Crowned: The Palace Nanny Page 6

  And there was more.

  Elsa had searched for clothes like these, as far as her budget could afford it. She’d even tried making them. That was a joke, trying to learn dressmaking from an instruction manual. To say her attempts had failed was an understatement.

  But after one night Stefanos had found these. There were three pairs of trousers, capri style, like long shorts, one red and white, one a lovely soft blue and one a deeper shade of pink. There were four more blouses, each with the same soft high collar. There were hair ribbons to match, and pretty sandals and a couple of dainty bracelets. There was an exquisite lilac party dress with white lace and a vast bow at the back. It came with a lilac choker with stars embroidered in white.

  Within minutes Zoe was surrounded by a sea of clothes. She looked up at Elsa and her eyes were shining.

  ‘They’re beautiful,’ she breathed. ‘Can I keep them?’

  What sort of question was that? There was no way she could refuse this gift. She just wished, so badly it hurt, that she’d been in a position to give these to her herself.

  ‘They might not fit,’ Stefanos warned, casting Elsa a thoughtful glance and then directing his attention back to Zoe. ‘I had to guess sizes, but I’ve organised a dressmaker to visit you this evening and let them out or take them in as you need. We can change anything too-she has my authority.’

  ‘And my authority?’ Elsa whispered.

  ‘I hope you’ll agree,’ Stefanos said gravely and met her gaze and held.

  What was she thinking? ‘Of course I agree,’ she said shakily. She hugged Zoe and managed a smile. ‘They’re lovely. Your cousin has been wonderfully generous.’ She bit her lip. ‘But you’re not my cousin, Stefanos. I can’t take the laptop.’

  ‘It’s part of a debt,’ he said softly. ‘I owe you so much.’

  ‘You owe me nothing.’

  ‘I loved Christos.’

  ‘He was my friend too.’

  ‘No,’ he said, and suddenly he was almost stern. ‘You don’t understand. Christos was my family. That I didn’t know he was dead…that Zoe has been alone for so long…it touches my honour. I’m asking you to take this and it doesn’t begin to repay the debt I owe you.’

  It touches my honour…It was a quaint phrase. Old-fashioned.

  He meant it-absolutely.

  ‘I…’ She took a deep breath. If they were going to talk about old-fashioned…‘Then it’s my honour to care for Zoe,’ she said, and she tilted her chin. ‘Zoe is not related to me by blood, but I’m her godmother and her guardian. I won’t let that go.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to,’ he said evenly. ‘I’m asking for you to give Khryseis a chance. I’m asking you to come with Zoe-as her nanny as well as her guardian-and if you do this then you will be paid. I want you to help me introduce her to her birthright.’

  ‘And then come home without her?’

  ‘No,’ Zoe said. She’d been examining her pile of clothes with joy, but this wasn’t a child who could be bought. She looked at the clothes with longing and then pushed them away. Suddenly panicking. ‘I don’t want them if I can’t have Elsa.’

  ‘You can have Elsa,’ Stefanos said evenly. ‘I’m asking you both to come.’ He smiled at Elsa, ignoring her obvious panic, simply smiling at her as if he understood what she was thinking; she was being slightly foolish but he wasn’t about to threaten her.

  His smile lied, she thought desperately. This man was a prince, about as far from her world as it was possible to be. He was accustomed to having his charm work for him. He thought now that he simply had to smile and shower gifts and he’d get what he wanted.

  ‘Do you know what a royal nanny earns?’ he asked, and she caught her breath.

  ‘I don’t want to know.’

  ‘Now that’s just dumb,’ he said. ‘Knocking back a fabulous job because you haven’t heard the terms? I rang a couple of friends last night. They have nannies in Europe and they kindly rang a couple of the top agencies and asked. What’s the going rate for the best nanny in the world? they asked.’

  And he gave her a figure.

  She gasped. She stared across the table at him and he smiled back at her. ‘That’s what I’m offering,’ he said softly. ‘Starting today.’

  She could be paid for doing what she loved? Caring for Zoe?

  But this…This could never be about money. Because she did what she did for Zoe for love; for nothing else.

