‘Holly comes with a dog. This is Holly’s home, Mother.’
‘It’s not my home,’ Holly said, struggling in his arms. He released her, reluctantly. She pushed herself to her feet and Andreas followed. She was feeling a little bit sick, she discovered. Her legs weren’t as steady as she wanted them to be. She needed to pull away from both of these royals-she needed to face them square on-but she needed Andreas’s support. But she still knew what needed to be said. ‘My home’s in Australia and I’m leaving.’
‘You can’t leave yet,’ Tia said, shocked, as Andreas’s expression snapped into a frown, and Holly shook her head.
‘I can leave any time I want. Isn’t that so, Andreas?’
He tugged her tight against him. She could feel the tension in his body; she could feel how close he was to snapping. There were tensions here that didn’t have anything to do with her. There were tensions she didn’t understand.
‘That’s right,’ he said softly, but there was no mistaking the steel behind the quiet words as he met his mother’s gaze, unflinching. ‘Holly married me to get us out of a mess. She’s fulfilled her part of the bargain. We’ve told the press that she’ll keep her property back in Australia, with intermittent visits from me. She’s free to go.’
‘Sebastian thinks it will be better if she stays,’ Tia said sharply.
‘Sebastian does not rule my private life,’ Andreas snapped. ‘As my father no longer rules yours. Maybe we both have to learn that. Meanwhile my wife is my business. If I say she can go, then she can go.’
‘Thanks very much,’ Holly managed and would have wrenched away but he was still holding her hard against him. Her face was still bleeding. A droplet splashed on the white cotton of her shirt. She put her fingers up to her cheek and he noticed.
‘I need to get you inside and have that seen to,’ he said ruefully.
‘She will stay,’ Tia said in a voice that sounded almost desperate.
‘How are you going to clip my wings?’ Holly said shakily. Shock was setting in for real now. Deefer was limp in her arms as if the little dog also realized just how close they’d come to calamity. ‘I’m free,’ Holly said, forcing herself to continue. ‘Andreas…Andreas is my husband but that’s not enough to hold me. I’m going home.’
Ignoring her protests, he carried her out through the palace kitchens to a room that was set up as a first-aid centre. The vast palace staff would make a first-aid centre essential, Holly thought, though she wasn’t up to thinking much. She lay back in Andreas’s arms, she hugged Deefer and she let him take her where he willed. She might have sounded defiant before Tia, but inside she was a wimpering wreck.
‘Wh…when did you get back?’ she managed as he shoved open the clinic door with his foot and carried her inside.
‘Ten minutes ago. I came to find you straight away.’
‘You could have come earlier,’ she whispered and then thought if he’d come even a couple of minutes earlier she might have been distracted enough not to notice what Deefer was doing until too late. She shivered involuntarily and his hold on her tightened.
‘Hell, Holly, I thought you’d be safe.’
‘Yeah, well, you will have thugs with guns.’
‘They’re not my thugs.’
‘No, but they’re hired by your family. And you’re a part of this family, Andreas.’
‘I am,’ he said grimly, and then a buxom, motherly woman hustled into the room, all starch and cluck, and they couldn’t talk for she took over their talking for them.
It was as Holly had thought-a long scratch, only bleeding in the middle. The bullet had barely grazed the surface. But the nurse examined it from all angles, then discussed with Andreas whether it was worth calling in the royal physician. ‘No,’ Holly said hotly, but she was ignored, though their conclusion was the same. But the wound was cleaned and dressed with all the care in the world.
At the end of her ministrations Holly was left with a face that any self-respecting bacterium would find blocked from twenty paces, and a huge white dressing that would have done a lobotomy proud.
‘You know, when I’m rounding up cattle I get plenty of scratches as bad as this,’ she said as finally the nurse released them from her clutches and they left the room. ‘FFrom overhead branches. They sure don’t get dressed like this.’
‘They should,’ Andreas growled.
‘You’re suggesting I install a first-aid clinic at Munwannay with your money?’
‘If you want one, you can have one.’
‘I don’t want one,’ she said, revolted. They were walking slowly back to their apartment. Andreas was holding Deefer tucked under one arm. With his other hand he was holding Holly’s. She should pull back, she thought. This was such a temporary marriage. But he was holding her as if he loved her.
She’d go home soon, she thought drearily. This morning’s events had cemented that for her. But she’d remember this. Two brief snatches of time with the man she’d love for ever. One time ten years ago. And now…Her hand tightened convulsively and he looked down at her and smiled.
‘You missed me?’
‘That’s an unfair question.’ She swallowed, not wanting to ask but knowing she needed to. ‘Will you be staying? Or…do you need to go away again?’
‘I do,’ he said seriously. ‘Tomorrow.’
‘For how long?’ she whispered, her heart sinking.
‘I don’t know.’
‘I can’t stay here…without you.’
‘I understand that,’ he said, and the hint of a smile disappeared from his face. ‘I hoped…but today, yes, it’s clear. Deefer is a dog bred to be a working dog. You’re bred to be free. I will not let my mother clip your wings.’
‘She couldn’t.’
‘She could try. This whole damned household will try. My mother is a good woman but she’s been ruled by my father for too long to escape the royal protocol.’
‘You wouldn’t…’ She hesitated but it had to be said. It had to be asked. Pride or not, this was her man and she had to fight for him if she could. ‘You would never consider…coming to Australia?’
‘I will visit,’ he said.