Buch lesen: «Weight of the Crown»

She looks as poised and controlling as she did when she turned her back on me for the last time, he thought, with a flicker of the falcon in his eyes. There had been little time to think over the past few days, but every second he’d been able to spare had overflowed with thoughts of her. Now he had come to a decision.

It was impossible to shut her out of his mind. He closed his hands slowly into fists. He had been away for too long, fighting through public battles and private negotiations. Now there was only one thing left to sort out. A provocative, priceless woman had trespassed into his private life, and tonight would see the showdown.

He ran a hand through his raven hair once more, and tried to pull his battle-weary uniform into some kind of order. Then he turned his ruthless stare back to the instrument panel. His mouth moved, and he almost smiled. At last. With one twitch of his hand he set his plane on the path down, to find the woman who could change his life for ever.

About the Author

CHRISTINA HOLLIS was born in Somerset, and now lives in the idyllic Wye valley. She was born reading, and her childhood dream was to become a writer. This was realised when she became a successful journalist and lecturer in organic horticulture. Then she gave it all up to become a full-time mother of two and run half an acre of productive country garden.

Writing Mills & Boon^® romances is another ambition realised. It fills most of her time, in between complicated rural school runs. The rest of her life is divided among garden and kitchen, either growing fruit and vegetables or cooking with them. Her daughter’s cat always closely supervises everything she does around the home, from typing to picking strawberries!

You can learn more about Christina and her writing at www.christinahollis.com

Recent titles by the same author:

THE COUNT OF CASTELFINO

THE TUSCAN TYCOON’S PREGNANT HOUSEKEEPER

THE RUTHLESS ITALIAN’S INEXPERIENCED WIFE

HER RUTHLESS ITALIAN BOSS

Weight of the Crown

Christina Hollis

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Martyn, who makes all things possible.

PROLOGUE

LYSANDER was flying. Far below, the glitter of city lights was a diamond necklace drawn back into the velvet case of night. His lips parted in a wicked smile. He had made it to the top, and he was coming back to a hero’s welcome. Nothing could stop him now, no matter how exhausted he was. His uniform was open at the neck, the sleeves turned back anyhow and he needed a shave. He dug the fingers of one hand through his tousled hair, trying to stop exhaustion shadowing his eyes. To him, tonight, sleep felt like a waste of time. He had too many things to do, and they all involved a certain person he hadn’t seen for six days, four hours, eighteen minutes and counting …

Alyssa …

Her name moved around inside his mind like polished stones as he cruised over the sleeping English countryside. Several times his hand went towards his breast pocket as though to pull something out. Each time, he hesitated. His memory was enough. That snapshot couldn’t affect him any more.

The intercom buzzed.

‘You are cleared to land, Your Royal Highness!’ a respectful voice informed him.

‘That’s OK.’

Lysander smiled. For the first time in his life, he felt comfortable with the title. Now he was flying through the night to reclaim what was his. This was what he was born to do. He had it all, and it felt good.

But the feeling didn’t last.

His knuckles whitened as he gripped the controls of his private jet, anticipating trouble. It was a mistake to assume anything when it came to Alyssa. He didn’t have everything he desired. Not yet.

That thought made him uneasy. Dragging at his cuff, he checked the watch on his smooth golden wrist. Timing this next move was crucial. He dug his teeth into his lower lip. The cause of all his sleepless nights would be in Ra’id’s bedroom right now. Her changeless evening routine would be almost over. Everything would be peaceful, calm and predictable—until he dropped in.

Within seconds her neatly starched, ordered calm would be transformed into noisy chaos.

Lysander laughed. Adrenaline powered through his body, preparing him. The sort of happy homecoming he had dreamed about since he was a child was nearly within his grasp—but it wasn’t guaranteed, not by any stretch of the imagination. He still had work to do. Alyssa Dene wasn’t his—not yet. Lysander was a winner in his own country, but he had a different struggle in mind now. He was shaping up to confront Alyssa with what he had just done.

Lysander’s mouth twitched as he considered the problem. This was going to be his hardest battle. He had already seen two tragedies in his thirty-two years, but there was not going to be a third. He was sure of that. So far things were going completely according to plan—his plan. But for how much longer?

