‘That makes two of us.’
He stared at her for a long minute, and then raised his hand to her face and cupped the curve of her cheek. She let his hand rest there for a moment, allowing herself the luxury of taking warmth and strength that she so desperately needed. But she couldn’t depend on it.
She was alone. She knew it. She’d been alone in Tanbarook and she was alone here. The future stretched out before her, bleak and endless.
Bleak? Hey, she was going to live in a castle. ‘Don’t
‘Pardon?’
‘I was talking to me.’ She lifted his hand away, but she didn’t quite release it.
‘You’re a wonderful woman.’
‘I am, aren’t I?’ she said and she summoned a smile. ‘But I need a dress.’
‘Sure you do.’ But he was gazing at her with such a look…
‘Don’t you dare kiss me,’ she muttered and hauled her hand away.
‘Why not?’
‘You know very well why not. You and me? No and no and no. We’re in enough of a dilemma. A casual affair would mess things between us for ever.’
‘I’m not talking about a casual-’
‘You’re not talking about anything. Take me shopping, Max.’ She twisted so she was staring straight ahead and her fingers started knotting again. ‘What are we waiting for?’
‘I don’t have a clue,’ Max said slowly. He stared at her for a long moment, but she didn’t look at him. Conversation ended.
Finally he turned the key in the ignition and steered his car out of the pullover and around the cliffs into town.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE village might be tiny, but it catered for money.
‘Monaco’s within easy driving distance and we have amazing summers,’ Max said. He was playing tourist guide, his smooth, informative chat proving the safest of conversations. ‘So we have Europe’s wealthy summering here, driving between here and the casinos.’ He pulled into a parking lot in front of a dozen quaint shops. ‘Daniella’s your best choice. The dress shop on the corner.’
‘You’d know that, how?’
‘Beatrice told me,’ he said, looking wounded.
Pippa even managed a laugh. ‘Okay. Daniella’s it is. How much do I have to spend?’
‘As much as you like.’ He climbed out of the car and came round to open her door. ‘The royal fortune is entailed. That means it’s been kept safe and there’s more than enough to pay for you to wear what you like. Diamond-studded knickers if that’s what takes your fancy.’
She choked. ‘It doesn’t.’
‘How did I know you’d say that?’ He grinned. ‘Let’s go.’
‘You’re not shopping with me.’ She was too close to him, she thought. Damn him for his good manners. She wanted him back on the other side of the car.
‘Of course I’m coming.’
‘Of course nothing. I’m having no man saying, “Nope, that’s not suitable,” or “That color makes you look consumptive,” or, “Gee, I like that one, it gives you great bazookers.”’
‘Bazookers?’
‘See, you don’t even know the language. How do I pay?’
He hesitated, but her chin was tilting in a gesture he was starting to know.
‘Fine,’ he said, conceding defeat. Maybe she was right. They needed to keep their distance. He produced an embossed card. ‘You need a couple of dinner dresses, one over-the-top evening dress and anything else that catches your eye. I’ll be drinking coffee in Vlados, over the road.’
‘Fine,’ she repeated, and looked at the card. ‘You sure this’ll work?’
‘I’m sure. Daniella will recognise it. She’ll probably have heard about you. She’ll certainly have heard about the children. Pippa…’
‘Yes?’
She was standing in the late-afternoon sunshine, chin tilted, dredging up courage. David against Goliath.
It was important to maintain distance.
He couldn’t. It was too much for any man. It was too much for him.
‘Good luck in your hunting,’ he said softly. His fingers caught her under the chin and tilted her chin just a tiny bit more. He kissed her. Softly, fleetingly, withdrawing before she had time to react.
‘Go to it, my David,’ he told her and he smiled and turned away to find his coffee shop.
Max bought a newspaper. He settled in at Vlados and ordered a coffee. He drank half a cup; there was a commotion in the entrance and there was Pippa.
She was in the midst of a group of uniformed men. Subdued. In her simple jeans and her T-shirt and sandals, she looked absurdly defenseless. David defeated?
He was on his feet and moving towards her before she saw him.
‘Pippa?’
She turned, relief washing over her face. She broke away from the men and met him halfway across the restaurant. She was not only defeated, he thought. She was furious. Her eyes were sparking daggers and spots of high colour suffused each cheek.
She tossed down the card on the nearest table. With force. ‘Great idea, Your Highness.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t look royal.’
‘You look pretty good to me,’ he said and smiled, and then he stopped smiling as she looked around as if she was searching for something to brain him with. ‘Hey, I’m not the bad guy here. At least,’ he said cautiously, ‘I don’t think I am.’
‘You’re not,’ she said, glaring at the group of men she’d just left. ‘But you gave me the stupid card.’
‘The card was a problem?’
‘The whole idea was a problem.’
‘Are you going to t-’
It seemed she was going to tell. ‘I’d barely set foot over the threshold,’ she told him. ‘Before Daniella herself-all coiffure and glitter-came snaking out from behind the counter and wondered if I was in the right shop. I said I needed three formal dresses and if she had formal dresses then I was in the right shop.’
He was baffled. She looked really close to tears, he thought. He badly wanted to hold her but if he did…she’d back off, he thought, and he made a huge effort to make his voice noncommittal. ‘So?’
‘So she became very formal. She showed me a dress which looked okay, even if it did look like it was at the bottom of the range she carried. I said could I try it and she said, for security, could she see some form of identification as well as my credit card. I was getting pretty peeved, but I need a damned dress so I gave her my passport and your dumb royal card.’
‘I see,’ he said, really cautiously. He didn’t see.
‘So instead of helping me change into the dress she showed me into a cubicle. Then while I was wrangling zips she rang Levout. Who said I had no authority to charge anything to the castle and I must have stolen the card and he’d send the police straight away.’
‘You are kidding,’ he said slowly, but he knew already that she wasn’t. Uh-oh.
‘So I came out of the change room looking the ants pants in a little black number that would have knocked your socks off and I was met by six policemen. Six! And they wanted to haul me away in all my finery. Only then Daniella set up a screech about her dress, which she said costs a fortune, which, by the way, I was never going to buy
