‘You were never permitted…’ Andreas’s face was calmly assessing. ‘Yet according to my sources, you did all the work.’
‘It was my father’s farm. He made the business decisions.’
‘He made the decision to run the place into the ground rather than sell up and move on while he could.’
‘It was my decision, too,’ she snapped. ‘You think I didn’t have a choice? But I loved it. I love it still. Adam’s still there-and I want to go home.’
She gulped and dug her fingers into her palms and fought desperately for control while Andreas and Nikos and Sophia watched gravely on.
And then, as if coming to a decision right there, right then, Andreas lifted the little dog into his arms and he carried him across to Holly.
‘Sit,’ he ordered and she sat, for she couldn’t think of anything else to do, at the elegant table with the exquisite silverware and crystal and candles.
He put the pup on her knee and he lifted her hands and placed them on the pup’s collar.
‘This is my troth,’ he said gently.
‘Your troth,’ she said numbly.
‘My vow,’ he said, and then as Nikos and Sophia went to move away he made a curt hand signal for them to stay. ‘No. I want witnesses. This is not for public consumption but I know that you two can be discreet. You two of all our people will know what is happening. Holly, I’m asking you to marry me, for the sake of our people. For the sake of our country. But I’m saying that I’ll not hold you to this marriage for a moment longer than needs be. As soon as the fuss has died down-as soon as it’s seen that I’ve done the honourable thing by you and that my family can’t be called to account-we can’t be dispossessed by our past-then you can go home. Back to Munwannay.’
‘Back…’
‘Yesterday I offered to pay your father’s debts,’ he said. ‘But I watched you last night and I thought of what you faced alone and I thought it’s not enough. So what I’m offering is your life back. I give you Deefer Two.’ He smiled wryly at the pup. ‘Or whatever you wish to call him. And I give you Munwannay. I’ve arranged for my people to buy it outright at the price you’ve been asking. The deeds will be given to you on the day of our marriage. Plus a marriage settlement that will be generous enough to enable you to farm the place with everything you need and more-for the next fifty years if you like. This will be yours, Holly. I can’t take away my requirement that you marry me. You must. But this, I believe, is the honourable thing to do. All you need to do now is say you will and the thing is done.’
She gazed up at him, astounded beyond belief. Deefer Two wriggled in her arms and her fingers automatically started scratching behind his ears. He wriggled ecstatically, turned and gave her a long, slurping kiss from the chin to the forehead.
It had been years since she’d been kissed by a dog. And last night…she’d been kissed by a prince.
One thing at a time. Deeds to a farm. Marriage to a prince. Puppies were easier.
‘How did you find…?’
‘I worked,’ he said, his eyes crinkling into laughter. ‘All last night. I wanted a pure-bred collie dog that looked like Deefer. Right down to the white tip on the end of his tail. I put every available servant back at the palace onto it. From dawn I’ve had people ringing breeders across Europe.’ He shook his head. ‘You have no idea…I thought the Stefani diamond was priceless, but what we had to do to get you this pup…’
But he’d done it. Her prince. Her Andreas.
He was watching her closely, his dark eyes hooded, trying to conceal his emotions. But he was anxious. She could see a level of anxiety that couldn’t be suppressed.
Did he think she was still going to refuse?
Maybe she should. But.
But this man could order a small army to search for a dog for her.
And more. This man had said she could bring his country to ruin by refusing to marry him. He’d said his country’s future depended on their marriage.
Against all sense, she believed him.
And if she believed him, was there a choice? What was she but a failed farmer, a teacher who could easily be replaced? She was nothing against the fate of a country.
In the scheme of things, what price marriage? If it meant she could go home again…
Could she?
Of course she could, she thought, trying to make her dizzy mind focus. What was she doing, dithering? The Royal House of Karedes was wealthy beyond belief-she’d always known that. What Andreas was offering was nothing in the light of his vast wealth.
