For the moment she went downstairs she turned into a princess.
Nicky was reading from a manual for a Model T Ford. Gripping stuff. Much more gripping than what was happening downstairs.
But she couldn’t stay up here for ever. Finally the housekeeper appeared. ‘Ma’am, it’s Nikos,’ she said apologetically. ‘He says if you’re not downstairs in two minutes he’ll come up and carry you down. And I think he means it.’
‘You’d better go, Mama,’ Nicky said. ‘Nikos is really strong.’ He smiled shyly at the housekeeper. ‘Nikos is my Papa.’
‘He’s your…’ The housekeeper’s chin sagged. ‘Well…’
‘Mama just told me today,’ Nicky said, proud of the effect he’d created. ‘Christa is my sister.’
‘Well,’ the housekeeper said again. ‘I can’t say I didn’t wonder when I saw you, but…Well.’ She surveyed Athena with growing concern. ‘Oh, my dear, Demos will hate it. You’ll need to be so careful. But you need to get tonight over with first. You look lovely. You do us proud. But…if you don’t want the father of your child to carry you forcibly down the staircase, then you’d best come now.’
Nikos was close to being out of his mind. What was Athena playing at, keeping them waiting? And she should have a gown. He hadn’t thought of it until everyone had arrived, but every woman here was in an evening gown. His friend, Prince Alexandros, and his wife, Princess Lily, looked positively regal.
But it was Athena who should be a princess tonight, he thought. Dammit, he should have warned her. She’d be a real Cinderella among this splendour. And if she thought he’d orchestrated it so that she looked shabby…Anger wouldn’t begin to describe it.
But there was no time left for misgivings. The housekeeper was on the stairs, looking towards him, asking a question with her gaze.
He strode through the crowd and took two steps up, so the crowd could see him. Somewhere above was Athena. He hoped like hell her dress wasn’t too dowdy.
There was no time to do anything about it now. She was up on the landing, waiting for his signal to come down.
Waiting for the official introduction.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ he said in a voice that carried to every part of the vast hall. ‘I give you Her Royal Highness the Princess Athena, Crown Princess Of Argyros.’
CHAPTER FIVE
THE crowd gasped as one.
Nikos stepped down and turned. And saw. And gasped himself.
She took his breath away.
She took away the breath of every man and woman in the crowded hall. Nikos had never seen her more beautiful.
He’d never seen anyone so beautiful.
She looked to be almost gliding down the stairs. One elegant hand rested on the balustrade to steady herself. Her hand was gloved, long and elegant and beautiful.
And her dress…
Her gown was shimmering silk brocade in rich, deep crimson. Its tiny capped sleeves were slipped to just off her shoulders, and the neckline dropped to show the glorious swell of her beautiful breasts. Her bodice was embroidered, red-black on the deeper crimson, and laced from breast to waist with slivers of silver thread.
From her hips the gown flared into fold on glorious fold of the same richly embroidered fabric, falling to her feet. The skirt was slashed at the front, showing a soft silk underskirt, black, shot with crimson.
Magnificent didn’t begin to describe it.
She stepped slowly down the stairs, beneath the great central chandelier, as if she was aware of dramatic effect. Her gown shimmered in the light cast by a thousand crystals above her head.
There were diamonds at her throat and more at her ears. Her shoes were crimson stilettos to match her gown, studded with more diamonds still. Her beautiful black curls were caught in a simple twisting knot, tied with the same silver thread that laced her bodice.
She was an exquisite portrait. She was a royal princess.
She was the Crown Princess Athena, come home to claim her throne.
Around him there were gasps of delight, amazement, disbelief, and the gasps gave way to applause.
Nikos knew why. From the uncertainty of the past months, finally the islanders could glimpse their future. These people would be deeply appreciative of this grand gesture; deeply grateful that their princess was taking up her throne.
Thena.
No. Not Thena. This was Crown Princess Athena, a woman now so far out of his league that suddenly he felt… as if he had no place here.
‘What the hell…? Where did she get that dress?’ It was Demos, standing beside him, his face a picture of apoplectic fury. ‘How long’s she been planning this? She told me…’
‘She told you she wasn’t interested in ruling the island,’ Nikos said, his gaze never leaving Athena. Where
Wherever it had come from, it was perfect.
And the islanders were dumbfounded.
Athena had effectively been brought up in isolation. Families who’d shown her friendship had been harshly warned off by Giorgos. That she had turned out so full of spirit was a testament to her strength, and to her courage.
Her mother had home-schooled her, on orders from Giorgos, so Nikos hadn’t met her until they’d been eight years old. He’d been bird-nesting-not stealing eggs, just observing, trying to reach the highest nests on the craggy island cliffs. She’d looked up at him from below, and he’d said, ‘Dare you.’ To his astonishment she’d come right on up. On the way down she’d cut her knee. Regardless of her protests, he’d taken her home so his mother could fix it.
He remembered she’d stopped outside his back door. ‘I’m not allowed into people’s houses.’
‘Why not?’ he’d demanded, astonished.
‘The King says I’m not allowed.’
And he remembered his mother’s reaction. She’d come out, breathing fire.
‘The King doesn’t command who comes into my kitchen,’ she’d retorted. ‘Welcome to my home, my love. Nikos, bring her in. Oh, look at your poor knee.’
Annia had defied the King to marry Nikos’s father and, where Athena was concerned, she defied him again.
‘You stay friends with her, Nikos. Giorgos can rant all he wants-he won’t scare us.’
He looked at her now and thought Giorgos had been right to be worried. She was truly regal.
Princess Lily tucked her hand through Nikos’s arm. ‘Doesn’t she look lovely?’ she breathed.
‘She does.’ There was no denying such a truth.
‘Why is Demos looking like thunder?’
‘He thought Athena didn’t want the Crown. He thought it was his for the taking.’
‘He’s scary,’ Lily said, watching Demos shove through the crowd and leave. ‘He came to see Alex a couple of days ago. I had a feeling…’ She shivered. ‘Sorry. I just thought…he seems ruthless.’
‘There’s nothing he can do.’
‘Is there not? You look out for her,’ Lily said urgently and Nikos frowned.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I know what people are capable of when there’s money at stake,’ she said. ‘Be careful Nikos. The poor
