with as little trouble as if she’d been a bag of chaff.
‘Just be quiet,’ another of them said, quite kindly as if humouring a child. ‘And there’s no use in struggling. The Prince Andreas wants you, and what the Prince Andreas wants, the Prince Andreas gets.’
The call came just after dinner. The manservant beckoned Andreas discreetly from his family’s presence, and he slipped silently away.
In truth the royal family of Karedes was so caught up with the scandals rocking them right now, the absence of Andreas from their midst would hardly be missed. In his father’s time it would have been unthinkable to leave the table before port was served to the males of the family, but the king was dead.
Long live the king, Andreas thought bleakly as he made his way swiftly from the room. All they needed was a coronation. And a diamond. And no more scandal.
In this atmosphere Holly’s secret was enough to blast them off the throne.
At least the first part of Sebastian’s plan had worked. He knew it the moment he picked up the phone. ‘She’s on her way,’ Georgiou said, and he drew in his breath in relief. He hadn’t thought it would be so easy.
In truth he didn’t know what he’d thought. He’d expected Holly to be married by now. It had been a shock to hear she was still single.
That had been the least of his shocks.
And now she was on her way. To him.
‘She agreed to come straight away? There was no argument?’
There was a silence on the end of the line and Andreas’s jet-black brows snapped down. ‘Why don’t you answer?’ he demanded as the silence lengthened.
‘Our instructions were to use whatever means necessary to get her to you.’
‘But you asked her to come? Your instructions were to tell her she was needed here urgently. To offer her every comfort…’
‘And if she didn’t agree, the Prince Sebastian told us to ignore her protests. She was alone. She was expecting the land agent. Our decision was that it was wisest to move fast. Discussion would have wasted time and maybe jeopardized our ability to take her at all.’
‘So…’
‘So we put her on the helicopter whether she willed it or not, then transferred her to a plane which took us up north and then on. There’s no problem. There was no one to see us come or her go.’
He closed his eyes, appalled, the ramifications of what they’d done slamming home. ‘You abducted her.’
‘There was no choice,’ Georgiou said firmly. ‘She will not listen. All through the flight we’ve been trying to tell her you simply wish to see her, but the lady is too angry to listen. She bit Maris.’
‘There was a struggle?’
‘She didn’t wish to come. Of course there was a struggle.’
His breath hissed with dismay. For them to abduct her… What the hell must she be thinking? And if this got out… A prince of the royal house of Karedes kidnapping an Australian woman; dragging her out of the country against her will…
‘Did you hurt her?’ he demanded, incredulous.
‘We haven’t hurt her,’ Georgiou said, defensive. ‘We have our orders. Though she fights like a wildcat’
‘I don’t care how she fights,’ Andreas snapped, appalled at the results of Sebastian’s curt orders. ‘You will not retaliate. She’s just a girl.’
‘She’s a woman,’ Georgiou corrected him. ‘She’s every bit a woman. Mixed with tigress.’
Andreas thought back to the Holly he’d left ten years ago. Even at seventeen Holly had had spirit.
Years ago he’d spent a glorious six months on Holly’s parents’ property, experiencing life in the Australian outback before taking up his royal duties. It had been a dispensation granted reluctantly to a younger son by his father, the king. His relationship with Holly had flared from nowhere and turned to wildfire. The young Andreas had been desperate for it to continue, but Holly had been strong enough for both of them.
‘You don’t belong in my world and I don’t belong in yours,’ she’d said firmly as he’d held her close one last time and declared he couldn’t leave her. ‘You’re needed at home. Your life is on Aristo. You’re promised in marriage to a princess. Andreas, don’t make it harder than it needs to be for both of us. Just go.’
So he’d gone, trying hard to block the stricken expression he’d glimpsed on his beloved’s face as Holly had turned away that one last time. Yes, there had been tears—he’d been close to them himself—but she was right. He was a royal prince, already promised in marriage. Holly had aging parents to care for and a budding career as a teacher on School of the Air. Holly and Andreas belonged on separate sides of the world.
So that had been it. He’d tried not to think of her for ten long years, through a tumultuous royal marriage that ended in acrimonious divorce, through his career as a royal prince with princely duties, through a life in the goldfish bowl of royalty. His was a life of service to the crown, a crown that must be protected at all costs.
A crown that Holly herself was now threatening to undermine, whether she knew it or not.
‘Just bring her here fast,’ he said, his tone becoming harsher as he recalled all that was at stake. ‘Bring her straight to the palace.’
‘There might be problems,’ Georgiou said cautiously.
‘What sort of problems?’
‘I told you. She’s not…quiet,’ he said. ‘There’s no saying she won’t scream her head off.’
‘Why would she do that?’
Another silence. Georgiou obviously thought that was a stupid question.
Okay, maybe it was. If they’d dragged her here against her will… If she was still even slightly the Holly he knew…
‘I’ll meet you at the airport,’ he said.
‘Not the main landing strip,’ Georgiou said urgently. ‘You need to talk to the lady privately. If she’ll talk to you.’
‘She’ll talk to me,’ Andreas said grimly.
‘Maybe,’ Georgiou said. ‘How long is it since you’ve seen her?’
‘Ten years.’
‘Then maybe she’s changed,’ Georgiou said and there was suddenly a note of admiration in his tone. ‘Maybe this woman has learned to fight.’
‘She could fight ten years ago.’
‘Could you win then?’ Georgiou asked diffidently. ‘With respect, Your Majesty… It takes four strong men to hold her now. Will you be able to do it?’
* * *