His hand strayed towards his pocket again. With a sharp shake of his head, he slapped his fingers back to the controls. He was returning in triumph, secure in his position as leader of his country. He didn’t want to spoil that. So the photograph stayed in his pocket, lodged like a cherry stone. He knew exactly how Miss Alyssa Dene would look right now, moving around the warm, welcoming rooms she had made her own. That was how he wanted to remember her right up to the end, whatever that might be.

His brow contracted. For the first time in his life, there was a slight chance things might not go entirely his way, but Lysander was determined. Thoughts of what he had done in the past, and how she had reacted to it, had tortured him for long enough. He was coming back to offer her the chance of a lifetime, whether she wanted it or not.

He felt his dark, strong features work with emotion, and resented it. That happened each time he remembered the angry words he had thrown at her on the night he left to secure the throne of Rosara.

I’ve got nothing to prove! You’re the one whose future is on the line … Lysander clenched his teeth until they ached. Snatching the damned photograph from his breast pocket, he slapped it down in front of him. As it came to rest on the instrument panel flesh and blood threatened to overwhelm him. All his best intentions crumbled to dust. When he looked at that picture, time stood still.

Suddenly it was summer in his heart again; his body and soul busy with thoughts of the woman whose presence could arouse him with desert-scorching fire. But then he had been forced to make a choice between his country, and her. She had turned her back on him, and the reason why would never go away. In the eyes of other people, Lysander was the world’s most successful man. That was true—up until now. He had won the hearts of his people, but the only battle he truly cared about hadn’t started yet. He exhaled heavily, trying to focus on the stellar image lying on the bulkhead before him. It was no good. He couldn’t quite look her in the eyes.

Alyssa … He savoured her name as well as the sight of her tempting, toned body. The silky feel of her soft blonde hair between his fingers was such a distant dream, but this photograph brought it all back. That swimsuit was supposed to be discreet, but its sleek green gloss showed off her full breasts as provocatively as it sculpted her neat waist and warmly rounded hips.

Lysander drew in a slow, ragged breath. His hands could recognise her shape in the dark of a desert night, but the expression she wore in this picture chilled him to the bone.

She looks as poised and controlling as she did when she turned her back on me for the last time, he thought with a flicker of the falcon in his eyes. There had been little time to think over the past few days, but every second he could spare had overflowed with thoughts of her. Now he had come to a decision, and he was going to stick with it.

Lysander tried to concentrate on the instrument panel before him, not the image of a woman he had last heard telling him to go to hell. Working on automatic, he flicked switches and checked displays, but it was impossible to shut her out of his mind. He closed his hands slowly into fists around the controls. He had been away for too long, fighting through public battles and private negotiations. Now there was only one thing left to sort out. A provocative, priceless woman had trespassed into his private life, and tonight would see the showdown.

He ran a hand through his raven hair once more, and tried to pull his battle-weary uniform into some kind of order. Then he turned his ruthless stare back to the instrument panel. His mouth moved, and he almost smiled again. At last. With one twitch of his hand he set his plane on the path down to find the woman who could change his life for ever.

CHAPTER ONE

A month earlier.

THIS is supposed to be fun, Alyssa reminded herself. It should have been ideal. Everything she loved was all here in one place—solitude, a beautiful setting and time to think. The only downside was the weather. Raindrops were still rustling through the tree canopy after that last shower, but the sky was clearing. This was England in summer, after all. Changeable weather was all part of the fun.

She grimaced. That was the second time she had used the ‘f’ word inside thirty seconds, but it didn’t make her feel any better. If only she could stop remembering … She shuddered.

Rebuilding some sort of existence for herself wasn’t easy. This holiday was supposed to give her space and time to plan her future. Out here in the forest she had the room and the opportunity to think, but all she could do was brood on what had happened, instead of how she might move on.

She hugged her knees, trying to enjoy the feeling of being snug inside the entrance to her tent. It was hopeless. This sabbatical wasn’t working. Listening to the gentle play of water welling up from the spring beside her, she shut her eyes and tried to clear her mind. This spot was a real find. It was miles off the beaten track, in a hidden valley that hadn’t seen the hand of humans for years. There was wildlife, and flowers, and perfect peace—until her phone rang.

‘Hi, it’s only me.’

