Page 9 of The Prince's Castaway Baby

“By boat.”

“Look, why are you being so pissy with me?” he snaps. “I haven’t done anything wrong. In fact, I was just in a really tragic accident, and I’m grateful you rescued me — but all you’ve done since is yell at me, and I think I deserve a little bit less of that, actually.”

“Pissy?” I scoff, my eyes widening as I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I tie the bandage off more roughly than I should, then sit back on my heels. “Okay, whatever. Just stay out of my way, all right? You can stay here, but I have an important job to do.”

“Important?” he says. And that’s the final straw.

“Yes, actually!” I say, slamming the first-aid kit shut. “Just leave me alone, okay?” I jump to my feet and march over to the cabin, slamming the door behind me. The front door doesn’t actually lock, so I just hope he doesn’t realize that and try to follow me.

It’s hot inside, so I have no choice but to turn on the fan. I try to save the generator for when I really need it, but its solar panels have no problem getting a charge at this time of year, so I’m unlikely to run out of electricity. And anyway, I think this counts as an emergency.

I can’t believe this guy.

I slump down onto the sofa and stare up at the thatch ceiling. Sure, I told him that he could stay, but I’m not actually certain I have the supplies for him. If I were really mean, I’d go and get the spare tent and sleeping bag I keep on my boat.

But I’m not quite that vindictive, and I’m pretty sure Jens will never have slept in a tent before. Plus, it’s not like there aren’t enough spare rooms in here.

Eventually, I’ve taken enough deep breaths to calm myself down, and I pace over to the door, steeling myself to face him again. When I open the door, he’s still sat exactly where I left him, picking grass out of the ground like he can’t think of any other way of entertaining himself.

“Oh, there you are,” he says mildly, looking up at me with a smile.

I ignore him and tell him I’m going to my boat. I don’t have much of a reason to, but I’m too wound up to work now, and it’s an excuse to be somewhere he’s not. “Just stay here and stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Your boat,” he says, his eyes lighting up with an idea. “So, you can take me home!”

“Absolutely not!” I scoff. “These are protected waters, and they don’t like you to take too many trips out here, for a start. Plus, it takes two days to get back to land in Puerto Rico — let alone Florida. I only have two weeks left on my permit. There’s no way I’m ruining that by ferrying you around. You’ll just have to lump it.”

He stammers some nonsense in response, and I ignore him, marching off towards my boat.

If he thinks I’m giving up earnings and time to look after him or to provide a taxi service, he could not be more wrong. They don’t give out these licenses for free and it’s a hard process to get one. In two weeks’ time, he’s coming back to Puerto Rico with me and then he can find his own way home.

If you can just stay out of my way until then, everything will be fine.

But somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen.

CHAPTER 5

JENSEN

Billie basically ignores me for the rest of the day. I want to go for a walk and see some of the island, but I’m too scared to go anywhere by myself in case I get lost and die.

After the first hour, I head back to the beach to stare at the sea. It’s perfectly tranquil, and all I can hear is the cheerful chirp of birds and the occasional cry of an animal. There had better not be any snakes here. Or huge spiders. Or wolves.

I haven’t come all this way to be eaten alive.

After the third hour, I start worrying that she’s never going to come back. What did she even need from her boat, anyway? Maybe I should have followed her after all.

It’s a gorgeous day, though. The sun is shining, and even though I can see dark clouds on the horizon, I’m not going to let the memory of the storm ruin my day. Right here, right now, on this island in the middle of nowhere, I’m enjoying a glorious moment of paradise.

I’ve already drunk all the water Billie gave me, and I’m still unbelievably thirsty, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. But I don’texactly want to go rummaging around in her supplies to steal some.

I could probably go into the cabin; it looks like a pretty big place and I feel like it probably has a kitchen — but maybe they don’t have running water here. Maybe Billie has a set number of bottles, and she’s cursing me for being here because I’m going to take all her supplies.

That seems unlikely, though. She seems like a pretty seasoned traveler. She’s probably prepared for anything.

I’ll wait and ask when she gets back. For now I’m just going to have to lie back and relax and hope the pounding in my head goes away.

I sit back down next to the fire pit and reach into my pocket to get my phone to take a photo of the horizon. And that’s when I realize that my phone’s not there anymore. I’ve been so busy trying not to die that I forgot I might need it.

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