Page 8 of Revelations of A Secret Princess

‘What happened to Maxim if he wasn’t fighting pirates?’

Ariane pouted. ‘I don’t know. I woke up and he was like this.’

Caro eyed the bear, with its fur rubbed off on one side where he’d clearly been cuddled a lot. She’d guess Ariane usually held him by that arm and the stitching had given way after much use.

‘That’s easily fixed.’

‘It is?’

‘Of course. All we need is a needle and thread to sew him back together.’

Ariane stepped closer and held out the brown bear and his separated arm. ‘Can you fix him now? Please?’

Those huge eyes in that grave little face would make any heart melt. As for Caro, it took everything she had to keep things light.

‘I don’t have any thread with me but we can patch him up till we get some.’

‘Patch him?’

‘Yes. If you get my bag from near the desk I’ll see what I can do.’ Because even now her knees felt too wobbly to take her weight.

She watched the girl dart across the room. Obviously Maxim was a much-loved bear. Who’d given it to her? Her parents? Her Uncle Jake?

Caro thought of the self-contained man who’d interrogated her across the desk and tried to imagine him with this precious little girl. She couldn’t conjure the image, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care. He was protective of Ariane.

‘Here.’ She held out Caro’s capacious bag.

‘Thank you.’ Caro barely stopped herself calling the child by her name. ‘My name is Caro. Can you say that?’

‘Caro. That’s easy.’

‘And what’s your name?’

‘Ariane.’

‘What a pretty name.’

‘My daddy said he and Mummy picked it because I was so pretty.’ Those big eyes filled with tears and Ariane’s chin wobbled.

Caro’s excitement shattered, her insides curdling. Ariane had lost her parents. She was grieving.

‘I can see that,’ Caro said slowly as she reached for her bag and began to rummage in it. ‘I know some girls in St Ancilla who are called Ariane. They’re named for a famous lady. She was very pretty, but more importantly she was kind and brave too.’

‘She was?’ Ariane blinked up at her, diverted.

‘Oh, yes. She lived a long time ago before there were good hospitals and medicines. When all the people were very sick from a bad illness the lords and ladies shut themselves away because they were afraid they would get sick too. But Ariane came out of her castle and visited the poor people. She made sure they had food and clean water and helped them get better.’

‘I want to be like her. I want to help.’

‘Well,’ Caro said slowly, withdrawing a scarf from her bag, ‘you can get some practice now, helping Maxim. Here. Can you hold his arm like this?’

Ariane nodded and stood by Caro’s knee, head bent as she concentrated on holding the bear and his arm in just the right way. Caro felt the brush of her soft little hand. A flutter of sensation rippled up Caro’s arm, arrowing to her heart. She tugged in a tremulous breath and focused on fashioning the scarf into a sling.

There’d be time for emotion later, when she was alone. She couldn’t give in to it now. That would be self-indulgent, besides scaring a child who knew her only as a stranger.

But as Caro knotted the scarf, her attention wasn’t on the bear but on Ariane, whose world had been ripped apart. Who needed stability, kindness and above all love.

Caro vowed that, whatever it took, she would be the one to provide that.

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