MAID FOR A PRINCE: (Book 1) (Point St. Claire, where true love finds a way) (7 page)

When Darius was finished reading, he set the pages aside and ran a hand through his hair.

“It’s about the rebellion a hundred years ago,” Helene said and he nodded. “Is there a Leandros in your history books?”

“It’s a story, Helene.”

“Based on a real event. Do you have any idea who wrote it?”

“None.” His palm traced the top page lying between them now on the seat. The only clue was two initials: D.D. “This room has been used by staff for as long as I can remember, but I don’t know who slept here fifty years ago. A hundred.” He glanced at the wardrobe. “Is there more?”

“I poked around. Through the drawers, on the ledge. All through the room. I thought the rest might be hidden behind a skirting board.” She looked up. “Or the ceiling.”

He grinned. “You want me to rip the room apart?”

“I meant this might be all there is.”

He slid a fingertip over the initials at the top of the page. “I guess D.D. will stay anonymous and his, or her, story unfinished.”

She looked longingly at the pages. What happened to Leandros? Who was the woman who had plunged to her death?

The distant bray of a wild donkey filtered in and she glanced out the window over the sun-drenched landscape at the same time Darius found his feet.

“Given we can’t solve that mystery, I vote we go.”

“Go where?”

“For a swim.”

She glanced around the room again. Rummaging through the same places wouldn’t make more pages suddenly appear. And a swim with Darius did sound mighty good.

She stood, too. “I’ll get my bikini.”

“Don’t need one.”

He grabbed her hand and they hurried down to the bay.

They’d made love only hours ago. He’d seen her naked—every inch. Now, with a warm breeze combing his hair, he shucked off his shirt and stepped out of his pants. But Helene was biting her lip. There might not be anyone around for miles. Still, they were out in the open.

Normally she was adventurous, but this was pushing the envelope.

He closed the distance between them. “Don’t tell me you’re nervous?”

“I’m allowed.”

“What if I help?”

She drew in a deep breath and then smiled. “I think I could deal with that.”

Holding her gaze with his, he undressed her like he had that morning, only this time at a far less frantic pace.

Then, like the couple in those pages, they moved into the water, letting the coolness swirl around them as their mouths and bodies slipped against each another. When she turned so that he could wind his arms under her breasts, he nuzzled her neck from behind. Beneath the water, his hands ran over her belly while overhead swallows darted and played. After a delicious few moments, he spoke against her hair.

“I’ve been thinking about the figurine. It’s overkill taking her in and out of the safe all the time. If that cave hadn’t fallen in, she’d still be there, balanced on that ledge.”

If he was thinking about letting her out of that safe and into the light, Helene was all for it.

“I thought I could leave her out,” he said.

“In your room?”

“In the study, just off the main room. In three days she’ll be packed up and on her way back to the main island anyway.”

A withering feeling fell through her. “This week’s going so fast.” She snuggled back against him. Only three more days…

“Alexio will be missing you at his taverna.”

“He’ll be happy it’s all worked out.”

She hadn’t phoned or texted Alexio since the day she’d met Darius. Through his communication with the palace, Darius had assured her that Alexio knew about this arrangement. Somehow she didn’t think Darius or his office would condone a private discussion between Alexio and her about the prince’s decision to bend the rules and keep her on, which would explain why he hadn’t texted her back. Alexio wouldn’t want to get anyone into any more trouble.

As Darius’s fingertips slid up one side of her throat, his bristled cheek grazed her temple and he asked, “When you get back, do you plan to stay on at the main island?”

“That first day when we met, after the trouble I put you through, I thought I’d need to leave on the first boat out.”

“And now?”

Letting her eyes drift shut, allowing his strength and heat to burrow in, she reached back and twined one arm around his neck. “I’m thinking I should leave Tierenias on a high note.” After her time here was through.

He hummed an agreement her ear. “I thought the same.”

Remembering the way they’d made love that morning, understanding the way he held her now… Her chest tightened and her arm slid down. He was gearing up to forget her already?

But, what had she expected? A proposal of marriage? Still, she had thought he’d at least want to keep her around long enough to be sure he wasn’t going to be a dad.

Or was that it? Maybe he didn’t
want
to know.

Gathering herself, she put a light note in her voice. She wouldn’t let him know that he’d hurt her.

“So, it’s settled,” she said. “After this week, my extended vacation is over, and it’s back to Maine.”

“Helene, when I agreed you should leave on a high note, I meant after a stay at the palace.” He rotated her around in the water to face him. “With me.”

She gaped and then coughed out a laugh. “You’re inviting me…?” To what exactly?

“To stay longer. A couple of weeks, perhaps. Most days I’ll need to go into the office at some stage. And you’ll need to cope with Tahlia.”

Helene felt stunned.
So
happy.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him thoroughly.

This adventure wasn’t over yet.

The next morning, their second last on the island, Darius wandered off for another of his solitary walks.

For the first time since staying at the villa, Helene felt restless. Usually she kept busy. Now as she tidied around, her mind kept wandering back. Doubts kept creeping in.

Had Darius asked her to stay with him at the palace so he could make sure she hadn’t conceived before they said farewell for good? Of course she would let him know when they were in the clear. Two weeks ought to do it, if she didn’t go crazy thinking about it in the meantime.