Alyssa tried her best to raise a smile. Karen, the agency manager, was a good friend, and that wasn’t always a good thing. Today, it was part of the trouble.

‘Look, please don’t take this the wrong way, Karen, but I’d be glad if you could give me a bit of a break. I really don’t need you to keep pushing work in my direction. I’m supposed to be getting away from the whole childcare scene for a bit.’

Looking back, there might have been the briefest of pauses, but Alyssa wasn’t aware of it at the time.

‘Who said this was a job offer?’ her boss began breezily. ‘I’m just ringing up to check that you’re OK. Good grief, you thought I was calling to offer you the job that came in this morning? Believe me, you’ll be glad you’re not available when I tell you about it. They wanted the best, and they’ll need it, but it’s a poisoned chalice.’

Alyssa stiffened. ‘It sounds like trouble.’ Her mouth dried and she couldn’t say any more.

‘No, no. It’s not as though the child is in actual danger …’

But the hint was there. Alyssa felt her blood run cold.

‘So anyway, how do you feel, Alyssa? Any better? What are you up to at the moment?’ Karen said without pausing for breath.

‘That doesn’t matter. I’m more interested in that new job you mentioned. There’s something wrong. I can hear it in your voice.’

‘Rubbish! The new Regent of Rosara wants the best for his nephew. That’s all.’

Alyssa gasped.

‘That’s all?’

Awful headlines had been splashed across every newspaper for days. To read about a child orphaned in a car crash while visiting his family’s holiday home in England was bad enough. When A-list celebrity Lysander Kahani was named as his guardian, the story had stuck in Alyssa’s mind. Glamorous Prince Lysander’s link with the case had instantly snatched all the limelight from the little boy.

‘The prince’s people asked for you by name, Alyssa. You were recommended to them because they want the best, of course.’

‘They’ll need it, with that Casanova turning the poor child’s home into an open house for idiots,’ Alyssa muttered, her head full of all the lurid ‘Playboy Gets Top Job’ stories she had seen.

‘But I’m going to tell them you aren’t available,’ Karen went on airily. ‘Which is probably just as well for all concerned.’

Alyssa definitely didn’t like the way the agency boss said that. ‘Meaning?’

‘Come off it, Lis, would you really want to work in a set-up like that? Everyone knows you’re the best person in the world when it comes to taking care of children, but, let’s face it, would you have been able to fit in with Prince Lysander’s way of life? He’s got such a terrible reputation, I knew you wouldn’t want the job in a million years.’

Alyssa could feel herself being played, and she didn’t like it, but she also couldn’t deny it was working. Maybe this break was doing her some good after all. The only thing she had decided over the past few days was that her life had to change. Could this be where it started?

That child needed a calming influence in his life. Even in the midst of her own misery, Alyssa had never been able to ignore a child in need. Also, she had to admit to a faint flicker of curiosity—the first sign of life she’d felt for ages. What would the palace be like? How could she go about helping the little boy? And after all, she thought, if I say I’m not available, they might go ahead and hire the first hopeless, brainless, wannabe celebrity they come across. Someone only interested in trailing the poor little boy around in Lysander’s wake … That settled it for Alyssa.

‘Have you actually put the royal family off yet, Karen?’

It was difficult to sound offhand when her heart was racing. Keeping quiet had wrecked her life before. And now, telling herself the only thing that mattered was what the child might be going through, she knew she had to have that job. She’d make sure little Ra’id Kahani was safe and properly looked after first, then worry about her own feelings afterwards.

‘Not yet, no. I’m trying to find someone else for them first. Telling them there is no one as good as you is the next thing on my “to do” list.’

‘Then don’t do it.’ Alyssa plunged in before she had time to think about all the drawbacks. ‘You don’t need to ring them. I’ll take the job, Karen,’ she said with the blood pounding in her ears.

There was a considered silence at the other end of the line. Then her boss laughed. ‘But what about the irresistible Prince Lysander? No woman is safe from his charm, apparently!’

‘After what’s happened to me over the past few months, I’m totally immune to men. Don’t say you’ve forgotten one of the things that drove me to take this break from work in the first place.’

Karen hesitated. ‘Of course …’

‘Yes. Him.’

