WHEN KIKI FINALLY fell asleep that night her dreams were filled with the sensation of being lost and alone, and always in the distance was Stefano, turned the other way and choosing not to see her.
When she woke she had tears on her cheeks, and despite the sun streaming in she was so exhausted she wanted to roll over and bury her head. Her shift didn’t start until eleven but she wouldn’t get back to sleep.
Through the open window she could hear the mooring crew as they secured the ship to the wharf in Naples, and she lay on her bunk and felt the ship creak and strain against its ropes.
And that made her think of yesterday’s latex session gone wrong.
Unwillingly, she felt her lips curve—which wasn’t a bad thing considering the night—and she knew at some stage she would have to share the story—names changed to protect the innocent—with her closest sibling. Nick would certainly enjoy the sense of the ridiculous.
She still didn’t get why Stefano was on his brother’s holiday.
From the brief mention Stefano had made of Aspelicus, Kiki gathered the island, once home to an ancient Greek school of physicians, a splinter school similar to the one on the more southern island of Asclepius, was a beautiful cliff-edged principality, with a harbour originally on the trade routes as a safe haven.
She’d spent hours online and discovered it had grown more Italian and French since its Greek heritage, and that its royal family were far more famous than she’d realised.
She’d been a fool. Of course Stefano had not returned for a brief fling he’d once had in the Antipodes.
His family had developed a stronghold in spices and teas from China, and the tiny monarchy had become incredibly wealthy. Now it was thriving on the sale of gourmet olive oil from the trees that dotted the hills, its cash flow supplemented by high-roller casinos and its own world-famous horse race along the lines of neighbouring Monaco’s, which had its Grand Prix, and a borrowed idea from its neighbour to become a tax haven for residents.
On the other side of the island a sprawling low-rise hospital had gained international recognition for reconstructive surgery, with Stefano as its director.
The royal family could be traced back a thousand years, but somewhere each generation held a physician who had been available for the poorer people, as well as those who could pay.
It had all sounded incredibly romantic even from the few facts Stefano had shared with her.
She had waited for him to return.
But he hadn’t.
She could remember as if it were yesterday when she’d applied for the job on the Sea Goddess, her brother’s old ship.
Kiki had always idolised her gorgeous, crazy showman of a big brother—the only one of her high-achieving siblings who understood her.
She never had found out what had precipitated Nick’s escape from reality but for herself it was wanting something totally different from the empty nursery she’d created for a child that would never come.
She’d never shared her loss with anyone. She hadn’t been able to share with the absent Stefano, and she’d thought an ordinary cruise ship the last place she would find him and reopen wounds.
Unlike her older sisters, Nick had seen she wasn’t herself and cheered her on. So she’d started on the hospitality side of the ship, which had forced her to return to her usual outgoing self, the person she’d lost for a while, and she’d even started to forgive the male of the species, to laugh with Nick’s friend Miko and the waiters.
Until she’d begun to miss medicine.
When the opportunity had come she’d switched roles, and the last three months had been good under Wilhelm’s guidance in the ship’s hospital.
It had all been fine—until now.
Maybe it was time to find her real calling. Hiding from the world had proved fruitless. But why couldn’t this have happened next week, when she just knew she’d be stronger? She sighed.
Stefano was here and there was nothing she could do about that. It was time to move on. She’d go and see Will and ask how hard it would be for her to be replaced.
With that thought crystallising in her mind, Kiki rose from her bed and walked to the window with new purpose.
She’d put her notice in and leave as soon as they found someone to take her place.
There were still the next four nights to get through, but she’d manage that if she had a plan. She’d foolishly succumbed to ridiculous attraction last time he’d entered her orbit and that would not happen again.
Stefano woke with purpose. Today he would deal with what he should have dealt with months ago. Laying this admittedly delectable ghost was well overdue.
He’d discovered the opening times of the ship’s hospital and by the time Theros and Marla had left for their day-trip the clinic was almost due to close, which suited him perfectly.
He descended the stairs almost at a jog—foolish when his hip would kill him later, and he reminded himself it was not fitting to appear too eager.
The nurse greeted him with a smile. She was the same one he’d seen yesterday, and he inclined his head at the obvious approval he read in her face. She was a handsome woman, of the type he’d used to dally with a lifetime ago, but, like a stamp on the front page of his passport, no matter where he was, Kiki had dampened any desire on his part to consort with other women.
‘I wish to see Dr Fender. I am Stefano Mykonides.’
‘Of course, Your Highness, I know who you are.’ She smiled at him coyly, fiddled excitedly with her collar, and blushed.
Stefano smiled back blandly, curbed his impatience as the woman went on.
‘But Dr Fender isn’t on duty until later this morning.’
A door across the waiting room opened and the senior doctor ushered his patient out.
As the young boy and his mother walked past them the nurse said, ‘Perhaps Dr Hobson?’
‘No.’ Stefano inclined his head at the doctor, but before he could leave Hobson crossed the room and held out his hand. They shook hands briefly.
‘Ah, Your Highness. Good morning.’ He turned to the nurse. ‘Can you run those blood samples up to the courier, please?’
He turned back to Stefano. ‘I hope all is well with your sister-in-law this morning?’
Stefano tried not to show his irritation, but he was trapped. And where was his quarry if not here? ‘Yes. Thank you.’ He was over discussing Theros’s disasters.
Hobson glanced at his watch. ‘How can we help you?’
Stefano picked up nuances and wondered why this man felt Kiki needed protection. From him. ‘I had hoped to thank Dr Fender personally, for her timely assistance yesterday. I did not have the opportunity at the time, of course.’
‘Of course.’
Hobson smiled non-committally and Stefano felt like gritting his teeth.
‘I could convey your appreciation?’
Very pointed, Stefano thought, but he held his temper. ‘Thank you, but I wish to do so myself. I will return at another time.’
Hobson didn’t shift. ‘I’ll let her know.’
Stefano could see that the good doctor was in protection mode. He wondered just what kind of personal relationship he had with Kiki and had to admit he disliked the idea very strongly. His hand tightened on the room card in his pocket. The card bent. Disliked very strongly. He examined the doctor more closely. He was a well-muscled man, almost as tall as himself, and no doubt attractive to women.