Page 29 of Captured

Lauren, who surely had more party experience than most women in the world, seemed nonplussed, whether by the invitation or the word “safe.” Her gaze swiveled from Dimitri to Alexi and back, until finally she nodded. “You don’t need to do anything for me, truly. I’m fine.”

“Nonsense. You are the guest of my brother, and you have brought him back to our shores for longer than a few hours for the first time in a year. This makes you a miracle.”

“A year?” Lauren shot him a startled glance. The timing clearly didn’t escape her, and he shrugged.

“It’s been a very busy year.”

“It has been a year of mourning, and not only for the crown prince. But go—shoo.” Alexi pushed Dimitri away. “Let me dress this beautiful woman. We’ll see you later. “

For the second time that morning, Dimitri watched Lauren walk away from him without a backward glance. He found he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it at all.

He swiped open his phone to connect with his tracking service. At least he could keep her safe.

Seventeen

Within twenty minutes, Lauren had not only wheedled Dimitri’s sister out of her phone—this one hopefully not tracked within an inch of its life—she’d also gotten her to take her to the one place in town with decent cell service. The local sports bar and bookie shop. It all made a weird sort of sense. Even complete Luddites needed connectivity to place their bets and watch the latest games. With assurances that she wanted only to take care of critical wire transfers, she stepped to the side of the bar as Alexi ordered them both food and drinks. Breakfast already seemed hours ago, and Lauren hadn’t really been focusing on her meal. Not with Dimitri in front of her in his half-naked glory.

Dimitri. When he’d kissed her, there in his house, it legit had felt like the earth had moved beneath her. Was she more exhausted than she’d realized? Was the island playing tricks on her?

Her attention was recalled by the crisp voice on the phone. It took only a few tries to get transferred to a real human, one of the perks of her name, she knew. You learned to take the good with the bad.

Lauren put the transaction through quickly, double-checked all the other accounts, and changed all the passwords, leaving strict instructions on what constituted any further “authorized” changes. The process only took a few minutes, which was the whole point of setting everything up in advance. At least now her money was safe. That was the easy part.

But she had another call to make. One she didn’t want to make on Alexi’s phone, if she could help it. The bank call was safe enough, even if Dimitri had a bead on his sister’s device. This one, Nicki had insisted needed to be more private. Plus, she had a second reason to find an untracked phone.

She made a show of wandering back into the little pub, wide-eyed and eager. Since it was afternoon, the pub was hopping—or as hopping as she expected it ever got on this tiny dot of an island. The clientele was mostly male, which was in her favor. She needed to single one of the guys out and…

Shit.She didn’t have any money. She wasn’t going to be able to call anyone if she couldn’t buy a phone from some hapless tourist. That wasn’t going to happen without cash. She’d have to find another way.

Trying not to let her irritation show, she rejoined Alexi and prepared herself for a long meal and a longer day trying to find clothes. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate Dimitri’s sister. The woman was sweet, practical, and strikingly pretty—her dark eyes big and flashing, her riot of curly black hair a perfect match to her buoyant personality. But Lauren didn’t have time for her. She didn’t have time for anyone. “Here you go,” she said, handing back the phone. “I only made the one call, and it shouldn’t charge you?—”

“Keep it.” Alexi grinned at her, and Lauren blinked at her, startled.

“I can’t keep your phone. I’ll run up charges.”

“Then Dimitri will pay them.” Alexi pointed to the phone. “It’s what he calls a ‘burner.’ Charming name, don’t you think? You burn it up and throw it out. Only mine stays good for much longer than he seems to think.”

“He gave you a burner phone?” Lauren frowned at her. So maybe the phone wasn’t tracked after all? “But why?”

“Because he’s a big, overprotective ox. And I say that with love and affection. But I have six of those phones in their boxes at home, minutes already charged to them, and I don’t know when I’m going to get to them.” Alexi smiled at Lauren’s confusion. “With Dimitri, you don’t always get reasons. He simply does things.”

“When did he start, though? Sending you phones?”

Alexi cast her gaze skyward. “It was a year ago, of course. After Prince Ari died.” She smiled grimly. “That’s why he said he gave them to us—so we could call him with any information about the prince’s plane. Such a tragedy, truly. We lost Dimitri that day as much as Aristotle. He said we might find—he didn’t know. Something. Wreckage of the plane washed up on the island. Information from the fishermen or divers. Something. He spared no expense—and not only for the family, but friends and neighbors as well. The local fishermen. Everyone.”

She shook her head. “We suspected he mostly wanted us to be safer. He took it very hard when Ari died. Went dark for days, wouldn’t eat. Came here, you know, but we didn’t see him. He combed the beaches and coves for debris. Very sad.” She sighed. “He blamed himself.”

Despite herself, Lauren found herself leaning closer. She didn’t need to pry into Dimitri’s life; it was none of her business. And yet the idea of the rough-and-tumble captain scavenging the rocky shoreline of this tiny island for wreckage that he had to know wasn’t forthcoming made her unaccountably sad.

“Why did he think Ari’s plane would wash this far south?” she asked. “I thought he took off from the mainland and crashed...” She frowned, trying to remember the details. “Wasn’t it near Thassos?”

“You know the story! But of course you do. I forget that the whole world was watching our little country for a while. Yes, Thassos is where they found the wreckage, after that storm blew up and the seas finally calmed enough for the search. But Dimitri, he was convinced Ari wasn’t heading to Thassos but to Samothrace, east of us. There is a small landing strip there, and the royal family has a house, as they do on many of the Greek islands. Dimitri became convinced everyone was looking in the wrong place.” She sighed. “He couldn’t let it go.”

“And did you? Find any wreckage?”

Alexi shook her head. “We didn’t. There was no wreckage to be had. And everyone looked. When he started giving out his phones to the fishermen, men you’d think would simply sell the things off to tourists and make some fast cash, they didn’t. We all felt for Dimitri and for his quest. The only things that have ever turned up, however, are parts and debris from Turkish planes. Which makes sense—we are one of the easternmost islands in the Aegean, and if the seas wish to offer up her finds, it’s often those that have washed over from Turkey. But that’s it. Dimitri looked over the Turkish debris for a while, then he, eventually, trusted us to know what it was we were looking for.” Her expression turned rueful. “He’s never stopped sending the phones, though. When he does, then we’ll know he’s finally on the path to healing, yes?”

They passed the rest of the meal on lighter topics, but Lauren couldn’t let the search for Ari’s plane go. She puzzled over it while they shopped—a euphemism, as when someone else is buying you clothes, you accept whatever largesse they see fit to give. As they moved through the tourist section of Miranos, asurprisingly thriving minimarket that catered to divers and sun worshippers alike, her attention drifted again and again to the open waters of the Aegean.

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