Jerry. Alyssa still couldn’t bring herself to say the name out loud. Thinking about what that rat had done still made her feel ill. This Rosara job would be the perfect way to bury all her horrible memories. It would give her the new start she was craving so badly.

‘So you think you can cope with a dark-eyed, dashing playboy?’ The smile was obvious in Karen’s voice.

‘The only thing I’m interested in is his poor little nephew,’ Alyssa said, and meant it. ‘When can I start?’

‘I’ll tell them you’re on your way.’ Her boss laughed again.

Alyssa’s nerve held right up until she reached the security checkpoint at the entrance to Combe House. She had worked for plenty of rich people in the past and was no stranger to being met by guards inside a home and at its doors, but never at gates so far from the house. It was a new experience for her. But one I shall have to get used to, she thought, driving towards the Kahanis’ mansion along a curving drive that seemed to go on for ever. Starting with a new family always made her nervous, and these surroundings didn’t do anything to make her feel better about the Kahani family. Untamed English woodland pressed in on all sides, while undergrowth spilled out over the gritty approach road. They’re probably nocturnal, she thought grimly. And too busy partying all night to care what the place looks like to daytime visitors.

As she drove on, a huge rambling mansion rose out of the undergrowth ahead of her. Combe House had turrets, weathervanes and flagpoles, all lichenous with age. She could hardly take it all in. It was the most beautiful house she had ever seen, and the setting was lovely despite the weeds.

This whole place is like something out of Sleeping Beauty! she thought.

A little knot of sharp-suited security men stood chatting beside the great entrance doors to the house. When Alyssa rolled down her window to ask where she should park, she got a first taste of working for Lysander Kahani. One man took her car keys to save her the trouble of parking, while a second escorted her into the building. He showed her into a waiting room the size of a ballroom. Much of it was hidden beneath dust sheets while the delicate plaster details of cornices and dados could be restored, but the parts that had been finished were truly beautiful. Alyssa hoped it would take the Combe House staff a long time to find anyone to deal with her. She wanted a chance to look around the room on her own, first.

She didn’t get it. An awful racket bowled through the house towards her. It was a lot of people jabbering among themselves, seasoned with the sound of ringing mobile phones.

The Kahani state circus was coming to town.

Alyssa checked her appearance in the nearest mirror, but she needn’t have bothered. A cavalcade of smartly dressed staff burst into the room where she was waiting, but showed no sign of noticing her. They were only interested in the tall, lean man who strode ahead of them. He had the look of an avenging angel, while they clamoured for his attention like a nest of ravens. Common sense told Alyssa this figure must be Lysander Kahani, but it was hard to recognise him. This man didn’t look much like the amused playboy prince pictured in all the celebrity magazines, and on the front pages of all the newspapers. He looked angry, dark hair tousled untidily over his brow, and he wore a perfectly fitted light grey business suit rather than the tuxedo of his photos. His tie was missing, and his plain white shirt was open at the neck. He certainly wasn’t smiling, and there was a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he saw her watching him. Despite the crowd and noise, Alyssa had never felt so alone and vulnerable.

I thought the royal family were here on holiday, but you’d never know from Prince Lysander’s expression, she thought.

While his rapier gaze was distracted by the arrival of yet another electronic message, she tried to study her new employer. Lysander Kahani was a six-and-a-half-foot scowl, his height impressive and intimidating, but she could only bring herself to look at the lower seventy inches or so. To make up for that, she studied him all the way up from his highly polished, handmade shoes to his dark shaded chin, and then down again. It was scarily enjoyable—so she did it again. On the return journey her eyes made their way right up to his. As she tried her best to look cool and unapproachable she saw the anger leave his face.

As his eyes locked onto hers, he spoke sharply to his crowd of followers. Alyssa didn’t speak his language, but his words had a questioning lilt that was easy enough to understand. He must want to know who she was, and why she was there. His staff all fell silent and turned to stare at her as if she were another exhibit for their madhouse. Alyssa tried to concentrate on the blurry newspaper photos of the poor little boy, Prince Ra’id, who had lost both his parents and must have been shoved aside in favour of this mob. Folding her hands in front of her as a defence, she took a deep breath.

‘I am Alyssa Dene. I’m here by special request of Prince Lysander of Rosara, because I’m to be his nephew’s new nanny.’

