She wasn’t sure she followed his reasoning. Why did her father have to make the deal by the sixth? That said, Theo probably knew more about her father’s secretive finances than she did…
But her brain snagged on something else he’d said.
‘What do you mean “us”?’ she managed, more stunned now than angry. ‘Wherever you take me, you can leave me. I’m not your responsibility. I’m on my own now. And I certainly don’trequire any more of yourhelp.’ It was her turn to do sarcastic air quotes. ‘And Paris is the only other place where I have a friend I might be able to stay with…’ She huffed, annoyed all over again. ‘Until I can finally get to Zurich!’
‘Think again, Freya. I’m not leaving you anywhere,’ he said with infuriating patience, as if she were a fool, or, worse, a child who needed a minder.
But before she could tell him where to stick his patronising patience he added, ‘We’re in this together now…’ His voice was low with a sincerity she’d never heard from him before, never even imagined a man like him was capable of. ‘At least until that land deal is done. I’m not gonna lie, I think you’re more of a bargaining chip than you realise. But I also draw the line at letting your father coerce you into marrying anyone. Because I know what it means to be powerless. Plus, I still want that land, so taking his ace in the hole away from him works for me, too.’
His bald assertion that he still wanted the land—and he saw keeping her away from her father as a good way of forcing him to make the deal—gave her pause. On one level she ought to be insulted he was admitting using her bid for freedom for his own ends… But on another, it felt honest. And oddly validating. And not personal—which helped to shrink the lump that had formed in her throat when he’d spoken about protecting her from an arranged marriage—and about being powerless, too…
It was hard to imagine Theo Caras as a man who had ever been vulnerable, but, for some odd reason, she suspected he was telling the truth for once, judging by the flags of colour that had appeared on his cheeks as soon as he’d admitted the weakness.
‘Now, pick a destination,’ he demanded, going full dominating bastard again. ‘Somewhere warm works for me. And preferably somewhere not full of Christmas cheer, because I’m not big on the festive season…’
He didn’t celebrate Christmas. The thought struck an odd chord in her chest and seemed strangely revealing. And also, a little sad—even if it was in keeping with the image he had created of the ruthless bad-boy billionaire without a sentimental bone in his body.
Christmas was a season she had always adored, because it meant a break from her royal duties and it was when her brothers were home from school. She would miss Jacques and Remy terribly this year, aware they would be waking up tomorrow to find the gifts and the letters she’d left for them, explaining what was going on.
Her mother had also loved Christmas. It was one of the few things she could still remember with any degree of warmth about the woman who had abandoned them.
The thought brought with it a memory she had buried deep.
The last Christmas they had shared together as a family, just her and her mother and two brothers, in Finnish Lapland. It had been an official engagement, four days before Christmas, when they had attended a Christmas market, seen the Northern Lights and been invited to a reindeer farm and on a bobsleigh ride. But they had ended up being snowed in and unable to return home. And so the four of them had stayed in a luxury lodge deep in the Arctic Circle, with the bodyguard her mother had eventually run away with a few months later.
Was that when their affair had begun? She shook the thought off, she didn’t want to think about her mother or the lover who had stolen her from them, but Lapland, she remembered fondly. It was the perfect location—remote enough and not where anyone would think of looking for them. Theo hated the cold and the Christmas season, so the fact he would hate the suggestion just made it even more perfect.
‘How about Lapland?’ she said. ‘I had the best Christmas of my life there,’ she added, having to suppress a smile when his brows shot up his forehead.
Lapland was also the last place she’d felt totally safe and loved, unconditionally. So there was that. Surely being there again might help to bolster her confidence, too?
‘Lapland? Are you nuts?’
He sounded so upset she couldn’t hold back her smile. ‘It’s remote, my father has never even been there and absolutely no one would be looking for us there.’
‘It’s also below freezing and probably covered in snow,’ he barked back. ‘And don’t they pretend that’s where Santa is from? No, thanks.’
She sent him a challenging look. ‘It fits the criteria. I’m sure Santa won’t mind us dropping by for a visit… Even if you did just put yourself on the naughty list.’
He scoffed. ‘When I was a kid, being on the naughty list kept me alive… So, I was never dumb enough to think Santa was real.’
The caustic tone made the knot of compassion throb in her throat. She swallowed it down.
That Theo Caras had never had the luxury as a child of believing in Santa Claus didn’t matter now. Because he was a man.
‘What’s the problem, then?’ she goaded him. ‘Are you scared of a little snow, Caras?’
‘Of course not. But I’m Greek!’ he said.
‘Suck it up.’ She threw his own words back at him, the swell of triumph making her giddy. She was going to have to rely on him for the next few weeks, because he’d kidnapped her. And he wasn’t letting her go where she wanted to go, where she hadplannedto go. But she was not going to make it easy for him.
And Lapland would be perfect, in so many ways. Maybe if she went back there, relived the memories she’d locked away for solong, she might begin to understand why her mother had chosen to desert her. And get rid of the harsh, aching feeling in her chest every time she thought of the woman whom she had once loved so much. But who hadn’t loved her.
He let out a string of words in Greek that were definitely profane.
She braced herself, ready to argue her case. He’d had his own way more than enough. It was high time she asserted herself.
But to her surprise, he turned to his pilot without an argument.
