m the pawn…’

‘We’re both pawns.’

She ignored him. Or she was trying to ignore him.

‘Why?’ she said at last. ‘Is there anything you’re not telling me?’

He shook his head and she thought suddenly he looked dead tired. He’d been up all night trying to sort her a dog, a deal, a future? And flying back and forth collecting Deefer. She had a sudden urgent desire to go round the table and run her fingers through his dark hair. Hold his face against her breast as once she’d done, oh, so long ago.

It wouldn’t work. They were adults now, with adult responsibilities. And surely she had an adult’s mistrust of showing her heart on her sleeve.

‘So… so how bad was your divorce?’ she asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, but in fact it was something she really wanted to know.

Sophia had told her the country was up in arms about Andreas’s immoral behaviour, but she’d also said, ‘But don’t believe a word of it. Christina lied about Andreas from day one. She has powerful friends, that one, and she knows how to manipulate the press. Prince Andreas has been made to be the villain and he’s too much of a gentleman to put them right.’

Holly looked across the table into Andreas’s eyes and she saw the confirmation of what Sophia had told her. The country might be accusing the royal family of being immoral but she’d never believe it of Andreas. He might be a prince—he might be so far from her world that she could barely touch him—but she believed in his honour.

Today he’d worked on her behalf; he’d given her something he believed she truly wanted. So now…

She had a choice. She could go forth, kicking and screaming into the future, bewailing it wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. Or she could start playing the part. She could even have… fun?

‘I wouldn’t mind being a bride,’ she said cautiously, and she saw shock register.

‘You wouldn’t mind…’

She lifted an after-dinner mint from the middle of the table and bit into its creamy centre. There might well be advantages to royalty. One of them might be the seriously good chocolate. But… ‘I won’t wear a bustle,’ she told him. ‘No bows, either. But if there’s a crown or a tiara or something, I don’t mind a bit of bling.’

‘Bling…’

‘Diamonds are good,’ she said, striving for insouciance.

‘You can hardly wear the Aristo crown,’ he said dryly. ‘It might be gorgeous but there is the little fact that the diamond in the middle is paste.’

‘Then I won’t wear it,’ she decreed. ‘No paste for this princess. I want fabulous.’

‘Fabulous.’

‘Yes, fabulous. If we’re stuck in a royal marriage, then why don’t we give the whole country their money’s worth?’

‘You mean it?’

‘I mean it.’ She focused on her mint, trying to sound airy. ‘I mean, if we both go into it pretending we hate the idea… what sort of impression does that give? That we’re both wimps?’

‘No one could ever say you’re a wimp.’

‘Nor you,’ she said and eyed him with distinct approval. ‘Not in that outfit. Golly, Andreas, who does your tailoring?’

‘How would I know?’ He rose and moved around the table so he was standing beside her, looking down at her with his hooded, enigmatic eyes.

‘That’s right,’ she said, trying not to sound self-conscious. Trying not to sound as if he was standing too close and she was too aware of it. ‘I forgot. You have a whole retinue of tailors.’

‘Who’ll move heaven and earth to sew you a wedding dress in time.’

‘That’ll be nice,’ she said and smiled up at him and that was a mistake. Big mistake. For he was smiling back at her, with that devastating smile she’d fallen in love with ten years ago and had never fallen out of love with.

Deefer was on her knee. It was Deefer who saved her, for Andreas put his hands under her arms and would have tugged her up, only of course if he had then Deefer would have been caught under the table edge. The little dog forced Holly to plump back down again. She pushed the chair sideways and got to her feet herself, holding her dog like a shield.

‘I need to go back to the mainland tonight,’ Andreas said and she must have looked as she felt, for he took a step towards her. She took a very fast step back.

‘I… why?’

‘Because we’re getting married in three days,’ he said, as if that explained all.

‘So you have to… what, send out invitations?’ She was so far at sea she was drowning but she didn’t know how to pull herself out.

‘I guess I do,’ he agreed, managing a smile, but his eyes didn’t leave hers. There were messages zinging back and forth that she had no hope of interpreting.

‘Is there anyone you’d like to invite?’

‘How many people do I know here?’

‘We could charter a jet from Australia. Do you want your mother to come?’

‘She comes and the wedding’s off,’ she snapped before she could think about it, and he grimaced.

‘Right. I remember your mother.’

‘I try and forget her. We haven’t spoken for years.’

He was still watching her with that rigid constraint. He was holding himself back, she thought, and she couldn’t figure out why. And… holding himself back from what?

‘Is there really no one you’d like to ask?’

‘I’m on my own, Andreas. Apart from Deefer, that is.’

‘When we’re married you’ll have the full royal family behind you.’

‘Until I don’t. This is a mock marriage,’ she said sharply.

‘No. It’s a real marriage.’

‘Until you figure out the politics. You don’t want a wife, Andreas, and I want to be home.’

‘I guess that’s right.’

This formality was crazy. It was as if they were stepping on eggshells.

‘So when will I see you again?’

