Page 2 of The Princess and Her Mercenary

Chapter Two

He’d waited for the woman for four months, sixteen days and a handful of hours. Keane was fucking done waiting. Patience, his boss and friend, Ivan, had told him. Play the long game. Ivan wanted to make sure his second-in-command could extract the Princess without getting killed. What a joke. Keane had the luck of the Irish. He could hit a palace in some obscure country and be out in a matter of minutes. He had full confidence.

Still, he’d waited. And he’d burned for her. He’d known at their first meeting that she was the one, yet he’d still been forced to let her go. Now, he pined after her like some love-struck pussy. He wanted her in a way he’d never wanted another woman. Sure, he liked to fuck around, had his share of women to keep him occupied. None of them were the Princess. She was a class unto herself and he couldn’t wait to get his hands on her for real. No more teasing, as she’d done to him while acting as a companion to Jaya. Ndari was about to become his for real.

Sure enough, minutes after he’d hidden himself in the palace, he heard the whisper of feet against the stone tiles, heading his way. He knew his woman, knew exactly where she would go if she thought the palace was under attack. Shouts halted the progression of the woman coming toward him and then he heard her voice filter through the door as she shouted back.

“Carry on, gentlemen. It’s just a little power outage, I’ll be fine.”

Keane melted into the shadows as she pushed open the heavy door to the jewel room and slipped inside. Her dark head was turned as though she was concentrating on something on the other side of the door. Then she closed and locked it, turning to face the room. A slow grin spread across her face as she surveyed her surroundings. She was visible in the dim lighting of the various display cases.

She was fucking gorgeous, even more beautiful than he remembered. Her dark hair was loose and flowing down her back. Black with streaks of honey and brown. Her big eyes were a stunning, deep velvet brown. Her body was a mouth-watering picture of curves packed into a floor length blue dress with a slit right up to her thigh and running shoes on her feet. Loosely clasped around her shoulders was some kind of strange cloak with feathers. Trust the Princess to wear something completely inappropriate to a kidnapping. Of course, she didn’t know there was about to be a kidnapping.

She approached the first display case, stepping right up to it and pressing her hands against the glass. “Greetings, my children,” she murmured, tilting her head to get a better look. Keane smothered a chuckle at the way her eyes lit up. Woman sure did love her jewels. He would have to make sure she stayed showered in them. The way to his Princess’s heart was through the shiny stuff.

She left the first display case and prowled around the room checking on all the others. She paused here and there but only for a few seconds at a time before stopping in front of a glass case off to the left, the one closest to Keane’s position. She moved around the case until her back was to him, her hands on the glass.

“Here we are little darlings, did you miss your mama?” she asked, her voice bouncy with anticipation. She tapped one long lacquered fingernail against the glass.

“Don’t know if those bits of coloured glass missed you, but I sure as fuck did.” Keane stepped out of the shadows and into the light so she could see him. His heart pounded in happiness and anticipation as she whirled around, her hand clutching her throat.

Finally, his princess.

“Linton!” she gasped, calling him by his first name, something only his woman and his mother could get away with. Her eyes were wide and startled and she clutched a hand to her neck.

Then, after a flash of recognition and excitement, she dropped her hand to her hip and gave him a small frown. “What are you doing here?”

“Believe I told you I’d be coming for you,” he told her, stepping closer. “Just before you left Jakarta.”

She pressed herself back against the display case, her hands wide on either side of it, as though protecting her precious jewels. “I thought you were joking!” she said incredulously. “Like a one-night stand who tells you he’ll call.” She seemed to think about what she said and then added, “Okay, it’s not like we ever… but still, I didn’t think you’d actually come here.”

Keane took the final step separating them. His voice came out as a growl when he demanded, “Who didn’t call you? I’ll rip him to pieces.”

She looked frantically around, as though searching for an escape, then glanced back up at him. “What? No, of course it wasn’t like that. I was always the one who promised to call and didn’t.”

He roared with laughter. “Won’t be happening with me, Princess. You won’t be leaving me, so there’ll be no need for the obligatory call.”

“Okay, whatever,” she said impatiently and brought her hands up, putting them on his chest and giving an experimental push. Of course, he didn’t budge, but he loved the feel of those fingers against him, even if it was through his desert jacket and armored vest. “You need to get out of here, right now. My brother is going to kill you if he finds you in here. Or anywhere on the premises for that matter. He’s been very touchy about having strangers in the palace after the coup attempt when my father died. The guards have an execute on sight notice if they find someone breaking in.”

Keane touched her then, he couldn’t help himself. Her passion, no matter how it was directed, lit up her eyes and animated her gorgeous features. And here she was trying to protect him from the palace guards. She was adorable.

It was the guards who would need protection from him. Keane wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward the door. “C’mon, we gotta go. Don’t want this to get messy unless it has to.”

“My jewels!” she cried as he pulled her away.

“Right.” He let her go and turned toward the display case, pulling his gun from the holster under his arm.

“What are you - ?” He shot the glass before she could finish the question.

Shattered glass hit the floor and, without pause, Keane took a handful of the jewelry and shoved them in his jacket pocket. Sirens split the air, an alert to the palace guards that there were intruders. Keane grabbed everything he saw, tucking them safely away in whatever pocket was handy. He picked up the tiara last. It was a stunning creation of fine looping silver and diamonds. He turned, stepped up to Ndari and set it atop her smooth head.

“Perfect,” he announced, then grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the door.

Ndari tugged her hands from his and walked up to another display case. She gave him a pointed look before punching in a code. The light on the display went from red to green and she was able to open a door in the glass, reach in and grab another handful of jewels.

“You need to work on your burglary skills. Not very subtle, Keane,” she said drily, shoving what looked like rubies into a pocket in her cloak. She reached up to touch her crown, a sigh of satisfaction leaving her plump lips.

“Yeah, I sort of got that.” He pulled another bulletproof vest from his jacket and shoved it over her head, careful to avoid the tiara. Feathers from her cloak puffed out from the arm holes. Ndari held her arms up so he could zip and buckle it.

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