Marion Lennox - The Prince’s Captive Wife

The third book in the Royal House of Karedes series, 2009

With thanks to my fabulous coauthors,

whose writing has made this series sizzle.

SHE was only seventeen?

Were talking ten years ago. I was barely out of my teens myself.

Does that make a difference? The uncrowned king of Aristo stared across his massive desk at his brother, his aquiline face dark with fury. Have we not had enough scandal?

Not of my making. Prince Andreas Christos Karedes, third in line to the Crown of Aristo, stood his ground against his older brother with the disdain he always used in this family of testosterone-driven males. His brothers might be acknowledged womanizers, but Andreas made sure his affairs were discreet.

Until now, Sebastian said. Not counting your singularly spectacular divorce, which had a massive impact. But this is worse. You need to sort it before it explodes over all of us.

How the hell can I sort it?

Get rid of her.

Youre not saying

Sebastian shook his head, obviously rejecting the idea-though a tinge of regret in his voice said the option wasnt altogether unattractive.

And Andreas even sympathized. Since their fathers death, all three brothers had been dragged through the mire of the media spotlight, and the political unrest was threatening to destroy them. In their thirties, impossibly handsome, wealthy beyond belief, indulged and fted, the brothers were now facing realities they had no idea what to do with.

Though if I was our father Sebastian added and Andreas shuddered. Who knew what the old king would have done if hed discovered Hollys secret? Thank God hed never found out. Not that King Aegeus could have taken the moral high ground. His fathers past actions had got them into this mess.

Youll make a better king than our father ever was, Andreas said softly. What filthy dealing made him dispose of the royal diamond?

Thats my concern, Sebastian said. There could be no royal coronation until the diamond was found-they all knew that-but the way the media was baying for blood there might not be a coronation even then. Without the diamond the rules had changed. If any more scandals brokeThis girl

Holly.

You remember her?

Of course I remember her.

Then shell be easy to find. Well buy her off-do whatever it takes, but she mustnt talk to anyone.

If she wanted to make a scandal she could have done it years ago.

So its been simmering in the wings for years. To have it surface now Sebastian rose and fixed Andreas with a look that was almost as deadly as the one used by the old king. It cant happen, brother. We have to make sure shes not in a position to bring us down.

Ill contact her.

Youll go nowhere near her until were sure of her reaction. Not even a phone call. For all we know her phones are already tapped. Ill have her brought here.

I can arrange

You stay right out of it until shes on our soil. Youre heading the corruption inquiry. With Alex still on his honeymoon-of all the times for our brother to demand to marry, this must surely be the worst-I need you more than ever. If you leave now and this leaks, we can almost guarantee losing the crown.

So how do you propose to persuade her to come?

Oh, Ill persuade her, Sebastian said grimly. Shes only a slip of a girl. She might be your past, but theres no way shes messing with our future.

It was time to leave, but of all the places Holly had to farewell, this was the hardest.

The grave was tiny-a simple stone plaque nestled under the shade of the vast river-red-gum that gave this Australian cattle station its name. The tree was ancient. The native Australians whod lived here for generations called it Munwannay-resting place-and when Hollys tiny son had died it had seemed the only place to let him lie.

How could she walk away?

How could she walk away from any of this? Holly sank to her knees before her sons grave and turned to gaze back over the homestead-the rambling, old house with its wide verandas, its French windows opening the house to every breeze, the neglected garden shed loved so much since she was a little girl.

Andreas had loved this garden.

Andreas had loved everything about this place. And shed loved Andreas.

Well, that was another thing she needed to walk away from. The memory of Prince Andreas Karedes. Hed been twenty when hed come here to spend six months experiencing life in Australias remote outback. Shed been seventeen.

She was twenty-seven now. It was more than time that she move on-from this place, as well as a love that had been doomed from the start.

Shed been stalling for as long as possible, trying to keep the property presentable in case new owners could be found, but it had been on the market since her fathers death six months ago. Financially it was impossible to keep going, and it was becoming bleaker every day as she watched it deteriorate. Finally shed transferred her job-teaching on the School of the Air-to the educational base at Alice Springs. This was the end.

She touched her babys gravestone one last time, aching with regret and loss. And then she paused, looking upward as the stillness of the hot April morning was shattered.

A helicopter was arrowing in fast from the east. It was big and powerful, a much larger machine than those owned by the larger local landowners. All black, almost menacing, it swept in low across the bare paddocks, heading straight for the homestead.

Holly winced. Thered been a trickle of potential buyers looking at the place since it had gone on the market. No one had been interested. Munwannay needed a massive injection of cash and enthusiasm to build it up to the magnificent property it had once been. If these were more potential buyers sent by the rural land agents, theyd react the same as the others. Theyd walk through the faded splendour of the old homestead; theyd look at the weathered outbuildings and the dilapidated infrastructure and theyd walk away. If these buyers were coming in such a helicopter theyd have more money than most, but then they could afford to buy a more prestigious place.

And she didnt want them here now. Not on her last day.

But they were landing. She watched them as the chopper settled in a cloud of dust; as the doors opened. Four men in dark jeans and black T-shirts jumped out. Big men. Powerfully built, all of them.

Odd. Up until now potential buyers had been local farmers wanting to extend their own landholdings, distinctive by age and by weathering-or men in suits from the city.

No matter. She needed to be gracious. If this place sold it would give her a hope of settling the crippling debts left by her fathers refusal to believe his circumstances in the world had changed. She pinned a smile on her face and hurried forward, not wanting them to come here-to see the tiny gravestone she loved so much.

They were young to be buyers, she thought as they approached. And foreign? They were olive skinned, as Andreas had been. They looked serious, purposeful, striding across the paddock towards her with an intent at odds with a potential buyers initial appraisal.

A shiver of unease shot down her spine. She was alone here. Too alone.

She gave herself a swift mental shake. She was being fanciful. Theyd hardly come here in such a helicopter with the intent to do her personal harm, and there was nothing left to steal.