‘Of England,’ she said and bit her bottom lip and thought the tension was going to kill her. What was she doing? A kid from Munwannay, in the royal helicopter, in full bridal toggery, being carried to an island hideaway with her prince.
Her husband.
If he thought he was going to…
Of course he thought he was going to, she told herself. He’d gone to all this trouble to get them alone. And they were married, in the sight of God and before such a congregation…
‘England,’ he said blankly.
‘It’s what all brides think of on their wedding night.’
‘Really?’
‘Absolutely,’ she assured him, trying hard not to sound breathless. ‘I’m trying to sort out the English mountains. Ben something… Isn’t that the biggest? And what’s the capital of Sussex? Don’t distract me.’
He didn’t distract her. He simply grinned, turned back to his window and let her be. By the time they landed she’d not only had time to think about England’s biggest mountain, but she’d had time to reach a point where her nerves were threatening to snap. What did she think she was doing? She hadn’t agreed to this. It was a marriage in name only.
No. It wasn’t. Not when Andreas looked as he did, when she felt as she did and it had been ten long years. Holly’s life on a remote cattle station had been very remote indeed. In a few weeks she’d be back there and this was all she’d have to remember.
Except… Except.
‘I can’t get pregnant,’ she said suddenly into the stillness as the helicopter landed and the roar of the motor died to nothing. The thought had hit her as a vicious slap. What was she risking? The whole nightmare happening all over again?
‘It won’t happen,’ Andreas said gravely.
‘I believe that’s what you said last time.’
‘I’ve taken precautions.’
‘Like you’ve had a vasectomy?’
He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. ‘No,’ he said, ‘though Christina wanted me to.’
‘Your wife wanted you to have a vasectomy?’
‘She didn’t want children.’
‘Did you want children?’
‘More than anything in the world,’ he said simply and she knew he was speaking a fundamental truth. ‘But you needn’t worry. Not with you. Not this night.’
‘So you’ve brought the odd condom.’
‘Or six,’ he said and the gravity went from his eyes. ‘Or more if we need.’
‘You’re acting on a huge presumption.’
‘Which is?’
‘That I’ll go to bed with you.’
‘You put your ring on my finger.’
‘So that means…’
‘You want me as much as I want you.’
‘Andreas, you and I…’
‘I understand,’ he said softly. ‘No, Holly, I’m not asking you to join the royal entourage. I will keep my word and let you go. But for tonight… I’m hoping tonight can just be for us. A night out of frame. So I’ve brought you here.’
‘And I’ve come,’ she whispered. ‘But, Andreas, if I were to get pregnant…’
‘I’d take care of it this time,’ he said, strongly. ‘I’d take care of you.’
‘You’d take care of… it?’ The joy had gone out of the night. Reality, cold, hard, appalling, had raised its ugly head. This wasn’t a fairy tale. This was real.
He’d take care of… it? What, abortion?
‘I’ll do nothing you don’t want,’ he said.
‘Like I believe that. Bringing me all this way…’
‘I’ll take no unwilling bride to bed,’ he said, sounding suddenly stern. Royal even, and the thought almost made her smile. He might be her Andreas, the Andreas she loved with all her heart, but try as he might, he was still a prince. Her prince.
‘It’s not that I’m unwilling, Andreas,’ she whispered, trying to make him see. ‘God help me, I’ve wanted you for years.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ he said, and he smiled that gut-wrenching smile she loved so much.
‘But there are consequences,’ she managed.
‘There are,’ he said gravely. They were strapped into separate seats, separated by three feet of open space. He reached across and touched her hand, fleetingly, a feather touch of something that was obviously supposed to be reassurance. And stupidly, insensibly she was reassured.
But not enough. Not enough.
‘It’d be crazy to go to bed,’ she said miserably. ‘When this marriage is only for a few weeks.’
‘The marriage is for as long as we want it to be,’ he said.
‘Right. You need a commoner for a bride like you need the plague, and I need to go home.’
‘Do you really need to go home?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered, thinking back to that tiny grave.
I’ll take care of it. The words had brought Adam’s loss flooding back. Her mother, visiting her fleetingly, saying ‘Never mind, dear. He was never going to marry you. Losing it is for the best. Now you can get on with your life.’
She’d never got on with her life. She’d worked hard, she’d tried to live her life to the full, but a part of her had been buried the night she’d buried Adam. To get it back…
‘This is wrong,’ she whispered, miserably, and Andreas reached out again and took her hand strongly in his.
‘It isn’t wrong,’ he said. ‘Not now. But we’ll take this as it comes. Don’t look like that, my love. I will not force myself on you.’
‘But you’ve brought six condoms.’
‘Just in case,’ he said and he quizzed her gently with his teasing smile. ‘Just on the chance you decide I’m not so bad after all. I am your husband, Holly.’
‘You’re saying you have rights?’
‘No rights,’ he said. ‘Let’s just play this night as it comes.’
Okay. She wasn’t going to sleep with him. That was the sensible course, and she knew enough of her… her husband… to know he wouldn’t take her against her will.
So it was only her will that was the problem, she thought, and her will had to be cast-iron. She’d walk into the pavilion from the helicopter, she’d bid Andreas a civil goodnight—maybe she’d even apologize because just possibly she’d given him the wrong idea—and then she’d go to bed. In her bedroom. With the door locked.
Sophia would be here. That steadied her. She could do this.
But there was the first hiccup in her plans. The pavilion was deserted. There was no Sophia and Nikos to meet them. Georgiou escorted them to the entrance from the helicopter pad and then faded into the darkness. Wherever the staff were tonight they weren’t here. It was Andreas himself who flung open the huge doors—and when she saw what was inside Holly gasped in shock.
Candles. Candles as far as the eye could see.
The huge central courtyard with its magnificent pool was a glittering mass of flickering candlelight.