LITMIR.BIZ

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lodge.’

      ‘We can’t go there,’ he admitted. ‘If we do, they’ll find you within a few hours.’

      Her face paled. ‘Then you really are abducting me.’

      ‘Yes.’ He made no apology for his actions. ‘You’ll still have your holiday away from the palace,’ he reassured her. ‘And I’ll bring you back within a week.’

      As my wife.

      The panicked expression that flashed over her face was real, and Karl didn’t understand it. It wasn’t as if he meant any harm toward her. She was simply the means to an end. After they married, he’d let her do as she pleased.

      ‘Where are you taking me?’

      ‘To the island of Vertraumen, off the coast of Lohenberg. We’ll take a boat there tonight.’

      Her eyes narrowed upon him, as if she expected him to take advantage of her. ‘I am not sharing a room with you. Or a bed.’

      ‘Not now,’ he agreed.

      ‘Or later.’ She pulled the blanket around her, as if it could shield every last inch of skin from his view. ‘Just because I’ve decided to continue this journey doesn’t mean that I want anything from you.’ She nodded to him as if he were a servant. ‘You can do as you please, and I’ll stay out of your presence.’

      Time was slipping through his fingertips, and Karl was well aware that once his fallen status was revealed, the princess could easily cast him off. What he needed was to elope with her, to coerce her into this marriage before he brought her home again.

      But she didn’t even like him. And that was a problem. He needed to find a common ground with her, to somehow bridge the distance of the past six years.

      ‘No, Princess.’ He leaned forward, and she responded by inching as far away from him as she could. ‘I don’t intend to stay away from you at all.’

      Outside, the rain pounded a rhythm against the roof of their coach while the horses quickened their pace. When he crossed to sit beside her, she cowered against the back of the coach, curling up her body tight. The fear in her eyes was completely different from the woman who had argued with him not five minutes earlier. Her hands were clenched in front of her, as if she were trying to shield herself.

      Her response was entirely too violent. Something was wrong.

      ‘Princess,’ he said quietly. ‘What are you running away from?’

      Her face had gone so pale, he thought she might faint. Slowly, she lowered her hands, but her breathing was unsteady. She didn’t meet his eyes, but stared down at her gloved hands. ‘Nothing that concerns you.’

      She was lying. But whatever the reason, her decision to leave was more complicated than he’d supposed.

      ‘You have nothing to fear from me,’ he insisted. ‘Not now. And not when we are married.’

      Her green eyes held nothing but suspicion. Droplets of water clung to her cheeks, one sliding down her slim neck. He noticed the reddened skin beneath the fichu, but the clouded daylight made it difficult to see clearly what had caused it. When his gaze fixed upon her lips, he wondered what it would be like to kiss her. Would she be cold and heartless? Or was there another woman hiding behind her hauteur?

      ‘Will you please return to your own seat?’ she pleaded.

      Karl released her hand and moved to the opposite side of the coach. And when she turned to look outside the window again, he realized that this courtship would be far more difficult than he’d thought.

      After travelling all afternoon and most of the night, they arrived upon the island of Vertraumen at midnight. Serena was so exhausted she could hardly walk, but she wasn’t about to accept help from Karl.

      It made her feel vulnerable without her ladies surrounding her. This was what you wanted, her mind retorted. A chance to be alone.

      But the man who had brought her here was not at all predictable. She’d mistakenly believed that Karl was a quiet, passive man. Instead, he’d taken charge of her kidnapping, changed her destination, and brought her to a place where it would be more difficult for her father’s men to find her.

      Worse, he’d brought only two servants with him. Though perhaps it was to make them less noticeable, his lack of men struck her as unusual. Every royal household travelled with dozens of servants—especially guardsmen, to protect them from highwaymen or bandits.

      Did he think he was invincible from danger? She knew better than to believe she was safe. Though Captain Feldmann might lead the others astray, unless she travelled a great distance from here, eventually they would find her. The thought of facing her father’s punishment terrified her.

      But you haven’t been caught yet, she reminded herself. There was still hope.

      Her hands were shaking as the coach stopped in front of a set of iron gates. Karl opened the door and led her outside toward a two-storey brick manor house with two turrets on either side. Ivy grew across the side of the house, and a curved gravel driveway nestled near the front steps. The rain continued to pour down on them, but Serena hardly felt it. Inside, she was sick about what she’d just done. And now, she was about to spend the night with a man who was not her husband.

      Even if he slept in the farthest bedchamber from her, no one would believe that she hadn’t been compromised. Her reputation was now in ruins. If she ever returned home, the gossipmongers would believe the worst.

      She was beginning to understand her sister’s reasoning. Though she loathed the idea of sharing a home with the prince, all would be forgiven if she married him.

      She stared at the man who had orchestrated her abduction. For that was what it was, surely. He’d brought her here, and she didn’t understand his reasons for it. He was the fürst of Lohenberg. Surely his responsibilities were far too important for this.

      He was hiding something from her … but what?

      When they reached the gates of the estate, they were locked tight. There were no lights visible within the house, and a sinking feeling took hold in Serena’s stomach.

      The fürst turned to his men. ‘This house belongs to my father. Where is the staff?’

      The footman and coachman could only exchange blank looks.

      ‘Do you mean to tell me that there is no one prepared for our arrival?’ Serena predicted. ‘And we’re locked out?’

      He sent her a dark look. ‘We’re not locked out.’ Turning around, he led them to the back of the walled manor, down to another padlocked gate. He ran his hands along the stone wall, counting stones right and then down, until he loosened a brick.

      After several minutes of pulling at the stone, he withdrew an iron key. It fit into the padlock, and Karl opened the door. When he met her incredulous stare, he said, ‘I spent many summers here as a boy.’ To his footman and coachman he instructed, ‘Go inside and see if there’s anyone here.’

      ‘Did something happen?’ Serena asked. ‘Could the staff be sick or in trouble?’ Never had she journeyed to an estate where there was not a staff waiting. Even if they didn’t expect their arrival, most were ready to welcome them at a moment’s notice.

      ‘We’ll find out in the morning,’ he assured her. ‘It won’t be like this for long.’ But the look on his face held tension, as if he, too, suspected that all was not right.

      Serena followed Karl through the garden. It was overgrown with weeds, as though no one had tended it in weeks. She saw a small henhouse, and a hole in the back of the garden wall, where one of the hens struggled to squeeze through.

      A few moments later, Samuel and Bernard managed to force open the back door. When they walked inside, the kitchen looked abandoned, with no food anywhere, or signs that it had been used recently. It appeared ghostly, with the

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