The words came out louder and more haughtily than she intended. Before she could apologise, something changed in Lysander Kahani’s expression. It softened, and in the face of his dark amusement Alyssa stopped thinking straight. She couldn’t help it. The sight of his smile sent all the questions she had lined up for her new employer scattering like beads on a tray. It was obvious he knew the effect he was having on her. This was more fun to him than work. His taut frame relaxed. With a few words he sent his horde of advisors scuttling away. Tossing the sheaf of paperwork he was holding onto the nearest table, Lysander followed them to the door and closed it behind them. As he leaned back against it Alyssa came to her senses. She was now totally alone with a notorious man. If that weren’t bad enough, somehow in the past few seconds he had become more attractive than he appeared in all his photographs put together.

She tried to speak, but no sound came out. Lysander Kahani showed every sign of revelling in the situation.

‘That’s more like it!’ he said in beautifully accented English. ‘Now I can hear myself think, and devote my whole attention to you. This job is playing havoc with my lifestyle, I can tell you.’

Alyssa swallowed hard as he prowled towards her. His wicked smile sent tremors straight through her body. It felt incredible, but she couldn’t afford to enjoy it. A man without a fraction of Lysander’s charm had wrecked her life only a few months ago, and she was still trying to recover. Every ounce of her common sense told her this was a dangerous situation and she ought to resist, but Lysander was looking at her as though she were the only woman in the world. The expression in his rich brown, dark-lashed eyes made it difficult not to give in and simply revel in the wonderful feeling of being admired.

‘D-don’t you think you’d better deal with all that paperwork first, Prince Lysander?’ She faltered, looking at the chaos scattered over the nearest table top. She was suddenly desperate for more time to prepare herself for this encounter.

‘No, I don’t,’ he said, strolling over to position himself between her and the table. By leaning back against it he hid the heap of work from her, but she had already stopped looking at it. The fine lines of his suit and the long, strong fingers he curled over the edge of the table top had captured her attention. ‘It’s only parcels of trouble, tied up in red tape. Forget it. I’d much rather talk to you … Alyssa.’

The way he purred her name sent a shiver of anticipation across her sensitised skin. She was already nervous about starting work for such an infamous man, and his flirting set new butterflies dancing inside her tummy. The last thing she needed was this handsome stranger taking over her body by stealth before she was safely hidden away in Combe House’s nursery wing. She had to show she meant business right away.

‘It—it might be important, Your Royal Highness.’

‘You’d like to think so, wouldn’t you?’ His well-shaped mouth twisted with the sulky retort. ‘Maybe if it was about the important things in life I could raise some enthusiasm, but it’s nothing but CRB checks, Health & Safety issues and risk assessments concerning a child I don’t even know. But why are we talking about all that, when we could be talking about you?’

His annoyance over something so close to her heart was the wake-up call Alyssa needed. She stopped melting in the warmth of his gaze and fastened her new employer with a look of her own.

‘Because I am your nephew’s new nanny, and right now that paperwork is the most important thing—in his life.’ You self-centred drone! she added silently to herself.

Prince Lysander Kahani stopped smiling, and she felt a brief spark of satisfaction. That was quickly extinguished as his dark eyes continued to ripple over her like a caress.

‘You sound like a woman who knows what she’s doing and have the added advantage of looking nothing like a headmistress. Goodbye, all my thoughts of a terrifying harridan, and hello to the beautiful vision that is Miss Alyssa Dene!’

With a ridiculously extravagant gesture, he reached out for her hand. Lifting it to his lips, he brushed her fingers with a kiss of long, slow meaning.

‘Please don’t do that, Your Royal Highness,’ Alyssa said sternly, forcing herself to pull her hand out of his grasp, but unable to stop the corners of her mouth curling up at his teasing.

He gave her a mock pained look. ‘Don’t spoil my one moment of hope, Alyssa. You are my only ray of sunshine—the first woman below the rank of minister I’ve been alone with in over three weeks. Look at me!’ He groaned, throwing up his arms in mock despair. ‘I used to have a life. Now I’m a caged tiger, performing for the benefit of others.’

