When two friends break the rules…

…the consequences are irresistible!

Best friends Marie and Alex have been inseparable since medical school. Until one impulsive kiss changes everything…and Alex reveals his long-kept secret: he’s king of an exiled royal family. Marie knows she doesn’t belong in Alex’s privileged world, but now neither can deny their unexpected and intense connection. And Marie must decide if she can risk it all to stay in Alex’s arms…as his queen.

Cursed with a poor sense of direction and a propensity to read, ANNIE CLAYDON spent much of her childhood lost in books. A degree in English Literature followed by a career in computing didn’t lead directly to her perfect job—writing romance for Mills & Boon—but she has no regrets in taking the scenic route. She lives in London: a city where getting lost can be a joy.

Also by Annie Claydon

Forbidden Night with the Duke Healed by the Single Dad Doc From Doctor to Princess? Firefighter’s Christmas Baby Resisting Her English Doc Festive Fling with the Single Dad

London Heroes miniseries

Falling for Her Italian Billionaire Second Chance with the Single Mum

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Best Friend to Royal Bride

Annie Claydon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-0-008-90214-8

BEST FRIEND TO ROYAL BRIDE

© 2020 Annie Claydon

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE
The first Friday in February

THE EVENING OF the first Friday in February had been marked out as ‘busy’ in Marie’s calendar for the last twelve years. As she looked around the table, stacked with food and wine, twelve people all talking at once, she could only hope that it would be booked for the next twelve years.

During her final year at medical school there had been one class that was special. A tight-knit group who had laughed together and shared the ups and downs of their studies. Since then they’d graduated and gone their separate ways, but one evening every year still belonged to them.

Sunita was passing her phone around so that everyone could see the pictures of her new baby. Will was just back from America, and Rae had stories to tell about Africa. Nate was having relationship problems, and was talking intently to David, who was nodding thoughtfully. When she got the chance, Marie would change seats and offer what support she could.

And Alex…

Marie didn’t like to admit it, but she looked forward to seeing him the most. He had been the golden boy of the class, managing to combine a carefree love of life and a wicked sense of fun with academic brilliance. He and Marie had struck up an especially close friendship and, in truth, if you were looking for anything long-term with Alex, then friendship was the way to go. He was seldom without a girlfriend, but those relationships never lasted very long.

Tonight he looked as if he had things on his mind. He’d flipped through Sunita’s photographs, grinning and saying all the right things, but when he’d passed the phone on he’d gone back to playing with his food and staring abstractedly into space.

Marie leaned over, feeling the softness of his cashmere sweater as she brushed her fingers against his arm to get his attention. ‘What’s going on, Alex?’

‘I’m…coasting at the moment. One hand on the driving wheel with the wind in my hair.’ He shrugged, smiling suddenly. Those long-lashed grey eyes were still the same, and so was his mop of dark hair, shorter now but still as thick.

The memory was as fresh as if it had been yesterday. Alex pulling up outside her student digs, the soft top of his car pulled back, saying he just wanted to feel the warm breeze on his face and would Marie like to keep him company? It was a world away from the worries that seemed to be lingering behind his smile now.

‘And you’re still moving mountains?’

Marie laughed. ‘I’m still shovelling, if that’s what you mean.’

‘Moving mountains one shovelful at a time. That’s your speciality.’

He made it sound like a good thing. Something that was fine and virtuous, and not just a fact of life. Her life, anyway.

Alex had never had to worry about money, and had received a generous allowance from his family. Marie had gone to medical school knowing that her family needed her help rather than the other way around. Hand to mouth, taking each day as it came. Mostly she’d had enough to eat and cover her rent, but sometimes it had been a struggle. She’d made it through, one shovelful at a time.

On the other side of the restaurant a waiter was bringing a cake, flaming with candles, to a table of six young women. He started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ and the tune was taken up around all the tables. Alex was watching, singing quietly, and Marie wondered whether he had any wishes tonight.

The birthday girl stood up, leaning over the cake. And suddenly Alex was moving, ducking adroitly past a couple of waiters and making his way towards her. It wasn’t until Marie was on her feet that she saw what the matter was. The girl was waving her arm, which only fanned the flames licking at her sleeve.

Stop, drop and roll. She hadn’t done the first, and it looked as if she wasn’t going to do the second or the third either. Alex reached her just as she started to panic, grabbing her arm and deftly catching up a pitcher of water from the table.

Suddenly the restaurant was deathly quiet, the girl’s keening sobs the only sound. Alex had his arm tightly around her and he flashed Marie a glance, to check that she would stay with the other young women at the table, before hurrying their injured friend towards the ladies’ restroom.

