The Royal's Obsession (3 page)

“Prince Augustine, may I present Anastasia McFadden, my dear friend from the states, general do-gooder and all around good person. Ana, this is Augusting Buros, second prince of Greece, my dear husband's beloved younger brother and my dear brother-in-law..”

“I…I'm pleased to meet you,” Anastasia said, fiddling with her shrimp cocktail. If she was very still, perhaps she wouldn't need to remember all of the things she had said to him. Maybe he would simply nod and take off, content with the social maladroitness of Americans and find someone else to talk to.

“Ah, I am very pleased to see you again,” he said. There was a softer light in his eyes now, and abruptly, she realized that he was making fun of her.

Almost as if in slow motion, she saw him reach for her hand, as if he meant to kiss it. As if she were someone he wanted to…to court or something. She couldn't stand it, so she simply did the first thing that came to her mind.

Instead of allowing him to take her hand, she shoved the shrimp cocktail towards him. When he took it in surprise, she nodded at him, not meeting his eyes.

“This has been fun, but I think I want to explore the deck a little,” she babbled. “Trinity, I know I was supposed to hang out with you, but maybe in a little while? I feel like I should go stretch and get my sea legs.”

Trinity started to protest, but Anastasia could be fast when she wanted to be. She darted down the stairs again, her heart beating fast.

Great. She had been on the trip for less than three days, and she had already made a fool out of herself. She couldn't wait to see what the next few days were going to bring.

Augustine looked down at the shrimp cocktail in his hand with bemusement. When his sister-in-law chuckled, he glanced at her with a frown.

“What?”

“You shouldn't let the shrimp go to waste. They're quite good.”

He looked at her impatiently.

“That's not all you wanted to say.”

“Not at all,” she said smoothly. “I'm just amused that you seem to have met your match.”

“Oh? And what do you mean by that?”

“Augustine,” she said fondly. “I have been going to public functions and fundraisers with you for the past six months, and in that time, I'm pretty sure that I've seen at least two dozen women rage, cry and ice over at the very mention of you. The newspapers call you a playboy, but I'm pretty sure that anyone who falls into your bed takes off pretty darned quickly when they run into that mouth of yours.”

“Well, that's pointed,” he murmured, eating a shrimp, but she shook her head.

“It's not even a criticism,” she said cheerfully. “The truth is that most of the people you are so blunt with deserve it. They have been puffed up by yes-men and sycophants for so long that hearing anyone say something close to the truth destroys them.”

Her eyes looked briefly distant as she remembered some of those women, a slight smile on her face.

“Honestly, some of those people really did deserve to have the truth walked right up to them. You're honest, and people hate that. Now you've run into someone who doesn't mind honesty, but who hates bullies.”

“Is that what your friend is?” he asked, keeping his voice casual. Trinity's grin told him that he wasn't fooling her at all.

“That's Anastasia for you. She does the more good than anyone I know. If it's about water, she's all over it. I once saw her shout down an entire group of people who didn't seem to believe that chemical companies are bad for our waterways, and she did it in a way that it stuck, too. The only problem is that when it comes to anything else, she's a bit shy.”

“She sounds…utterly adorable,” he said. “Like a kitten.”

Trinity snorted.

“Let me let you in on a little secret. I've never gone for the helpless or hapless, either in friends or in relationships. Go on, see how far you get calling her a kitten. I'll be sitting by with popcorn to see how well that goes for you.”

Augustine eyed her warily.

“You have a lot of faith in your friend.”

“Well, yes, but I have a great deal of faith in you, too.”

“What in the world is that supposed to mean?”

Unexpectedly, she set down her shrimp cocktail and gave him an enormous hug.

“You know what? I don't think I'm going to tell you. If you can't figure it out by the end of the trip, come talk to me and we can sort it out.”

Another one of her friends called for Trinity's attention, and she was off, ever the social butterfly, leaving Augustine standing there with a shrimp cocktail that he had to admit was very good.

