he had made himself clear. He thought he had explained that her role as his ‘fiancée’ was to spend the evening by his side, look decorous and say little. Instead of that she had disappeared the first chance she’d had, already on the dance floor when he had looked up to see where she was within minutes of their arrival.
Irritation spiked through him, along with some other emotion that felt suspiciously like jealousy. He ground his jaw. If she was dancing with anyone it should be him.
Was she doing this deliberately? Trying to prove some sort of point? Vieri had never concerned himself with the inner workings of a woman’s mind and he certainly had no time for playing silly games, as the few women who had tried that on with him had soon found out to their cost. But he would never have thought that of Harper. She was too open, altogether too straightforward. It was one of the things he liked about her. But tonight she had overstepped the mark. If she wasn’t playing games it was time he reminded her of her duty. To him.
Weaving his way through the dancers, he zoned in on his target, briefly pausing behind the swaying figure of Harper’s partner, Hans Langenberg, the Crown Prince of a small European principality, before tapping him briskly on the shoulder.
‘Excuse me.’
‘Vieri Romano.’ Hans turned to face him. ‘I hope you haven’t come to spoil my fun.’
‘If you mean claiming my fiancée for a dance, then yes, I have.’
‘Fiancée, eh, Romano?’ The Crown Prince looked at him with renewed respect. ‘So it’s true. You are finally committing after all this time?’
Vieri gave a brisk nod. ‘I said so, didn’t I?’
‘Well, hats off to you, old chap. You have made an excellent choice.’
Vieri scowled. Why did everyone persist in telling him what an excellent choice he had made when in point of fact he hadn’t made the choice at all?
‘Though I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed,’ Hans continued. ‘I was hoping I might be in with a chance myself.’
‘Well, I can assure you, you are not.’ With a surge of possessiveness Vieri stepped in between the two of them, slipping his arm around Harper’s waist. A tingle of awareness shot through him as his fingers touched the bare skin of her lower back. Swiftly followed by the hot rush of annoyance when he thought of the other men who had had their hands there tonight.
‘I am here, you know, I can speak for myself,’ Harper finally piped up. But her voice held none of the usual edge Vieri had expected to hear. Instead there was a hint of triumph, a light in her eyes that told him he had been sussed—that he had given himself away. Something she decided to put to the test by leaning into him so that the sexy warmth of her body worked its way through the fabric of his suit, setting off a chain reaction that he battled to contain.
‘I don’t doubt it for one moment, Miss McDonald.’ Hans reached for Harper’s hand, kissing the back of it before letting go and giving her a formal bow. ‘Can I just say it has been a pleasure? And should you, you know, ever change your mind...’
There was a low growl and it took Vieri a second to realise it had come from him. Pulling Harper closer to him, he fixed Hans with a menacing stare. ‘Back off, Langenberg.’
‘Sorry, old chap.’ Hans frowned. ‘Didn’t mean to tread on your toes.’
‘It didn’t stop you treading on mine.’ Both men turned to look at Harper, who was stifling a giggle.
Vieri glared at her. She was drunk; she had to be. ‘You, young lady, need some fresh air.’ Loosening his arm, he took hold of Harper’s hand. ‘We are leaving.’
He started to weave his way out of the ballroom, keeping Harper’s hand in a firm grip as he negotiated a path through the noisy throng of people, ignoring all attempts to stop them from leaving. They made their way down a corridor, Harper’s shoes clicking on the flagstoned floor as she hurried to keep up with him, until they reached an ancient oak-panelled door, and, sliding the heavy iron bolt across, Vieri ushered them out into a secluded courtyard. It was quiet and dark out here, the music from the ballroom reduced to little more than a dull thud. High castle walls on all four sides protected them from the breeze but the air was still cold and Vieri felt Harper shiver beside him.
‘Here.’ Shrugging off his jacket, he draped it over her shoulders. ‘So...’ He held her at arm’s length. ‘How much have you had to drink?’
‘I don’t know.’ She tipped her chin. ‘I wasn’t counting. How much have you had?’
‘For your information I am stone-cold sober.’
‘Really?’ Her nose wrinkled. ‘How boring.’ Shrugging off his jacket, she tried to give it back to him. ‘I don’t need this. I am used to properly cold winters. Where I come from this would be considered positively balmy.’
‘Well, from where I come from it isn’t and I’m not letting you get hypothermia.’ He positioned the jacket over her shoulders again.
‘What is it with you, bossing me around all the time?’ Without waiting for an answer, Harper took a few steps away and twirled herself around, holding the lapels of the jacket across her chest. ‘But thank you for bringing me here. I have actually had a lovely evening.’
He’d noticed. Vieri ground down on his jaw. But if she was baiting him, he refused to bite. ‘It’s Alfonso you should be thanking. It was his idea.’
‘Then I will, the next time we visit. He is such a lovely man. And so generous. Everyone here thinks the world of him.’
‘Yes.’ Vieri’s voice sounded gruff in the dim light. ‘I know.’
‘It is so sad to think that he is dying.’ She turned mournful wide eyes in his direction.
‘Everyone has to die eventually.’
‘I guess.’ Vieri watched as she moved to the centre of the courtyard, throwing back her head and looking up into the sky. ‘When my mother died, Leah and I were told that she had become a star in the sky. We didn’t really believe it, even then.’ She paused, staring intently upwards. ‘But on a starlit night like tonight I still find myself wondering which one she might be. Silly, I know.’
‘That’s not silly.’ Vieri quietly closed the gap between them, coming to stand next to her. ‘It’s a way of remembering her.’ There was a beat of silence. ‘How old were you, when she died?’
‘Twelve.’ Harper turned to look at him.
‘And it was an accident with a shotgun, you say?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was very small.
‘What happened?’ Suddenly Vieri found he wanted to know the details. To try and understand the event that had so obviously shaped this young woman’s life.
‘My father was away one night, helping out on a neighbouring estate.’ Vieri could see the effort it took for Harper to talk about this, even now, years after the event. ‘My mother heard a disturbance, someone trying to poach the birds, so she took the shotgun to try and scare them off. It was dark, she wasn’t used to handling a gun, she tripped...’
‘I’m
