Betrothed: To the People’s Prince

CHAPTER SIX

ATHENA stayed right where she was, held tight against Nikos.

She was shuddering so hard she couldn’t stop, and it was easier to stay than to pull away. For who wanted to pull away?

She no longer knew what Demos was doing. She couldn’t see-Nikos didn’t let her see. She was aware of heavy breathing, of his sinister presence. Nikos must be watching him, but her face was buried against his chest.

‘Leave,’ Nikos said again, quietly. There was a loaded silence, then a muttered oath of such invective it took her breath away-and Demos was gone.

‘He hates me,’ she whispered, feeling ill.

‘He doesn’t love and he doesn’t hate,’ Nikos said. ‘He wants. He wants wealth and more wealth. Thena…’ He put her away from him, holding her at arm’s length.

‘Thena, you’re standing between Demos and a fortune.’

‘I don’t want it.’

‘That’s why I brought you home,’ he said softly. ‘Because you’d never want it. I knew that about you when you were eight years old, and people can’t change so much. Demos was greedy from the start. He’ll destroy these islands. You can face up to him but…’

‘But I don’t want to.’

‘No. And you also say you’re going back to New York. I understand your career is important to you. You put it before the island once before-and I understand you’ll do it again. But these people want a figurehead, Thena.’

‘I’m not a figurehead. I’m just me.’

He shook his head at that one. ‘Look at you,’ he said, smiling wryly, and once more he had her at arm’s length. ‘You’re stunning. You’re every inch a princess. You’re who the people want.’

‘I don’t want to be royal.’

‘Sometimes what we want and don’t want doesn’t come into it,’ he said softly. ‘Demos isn’t alone, you know. There are heavies behind him.’

‘Heavies?’

‘Yes.’

‘Like…armed thugs. People who could hurt my Nicky?’ She whirled away from him and headed for the door but his hand came out and caught her. ‘Let me go.’ She wrenched back but he didn’t release her. He tugged her closer so her breasts were against his chest. He had her by one arm, holding it about her, tugging her in so she was pulled tight against him.

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’m going to Nicky.’ But he was letting her go nowhere.

‘He’s safe. I’ve had security guards watch you both from the moment you set foot on the island.’ He smiled, apologetic. ‘Longer, in fact. Even in Manhattan. You lessened the risk by telling Demos he could have the throne but even then we didn’t trust him.’

‘We?’

‘There are many islanders whose livelihoods hang on you inheriting,’ he said. ‘Demos’s heavies don’t have it all their own way. For if Demos succeeds…’

‘You really think he’d hurt Nicky?’

‘Yes.’ It was a flat statement with no equivocation.

‘Then I’m leaving. He can have it. I don’t want it. Not if it puts Nicky in the slightest danger. Let me go!’

‘Thena, do you really want Demos to destroy these islands?’

His voice was grave, low and urgent, and something about his tone stopped the rising hysteria, the rising panic.

This was the real Nikos. The Nikos she’d spent her teenage years with. The Nikos who cared about this place so passionately that he’d taught her to care as well.

Until she’d met Nikos she’d been taught to feel as trapped as her mother was trapped. ‘We’d leave if we could afford it,’ her mother had told her. ‘I’m so sorry you have to stay here. I’m so sorry the royals are destroying your life as well as mine.’

That was how she’d been raised, but then along came Nikos, with his passion, his fire, his certainty that they could make things right.

She’d fallen in love with his fire.

And she heard that fire now, the sheer single-minded determination to create justice for this island, to do whatever needed to be done to achieve that end.

‘I can’t care,’ she whispered. ‘Not if Nicky’s in danger. You’d feel the same if it was Christa.’

‘I feel the same that it’s Nicky,’ he said. ‘He’s my son, too.’

Once again he’d taken her breath away. He was still holding her, hand to hand, his hold imparting warmth, strength and urgency.

‘He’s not…I mean, how can you care?’

‘I would have cared for ten years if you’d let me.’

And the old anger stirred. For ten long years…‘Not one call, Nikos.’

‘Not one letter, Thena.’

‘Dammit, this is past history.’

‘It’s not. It’s here and now. It’s two kids we care deeply about, an island we care deeply about, and our future.’

