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