‘Where are they going? We’ll go with her…’

One of the party rose from her seat and Marie motioned to her to sit down again. She knew Alex had this under control, and if he’d needed any help he would have left no one in any doubt about what he wanted them to do.

‘It’s okay, we’re doctors. The burn should be cooled straight away and that’s what my colleague has gone to do. It’s best that we stay here.’

Alex would be checking for signs of shock, and being surrounded by people wasn’t going to help.

‘But…is she going to be all right? She was on fire…’ Another of the friends spoke up.

Things could have been a lot worse. It had looked as if her blouse was cotton, not a man-made fabric, and the flames had spread relatively slowly. If Alex hadn’t acted so quickly precious minutes would have been lost…

‘The fire was extinguished very quickly. I’ll go and check on her.’

Marie turned towards her own table, where everyone was watchful but still in their seats, trusting that Marie or Alex would call them if they were needed. She beckoned to Sunita, who rose from her seat, weaving her way past the tables towards them, and asked her to stay with the group of friends.

A waiter was standing outside the restroom and let Marie through. Inside, Alex had sat the young woman by a basin and was gently supporting her arm under a stream of lukewarm water. He was smiling, his voice gentle and relaxed as he chatted to her quietly.

‘How many candles on that cake, Laura?’

‘Eighteen. It’s my eighteenth birthday tomorrow. I’m having a party.’ Laura turned the corners of her mouth down.

‘You’ll be fine. This is a first-degree burn, which is the least severe. It’s going to hurt for a little while, but it won’t leave a scar. You’re going to have a great birthday.’ He glanced up at Marie. ‘This is my friend, Marie. She’s a doctor too, so she can’t help poking her nose in and making sure I’m doing everything right.’

Alex shot her a delicious smile, the kind that reminded Marie of when they’d been young doctors together in A&E. Laura turned towards Marie, and Alex steadied her arm under the water.

‘He’s doing pretty well.’

‘Glad to hear it. What about you? How are you doing?’

‘I’m all right. Where is everyone? Are they eating my cake?’

‘They sent me to find out how you were. They’re not eating the cake.’

Alex had done a great job of keeping Laura calm if her main concern was cake.

‘That’s a relief,’ Alex broke in. ‘Laura’s promised me a slice. Not for another ten minutes, though. We need to keep cooling the burn. Then I think we’ll send you off home, with a list of instructions.’

‘Oh, you’re going to write a list of instructions?’ Marie grinned conspiratorially at Laura. ‘Watch out for those.’

Alex chuckled. ‘First on the list is to have a very happy birthday…’

Things might have been so different. Laura’s eighteenth birthday could have been spent in a burns unit, with a prognosis of skin grafts and a great deal of pain. But she was going home with her friends, a little wet from the pitcher of water that Alex had poured on her arm to extinguish the flames, and with a couple of miraculously minor burns. Whatever future she wanted for herself was still waiting for her.

Alex spent another half an hour making sure she was all right, and advising her on how to care for the burns. Sunita had persuaded Laura’s friends to come over and sit with her, and the cake was being divided into portions and wrapped. The low hum of chatter in the restaurant indicated that the incident was already largely forgotten, cleared away along with the debris from Laura’s table.

Alex had gone outside to see Laura and her friends into a taxi, and Marie saw him turn, leaning back against the railings that separated the pavement from the front of the restaurant, staring up at the scrap of sky that showed between the tops of the buildings. It appeared that his easy, relaxed air had been all for Laura’s sake.

Whatever the last year of medical school had thrown at them, Alex had always bounced back, but now he seemed brooding, almost heartbroken. There was definitely something wrong.

Maybe she could help. Maybe he’d stayed outside hoping she’d join him. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d confided in each other, and Marie had always wanted him to feel he could talk to her about anything.

She picked up Alex’s jacket from the back of his chair and slipped away from the table.

Alex had been looking forward to seeing Marie again. He’d wondered whether he should confide in her, and now that he’d sent Laura safely on her way the yearning to do so reasserted itself. He knew he wouldn’t, though. Marie normally understood everything, but she wouldn’t be able to understand how difficult the last few months had been. She’d struggled for everything she had, and it felt somehow wrong to confide his pain and dismay at finding he had much more than enough of everything.

‘Aren’t you cold?’

When he heard her voice it didn’t come as much of a surprise. Maybe that was what he was doing out here, shivering under the street lamps: waiting for Marie to come and find him.

‘Not really.’ He took his jacket from her, wrapping it around her shoulders. The pleasure he got from the gesture seemed way out of proportion to its true worth.

