His Majesty's Secret Passion

by Christina Hollis

  Sara felt hunted. “My PA made me leave everything else behind. Can you imagine it?”

  “That sounds like heaven to me. Normally, I have to escape to the Neroli to get peace and quiet.” He jerked his head toward the sea.

  Sara had been wondering about the beautiful yacht moored out in the bay, and gasped. “She’s yours?”

  He nodded. “She’s big enough to get me away from it all, but the only one of my fleet that’s small enough to go after mackerel shoals. Which she does very well,” he added with relish.

  Sara groaned. “Not another fisherman!”

  “That was heartfelt!” He glanced at her hands. “You’ve brought your husband here for the sport fishing, have you?”

  “No. There is no husband. Or partner, or boyfriend.” She tapped the plain gold band on the third finger of her left hand. “I’ve done my time, thanks. I wear this wedding ring for protection purposes.”

  “So you’re divorced?” He sounded as if he was stowing that fact away for future use.

  Sara felt herself coloring up again. “No. We never got as far as marriage. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Sorry. Put it down to my medical training. I spent years learning how to winkle out painful truths and embarrassing secrets. It’s a tough habit to kick.” He brushed damp curls from his forehead. “You can call me Leo, by the way.”

  Sara put her elbows on the arms of the lounger and leaned forward. It was good to have an excuse to study his face. “How can you afford to stay at a place like this, not-quite-a-doctor Leo? Have you majored in alternative medicine for wealthy celebrities? Or maybe you’ve taken out a patent on some vital pharmaceutical?”

  He stared at her. Sara felt intimidated, but she hadn’t clawed her way through the business jungle by blushing and backing down. She returned his stare, with interest.

  “Neither,” he said after the longest of pauses. “I gave up my career to take over the running of my...family firm.”

  “Which you must have done to stunning effect. I notice you’ve been very careful not to tell me what you actually do, Leo.” She shot him a winning smile.

  He straightened up, shutting out the sun. “I don’t like talking about it. It’s an unhappy story.”

  That put Sara’s own problems into perspective. “Oh, no. I’m sorry,” she said, expecting him to change the subject. Instead, he switched his attention to some distant point on the horizon, way beyond his beautiful Neroli.

  “I wasn’t about to throw away the dedication and work of five generations of my family. So here I am.”

  Sara was still curious, but his face was unreadable. She tried to provoke a reaction. “So here you are. Nearly a doctor, but actually a martyr.”

  His eyes flashed a warning, and he stood. Stripping off his surgical gloves gave him an excuse not to look at her. “I don’t waste time thinking like that. There’s no point living in the past.”

  “That’s my motto as well.” So why couldn’t she put mistakes behind her? Sara watched him zip the first-aid kit and put it away. When he turned back from the cupboard, she pretended she had been studying her leg all the time. “You’re the sort of tidy, methodical person who would succeed at anything, Leo. You’ve made a good job of my leg.”

  “You’re not squeamish, then?”

  She smiled to herself as he inspected his handiwork again. If only he knew!

  “Your wound looks fine now. Leave it open to the fresh air, and it’ll granulate faster than if it’s covered. Put on a waterproof dressing if you go into the sea again today.”

  “I think I’ll stick to dry land this afternoon.” Sara used the towel he had put around her shoulders to blot her hair.

  “Good idea. “

  “I might check out the charity auction, although it’s funny my PA didn’t tell me anything about it.” Sara frowned. “It’s odd, because she knows I always want to give something back when I can.”

  “You can make a one-off donation of money if you like, but it’s mainly an auction of promises. I suspect that’s why your PA kept it quiet. You seem like a woman who’d use any excuse to work.”

  “I don’t need an excuse. My mother was as fit as a flea until she lost her job. After that shock, she was dead within six weeks. That’s not happening to me.”

  “Families have a lot to answer for.” Leo’s voice was a low growl of agreement. “My own father messed up the lives of all his children, but now I’m in charge; things are going to change. Starting right now.”

  Chapter Two

  Leo pulled at the front of his shirt. It was already drying in the heat. “That’s why I take an interest in charity events. It’s the least I can do.”

