Page 1 of His Impossible Heir

Chapter 1

The crowd in the airport was heavy and the noise almost deafening. Between the blinking signs, staff calling out gate instructions, throngs of people heading in a hundred different directions…it was all a mass of chaotic insanity and Amanda was exhausted, flustered, and knew she looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Which was true.

Everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Amanda tried to act as if she wasn’t entirely overwhelmed, but the constant shouts of excitement, the tears, hugs, and utter chaos made her head spin.

“Where are you?” she whispered to herself. She tried to see around the milling crush of people as she pulled her heavy suitcase behind her. But she was shorter than average and everyone was wearing thick, winter coats, making them appear larger than normal.

The scent of coffee washed over her and she almost turned in that direction, needing a spark of energy to get her through the next few hours. However, Amanda was aware that her best friend since their university days, Emma, was waiting for her somewhere in the airport. The faster she found her, the sooner she could get out of here.

Another announcement came through the overhead speakers, but Amanda was too overwhelmed to listen. Besides, she’d been up for hours, unable to sleep on the overnight flight from Philadelphia to Paris.

She should have told Emma, who had married Crown Prince Rayed el Mitra of Fahre, that she would just get a cab. It would have been easier than trying to find her friend in this chaos.

“Right!” she grumbled as she stepped to one side to let a man rush past her. He still managed to bump her shoulder and knock her rolling suitcase over. The jerk didn’t even slow down and she glared at his retreating back for a moment. Unfortunately, the glare didn’t teach him manners, so she righted the stupid suitcase and turned around, prepared to continue her search.

“Amanda!” a delighted voice called out over the buzz of airport passengers.

Startled, Amanda looked around, then spotted her best friend in the whole world waving at her. Emma was literally jumping up and down to see above the crowd.

Relief and happiness replaced irritation and anger. She almost dropped her suitcase, then remembered that the Charles De Gaul Airport wasn’t the best place to dump one’s stuff.

“Emma!” she called out, awkwardly making her way through the wall of people, hauling her suitcase behind her while hiking her tote bag higher on her shoulder and flinging the shawl around her throat. She didn’t care that the wool shawl was nearly choking her. Emma was so close!

Emma was just about to race through the crowd as well, but before Amanda’s friend took two steps, the strong arm of her handsome husband wrapped around her waist, stopping her. Amanda smiled as she watched Prince Rayed whisper in Emma’s ear. Fascinated, Amanda watched as Emma turned a lovely shade of pink and Amanda knew that she didn’t want to know what Rayed had just said to his wife.

Before that thought could fully process, Amanda was in front of her, throwing her arms around Emma. “Trying to run away from your body guards?” Amanda chuckled as she hugged her friend tightly, smiling brightly over Emma’s shoulder at Rayed. The big guy merely rolled his eyes, but the love was there too. It was like a physical force between Emma and Rayed. Amanda had felt their love before and was relieved that her friend was still madly in love with her husband.

“She’s still getting used to the restrictions of royal life,” he grumbled good naturedly.

Amanda laughed and pulled back, holding Emma’s hands out to her sides to get a better look at her friend. After a brief up and down, Amanda nodded with approval. “You look wonderful! Married life clearly agrees with you,” she told Emma, adding an affectionate double squeeze.

Emma laughed and linked her arm through Amanda’s. “You look worn out,” she replied, never one to hold back. “Oh, it’ssogood to see you!” she yelped, adding a few more bounces.

Amanda laughed again and they hugged even more tightly. Emma was more than just a friend. She was the sister Amanda had never had.

She saw the rising tension in Emma’s bodyguards and realized what was going on. “We need to get you out of here,” Amanda sighed in resignation, glancing at the bodyguards who were trying, unsuccessfully, to blend in with the other airport passengers, but they gave themselves away with their vigilance. Not to mention, the occasional comment whispered through the radios hidden under the cuff of their sleeves and the plastic earpieces that weren’t particularly inconspicuous.

Emma looked around at the guards and sighed. “You’re right, of course.” Her grimace transformed when she glanced up at her husband. “You know, we wouldn’t be as obvious if you’d stayed at the penthouse.”

Rayed grumbled quietly, then put a hand to his wife’s back, urging her towards the airport exit. “Let’s go, my woman.”

The guards surrounded them and Amanda smiled, shaking her head. “I could have gotten a taxi. There’s a line of them right there!” she pointed to the taxis that were waiting outside.

Emma shuddered. “Not a chance. Now that I visit the guard offices and hear about what happens in this world, there isn’t a chance in hell that I would let you get into a taxi.”

Amanda chuckled and, for the next forty minutes as the limousine drove through the beautiful streets of Paris, Emma and Amanda caught up on everything that had happened in their lives since their last phone call.

“So, when is the book conference?” Emma asked, referring to the reason Amanda was in Paris.

Amanda mentally groaned. She wasn’t looking forward to speaking in front of a large group of her peers. “The conference starts on Friday evening and goes through Sunday morning.”

“I’m so impressed that the organizers asked you to be a speaker!” Emma gasped, wiggling joyfully in the leather seat.

Amanda shook her head. “I’m terrified!” she admitted. “I don’t know why they asked me.”

Emma grinned triumphantly. “Because your last four books reached best seller status. Because your books are brilliant! Because you weave a mystery better than any other author out there!”

Amanda laughed, grateful for her friend’s support. “I don’t think any of my stories would have reached that status without your help. When you announce that you’re reading one of my books, everyone pays attention.”

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