Free To Marry a Prince by Sophie Page

flat-mate is a hypochondriac or she dates rugby players. Hold this.’
    She took the roll of bandage while he ripped open one of the smaller packets.
    ‘Here we are. Sterilised pad. Brilliant. You can take your hand away now.’
    She did and braced herself for a fountain of blood. But the gash only oozed a bit.
    He slapped the pad on to it, wound the crepe bandage around her foot like a professional, and stood back with a flourish.
    ‘I should stay there for a bit, if I were you. Keep the pressure off. If you stand up it will start to bleed again.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Bella.
    She could see he was pleased with himself and she was genuinely grateful. On the other hand, he was still a lying toe-rag who’d had no compunction about making a fool of her. He had no right to tell her what to do, even if it was for her own good.
    He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Still annoyed with me?’
    She sat up, furious all over again. ‘Annoyed? Annoyed? Annoyed doesn’t begin to cover it. What you did was unforgivable.’
    He backed away, blinking.
    ‘Would you really call it unforgivable?’ he demurred.
    ‘I just did. What’s more, I mean it.’
    ‘I can see that. But – look, give me a chance to explain?’
    But she swept on. Anger was better than weeping. His duplicity still hurt more than she wanted to think about.
    ‘I thought I knew every lousy trick in the book that you guys play on women. But this is a new one, even for me and my friends.’
    He looked serious. ‘You’ve told your friends?’
    That made her even madder. ‘Oh, yes, that gets you, doesn’t it? What if one of my friends goes and tells the Daily Shag? You – you – you wart poultice .’
    He blinked. Just for a moment, Bella thought she saw his mouth start to lift at the corner. She reared up against the battered corner of the sofa.
    ‘Don’t you dare laugh at me! Don’t you dare.’
    At once he was serious again. ‘Not laughing. Not laughing. If your friends have told the Daily Shag —’ his voice shook for a moment but he got control of it withadmirable speed ‘—it’s no more than I deserve. I’ll tell my office to admit everything and issue an abject apology.’
    She relaxed. ‘Well, they haven’t. Though it would serve you right if they did.’
    ‘They haven’t? How do you know?’
    ‘Because I haven’t told anyone,’ she snapped. ‘I didn’t find out myself until this afternoon. Then I saw your photo in a paper in the dentist’s waiting room and realised you were a sodding prince as well as a total …’ Words failed her.
    ‘Wart poultice?’ he offered, straight-faced.
    ‘Con man,’ she said coldly.
    ‘I know.’ He sat down in the shabby old armchair on the other side of the fireplace and clasped his hands between his knees. ‘I’m truly sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never done anything like that before.’
    ‘Huh!’
    ‘No, I mean it. Ask anyone. Not me at all. My brother George now, it’s exactly the sort of thing he loves. Does all the time. He’s been known to dress up in a gorilla suit and sell kisses at a hen night. But me – no. I’m the boring, well-behaved one.’
    ‘Not,’ said Bella between her teeth, ‘from where I’m sitting.’
    He sighed. ‘No. I can see that. I really am sorry.’
    ‘So you’ve said.’
    ‘Look – can I explain?’
    ‘I don’t know. Can you?’
    ‘I don’t know. But I can try.’ He looked into yester-day’s ashes. ‘When you didn’t know who I was – really didn’t know, I mean, weren’t just playing some game you thought was cute – I felt as if I’d been given a present. Everyone always knows who I am. So they’re polite and a bit careful. Or challenging, sometimes. Or flirtatious. I know how to put them at their ease. Or deflect hostility. Or blank the predatory vamp. Oh, boy do I know how to do that .’ For a moment he sounded bitter.
    Bella was aware of a sneaking sympathy for him. She repressed it. He deserved to suffer a lot more yet