  Sara sighed. “I know how you feel.”

  “Do you?” He mocked. “I very much doubt that.”

  She heard the echo of painful memories in his voice, but still needed to put him right. “I had to rely on the charity of other people a lot when I was younger. That’s made me a keen giver.”

  He didn’t say anything. That disappointed her. She’d been hoping he would open up, but he stayed tight-lipped. She explored another way of winning him around, and gave him a wicked look. “So what little treat are you offering to whoever wins your promise, Leo?”

  “A week’s expedition through the Sierra de Cadiz, based around my stud farm in Andalusia.”

  Sara was impressed, but puzzled. “That’s incredible—but you don’t sound Spanish.”

  “No. I come from...the eastern seaboard of Europe, but I have investments in property around the world.”

  Sara wondered about the micro-pause before he turned vague about his nationality. “I’m impressed. You’ve gone up in my estimation.”

  His expression hardened, and Sara recognized the look in his eyes. It stared back at her often enough from mirrors. Leo Gregoryan wasn’t quick to trust. She hid a smile, wishing she’d shown a bit more of Leo’s caution when she first took up with Jason, her ex. That love-rat had turned out to be far more interested in the boost Sara could give to his career than he was in her as a thinking, feeling being. “A man who likes animals can’t be all bad,” she added.

  “You shouldn’t make rash judgments.” A disapproving look crossed his face.

  Sara laughed out loud. “If I could ride, I’d bid for a prize like yours, Leo. Are lessons included?”

  “It could be arranged. If your bid wins my promise, you’re the boss.”

  “I’ll hold you to that, although after this holiday it may be a while before I take another break from work.” She blew her fringe out of her eyes, already dreading what chaos she would find when she got back to the office. “With promotion on the way, my diary will be pretty well booked up. Is there a time limit on your offer?”

  “If you can’t take advantage of it yourself, you could always pass the expedition on as a prize. In the same way that performance award of yours brought you here.”

  The chance of seeing gorgeous Leo Gregoryan riding a horse through his own land was irresistible, but Sara knew an expedition in mountains would pose problems. “That depends. How is the mobile reception in your sierra? Would I be able to get online to check my mail?”

  Leo raised the perfect dark arches of his brows. “Will you want to do that in mid—expedition?”

  “If I don’t log in every hour, my mail builds up. That’s why I can’t see the point of holidays.” She didn’t bother hiding her exasperation. “Instead of working a steady sixty hours a week, every week, I’m expected to hang around here, doing nothing. When they let me go back to the office, I’ll have to sleep there until I’ve caught up with the backlog.”

  He exhaled in a rush. “I thought you were under orders to relax.”

  “I agreed because I had to.” Sara dismissed his words with a casual wave of her hand. It was a lie. Inside, she felt sick. She’d had two narrow escapes in as many months. Cats were supposed to have nine lives, but people weren’t so lucky. Sara knew she might not walk away the next time. S
he wasn’t about to reveal her fears to a stranger, so she pulled a face. “Assuming that guy was a proper doctor...he had letters after his name, so I thought I’d better believe him.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily make him a doctor!” Leo said with a derision that made her feel uncomfortable.

  “Mr. Wickram has diplomas on his wall too.”

  “Who doesn’t?” Leo drawled.

  “So you do, even though you never qualified as a doctor?”

  “Yes. I’m missing the only one that really matters, although qualifying would have been a mere formality.”

  Sara saw his straight face as another challenge. “Oh, really? I can see you’ve already got the ‘Very Modest And I Don’t Think’ award!” She chuckled.

  Unfazed, he grinned back. “Of course. That’s a perpetual trophy. It stands right in the middle of my collection.”

  “If you’re that much of a genius, Leo, why don’t you pay someone else to run your family business while you go back and finish your medical training?”

  His expression zipped up as tight as the lid of the first-aid box. “Because other people are involved.”