‘That was a bit like old times.’

She turned her gaze on him and suddenly it felt a lot like old times.

‘Yes. I’m glad Laura’s okay.’

‘She has you to thank for that. So, since we seem to be out here, and your jacket’s nice and warm…’ Marie gave him an impish smile. ‘You can tell me what the matter is.’

It was tempting. Alex had never been able to resist her eyes. Almost violet in the sunlight and deep blue in the shade. She wore her dark hair in a shining pixie cut, and Alex always thought of mischief and magic when he looked at her.

‘I’m fine…just tired. You remember tired?’ He smiled at her.

She chuckled. ‘Remember that time you came round to my place and I’d been up all night working on abstracts?’

‘I’ve never seen anyone actually fall asleep while they’re drinking coffee before. Particularly since I’d made it so strong…’

Marie had got a job writing abstracts for scientific papers, which had been more lucrative than waitressing and had fitted around their busy study schedule better. Working and studying at the same time had been a struggle for her, but Alex had learned early in their friendship that she never took help from anyone.

Suddenly he was back in that time when he’d first felt completely free. Marie’s two shabby rooms, right at the top of a multiple-occupancy house, had been as clean as one pair of hands could scrub them, and full of outrageous low-cost colour.

‘Funny thing about that…’ Marie gave him a knowing look. ‘When I woke up you were gone, but I sat down to review my abstracts and found they were all perfect. Not a spelling or grammar mistake in any of them.’

Alex had reckoned he’d got away with that. He’d tried to make Marie stand up but she’d slumped against him, still asleep, so he’d had to practically carry her into the bedroom. He’d taken off her cardigan and shoes and decided to stop there, covering her up with the brightly patterned quilt. He’d sometimes imagined their two bodies naked together under that quilt. But Marie was far too good a friend, too good a person, to contemplate having a throwaway romance with her.

Alex had glanced at the document that was open on her laptop, meaning to close it down. He’d seen a mistake in the text, and had sat down and worked through everything, correcting the slips that fatigue had forced upon her.

‘You must do your best work when you’re flying on autopilot.’ He tried to maintain a straight face.

‘I suppose I must. Apparently I also spell synthesise with a z.’

‘Really? There must be a study in there somewhere. How fatigue alters your spelling choices.’ Alex shrugged guiltily. ‘They’re both correct, according the dictionary.’

‘Yes, they are. Although I imagine that “ize” as a verb ending is considered either an anachronism or an American spelling these days.’ She smirked at him.

‘You can mock if you want. Just because I went to a school that prided itself on having been the same for the last few hundred years…’ Alex had hated school. It had been only slightly less snobby and suffocating than his parents’ home.

‘I’m not mocking; I thought it was very sweet of you.’ She took a step towards him. ‘Along with all those expensive textbooks you used to lend me. And dropping round to pick me up so I didn’t have to take the bus.’

‘Why bring that up all of a sudden? Just to let me know I’m not as tactful as I thought I was?’ Alex wondered if he was in for a lecture about how she could have managed perfectly well on her own.

Marie shook her head. ‘You were very tactful. I hardly even noticed what you were doing most of the time. And you were my friend and you helped me. That’s something that goes both ways.’

He knew that. But he couldn’t talk to Marie about this. ‘I’m fine. Really. And I appreciate your concern.’

‘Just as long as you know that I’m always here for you.’

She reached out, touching his arm, and Alex almost flinched. All his senses were crying out for comfort, and yet he just couldn’t bring himself to ask. Was this the way she’d felt, despite all her self-sufficiency?

‘I know. Thank you.’

He’d meant to give her a basic friendly hug, the kind he’d given her so many times before. But when he felt her body against his he couldn’t let her go. Marie seemed to be the one thing in his life that wasn’t tainted right now.

He leaned down to kiss her cheek. But she turned her head and his lips brushed hers. Before he could tear himself away her gaze met his, her eyes midnight-blue in the darkness.

What if…?

What if…?

What if he could turn his back on the vision of his parents’ unhappy marriage and sustain a relationship for more than a few months? What if he could trust himself to get involved with the one person he cared about the most, even knowing he might break her heart and his? And what if everything he’d sought to escape hadn’t just caught him again in its iron clutches?

They were all serious questions that needed to be asked and answered before he took the step of kissing her. But then he felt her lips touch his and he was lost. Or maybe this was exactly what it was like to find himself. Alex wasn’t sure.

She was soft and sweet, and when he kissed her again she responded. Maybe it lasted a moment and maybe an hour. All Alex knew was that it was impossible to attach a time frame to something that was complete and perfect.