‘My future’s in Manhattan.’

‘You won’t be safe in Manhattan. I can’t protect you there. Thena, there are six diamond mines at stake. We’re talking billions. That money has to be held in trust for the island for ever. It can’t stay in royal hands. We need to get the royal thing sorted, the government sorted, so we can finally transfer the mines to the community. So these mines are no longer owned by one man-or one woman-but the island as a whole so they can be worked sensitively as the community needs them. You need to stay for three reasons. One, so I can protect you. Two, so we can keep the mines safe. And three…’ He hesitated. ‘Three, because Nikos is my son. I’ve missed ten years of his life, and I believe I have the right to know him now.’

This was doing her head in. The impersonal and the personal were mixing in a combination that was threatening to overwhelm her.

Nikos had been her first love. For the last ten years she’d tried to forget him, but she never could. Every man she’d dated she’d compared with Nikos and they’d fallen short.

She’d finally decided Nikos was a figment of a young girl’s romantic longings. Impossible to be true, but also impossible to leave behind.

But here was the dream, come spectacularly to life. Nikos, with a body to die for, a smile to die for…And words so blunt and decisive that she believed him.

There was no reason to believe him, she told herself desperately. Christa. Remember Christa.

‘Why can’t I sign the diamond mines over now?’ she demanded. ‘Put them in a community fund or something?’

‘There’s no community fund. Everything’s owned by the Crown.’

‘Then set one up.’

‘I can’t set one up, Princess. Only you can do that.’

‘Then I’ll do it,’ she said wildly. ‘Tomorrow. And don’t call me Princess.’

‘It can’t be done tomorrow. You think you can just hand that amount of wealth to the town council and walk away? I need to tell you now that it would be a catastrophe. It’ll take years to get this right. So how about it, Thene? Say you’ll stay and let me protect you. I’ve told Demos I’ll protect what’s mine and I mean just that.’

And amazingly, infuriatingly, he was smiling. That smile was so…so…Seductive. He was seducing her with his voice and with his smile, she thought wildly.

‘I’m not yours,’ she managed.

‘You’re the mother of my son.’

Oh, great. What sort of answer was that? One that joined them at the hip for ever?

‘You saw the press here tonight,’ he said. ‘The world has another princess. Do you think you can escape that? The press will follow you all the way to Manhattan. And so will Demos.’

‘You’re scaring me.’

‘You need to be scared.’ His smile faded. ‘I’m sorry, Thena, but you need to face facts.’

‘You didn’t tell me these facts when you conned me into coming here,’ she snapped. ‘That there’d be threats to Nicky…’

‘You wouldn’t have come.’

‘Exactly.’

‘You had to come. And I will protect both you and Nicky.’

‘You’re still angry I didn’t tell you about Nicky.’

‘How can I not be?’

She wrenched her hands back so strongly that this time he did let her go. ‘Well how do you think I feel? You betrayed me in the worst possible way. I thought you were my best friend as well as my lover-and nothing. Nothing!’

‘It was your decision to walk away.’

‘It wasn’t.’

He stilled. ‘What do you mean?’

But she wasn’t going there. Some things were best left unsaid.

‘I need to go to bed, Nikos,’ she said wearily, knowing it was true. ‘I’m exhausted. It’s been some day.’

‘You will think about what I’ve said?’

‘I will think about it,’ she said. ‘Of course I’ll think about it. You’ve scared me. You seriously think Demos could harm me? Yes, he’s greedy and shallow, but he’s my cousin. I don’t know what you stand to gain by my staying…’

‘I told you. Nicky.’

‘You think I trust you enough to think that’s the only reason?’

‘You can trust me, Thene.’

‘This is nonsense, Nikos,’ she said wearily. ‘Once upon a time we trusted each other, but that was a long time ago. I’m so confused I can’t think straight. So let me be. Tomorrow I’ll think about arrangements for when I return to Manhattan. I’ll do my best to protect the island from Demos. I’ll talk to lawyers-I’ll do what I have to do. But trust you? How can I ever do that?’

And she turned and walked back into the ballroom, her gown swishing around her.

Leaving Nikos in the shadows, watching with troubled hooded eyes.