  Sara wanted to know more, but a flicker of movement pulled her attention out through the summerhouse window. A vision in black was clip-clopping down the shallow steps leading from the cliff-top hotel to the sandy cove. Her business-smart pantsuit and stilettos were as out of place on the beach as Leo’s outfit. Clutching an impressive organizer in one hand, she waved her arms like a tightrope walker to keep her balance on the rough concrete.

  The woman called in an unrecognizable language, but she clearly wasn’t happy. Her tone set Sara’s teeth on edge. Someone was in big trouble.

  “It’s Krisia,” Leo said, before speaking to the newcomer in her own language. “She’s one of my entourage,” he added in English, looking less than pleased.

  The girl picked her way over the sand toward them. As soon as Krisia got close enough to stop concentrating on her footwork, she looked at Leo with a glittering smile. He spoke a few sharp words to her that Sara couldn’t understand. Krisia shook back her mane of honey-blonde hair, and shot Sara a venomous look as Leo switched back to speaking English. “Krisia, this is Sara Astley.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Krisia.” Sara put out her hand, but instead of taking it, the newcomer leaned into Leo and pulled at his damp clothing in a clear sign of possession. Sara felt an unexpected pang.

  “I was looking for Leo,” Krisia’s voice shared Leo’s accent, but added a dismissive sneer for Sara.

  “Now you’ve found him, what are you going to do with him?” As if I couldn’t guess, Sara thought, as Krisia clucked over her hero’s wet clothes.

  Ignoring Sara, Krisia spoke straight to Leo. “Everyone saw you dive into the sea and then disappear in here with this…woman, so I came to investigate.”

  His response was terse. “I was carrying out some first aid.”

  Sara smiled. It was obvious how much Leo Gregoryan hated being caught out by a woman—especially when he had his hands full with another one. At least he handled his anger much better than most men. It was her peace of mind in danger here, not her body. This stranger was a temptation her heart couldn’t afford right now. She decided Krisia would have to be her unlikely ally. “It’s lucky you arrived when you did, Krisia, or Leo might have been very late for his lunch date,” she said, innocently.

  It worked. Krisia glanced at Sara’s fake wedding ring. Her smile turned into a possessive scowl. “You don’t want to tangle with this man, Mrs. Astley.”

  To make sure Sara got the message, Krisia gave Leo’s arm a squeeze. With the other hand, she went to poke him playfully in the stomach.

  He caught her finger. Krisia snapped at him, but Sara refused to be intimidated by the little scene. “And I can guess why,” she said.

  Of all the times for Krisia to turn up, Leo thought. It was one of the disadvantages of having a personal shadow. She wasn’t a bad girl, just a bit too keen. Pinning on a smile, he slung one arm around his cousin’s shoulder. Then he drew her away from Sara, and back toward the steps leading up to the hotel. “Remind me to blunder in on you and your next hot date, Krisia.”

  “You know very well I don’t have a boyfriend, your Majesty. All my time is spent working for you.”

  Leo’s heart sank. Why was nothing simple any more? “Give it a rest, Krisia. I know how busy you are preparing for the coronation. I let you tag along on this break because you promised not to bother me with it. I’m putting all that ceremonial stuff to the back of my mind while I still can. Sara Astley was helping me.”

  “Like all the others.”

  “No.” Leo was sure about that. “She doesn’t recognize me. Not even when you pranced up waving the royal crest for everyone to see.”

  Krisia snorted, turning the leather-bound organizer around to hide the blue, gold, and red crest of Kharova. “She’s softening you up, like every gold digger before her.”

  “If it’s a line, it’s a new one. And I like it.” He grinned. “I thought you were playing tennis this morning. You’re supposed to be taking it easy too.”

  “How can I? I’m too busy with your arrangements!”

  They reached the bottom of the steps leading to the hotel. Krisia moved in closer, but Leo peeled himself from her grasp. He was good at letting people down gently, but none of his methods worked on Krisia. Boundaries were difficult where she was concerned. As a close relative of Kharova’s royal family, Krisia had always been around. That hadn’t been a problem while Leo’s older brother was alive. Zacari had been destined to rule, while the younger Gregoryans were all equals. Now Zac was dead. Leo had been landed with the top job, and Krisia was finding it hard to adjust to his new position in life.

