‘Holly.’
Hearing her name, she looked over her shoulder and saw Casper striding towards her, a strange expression on his face. ‘Holly, you’re giving the security team heart-failure.’
‘I’m sorry about that, but do you have a handkerchief or something?’ She glanced anxiously back at the toddler who now had his thumb in his mouth.
Casper hesitated and then produced a handkerchief from the pocket of his uniform.
Holly took it and leaned over the barrier to press it gently against the toddler’s forehead. ‘There. It doesn’t look too bad when you look at it closely.’ One of the security team produced a plaster and vaulted the barrier to deal with the child, and Holly suddenly realised that the crowd was cheering for Casper.
The prince delivered a charismatic smile and slipped his arm round his bride. ‘Next time, don’t leave the coach. It isn’t safe.’
‘It isn’t safe for that toddler, either. People are crushing too close to the barriers. What was I supposed to do?’ She knew it was foolish to read too much into his comment, but she couldn’t help it. Would he warn her not to leave the coach if he didn’t care about her?
The cheering intensified, and then there was a yell from the crowd that turned into a chant.
‘Kiss her, Prince Casper! Kiss, kiss, kiss…!’
Holly blushed scarlet but Casper, clearly as experienced at seducing a crowd as he was women, pulled her gently into his arms and lowered his mouth to hers with his usual cool confidence. Stunned by the unexpected gentleness of that kiss, Holly melted against him, stars exploding in her head and her heart.
Would he kiss her like that if he didn’t care?
Surely it was another sign that he finally believed that she must be telling the truth? That he’d been wrong about her.
The crowd gave a collective sigh of approval, and when Casper finally lifted his head there was another enormous roar of approval.
‘Now you’ve charmed the crowd, we need to go back to the coach.’ Amusement in his eyes, he tucked her hand into his arm. ‘And you need to stop jumping out of carriages and behave with some decorum. Not only are you now a princess, but you’re a pregnant princess.’
‘I know, but—’ She glanced towards the crowd. ‘Some of these people have been standing outside all night, even the children—do we have to go in the carriage? Couldn’t we just walk? We could chat to people along the way.’
Casper’s dark brows locked in a disapproving frown. ‘It would be a major security risk.’
‘I know you don’t care about that. When you’re in public you always walk. I read that you have a constant argument with your bodyguards and the security services.’ She bit her lip, suddenly wishing she hadn’t reminded him of her Internet moment, but he simply smiled and took her hand firmly in his.
‘In this instance I was thinking of your safety. Don’t you find the crowds daunting?’
‘I think it’s lovely that they’ve made the effort to come and see me get married,’ Holly confessed. Spying two small girls holding a bunch of flowers that they obviously picked themselves, she pushed her elaborate bouquet towards an astonished Casper and hurried across. ‘Are those for me? They’re so pretty. Are they from your garden?’ She talked to the girls, then to their mother, shook what felt like a million hands, and slowly and gradually made her way along the avenue towards the palace. But it took a long time because everyone had something to say to her and she had plenty to say in return.
Several people pushed teddies into her arms for the baby, and eventually she needed help to carry everything.
After an hour of chatting to a stunned and delighted crowd, Holly finally allowed herself to be urged back into the carriage.
‘Clearly I misjudged you.’ Casper settled himself beside her, indicating with his head that the procession should move on.
Holly’s heart soared. ‘Y-you did?’
‘Yes. I thought you’d find the whole day impossibly daunting. But you’re a natural.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘I’ve never seen anyone so skilled at talking about nothing with such enthusiasm and for such a long time.’
Holly digested this statement, decided that it was a compliment of sorts, and tried not to be disappointed that he’d been referring to the way she’d handled herself in public, rather than his opinion of her pregnancy.
Reminding herself that she had to be patient, she smiled. ‘How can it be daunting when everyone is so nice?’ Holly waved again and spied another group of children in the crowd. She opened her mouth to ask if they could stop, but Casper met her questioning glance with a slow shake of his head.