She shook her head. ‘I have to finish my shift.’

‘Leaving a few minutes early will make little difference. Your manager has already been informed.’

Shocked, she stared up at him, registering his planning. He hadn’t come to the hospital to visit patients and to spread cheer.

‘I came here for you.’ He quietly confirmed her thinking. ‘And I’m not leaving without you. If I have to get my security team to forcibly remove you, then that’s what I will do.’

‘No, you won’t,’ she challenged him—because this she did know. ‘You care too much about what people think.’

King Giorgos was remote and dignified and there’d never been a breath of scandal about him. He was Giorgos the Perfect, while his sister was Eleni the Pure.

He blinked rapidly. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘You’re the hard-working, serious King who can do no wrong.’

‘You do realise you’re insulting that “hard-working, serious King” to his face?’

‘Because he is doing wrong. You can’t make me go with you.’

‘I can—because this is too important. We are leaving,’ he ordered. ‘Walk with me now.’

‘You’re serious?’

He took another step closer—a shade too far into her personal space. ‘Are you going to make me get the chains? Because if that’s really what you want, then of course I wouldn’t dream of disappointing a lady.’

His sneer was mortifying. That humiliating blush burned again. She hadn’t meant it about the chains, yet here he was implying that she was doing this only to...to flirt? She never flirted.

What was wrong with her? This man made all the rules—he owned the nation...his face was on the currency—and she was snapping at him like some schoolgirl with an immature crush.

‘Of course not.’ She avoided his eyes and muttered contritely, ‘I’ll just get my bag and then we can leave.’

She was startled when he kept pace with her as she went into the small office.

‘Why are you following me?’

‘I’m not giving you a chance to hide anything or any time alone to contact him.’

Contact who? She stared at him uncomprehendingly.

‘Just get your things,’ he muttered.

It finally dawned on her that this had to be a case of mistaken identity—he’d confused her with someone else and there was nothing she could help him with. She was nobody. She did nothing but work at the hospital and then go home to read up about more work. But she’d go with his assistant now and they’d soon realise she wasn’t the person the King sought. Then they’d bring her back here and all would be forgotten.

Reassured by this reasoning, Kassie grabbed her satchel and slung the strap over her shoulder.

She almost had to run to keep pace with him moving through the hospital. He’d lost patience and wasn’t slow. She stepped into the sleek black car idling right outside the back entrance. To her surprise King Giorgos walked around and got into the seat on the other side.

‘I thought I was going with your assistant?’ she said. She’d been looking forward to a quick resolution.

He directed a quelling look at her as the car glided off, taking them away. ‘Do you ever stop questioning?’

‘Not when there’s this much to be questioned. Where are you taking me? And why?’

‘I’m the one who has the questions, Ms Marron.’

The edge in his tone forced her to regard him directly. Something lurked in the back of his eyes—a streak of wildness that surprised her.

But it wasn’t entirely a surprise. From what she’d seen of him at a distance—in the news and on the television—King Giorgos had always appeared to her like a wild man forced into refined clothes. It wasn’t that he wasn’t civilised—of course he was—but it was as if he might break free from the polished uniform at any moment. He was too elemental to be contained.