Page 45 of His Impossible Heir

“I will.”

Emma shook her head. “No, I need you to call me as soon as you get on your flight, then as soon as you land. And then,again, after you’ve told him.”

Amanda laughed. “Why are you becoming a mother hen, all of a sudden?”

Emma gave her a half smile. “There are security issues to consider.” She patted Amanda’s hand. “You’re carrying the heir to a very powerful man. You really shouldn’t be on a commercial flight.” She hesitated for a moment, then continued, “In fact, you should be on a private plane with a military escort.”

Amanda rolled her eyes and sighed. “I’m going to go pack a small bag. I’ll probably only be gone for a couple of days.”

“That’s what you think!” Emma teased, standing up and following her friend into her bedroom. “Pack for at least a week.” Then she tilted her head. “No, on second thought, don’t bother packing anything more than a couple of outfits. I guarantee that none of your clothes will be good enough for whatever is coming at you next.”

Chapter 15

Amanda walked slowly down the long, open hallway to the luggage pickup. Her nerves were fluttering dangerously and she felt nauseous. Of course, she’d felt that way for the past several weeks, so nothing was new there. She’d picked at her in-flight meal, a reheated, barely recognizable piece of chicken covered in some sort of “cream” sauce. The flight attendants had been apologetic about the food they’d served on the overnight flight.

The airport in the capital city of Hadair was big and bright, ultra-modern and very efficient. The overhead signs helped visitors in several languages to find their way. Amanda swallowed as she followed the signs to the taxi service.

But before she could unload her suitcase, strong hands reached for it.

“Tito?” she yelped, looking at the man who was taking charge of her luggage. “What are you doing here?”

The man picked up her heavy suitcase as if it were a feather. He turned and handed it off to a second guard who quickly took charge of her luggage.

Tito turned to her. “We were informed of your flight plans about six hours ago, Ms. Thomas,” he explained, his expression shielded by dark sunglasses. “Would you please come with me?”

Amanda cringed from the man’s cool demeanor. What had happened to the casually friendly guard who had helped her so much in Paris?

She considered ignoring his order. It would be simple enough to just catch a taxi. But she really needed to speak with Daniesh. And how was she to get into the palace without Tito’s security clearance?

So she sighed and followed Tito. There, she found two more familiar bodyguards standing by an SUV that was waiting just outside the airport exit . “You can’t park there!” she gasped, looking around for the police who were sure to yell at them to keep moving.

“Wecanpark here,” Tito assured her. “But, if you wouldn’t mind, we do need to get moving ma’am.”

Amanda felt like a burden all the sudden, so she stood her ground. “Tito, I need to check into a hotel and then–”

He swept a glance around the parking area before turning back to her. “Princess Emma called to let us know you were coming.” He looked around again. “We need to get you to safety.”

Amanda mentally groaned at Emma’s machinations, but because they were done out of concern, she kept her mouth shut and ducked into the vehicle without another protest. There was a bunch of mental grumbling though! And Emma was going to get a big piece of Amanda’s mind. She even pulled out her phone, texting to her friend.

“You’re in so much trouble, woman!”

Emma sent back a winking smiling face.

The drive through the streets of Hadair’s capital was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. There were sirens and police vehicles halting traffic so the three black SUVs could drive straight through without stopping.

“What’s going on?” she asked, nervous and not sure why there was such a fuss being made.

“Prince Daniesh has requested that you be escorted to the palace promptly and without incident,” Tito replied, his eyes scanning the streets and buildings.

He was stiff and formal, unlike the man who had been so helpful in Paris. Amanda didn’t understand why, but he kept scanning the streets.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the caravan of SUVs drove through a set of formal gates. No, not a single set of gates. There were three sets of gates! The first set were ornate iron bars with a gold medallion in the middle. The second set were steel vertical bars reinforced with wide horizontal bars. This gate didn’t open until the first gate behind them was closed. She looked around, as panic welled up in her chest when she discovered that she was literally caged between the front and back gates with more reinforced bars along each side of the SUV.

“It’s okay,” Tito said, offering her a tight, but slightly reassuring smile. “You’re safe now.” He looked around, but his jaw was still tightly clenched. “Almost.”

Once the second gate opened, they drove down a cement tunnel into a parking garage. There were about fifty black SUVs and all of them looked exactly the same. She noticed that even the license plates were the same. Odd, but she didn’t say anything as the driver pulled through another gate.

He drove down several more levels and Amanda had to release her grip on the door handle when her fingers started cramping.

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