Rescuing The Royal Runaway Bride. Ally Blake

Clair’s last gift to him, one she’d planned to give to him on what would have been their eighteenth birthday, one he’d only found in her bedroom after she’d died, was a telescope.

      As a man who’d never believed in signs, he’d gone with it. As the lecturer had talked of the universe as unmapped, unchartered and mostly incalculable, many in the lecture hall had twittered and shifted on their seats, finding the concept overwhelming.

      For Will it had changed the concept of being “alone” for him completely. And it was that ability to dissociate from the everyday, to enjoy a high level of dedicated solitude, that had paved the way for his being the pre-eminent voice in modern astronomy.

      Will paid for the petrol, steadfastly refusing to look at the pre-wedding coverage on the monitor. He was halfway to the car when he remembered.

      He wasn’t alone.

      He had Sadie.

      She peered up at him from the mound of wriggling pink as he slid back into the car, her curls flopping onto her pale shoulders, her big eyes filled with pandemonium. This woman was chaos incarnate, and she was leaving a widening swathe of trouble in her wake.

      “Everything okay?” she asked. “You were gone for a while.”

      “Was I?” Will started the car with more gusto than required.

      He’d come to this country, pained at the thought of having to watch Hugo marry someone who wasn’t Clair, quietly wondering if the invitation was his penance for having laid the blame for what had happened at Hugo’s guiltless feet for all these years.

      Now he realised he’d miscalculated. She was his penance. Mercedes “Sadie” Gray Leonine. Looking after her on Hugo’s behalf, keeping her out of sight until he could send word to Hugo where he could find her would go some way to ameliorating past wrongs.

      And when it was done, he might even be able to get an earlier flight out. It was meant to be an unusually clear night, a rare opportunity to spend some time with London’s night sky.

      Feeling better about the world, Will shot Sadie a smile, which faded a tad at the way her eyes widened as he did so.

      “The tank is full, the sky is blue.” Will tapped the car’s GPS. “North? South? East? West? Coast? Mountains? Moon? Where are we going?”