Page 1 of Cursed

Chapter One

Someday... my prince will come...

But he could stow it for the moment.

Countess Edeena Saleri strode along the bright, cheerful corridors of the Charleston International Airport, slightly behind her sisters Caroline and Marguerite, half-disbelieving they’d finally made it. The six-thousand-mile flight from Garronia had taken nearly two months to arrange, every day fraught with anxiety that her father would realize that Edeena and her sisters weren’t merely heading off for a vacation, but attempting to create a beachhead from which at least two of them could start a whole new life.

A life that had nothing to do with the kingdom of Garronia—or any of its princely curses.

Now Edeena focused on her sisters as they chattered excitedly. They’d all agreed to only speak English from the moment they got on the plane for the final leg of their journey, headed for the United States. It wasn’t much of a hardship; the trio could speak Garronois, Greek, and English proficiently, and Caroline spoke a little French as well, mainly because there were so many French visitors to their little seaside kingdom. Marguerite had started and stopped a dozen different languages in college, as the mood struck her. Like most things for Marguerite, she could never settle specifically on one language that made her happy, so she simply chose not to choose.

But neither of her sisters would have to make any choices for a while, Edeena resolved. This journey would take them to their mother’s vacation home of Heron’s Point, one of the largest houses on Sea Haven Island, South Carolina, perfect for a getaway. In fact, they were just coming to the secured exit of the airport now, where waiting for them should be…

Edeena’s stride faltered, her heart jolting as her gaze connected with a pair of intense, laser-beam eyes from across the corridor. She recovered as smoothly as she could while her sisters exclaimed in delighted recognition of their family name, featured on the tablet held aloft by Laser-Beam’s partner.

The two men stood slightly apart from the other car service representatives. Though they were dressed in subdued dark suits, they seemed far more restless, more competent than their peers—and they should, of course. They were more than limo drivers.

The shorter man smiled broadly at Edeena as she caught his eye, his dark bald head gleaming in the harsh fluorescent lights. Then his gaze locked on her sisters as if he was memorizing their stride, their faces, the very distance between them as they walked. Edeena forced herself to study him as well, though it had been the taller man who’d nearly bowled her over.

Was he Greek? He had to be Greek. But in South Carolina?

Regardless of his nationality, he looked Greek—as in Greek god, to be more specific. Tall, dark and ridiculously good looking, with all the confidence and charisma to go with it, the man was easily over six feet tall, with cropped tawny brown hair and bronzed skin, his muscular physique filling out his suit with impressive solidity. Dismay skated through Edeena as she took in his no-nonsense expression. She’d long prided herself on being able to overwhelm her staff, friends and colleagues by the sheer force of her personality. Frankly, she’d expected to be able to do the same with anyone sent by the security firm she’d hired to protect her and her sisters while they vacationed in America. This man didn’t look easy to overwhelm, however. He looked like…

She stared at him a little longer.

Hot, she decided. He looked hot.

Focus, Edeena chided herself as they cleared the security gate. This man was her employee, even if he did manage to make his polite smile look more like a concerned scowl. More unsettling, his gaze remained fixed on her—it hadn’t shifted away since the moment he’d seen her. She’d never been studied so closely, at least not when she was aware of it, and she’d been living in the public eye for most of her life.

With her habitual concern for her sisters’ safety, Edeena scanned the baggage claim area, then herded Caro and Marguerite forward, uncomfortably conscious of the man’s narrowing eyes. This wasn’t any low-level bodyguard, she suddenly knew. This was the firm’s owner.

Edeena tightened her lips. She hadn’t been a hundred percent honest with Mr. Vincent Rallis of Rallis Security in their numerous phone conversations, and it seemed like he realized that, somehow. But how could he tell such a thing at a glance? Or had he known from the start?

The man nodded as they reached him, holding out his hand. “Miss Saleri,” he said. It wasn’t a question, and Edeena grasped his hand firmly, her chin coming up as her pulse jumped. Rallis’s hand was rough, calloused and warm, and her mind instantly leapt to what he did to keep his skin so hardened, his grip so strong.

“You must be Mr. Rallis,” she said, her tone perhaps a bit harsher than she wanted. She removed her hand a little too quickly from his. “I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

“I thought it wise. This is Rob Marks,” he said, turning and introducing his partner, who also held out his hand first to Edeena, then to Caroline and Marguerite. Edeena started as she realized that Vincent Rallis’s voice had a distinctive slow drawl to it, despite his formal manner. Rich and full, it sounded like warm caramel drizzled over a cold scoop of—

Stop it.

“Once we collect our bags, Rob will escort you both in his limo, then we’ll follow behind,” Rallis continued, addressing her sisters. Edeena’s gaze jumped to his face as he slid his glance back to her. “That will allow us to go over the particulars of the work without taking up any more of your time, Miss Saleri.”

No doubt about it, he had somehow ascertained that she hadn’t given him the whole story. That was only fair, she supposed. Probably a good thing, in fact. She didn’t want a security firm staffed by fools.

Still, what had tipped him off? She hadn’t said a word beyond his name, hadn’t done anything, in fact, but approach him.

She puzzled over the issue as they collected their bags. In short order, they’d left the baggage area and were whisked into their respective cars, Edeena hesitating as Rallis held the back door open for her. She didn’t want him stealing searching glances at her via the rearview mirror the entire way to Sea Haven.

“It would be best if we kept up appearances of me as your driver, Miss Saleri,” Rallis said quietly. “Especially if the people who you believe are following you are, in fact, here.”

She blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”

“Yo, Prince!”

Edeena’s heart almost stopped as Marks came trotting around the SUV, his face instantly abashed as he realized she was still standing beside the vehicle and not inside. “Oh, pardon me, Mr. Rallis.”

His grin was infectious but Edeena couldn’t get past the address.

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