The Prince’s Captive Wife

by Marion Lennox

  It seemed that Andreas’s promised money had reached Munwannay before she had.

  They landed and a lean, weathered man in his late fifties came striding across the dusty paddock to greet her. There was a rangy blue-heeler at his side. A dog, back on Munwannay.

  ‘Afternoon, ma’am,’ he said with a slow, lazy smile that told her more than anything else that he’d been bred in the bush. ‘I’m Bluey Crammond.’ He motioned to the dog. ‘This here’s Rocket. Your husband’s sent me here to help set the place up as it ought to be set up. If you and Rocket and I get on, your husband’s thinking I could stay on as your overseer, but that’s up to you. Rocket and I are here on three months’ probation-if you think we’re suitable and I think the place is a goer then we’ll stay. But I’m telling you now, this place is fantastic. Your husband says you have ideas and I’m just waiting to hear them.’

  He smiled, a slow, farmer’s grin. Rocket extended a paw on command and Holly was smitten.

  As she was with the housekeeper waiting for her in the homestead. Margaret Honeywell was a lovely, plump lady who reminded Holly forcibly of Sophia.

  ‘Your husband says I’m here for a trial period only, and if you find the idea of staff intrusive then I’ll go,’ she told her. ‘Bluey and I have been paid well to come here for the trial period, so you’re not to think we’ll mind if you let us go. But I’m hoping you won’t.’

  Holly was already sure that she wouldn’t. Somehow Andreas had picked staff whose credentials-and personalities-were wonderful.

  He must have started organizing almost before they were married, she thought, dazed, for Bluey and Mrs Honeywell-‘call me Honey, love, everyone else does’-had been employed through an agency in Perth and had been at Munwannay for a week before she’d arrived.

  Their work was stunning. The homestead was gleaming under Honey’s industrious enthusiasm. Fencing contractors had been hired, repairing the ravages of years of neglect. Outbuildings were being repaired. Skilled mechanics were checking bores, repairing and replacing machinery that was well past its use-by date and making sure there was water for cattle that could be bought any time she said the word.

  ‘I’m happy to come to the market with you,’ Bluey told her deferentially. ‘But His Highness says you know cattle better’n anyone in the country and I’m not wanting to step on your toes. And he said you had the funds for a great herd.’

  She did. When she checked her bank account she couldn’t believe the figures. She had enough and more to get this place back to what it should be.

  She should be deliriously happy. To have enough money to restore Munwannay to its former glory was a dream come true. But…

  But for a start she didn’t have Deefer. As a pup bred for possible international sale, Deefer had been given all the appropriate vaccinations from the breeder so he could travel anywhere, but still he had to endure his four weeks’ quarantine. Rocket was great but he wasn’t Deefer.

  And of course the biggie.

  She didn’t have Andreas.

  And that was a stupid thing to be pining for, she thought savagely as the days wore on. If she hadn’t left then she’d be pining for Andreas back at Aristo, while she endured stupid lessons in decorum. At least here she could get her hands dirty. She could go wherever she wanted.

  For out in the stables she found another example of her husband’s organization. Whippy, grandson of Merryweather. Merry had died two years back of old age, a note from Andreas had told her, but his investigators had found her Whippy-who looked and worked so like his grandmother it was love at first sight.

  So now she could ride as she loved to ride. She could work side by side with Bluey, pushing herself so hard she fell into her bed at night physically spent. She could make plans for her cattle station. She could go back to teaching if she wanted.

  She could start her life again.

  So she shouldn’t lie awake night after night thinking of Andreas. Thinking if she’d stayed at the palace then maybe every couple of weeks he’d have come to her bed. Thinking maybe that could have been enough.

  Thinking she was mad to come home.

  When Deefer came it’d be better, she told herself desperately, but she knew it wouldn’t be. She’d ached for Andreas for years and these last weeks had turned that ache into a piercing physical pain.

  A week after she arrived he telephoned. She’d just walked in after an afternoon riding Whippy round the northern reaches of the property, checking her magnificent new bores and talking fencing with Bluey. She was hot, dusty and exhausted. She walked up the steps of the veranda, and Honey was holding out the phone and beaming.