Even the way she drew away from him was perfect. A little sigh of regret, her eyes masked by her eyelashes.

He’d always supposed that kissing Marie was the one thing he mustn’t do. The one thing he wouldn’t be able to come back from. But in a sudden moment of clarity he realised that kissing her had only made him more determined that he couldn’t do it. Marie wasn’t just another pretty face he could walk away from without looking back. She was his friend, and he wanted her for a lifetime, not just a few months.

‘Do you want to go back in?’ If it meant keeping her then he had to let her go.

She still wouldn’t look at him. ‘Yes…’

He felt her move in his arms and let her go. Marie looked up at him for a moment, and he almost forgot that this had been a very bad idea that had the power to spoil something that had been good for years. Then suddenly she was gone, back into the restaurant to take her seat at the table again.

Alex waited, knowing the group always swapped places between courses, so everyone got to speak to everyone else. When he went back inside there was a free seat for him at the other end of the table from Marie. Alex sat down without looking at her, and was immediately involved in the heated debate about football which was going on between Emily and Will.

She didn’t meet his gaze until the restaurant closed and a waitress pointedly fetched everyone’s coats. Then, suddenly, he found himself standing next to her. He automatically helped her on with her coat and Marie smiled up at him.

‘I’ll see you next year. Be well, Alex.’

‘Yes. Next year…’

He’d scarcely got the words out before she was gone. Marie had made her meaning clear. They were friends, and nothing was going to spoil that. Not fire, nor flood, nor even an amazing, heart-shaking kiss. By next year it would be forgotten, and he and Marie would continue the way they always had.

The thought that he wouldn’t see her again until next February seemed more heart-rending than any of the other challenges he’d faced in the last six months.

CHAPTER TWO
The first Friday in May

IT WAS ONLY four stops on the Tube from the central London hospital where Marie worked, but shining architecture and trendy bars had given way to high-rise flats, corner shops and families with every kind of problem imaginable.

Marie knew about some of those problems first-hand. She’d grown up fifteen minutes’ walk away from the address that Alex had given her. Her father had left when she was ten, and her mother had retreated into a world of her own. Four miserable months in foster care had seen Marie separated from her three younger brothers, and when the family had got back together again she’d resolved that she’d keep it that way.

It had cost Marie her childhood. Looking after her brothers while her mother had worked long hours to keep them afloat financially. She’d learned how to shop and cook, and at the weekends she’d helped out by taking her brothers to the park, reading her schoolbooks while they played.

It had been hard. And lonely. After she’d left home she’d had a few relationships, but knowing exactly what it meant to be abandoned had made her cautious. She’d never found the kind of love that struck like a bolt of lightning, dispelling all doubts and fears, and the continuing need to look after her family didn’t give her too much time for regrets.

When she reached the Victorian building it looked just as ominous as she remembered it, its bricks stained with grime and three floors towering above her like a dark shadow in the evening sunshine. The high cast-iron gates creaked as Marie pulled them open, leaving flakes of paint on her hands.

‘This had better not be a joke…’

It wasn’t a joke. Alex’s practical jokes were usually a lot more imaginative than this. And when he’d called her it had sounded important. He’d made a coded reference to their kiss, saying that he wanted her to come as a professional favour to a friend, which told Marie that he’d done exactly as she’d hoped and moved past it. That was both a relief and a disappointment.

She pushed the thought of his touch to the back of her mind and made her way across the cracked asphalt in front of the building. There was a notice taped to the main door that advertised that this was the ‘Living Well Clinic’. Marie made a face at the incongruous nature of the name and pressed the buzzer, wondering if it was going to work.

The door creaked open almost immediately.

‘Hi. Thanks so much for coming.’ Alex was looking unusually tense.

‘My pleasure. What’s all this about, Alex?’

‘Come and see.’ He stood back from the doorway and Marie stepped inside, trying not to flinch as the door banged shut behind them.

‘Oh! This is a bit different from how I remember it.’

At the other end of the small lobby was an arch, which had been sandblasted back to the original brick, its colour and texture contrasting with the two glass doors that now filled the arch. As Marie approached them they swished back, allowing her into a large bright reception space, which had once been dingy cloakrooms.

And it wasn’t finished yet. Cabling hung from the ceiling and the walls had obviously been re-plastered recently, with dark spots showing where they were still drying out. One of the curved-top windows had been replaced, and the many layers of paint on the others had been sanded back, leaving the space ready for new decoration.

‘You know this place?’

‘Yes, I went to school here.’

‘Did you?’ He grinned awkwardly. ‘I wish I’d known. I would have looked for your name carved on one of the desks.’

