on the handset without saying another word.
She had too much else to worry about.
There was the small issue of clothes. She had jeans, T-shirts, sweaters and a rain jacket. It was hardly a wardrobe fit for living in a palace.
It was Marc who raised the subject. She hadn’t even thought of it.
‘Do you have a permanent residence somewhere?’ he asked. ‘Here in Sydney? Can I send someone to pack for you? Maybe we could ship a container?’
She stared. ‘What are you talking about? A container of what?’
‘Your possessions. If you intend to stay long-term…’
‘You could ship my possessions in the bow of a very small rowboat,’ she told him. ‘My “permanent residence” is a room in a boarding house, and there’s hardly anything there. I’ll take a cab over this afternoon and close the place down-grab the few things I need. But it is a few. I figure I might buy a couple of new pairs of jeans when we get there. That is…if they have jeans in Broitenburg?’
‘Yes, but…’
He was frowning, but Tammy was bouncing her nephew and didn’t notice. She’d had Henry chuckle twice this morning, and she was working on a third.
‘But what?’
‘We have formal dinners at the palace.’
‘
His frown deepened. ‘I intend you to be part of the royal family. Not a servant.’
‘I’m not intending to be a part of any royal family, thank you very much.’
‘Henry will be brought up as heir.’
She jiggled her nephew up and down and gave him a hug. ‘You know, somehow I imagine Henry’s not really interested in formal dinner parties quite yet.’
But Marc’s displeasure remained. ‘I want some things clear,’ he told her. ‘You’re coming over as a family member. As such there will be formalities you’ll have to face.’
She thought about it, and was prepared to concede a point. ‘You mean I need to do something about my shoes?’ She stared down at her bare toes and then glanced at the door, where she’d kicked off her boots. Okay, she would have to replace those awful boots. ‘I’ll buy some trainers.’
‘That’s
She grinned. ‘Why, thank you-Your Highness.’
His scowl deepened. ‘It won’t work.’
‘You’re telling me I should go out and buy a tiara or two and the odd pair of stilettos before I get to Broitenburg?’
‘It might be best. Maybe not tiaras, but…something a little more formal than you have on now.’
She shook her head. ‘Nope,’ she told him flatly. ‘There’s no point. Broitenburg’s had Lara. It’s had its fairy princess. Now it’s stuck with me.’
He couldn’t budge her, and in the end Charles drove them to the airport with a huge leather suitcase containing Marc’s belongings, another containing Henry’s baby gear-and a small battered backpack containing all that Tammy possessed in the world.
CHAPTER SIX
IT GREW stranger.
For a start they sat in the pointy end of the aeroplane. First class. Tammy had never sat in anything other than economy in her life.
Marc had booked three seats. There was a baby crib in front of them so Henry could be put down when he needed to sleep. There was room on the floor for Henry to crawl, and the stewards were on hand to cater for every whim.
But from the time Tammy entered the aircraft she felt as if she’d wandered onto the wrong movie set.
‘Can’t I go and sit in economy?’ she asked. ‘I don’t feel like I’m flying unless my knees are stuck into my chin.’
‘Stick your knees under your chin if you must,’ Marc growled. ‘But you stay here. If you leave me with Henry then I’ll go into a spasm.’
She cast him a sideways look. He was eyeing Henry as if he might bite. ‘Babies aren’t your thing, huh?’
‘They certainly aren’t.’
Not for the first time she wondered about him. What was it her mother had said about him? That he was a womaniser? Maybe, but the description didn’t quite fit.
Here in the forced intimacy of the airliner facing a twenty-four-hour flight, there was all the time in the world to ask questions. After all, what could he do if he was offended? Kick her off the plane? No way, she decided. He wouldn’t even tolerate her going to economy.
So she could chance a few impertinent questions.
‘You’re not married?’
‘I’ve told you I’m not.’
‘Do you have a partner?’
He raised his eyebrows at that. ‘A partner…’ His dark eyes suddenly crinkled in amusement. ‘You’re covering all eventualities here. Do I have a girlfriend, a boyfriend or a dog?’
‘Okay.’ She smiled back. ‘Any of the above. Do you?’
He thought about it for a minute and then nodded, as though the question was a bit of an imposition but he’d answer it anyway. ‘I have a girlfriend.’
‘I see.’ A girlfriend. So what was he doing kissing her? Maybe her mother was right. He was a womanizer.
She shouldn’t mind. She didn’t. Did she?
‘What about you?’ he asked, his tone suddenly curious. ‘My detective says you have no one.’
‘It’s hardly fair,’ she complained. ‘I have to believe what you tell me. You get me privately investigated.’
‘That’s what money is for,’ he said equitably. ‘But as for me… Since I’ve succeeded to Jean-Paul’s position you need hardly hire a private investigator. Any European women’s magazine will tell you more than you ever wanted to know.’ His brow creased. ‘You were in Europe for three years. I can’t believe you wouldn’t have heard about Lara. She was a real hit with the press-her wedding photos made the front of every major newspaper.’
‘I would have been back in Australia by the time she was married,’ Tammy said, thinking her timeline through. ‘Back up a gum tree.’
‘Your favourite place?’
‘Yes.’
‘Because?’
‘Because people hurt,’ she said honestly. ‘Getting attached hurts. I tried with Lara and look what happened.’
‘Yet you’ll try again with Henry?’
‘I have no choice.’
‘You do have a choice. I told you I was prepared to bring Henry back to Broitenburg by myself.’
‘And your girlfriend? What would she think of that?’
‘Ingrid is hardly a baby person, and our relationship is hardly long-term. But you know I’d take care of him.’
‘Yeah?’ Henry was on her knee, sucking an ear of his newly acquired teddy with all the intensity of an athlete competing in a marathon. Henry and Teddy had contracted a case of love at first sight, and Tammy suspected Ted’s ear wasn’t going to make Singapore, much less Europe. ‘You’d take care of him?’
‘Yes.’
