Free Stepping into the Prince's World by Marion Lennox Page A

in?’
    â€˜I...yes.’
    She tugged the bedcovers up to her chin and Rocky assumed the defensive position—right behind the hump of her thigh, so he could look like a watch dog but had Claire between him and any enemy.
    And he could be an enemy, she conceded as he pushed open the door. He was back in his army gear. It was a bit battered and torn but it was still decent. He was wearing khaki camouflage pants and a shirt. His shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, his sleeves were rolled back to make him a soldier at ease, but he still looked every inch a soldier. He was shaved and clean and neat, but he still looked... dangerous .
    He was carrying juice.
    â€˜You have great refrigerators,’ he told her, and the image of a lean and dangerous soldier receded to be replaced by...just Raoul. The guy with the smile. ‘I poured myself some juice and then thought I might check if you were awake. It seems presumptuous to forage in the fridge without my hostess’s consent.’
    â€˜Forage away,’ she said. ‘You gave me drugs.’
    â€˜They’re your drugs.’
    â€˜They’re Marigold’s drugs,’ she told him. ‘But I’m taking them anyway.’ She struggled to sit up, and found with one arm it was tricky. But then she had help. The juice was set on the bedside table as Raoul stooped and put an arm around her, pushing a pillow underneath.
    He was so close. He smelled clean. He felt...
    Yeah, don’t go there .
    â€˜How sore? Scale of one to ten?’ he asked, withdrawing a little.
    And she hated him withdrawing, even though it was really dumb to want him to stay. To want him to keep holding her.
    How sore? Less since he’d walked into the room, she thought. How could a woman focus on her arm when he was there?
    â€˜Maybe five,’ she managed. ‘Compared to about nine last night. Five’s manageable.’
    â€˜It’ll ease. The pills will take off the edge.’
    â€˜How do you know?’ she asked curiously, and he shrugged.
    â€˜I’m in the army. Accidents happen.’
    â€˜And sometimes...not accidents?’
    â€˜Mostly accidents,’ he told her, and gave that lopsided smile that was half-mocking, half-fun.
    She liked that smile, she decided. She liked it a lot.
    â€˜I’ve been in the army for fifteen years and never had to put a single sticking plaster on a bullet hole. But broken legs and dislocated shoulders, cuts and bruises, stubbed toes and hangovers...as first-aid officer for my unit I’ve coped with them all. Actually, make that especially hangovers.’
    â€˜Why did you join the army?’ She was propped up now. She’d taken her pills. Maybe she should settle down and sleep again until the pills worked, but Raoul was here, and she hadn’t seen anyone for four months—surely that was a good enough reason for wanting him to stay? It surely wasn’t anything to do with how good he looked in his uniform. And how that smile twisted something she hadn’t known could be twisted.
    â€˜Lots of reasons,’ he told her. ‘The army’s been good for me.’
    â€˜Good to you or good for you?’
    â€˜Both. Has this island been good for you ?’
    â€˜I guess.’ She thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. ‘Maybe not. Six months is a long time. You just heard me talking to myself. I do that a lot. I guess I’m starting to go stir-crazy.’
    â€˜The least your employers could do is give you a decent bedroom,’ he told her, looking round at her bare little room in disgust. ‘You have bedrooms here that are so opulent they could house a family of six and not be squashed, and you’re in something out of Jane Eyre .’
    â€˜Hey, I have my own bathroom. I bet Jane never had that.’ She smiled, the pain in her arm receding with every second—and it had nothing to do with the drugs, she thought. It had everything to do