‘You wouldn’t have found it.’

‘Too busy studying?’

‘Something like that.’

Leaving her name in this place might have signified that she would look back on her schooldays with a measure of nostalgia, when they’d been no more than a means to an end. They’d been something she’d had to do so she could move on and leave them behind. Just like she’d left that kiss behind. The one she couldn’t stop thinking about…

‘What’s going on, Alex? Are you working here now or is this something you’re involved with in your spare time?’

‘I don’t have spare time any more. I’m here full-time; I gave up working with the practice.’

Alex had always said he’d do something like this, and now he’d actually done it. The next logical step from his job as a GP in a leafy London suburb would have been to go into private practice, and Alex had the contacts and the reputation to make the transition easy. But he’d given all that up to come and work here, in a community where his expertise was most sorely needed.

‘And you’ll be seeing patients here?’

‘As soon as we don’t have to supply them with hard hats.’ He bent, picking up two safety helmets and handing her one. ‘Come and see what’s been going on.’

As he showed her around, the scale of the project became obvious. Some of the classrooms had been divided into two to make treatment rooms, with high ceilings and plenty of light from the arched windows. A state-of-the-art exercise suite was planned for the ground floor, which would be staffed by physiotherapists and personal trainers, and the old school hall was being converted into a coffee shop and communal area. Upstairs there was provision for dieticians and other health advisors, along with a counselling suite and rooms for self-help groups of all kinds.

‘We’ll have facilities for DEXA scanning in here…’ He opened the door of one of the old science labs, which had now been reduced to a shell. ‘Along with other diagnostic equipment. There’s a space for the mobile breast-screening unit to park at the side of the building, and when the clinic’s finished it’ll be part of its regular route. We’ll be able to undertake general health screening as well.’

‘It’s wonderful, Alex. Everything under one roof.’

The project was ambitious and imaginative, and would be of huge benefit to the local community.

‘That’s the idea. It’s a kind of one-stop shop, and although it’ll cater for complex medical needs it’s also going to be for people who just want a healthier lifestyle.’

‘What’s going to happen with the courtyards?’

They were walking along a corridor that looked out onto one of the two central light wells. They were one of the few things that remained unchanged, and the dingy concrete floors were a reminder of what this place had once been like.

Alex shrugged. ‘There are no plans for them just yet. Some planting might be nice.’

‘And what about the old gym?’ The annexe at the back of the school was enormous, and it seemed a waste not to use it for something.

‘We made a discovery. Come and see.’

He led the way to the large double doors that opened onto the gym and Marie gasped. The folding seats had been taken out and light from windows on three sides flooded into the space. Instead of sprung wooden floors there was a large concrete-sided hole.

‘That’s not…not a swimming pool, is it?’

He nodded. ‘When we looked at the plans we found that this annexe was built in the nineteen-thirties as a full-sized swimming pool. Later on it was made into a gym, but when we took up the floors we found that the pool had just been filled in with hardcore and the foundations were still there and solid enough to use. There’s room for a hydrotherapy pool, as well as the main pool.’

Alex seemed less excited about this than he should be. Maybe he was about to tell her that they’d run out of money, or had found some catastrophic problem with the building’s structure and it was all about to fall down.

‘This is marvellous. Are the pool and gym just for patients or are they available to the whole community?’

‘There’ll be a nominal charge, well below the usual rates. Anyone who’s referred by a doctor or one of the medical staff here won’t have to pay anything.’ Alex was suddenly still, looking at her thoughtfully. ‘What about you? Would you be interested in being part of it all?’

That sounded a bit like the stuff that fairy tales were made of. A gloomy old castle brought to life and transformed. Alex would fit in there quite nicely as the handsome Prince. But something about the quiet certainty in his manner stopped Marie from brushing the suggestion off.

‘You’d put in a good word with the boss for me?’

‘It’s more a matter of putting a good word in with you. We’d be lucky to get you.’

Excitement trickled down Marie’s spine. This was real. In that case, Marie needed to ask a few real questions.

‘What exactly is your role here, Alex?’

He frowned, as if that might be a problem. ‘It’s rather a long story… Why don’t you come to my office and we’ll have some coffee?’

Marie followed him to a small suite of offices situated at the front of the building, off the main reception area. From here it would be possible to see all the comings and goings, and Marie guessed that Alex would have had a hand in the location of his office. He always liked to be in the thick of things.

His office was one of the few rooms in the building that was finished, but it didn’t seem much like the kind of place the Alex she remembered would like. The cream walls and tall windows lent themselves to minimalism, but Alex didn’t.

‘How long have you been here, Alex?’

