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The Princess nodded. ‘I was engaged to Eirik’s brother, Prince Niels.’
Of course. Arielle remembered why Princess Catalina’s name had seemed familiar. When Prince Niels had been killed just over a year ago, it had been reported that his fiancée was distraught. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Eirik loved his brother as deeply as I adored Niels. Since the accident we have grieved together.’ Catalina sighed. ‘Both our lives have been changed for ever. I would have become the Princess Consort on my marriage to Niels, who was to have become the Reigning Sovereign. Prince Otto wishes to abdicate and pass the responsibilities of being the monarch to his remaining son, but he is insistent that Eirik must choose a bride and marry to produce an heir.’
A heavy weight dropped into the pit of Arielle’s stomach. ‘Does Eirik have someone in mind?’ she asked, trying to sound casual, but she saw Princess Catalina give her a speculative look.
‘It is expected that he will soon make a formal announcement of his betrothal to the daughter of Fjernland’s second most important family. Ida Lundberg is entirely suitable to be the Princess Consort, and Eirik will be involved with the preparations for a royal wedding.’
The Princess rose to her feet and gathered her silk robe around her. ‘Please sit and enjoy your breakfast,’ she said when Arielle made to stand up. ‘I understand that Eirik’s staff packed up your belongings at your house in England and your luggage arrived early this morning. If you want to swim, the lake is heated by geothermal activity and I am told it is as warm as a bath, although I have not swum in it myself.’
Princess Catalina walked across the room and paused in the doorway. ‘One more thing. I do not recommend that you fall in love with the Prince. He has assured his parents that he will devote himself to duty and the monarchy, and there will be no room in his life for...distractions.’
Arielle was reeling from the news that Eirik intended to marry. No wonder he had said he could only spend one night with her when he’d kissed her at the cottage, she thought dismally. She felt her face grow warm. ‘I definitely won’t fall for him,’ she said staunchly. But she couldn’t promise not to boil Eirik in oil if she got the chance.
Princess Catalina studied her for a few moments. ‘Love is the greatest beauty and tragedy of our lives,’ she told Arielle softly before she swept out of the room.
The mountains in the distance were snow-capped, and this far north of the equator the spring sunshine did not have much heat, but the temperature of the geothermal lake was warm enough for Arielle to swim without a wetsuit. Swimming was usually her stress release. The water was crystal clear, and she dived deep, propelled by her monofin tail that she’d found with the rest of her luggage. Rising to the surface again, she floated on her back and stared up at the cloudless sky.
When she had left Cornwall last night, she’d felt excited about coming to Fjernland. But today she was apprehensive about her future in a strange country where she had only a vague suggestion of a possible job, and she did not know anyone apart from the Prince, who had made it clear he would not have any time for her. For once in her life, she had acted impulsively, but now she was beset by doubts.
Although it was foolish, she was disappointed that there was no chance of the attraction between her and Eirik developing into...what? Arielle asked herself. He had been honest with her and said they could not have more than a one-night stand. It was entirely her fault that her heart had longed for a fairy-tale romance with a handsome prince. But the stark reality was that Eirik must marry, and he certainly would not choose a woman with her background to be his princess. Arielle had searched on the Internet for information about Eirik’s possible future wife and discovered that the houses of Sorensen and Lundberg could be traced back to when Viking warriors had fought bloody battles to claim independence for Fjernland. And then there was Ida herself. Photographs showed her to be classically beautiful and the epitome of elegance and refinement. She was highly regarded in court circles and would be a popular choice with the Fjernlandic people when Eirik made her his Princess Consort.
So why had he flirted with her? Arielle knew the answer. He had shown her a glimpse of heaven when he’d held her in his arms, and she had convinced herself that there had been tenderness in his kiss. But all Eirik had wanted was to scratch an itch. She was glad she hadn’t succumbed to his potent charm. At her cottage in Cornwall it had been Eirik’s last night of freedom before returning to Fjernland and the life of duty that awaited him, and presumably he had decided that she would be a convenient bed-mate. It was ridiculous how badly the truth hurt.Shewas ridiculous. Angry with herself for being such a fool, Arielle ducked beneath the surface and swam to the far end of the lake.
