MAID FOR A PRINCE: (Book 1) (Point St. Claire, where true love finds a way) Read Online Free PDF Page A

an image flashed through his mind—the figurine slipping through those buttery fingers, smashing into a thousand useless pieces—and his gut kicked so hard that he groaned.
    “My leg’s wrapped around a vine,” she said. “I’m anchored. Lift her a little higher.”
    He rounded up on his toes, stretched even more. Slender fingers wrapped around the stone head. When he was certain she had a good grip, he sent up another prayer and let go.
    The figurine disappeared.
    He blinked. Frowned. Waited.
    “Helene?”
    He heard birds outside and the distant lulling wash of waves, but from Helene, not a chirp. Then the grass around the opening shifted and her face popped into view again.
    “I’ve got something rigged up.” She dropped a thick vine that uncoiled down into the cavity. “I’ll hang on here.”
    “The figurine?”
    “Lying beside a tree. She wants me to say she’s enjoying the sunshine.”
    His grin was wry. Enjoy it while it lasts . He’d be a basket case until the goddess was locked away again.
    “If this doesn’t work,” Helene said, “I’ll run and get that ladder from the stables.”
    But he was already climbing, his movements swift and sure. Soon he was crawling out, filling his lungs. Fresh air had never smelled so good. The world had never looked so bright.
    Crouched on his hands and knees, Darius laughed. On her knees beside him, Helene laughed too, so much that she toppled sideways. He half caught her and then they were rolling together on the ground. They’d escaped. Thank the heavens, they were alive!
    By the time their laughter petered out, they lay side by side, face to face in the grass, with their chests pumping from exertion and relief. His arm had fallen over her waist. One long leg was carelessly thrown over his. The late afternoon sun streamed down, warming their skin, and her crystalline-blue eyes were so close that her pants for air brushed and teased his lips.
    Out the corner of his eye, he spotted the figurine lying on her side, a reflection of how he and Helene also lay. Her stone eyes were sightless and yet they seemed to see so much.
    As if she knew.
    Irrespective of the trouble she’d caused, he wanted to bring Helene close again…much closer than he had in the depths of the cave.
    Not happening.
    Getting to his feet, Darius collected the figurine. He was inspecting her in the light when Helene got to her feet, too.
    “You know, I think she’s smiling, too.”
    A breeze lifted the sarong around and between her legs. A bikini top covered breasts. Mussed hair flowed, blue eyes shone, and every cell in his body demanded to touch her again.
    He took his time studying the smudges on her brow and jaw and then, giving in to the urge, he smiled softly, reached across and cupped her cheek.
    The man wanted her to stay.
    The prince knew she needed to go.

Chapter 4
    “It’s been, what―maybe two hours since the cave in?” Helene asked as she followed Darius over a landscape that, given his stride, he knew very well. “Alexio should be here by now. Or maybe when he couldn’t find us, he decided to go back. Get help.”
    “I’ll make the call when we get to the villa.”
    Helene wasn’t sure what he meant. “When you left me by the stables, you did contact the palace, right? You told someone I needed to be picked up?” Taken away.
    With his stride picking up more, he blew out a loud breath. “Don’t worry. You’ll be off this island soon enough.”
    Unlike that moment of celebration after their escape, laughing and rolling around on the grass, this trek “home” was weirdly reserved. Understandable. In the short time they’d known each other, she’d nearly dropped a bucket on his head and had almost led him to his death. Now he only wanted to see the back of her. She didn’t want to cause any more hassles either. The sooner she was off this island, the better.
     
    By the time they reached the villa, Helene was hungry, thirsty, and completely exhausted. She made it