Page 30 of Trapped with the Undercover Prince

If he let her go, she’d be hunting for survivors without thought for her own safety, and he couldn’t let her do that. “Your life is just as important as anyone else’s,” he barked. “Take no unnecessary risks.”

She narrowed her eyes and stood a little straighter, her chin rising. “I won’t if you won’t.”

Mon Dieu. Fierce pride and approval roared through him, filling him with a different kind of fire. He’d never met anyone with such calm, confident strength. She didn’t argue or rage; she stood still and composed and asked for nothing she wasn’t willing to give. Everything he learned about this woman, every second he spent with her, served to entice him further.

Zar captured her shoulders, holding her still so he could kiss her hard and quick. “Deal.”

He took her hand, and they moved forward along the tunnel toward the fire and what was left of the rail car. They were forced to duck around a steel beam blocking their way, then dodged more smoke and flames. Heat seared his skin, and he shoved Anna behind him, but the reek of burning hair told him they were much too close. Still, he couldn’t leave his people to the fire without knowing if any survived, and Anna would never stay behind.

A scream pierced the air above the noise of the fire and the alarm bells. He headed toward it, Anna with him.

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Anna followed Zar intothe smoke, her heart thumping painfully in her throat. Heat rolled over her in vicious waves, forcing her to follow him closely. A moment later, two men stumbled out of the smoke, one supporting the other. They fell to the tunnel floor on their hands and knees in front of them, coughing.

Anna darted forward, under Zar’s arm. “Are you all right?” she asked, putting her hand on the first man’s shoulder.

Jean Paul peered up at her, his face almost unrecognizable under all the soot and blood covering him. “I’m relatively unharmed,” he said between coughs. “But Marc has inhaled too much smoke.” Jean Paul looked at Zar with tears in his eyes. “Your Highness, Zar, you must get out of here.”

“Is anyone else alive?”

“I don’t know. Marc is the only one I found.” For a moment, his chin quivered. “Most of the railcar is...gone.”

“I will not leave anyone behind to die in this inferno.”

“Your death is what they want, Your Highness.” Jean Paul extended a hand toward him, and Zar reached back, but before he could touch Jean Paul, Zar’s head snapped up to the left, as if he heard or saw something in that direction.

“Stay here,” he ordered, then lunged into the smoke.

Oh no, you don’t. Anna tried to follow, prepared to tackle him if she had to, to stop him, but Marc grabbed her hand with a tight grip. “Mademoiselle, no.”

She started to shake him off. “Let go of me.”

“If I can’t protect him,” the young man said, continuing to cough and sputter. “I will protect you.”

“Let me go, so I can protect him.”

Marc shook his head and hung on with the tenacity of a barnacle.

Zar reappeared out of the smoke, coughing and with someone slung over his shoulder.

Relief turned her knees into wet cardboard for a second before she forced them to keep her upright.

“We need to move away from the train to avoid the fire and smoke,” he ordered.

Anna eased under Marc’s arm. “We’re right behind you.” She glanced at Jean Paul to make sure he was okay, and he managed to nod at her.

They followed Zar as he walked along the train until their way was barred by a derailed train car.

The air was thick with smoke, and Anna found herself coughing almost continually. Jean Paul and Marc were doing the same, and it slowed them down a lot.

Coughing and sputtering, Zar knelt to lay down his burden, his profile lit by the flickering light of the fire, his face twisted with pain.

“Zar,” Anna cried, worry surging through her and twisting her gut into a tight ball of pain. She released Marc and dove at Zar before she could think about what she was doing, placing her hands on his cheeks and forcing his head up.

He met her gaze, his face grimy with soot, grabbed her wrists, and pulled her close. “I’m all right, ma cherie,” he whispered into her ear.

For a moment, Anna allowed herself to soak in the strength of his embrace. Then she gathered her fortitude, focused on the here and now, and slid out of his arms to give him a more thorough visual inspection. “Are you sure?”

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