He wasn't sure what to make of his sister-in-law's statements, but he did know that he wanted to see Anastasia again.

The yacht was a beautiful piece of work, enormous, but with graceful lines that recalled an entirely different age. When Anastasia walked on its decks, she could imagine an era where this was the only way to cross the oceans, when it might be a voyage that would only ever be undertaken once or perhaps twice at most in a lifetime.

She ended up at the rail, staring out over the water. In the distance, she could make out the dark shore of Greece. If she adjusted her view, she would look out over endless water, dotted here and there with small islands that made up the Greek coast. There was something at once comforting and intimidating about the fact that this was the view that had been seen by Mediterranean travelers for thousands of years.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

The familiar voice made her turn quickly, a flush of guilt on her face.

I haven’t done anything wrong,
she told herself.
I have just as much right to be here as anyone else.

“It is,” she said cautiously, watching as Augustine came to join her at the rail. “I could watch the coast pass by for hours.

“I have always loved staring out over the sea,” he said, gazing into the distance. “It is eternal, and we are not. That alone would be enough. Is it the same way for you?”

She had been expecting some kind of sharp remark or perhaps some teasing. The quiet observation about the water surprised her, and because of that, she ventured an honest answer.

“When I look at the ocean, I think of mysteries,” she offered. “There’s so much life and so much to learn from its depths. I think that humans could look at a ten-square-mile patch of ocean for a decade and not see everything that it has to offer.”

He glanced at her, a slight smile on his lips. When he wasn’t scowling at her, he really was very handsome.

“So your interest is academic? That surprises me a little.”

She grinned.

“Oh, were you interested in the spiritual end of things?”

He shrugged, a slight smile on his face. “Let’s just say that Trinity implied that we could have a lot to say to each other if I weren’t being such a curmudgeon.”

“All right, I’ll take that,” she said. She thought for a moment, and then when she began to speak, her tone was hushed. “I almost drowned when I was four. My parents had taken me down to Florida for a convention of some sort, and on our last day there, we went to the beach. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, bright, and brilliant. I had never seen so much water before, and I was…I was thrilled, I guess. It was just amazing. I kept running towards the water, and my nanny had to keep bringing me back. One time, I guess I managed to get away from her, because I ended up in the water.

“I ran out until I was nearly in over my head, and then the tide rolled out, taking me with it. It was terrifying. Suddenly, this wonderful thing had turned on me, dragging me out and away from shore. I was terrified, and I started screaming and crying. I’m very lucky, because a lifeguard saw me and went in after me.”

Augustine raised an eyebrow. “That sounds traumatic. Most people would think that would make you even less inclined to love the water.”

“You know, you would think that, but I never blamed the water. Instead I somehow knew that it was me being reckless and downright dumb. I mean, I was four. I really didn’t know any better. What I realized, I think, was that it was so powerful and overwhelming. I wanted to know all about it. And that’s where it started for me.”

He nodded slowly, and Anastasia laughed a little.

“It’s a weird little story. I have better ones about snorkeling off the Great Barrier Reef and swimming with dolphins if you want to hear those.”

“I like the story about the childhood drowning,” he said with a wry grin.

“What’s your relationship to the water? I think this is your ship, isn’t it?”

Augustine’s smile turned proud.

“Yes. The
Wild Waves
is my darling. After I got out of school, my father offered me my choice of graduation presents. It is a tradition in our family. I could have had land, houses, nearly anything I could think of, but what I wanted most was to construct the
Wild Waves
.”

Anastasia blinked.

“You designed the
Wild Waves
?”

“Yes, and built a great deal of her as well. Some of the work of course went to the contractors, but wherever I could get in to do the work, I wanted to. She is mine, from stem to stern. She’s luxurious, but I would wager that you could not find a safer or sturdier ship in the water today.”

“You love her.” Anastasia had not meant to say that at all. She bit her lip, thinking that of course Augustine would laugh at her, but he only nodded slowly.