Knowing she was walking further into danger. Knowing there was only one real way he could protect her but to do that…to trust her that far…

Once upon a time we trusted each other…

It cut both ways.

Finally, thankfully, the interminable evening was at an end. She listened while the Archbishop made his ponderous farewells, she said a formal goodnight to those she must, and then she practically ran upstairs.

Nicky was safe. She opened the adjoining door and saw a mound in the bed by the window, draped by another mound. Nicky with Oscar on top.

He wasn’t supposed to let Oscar onto the bed, but who was complaining tonight? Now, all she felt was comfort from the big dog’s presence.

A shape rose from a chair beside the door and she practically yelped.

‘Ma’am, it’s only me.’

Mrs Lavros. Her heart thudded back into place. ‘Wh…why are you here?’ she stammered.

‘Mr Nikos asked me to stay here,’ she said. ‘His instructions are that we’re not to leave the little one alone.’

‘What…what right does he have…?’

‘No right, more’s the pity. But he cares about this island so much.’

‘You think…’ It was hard to stop her voice from squeaking. On the second try she managed it. ‘You think he should be Crown Prince?’

‘Everyone knows and trusts him,’ the housekeeper said solidly. ‘You’ve been away so long…But Nikos has been here. He’s always been the one we’ve turned to in times of trouble. He’s always been ready to stand up to Giorgos. In the last few years we’ve been left more or less alone, thanks to Nikos. But now…you’re here…and Nikos says you’ll make a fine Crown Princess and I’m sure you will too, ma’am. It’s Demos and his friends who Nikos worries about. He’s fearful for you.’

‘He shouldn’t worry. I’ll be fine.’

‘I know you’ll be fine,’ the housekeeper told her. ‘For Nikos is keeping you that way. He has guards in place in the corridor and out in the grounds. You’re safe.’

She stared, bewildered. ‘Are you kidding? He’s scaring me witless.’

The housekeeper nodded. ‘He said that. He said he couldn’t protect you without scaring you a little. But I wouldn’t be fearful. He’s a good man.’

‘He’s been talking crazy talk tonight,’ she said.

Mrs Lavros raised her brows in polite disbelief. ‘Has he now? It’s not something I’d credit. All I know is that whatever Nikos does there’s reason for. Goodnight, ma’am. Sleep well and safely, for he’ll be watching over all of us.’

She sat for a while and watched Nicky and Oscar sleep. She tried to sort the events of the day into some sort of order.

She failed. It was a weird kaleidoscope of emotions, with Nikos front and centre.

Finally, so tired she could scarcely stand, she walked into her bedroom-the King’s bedchamber-and started to undress.

Uh-oh.

One of the maids had helped her dress. The gown had something akin to a corset underneath, designed to make her figure a lot more hourglass than it naturally was. There were fine bands of what was surely whalebone inserted inside.

It was laced down the back.

This gown was designed to have people help the wearer in and help the wearer out.

Here there was only her.

She struggled. She struggled some more. She was almost turning herself inside out.

It wouldn’t even rip. And where were a pair of scissors when she needed them? She was in a royal palace-where did she go in a royal palace to find scissors?

There was a bell pull by the mantel. She could pull it-but how loud would it be? She might wake the whole palace.

She struggled and swore some more. She was practically breaking her neck trying to see where the lacing was. Even if she could see how it was laced, she couldn’t reach.

She could wake Nicky, she thought desperately.

Right, that’d be a help. Once he went to sleep Nicky slept like the dead. She’d wake him and it’d take a cold shower to get him alert enough to unlace her.

Dammit, she could do it. If she could just reach an inch further…

There was a knock on the door.

She froze. It was two in the morning. What the…?

‘Who is it?’

‘Nikos.’ There was no mistaking the voice. Brusque. Urgent.

Nikos. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.

‘Are you okay?’ he demanded.

‘Of course I’m okay,’ she managed. ‘Why wouldn’t I be okay?’

‘The security guards in the garden contacted me. They said you appeared to be in trouble.’

‘I’m not.’

‘They said you were struggling-that you appeared distressed.’

What the…?

She stared at the window.

And winced.

The great bay windows of her bedroom were hung with fine silken netting. That formed the first layer of curtaining. But there was a second layer. Swathes of crimson velvet were pulled back, fastened to the sides with huge golden tassels.