  ‘It’s your husband.’

  Your husband. Honey was smiling as if this was completely normal. Her husband was phoning from where he lived to where she lived.

  It felt…wrong.

  It was a sham marriage, but if it was sham then surely she shouldn’t think of him as her husband. Surely no one should refer to him as her husband.

  ‘H…hi,’ she managed, and there was silence on the end of the phone for so long she thought the connection must have died.

  ‘Hi, yourself,’ he said at last. He sounded tired and strained. ‘How are things?’

  ‘Good. I mean…great.’ She fought for composure. ‘I can’t believe you found Whippy.’

  ‘I wished I could have found Merry,’ he said softly. ‘I loved her, too.’

  By the sound of his voice she knew he spoke nothing but the truth. She swallowed, thinking of the young Andreas, riding side by side with her all those years ago, loving this place, loving this work. If he could only come…

  No. He was royal. Husband in name only.

  ‘The people you employed are fantastic, too,’ she managed. ‘I don’t know how you found them.’

  ‘I’m good at finding fantastic people,’ he growled. ‘Or…a fantastic person. One wife, for instance.’

  ‘Don’t,’ she whispered. She shook herself, trying to get rid of the wash of unreality. He was half a world away. No. He was of another world.

  ‘Andreas, this money…There’s so much.’

  ‘I hope it’s enough,’ he said, ‘to tide you over until the place is self-supporting. Bluey says you should be able to do it, but ask if you need more.’

  ‘You can’t give me this.’

  ‘You’re the mother of my son,’ he growled. ‘I love Munwannay as much as you do and I want it restored. I can give you what I damned well want, and you’ll take it.’

  ‘Ooh, the arrogance,’ she said before she could stop herself, and there was a pause. When he spoke again the tension had eased a little. She could hear a smile in his voice.

  ‘As disrespectful as ever, then?’

  ‘Who, me?’

  ‘Yes, you,’ he said and she knew he was smiling. ‘My outback girl. My Cinderella princess.’

  ‘I’m not your anything, Andreas,’ she said softly and she heard the smile disappear.

  ‘No.’

  ‘You’re home in Aristo?’

  ‘Briefly.’

  ‘You’re still diamond hunting?’

  There was a sharp intake of breath. ‘Holly, that stays with you. If it got out-’

  ‘I’m talking to you-on this phone line you’ve organized that’s encrypted. Honestly, Andreas-’

  ‘It’s necessary,’ he snapped. ‘If you’re going to be indiscreet-’

  ‘I have an encrypted phone. I can be as indiscreet as I want.’

  ‘Holly…’

  ‘Yes?’ She sounded angry, she thought, but she couldn’t stop herself. This was crazy. A prince calling her his Cinderella princess. Encrypted phones. Money to spare.

  ‘Are you happy?’

  The question caught her off guard. ‘Of course I’m not happy,’ she snapped before she could stop herself.

  ‘Why not?’

  Because I love you, you big oaf, she thought, but she couldn’t say it. ‘I’m missing Deefer,’ she said at last.

  ‘When can you
get him?’

  ‘Three weeks. I need to collect him at the quarantine station in Perth.’ She swallowed. ‘We have cattle arriving on the same day he’s due for release. He’ll have to wait an extra twenty-four hours until I can fetch him. I know it’s crazy but I got upset when I found out.’

  ‘Pay someone to collect him for you.’

  ‘I’ll collect him myself,’ she said, trying really hard not to sound choked up. ‘I…Was there anything else you wanted?’

  ‘Can I talk to Bluey?’

  ‘Checking up on me?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said strongly. ‘Yes, I am. I worry about you, Holly. I’ve heard you’re working too hard.’

  ‘And so are you,’ she snapped. ‘I can hear in your voice that you’re exhausted, but I can’t ring your henchmen and ask for reports.’

  ‘I’m not-’

  ‘How much sleep did you get last night?’