When she looked back towards the house, she saw a boat being rowed across the lake. The bright sunshine turned Eirik into a gilded god, and he had the physique of a top athlete as he powered the oars through the water. Arielle’s pulse quickened. She had not expected to see him again and she’d assumed he would be busy with royal duties. He had told her on the plane that Prince Otto hadn’t suffered a heart attack but would need time to recover from an illness.
Reluctant to face Eirik while her emotions were in turmoil, Arielle dived down to the bottom of the lake and hoped he would row back to the shore. Looking up through the clear water, she could see the dark shape of the underside of the boat. Eventually a need for air meant she had to swim to the surface.
‘There you are,’ he said softly when he saw her. His smile drove the breath that she’d just snatched into her lungs out again in a whoosh. He wassohandsome and, despite herself, Arielle felt her treacherous body respond to his potency.
‘Aren’t you a bit overdressed for boating?’ she murmured, eyeing his exquisitely tailored three-piece suit. He had taken the jacket off and draped it over the seat in the boat. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his blue silk waistcoat emphasised the broadness of his chest.
‘I had breakfast with the Foreign Minister, and I was in meetings for the rest of the morning. There are a lot of arrangements to be made for a big event that will take place soon.’
He must mean his wedding. Arielle hated how her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. Eirik meant nothing to her, she reminded herself. He leaned over the side of the boat and stretched out his hand to trace the edge of her sparkly green bikini top. She held her breath when his knuckles brushed against the slopes of her breasts, above the triangles of stretchy material. ‘You are certainly not overdressed,’ he said roughly. ‘You are a siren, and you have cast a spell on me,skatta. I can’t stop thinking about you.’
Time stopped, and her foolish heart leapt. She tilted her face up and her eyes locked with his brilliant blue gaze. Eirik’s lips were centimetres away from hers and Arielle shivered in anticipation of his kiss. A cloud blotted out the warmth of the sun, and she shivered again as cold disgust replaced the heat in her veins. Eirik was as good as engaged to be married, and in Arielle’s opinion he had no right to say that he could not stop thinking about her, much less to be about to kiss her. She snatched her mouth away from the temptation of his and, with a flick of her monofin tail, dived beneath the boat and surfaced again on the other side.
He grinned. ‘Give me a minute to strip off and I’ll join you in the water.’
‘What a good idea.’ She was furious with him and with herself for being so fiercely attracted to him. Arielle told herself that she deserved better than to be a brief distraction for a prince before he settled to married life. She placed her hands on the edge of the boat and used all her strength to pull down, just as Eirik stood up and started to undo the belt on his trousers. The boat rocked dangerously.
‘Hey, what are you doing?’ He tried to balance himself, but she held onto the gunwale and gave a hard, downwards tug. Her tail gave her extra momentum, and as the boat tipped over Eirik was catapulted into the lake. Arielle heard him swear before there was a splash. She did not wait around and started to swim towards the shore, kicking her tail to propel herself in a sinuous motion through the water.
The stony beach where she had left her clothes was farther away than she’d realised. She was breathing hard by the time she reached the shallows. When she glanced over her shoulder, she panicked when she saw that Eirik had hauled himself back into the boat and was rowing after her.
The monofin had allowed Arielle to swim fast, but now she was stranded on the beach. She frantically attempted to wriggle out of the mermaid costume that had moulded itself to her lower body. In normal circumstances she could slip the tail on and off in a few minutes, but she was flustered and sweating. She cursed as she tried to tug the clingy material over her hips while keeping an eye on the boat as it came nearer.
‘Goddammit!’ Her situation was laughably ridiculous, but Eirik’s furious expression warned her that he was not amused.
He jumped out of the boat and dragged it onto the pebbles. ‘What the hell did you do that for? Thanks to your juvenile actions, my suit is ruined, and my jacket is at the bottom of the lake with my credit cards and phone.’
His trousers were soaked and plastered to his hard thighs. Through his wet shirt clinging to his chest Arielle could see the outline of his impressive pectoral muscles. Her heart missed a beat when he unfastened the buttons and slipped his shirt off so that he could ring the water out of it. She tore her gaze from his tanned chest covered with whorls of golden hairs and vainly tried to shift herself across the stones, but she was hampered by her tail.
Eirik gave a triumphant laugh. ‘I’ve heard of a fish out of water, but never a mermaid. You are well and truly trapped, my beauty.’
CHAPTER FIVE
