Page 7 of The Princess and Her Mercenary

A loud cracking sound made her jump and whirl around. Before she could ask what he was doing, he did it again, stomping his boot down in the corner of the tent. “Got it!” he said. “Damn thing jumped when I tried to kill it the first time.”

“Excuse me?” Ndari asked, her voice dripping in disgust. “There are jumping bugs here?”

She actually had very little idea of what wildlife were native to the region; she hadn’t paid attention to that part of her curriculum while she was being educated by the palace tutor.

“Apparently,” Jacob said, unconcerned.

Ndari reached her limit of diplomacy. “Please fetch Mr. Keane for me, I’d like to have a word with him.” She was going to explain exactly how he was going to take her back to the palace and how he was going to do it effective immediately. Yes, she’d wanted to escape the boredom of the palace, but she did not sign up for jumping bugs. He could come back and kidnap her again when he had a better plan that included a mansion and enough staff to cater to all of her needs.

Jacob left without another word and Ndari had the sense he was not going to fetch her captor. Well, what was she to do now? She looked around again. This whole predicament was becoming less and less amusing. Finally, she decided her only course of action was to rifle through Keane’s things. He obviously didn’t mind since he left her alone with his stuff.

She gingerly sat on the camp chair and pulled the big backpack toward her. She flipped the top open and immediately regretted the action when the first thing she saw was a handful of grenades inside a plastic ziplock bag.

“Oh… fuck,” she pulled the bag out and set it on the floor with the care of someone who was positive she was holding a live bomb. “There has to be a better way to pack hand grenades.” Now that was a sentence Ndari never expected to utter.

Next came two handguns, followed by several boxes of bullets. She found a clip of bullets that she suspected belonged to an automatic gun. Below the guns was an assortment of daggers and knives that would make a retail store specializing in knives proud. By the time Ndari reached his clothing, she was feeling faint and a little sick to her stomach. She’d seen him working, knew he was a security specialist, but she hadn’t imagined the scope of his artillery. And, of course, she realized this wouldn’t even touch the surface of his weaponry. He would’ve left the bulk at home.

Determined to reach the bottom of the pack, since she’d come this far, Ndari pulled out several T-shirts, two pairs of fatigue pants, socks and underwear. She held up a pair of white briefs. Who would’ve thought? The badass mercenary was a tightie whitie guy.

There was only one thing left, in the very bottom of the pack. A photo. She pulled it out and flipped it over. Her heart stuttered as she realized it was a picture of her. Damn, she looked good. She was sitting next to the pool at Jaya's and Ivan’s penthouse, the skirt of her sundress hiked up to her thighs, her legs dangling in the water. She looked concentrated, but happy. It was a rare candid moment, when she had no idea she was being watched.

Ndari couldn’t remember the exact moment, but she was pleased that it had made enough of an impact on Keane that he had kept a photo of her. She sighed and placed it back in the bottom of his bag. The giant badass kidnapper definitely had a romantic side.

“Still,” she sighed regretfully. “It’ll never work.”

She stood and dusted the imaginary sand off her skirt. The heat was stifling and relief skated through her when she removed the bulletproof vest and cloak and threw them on the bed. She looked at the cloak regretfully; it had taken a beating in their mad dash from the palace.

A long wicked curved blade caught her attention. She picked it up and ran a finger over the sharp edge as she thoughtfully examined the side of the tent.

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