Later, putting the finishing touches to lunch and still feeling restless, she wanted to do something a little different. When she’d gone through the bookshelves in the study earlier in the week, she’d admired a set of goblets in a cabinet. Since watching Darius set the figurine up in an alcove in that room yesterday, just like he’d said he would, those doors had remained closed. Although he hadn’t expressly forbidden her to go in, Helene didn’t feel she should.

But the cabinet with the goblets was clear on the other side of the room near an old desk. She didn’t need to go anywhere near the figurine. Not a snowball’s chance in hell she could damage it.

Helene opened the study doors and crossed directly to the cabinet. She’d gotten two goblets out and was walking back when her pace slowed. As her gaze drifted over to where the figurine sat in an alcove, a shiver raced up her spine. Hard to believe that she had actually held that piece of history in her own two hands. When she’d lifted the goddess out of her cave, the figurine had felt so smooth and heavy, but easy to…

A faint sound echoed into the room, the click of a lock—the front door. A hot rush swept from Helene’s feet to her crown. As she rushed to get out of the room, her grip on one of the goblets slipped. Before she could catch it, it fell and smashed on the floor. 

As she stared down, she told herself to run, find a broom, disappear. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Through the study doorway, she saw Darius pass by. He paused and, catching sight of her, threw a dubious look her way. Then he saw the shards at her feet. His expression darkened.

Helene’s heart hammered when he edged forward.

“You’ve had an accident,” he said.

“I thought I’d use different glasses for lunch today. I’d noticed these. I, uh, fumbled one.” Taking in the mess again, she felt sick to her stomach. “I’ll pay for it. Just tell me how much.”

He looked at the figurine, set back safe and sound in her alcove, before crossing over and folding Helene’s free hand in his. “Were those glasses an excuse to come in and see the figurine? You should have just asked. I’d have shown her to you.”

Helene wanted to defend herself. She hadn’t gone anywhere near the goddess. But she felt too ashamed.

Maybe her mother was right.

Helene Masters was a big fat accident waiting to happen.

They had lunch without either one mentioning the broken goblet. In fact, they hardly spoke at all. By bedtime, however, Darius seemed to have put the episode out of his mind. Helene only wished she could.

How old were those goblets? How much were they worth?

A splinter from the break had stuck in her heel. Every little throb worked to remind her and ramp up the guilt.

When Darius came out of the bathroom, his broad chest on display above a pair of low-slung drawstring pants and his dark hair wet and tousled, she was propped against the headrest. One leg was crooked over the other knee while she tried to find that splinter.

“I must have trod on a piece of glass,” she explained, as he unfurled himself like a big muscled cat along the bottom end of the bed. Sitting straighter, she put down her foot. She had to ask. “Was that glass very expensive?”

Was it hundreds of years old?

“That set was handed down to my sister from my mother.”

Helene groaned. “Tahlia will hate me.”

“My mother broke one a couple of years ago. Last time she was here, Tahlia broke one, too. She was upset—”

“Terrific.”

“But she also said she wanted them used. They aren’t heirlooms. I’m not certain where my mother picked them up, but they were always on the table when we visited here as a family. Tahlia will understand.” His face turned wry. “Although it’d be another story if I broke one.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of her foot but as his thumb grazed the underside, he touched the splinter and she jerked.

“I’m sure your sister loves you,” she said.

“She would love having me out of her hair. She’s probably organized a string of midnight rendezvous with Otis. If Yanni weren’t around to keep an eye out, I’d be worried.”

When his fingertip crossed that tender spot beneath her heel again, she tried not to flinch. “You mentioned a boy she likes. Otis?”

“He’s one of two head grooms with our stables. He’s good with the horses. I was fond of him.”

“Was?”

He grazed the shard again and she squirmed. “It’s complicated.”

“Teenage love always is.”

He slid off the bed and returned to the room with a pair of tweezers. “From Tahlia’s bathroom,” he explained, stretching out along the foot of the bed again. “These past weeks since coming home from boarding school, my sister’s been a different person. Defiant. Moody. At least she is with me.”

“Want some advice? Cut her some slack. Then she won’t need to defend herself so much.”

“Guardians need to be firm,” he said, concentrating on her heel. “Children expect boundaries.”

He pinched the tweezers and Helene swallowed a yelp. “Maybe you should let me have a go with those.” Adjusting his grip, he focused again. “Tahlia isn’t a child,” she told him as he tilted her foot the other way to take advantage of the light. “She’s a young woman with feelings.”

“Hearts shouldn’t rule heads.”

“You’re worried she’ll make the same mistake your uncle made. That your sister might one day choose an ordinary life over anything royal.”

He held her foot more firmly and stuck his nose even closer. “If you’re trying to make a case for me to loosen the reins, won’t work.” Then he pinned her with a horrified look. “You don’t think they’d elope, do you?”

“I only know you can’t stop an eighteen-year-old from being who she wants to be. Not in this day and age.”

“Offering her an education at one of the best universities in the world isn’t exactly proposing torture.”

“Might as well be if she’s separated from the one person she wants to be with. How long have they been seeing each other?”

“A matter of months, but they’ve known each other for years. Otis’s father worked for us before an accident laid him up. Otis was partway through an animal science degree in the UK when he came back.”

“What about a compromise? You could suggest Tahlia take a gap year. See more of the world and learn more about herself.”

“Like you?”

“Like a lot of people. Only my gap time came after finishing college, not before.”

“How did your mother feel about that?”

“I’m an adult, Darius.” As was Tahlia. “I live my own life.”

The tweezers pinched. When they let go, she eased out her breath.