ice sent a tremor through her body.
“Yes. He says he’ll probably have someone to replace me within another week. By then Zoe ought to have more confidence in herself and will work well with the new speech teacher.”
Paralyzing tension stretched between them before eyes of jet impaled her. “You don’t believe that piece of fiction any more than I do. In any event, there can’t be a question about you leaving, not with the coronation almost upon us.”
She sat up in surprise. “You mean there’s still going to be one?”
Like lightning he levered himself from the lounger. “Why would you ask that question?”
“At the end of Dr. Rice’s email, he told me there were headlines about Prince Stasio calling off his wedding to Princess Beatriz.”
“So it’s already today’s news in New York.” He sounded far away. She watched him rub the back of his neck, something he did when he was pondering a grave problem.
Growing more uneasy, Dottie stood up. “Forgive me if I’ve upset you.”
He eyed her frankly. “Forgiveness doesn’t come into it. They were never suited, but I didn’t know he’d made the break official until he told me last night.”
She rubbed her arms in reaction. “What a traumatic night it must have been for all of you and your grandmother.”
“I won’t lie to you about that.” His pain was palpable.
Dottie bit her lip. “For both their sakes I’m glad he couldn’t go through with it, but you’ll probably think I’m horrible for saying it.”
“On the contrary,” Alex ground out. “I’d think something serious was wrong with you if you hadn’t. His life has been a living hell. He should have ended the betrothal years ago.”
Alex … She heard the love for his brother.
“Does it mean the queen will go on ruling?” she asked quietly. “I’m probably overstepping my bounds to talk to you like this, but after meeting your brother, I can’t help but feel terrible for what he must be suffering right now, even if he didn’t want the marriage.”
“Between us, he’s in bad shape,” he confided, “but the coronation is still on. Our grandmother is failing in small ways and can’t keep up her former pace as sovereign, but she’s still in charge. She has given him six months to marry one of the eligible royals on her list.”
“But—”
“There are no buts,” he cut her off, but she knew his anger wasn’t directed at her. “I just have to pray he’ll find some common ground with one of the women.” His voice throbbed. Again Dottie was horrified by Prince Stasio’s untenable situation. “Since there’s nothing I can do except stand by him, I’d rather concentrate on Zoe’s lesson. What do you have planned for today?”
Heartsick as Dottie felt, she’d been sent to Hellenica to do a job and she wanted desperately to lift his spirits if she could. “Since we’re on the yacht, I thought we’d work on the Y sound. She can already say Yiayia pretty well.”
“That’s where her Greek ought to help.”
“Why don’t you say hello to her in Greek and we’ll see what happens.”
Together they walked toward the railing at the far end. Zoe saw them coming and trained the binoculars on them.
“Yasoo,” her father called to her. The cute little girl answered back in a sad facsimile of the greeting.
Dottie smiled. “Do you like being on this boat?”
“Yes.”
Today they’d work on ya. Another day they’d work on yes. “Do you know what kind of a boat this is?” Zoe shook her head. “It’s called a yacht. Say yasoo again.” Zoe responded. “Now say ya.” She tried, but the sound was off with both words.
“I can’t.”
Dottie felt her frustration.
Alex handed Dottie the binoculars and picked up his daughter. “Try it once more.” He wanted her to make a good sound for him. Dottie wanted it, too, more than anything. But this was a game of infinite patience. “Be a parrot for daddy, like one of those parrot fish you were watching with its birdlike beak. Parrots can talk. Talk to me. Say ya.”
“Ya.”
“Open your mouth wider like your daddy is doing,” Dottie urged her. “Pretend he’s the doctor looking down your throat with a stick. He wants to hear you. Can you say ya for him?”
She giggled. “Daddy’s not a doctor.”
The prince sent Dottie a look of defeat. “You’re right.” He kissed Zoe’s cheek. “Come on. Let’s have a lemonade.” As soon as he put her down, she ran back to the table by the loungers to drink hers.
Clearly Zoe wasn’t in the mood for a lesson. Who would be on a beautiful day like this? The translucent blue water was dotted with islands that made Dottie itch to get out and explore everything. She put the binoculars to her eyes to see what was coming next. “What’s the name of that island in the distance?”
“Argentum.”
“You mine silver there?”
“How did you figure that out?”
“You told me you lived on Aurum. Both islands have Latin names for gold and silver.”
His eyes met hers. “You’re not only intelligent, but knowledgeable. We’ll anchor out in the bay. The head mining engineer is coming aboard for a business lunch. He’s also my closest friend.”
“Where did you meet?”
“We were getting our mining engineering degrees at the same time, both here and in Colorado at the school of mines.”
“That’s why your English is amazing. Is your friend married?”
“Yes. He has a new baby.”
“That’s nice for him.”
“Very nice. He’s in love with his wife and she with him.”
Dottie couldn’t bear to talk about that subject. “Tell me about the tall island beyond Argentum with the green patches?”
“That’s Aurum, where Zoe and I normally live.” He hadn’t put on his shirt yet. She could feel his body radiating heat. “As you guessed correctly, rich gold deposits on the other side of the mountain were discovered there centuries ago. Bari and I are both passionate about our work. There are many more mining projects to be explored. I’m anxious to get back to them.”
By now she was trembling from their close proximity. Needing a reason to move away from him, she put the binoculars on the table and picked up her lemonade. “Do you miss Aurum?”
“Yes.”
