‘I suspect the lawyers will want, too,’ she said and then hesitated. ‘Tell you what. Get me a lawyer, too.’

‘Pardon?’

‘It’s all on your terms,’ she said, trying to sound as if she knew what she was talking about. ‘I mean, you’ve given me Deefer and you’ve given me promises but I just have your word.’

‘You can take my word.’ He sounded offended and she shrugged.

‘Of course, but I’m a tadpole in an ocean here. You’re talking contracts? So should I. I want an Australian lawyer to go over anything you want me to sign.’

‘Where am I going to find an Australian lawyer?’

‘I don’t know. You found me a collie dog. You’re good at finding stuff.’

‘Holly…’

‘You think I’m stretching the friendship?’

‘I don’t think you’re stretching anything. But you can trust me.’

‘Yes, but I’m still going to be on my own,’ she said, deadly serious now. When she looked up into his eyes she forgot stuff-she didn’t make sense even to herself. But it was true; she was a tadpole in the vast sea of royalty. This was her life. In a few weeks she’d be back in Australia and this would be a dream, and if Andreas’s promises didn’t come through…

‘You can trust me,’ he said again and she blinked and nodded.

‘I know. But I still want my own lawyer.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I’m scared,’ she snapped. ‘Because I’m just me and I’m about to put on a wedding dress and marry a prince and I reckon even Cinderella shook in her glass slippers when it came down to it.’

He smiled then. The hooded restraint slipped a little. Then, before she could guess what he intended, he stepped forward and lifted Deefer from her arms.

He set the little dog carefully on the ground. ‘Go sniff,’ he told the pup. ‘I have to talk to your mama for a minute.’

Then he straightened and took her hands in his.

It was such a fast, instinctive action that it was done before she could react. Before she could think about stepping back.

But she didn’t step back. Somehow this moment was too big for scruples. She’d just agreed to marry this man. In three days she’d stand beside him and say I do. She could scarcely shrink from him.

And it wasn’t as if she was scared of him. It was just…just…

‘I will not let you be hurt by this,’ Andreas said gently and her thoughts stopped operating as such. Something deep inside turned into this crazy sort of mush. She gazed up at him, saw his gentle smile and, yep, mush, mush, mush.

‘Andreas…’

‘I will keep my vow to you,’ he said. ‘Holly, I’ve hurt you enough. You marry me and I’ll set you free. I swear.’

And then, before she could respond, before she could even think of responding, he lowered his mouth onto hers.

It was a kiss to seal a contract. No more. No less. But it was no light kiss. It was harsh, demanding, possessive. It set a seal on what had been said this night. The pup might be a token of softness, even affection, but this was a business deal with the fate of the country at stake. His kiss said as much. It seared into her, a welding together of two halves of a whole.

Gainsay me at your peril, the kiss said, and it was so different from the kisses they’d shared in the past that it might as well have been a different man. It was a different man. This was Prince Andreas of Karedes, protecting his country with a marriage of convenience. Taking her as his wife.

The kiss lingered until there were no doubts left.

Tonight he’d shown tenderness. He’d not lie to her. But she would be his bride.

And she wouldn’t argue. Despite her fears, despite her qualms, she released herself in the kiss. She felt his hands grip her, tugging her hard against him, and she opened her lips and surrendered herself to him.

She might be his captive wife but she’d make no complaint. She’d struck her bargain. She’d go down this path as this man’s bride.

And maybe…

‘I have to go,’ he said regretfully at last, and he put her away from him.

But still she thought.

Maybe, she thought, as he bade her a curt goodnight and left to organize the next part of his long night-the plane ride back to the mainland-just maybe the next few weeks might be a sight more exciting than the last ten years, stuck grieving on an outback cattle station.

Just maybe…

No. There was no maybe. This was a short business deal and then she’d be sent back to her life.

She’d go back to her life, she corrected herself as Andreas disappeared into the night and she turned to go back to her luxurious apartments. Alone.

For she did want to go back to Munwannay. Only…not just yet.

CHAPTER SEVEN

THREE days later.

It all seemed a bit rushed to Holly-a bit crazy-but the plan was that she leave the island for the mainland, she go straight to the palace and wed before the day was out.

