She had to be strong…With her head down Carrie ran across the endless stretch of newly mown grass and didn’t stop until she reached the shade of some overhanging trees. She had just been talking to Princess Laura, and the princess had been so kind, which only made the deception harder to bear.
The fact that Nico’s mother was the grandmother of her baby and she couldn’t share the news was like a knife in her heart. Her child had been born into privilege, which carried with it huge responsibility, and a woman like Princess Laura would have been able to guide them both through the pitfalls. Forgetting her baby’s royal connections, any child would be lucky to have Princess Laura for a grandmother.
Sinking down on the mossy bank beneath the trees, Carrie curled up on the soft warm ground and made a silent pledge to her baby that she would make things right before she left Niroli. She stirred restlessly as the breeze ruffled the leafy canopy over her head, and then her eyes drifted shut.
‘Have you any idea how this looks?’
Carrie jumped with alarm to see Nico standing over her. Shading her eyes, she tried to get her thoughts in order. The sun was low in the sky, so she must have been asleep for several hours….
‘You can’t just loll about on the ground here with your skirt round your neck.’
Carrie hurried to straighten her clothes. Nico made her feel so cheap. But she stood up too fast, and as she swayed he reached out to steady her. But the moment she was safe he withdrew his hand.
It told her a lot. It told her he didn’t believe her. ‘How long have I been asleep?’
‘How do you expect me to know?’ he said impatiently.
But he did know. He knew to the second how long she had been lying on the ground with her long hair spread around her. She was becoming an embarrassment. His mother had plied him with questions none of which he had chosen to answer. ‘Did you plan this? Did you sit down before you came to Niroli and work out how to cause me maximum embarrassment?’
‘Embarrassment? I fell asleep. Please don’t think I’m taking advantage of your mother’s kindness—’
‘I don’t think that. But you look so…untidy,’ he said, for want of a better word to express his feelings.
‘I don’t have many clothes with me…’ And then, tired of making excuses, she stood up. ‘What is the appropriate outfit for walking in the palace gardens, by the way?’
His eyes narrowed as he studied her face. She had surprised him again with the softly spoken barb, and now his mind was awash with her fresh, sleepy scent. He had to forget how good they were together; he had to ignore the fact that there were leaves in her hair and he wanted to pluck them from the mass of tangled gold.
A greater contrast to the impeccably groomed Princess Anastasia would be impossible to imagine. Carrie’s face was creased and blotchy where she had pressed it against the ground, and she looked…
‘Can I go now?’
His gaze sharpened at her question. Her voice was as gentle as it always was, yet he sensed an edge behind it. She was anything but defeated. ‘You’ve been very clever, worming your way into my mother’s confidence. If one door shuts another opens as far as you’re concerned, doesn’t it, Carrie?’
‘Do you think I started the fire at the hotel, too?’
‘I’m merely suggesting you make the most of every situation.’
‘What situation?’
‘You didn’t know it was my mother’s hotel, of course.’
‘Your mother’s hotel? No, of course I didn’t know. How could I?’
Her surprise appeared genuine. ‘By reading about the family,’ he suggested. ‘You should know the Fierezzas have many interests on the island.’
‘Which you imagine I researched before I got here? Do you really think I targeted your mother’s hotel?’
‘I think you’re bright. I think you came to Niroli on a mission. And from what I know of you from when you worked for me I don’t think you’d be here at all unless you had every loophole sewn up tight.’
‘Well, that’s where you’re wrong, Nico,’ she assured him. ‘Where my personal life is concerned I don’t seem to have much of a hold on it at all. And, for your information, it was the taxi driver who recommended your mother’s hotel. He telephoned ahead as we were driving from the airport to book me in.’
‘A quirk of fate?’
‘If you like,’ she said, ‘but I certainly didn’t engineer it.’
‘And you want me to believe this, along with all your other lies?’
‘I’ve never lied to you, Nico.’