Page 12 of Royal Guard

I forced myself to straighten up. Halfway there, we locked eyes and I froze. I could see the need in her, the reflection of that pull I was feeling. I could hear her breathing quickening, matching mine. All I had to do was tug on her hand and pull her in for arealkiss—

She’s a goddamn princess!

I straightened fully and looked away. Immediately, she looked away too. And then she was hurrying out the door.

All the FBI agents were occupied organizing the convoy so I wandered to an upstairs window to watch.Three big black SUVs were standing by the curbside.This is it, then. Goodbye.I’d only known her a handful of hours but the idea of not being there to protect her was chewing away at me. Even though she was with the FBI now. Even though the danger was probably passed. I still had that itch between my shoulder blades. Something about this wasn’t right.

Or maybe I just didn’t want to let her go.

The Princess’s entourage were getting into the center car while FBI agents got into the front and rear ones.See? Lots of protection. I did the right thing.

They got the Princess to climb in last, so she was exposed as little as possible.Smart. They know their stuff. I did the right thing.

She had to bundle up the skirts of the huge dress like a bride on the way to her wedding. Her pale skin gleamed in the dim interior of the car, her chestnut hair shone—

I did the right thing.

An FBI agent slammed the door and—

Suddenly, I was running. Jumping down the stairs. Grabbing my kit bag. I burst out through the doors, ran over to the Princess’s car and jumped in beside her. “I’ll come with you as far as the airport,” I told her breathlessly.

A delighted smile spread across her face, so wide I could see her fighting to control it. She looked down at her knees for a second, then back to me. “Very well, Mr. Buchanan.”

I looked around for the first time. The back of the car was huge, with three seats facing backward and three facing forward. The Princess sat directly across from me, with her two guards next to her. Emerik was giving Jakov another of those long, venomous stares.What was it between those two? Sitting next to me was Caroline...and in the final seat was FBI Director Gibson. I was surprised that he’d come along but it gave me even more respect for the guy.

The convoy moved off. For the first few minutes, I just soaked up how beautiful she looked. With the door closed, the tinted windows made it even dimmer inside and her pale skin and the cream dress seemed to shine. I felt...lucky,just to be near her.

But by the time we reached the highway, the silence had become uncomfortable. I realized the entourage were used to this: they’d sit there quietly while the Princess chatted away to some prime minister or president. NowIwas that guest, sitting right across from the Princess, and they were all waiting for me to say something. I felt my neck getting hot.Goddamn it, I’m no good at this stuff.The Princess gave me a desperate look—

“Your English is real good,” I muttered.

She beamed, relieved. “English is actually our official language.”

I blinked. They spoke English in Lakovia?

“It’s a funny story,” said the Princess. “About three hundred years ago—”

Movement just outside the window caught my eye. A red SUV was pulling alongside us, its window open. I caught a glimpse of a black-clad figure and the gleam of a gun barrel—

“Get down!”I yelled. I lunged forward, hooked the Princess around the waist and threw us to the floor, my body covering hers, as bullets ripped through the car.

8

KRISTINA

My face was pressedinto the floor: all I could see was clean, charcoal-gray carpet, still with that new-car smell, and polished leather shoes. Then there was a deafening sound I remembered from the war, like a thousand firecrackers being set off right inside my eardrums. The windows didn’t break, they exploded, thousands of little pebbles of safety glass tinkling as they cascaded down.

But they didn’t hit me. A huge, warm body was pressed to every inch of me, coming up over my head and reaching back past my feet. I could feel the hard bulges of his biceps as they pressed my arms to the floor. I could feel his hot breath on the top of my head and the beat of his heart as his chest pressed into my back.

I was utterly terrified. But it was the safest I’d ever felt.

When I was a child, the President of Italy boughtme a teddy bear. A huge, ludicrous thing, much bigger than me - it was almost five feet tall and incredibly soft. I named it Barnaby and used to curl up in its lap and fall asleep cuddling it. But what I used to dream about, what I used to try to simulate, by wrapping its paws around me, wasitcuddlingme.Even before the war, my mother never really seemed to do that.

When I was ten, I came home one day to find that my mother had thrown Barnaby away. He was childish, she said. It was time to grow up. And of course I had to be brave and not cry because I was a princess. But I’d lost that feeling of someone wrapping me up and holding me close and I’d been missing it ever since.

Until now.

I squeezed my eyes closed and, despite the danger we were in, there was a part of me that just wanted Garrett to keep holding me that way.

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