Avoiding Mr Right (17 page)

‘Are you going to sack me too, Your Highness?’ she mocked. Her heart twisted with pain but she ignored it.

At his side his hand clenched slowly. Christina saw it and was perversely triumphant. At least it meant that his demeanour of princely cool was costing him something in self-restraint. A desire to blast him out of it took hold of her.

Afterwards she could hardly believe what she did next. It had to have been the shock of the fight.

She smiled, and quite deliberately let the torn strap of her dress fall. She held his eyes.

For a moment Luc stood as if turned to stone. Then Christina saw that the tell-tale muscle was working uncontrollably below his cheekbone. Success, she thought without compunction.

But he gave no other sign of reaction. And when he spoke his voice was so cool that it was almost bored. ‘Sacking you certainly has its attractions. But this is really
not
the time. I will see you in the morning.’

He walked quickly away before she could say any more. Christina stared after him in disbelief. He couldn’t just walk away from her like that. He
couldn’t.

Oh, she hated Luc Henri, Prince of Kholkhastan, as she had never hated anyone in her cool and self-possessed life. She hated him.

It was not a good night. She was up early, making waffles to give her something to take her mind off the forthcoming interview. The children were delighted but the Princess looked very much as Christina felt.

‘I didn’t think it could, but Kay’s mood has got
worse
,’ she said gloomily. ‘It could be the accident with the boat, I suppose. He made us all tell him about it last night after you’d gone. It was like some policeman taking statements. He was
furious
. Now he says we can’t stay on the boat!’

So when Christina went to the room that Luc had made his study she expected to be paid off, just like the captain.

She knocked and went in when bidden. Luc was looking at a leather-bound folder, marking something. She caught the flash of gold as he recapped his pen. He looked up as soon as she came in and closed the folder.

He was wearing his suit again, which was lightweight and beautifully cut, offset by a marvellous silk tie. How could I ever have thought he was a gossip columnist? Christina thought. He looked every inch the international negotiator—and as remote as the moon.

‘Good morning, Christina,’ he said with grave courtesy. ‘I hope you slept well.’

She was instantly on the defensive. ‘Why shouldn’t I?’

‘You were up exceptionally early,’ he pointed out wryly. ‘As I was myself,’ he added deliberately.

Christina’s eyes narrowed. Was he trying to tell her something? Surely not that his dreams were as disturbingly full of her as hers were of him? It would have been some comfort, perhaps, but it was hardly likely. She dismissed the suspicion as soon as it occurred to her.

Instead she looked away, shrugging. She thought he sighed faintly. But when he spoke his voice was brisk.

‘I have decided that we will continue our holiday ashore. The crew is incompetent and I really have not the time to engage another one. Besides, the boat needs a good deal of work done. I shall be arranging it today. My sister will have her party tonight. After that we will all go to a villa I own further along the coast.’

‘I see.’

It was what she had expected but it still hurt, especially as he had not excluded her from the crew he called incompetent. But she was not going to let him see it.

She lifted her chin. ‘I take it I get my wages and my passage back to Athens.’

He frowned. ‘I would prefer you to come with us.’

Christina stared. ‘Hasn’t this villa got a cook?’ she said incredulously.

‘It has a full complement of domestic staff but I want you to take care of the children. They will need someone to oversee their amusements.’

‘I’m not a nanny.’

‘Are you refusing?’

She met his eyes. She could not read anything in the expression on the handsome face.

He said coolly, ‘I see from the contract you signed that we have the use of your services for another ten days. It does not actually specify your tasks. I would prefer you to work the rest of your employment at the Villa San Bernardino. That is all.’

‘But—’

‘Christina, when does your next job start?’ he said patiently.

She was so disconcerted that she answered him literally. ‘Two days after I get back. Oh!’

‘Precisely. If you run out on us you will have to go and sleep on the floor of your long-suffering friend,’ he said with a ghost of a smile. ‘Is that fair—twice in as many months?’

She had to admit that there was something in what he said, even though it went against the grain.

