you’re guardian to the Crown Princess. You should be received with equal honour.’
There was a lengthy silence at that. Then, ‘A dress,’ Elsa said cautiously. ‘You mean…not a nice nannyish dress with a starched collar and Nanny embroidered on the breast.’
‘I had in mind more a Princess Di dress. Or a Princess Grace dress. Something to make the islanders gasp.’
‘Yeah, right,’ she said dryly.
‘Yeah, right? That would be two positives? That means you agree?’
‘That means there’s no way I agree.’
‘I wish it,’ he said.
‘Oooh,’ she said. ‘Is this insubordination?’
‘Elsa…’
‘Sorry.’ She managed a shaky smile. ‘It’s an amazing offer.’ She shook her head, as if shaking off a dream. ‘But it’s nuts. For one thing, you have way too much to do to be taking me shopping. How could you possibly justify putting off your surgical lists for something so crazy? And second…The clothes you’ve already arranged for me are bad enough.’
She faltered then, her colour fading as she realised what she’d said. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again. ‘I mean…they’re lovely and I’m very grateful, but…I don’t know how to explain. This is me, Stefanos. I might be changing direction but I’m still me. I don’t do Princess Di or Princess Grace. Please. Let me keep being Elsa.’
‘You can be Elsa in a couture gown.’
‘Yeah, right,’ she said again. ‘But no. So okay, that’s sorted. What next? What else did you want to talk to me about?’
‘It would give me pleasure to see…’
‘No.’ Flat. Definite. ‘You’re royalty and I’m not. Let’s move on.’
Uh-oh. He wasn’t having much luck here, and the next one was more important. Maybe he should have voiced it first. Except when he’d thought this all through in the middle of the night, the thought of taking her shopping had distracted him. It was still distracting him.
Maybe now, though, he needed to get serious.
‘It’s not just shopping,’ he said softly. ‘I’d like you to see an orthopaedic surgeon in Athens. I want you to get your hip repaired.’
‘Now?’ she said, astounded.
‘Now,’ he said. ‘You’re in pain.’
‘I’m not.’
‘You are. The pin in your hip hasn’t held. You need a complete joint replacement.’
Uh-oh, he thought, watching her face. Maybe he’d gone about this the wrong way.
She stood, staggering a little as she put weight on both feet, but she righted herself fast. Her eyes were flashing fire. ‘How do you know,’ she said, carefully enunciating each syllable, ‘that the pin hasn’t held?’
‘I rang Brisbane.’
‘You rang Brisbane.’ The fire in her eyes was suddenly looking downright explosive. ‘You mean you rang my treating doctor?’
He was suddenly in really dangerous territory. This woman might change direction at will but she was never going to be compliant or boring or…or less than the Elsa he was starting to have enormous respect for.
Respect? Respect didn’t begin to cover what he was feeling.
‘You wouldn’t tell me what’s wrong with your hip,’ he said, trying to sound reasonable, but he was wrong- footed and he knew it. He’d wanted to sound caring and concerned and…maybe even magnanimous. Instead, suddenly he was feeling unprofessional and interfering and about the size of a rather small bug.
‘So you just asked,’ she said, and her anger was starting to make her stutter. ‘You thought you’d just ask my doctor what was wrong with me. How did you do that? Did you say, “Hi, Doctor, this is a casual acquaintance of one of your patients. Could you tell me what’s wrong with her hip?” Or…“This is Prince Stefanos Leandros Antoniadis from Khryseis and I order you to hand over my servant’s medical records.” Or…’ She paused for breath. ‘Or, “This is Doctor Antoniadis and I have a woman here who can’t even get up the stairs without limping so can you send me her records-as one professional to another”.’
‘It wasn’t like that. Elsa, I owe you so much.’ He’d risen to face her. Now he tried to take her hands, but she wrenched them away as if he were poison ivy.
‘You owe me so much that you can’t even grant me privacy?’ she demanded.
‘I have to know what’s wrong with you. Zoe depends on you. We need to get it fixed before I leave.’
‘Before you leave…It’ll take weeks. Months, even. A week in hospital and at least a month in rehabilitation. When you get back from Manhattan, when things are settled, when Zoe’s happy, then I’ll think about it. Maybe. Possibly. But it’s my business. Mine, Stefanos.’
‘Zoe will cope…’
‘Zoe will not cope. I will not ask it of her. Now, what’s the third thing?’
‘I don’t think it’s wise…’
‘I don’t think any of this is wise,’ she said. ‘But ask me anyway.’
‘It can wait.’
‘I might not be speaking to you tomorrow. Tell me now.’
‘It was just…’ Hell, he’d messed this. He’d messed this so badly. He wanted to back off but she was waiting, breathing too fast, and he knew that not to finish it would make it even worse than it already was. The third request…
‘It’s none of my business.’
‘So tell me and let me decide.’
He hesitated. But he did need to get to know this woman. Even as her employer, he should know her.
‘I’d like you to tell me about Matty.’
‘Matty.’
‘Your husband.’
‘You think I don’t know who Matty is?’ She seemed almost speechless.
‘Of course you do. I’m going about this the wrong way but yesterday…I didn’t even know how he died. I should have asked you about him and I’m so sorry I didn’t. Matty was your husband and you loved him. He must have been really special.’
Speechless didn’t begin to describe how she was feeling. What was it with this man? He’d brought her here for a picnic. He’d fed her lobster and wine-and then he’d talked of buying her ball dresses and phoning her doctor and now he wanted to talk about her dead husband.
Her head was hurting. Her hip was hurting.
She wanted to hit him.
Count to ten, she told herself. Come on, Elsa, you can cope with this.
Personally, Stefanos had overstepped the mark. The knowledge that he’d phoned her doctor and found out information was huge-it threatened to overwhelm her. But that was personal.
Asking her about Matty was personal.
This man was her employer. Nothing else.
So why not tell him about Matty?
It was too confusing. How could she tell him about Matty without betraying Matty? Yet how could the act of telling him about Matty be a betrayal? Unless…unless…
It was far too hard.
‘Take me back to the palace, Stefanos,’ she said wearily. ‘I’m sure you have work to do.’
‘But…’
‘I have work to do too,’ she said. ‘If I can’t help rule your island, then I’ll just have to go back to starfish.’
‘There are some great starfish…’
‘How many times do I have to tell you-I hate starfish,’ she snapped bitterly, irrationally, and shoved the picnic basket aside and lifted the picnic rug and shook it. And if the sea breeze just happened to be blowing in the direction of Stefanos…well, the gods must have meant him to get a face full of sand.
But his phone was ringing and he was retrieving it from his pocket. He didn’t seem to notice she was throwing