  ‘Elsa, Zoe needs to come home anyway,’ he said gently. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s not negotiable. I’ve also talked to people here in Social Services and to lawyers from your Family Court. I have more chance at success in gaining custody than you might think. The court would look at what Zoe stands to inherit. They’d look at the home I’m prepared to give her. The consensus is that she should have the right to learn about Khryseis. It’s her heritage.’

  He turned to Zoe and spread his hands. ‘Zoe, your father was the Crown Prince of Khryseis and you’re now the Crown Princess. If you agree, I’d like to show you the place where your papa grew up. I’d like to introduce you to an island that I know you’ll love, to live in a palace that’s exciting, to see what your father’s life could have been if he’d lived. I’m asking Elsa to come as well, and I’d like you both to consider Khryseis as a place to live.’ He glanced at Elsa and then glanced away. Her emotions were written on her face, she thought.

  ‘I’ll sign legal documents with international legal authorities,’ he said, and now he was speaking directly to Elsa. ‘We need Zoe for at least three months a year.’

  ‘For ever?’ Elsa whispered.

  ‘Until Zoe’s old enough to know whether she wishes to accept the Crown,’ he said and suddenly he sounded stern. ‘It’s her birthright, Elsa, and neither of us have the right to take that away from her.’

  She was close to tears-but she would not cry. Not in front of Zoe. Zoe was taking her cues from her-to disintegrate on her own behalf would be cruel.

  And he knew what she was thinking.

  ‘Hey, it’s not so bad. You could think of it as a holiday.’ He took her hands again. Strong and warm and sure. ‘You’ve been on your own for so long, Elsa. Will you let me share?’

  She would not cry. But the feel of his hands…

  You’ve been on your own for so long…

  That was what it felt like. Four long years of fighting to get Zoe the medical treatment she needed, fighting to keep her own career viable enough to put food on the table, fighting to forget the ache in her hip and to stop the grey fog of depression and loneliness taking her over.

  A holiday in Khryseis. Three months a year?

  If she said yes, she’d lose Zoe.

  ‘You won’t lose her,’ Stefanos said, strongly and surely. ‘I promise you that. I’ve spent the last eighteen hours finding out exactly what you’ve done for Zoe. The money you’ve spent. Your own money.’

  Her eyes flew to his. Distress gave way to indignation. ‘How did you find that out? Who are you to…?’

  ‘To enquire? I have friends in high places, Elsa. So does Zoe now. In future she’ll have the best medical treatment money can buy.’

  Anger, fear, anguish…They were a kaleidoscope of her emotions. But they should be her emotions. Not Zoe’s. This was Zoe’s future and she must not deny her.

  Her own terror had to be put aside.

  ‘What do you think, Zoe?’ she asked, feeling inordinately pleased when she got her voice right. ‘Stefanos is offering us an initial three-month holiday on his island while we see what it’s like. It’s been…it’s been a shock, but I don’t think it’s something we should be scared of. His island looks really beautiful on the Internet.’

  ‘It’s your island, Zoe,’ Stefanos said, gently but firmly.

  ‘So let me get this right,’ Elsa said, opening the laptop to give her something to look at rather than Stefanos’s face. He saw too much, she thought. He knew how scared she was and he was sympathetic. But still he was determined.

 
She couldn’t afford to be seduced into doing what was wrong for Zoe.

  Seduced? It was the wrong word but it was the one that popped into her head. Because…because…

  Because he was too big and too male and too sexy and she’d been alone for far too long. It felt dangerous to even be in the same room as him.

  Maybe he should be worried, she thought dryly. If he knew what this scary, ridiculous part of her was thinking…

  Nanny jumps prince…

  Whoa.

  Well, at least that pulled her out of the fog, she decided, fighting an almost hysterical desire to laugh. Maybe she ought to focus on slightly more…realistic issues.

  ‘Let me get this straight,’ she said again, and watched him smile. How much of what she was thinking was obvious? To her fury she felt a blush start, from the toes up.

  ‘Christos…Zoe’s papa…should have been Crown Prince of Khryseis,’ she managed, staring fiercely down at the laptop as if she was totally absorbed in its keyboard. ‘How come the King wasn’t his father?’