‘The children won’t be a nuisance,’ he said. ‘I know Simon has not been easy. It is not altogether his fault.’ He hesitated before adding in a dry tone, ‘I am sure you will have realised that all is not well between his parents. I have now told my brother-in-law that his marriage and his family are
his
problems and he has to sort them out. He will be with us tonight or tomorrow. So Simon’s behaviour should improve dramatically.’ He paused. ‘Well?’

Christina bit her lip. All she wanted to do was get away from Luc Henri in this alienating royal guise, she assured herself. So why was she trying to find reasonsno, not reasons, excuses—for staying in his employment?

He said softly, ‘Be sensible, Christina. Even if you hate the very idea, it’s hardly for ever. What is ten days out of your life, after all?’

But she didn’t hate the very idea. That was the trouble.

Christina decided that there was no point in pretending. Squaring her shoulders, she looked him in the eyes and said, ‘And what about you and me?’

She had surprised Luc, she saw. For a moment the cool mask twitched in shock. Then he clamped down on whatever he was feeling. He was cool and expressionless again.

He said carefully, ‘That is a separate issue.’

Christina was incredulous. ‘You mean you’re going to pretend none of it happened?’

‘Nothing very much has happened,’ he pointed out. ‘A couple of kisses. A lot of misunderstanding. That’s it.’

A couple of kisses. That was all they were to him? Yet they had turned her world upside down. Christina could have hit him.

‘You needn’t worry that I shall pursue the matter against your will,’ he went on.

From his tone he could have been talking about some boring but not very important subject on the international agenda. Or a business deal, Christina thought grimly.

‘Good,’ she agreed.

‘Then that’s settled.’

Christina realised that she had been manipulated by a master. Without actually agreeing to do what he wanted, she had tacitly accepted that she would. If only it wasn’t, in her heart of hearts, what she wanted too—to be with him, she thought, she would stamp out and hitch a ride back to Athens now.

Luc turned away, clearly dismissing her now that he had won his point.

‘Please be packed and ready by midday tomorrow. I am glad you will be joining us at the villa. I hope you will enjoy it,’ be said formally.

Christina’s manners were not as good as his. Or maybe it was because she had not had years of training in disguising her emotions. She glared. Then she turned on her heel and went out of the cabin without a word. She even banged the door behind her.

If she had expected Luc to come after her in some attempt at reconciliation, she was disappointed. Almost as soon as she had banged out, he left the yacht.

‘Will His Highness be back for the party?’ Christina asked the Princess when she served lunch.

‘He’ll be back all right,’ said his sister grimly. ‘How else is he going to keep an eye on me?’

Christina prudently did not answer that one, though she sympathised. Instead, mindful of her promise to Karl, she said, ‘The guest list has increased so much—do you think it would be an idea to hire someone apart from me to hand round drinks?’

The Princess was supremely uninterested. ‘Go ahead.’

Christina did not have time to go ashore again but she called the hotel on the mobile phone. Karl was nearly incoherent with gratitude.

‘I’ll remember you in my will,’ he promised.

‘Just turn up looking like a waiter, not a surfer,’ Christina begged.

She could hear his grin down the phone. ‘You got it.’

Karl did indeed look remarkably tidy and sober when he arrived in dark trousers and a waist-length white jacket borrowed from one of the waiters at his hotel. It set off his tan. With his flowing hair clipped into a neat queue at the back of his neck, he looked positively handsome. A number of the female guests paid him more than passing attention, Christina saw.

The trouble was that Luc saw it too. He had returned late from wherever he had been and disappeared immediately to change for the party. The first time Christina caught sight of him he was observing Karl narrowly. His expression was forbidding.

Perhaps it was because his own companion was one of those who had shown her appreciation of Karl’s athletic presence, Christina thought. It was a painful reflection but she could not dismiss it. Stuart Define had come on board accompanied by his glamorous co-star.

As soon as she saw Luc, Juliette Legrain detached herself from the actor and took up residence at Luc’s side. Christina heard her shrieks of delight even though she could not see her over the heads of the other guests. As soon as she could see them, she found Luc was looking down into the beautiful, vivid face with undisguised affection.

