The Forbidden Prince. Alison Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ OE you’re on... Do you have an itinerary?’

      ‘Not really. I find a place and a job and work until I’ve saved enough to go somewhere else. I’ll be here for a while longer after investing in that camera, but it’s a good job and I love it here, so that’s okay.’

      ‘What’s your job?’

      ‘I’m in hospo.’

      Raoul blinked. Maybe his English wasn’t as good as he’d thought. It took only as long as that blink for Mika to realise his lack of comprehension and rescue him.

      ‘Hospitality. I’m a waitress in a café down in Positano.’

      ‘And that’s a good job?’

      ‘It is when you’re travelling. It’s easy to get work and nobody’s too bothered about permits or anything. You can get paid in cash, too. It’s what most people do on their OE. Part of the rite of passage, even. Everybody should work in hospo at least once.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because it changes the way you see the world. You get to see the best and worst of people in ways you wouldn’t believe. And it changes how you see people who work in the kind of jobs that usually make them invisible—you know what I mean?’

      Raoul nodded slowly but his interest had been piqued. How many people were there in his world that quietly came and went, making life easier for himself and his family? Advisors and bodyguards. Cooks and cleaners. He’d never served anyone so he had no idea what life would look like from that kind of perspective. He was ashamed to realise he hadn’t even given it much thought.

      Until now...

      So that kind of job could change the way you saw the world... Was that what he needed to do?

      There was only one slice of pizza left.

      ‘You have it,’ Raoul said.

      ‘No, it’s all yours. You’re a boy. You need to eat more.’

      ‘How about we go halves?’

      Mika’s face lit up. ‘Okay.’ She tore the big triangle into two pieces and then eyed them up.

      ‘That one is bigger,’ Raoul pointed out. ‘You have it.’

      Mika hesitated for a moment then she picked up the larger piece and took a big bite out of it before putting it down again.

      Raoul snorted with laughter. ‘Okay, now they’re the same. I choose this one.’ He picked up the piece that now had a semicircle of tooth marks where the point of the triangle had been, his hand grazing hers as it passed. Or maybe it hadn’t actually touched her skin—it just felt like it had—because she didn’t move hers further away. His gaze met Mika’s over the slice as he bit into it...and there it was again...

      That feeling of a connection he’d never felt before.

      Was this what having a real friend was like?

      Oddly, it was as exciting as that first flutter of physical attraction could be.

      Mika washed down the last of her pizza with the last swallow of her beer. She sighed with contentment and then leaned back in her chair.

      ‘Right, mister. What are we going to do with you?’

      The expression on her face was a mix of concern and a determination to fix things. She was fiddling with the charm on her necklace in a way that suggested it was an automatic accompaniment to a process of deep thought.

      The irony wasn’t lost on Raoul.

      ‘Why do you wear a dolphin charm?’

      Mika’s fingers stilled. She was staring at him with those huge eyes and Raoul felt that he’d stepped over a boundary of some kind. He’d asked a question that had personal significance and, right now, she was weighing up whether or not to trust him with an honest response.

      ‘It’s a symbol,’ she finally said softly. ‘Of being wild and free. And...and happy.’

      The wistful note in her voice went straight to Raoul’s heart and struck a very unexpected chord.

      Mika was searching for happiness, as everybody did, but she was already almost as wild and free as one of the beautiful creatures his homeland had been named for. She didn’t have to step into a life that was pretty much set in stone—a life that meant personal happiness was unimportant compared to the greater good. If happiness was there, as it had been for most of his life, it was a bonus.

      Raoul envied her. Okay, there was a twinge of sympathy that she hadn’t yet found her ultimate happiness, but she was free to create it. To go anywhere and do anything that might help her reach her goal.

      As if she knew she might have revealed too much, Mika lifted her hand away from the charm and pushed her fingers through her already spiky hair.

      ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked bluntly. ‘I can’t go home and leave you out on the streets. Not when it’s my fault you’re in this predicament.’

      ‘What would you do, if you were me?’

      She probably didn’t notice that her fingers strayed back to the dolphin charm. ‘I guess I’d find somewhere to stay and then I’d find a job. If you can get one like mine, you get at least one meal a day thrown in as well. It all helps.’

      Raoul nodded. Something was falling into place in his head. Impressions and ideas that had been accumulating over the course of this dinner. He’d set out on this private journey to learn about himself but what if he was approaching his quest from the wrong angle? What if he actually needed to learn about other people? The invisible kind, like those in service? Or the individuals amongst a mass like the people he would very soon be ruling?

      He could get himself out of his predicament with a simple phone call.

      Or, he could embrace his situation by deciding that fate had provided an opportunity that would have been unthinkable even a few hours ago. He could see if he had the personal fortitude to face being homeless. Penniless and without even the prospect of a job. How many of his own people had faced a challenge like this at some time in their lives?

      He’d been silent for so long that Mika was chewing her lip and frowning, as if she was trying to solve the problem of world peace rather than his own immediate future.

      ‘Have you ever worked in hospo?’

      He shook his head. ‘Never.’

      ‘Oh...it’s just that our café is really busy with the start of the high season. I reckon you could get a job there too.’

      ‘I could try.’

      ‘You wouldn’t cope if you’ve never done it before. With no experience, probably the only job you’d get would be washing dishes.’ Her eyes widened. ‘The dishie we’ve got was talking about moving on yesterday. I’ll bet Marco hasn’t found a replacement yet.’

      Washing dishes. Had he ever had to wash dishes? Meals away from his residential apartment СКАЧАТЬ