And he meant it, she thought, dazed. This was no clandestine promise. He was making this offer not in private but in public, witnessed by Sophia and Nikos. It was a business proposition, no more, no less.
So…
So all she had to do was put aside the ignominious way she’d been bundled here against her will and take it from here.
And all she had to do was put away the way just looking at Andreas made her feel. As if there were something else possible behind a curt business arrangement. As if there were a love that had blazoned forth ten years ago and hadn’t died.
Both things had to be ignored. Andreas was a prince of the blood. She knew that. She’d always known that. He took his pleasures where he willed. He’d just come from a marriage that Sophia had told her was tempestuous-a jealous hell from day one. He had a wardrobe full of exotic clothes on his exotic island, waiting for woman after woman after woman.
He wanted a new bride like a bad smell.
But this was a business proposition. She had to make herself see it as that. Business.
And in her arms…His troth.
The pup was a pretty funny troth, she thought, and she rose to her feet and hugged the little dog close. His troth. Better than any diamond.
Deefer made it personal. Deefer made it seem…almost right. Almost as if there were some desire.
‘You say…you’re inferring we can divorce later on,’ she said, trying to make herself think. ‘But your divorce to Christine…’
‘Was different. Christine used the occasion to bad-mouth me at a time she knew we were vulnerable. The timing was awful-scandal after scandal was rocking the palace. The lies she’s told about me are one of the main reasons why it’s imperative I’m seen as doing the right thing now. If you agree I’d ask that our marriage stay in place until Sebastian ascends to the throne. After that it doesn’t matter what the people think of me. But Holly, I need this marriage. Our country needs this marriage. You have to believe me.’
‘But if I believe you…there doesn’t seem much choice,’ she managed, and it was really hard to get even that much out. ‘I’d have to marry you.’
‘Is there anyone else?’ he asked suddenly. ‘I assumed…’
‘Your people didn’t find that out?’
‘They said they thought not. Are they right?’
‘Of course they’re right,’ she snapped before she could stop herself.
He smiled. ‘That’s a blessing.’
‘For who?’ she demanded.
‘For me,’ he said and had the temerity to grin.
‘So you’re free to marry him?’ Sophia had been quiet long enough. She was practically jiggling with impatience. As they turned to look at her she gave a shamefaced smile. ‘It’s just…Your Highness, I have soufflés in the oven.’
‘Then for the sake of the soufflés, Holly…’ Andreas said, and his grin deepened.
And all at once Holly was smiling back, caught in the web of wonder she’d been trapped in ten years ago.
But…She couldn’t be illogical. Even for the soufflés. She had to be…businesslike.
‘So it’s to be a temporary marriage.’
‘Yes.’
‘I can go home when I want?’
‘As soon as the fuss dies down, yes.’
‘You’ll pay all my father’s debts.’
‘Of course.’
‘You’ll give me working capital as well?’
‘Ye
s,’ Andreas said. ‘Anything else?’
‘I can keep the pup?’ Holly demanded, refusing to be distracted.
‘He’s yours. He’ll need to be quarantined when he goes back to Australia, but I’ll cover the costs in the marriage contracts.’
‘So I’ll have real, fully legal contracts.’
‘If you want, then yes.’
She stared at him. He gazed calmly back, waiting for her decision. On the sidelines Sophia started jiggling again and looked despairingly toward the kitchen. She looked so desperate that Holly allowed herself to be distracted. The big picture was just too hard to focus on. So…why not focus on the detail?
Soufflés. Maybe soufflés were as good a reason as any to agree to a marriage she thought of as mad.
Was she mad? Probably, she thought. She felt as she had when, as a little girl, her father had taken her to a huge swimming pool in Perth. When he wasn’t looking she’d climbed the diving tower, right to the top. Before she’d known it she’d been at the edge of the diving platform, and older, competent divers had been queuing up behind her waiting for her to dive.