  Stefanos nodded, still serious. ‘Potted history? The Diamond Isles were principalities for hundreds of years,’ he told her. ‘Then the Prince of Sappheiros invaded the other islands and declared himself King. Subsequent armies kept the islanders under iron rule, and his line continued as long as there was a direct male heir. Six generations later, King Giorgos died without a son. The islands have continued supporting their own royal families, even though they haven’t been able to publicly acknowledge them, and now they can take their rightful place. Giorgos’s death meant Christos was heir to the throne of Khryseis. Under the old rule, men and women inherited equally. Therefore Zoe inherits after Christos. As her closest adult relative I’m Prince Regent until she can take the throne at twenty-five. Currently the island’s being run by a council set up by Giorgos. They’re corrupt and useless. The only way for us to unseat them is for Zoe to come home and for us to take over.’

  ‘Us?’

  ‘I was thinking me,’ he said, suddenly converting from history lesson to the personal. ‘But in the long-term…’ He smiled at her, considering. ‘Maybe you can find a way to be useful as well.’

  ‘Useful?’ The concept made Elsa gasp. What was she letting herself in for? This man…this prince…was moving way too fast, and she had no idea where he was going. ‘Like how?’ And then as he paused as if he wasn’t sure how to answer, she decided this was deeply scary and a girl had to set some limits.

  ‘Can we get some ground rules in place?’ she ventured, searching wildly for some way to ground herself. Employment as a palace nanny…What did she know of such a job? What did royal nannies do?

  In the absence of a job description, maybe she ought to list her own.

  ‘Ground rules?’ he asked, quirking one eyebrow. Again he seemed to be on the verge of laughter, and the sensation made her feel crazy.

  ‘No washing, no ironing and definitely no scrubbing the stairs on hands and knees,’ she said wildly, while he and Zoe looked on with astonishment. ‘No attending royal banquets and sitting at the bottom of the table where I don’t know anyone. Neither will I wear a calf-length uniform with a starched collar and Nanny embroidered on the front. Nor will I curtsey or walk out of Zoe’s presence backwards. No shoe shining, no…’

  ‘But we do still need to go,’ Zoe said, cutting into a tirade that was getting…well, more than a bit irrational.

  Elsa paused. She looked at Stefanos’s hiked eyebrows-both of them were hiked now. His lips were twitching.

  Maybe she was being just ever so slightly over the top.

  She struggled for calm. Hysteria wasn’t what was needed, she told herself severely. Nor was treating this as a crazy joke. She needed to stay practical and focus on Zoe-regardless of whether or not Stefanos was laughing at her.

  In her short life Zoe had faced her parents’ deaths, and then more hospitals and doctors and paramedics and social workers than Elsa wanted to think about. Almost all of them talked over her head. It made Zoe mad, but usually she became quiet and passive.

  Not now. She’d been listening to Elsa in astonishment, but with an attention more suitable to one twice her age. Now she turned to Stefanos and frowned.

  ‘Elsa doesn’t have to do all that stuff, does she?’

  ‘No,’ Stefanos said definitely. ‘I think Elsa’s been reading too many fairy tales.’

  ‘But there really is a palace?’

  ‘There really is a palace,’ he said and smiled at her. ‘And you really are a princess.’

  He’d hooked Zoe, Elsa thought frantically. Just because he had a smile to die for.

  Just because he was logical, thoughtful and he sounded as if he cared. Just because he was smiling at Zoe now with kindness and also the trace of a challenge, convincing her that this could be some sort of magical adventure.

  He was glancing at her with a quizzical look that was kind as well as knowing.

  How could he be kind? What did she know of the man?

  What did she know about the island?

  ‘What…what medical facilities are on the island?’ she managed, trying valiantly to sound grown-up, sensible and in control. Or at least as grown-up, sensible and in control as Zoe.

  ‘Zoe will have me to care for her,’ he told her, matching her tone. ‘And there’s specialist backup in Athens.’

  ‘There are no paediatricians on Khryseis?’

  He hesitated. ‘Education has hardly been King Giorgos’s concern,’ he admitted at last. ‘In fact he’s actively discouraged it. Even I haven’t been able to work there. Giorgos wouldn’t permit me to practice medicine on Khryseis, so I’ve built my career elsewhere.’

