‘Hester—’
‘I knew then that I had to get away for real.’ Pain welled in her chest and she gazed down at the box. She’d never understood why they’d been so mean—what it was she’d ever done. Why it was that she’d not been welcomed.
‘Were these the cousins who attended the wedding yesterday?’
She nodded.
‘If I’d known…’ He muttered something harsh beneath his breath. ‘Why did you invite them?’
‘It would have caused more harm if I hadn’t. Imagine what they’d have said to the media then?’
‘I don’t give a damn what they’d have said.’
‘It’s fine, Alek. They can’t hurt me any more.’
He glanced at her. ‘It’s not fine, Hester. And you know that’s not true.’
‘Well…’ she smiled ruefully ‘…they can’t hurt me as much as they used to. I’m not a child. I’m not as vulnerable. I do okay now.’
‘You do more than okay.’ He blew out his tension. ‘Were these the people who tested whether your eyelashes are real by pulling them out?’
She stared at him, her heart shrivelling at the realisation that he’d seen so much. ‘How did you—?’
‘No one normal would ever think to do that. You only mentioned it because some cruel witch had actually done it.’
She stared into space, lost in another horrible memory. ‘It was girls at school,’ she mumbled. ‘Pinned me down.’
‘At school?’
His horror made her wince.
‘I got myself a scholarship to an elite boarding school. It was supposed to be my great escape—a wonderful fresh start away from the cousins.’
‘And it wasn’t?’ He clenched his jaw.
‘It was worse.’
She felt the waves of rage radiating from him and opted to minimise what she’d confessed. ‘They were just mean. I ran away from the school. I worked. I studied. I did it myself.’
‘You shouldn’t have had to.’
‘It’s okay.’
‘It’s not okay, Hester.’
‘But I’m okay. Now. I truly am.’ And she realised with a little jolt that it was true. If she could handle getting married in front of millions of people, she could handle anything, right?
He looked into her eyes for a long moment and finally sighed. ‘My craftsman said he’d fixed the lock too,’ he said, drawing a tiny ornate key from his pocket. ‘So now you can lock it again and keep it safe.’ He held the key out to her. ‘And you could put the key on a chain this time.’
She curled her fingers around the key and pressed it to her chest. ‘This was so kind of you, Alek.’
His smile was lopsided so the dimples didn’t appear and he didn’t kiss her as she’d thought he was about to. Instead he stood.
‘We need to get going or it’ll be too dark.’
‘Of course,’ she breathed, trying to recapture control of herself, but there was a loose thread that he seemed to have tugged and still had a hold of so she couldn’t retie it. ‘I need a minute to tidy up.’
‘The staff will tidy up.’
‘I’m not leaving this mess for them.’ She sent him a scandalised look. ‘They’ll think we had a massive fight or something.’
He grinned as he scooped up an armful of pillows and put them away with surprising speed. ‘Or something.’
CHAPTER NINE
HESTER GAZED UP at the double-storeyed mansion set in the centre of green lawns and established trees. ‘I didn’t think there could be anything more beautiful than the palace or the castle, but this is—’
‘Very different from either of those places.’ Alek said.
‘Yes, it’s…’ She trailed off, unsure she wanted to elaborate; he seemed oddly distant.
Only then he wasn’t.
‘What?’ He stepped in front of her, his gaze compelling. ‘Tell me what you think.’
It was impossible to deny him anything when he stood that close.
‘It doesn’t seem like a royal residence. It’s more like a home.’ Admittedly a beautiful, luxurious home—but there was something warm and welcoming and cosy about it.
‘It was home.’ Something softened in his eyes. ‘My mother designed it and my father had it built for her before I was born.’ His lips twisted in a half-smile.
‘You grew up here?’
He nodded. ‘She wanted us here as much as possible. School had to be in the city, of course, but before then and every holiday during. It was our safe place to be free.’
Hester was fascinated and honoured that he’d brought her somewhere clearly so special to him. ‘Was?’
‘My father never returned here after she died.’ He gazed across the fields before turning to walk towards the homestead. ‘Because she died here.’
Hester stilled. But he strode ahead and clearly had no desire to continue the conversation.
She couldn’t catch her breath as she followed him through the living area. The interior of the homestead was much more personal than the palace. Large, deep sofas created a completely different space—it was luxurious and comfortable and she felt as if she was encroaching on something intimate and deeply personal.
‘You really love horses,’ she muttered inanely when it had been silent too long and because out of every window she saw the beautiful animals grazing in the fields.
He chuckled at her expression. ‘You’ve never ridden?’
‘I’m nowhere near co-ordinated enough. I’ve seen video of Fiorella, though. She’s amazing.’
‘She likes show jumping. I prefer polo.’
‘Whacking things with your big stick?’ She smirked.
He eyed her, that humour and wickedness warming his gaze. ‘At least I’m not afraid of them.’
‘They’re huge and powerful and they could trample me to death. Of course I’m afraid of them.’
‘They’ll sense your fear. Some will behave badly.’
‘A bit like people, really,’ she muttered.
‘True.’ He laughed as he led her up the stairs. ‘Come up and appreciate the view. All the staff have gone away for these couple of nights so we’re completely alone.’
His phone pinged and he frowned but paused to check the
