Page 21 of Trapped with the Undercover Prince

He turned to her after Jean Paul was done talking to ask, “You’ve only been working casually in the past year, and not at all for the last two months. Is that correct?”

Wow, they’d investigated her? Well, duh, he was royalty, and she was so very obviously not. “Yes.”

He studied her. “Anna, I need to know why. Because once the press figures out who you are, they will dig until they find out.”

She glanced at Jean Paul, and the man looked at her with disapproval on his face. Did he think she’d taken time off at the hospital to become a stripper or something?

“It’s no big secret, but it’s not in any public records because it would be a breach of confidentiality. I had cancer.” She let them digest that for moment, then continued with, “I went through surgery and chemotherapy, working when I felt well enough. Then my grandmother passed. I could have gone back to work a couple of months ago, but I decided to take some time off to settle her estate and make some career decisions. I’ve been offered jobs at a couple of other hospitals. I’m not sure yet if I’ll take one of those positions or continue in my old one. This trip to Lerasia is how I’m saying my last goodbye and clear my head.”

Jean Paul lost his expression of distaste. “My apologies, Dr. Anna.” He glanced from her to his boss and back. “I will keep this confidential, of course.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” she said as an idea occurred to her. “If the press tries to make my spotty work history in the last year an issue, feel free to tell them I had cancer and was being treated for it. It might shut them up for five minutes.”

That seemed to take Jean Paul aback. “Are you certain?”

She grinned at him. “The truth shall set you free.” She looked at Zar and raised an eyebrow, but he looked delighted.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Please, please have mercy on us. We’re not used to so much honesty.”

“Well, I’m just a simple doctor with nothing to hide.”

Zar shook his head. “Simple? No. Genuine and forthright, yes.”

She snorted. “Work in an ER for a while and you learn to own your foibles, faults, and fabulousness, one and all.”

“If only that were the life of a royal.” Zar sounded disappointed as he got to his feet and looked wistful. “I’m afraid it’s time to go.”

“Sure.” She stood, picked up her bag, and slung it onto her back. Living a life where you had to play a part all the time, unable to be truly yourself, sounded horrible. How did he manage to not lose his cool every once in a while? “Ready.”

Zar’s team, with Jean Paul in the lead, escorted them out of the suite and down to the lobby. They walked with purpose through the space, out a side exit, and into two waiting vehicles. Zar and Anna in the back of one with Jean Paul riding shotgun in the front next to the driver. The rest of his team went into the second vehicle.

They pulled away, but not before a couple of men with cameras rushed up, taking pictures through the windshield.

“Don’t look at them,” Zar said, catching her face with one palm and turning her toward him. “They will use even the most innocent of glances as permission.”

“Sorry,” she said, covering his hand with her own. “I was just so surprised. I didn’t expect them to run at us like soldiers charging a battle line.”

Zar grunted. “An apt description. Were you in the Army?”

“Nope, but I have played a few first-person shooter video games.”

Someone in the front of the car muffled a laugh.

Zar smiled. “I can never predict what you’re going to say. It’s fun.”

Was it, though? “Is that a polite way of saying I need an edit button on my mouth?”

“No,” he said in a firm tone. “You’re...unexpected. A surprise. A gift.”

“Wow, that was smooth,” she said, fanning her face. “Do you learn to talk like that in prince school?”

More muffled laughing from the front seat.

“Also, humbling,” Zar added with an exaggerated sigh.

The car slowed and pulled into a narrow alley. They crept along until they reached a doorway with a uniformed man standing at what looked like to her was attention.

Their driver stopped the car, and the man at the door hurried over to open the passenger door on Zar’s side. He slid out, then held out his hand for her.

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