He never looked at me like that, Christina thought with an odd little stab of pain under her heart. For a moment the tray of exquisite canapés tilted dangerously. She looked down, shaken by the strength of her feelings. She righted it at once and resumed circulating among the guests. But she felt dazed—as if something about seeing Luc arm-in-arm with Juliette Legrain had the effect of a blow on the head.

What is wrong with me? Christina peered at the cracked mirror in the galley. She was too busy for self-analysis but she still could not get it out of her head that something momentous had happened. In spite of the warmth of the Italian night, and the lights and companionable noise of conversation on deck, Christina felt as if she was somewhere dark and cold and empty. She had never felt so alone in her entire life.

Eventually the party was down to a few assorted stragglers. Luc dealt competently with them while the family congregated in the stateroom. The Princess came down to the galley. Karl leaped to his feet politely. In spite of her strange detached feeling, Christina straightened.

‘Dinner?’ she asked professionally.

The Princess looked faintly horrified. ‘Good heavens, no. You’ve done quite enough work for one evening. Kay and I will take everyone out for a meal,’ she said. ‘I’m just going to organise a table now.’

Behind her shoulder Luc appeared. He was looking coolly, elegantly in control, just as he had all evening.

‘I hope you will be able to join us,’ he said to Christina with distant courtesy.

It did not sound like an invitation. It sounded like an order. Christina could not find anything to say. The silence became embarrassing.

The Princess looked startled but she said quickly, ‘Christina must be exhausted—’

‘Not too exhausted to eat,’ Luc said flatly.

Yes, definitely an order. Christina stared at him in indignation. ‘There’s a lot of clearing up to do…’ she began.

But Karl had seen the chance of a real opportunity to question his hero. ‘I’ll help. It won’t take long,’ he said eagerly. ‘We could be ready in fifteen minutes.’

There was a sharp little silence. Luc’s eyes flickered.

If Karl had not been an obsessional student he would have noticed that there was no rush to include him in the invitation. But he did not. He just said he would start by getting the dirty glasses from the upper deck. He went.

The Princess sent her brother a speculative look. ‘He is so helpful, isn’t he? You must bring him along too, of course, Christina.’

Luc said nothing. There was a small, nasty pause. Then the Princess announced that she would go and call a restaurant and followed Karl.

Left alone with Luc, Christina busied herself with the dishes. She could feel him watching her but he said nothing. She did not look at him.

At last he said in a curt voice, ‘My sister tells me the boy is a particular friend of yours.’

Christina did not look round. She shrugged, stacking glasses.

‘Is it true?’

She straightened then and turned to face him. ‘I’ve known him a long time.’

Luc’s smile slashed into his think cheek. It did not reach his eyes. ‘By which you mean several summers, I take it. You play together in the sun before going your own way, isn’t that it?’ He sounded angry.

‘There isn’t a lot of call for my sort of crewing in the winter,’ Christina agreed levelly.

‘Does he know where you go in the winter?’ Luc shot at her suddenly.

Momentarily Christina was blank. ‘What?’

‘Nobody else seems to.’

She looked at him in dawning comprehension. Indignation sparked. ‘Your private detective still on the case?’ she enquired with dangerous pleasantness.

Luc’s smile was equally dangerous. When he spoke it was in his official voice, reporting facts without emotion. ‘He got as far as Milan. Then he said it was a wall. No address, just a post office box. No employer. No regular associates.’

Christina gave sudden thanks for her itinerant studentship. She had never had any reason to cover her tracks but it was a small triumph that there was something at least in which she could get the better of the Prince of Kholkhastan.

‘Frustrating,’ she observed politely.

Luc’s eyes bored into her. ‘Well?’

Christina braced herself against the sink behind her and faced him squarely. ‘I work for you for another ten days,’ she said. ‘Then I’m gone.’

‘That’s not good enough.’

‘Oh, but it is,’ she flashed. ‘You’ve done your best to turn my life upside down from the moment I met you. You have no scruples at all. It’s only the merest chance that—’