And the fear? She’d be wanting reassurance that he wouldn’t take Zoe away. He couldn’t give it. He watched her face and he knew his silence was being assessed for what it was.

Why hadn’t he found more out about her? His information was that Zoe’s parents had died in a car crash four years ago. Since then Zoe had been living with a woman who was being paid out of her parents’ estate-an estate consisting mostly of Christos’s life insurance.

That information had him hoping things could be handled simply. He could take Zoe back to Khryseis and employ a lovely, warm nanny over there to care for her. Maybe this could even be seen as a rescue mission.

This woman, sunburned, freckled and barefoot, standing with her arms folded across her breasts in a stance of pure defence, said it wasn’t simple at all. Mrs Elsa Murdoch was not your normal nanny.

And…Christos and Amy had been her best friends?

‘I’m not here to harm Zoe,’ he said mildly.

‘No.’ That was a dumb statement, he conceded. As if she was expecting him to beat the child.

‘I just want what’s best for her.’

‘Good,’ she said brusquely. ‘You might be able to help me. There are a couple of things I could use some advice over.’

That wasn’t what he meant. They both knew it.

‘Did you know Zoe’s the new Crown Princess of Khryseis?’ he asked, and she froze.

‘The what?’

‘The Crown Princess of Khryseis.’

‘I heard you. I don’t know what you mean.’

‘I think you do,’ he said softly. ‘Your face when I said it…’

‘Doesn’t mean a thing,’ she whispered. ‘I’m tired, confused and hungry, and your uniform is doing my head in. Come in and sit down while I make lunch and take a shower. But if you say one word-one word-of this Crown Princess thing to Zoe before we’ve discussed it fully, you’ll be off my property so fast you’ll leave your gold tassels behind. Got it?’