  ‘That’s none of-’

  ‘My business,’ she finished for him. ‘No. For I’m not your wife, Andreas. As you’re not my husband. Let’s leave the checking alone. Let’s leave each other alone. Thank you so much for what you’ve done for the farm,’ she said stiffly, forcing herself to say what had to be said. ‘But if there’s nothing else…Thank you for calling and goodbye.’

  He replaced the receiver and stood, staring at the phone for a long time. Sebastian, searching for him on business, found him still standing at his desk, and at the look on his face he frowned in swift concern.

  ‘What is it? Problems? The diamond…’

  ‘No problem.’ He shook his head, trying to clear his mind of the emotion caused by the call. ‘Not as far as I know. I’m leaving for Spain in the morning. We’re working through every avenue.’

  ‘I know you’re doing what you can,’ Sebastian growled and, uncharacteristically, he put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. ‘You’re looking like hell, brother.’

  ‘I’ve just sent my wife to Australia.’

  ‘Not my idea,’ Sebastian said firmly. ‘In fact, I seem to remember I forbade it. There are repercussions already. The people don’t like you parting so soon, no matter how sensibly you’ve explained it.’

  ‘So tell me I can go to her.’

  ‘Bring her back here,’ Sebastian said. ‘You’re needed here. These next few weeks are vital to secure the country.’

  ‘And after that?’

  ‘You’re third in line to the throne. You know your place is here. We’re family, brother, whether you like it or not, and you know your duty.’

  ‘So it’s Spain tomorrow. While Alex honeymoons.’

  ‘He’ll be back. He knows his place.’

  ‘And he even enjoys it.’

  ‘Enjoyment doesn’t come into it. Family does.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘You’re not thinking-’

  ‘Of course I’m thinking,’ Andreas snapped, shrugging off his brother’s hand. ‘I’m thinking so hard my head hurts. I need to get some rest.’ He paused and a glimmer of a smile returned behind his eyes. ‘Even my wife says I’m tired. My wife.’

  ‘It’s a marriage of convenience.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said and closed his eyes. ‘A marriage of convenience. Family…Hell, Sebastian, let me be. Spain tomorrow. Duty calls.’

  She bathed away the dust of the day, she picked at the truly excellent dinner Honey put before her, and then she wandered down through the home paddock to the Munwannay gum tree. To sink on the grass round her little son’s grave. To close her eyes and let pain wash over her in waves so great she thought they’d overwhelm her.

  ‘I can do this,’ she whispered. ‘I can go on.’

  For whom?

  ‘There’s no choice,’ she told the little boy buried deep under the leaf litter. ‘I love Munwannay. It’s my home.’

  ‘Your home’s with your husband,’ she told herself.

  ‘He doesn’t need me.’ She knew that. ‘He even agreed I should be here.’

  ‘It’ll be better when Deefer’s here,’ she whispered but no one answered. No one agreed.

  Her little son was gone. Her husband was in another world.

  She was alone.

  The first of the cattle arrived the day Deefer’s quarantine expired. There was nothing Holly wanted more than to fly down to Perth and fetch him, but these cattle were the beasts she’d chosen herself.

  Bluey was good but he’d stayed at Munwannay while she’d attended the sales so he didn’t know what she was expecting. Cattle had been switched before. She had to be here when they arrived, to check they were the beasts she’d bought, to welcome the beginning of Munwannay’s rebirth as a prosperous cattle station.

  They started arriving at dawn, in a string of road-trains, huge trucks loaded with bewildered beasts. Every truck had to be checked, cattle ticked off individually as they were unloaded, trucks directed to individual paddocks. The cattle would be held in the near paddocks and hand-fed until they settled, then gradually assimilated into a life of freedom, roaming the vast open landscape around them. These were magnificent breeding stock. She’d got it right, Holly thought in satisfaction as she worked on. It’d be okay. She could do this.

  And if she worked really hard she might be able to put Andreas out of her mind.

  She worked on all through the day, ceaselessly checking cattle, giving orders, working side by side with Bluey and the two other men they now employed. They needed more staff yet, she thought. A couple of jillaroos or jackaroos. They needed more cattle, too.

  And tomorrow she’d fly to Perth to collect Deefer. That should make her the happiest of women. She had nothing left to complain about.