‘Georgiou will fetch you on the morning of the wedding. He’ll take you straight to the palace. We’ll be married in our private chapel, with just the people we absolutely have to have there.’

‘Like your mother?’

‘Like my mother, the queen. And my brother.’

‘Who’s going to be king.’

‘That’s right.’

‘I think I feel sick,’ she said. ‘What on earth will they think of me?’

‘They’ll be grateful.’

‘Yeah, right,’ she said. ‘Andreas, they’re royal.’

‘So am I, yet it didn’t prevent us…’

He stopped. She stared up at him, trying to read what was going on behind that enigmatic expression. Nothing. Whatever he’d been about to say was to be left unsaid.

‘I guess we’re a man and a woman when it’s all boiled down,’ she whispered at last. ‘I guess the fact that you’re a prince is no big deal.’

‘As you say.’

She summoned a smile. ‘I don’t have to promise to obey, do I?’

‘I… no, if you don’t want to.’

‘You’re going to make me sign a pre-nup?’

‘I suspect… the lawyers will want…’

‘I suspect the lawyers will want, too,’ she said and then hesitated. ‘Tell you what. Get me a lawyer, too.’

‘Pardon?’

‘It’s all on your terms,’ she said, trying to sound as if she knew what she was talking about. ‘I mean, you’ve given me Deefer and you’ve given me promises but I just have your word.’

‘You can take my word.’ He sounded offended and she shrugged.

‘Of course, but I’m a tadpole in an ocean here. You’re talking contracts? So should I… I want an Australian lawyer to go over anything you want me to sign.’

‘Where am I going to find an Australian lawyer?’

‘I don’t know. You found me a collie dog. You’re good at finding stuff.’

‘Holly…’

‘You think I’m stretching the friendship?’

‘I don’t think you’re stretching anything. But you can trust me.’

‘Yes, but I’m still going to be on my own,’ she said, deadly serious now. When she looked up into his eyes she forgot stuff—she didn’t make sense even to herself. But it was true; she was a tadpole in the vast sea of royalty. This was her life. In a few weeks she’d be back in Australia and this would be a dream, and if Andreas’s promises didn’t come through…

‘You can trust me,’ he said again and she blinked and nodded.

‘I know. But I still want my own lawyer.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m scared,’ she snapped. ‘Because I’m just me and I’m about to put on a wedding dress and marry a prince and I reckon even Cinderella shook in her glass slippers when it came down to it.’

He smiled then. The hooded restraint slipped a little. Then, before she could guess what he intended, he stepped forward and lifted Deefer from her arms.

He set the little dog carefully on the ground. ‘Go sniff,’ he told the pup. ‘I have to talk to your mama for a minute.’

Then he straightened and took her hands in his.

It was such a fast, instinctive action that it was done before she could react. Before she could think about stepping back.

But she didn’t step back. Somehow this moment was too big for scruples. She’d just agreed to marry this man. In three days she’d stand beside him and say I do. She could scarcely shrink from him.

And it wasn’t as if she was scared of him. It was just… just…

‘I will not let you be hurt by this,’ Andreas said gently and her thoughts stopped operating as such. Something deep inside turned into this crazy sort of mush. She gazed up at him, saw his gentle smile and, yep, mush, mush, mush.

‘Andreas…’

‘I will keep my vow to you,’ he said. ‘Holly, I’ve hurt you enough. You marry me and I’ll set you free. I swear.’

And then, before she could respond, before she could even think of responding, he lowered his mouth onto hers.

It was a kiss to seal a contract. No more. No less. But it was no light kiss. It was harsh, demanding, possessive. It set a seal on what had been said this night. The pup might be a token of softness, even affection, but this was a business deal with the fate of the country at stake. His kiss said as much. It seared into her, a welding together of two halves of a whole.

Gainsay me at your peril, the kiss said, and it was so different from the kisses they’d shared in the past that it might as well have been a different man. It was a different man. This was Prince Andreas of Karedes, protecting his country with a marriage of convenience. Taking her as his wife.

The kiss lingered until there were no doubts left.

Tonight he’d shown tenderness. He’d not lie to her. But she would be his bride.

And she wouldn’t argue. Despite her fears, despite her qualms, she released herself in the kiss. She felt his hands grip her, tugging her hard against him, and she opened her lips and surrendered herself to him.

She might be his captive wife but she’d make no complaint. She’d struck her bargain. She’d go down this path as this man’s bride.

And maybe…

‘I have to go,’ he said regretfully at last, and he put her away from him.

But still she thought.

Maybe, she thought, as he bade her a curt goodnight and left to organize the next part of his long night—the plane ride back to the mainland—just maybe the next few weeks might be a sight more exciting than the last ten years, stuck grieving on an outback cattle station.

Just maybe…

No. There was no maybe. This was a short business deal and then she’d be sent back to her life.

She’d go back to her life, she corrected herself as Andreas disappeared into the night and she turned to go back to her luxurious apartments. Alone.

For she did want to go back to Munwannay. Only… not just yet.