‘Are you going to dive or not?’ a kid had asked scornfully and she’d looked down at the water way below her in horror-and she’d jumped.
And that was what she did now. Crazy or not, she believed what Andreas was telling her. And if she believed him…there didn’t seem to be a choice.
‘For the sake of the soufflé, then,’ she said, forcing her voice to be calm, steady, all the things that she absolutely wasn’t. ‘For no other reason in the world, other than one small pup and a soufflé. Yes, Your Highness, I agree to marry you.’
What did she do after she’d just agreed to marry a prince? She ate soufflé, of course, a feather-light confection of cheeses that melted in her mouth and felt as insubstantial as the night.
Everything felt insubstantial. She felt as if she were floating in some weird bubble. Any minute it’d burst and she’d be catapulted back to her lonely life; the realities of coping with Munwannay by herself.
It’d happen. But it’d happen with enough money for her to make her property viable.
She was trying to stay distant from the man seated at the other side of the table. She’d agreed to marry him, but it was a bargain. A means to the end for both of them.
She’d need to buy in cattle, she thought. Good cattle, the kind she’d always dreamed she could run at stud. She could rebuild the garden. She could get the dry rot out of the floorboards. Maybe she could also think about doing what she’d always wanted-taking in select holidaymakers who wanted a real cattle experience in the outback.
It’d mean it wouldn’t be so lonely.
She hadn’t set Deefer down. The pup had had a very long day and was more than content to lie draped over her knee while she ate her soufflé and the rest of the magnificent dinner Sophia put before her.
And all the time Andreas watched her, his eyes dark and fathomless.
‘This is what you want?’ Andreas said at last as Sophia poured coffee and left them.
‘Do I have a choice?’ she asked, surprised.
‘I can’t coerce you,’ he said. ‘You know that. But I believe it’s a fair bargain.’
‘It is.’ And of course she wanted it. Munwannay was where Adam lay. To be given the ability to stay there, for always…
‘The divorce won’t be possible until after my brother is crowned,’ Andreas reminded her, and that hauled her thoughts away from one tiny grave and back to the man across the table from her. ‘It seems presumptuous to talk about divorce before we’re actually married,’ he said. ‘But I believe it’s better that we have a plan.’
Plans sounded good. What was in her head now was an enormous knot of confusion. If he could somehow unravel it into bits she could understand then she might be able to cope.
‘Tell me where we go from here,’ she asked, and the little dog on her lap looked up at her as if in concern. She hugged him tight-a warm, familiar certainty in the face of internal chaos.
‘We need a royal wedding,’ he said. ‘Not a huge affair-we’ll leave the pomp and pageant for Sebastian, but the people will react well to a proper wedding.’
‘I can hardly wear white,’ she said and his brow snapped down.
‘Of course you can wear white. It’s not as if you’ve carried some other man’s child.’ It was said strongly, angrily-even possessively-and Holly flinched.
‘No,’ she murmured. ‘Only yours.’
‘So it means you can be a true bride if you wish,’ he said. ‘And maybe it’d be for the best if you are. There’s rumours sweeping the country that I seduced you and I abandoned you. That your child died through poverty and neglect. I know,’ he said as her eyes widened in shock. ‘We’ll set the story straight. But your isolation has meant that people will feel sorry for you, and maybe we have to play to that. The fact that you’ve had no other man-as far as we know-makes it possible for the people of my country to believe that you can be a truly worthy bride.’
‘Oh, very good,’ she managed. Only it wasn’t. Here were the echoes of an anger that had been put aside for a little. ‘So if I’d, say, had another boyfriend or six in the interim it would have been much…’
‘Better,’ he finished brusquely. ‘If my people believed you were a trollop, then I might not have to marry you.’
‘You don’t have to marry me.’
‘I do have to marry you,’ he snapped. ‘I have as little choice as you.’
Her coffee suddenly tasted like mud. She set the cup down on the delicately etched china saucer and pushed it away from her.