Oh, no.

She glanced through into Nicky’s room, checking his windows.

The velvet curtains had been pulled closed.

Until now she hadn’t even noticed that there were heavier curtains over the fine ones. But now…She’d been standing before the dresser, trying to see the back of her dress in the mirror.

There was a chandelier in the centre of the room, blazing with light. So she’d been standing in a netted bay window, struggling with her dress, while the chandelier shone its light behind her.

They would have been able to see…

She blushed and blushed, then blushed some more. And ached for her nice anonymous Manhattan apartment.

‘I’m fine,’ she managed.

‘Thena, what’s wrong? Is someone in there with you?’

‘I’m stuck,’ she said, and listened to the silence on the other side of the door.

‘Stuck?’ he said at last, cautiously.

‘Yes, stuck. This damned dress…’

‘You’re stuck in your dress?’

‘In my underskirt. Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’ll let you in, but if you dare laugh…’

‘I won’t…laugh,’ he said, but laughter was already in his voice. Of course he’d laugh. She knew this man too well.

‘Pull the curtains first,’ he said, and she could still hear the laughter. ‘I need to radio the men to say there’s no drama, but if I enter…They can see…’

‘I know what they can see.’ She hauled the curtains closed with a viciousness she was feeling towards the underskirt-and towards the man in the corridor-and hauled the door open.

Nikos was no longer in his formal black suit. He was in a pair of jeans and a loose battered jacket. His hair was tousled and unkempt.

And she knew…

‘They woke you up,’ she said, stunned.

‘They were worried.’

‘I couldn’t get my dress off and they contacted you?’

‘It looked like…’

‘I don’t even want to think what it looked like,’ she managed. ‘Don’t you dare grin.’

‘I wouldn’t dare.’ But he was grinning.

‘Are you sleeping in the palace?’

‘For the time being.’

‘Where’s Christa?’

‘With my mother.’

She stared at him blankly. He gazed back, his laughter fading.

‘You really are worried about me,’ she whispered.

‘We really are, Princess.’

‘Don’t call me that.’ She was close to hysterics, she thought. She was close to…

‘Hey, it’s not all bad.’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘It’s not.’ His hands caught her shoulders and held. He was looking down at her, his dark eyes fathomless. ‘Thena…’

‘Don’t.’

‘Don’t what?’

‘I don’t know,’ she muttered, totally bewildered, backing away from his hold. ‘Just unfasten this slip, will you? I’m ready to rip it but the fashion house that lent it to me would have forty fits. Besides,’ she added honestly, ‘I tried and it wouldn’t. Why aren’t you wearing a sword?’

‘A sword?’

‘To slice the thing open.’

‘You want me to slice your underclothes off with a sword?’ he said cautiously. ‘I don’t know. It sounds a bit…cavalier…’

‘You’re laughing.’

‘I’m not laughing.’

‘Just get it off,’ she said, and then looked at his face and thought uh-oh. The royal command wouldn’t work here. This was Nikos and he always had been one for trouble.

‘Please,’ she said before he could make another wisecrack. ‘Can you unfasten it?’

‘A sword would be more fun. Will you wait until I find one?’

‘No! Just unlace me.’

‘Okay, Princess,’ he said and smiled again. ‘I could never resist a damsel in distress. Even without my sword I’ll rescue you. Come here.’

‘N…No.’

‘Sorry?’

But other sensations were surfacing here. Something about the night, the lateness. Something about how damned sexy he looked-laconic, strong and sure, dressed how she’d always known him, battered clothes, a bit unkempt. Gorgeous.

‘I…I think I’ve changed my mind,’ she stammered. ‘Can you call the housekeeper?’

‘You don’t think I can unlace you?’

‘I don’t know if I trust you.’

‘That’s a harsh thing to say.’

She bit her lip. But she was right. She’d thought she’d known this man as well as she’d known herself. One nine-year-old daughter had put paid to that trust.

But still. This was only lacing. She trusted him enough for lacing, she conceded.

‘Okay,’ she said begrudgingly and his smile broadened. It was a killer smile. It was a smile to melt a woman’s heart.

‘Good. But if we’re talking undressing here…Let’s make doubly sure we lose our audience.’

