‘The child’s been burned. She’s dreadfully scarred.’
There was a sharp intake of breath. ‘Hell. Is she…’
‘She’s okay. It’s healing. But my idea of leaving her on the island…She’ll have special needs.’
‘You were never going to be able to leave her anyway.’
‘I don’t have a choice,’ he snapped. ‘You know I can’t leave my work yet-I can’t break promises. But there’s a nanny. A good one. A Mrs Elsa Murdoch. She’s not like any Mrs Elsa Murdoch I’ve ever met.’
There was a lengthy silence on the end of the phone. Then, ‘How many Mrs Elsa Murdochs have you met?’ Alexandros asked, with a certain amount of caution.
Uh-oh. Alex and Stefanos had known each other since they were kids. Maybe Alex had heard something in his voice that he didn’t necessarily want to share.
‘Just the one,’ he said.
Another silence. ‘She’s young?’ Alex ventured.
‘Yes.’
‘Aha.’
‘There’s no aha about it.’
‘There’s a Mr Elsa Murdoch?’
‘No.’
‘I rest my case,’ he said. ‘Hey, Stefanos, like me, you’ve spent so much of your life pushing your career… avoiding family. Maybe it’s time you did a heads up and noticed the Elsa Murdochs of this world.’
Alex…’ He couldn’t think what to add next.
‘You want something more?’ Alex asked. ‘Something specific? If not…my wife’s waiting for me. Not a bad thing for a prince to have, you know. A wife. Especially if that prince needs to care for a child with injuries.’
‘This isn’t a joke.’
‘I don’t believe I was joking,’ Alex threw back at him. ‘Okay, so this Mrs Elsa Murdoch…You want to tell me about her?’
How had he got himself into this conversation? He didn’t have a clue.
‘I’ll leave you to your wife,’ he said stiffly.
‘Excellent,’ Alex said. ‘I’ll leave you to your Mrs Elsa Murdoch. And your little Crown Princess. Steve…’
‘Yes?’
‘Take care. And keep an open mind. Speaking as a man who’s just married…it can make all the difference in the world.’
Elsa lay awake far into the night, staring at a life she’d never envisaged. A life without Zoe.
She’d never thought of it.
Four years ago she’d been happily married, full of plans for the future, working with Matty and her good friends and their little girl.
One stupid drunken driver-who’d walked away unscathed-and she was left with nothing but the care of Zoe.
Up until today she’d thought Zoe depended totally on her. Up until now she’d never really considered that the reverse was true as well.
Without Zoe…
No. She couldn’t think it. It left a void in her life so huge it terrified her.
He’d backed off. He’d said he was leaving tomorrow.
She reran his words through her mind-she remembered almost every word he’d uttered. He hadn’t backed off.
She was Zoe’s legal guardian. But if it came to a custody battle between Elsa, with no blood tie and no means of giving Zoe the last operations she so desperately needed-or Stefanos, a royal prince, a blood relative, with money and means at his disposal, able to give her every chance in life…
What choice was there?
She felt sick and tired.
A letter lay on her bureau. She rose from her tumbled sheets-lying in bed was useless anyway-and read it for the thousandth time.
It was an outline of costs for cosmetic plastic surgery to smooth the skin under Zoe’s chin and across her neck.
She’d sold everything she had. There was no money left.
Stefanos.
Not if it meant losing Zoe. Not!
Who was she protecting here? Herself or Zoe?
Damn him!
She should be welcoming him, she thought. Knight on white charger with loaded wallet.
Not if it meant giving up Zoe.
To watch them go…
To watch him go.
Where had that thought come from? Nowhere. She did not need to think he was sexy. The fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous only added to her fear. She did not need her hormones to stir.
They were stirring.
She walked outside, stood on the veranda and stared into the dark.
Prince Stefanos of Khryseis. Cousin to Zoe.
A man about to change her life.
A man about to take her child.
Fifteen miles across the water, Stefanos was doing the same thing. Watching the moonbeams ripple across the ocean. Thinking how his life had changed.
Because of Zoe.
And…Elsa? A barefoot, poverty stricken marine biologist of a nanny?
He had a million other things to think about.
So why was he thinking of Elsa?
It was mid-morning when he arrived and they hadn’t left for the beach yet. There was a tiny seeping wound under Zoe’s arm. It was minuscule but they’d learned from bitter experience to treat small as big. This was a skin graft area. If it extended Zoe could lose the whole graft-an appalling prospect.
Elsa had found it while she was applying Zoe’s suncream and now she was hovering between wait and see or ring the local medical centre and get it seen to now.
Only it was Sunday. Their normal doctor would be away. Waratah Cove had a small bush-nursing hospital, manned by casual staff over the weekend. Less experienced doctors tended to react to Zoe’s injuries with fear, dreading under-treating. If she took Zoe in, she’d be admitted and transferred to hospital in the city. Simple as that.
And they were both so weary of hospitals.
Her worry almost made her forget Stefanos was coming-but not completely. The sound of a car on the track made her feel as if the world was caving in, landing right on her shoulders.
She hated this. She just hated it.
She tugged a T-shirt over Zoe’s scarred little body and turned to welcome him. And almost gasped.
This was a different Stefanos. Faded jeans. T-shirt. Scuffed trainers.
Great body. Really great body.
A body to make her feel she was a woman again.
She had to do something about these hormones. They were doing things to her head. She’d married Matty. His picture was still on the mantel. Get a grip.