‘So we have two people forced into a royal marriage of convenience.’
‘That sums it up.’ He sighed and looked across the table at her. ‘Don’t look like that. You were starting to look…better. More cheerful. Like there was an advantage to this somewhere.’
‘There is,’ she said and hugged her dog. ‘Deefer and my farm. I’ll need to figure the quarantine regulations for getting him back into Australia.’
‘The breeder gave me the details but let’s not apply for that just yet,’ he said. ‘Let’s get married first.’
‘So…when?’
‘Three days.’
Her eyes flew to his, shocked. ‘Three days?’
‘Back on the mainland. I’ll introduce you to my family and we wed that afternoon.’
‘You must really be scared.’
‘My brother thinks he’s about to lose the crown,’ Andreas said. ‘Yes, he’s scared. But so is half the country. We will not be swallowed by Calista.’
‘And I’m the pawn…’
‘We’re both pawns.’
She ignored him. Or she was trying to ignore him.
‘Why?’ she said at last. ‘Is there anything you’re not telling me?’
He shook his head and she thought suddenly he looked dead tired. He’d been up all night trying to sort her a dog, a deal, a future? And flying back and forth collecting Deefer. She had a sudden urgent desire to go round the table and run her fingers through his dark hair. Hold his face against her breast as once she’d done, oh, so long ago.
It wouldn’t work. They were adults now, with adult responsibilities. And surely she had an adult’s mistrust of showing her heart on her sleeve.
‘So…so how bad was your divorce?’ she asked suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, but in fact it was something she really wanted to know.
Sophia had told her the country was up in arms about Andreas’s immoral behaviour, but she’d also said, ‘But don’t believe a word of it. Christina lied about Andreas from day one. She has powerful friends, that one, and she knows how to manipulate the press. Prince Andreas has been made to be the villain and he’s too much of a gentleman to put them right.’
Holly looked across the table into Andreas’s eyes and she saw the confirmation of what Sophia had told her. The country might be accusing the royal family of being immoral but she’d never believe it of Andreas. He might
be a prince-he might be so far from her world that she could barely touch him-but she believed in his honour.
Today he’d worked on her behalf; he’d given her something he believed she truly wanted. So now…
She had a choice. She could go forth, kicking and screaming into the future, bewailing it wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair. Or she could start playing the part. She could even have…fun?
‘I wouldn’t mind being a bride,’ she said cautiously, and she saw shock register.
‘You wouldn’t mind…
She lifted an after-dinner mint from the middle of the table and bit into its creamy centre. There might well be advantages to royalty. One of them might be the seriously good chocolate. But…‘I won’t wear a bustle,’ she told him. ‘No bows, either. But if there’s a crown or a tiara or something, I don’t mind a bit of bling.’
‘Bling…’
‘Diamonds are good,’ she said, striving for insouciance.
‘You can hardly wear the Aristo crown,’ he said dryly. ‘It might be gorgeous but there is the little fact that the diamond in the middle is paste.’
‘Then I won’t wear it,’ she decreed. ‘No paste for this princess. I want fabulous.’
‘Fabulous.’
‘Yes, fabulous. If we’re stuck in a royal marriage, then why don’t we give the whole country their money’s worth?’
‘You mean it?’
‘I mean it.’ She focused on her mint, trying to sound airy. ‘I mean, if we both go into it pretending we hate the idea…what sort of impression does that give? That we’re both wimps?’
‘No one could ever say you’re a wimp.’
‘Nor you,’ she said and eyed him with distinct approval. ‘Not in that outfit. Golly, Andreas, who does your tailoring?’
‘How would I know?’ He rose and moved around the table so he was standing beside her, looking down at her with his hooded, enigmatic eyes.
‘That’s right,’ she said, trying not to sound self-conscious. Trying not to sound as if he was standing too close and she was too aware of it. ‘I forgot. You have a whole retinue of tailors.’
The Prince’s Captive Wife Page 8