‘A couple of months.’ He looked around at the sleek wooden desk that stood at one end of the room and the comfortable easy chairs grouped around a coffee table at the other end. ‘Why?’

Alex had been here for two months? And he hadn’t yet covered the walls with pictures and stamped his own personality on the space? That wasn’t like him at all. Perhaps the clinic had some kind of rule about that.

‘It just seems a bit…unlived-in.’ Marie looked around for something, anything, to comment on, instead of asking whether all that light and clear space hurt his eyes. She nodded towards the stylish chair behind his desk. ‘I like your chair.’

‘I reckoned I’d be sitting in it for enough hours, so I wanted something that was comfortable. Give it a try.’

He walked over to the wood-framed cupboards that lined one wall, opening one of the doors to reveal a coffee machine and a small sink unit.

The chair was great—comfortable and supportive—and when Marie leaned back the backrest tipped gently with her movement. She started to work her way around all the levers and knobs under the seat.

‘I love this. It’s got more controls than my first car.’

She got to her feet as Alex brought the coffee and he motioned her to sit again, smiling as if it hurt his face to do so.

‘You’ve missed a few of the adjustments. The knob on the left lets you tip the seat forward.’ He sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.

‘Oh!’ Marie tried it, almost skinning her knuckles on the stiff lever. ‘Nice one. I’m glad to see the clinic practises what it preaches and looks after its staff.’

She was just talking. Saying things that might fill the space between them and hoping to provoke a reaction. She’d never seen Alex look so worried before.

Not worried…

Burdened.

It was time to grasp the nettle and find out what was going on. She leaned forward, putting her elbows on the desk as if she were about to interview him. ‘So what’s the story then, Alex? I’m intrigued, so start right at the beginning.’

He paused, staring into his mug, as if that would tell him exactly where the beginning was.

‘A hundred and ten years ago…’

‘What? Really?’

He gave her a strained smile and Marie regretted the interruption. Whatever had happened a hundred and ten years ago must be more important than it sounded.

‘You said start at the beginning.’

‘I did. Sorry…’ She waved him on and there was silence for a moment. Then he spoke again.

‘A hundred and ten years ago the King of Belkraine was deposed and his family fled to London. They brought with them a lot of very valuable jewels, the title deeds to property in this country, and what was literally a king’s ransom in investments. His eldest son was my grandfather.’

Marie stared at him.

She’d thought that she and Alex had shared most of their secrets over the years but he’d obviously been holding back. Marie wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that.

‘So you’re…a prince?’

He gave her a pained look. ‘Belkraine no longer exists as a separate country. I’m not sure how you can be a prince of something that doesn’t exist.’

He was missing the point. The role of many monarchies had changed in the last hundred years, but privilege and money was something that didn’t change.

‘A prince in exile, then?’

‘Strictly speaking a king…in exile. My father died in June last year.’

‘Alex, I’m so sorry.’

‘Thank you. But it’s… We’d been estranged for some years. Ever since I first went to medical school.’

‘But—’

Marie bit her tongue. He’d never spoken much about his family, but she knew that he was an only child and that his parents lived in a big house in the country somewhere. There hadn’t ever been any mention of an estrangement, and Marie had always assumed he came from a normal happy family.

Now wasn’t the time to mention that this was what Alex had allowed everyone to believe. He had no chance to make things right with his father now.

‘That must have hurt you a great deal.’

He shrugged. ‘That door closed a long time ago. I came to terms with it.’

There were too many questions, piling up on top of each other like grains of sand in an hourglass. What was Alex doing here? Why had he never said anything about this before?

Maybe she should just stay silent and listen.

Alex glanced at her uncertainly and Marie motioned for him to keep talking.

‘I didn’t expect that my father would leave me anything, let alone his whole estate. But he did. I find that I have more money than I know what to do with.’

‘How much…?’

It wasn’t good manners to ask, but money had never bothered Alex all that much. If this was a life-changing amount, then that was both good news and bad. Good, because he could do the things he’d always wanted to. Bad, because he seemed so burdened by it.

‘If you include all the assets and property then it runs into something more than two billion. Less than three.’

She stared at him. That was the kind of number that Marie would never get her head around, so it was probably better not to even try.

‘And this… You’ve done all this?’ She waved her finger in a wild circle.

‘My ancestors viewed wealth as a way to gain power and more wealth. I want to spend the money a little more wisely than that.’

It was worthy. Altruistic. Right now it was about all she recognised of the Alex that she knew. The smiling, carefree soul who was in the habit of taking one day at a time had gone.

‘Wait a minute…’ A thought struck her. Had Alex been hiding all this in plain sight? ‘Alex King?’