  So why did she feel so empty?

  At seven that night she saw the last of the trucks drive off the property. Even Bluey was beat. He headed back to his quarters with Rocket beside him and Holly watched them go and thought wistfully that tomorrow she’d have her own dog.

  Honey had set up a trestle table of food out under the gums. Holly and the men had eaten intermittently during the day, grabbing sandwiches in passing. Honey was there now, clearing away. She glanced up at Holly, who was standing on the veranda looking into middle distance.

  ‘You want something else to eat, love?’

  ‘No, thanks. I might just have a bath and hit the cot.’

  ‘You might want to rethink that,’ Honey said and glanced at her watch. ‘You’re expecting a visitor.’ She shaded her eyes and stared up into the western sky. ‘Speaking of the devil…’ She smiled. ‘Right on cue.’

  ‘Who…?’

  ‘He rang before,’ Honey said. ‘When you were down the bottom paddock. He reckoned he’d be here at seven. “Make sure she’s home,” he told me, and where else would you be? I asked him. So here he is. Do you reckon he’ll need a sandwich?’

  ‘I…who?’

  ‘Who do you think?’ Honey said and beamed and collected a pile of plates and walked up the veranda steps. ‘Who do you think, indeed?’ she repeated as she walked past Holly and through the door into the kitchen. ‘Some wife you make.’

  For it was him. Of course it was him. The chopper settled in the same dusty paddock it had landed that first day, carrying Sebastian’s thugs. Georgiou stepped out first and for one awful moment Holly expected the other three men to follow.

  But she needn’t have worried. Georgiou hauled open the door to the rear, and it was Andreas who stepped lightly out onto the dust and looked up to the house.

  Andreas. And in his arms…

  Deefer.

  ‘Deefer,’ Holly whispered as if it were the little dog who mattered most and not the man holding him.

  ‘Call him,’ Andreas yelled as the sound of the motor died to nothing. Holly was already moving numbly down the veranda steps, her legs operating without any conscious thought.

  ‘Deefer,’ she called as if in a dream, and Andreas set the little dog down and he barrelled across the paddock so fast he was a black and white blur. He didn’t check until he reached her
. She stooped a little but not much-she didn’t need to-for he was leaping high, with one bound flying straight into her arms. His rough little tongue was licking her from chin to forehead and his whole body was wriggling in ecstasy.

  ‘Deefer. Oh, Deef,’ Holly said and would have burst into tears. But there was no room for tears for Andreas was striding across the gap between them, almost as fast as Deefer. Before she knew it she was gathered into his arms, held in a grip of iron with Deef somehow sandwiched in between.

  ‘What…? What…?’

  ‘You said you couldn’t collect Deefer yourself,’ he said, and smiled down at her with a look of such tenderness that something melted deep inside. That he look at her like this…

  It’d only be a flying visit. She had to get hold of herself. She couldn’t afford to melt.

  She couldn’t.

  ‘You planned this.’

  ‘I hoped it’d work out. I couldn’t promise, because I’ve just come back from France.’

  So it was a flying visit. A reassurance to his people that there was a marriage. She could barely make herself speak. How could she bear it? That he come and go again at will?

  ‘How…how long are you staying?’ she whispered and she could barely get the words out. Her face was muffled against his chest and a fair bit of Deefer was interfering with her ability to speak as well.

  He laughed and set her back from him. His black eyes gleamed, with laughter and with something else. Something she’d never seen before.

  Assurance? Strength? He truly was a royal prince, she thought. Until this moment she’d never thought of him as truly royal-he’d just been her Andreas who she loved with all her heart. But there was that about him now that spoke of absolute assurance. As if his entire lineage of royal ancestry was right behind him, making him who he was.

  ‘I’m staying for as long as you want me,’ he told her and her heart stilled within her chest.

  ‘As long…’

  ‘As long as you’ll have me, my heart,’ he told her and he bent and kissed her with such tenderness that she could scarcely bear it.

  She must have misheard. There must be some sort of catch. But she wasn’t releasing him. He was kissing her and she was kissing him back with such fierce possessiveness that surely he couldn’t let her go.