Alyssa was transfixed—a rabbit trapped in the headlights of his charm. Catching herself gazing at him, she shook her head as though waking from a dream. Angry with his effect on her, she gave a dramatic sigh and said:

‘Cursed with a fortune and forced to live in a place like this? Dear, dear—it must be absolute hell for you, Your Royal Highness!’

The moment the words popped out, Alyssa knew she should have kept her mouth shut. Lysander’s eyes hardened to jet. The change in him was like the sun going behind a thundercloud.

Why the hell did I say that? He may be an arrogant so-and-so, but he’s still royalty! What will happen to his poor little nephew if I get sacked before I’ve even met the child?

‘In the past month I’ve lost my brother, my sister-in-law, and my freedom.’ Lysander Kahani’s voice was as cold as the shiver running through Alyssa’s body.

There was nothing for it but to apologise. ‘I know—and I’m sorry, Your Royal Highness, but my first loyalty is to little Ra’id—’ she burst out.

‘I can see that, by the way you didn’t let me finish what I was saying,’ he cut in smoothly. ‘I was going on to tell you that picking up the pieces my brother left behind is a full-time job. It shouldn’t leave me any time for self-pity.’ He gave the tiniest nod of acknowledgement, and the hint of a wry smile.

Alyssa didn’t like the way he interrupted her, but at least he understood why she had spoken out.

‘At least when I take charge of your poor little nephew it will be one weight off your shoulders.’

His gaze had been working its way down her body with slow enjoyment, but her words stopped him. He dragged his attention back to her face. ‘You say that as though you actually give a damn, Miss Alyssa Dene.’

‘That’s because I do. I’m here to make sure your nephew is properly looked after, and gets a sensible upbringing.’

‘And to bring a little light into my life while you do it,’ he said with a widening smile. ‘You can start by dropping the formalities. As we’ll be working so closely together, call me Lysander.’

Alyssa hesitated. This was quite a normal request from an employer, but with a smooth operator like Lysander Kahani it might be an intimacy too far. It broke down a barrier between them, and that couldn’t be a good idea. She already knew it was desperately important to keep this man at arm’s length, so he couldn’t affect her judgement. That had failed her in the past, when it came to adults. The only thing she wanted to rush into now was little Prince Ra’id’s nursery. If she couldn’t trust herself, how could she trust a womaniser like Lysander? Only thoughts of the poor child involved stopped her making some sort of excuse and escaping from Combe House while she still could. Good or bad, this man was her new employer. She had to develop a working relationship with him, and that would involve some give and take.

‘All right, then … Lysander. You can trust me to look after poor Prince Ra’id as if he was my own child,’ she told him.

He raised his dark, finely arched brows. ‘There speaks a woman who’s never met him!’

‘I’m here to care for your poor little nephew, Lysander, not your feelings. So while I’m sorry about your family bereavement and the way you’ve been forced into becoming Prince Regent, you and I have to work together to make the best of it, for little Ra’id’s sake,’ she said firmly, hoping she could be equally determined when it came to resisting Lysander’s charm.

‘Nobody’s ever said anything like that to me before, either.’

The crease between his brows deepened.

Alyssa realised a man would never have risked saying something like that to Prince Lysander Kahani. Only a woman could get away with it. She allowed herself the hint of a smile. Lysander’s interest in her body was turning out to have advantages as well as danger. It could deflect his anger—at least for the moment.

‘Then I hope I can keep your nephew a bit more down to earth.’

Lysander was beginning to have doubts about her. She could see it in his face.

‘I wish you luck,’ he murmured. ‘As Ra’id is my brother’s son, I’ve seen him now and again over the years, but that’s all. What I’ve heard about him from his nursery maids is bad enough. It’ll be a brave woman who refuses that child anything, from the sound of it.’

When she didn’t laugh, he shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. ‘Well … if you feel confident enough to make a mad claim like that, the least I can do is match it, and raise you. What can I do to help you in your hopeless task, and earn your undying gratitude when I’ve done it?’

She raised her eyebrows, then met his question with one of her own.

‘How do you get on with Ra’id?’

He responded with a quizzical smile. ‘Me? I don’t. My family has used this house in England as a bolt hole for years, so we’ve met up here regularly for holidays, but that doesn’t mean I’ve had anything to do with the child.’