Page 41 of The Princess and Her Mercenary

"Tell me please," she asked. "I really want to know. I won't be freaked out, I promise."

They were stopped at a red light, so he turned to look at her, searching her features, as though wondering if she could handle the truth of his chosen profession.

"A group of Brazilian soldiers have gone rogue and are killing civilians. Their perception is that the civilians are somehow involved in the drug trade over there. The soldiers have gone vigilante in an attempt to quell the drug trade. I've been hired to stop the soldiers." The light turned green and he drove through the intersection making his way toward the hotel.

Ndari thought about it for a moment. "So… you'll have to kill the soldiers?"

"Yes," he said shortly. She asked for the truth and he was giving her the truth. It didn't matter that it was an uncomfortable truth.

"So, these people that are into drugs, are they drug dealers, are they drug users?" Ndari was trying to feel her way around in a new world. She didn't really understand the mercenary business and she definitely didn't understand the strife and struggle happening in other nations. She was almost embarrassed to admit that she never really had anything to do with world politics. She spent most of her life cloistered in a palace. She guessed mercenaries would have to know about stuff like that, so that they would know what contracts to take.

"It's complicated," Keane said. "To the soldiers it doesn't matter whether the people are drug users or drug dealers. If they have anything to do with drugs, as far as the soldiers are concerned, they should be dead. My question is, who decides the value of life? Who says that the user is any more desperate than the dealer? There is usually a reason why so many people living below the poverty line end up in the drug trade. And it's not to become rich."

Keane was giving her a lot to think about. He came across as this big gruff, perhaps less than intelligent, guy. But he wasn't. He was thoughtful. And she suspected he accepted his contracts based on his own conscience. Something she wouldn't have thought about him.

"But you kill people? Aren't you deciding the value of life by accepting lucrative contracts to take the lives of others?" Ndari asked the tough question, a question that she knew would bother her once Keane was back in the field.

He shrugged. "Some people just need killing."

Though the conversation wasn't an easy one and the conclusion was somewhat messy, Ndari was glad that they broached it. If they could talk about the morality surrounding murder, then they could tackle any topic as a couple. Perhaps a somewhat simplistic viewpoint, but Ndari was in a new world with new rules and she was learning fast.

When they arrived at the hotel, she was ready to let these deep thoughts go and embrace the sensual side of their relationship. Whenever they were alone together in a room Keane couldn't keep his hands off her, and she loved it.

A grin started to stretch her lips as the elevator took them up towards their suite. They stepped off the elevator together but before Ndari could move toward their room, Keane shoved his arm out across her chest and pushed her into the wall. He covered her with his bigger body, pulling his two guns out of their holsters and holding them low and to his side.

"What's happening?" Ndari asked, glancing around her with fear. What was he seeing that she wasn't?

"My men." Keane bit out.

"Where are your men?" Ndari asked, confused. When they left there had been two men stationed in the hallway.

"Exactly."

Ndari's heart started to beat harder. Had Eoin changed his mind? Was he coming after Keane with guns blazing? From everything Ndari had seen and learned about Keane and his men, they worked as a team. They were fluid. They almost didn't need words. They knew what their leader wanted, and they executed with precision. They were so good at their job that Ndari hardly even knew they were there. Part of that was conditioning from her palace life, but the larger part was just how good Keane and his team were at their jobs.

"What are we going to do?" Ndari asked worriedly.

"I’m going to get you somewhere safe, then I’m going hunting,” he growled, his muscles rippling with unreleased aggression. “We're too exposed out here. The elevator boxes us in. We need to take the stairs, where we can go either up or down, depending on where the threat’s coming from." Keane put one of his guns back in the holster and pulled a big sharp knife. Ndari guessed it was for close quarters combat.

Ndari didn't want to be separated from Keane, but she recognized that she would slow him down if she went with him. Finding a safe place for her was probably their best option. Keane shuffled her toward the door with the big bright exit sign, the stairs. He shoved the door open but before they could walk through, half a dozen palace guards pushed them back. Oh shit, this wasn't about Keane, this was about her.

“Tereq!” Ndari gasped, glaring at her persistent cousin.

She could feel Keane tensing behind her, getting ready to launch himself at the guards. She stepped between him and the guards and held her hands out. "Everyone just calm down; we've been through this before. I'm not going back with you."

Tereq stepped forward. "You don't need to come with us, Princess. Because the Crown Prince has decided to come to you."

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