‘Dr Alex King is who I really am. But my birth certificate says Rudolf Aloysius Alexander König.’

Suddenly she couldn’t bear it. She hadn’t even known his name? The man she’d thought of as her friend, whom she’d dared to kiss and had loved every minute of it…

Marie sprang from her seat, marching over to the window and staring out at the street. Maybe that would anchor her down, keep her feet firmly on the ground, and then she could begin to address the question of whether this really was Alex any more, or just a stranger who looked like him.

Marie wasn’t taking this well. It was almost a relief. The small number of other people he’d had to tell about this had congratulated him on his sudden and immense wealth and started to treat him as if he was suddenly something different. It was typical of Marie that her objection to the whole thing wasn’t what he’d expected. She brushed aside the money and his royal status as if they didn’t exist. All she cared about was that she hadn’t known his name.

‘King is a translation of König. Alex is my middle name…’ He ventured an explanation.

She shook her head. ‘I thought I knew you, Alex…’

There was no point in telling her that a lot of people changed their names, or that a lot of people came from unhappy families. Marie was hurt that he’d never told her about any of it before. Maybe if she’d known his father she would have understood a little better.

‘Rudolf König was the name my father gave to me to remind everyone who my family was. I wanted to make my own way in life, Marie, and to be measured by what I’ve done.’

‘Yeah. I see that.’ She was staring fixedly out of the window and didn’t turn to face him.

‘Then…?’

‘Give me a minute. I’m processing.’

Okay. Processing didn’t sound so terrible. If Marie could come to any conclusions then he’d like to hear them, because all he’d felt since he’d heard about his father’s will was that he was being dragged back into a life from which he’d previously torn himself. Money and status had soured his parents’ lives, and it already felt like it was slowly squeezing all the joy out of his.

She turned slowly, leaning back against the windowsill and regarding him thoughtfully.

‘So…it’s still Alex, is it?’ Not Your Majesty…?’

‘You don’t need to rub it in, Marie. Who the hell else do you think I know how to be?’

Her face softened and she almost smiled. It was one step towards the warmth that he craved.

‘Sorry.’ She pressed her lips together in thought. ‘Who knows about this?’

‘A few people that I know from school. No one here. But it’s not a secret. I just don’t talk about it.’

She turned to face him, her eyes full of violet fire. ‘Isn’t that what secrets are? Things you keep from your friends?’

‘I never lied.’ He heard himself snap, and took a breath. ‘I want the clinic to be about the work and not about me.’

‘It is about you, though. You built it.’

‘I facilitated it. I want people to talk about the things we do here, and talking about who I am is only going to divert attention away from that.’

Alex decided to leave aside the fact that he really didn’t want to talk about who he was, because that would be a matter of reopening old wounds.

Marie was nodding slowly. It was time to take a risk.

‘If you’re not interested in a job here you can always just walk away.’

She pursed her lips. ‘I never said I wasn’t interested.’

Good. That was a start. He knew she’d seen the possibilities that the clinic offered, and maybe it was a matter of getting her to look at those and not at him. Not at the friend who’d broken the rules and kissed her. The friend who’d never told her about where he came from.

‘This is the deal, then. This clinic is a flagship development, which is funded and run entirely by a trust I’ve set up with part of my inheritance. I don’t want it to be the only one of its kind; it’s intended that what we do here will be a model for future clinics all over the country. In order to achieve that we’ll need to attract extra funding from outside sources.’

‘You always did think big, Alex.’

He saw a flicker of excitement in her eyes. That was exactly the way he wanted to feel.

‘I want you to share that vision with me as my co-director for the whole project. This clinic and future developments as well. You’ll be able to dictate policy and do things on your own terms.’

She stared at him. ‘Me? You want me to do that?’

Marie hadn’t said no yet. He resisted the impulse to laugh and tell her that she could do anything she set her mind to doing. He was offering her the job on purely business grounds and he had to treat this conversation in that light.

‘Your professional experience in A&E and diagnostic wards makes you ideally suited to the work here, where we’re suggesting effective therapies and ways forward for patients. And you’re not afraid of a challenge.’ Alex allowed himself the smallest of smiles. ‘That’s one thing I happen to know about you.’

‘This would be the first time I’ve taken on a management role.’ Marie gave a little frown, obviously annoyed that she’d betrayed a little too much interest. ‘If I decide to take the job, that is.’

‘We already have a practice manager on board. She’s very experienced and can advise on the practical aspects. It’s your vision that matters, and your knowledge of what this community needs.’

‘Is that your way of saying that you don’t understand “poor people” and I do?’