  ‘There are no medical facilities at all?’ she asked incredulously.

  ‘There’s one elderly doctor and a midwife. Up until now the fishermen have taken really ill islanders to Athens.’

  ‘You’re kidding me.’

  ‘Sadly, no.’

  ‘And…and now?’

  ‘And now we go back to the island and think about the future from there.’

  ‘You’ll get more medical staff?’

  ‘That’s one of my first priorities. The island’s not big enough to support a huge range of specialties but there will be good basic medicine with fast transfers to Athens at need.’

  He hesitated. ‘Elsa, you will be looked after,’ he said, gently but strongly. ‘You both will. So no, Elsa, you will not be asked to scrub stairs or polish silver. You’ll be on the island as Zoe’s friend and as her nanny, for as long as you wish to stay. I’ll ask nothing more of you. This isn’t a trap, Elsa. I promise you. No strings.’ His face broke into another of his magical smiles. ‘Our island’s lovely, Elsa. Zoe. We can work things out. The three of us. Please?’

  His smile caught her and held. Demanding a response. How could she resist an appeal like this?

  And, despite her fears, a tiny trickle of excitement crept in.

  She had no idea where this man was coming from-or where he was going-but his smile was mesmerising. And as well as that…

  She and Zoe had eaten sandwiches for lunch almost every day for four years. She’d had to chop wood to cook and to heat their water. Wood-chopping jarred her hip so much that sometimes it was hard not to just give in. But there was never the choice of giving in.

  But now…Stefanos was offering them a home in a palace on an island in the Mediterranean. He was offering her a well-paid job. She’d have no more money worries. No wood-chopping. Did he realise how enticing it sounded? This man might appear seriously sexy but right now it was the lack of wood-chopping that was more seductive.

  ‘I do need to keep my research skills up,’ she muttered, fighting to sound practical and reserved and wary.

  ‘Of course. I see you doing the same things you’re doing now. With Zoe.’

  ‘Home-schooling?’

  ‘We can get a tutor. Zoe, you’ll need to learn Greek.’

  ‘I already know Greek,’ Zoe said proudly.
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  ‘You already know…’

  ‘Christos spoke Greek to her as a baby,’ Elsa told him, feeling a bit smug herself as she noted his astonishment. ‘We figured it was part of who she was, so we’ve kept it up.’

  ‘Elsa speaks it now too,’ Zoe added, ‘and we both read it. There are two old Greek ladies in Waratah Cove. We visit them once a week and talk with them, and Elsa does their shopping and says it’s payment for our lessons. If we went away I’d miss them.’ Her face clouded. ‘And the cats. How can we go away without our cats?’

  ‘Yeah, the cats,’ Elsa said, as if it was a challenge.

  He grinned at that. ‘That’s one more thing fixed. Zoe, open the blue suitcase.’

  She opened it. Fascinated. To display cat food. Bulk cat food. A suitcase of cat food.

  ‘So we’re supposed to open the suitcase and come home when they need a refill?’ Elsa said and she couldn’t help sounding waspish.

  ‘That’s fixed too,’ he said, his grin teasing her to smile with him. ‘There’s a guy who works round here tending gardens, doing odd jobs. I’ve arranged for him to visit every night at dusk, feed the cats, lock them up, then let them out at dawn. In perpetuity. And if any other stray comes along then he’s to do exactly what you’d do. Take it in, get it neutered, tell it the house rules. He can even do your two Greek ladies’ shopping if you want. Now…Any more objections?’

  ‘My…my house?’ Elsa stammered.

  ‘I told you, he does gardens and odd jobs. He’ll maintain this place as long as we want.’

  ‘You found this guy when?’

  ‘The concierge at the hotel earned his keep last night,’ he said, and grinned again. ‘He brought his wife in to help. His wife knows you and knows what you need. So there you go. Local knowledge and my cash.’

  ‘Yeah, your cash,’ she said, breathless. ‘We can’t take it.’

  ‘See, what you don’t understand is that you can,’ he said. ‘Zoe’s a princess. You’re nanny to a princess. Are there any other problems?’

  ‘The medical facilities…’