combined effect of her ordeal and the discovery that she had been rescued by the monarch himself combined to overwhelm her precarious hold on consciousness. The security man’s startled cry and Lorne’s barked command to take the child from him were the last things she heard before she saw the sand rushing up toward her.
Chapter Two
As Lorne scooped up Alison’s inert body, he automatically reassured his son. “It’s all right, Nori. Miss Carter is only tired because of her fight with the serpent. Return to the house with Robert and I’ll bring Miss Carter myself.” To his aide he added quietly, “Have the doctor meet us there.”
The bodyguard was too well trained to argue the prince’s edict, but his eyes were full of questions as he took Nori and hurried toward the villa. Lorne knew he had always been something of a hands-on ruler, but it was unusual for him to take such a personal interest in a stranger even if she was inordinately beautiful. Of course, most strangers didn’t wash up on the beach at his feet, he admitted to himself.
Alison didn’t stir when he held her in his arms for the second time in an hour. Much more of this and it could get to be a habit. He frowned as he took in the paleness of her features. They were already finely drawn, and her pallor added to his impression that he held a life-size porcelain doll.
Smudges of violet rimmed her huge sea-green eyes. He felt annoyed with himself for letting her talk instead of insisting she see his doctor right away. Who knew what damage her brush with the serpent had done?
He had allowed her to talk because he had enjoyed it, he acknowledged inwardly, crossing the white sand in long strides until he reached a row of ironwood trees fringing the beach. Meeting a woman on equal terms was a rare experience in his world, where almost everyone knew who he was at first sight and invariably reacted with deference. It had come as a shock to realize that Alison had no idea of his position. Then he had started to enjoy being treated as a man rather than a monarch.
Fool, he berated himself. Hadn’t he learned anything from his experience with Nori’s mother? Chandra had been Australian, too, and as refreshing in her way as Alison was in hers when they met during an official visit to her country. He had fallen in love with the former Miss Australia and against the advice of his ministers, had brought Chandra back to Carramer as his bride.
The fantasy had lasted only long enough for her to realize that, unlike her reign as Miss Australia, her duties as a member of Carramer’s royal family wouldn’t end after a year. During one of their more spectacular arguments, she had assured Lorne that attaining the title of princess had been her ambition all along. Having achieved it, she could see no reason to put up with the duties attending the title.
Motherhood had proved even more of a burden and she had readily handed their son over to a nanny until Lorne stepped in, taking an active role as the baby’s father. Chandra simply hadn’t cared about either of them, preferring to fly off to Paris where she could attend the latest fashion showings and revel in the attention she received as a princess without the inconvenience of royal duties.
In desperation Lorne had reduced her allowance, forcing her to stay at home for longer periods, only to be accused of being a tyrant with no thought for her needs and feelings. Over time, she found almost everything about the island kingdom disagreeable—including their marriage, leaving Lorne feeling more alone than he had ever felt when he was single.
Chandra also grew increasingly resentful of the attention Lorne devoted to their baby and retaliated by criticizing everything to do with Carramer. His country could never compete with Australia in her eyes. He had become sick of hearing how much better everything was in Australia. Yet he couldn’t do the one thing Chandra really wanted him to do—free her from their marriage vows so she could enjoy being a princess without any other ties.
In his country marriage was a union for life. Only in the most dire of circumstances could separation be considered. There was no such thing as divorce. A couple might live apart, but they would be bound together until death. Chandra had demanded that Lorne change the laws, but having seen the effects of divorce on children in other countries, he couldn’t bring himself to institute it in Carramer, not even for his wife. Had they not been royal, he could have allowed her to live apart from him, but he had no intention of setting such a poor example for his people.
A furrow etched his brow. If he had changed the law, would Chandra be alive today? He would never know. He only knew that another fierce argument had resulted in her flight away from the villa at reckless speed, ending when her car went out of control on a cliff top, sending the car crashing to the surf below. Chandra had found her release but in a way that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
The woman in his arms moaned softly, drawing his attention. While they talked, her long hair had dried into a curtain of nut-brown curls that now fanned out against his shoulder. Silken strands of it twined around his fingers. He caught himself wondering at how little she weighed, surely not much more than Nori. The feel of her lithe body against him reminded him unwillingly that it had been a year since Chandra died, a long time for a man of his strong appetites to be without the company of a woman.
The frown returned. What was it about Alison Carter that made him so aware of his celibate life? After Chandra he knew better than to involve himself with a woman not of his own kind, especially another Australian. What was their expression? Once bitten, twice shy. It definitely applied to him. And he wasn’t so starved for female attention that any woman would turn his thoughts in the same direction.
There was something about this woman that affected him in ways he preferred not to think about, he knew. The sooner his doctor cleared her to be on her way, the better for all of them.
When Lorne reached the villa, Dr. Pascale was pacing the marble terrace, his expression anxious. As soon as he saw Lorne, he gestured for servants to relieve the prince of his burden. Lorne gave Alison up to them with a reluctance he didn’t care to examine too closely.
“Take her to the Rose Suite,” he instructed. Of all the guest suites in the villa, it was the most beautiful. An artist would appreciate waking up in such surroundings, he thought. To the doctor, he said, “Report to me as soon as you’ve examined and treated her.”
The doctor’s eyebrows lifted curiously. “I take it this young lady is special to you?”
The doctor had brought Lorne into the world thirty-one years ago and was one of the few people who would dare to speak so familiarly to him. Lorne’s parents had died during a cyclone when he was only twenty, and the doctor had become something of a father figure. The man’s informality usually warmed him, but right now he found it intensely irritating. “She is a stranger in need of our help, Alain. I suggest you provide it for her.”
The doctor didn’t look in the least put out by Lorne’s abruptness. “As you wish, Your Highness.” Somehow he managed to infuse the title with a touch of reprimand.
Lorne regretted his tone immediately. He deserved Alain’s censure. No matter how confused he felt over the unexpected arrival of the Australian woman, it didn’t give him the right to abuse a dear friend. Raking long fingers through his hair, Lorne said, “Wait, Alain. I’m sorry for snapping at you. Do what you can for her, all right?”
Amusement danced in the doctor’s expression. “As you wish, Your Highness.” This time, the title contained the wealth of affection that had built up between them through the years.
By the time the doctor returned with his report, Lorne had showered and changed into a white open-necked shirt and black pants. He was
