Protected by the Prince

If anything happened to her…

The cold numbed Tamsin’s hands as she trudged through the snow. She’d forgotten her gloves in her haste but she wouldn’t return for them. Not yet. Not till she’d found the strength to face Alaric without crumbling in a heap.

The nausea had eased a little but the pain was so raw, so sharp, she could barely breathe.

She shoved her hands in her anorak pockets and averted her eyes from the place where he’d taught her to climb. He’d been so tender and patient.

A sham!

Quickening her step she passed the small cliff and came to the base of a steep mountain slope. She’d have no trouble retracing her steps but for now she wanted solitude.

If she could she’d run away and never face him again.

The thought made her stumble to a halt.

She’d run across Europe rather than face Patrick. She’d spent years hiding herself rather than risk the chance of rejection. She’d thought there was strength in independence. But she hadn’t been independent. She’d been a coward.

If she were truly the new, independent woman she’d been so proud of the night of the ball, she’d face Alaric.

She was furious and hurt by how he’d used her. But almost as bad was knowing she’d made the same mistake again. Fooled twice by manipulative men. Only this time her mistake was irredeemable. She’d fallen for Alaric, heart and soul. Despite his ruthless actions he was so much more than the flawed man he thought himself.

Something, an awareness, made her turn. An hour ago the sight of Alaric chasing her through the snow would have thrilled her, a precursor to some new lovers’ game.

Now it was despair she felt, for even knowing how he’d used her, her heart leapt at the sight of him. Her blood roared in her ears. Would she always react to him like this?

‘Run!’ He was so near she saw his eyes blaze fire.

For a moment she saw stark fear in those glittering depths, then his hands closed on her and she was running, stumbling, carried by the force of his charging body. He kept her on her feet, urging her, tugging her at an impossible speed through the snow.

It was only as he spoke again that she realised the whispering roar wasn’t her blood. She saw his lips move but the sound was obliterated by the thunder of tonnes of snow and rock falling off the mountain.

Avalanche! She read his lips but it was his urgent hands, his grim expression, that gave her strength to run.

Ahead a curve in the line of the mountain promised safety. They couldn’t possibly make it. Then with a tremendous shove at her back Alaric propelled her forward.

She sprawled, hands over head as snow and scree dropped around her. The thud of the avalanche reverberated through the valley, snapping her teeth together. But the fall here on the periphery of the slide was relatively light.

Finally it was over. Gingerly she moved, burrowing her way up, grateful for the sight of sky above. She dragged in a deep breath scented with pine and ice and adrenaline.

Without Alaric she would have been buried under the massive fall. She turned to thank him.

To find only a huge tumbled mass of ice and boulders.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘THE prince is being released from hospital.’ Tamsin’s colleague gave her a sidelong glance. ‘He’ll be back at the castle soon.’

‘That’s excellent news.’ Tamsin pinned on the cool, professional smile she’d perfected. It concealed the fluttery reaction in her stomach at the mention of her employer, her ex-lover. The man she dreamt of every night. ‘I didn’t think he’d be out so soon.’

After fracturing his collarbone, a leg and an arm, as well as sustaining concussion, the pundits had said Alaric would be under medical supervision far longer.

‘Apparently the doctors didn’t want to release him but he refused to stay any longer.’

Tamsin nodded, remembering Alaric’s determination and strength. He had so little regard for himself he’d probably ignored medical warnings. A twinge of worry stabbed her. Would he be all right?

She still got chills thinking of those long minutes as she’d scrabbled beneath the debris to the seemingly lifeless form she’d finally found. Her heart had plunged into freefall as she’d searched for a pulse.

In that moment it didn’t matter how he’d used her, how he’d cold-bloodedly taken her into his bed. All that mattered was that she loved him and he might die.

It had felt like her life blood oozing across the snow.

The metallic taste of fear filled her mouth as memory consumed her. Her helplessness, till she’d found Alaric’s mobile phone and, miracle of miracles, discovered it still functioned. She’d felt only a desperate satisfaction that, despite what he’d led her to believe, there was perfect phone reception. Within twenty minutes medical staff had arrived by helicopter.