She crooked two fingers to indicate quotation marks. There was a touch of defiance in her tone, and it would be very easy for Alex to say that the thought had never occurred to him.

‘I think you understand some of the issues that people who live in this neighbourhood face. I want to formulate policies that are appropriate and which are going to work. If you want to boil that down to understanding poor people then be my guest.’

She grinned. He hadn’t given her the expected answer, but it had been the right one.

‘I think I could help…’

‘I don’t want you to help. This is a full partnership and I expect you to tell me what’s wrong with my thinking.’ He could trust Marie to do that. Their friendship was founded on it.

‘It’s a big step for me, Alex. I need to think about it.’

‘Of course. Take as long as you like.’

Alex knew that Marie wouldn’t take too long; she was nothing if not decisive. If she said no then that would be the end of it. But if she said yes then maybe, just maybe, she’d save him from being the man his father had wanted him to be and make him into the one he wanted to be.

By the time she got home Alex’s email was already in her inbox, with a full job description and a detailed brief of his plans for the clinic appended. It took a while to read through it all, and Marie didn’t finish until the early hours. She decided to sleep on it.

But sleeping on it didn’t help, and neither did extending her usual running route around the park to almost twice the distance. Neither did staring at the wall or surfing the internet.

She wanted the job—very badly. It would give her a chance to shape policy and to be part of a bold initiative that promised to be a real force in helping people to live fuller and better lives.

But Alex…

Before she’d kissed him, before she’d known that he wasn’t who he’d said he was…

That wasn’t entirely fair. Thinking back, he’d never actually said anything about who he was. If it hadn’t occurred to her to ask if his father was an immeasurably rich king in exile then maybe that was a lapse in imagination on her part.

But it still felt as if she’d kissed a man she didn’t really know at all and had let herself fall a little in love with him. A future working closely with Alex seemed fraught with the dangerous unknown.

By Sunday evening she’d distilled it all down. There was no doubt in her mind that this was her dream job, but there were three things she wanted to know from Alex. Could he forget the kiss? Why hadn’t he told her who he was? And what did the clinic really mean to him?

They were tricky questions. She had to find a way of asking indirectly, and after an hour of scribbling and crossing out she had three questions that might or might not elicit the information she wanted.

Marie picked up her phone and typed a text.

Are you still awake? I have some questions.

Nothing. Maybe he’d taken the evening off and gone out somewhere. Or maybe he was asleep already. As Marie put her phone down on the bed beside her, it rang.

‘Hi, Alex…’ She panicked suddenly and her mind went blank.

‘Hi. Fire away, then.’

She’d rather hoped that she might ask by text, as that would give her a chance to carefully edit what she intended to say.

‘Um…okay. Have you interviewed anyone else for this post?’ That was the closest she could get to asking about the kiss.

‘Nope.’

Marie rolled her eyes. ‘That’s not much help, so I’m going for a supplementary question. Why not?’

He chuckled ‘You’re asking if I offered you the job because we’re friends? The answer’s no. I need people around me who I trust and who are the best at what they do. If I wanted to meet up with you I’d call and ask if you were free for lunch.’

Okay. That sounded promising. Alex had drawn the line between professional and personal, and if he could take the kiss out of the equation then so could she.

‘Next?’

Marie squeezed her eyes closed and recited the next question. ‘That Christmas, at medical school, when we all went home for the holidays, what did you do?’

He was silent for so long that Marie began to wonder whether he’d hung up on her. She wondered if he knew how much this mattered, and why.

‘Okay. I’ll play. I stayed in my flat and watched TV all day.’

Marie caught her breath. He knew, and he’d answered honestly. ‘You could have come to ours. You just had to say you were on your own.’

‘You’re really going to take that route, Marie? You’d have been too proud to let me bring as much as a box of mince pies with me. And you’re wondering why I was too proud to admit that I was going to be on my own?’

Marie could understand that, even if she was sorry that he’d felt that way.

‘Next question. And tell me you’re not going to let me down by making this an easy one.’

Marie felt her ears start to burn. But that was Alex all over. He could be confrontational, but there was always that note of self-deprecatory laughter in his tone that made it all right.

‘Do you think the clinic’s going to save you, Alex?’

He was silent for a moment.

‘Nice one. Those aren’t the words I’d have used… But the inheritance is a responsibility, and I know from bitter experience that it’s the kind of thing that can subsume a person. I want to hold on to who I am. So, yes, I guess I am hoping that the clinic will save me.’

These were the answers she’d wanted. And there was only one thing more to say.

‘It’s a great project, Alex. And, yes, I’d really like to take the job.’

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