Page 53 of The Reluctant Wife

"What are you up to?" I growl.

"Me?" he says in an innocent voice. My instincts warn me he’s going in for the kill. Sure enough, his next words are, "If you don’t bring them to my place for dinner tonight, the king will withdraw the contract for security from Quentin’s company."

"What?" I blink.

"Which means, you won’t be going to Verenza to keep an eye on the princess."

I draw in a sharp breath.

"Her fiancé will be accompanying her, of course."

Frustration knots my belly.

"And if you don’t continue as her bodyguard, there’ll have to be someone else who’ll be in close quarters with her, keeping an eye on her."

Fucking hell, Gramps has my number.Am I that obvious?Most likely, he’s trying to rile me, but that doesn’t stop me from tensing up. My insides churn.Someone else taking over for me? Someone else living in close proximity with her, accompanying her to her public engagements? Someone else breathing in the same air as her?

A sharp burst of anger shoots through my bloodstream.

"It might even be her old head of security, who could be reassigned by the king to her protection detail."

"That bastard doesn’t know his ass from his elbow," I growl.

"Of course, there’s no one as effective as you’d be in this scenario, but I believe the king’s words were 'needs must,' and such," he adds in a casual tone.

The old man is playing me. And I’m taking his bait. I’m aware of it and am unable to stop it. I squeeze my fingers around my phone with such force, the cover cracks. "The fuck do you want?" I growl.

"Language," my grandfather admonishes, then in the same breath says, "it’s not me who wants anything; this is the king’s diktat."

"You expect me to believe that?" I sneer.

"Believe what you want. Bottom line, you need to bring the princess and her fiancé to dinner tonight, or else you forfeit the role of her bodyguard."

I clench the fingers of my free hand into a fist.Goddammit.I hate ultimatums. And yet, he’s putting me on the spot, and he knows it. "It’s not safe for her to be back in the city."

If he realizes it’s a capitulation on my part and that he’s won this round, he doesn’t show it. "You’ll be with her, as will the rest of your team, not to mention your brothers, many of whom aretrained military personnel. And you’ll, no doubt, take all of the necessary precautions to ensure her safety. She’ll be fine."

"I wish I shared your confidence." I roll my shoulders, trying to displace the stabbing pain that’s crawled between my shoulder blades. It’s a sign that I’m on alert, and I welcome it.

"Not like you to doubt yourself." Gramps’ voice softens.

"They almost got her the last time." I squeeze my eyes shut, recalling the pain, the anger, the helplessness, the sheer impotence I felt when I saw the crimson pinpoint of the laser sight on her. "If it hadn’t been for?—"

"You," he interrupts. "You were there, and you saved her. You’ll make sure nothing happens to her."

"I was lucky the last time." I crack my neck.

"Not like you to be so diffident. I understand, when it’s someone you have feelings for?—"

"Feelings? I don’t have feelings," I lie. But he’s right. Where she’s concerned, my emotions are firmly in the mix, but I'll be damned if I’m going to let him know that. Besides, that was before she told me she was engaged. I’m not going to let myself continue down this path, now that I know she’s going to marry someone else. And then, there’s the fact she didn't mention it to me. The combination of which tells me, I need to keep my association with her strictly professional from now on.

"Of course not; a slip of the tongue." Arthur’s voice is bland. "When it’s someone you feel responsible for, of course, it’s normal to be a little shaken. But it means you’re going to be even more on guard from now on. You’re best suited to be her protection."

He’s right. In the silence that follows, I sense Arthur nod. Then a new thought strikes me.Why did the princess’ engagement not make it into her file? I had my team screen her and everyone in her circle before I signed on to this assignment, and no mention of a fiancé was flagged.I straighten. Unless—I walk out of earshot of Tyler and Aura, then turn my back on them.

“You made sure news of her upcoming nuptials didn’t show up on her background check,” I growl into the phone.

The silence lengthens. And it confirms what was a glimmer of suspicion in my mind. For really, who’d have the power and the motivation to do such a thing but Arthur?

---