He flicked the light switch. The chandelier disappeared into darkness. The only light remaining was the fire’s soft glow in the grate. It hadn’t been tended for hours so it was now a bed of soft-glowing coals.

It was hard to see anything by. It was hard to see Nikos by.

But she knew what he looked like. He’d been her friend for ever. He’d been her lover as well, for just a short, sweet time, but that loving had been a natural and wonderful extension of their friendship.

She hadn’t forgotten any of it.

So here he was, her Nikos, in her darkened bedroom. Moving towards her with intent.

She should order him out. But it was as if this was meant, a part of who she was.

She looked up at him in the dim light, not backing away, knowing what was intended, knowing also that his intent matched hers. Knowing he knew it.

She stood, simply waiting. Simply wanting.

He took her in his arms-and he kissed her.

She froze, for a whole three seconds, while her mouth registered his touch, while her body registered his feel, while she realised what was happening and that she wanted it as much as he did.

She should push him away. If she was sensible…

But the sensible part of her was no longer connected to who she was.

For she was suddenly the Athena of ten years ago. Athena in Nikos’s arms. Half of the Thena and Nikos partnership, forged when they’d been eight years old, broken but now magically come back together.

It was as if two parts of a whole had finally rejoined, fusing, so the white noise disappeared, the voices muted that said this was crazy, dangerous, stupid…

This wasn’t stupid. This was Nikos. This was his body against hers, his mouth on hers, his hands holding her tight, tighter…Nikos, making the night disappear.

He was pulling her so close she felt she was sinking into him. Maybe part of her was, and it was sinking back where it belonged.

Crazy, crazy, crazy.

She didn’t care.

Her breasts were on fire where they were touching his body, and the fire was spreading. Heat was building, starting low, moving upward, flooding her body with fierce, hot want.

Nikos.

His tongue was in her mouth, exploring, searching and she felt herself stagger. It didn’t matter, for his big hands were holding her, cradling her against him, allowing no chance of her falling away from him.

She was his woman. His mouth said it. His hands said it.

Nikos, Nikos, Nikos.

She was surrendering to him. She wanted him so much. Nikos…

But then, cruelly, outside intruded. The radio at his belt crackled into life. ‘You okay, boss?’ It was a gruff request, full of concern.

He had to respond. She knew he did.

He pulled away with a muttered oath. ‘Dammit, I should have…You’re distracting me, woman.’

‘Is that my fault?’ she demanded, even managing to sound indignant, and he grinned. There were electric charges going off everywhere here, zinging around in the darkness like fireflies. She felt light and hot and wonderful.

She hated the voice on the radio.

‘It’s okay, Zak, just a wardrobe malfunction,’ he said into the radio and there was a moment’s static-filled silence.

Then…‘You want some help fixing it, boss?’

‘I believe we have the situation…in hand,’ Nikos said, and the look he gave her was pure need. The zinging started all over again, filling the room with wonder.

He replaced the radio on his belt and took her hands in his.

‘Like that’s done my reputation some good,’ she managed.

He grinned. ‘You want a reputation, you just got one.’

But the break had changed things. Just a little, but enough. The first desperate tug of attraction had pulled them together. Now common sense was returning. Just.

‘You want that I should unlace this slip?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘Then…I think you ought to leave.’

‘You want me to leave?’

‘Nikos…’

‘Okay.’ His tone was suddenly flat. ‘Yeah, okay. We need to keep some sanity here.’

‘I am…I am going back to Manhattan.’

‘You can’t,’ he said flatly.

Here it was again, this crazy proposition. But she was too tired. It was doing her head in.

She said nothing. He looked at her for a long considering minute and finally he nodded. ‘Okay, Princess. You’ve had enough for one day. But you do need to see sense. Meanwhile…maybe we should stay away from each other’s bodies. It’s making me crazy. So let’s sleep on what’s the sensible course of action for all of us. Your career destroyed what was between us personally. I can’t believe you’ll let it destroy the island as well.’

‘It didn’t…’

‘Goodnight, Princess,’ he said softly, not letting her finish, and it was as if he was closing a door on what had just passed. Locking a door and throwing away the key. ‘Think about everything…Please.’