“I do,” he said with a slight smile. “She is the best part of me, and throughout my life, in times of trouble, she has always been there.”

A comfortable silence fell over them. There was something delicate between them, a peace that had been hard-won from the quarreling they had done earlier.

Finally, Anastasia had to break it.

“I wish I could stay here longer, but I need to get some food. I’ve not eaten for hours, and now my stomach is making sure that I know it.

Augustine shook his head, chagrined.

“And I took your shrimp cocktail. I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intent.”

She laughed a little, waving it away.

“Well, I know where to get another one if I want it,” she said. “But regardless, I need to stuff some kind of food in my face. Maybe I’ll see you again?”

“Count on it,” he said.

Almost hesitantly, he reached for her hand, and this time, she had no convenient shrimp cocktail to thrust at him. She allowed him to take it and watched as he raised it to his mouth. The kiss was gentle and chaste, just a dry brush of his lips over her knuckles, but when he did it, a spark of electricity flickered to life between them.

That spark lit something bright inside her, and when he pulled back, from the speculative look in his eyes, she could see that he felt it too.

“Um, I really need to go,” she muttered, backing away. “Need to…catch up with Trinity, see some of my other friends…”

He laughed a little. “I know how it is. Go. Get fed.”

She turned, walking away quickly. Her cheeks were burning, but she wished she could say that it was just embarrassment. There was something else there, though, and she was afraid to look at it too long.

Augustine watched her go, a slight smile on his lips. She might have been a little awkward and a little shy, but the truth was he couldn’t remember having been as engaged as he was with Anastasia for a long time. There was something captivating about her, and when she had spoken of her love for the ocean, she had simply glowed.

He had been wary about this trip that his brother and sister-in-law had proposed. Right up until the last moment, he had nearly told them that they should take his yacht and simply sail themselves. Now that he was here, however, now that he had been introduced to Anastasia, he found that he was glad he had come after all. He was especially glad that Trinity had invited her.

He turned his gaze back to the sea. Perhaps the next time he saw her, they would simply nod and pass by. Perhaps…well, perhaps something else would happen. He was ready for every possibility.

Chapter Three

The next morning, the yacht docked in a small harbor on one of the innumerable islands that huddled around the coast of Greece.

“Where are we?” asked Anastasia. “I’m not sure I can find this place on my phone’s GPS.”

Trinity grinned at her. “This is Santa Olivine. There are dozens of little communities like this one scattered across the coast. They may not be on any map, but they’re wonderful places to visit. Come on, there’s plenty to explore.”

Dressed in a light white sundress that would help her keep off the harsh rays of the sun, Anastasia dubiously followed the rest of the group. From the small dock, they ventured into the village. It was a small place, but there was an unmistakable air of prosperity to it. The houses were well appointed, and the market was busy with people selling everything from strings of fish to handwoven blankets.

“People come from the other islands to trade here,” mentioned Apolo. “Santa Olivine is getting enough of a reputation that it even draws people from the mainland.”

Anastasia found herself fascinated by the wares of the people in the market. Many of them sold agricultural goods—fruit and honey and wool. One woman had black plums that were the sweetest she had ever tasted.

It was the textiles that truly took her breath away though. According to a woman who was only too happy to share her life’s work, Santa Olivine had been a place of weavers for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

“Generations ago, women would gather the murex shells in order to create the richest of purple dyes. There were even stories of women who could spin golden silk from the spit of clams. Weaving is part of Santa Olivine’s heart and soul, and I am proud to carry on the tradition.”

Each weaving was more beautiful than the last, each carefully patterned and beautifully dyed. Anastasia couldn’t pick just one, but then Augustine appeared.

“This one,” he said, pointing to a cloth that had been dyed a deep indigo.

“Why that one?” she asked in surprise.

“Look at the pattern. This is the one that looks the most like the movement of the waves.”

When she looked closer, she could see what he meant, and she smiled.