At the drop-in centre she’d been trying to help a teen mother and her toddler for the past three weeks. Lucia and her daughter, Zoe, were alone and unsupported having been rejected by family and on the move ever since. If someone didn’t step in and help them, Lucia was at risk of having Zoe taken and put into care. Hester had given Lucia what spare cash she could and tried to arrange emergency accommodation. She knew too well what it was to be scared and without security or safety or a loving home.
‘You’re emotionally blackmailing me,’ she said lowly, struggling to stop those thoughts from overwhelming her.
‘Am I?’ He barely breathed. ‘Is it working?’
He watched her for another long moment as she inwardly wrestled with the possibilities. She knew how much it mattered for Lucia and Zoe to stay together. Her parents had fought to stay together and to keep her with them and when they’d died she’d discovered how horrible it was to be foisted upon unwilling family. With money came resources and power and freedom.
Prince Alek sent her a surprisingly tentative smile. ‘Come on, Hester.’ He paused. ‘Wouldn’t it be a little bit fun?’
Did she look as if she needed ‘fun’? Of course she did. She knew what she looked like. Most of the time she didn’t care about it, but right now?
‘You like to do the unpredictable.’ She twisted her hands together and gripped hard, trying to hold onto reality. ‘You delight in doing that.’
‘Doesn’t everyone like to buck convention sometimes? Not conform to the stereotype others have put them in?’
He was too astute because now she thought of those bullies—her cousins and those girls at school—who’d attacked her looks, her lack of sporting prowess, her lack of parents...the ones who’d been horrifically mean.
‘I really don’t want to be used as a joke.’ She’d been that before and was sure the world would see their marriage that way—it was how he was seeing it, right? Nothing to be taken seriously. And she was too far from being like any woman he’d make his bride.
‘Again, I’m not a jerk. I’ll take you seriously and I’ll ensure everyone around us does too. I’ll make a complete commitment to you for the full year. I promise you my loyalty, honesty, integrity and fidelity. I only ask for the same in return. We could be a good team, Hester.’ He glanced again at her desk. ‘I know you do a good job. Fi raves about you.’
Hester’s pride flickered. She did do a good job. And she knew she was too easily flattered. But this was different, this was putting herself in a vulnerable position. This was letting all those people from her past see her again. She’d be more visible than ever before—more vulnerable.
But hadn’t she vowed not to let anyone hurt her again?
‘Working for Princess Fiorella is a good job for me,’ she reminded herself as much as informed him. ‘I won’t be able to come back to it.’
‘You won’t need to,’ he reasoned. ‘You’ll be in a position to do anything you want. You’ll have complete independence. You’ll be able to buy your own place, fill it with cats and books about serial killers. All I’m asking for is one year.’
One year was a long time. But what she could do for Lucia and Zoe? She could change their lives for ever. If someone had done that for her parents? Or for her? But no one had and she’d spent years struggling. While she was in a better place now, Zoe wasn’t.
Hester squared her shoulders. If she could survive what she already had, then she could survive this too. And maybe, with a little change in ‘packaging’, she could subvert that stereotype those others had placed on her—and yes, wouldn’t that be a little ‘fun’?
That long-buried seed unfurled, forming the smallest irrepressible bud. An irresistible desire for adventure, a chance impossible to refuse. She couldn’t say no when he was offering her the power to change everything for someone so vulnerable. And for herself.
‘I think you’ll like Triscari,’ he murmured easily. ‘The weather is beautiful. We have many animals. We’re most famous for our horses, but we have cats too...’
She gazed at him, knowing he was wheedling because he sensed success.
‘All right,’ she said calmly, even as she was inwardly panicking already. ‘One year’s employment.’
Predatory satisfaction flared in his eyes. Yes. This was a man who liked to get his way. But he was wise enough not to punch the air with an aggressive fist. He merely nodded. Because he’d expected her acquiescence all along, hadn’t he?
‘It’ll cost you,’ she added quickly, feeling the sharp edge of danger press.
‘All the money?’ His smile quirked.
‘Yes,’ she answered boldly, despite her thundering heart. ‘So much money.’
‘You have plans.’ He sounded dispassionately curious. ‘What are you going to do with it?’
‘You want your privacy, I want mine,’ she snapped. ‘If I want to bathe in a tub full of crisp, new dollar bills, that’s my prerogative.’ She wasn’t telling him or anyone. Not even Lucia and Zoe, because she didn’t want any of this to blow back on them. This would be a secret gift.
‘Wonderful. Let me know when you want them delivered.’ He looked amused. ‘Shall we shake on it?’
Gravely she placed her hand in his, quelling the shiver inside as he grasped her firmly. He didn’t let her go, not until she looked up. The second she did, she was captured by that contrary mix of caution and curiosity and concern in his beautiful eyes. She had the horrible fear they were full of soul.
It didn’t seem right for him to bow before her and, worse, she couldn’t make herself respond in kind, not even to incline her head. She couldn’t seem to move—her lungs had constricted. And her heart? That had simply stopped.
‘Let’s
