Now, tied to the bannisters of the Royal ski lodge, naked, shivering and with a satin rag stuffed deep into her mouth, Princess Natalia couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. It'd seemed like such good fun to cleverly evade her bodyguards (all 9 of them) and to take off for one of her absolute favourite haunts. Of course, she hadn't done it because she wanted to be alone - quite the opposite in fact.

As soon as she was safely on her way, she'd sent Facebook messages to all her best friends, inviting them up for a party. A REAL party, not a stupid stuffy ball with chaperones and stuffed shirts and awful orchestral music! And she'd been ready, all dressed up, with her iPod blaring and all sorts of booze in the twin refrigerators in the kitchen when she'd realised that someone had arrived early. And not someone who'd been invited, either.

Now, it seemed, she was about to be transported across the boarder - for ransom or worse she hadn't been able to work out from the half-heard phone calls her captor had made. Knowing this might be her last chance, Natalia tugged at the ropes and hoped against hope that her bodyguards would make it there in time....