Scarlet Wilson - The Prince She Never Forgot

She turned around to face him, conscious of the fact that she’d be subjected to his killer blue eyes.

‘This will take longer than I thought. I have to wait until Annabelle is ready to communicate with me—to work with me. I’m not going to force myself on her. She’s not that type of kid.’

The smile that spread across his face was one of complete relief. He put his warm hands on her shoulders. ‘ That’s why you’re here, Ruby. You’re the first person who’s assessed Annabelle that has said that to me. You don’t care about the time span. You care about the child.’

Because you’re paying me to.

It was an uncomfortable thought racing around in her brain. She was used to working for the health service. She’d never seen private patients before. Every child she’d assessed had been given the best possible assessment. But the health services were pushed for time and it sometimes frustrated her. Here she didn’t have those worries.

Everything about this was a whole new experience. Staying in a palace. Knowing that after ten years she might bump into Alex at any second. The you’re paying me to thought had a tiny bit of self-preservation about it. It kept things in perspective. It kept her grounded. It reminded her why she was actually here.

Alex was still touching her shoulders. She was wearing a sundress and his fingers were in direct contact with her skin. The sensations that were currently running like little pulses down her arms were conflicting with all her previous thoughts.

‘Why don’t we do this somewhere else?

‘What?’

Do what somewhere else? She felt panic rush through her. How exactly had she been looking at him?

He lifted his hand from her shoulder and waved it towards the window. ‘I’ve not been a very good host. Let me show you a little of Euronia.’ He looked down at her sandals. ‘How do you feel about a walk?’

Her sandals were pretty, but flat and comfortable. Her curiosity had definitely flared. ‘I feel fine about a walk.’

‘Then let’s go.’

‘Don’t you need to let your security team know first, Alex?’

He smiled again and shook his head. ‘You know, you’re the only person that actually calls me that.’

‘What?’

‘Alex. No one else calls me that.’

She shook her head in disbelief. ‘What on earth do they call you?’

He shrugged. ‘Prince Regent or Your Majesty. If it’s someone I’ve known a long time they might call me Alexander.’

A different world.

She stepped right up to him, her nose only inches away from his. ‘But I know you as Alex. Always have. Always will.’

He smiled and gestured for her to follow him, and led her down a huge array of corridors and out through one of the back doors of the castle.

The gardens were beautiful—colourful and perfectly groomed. She recognised the marble fountain from an old black and white picture she had seen of Alex and his future wife as children.

They walked across the immaculate expanse of green lawn towards the city. It was officially the smallest city in the world—not much bigger than an average town. But it had grown exponentially as the economy of Euronia had grown.

‘Did you play in these gardens when you were a child?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. There’s a secret maze in the forest over there. And my father ordered a tree house to be built and it took the carpenter nearly a whole year.’ He gave a little sigh. ‘Annabelle is still a little young to play in it. I don’t even think she’ll like it.’

‘Haven’t you ever shown it to her?’

He shook his head. ‘I’ve been too focused on other things when it comes to Annabelle. We haven’t got around to anything like that.’

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