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‘They … oh, my.’ Her mouth dropped open in a gasp. ‘It’s them, her. The princess.’ Desperate not to be caught staring, Shauna ducked her head and tried to peep surreptitiously at the royal pair. The princess was resplendent, it was the only word for it, in a purple taffeta dress, her signature blonde hair in an elegant chignon and her favourite pearls at her neck. She was chatting with easy charm to an uncomfortable-looking woman who kept fidgeting with her skirts and nodded a lot. Shauna could imagine how she felt. It must be daunting coming to face to face with a movie legend who was also royalty and an international icon.

‘Shall we?’ Before she realized what he was doing, Demetrios had cupped her elbow and was guiding her towards the royal couple.

Prince Rainier looked up and smiled in recognition.

‘Monsieur Theodosis, what a pleasure to see you.’

‘Sir, may I present Miss Shauna O’Brien.’

‘Enchanted.’ The prince nodded and gave her a smile.

Overcome with shyness, Shauna gulped and smiled back. Fortunately, her mother’s voice in her head, chiding Shauna, where are your manners?, came to her rescue. ‘Pleased to meet you, Your Highness, you have a very lovely ho— palace.’

‘Thank you.’ His eyes twinkled. ‘The family has been here rather a long time. Over nine hundred years. We’ve accumulated quite a lot of treasures over the years.’

‘Haven’t we just,’ the princess joined in. ‘And I can tell you, when I first came here, I was terrified I might break something very valuable.’ Her face, though heavier now than in her acting days, creased into a smile that still possessed the same luminous quality that had been her hallmark.

‘Oh, I can imagine,’ said Shauna, her shyness and awe vanishing thanks to the princess’s friendly demeanour. ‘Some of the furniture looks quite fragile. I’d be scared to sit on it.’

Princess Grace let out a peal of laughter. ‘Exactly. Poor Rainier. I was extremely nervous.’ She patted his arm. ‘All this history and protocol. But one learns with experience. I’m quite old now.’ Her eyes sparkled with laughter. ‘But experience and age bring wonderful insight, as you will learn one day.’

Shauna could only nod, committing the words to memory, determined she would never forget them.

‘Please do give our best regards to your father, Mr Theodosis. And lovely to meet you, Miss O’Brien. Enjoy the party. You’ll find the chairs are quite sturdy, but terribly uncomfortable.’

Shauna stared after the royals as they moved away, still dazed that the princess had noted her name.

‘Regular people really, aren’t they?’ said Demetrios quietly as the royal couple were swallowed up in the crowd.

‘They were much more friendly than I expected. I thought they’d be quite formal and stuffy. She was … she was lovely.’

‘And so are you.’ Demetrios smiled down at her. ‘I think you charmed them because you weren’t trying too hard. A rare thing in this world.’ He held out his arm. ‘Shall we fight our way through this melee and find some food?’

‘Do you think they’ll have caviar?’ she joked. ‘Now that I’ve tried champagne, I feel I ought to try caviar as well.’

‘If they don’t, I’ll order some in.’ Shauna realized when he said this that he wasn’t joking.

It turned out there was caviar, along with smoked salmon and fresh anchovies and foie gras – which she really didn’t like – and super-thin slices of cured ham, delicate slivers of Swiss cheese, tiny meringues, miniature roulades of sponge and raspberry, miniature lemon tarts …

Demetrios encouraged her to sample everything, which she did eagerly, and he laughed at her as she tried not to stuff her face, though it was hard to resist the delicious array of new delicacies to try.

‘Are we starving you on the ship?’ he joked.

‘Not at all, Chantelle is a wonderful chef. But I’ve never eaten anything this good – or expensive!’

‘I’m very glad I brought you with me this evening.’

‘So am I,’ she said, and she meant it. It was a lot more fun and less restricted by protocol than she’d thought it would be.

A band started up in the elaborate ballroom and Shauna thought she recognized the tune: ‘You’re Sensational’ from High Society.

‘I love this one,’ she said.

‘Then let’s dance.’

‘I’m not sure I can. Can you?’

‘Of course, I have been trained for every social situation.’ He grinned.