  “Don’t remind me. I’m trying to forget. And it’s why I don’t want you to give the game away. I’m here to enjoy myself. That’s all. Nick’s agreed not to blow my cover. You must promise to do the same. You do not tell this woman who I am.”

  “Yes, your Majesty.” Her expression was sulky. “Of course. I came to tell you a change of clothes is ready in your suite. You’ll need them after tangling with that Astley woman.”

  “Her name is Sara.” There was a warning in his voice, but it was a gentle one.

  Krisia huffed. “I don’t know how you remember them all.”

  “And I don’t know why you can’t forget any of them!” Leo glanced back toward the summerhouse, weighing the brief pleasure of inviting Sara to lunch against the prospect of Krisia moaning about his other conquests for the rest of the day. Then he checked his watch and cursed. “I’ll be up to shower and change as soon as I can.”

  Krisia’s scrutiny was like sandpaper. “I suppose that means you’re going back to her.”

  Leo wriggled his shoulders, trying to unstick his drying shirt from his body. “I’m going to give Sara some practical help. She had a slight accident. While I enjoy the chance to deal with it, you can tell Nick he’ll need to restock the first-aid kit in the summerhouse.”

  Krisia scowled. “You enjoy yourself too often, Leo.”

  He tousled her hair. “It’s allowed. I’m not twenty-eight yet. That isn’t old—and don’t you forget it!”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

  “Good. Carry on then. I’ve got to get back to the summerhouse, but once I’ve finished down there, I’ll be up to get ready for lunch. Ten minutes, tops.”

  “Make sure you are,” Krisia said.

  Leo had never been late for anything in his life, but he didn’t correct her. All he did was smile. He knew how much Krisia needed to be wanted. If working for him made her happy, then he wouldn’t disappoint her without good reason.

  Sara blinked in pretended surprise as Leo forged his way back into the summerhouse.

  “Sorry about that, Sara. I’m having lunch with Nick, so I’ll have to get a move on. I’ll carry you up to the hotel, then it’s good-bye for a while. Duty calls.”

  She rearrang
ed the towel around her shoulders, trying to look as prim as a Greek matron. It didn’t work. “Don’t let me distract you, Leo. If you want to head off, be my guest. I can manage, and I’m the last person to get between anyone and their public image.”

  He muttered something under his breath. “You and I are both here to get away from all that.” The cynicism showed in her face. Leo pretended to ignore it, and carried on. “Krisia’s an assistant of mine.”

  “A very personal assistant, from the way she’s keeping watch on you.”

  “She’s a member of my staff. That’s all.”

  “I’ll bet.” Sara noticed he was watching her hands. Looking down she realized she was fiddling with her ring, thumbing it round on her finger. She stopped.

  “Somebody’s given you a very jaundiced opinion of men, Sara, but we aren’t all the same.”

  “Oh, no? The way you talk about Krisia makes you sound pretty glib.”

  Leo held up his hands. “Okay. You’ve got me there. Guilty as charged. There are plenty of women willing to be in my life, but there’s no need for me to tangle with Krisia. Besides, it would be too close to home.”

  “But you admit you do fool around with women, whenever you get the chance?” Sara asked, wondering how he’d try to wriggle out of it.

  “Yes. What’s wrong with that?”

  “People get hurt.”

  “Not the way I do it.”

  His arrogance almost took her breath away. “You are so sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

  He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “No. Simply careful.”

  “About what?”

  “About the type of woman I ‘fool around with,’ as you so delicately put it. They say if you stroke a seal pup, it’ll follow you everywhere. Well, cute and cuddly, I’m okay with. Big, soulful eyes are a plus, but I can do without the constant adoration, thanks very much. I’m not that much of a control freak. I like my encounters brief and uncomplicated.”

  “So you admit it. You are completely feckless!”

  He laughed. “If the mood takes me, I can throw off convention and have a good time. I’ve never had any complaints. When it comes to women, I’m interested in passing pleasures. Not permanent arrangements.”