She hadn’t seen Andreas. There’d been one curt phone call. ‘It’s organized,’ he had told her. ‘Or it will be organized. There’ll be a meeting with your lawyers and ours. You’ll need to sign the contracts. Sophia has taken your measurements. All you need to do is come.’

‘Um…my lawyers?’

‘I’ve employed the best for you,’ he said, and there was a tinge of grim humour in his voice. ‘And, believe me, they’re good. They’re screwing us down on detail like you wouldn’t believe.’

‘I don’t think I need…’

‘You don’t know what you need,’ he told her curtly. ‘Neither do I. We’re doing what has to be done but I’m putting as many safeguards in place as I can think of. How’s Deefer?’

‘I…he’s great.’ Deefer was her one sure thing-a fluff ball, alert and intelligent and raring to bond with her. If she hadn’t had Deefer she would have gone nuts. To sit on the beach and think of nothing but her impending wedding…

‘Don’t let that nose get any redder, will you, my love?’ Andreas said softly, moving on. ‘It’ll clash with the pink roses my mother plans to decorate the chapel with.’

And he was gone, leaving her to wait. And wait and wait and wait. And go quietly nuts.

But the wedding day did happen. Sophia entered her room at dawn, pushed the drapes wide and beamed.

‘Happy is the bride who the sun shines on.’

‘You must have a whole country of happy brides,’ Holly said, feeling really wobbly and sounding grumpy. ‘This country’s too sunny by half.’

‘So smile,’ Sophia said. ‘Your wedding day…’

‘It’s not a true wedding.’

‘Is it not?’

‘You know it’s not,’ she said crossly. ‘I’m his captive wife.’

‘Ah, but his non-captive wife…’ Sophia said softly. ‘Christina…now there was a disaster. If that was the best the royal family could come up with then maybe his captive wife is who he should have had in the first place.’ Her smile faded and she crossed to the bed and looked down at Holly-and at Deefer whose small black nose just happened to be sticking out from under the duvet. ‘I’m thinking my Andreas found his bride ten years ago-he just never knew he had her.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she whispered, feeling more terrified by the minute. ‘You know this is just convenience. You know he doesn’t want a bride.’

‘I know you have a chance,’ Sophia said and put her hand on Holly’s cheek in a fleeting gesture of blessing. ‘I know my Andreas has been raised as a prince, to know what is due to him. But I also know that he has a heart and that heart has needs. Don’t you fail to take your chance for lack of courage. Now…’ Her smile softened but Holly saw lists line up in triplicate. ‘Shower. And then…I’ve laid out what you’re to wear on the helicopter. You’ll be photographed briefly in transit to the palace as you’ll be photographed from every angle today.’ She peered down at Holly’s nose and she sighed. ‘You’re still peeling. What royal bride peels? Holly, Holly, Holly, what is Andreas to do with you?’

‘Marry me?’ Holly whispered in a tiny voice.

‘Well, of course,’ Sophia said as if that was a dumb response. ‘But then what?’

And then the day started. It was okay back on the island-there were only Sophia and Nikos to see her off, Sophia sniffing into her handkerchief and Nikos just sniffing.

She sniffed herself. She sat in the back of the helicopter and hugged Deefer and decidedly sniffed. Georgiou was her pilot but she was damned if she was talking to him. She was dressed to kill in a slick little crimson suit with stiletto heels-Sophia had decreed nothing in the lavish wardrobe suitable for her first introduction to the country and had ordered Georgiou to bring this to her.

She looked as good as she could do-apart from one peeling nose.

She should have left Deefer behind. ‘I’ll mind him,’ Sophia had promised. ‘And Andreas can have him flown over after the wedding.’ But he was coming with her. Her one true thing.

Not her husband?

Andreas was waiting for her. The royal family was waiting for her. The whole damned country was waiting for her.

She hugged Deefer and she stared out the window at Andreas’s lovely island hideaway growing smaller and smaller in the distance.

And then she saw the mainland growing larger.

‘Would you like a drink before you land? There’s some in the cabinet by your side,’ Georgiou said diffidently through the headset and she flashed him a look of hatred.

‘I’d rather choke than accept a drink from you, you kidnapping toe rag.’

‘I was only following orders.’

‘Right. Well, my orders to you are to keep as far away from me as possible.’

‘I believe I can’t do that. I’m allocated as your personal bodyguard.’