Page 12 of Scandal Queen

That girl. She had far too much cuteness for her own good.

“Well, you’ve been asleep all day and I want to see you. I’ll ask Mummy, okay?”

I waited for the clatter of their footsteps, but I only heard one set on the way back down the stairs. When he rounded into the kitchen, I realised why. He carried her in a piggyback. Her cheeks that had been pale for days tinged with a hint of pink.

“Look who came back, Mummy. I told you he would.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Nana said he would too.”

I nodded trying to not pull a face. “She did. Yes.”

Oliver smiled at me without her seeing. “Never doubt a prince, that’s the lesson to be learned here.”

“Oh, is it?” I shook my head. I still couldn’t really comprehend he’d come. In truth I never expected him to. My surprise, for the moment, numbed my utter terror at the prospect of what a future with him in my life could bring.

The prince and me…? It seemed utterly preposterous and at the same time completely right.

I’d lost my mind. He’d stolen it with his first kiss and there seemed little chance of me getting it back.

I walked over to Daisy and shifted her off his back. She didn’t look best pleased but really, playing horsey now wasn’t the best health choice to make. “How are you? You’ve been asleep for hours.”

“I’m fine, Muuuummmy, stop fussing.”

I rolled my eyes and Oliver snorted. “I’ll fuss all I want. Wait until I’m old and grey and get my own back on you.”

“Nana is old and grey and she never goes to hospital.”

“Oh, I’m so telling her you said that.”

Daisy’s eyes widened and then her bottom lip pouted. “Don’t tell her that, she’ll be upset with me.”

I nearly told her none of us would ever get upset with her again. That she had a free pass for about five years—that’s what almost dying gave you. But I managed to maintain some parenting authority.

I turned for the garish kitchen cupboards. “Well there’s no food here, and I think the little shop Molly told me about will be closed.”

“I’m hungry.” Daisy glared at the cupboards and my own stomach gave a little rumble. When had I last eaten? Sometime before my world imploded? Maybe last week.

“I’ve got some stuff in the car.” Daisy and I both turned to Oliver.

“What do you mean you’ve got stuff in the car?” I narrowed my gaze.

“Well, it wasn’t hard to look on Google maps and work out this place was in the back of beyond. I knew you’d only get here a few hours before me, so I made plans.”

“You were confident of a warm welcome then?”

His smile blinded the room. Total Disney.

“What plans exactly?”

“I asked the cook at the palace to organise us a supper picnic.”

“The cook at the palace?” I arched an eyebrow.

His air of innocence didn’t fool me at all. “I would imagine even the cleaning team know where I am by now.”

“Great,” I mumbled.