She must have a made a noise, maybe a low moan, because suddenly he was staring at her, the phone still at his ear. His mouth dropped open slightly. His eyes were dark. His frown started slowly and by the time he ended his call he was glowering at her.
He shot to his feet and smoothed out his expression. He bowed to her behind the glass. “Your Highness, to what do I owe this pleasure?”
There was that tightly-reined calm again. Angelina refused to let it get to her. She swept her gaze over the room. “Very impressive. It screams, ‘Trust us.’”
“That’s good to know.” His face was now a mask, his voice icy. “Now what can I do for you?”
She swallowed. This was more difficult than she thought it would be. “I thought we could talk.”
“I’m extremely busy, Your Highness.”
She could hear muted conversations behind the wall separating the desk from the rooms behind it. Lights blinked on the telephone. A steady beep came from the computer.
“So I can see. That’s probably a good thing, right? For a new business to be busy?” Angelina rarely babbled, but the right words didn’t seem to be coming out of her mouth.
His expression softened minutely. “Very good. But what…” His words trailed off and he narrowed his eyes as he looked around her. “Where’s Carmine?”
“Outside,” she lied. Rico would flip out if he knew she’d borrowed a car and ditched her current bodyguard so she could have a heart-to-heart with her former bodyguard. “Look, Rico, I’m glad your business is getting off the ground. I don’t want to interrupt—”
Someone called his name from the back. He glanced over his shoulder and then turned to her. “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I have to see what he needs.”
She cleared her throat before she could speak. She had to get the words out, the right words, before he walked away from her for good. “You know, I never felt worthy of you.”
That stopped him from turning away. “What are you talking about?”
“Everything you can do? The life you’ve built?” She swept her arm around the room. “You did this all on your own. It’s all Rico. And that’s amazing.” She raked her hands through her hair. “Me? Princess Angelina? That’s just an accident of birth. I didn’t earn it.”
He frowned, but didn’t speak. Maybe he didn’t care.
She forced more words out of her mouth, kept smiling even as her heart was sinking. “So anyway, I hoped that, even though I don’t deserve a great guy like you, maybe we could get together sometime. You know, go out to dinner? A little dancing? Talk?”
He kept frowning. His mouth opened. Closed. She hoped her little speech would get through to him but in the end, he shook his head and put the mask back up. “We don’t have anything more to talk about, Princess.”
“But I thought…”
Rico shook his head again. “You’ll have to find someone else to go on dates with, Your Highness. I’m not interested. And tell your bodyguard he needs to take better care of you. He shouldn’t have let you out of his sight.”
Tears prickled at her eyes. More stupid tears. She’d bared her soul to Rico and he didn’t care. Surely if he’d loved her, her words would have meant something to him. She was really glad Carmine hadn’t been here to witness her total failure. She nodded quickly, turned jerkily, and stumbled from the building as quickly as she could.
Right into the arms of two large men in dark suits and a gun that pressed painfully into her ribs.
Rico scrubbed his face with his hands before the princess was even out the door. She had a way of disturbing his hard-won peace of mind. But the moment he saw her standing there in those worn jeans and tight T-shirt, her hair swirling around her shoulders, her eyes bright and hopeful, he could barely breathe. He’d been immediately thrown back to their time in Tuscora. All he knew was he had to get her out of there before he forgot why they couldn’t have a future together.
He hadn’t even been able to understand what the businessman who wanted security for a charity event had been saying. Rico finally told him he’d have to call him back. He should do that, but as soon as his heart stopped galloping in his chest, he had to see what Jon wanted first. Why did Angelina have to come here? And why had she been allowed to leave the palace in the first place? Had they finally discovered who was behind the kidnapping attempt?
But before Rico could call Tony to check, or go back to see what his systems designer needed, or return the call to the charity guy, someone burst through the front door. Rico’s hand flew automatically to his hip and he was immediately thankful for the bulletproof glass. Then he relaxed when he saw it was Maria’s boyfriend.
“What’s going on, Seb? I thought you and Maria were shopping this afternoon.” Then Rico had promised he’d take them to the palace and stay to have dinner with them and his parents.
Seb’s eyes were wild, his breathing labored. “Someone just kidnapped Princess Angelina!”
“What?” If Rico didn’t know Seb, he’d be worried. “Why would you think that?”
“Two guys just pulled her into a black car. I’m sure at least one of them had a gun.”
On the busy boulevard? “I’m sure it was her bodyguards keeping her safe.”
“No. She came by herself. I saw her park an old car down the street and walk here. Alone.”
“She said her bodyguard was outside.” Had Angelina lied to him? Possibilities started whirling through Rico’s brain. Could Seb be right? Had the princess been kidnapped right outside his security building?
“While Maria was shopping I was practicing my surveillance skills, see?” Words spilled out of Seb’s mouth so fast, Rico almost couldn’t understand him. “I watched the princess all the way from her car to this building. While she was inside, this black car pulled up out front. I had no idea it was the bad guys, of course, until it was too late. I was too far away to stop them. I can’t believe I let them take her.”
The young man’s panic was real, of that Rico was certain. “Did you see what direction they went?”
“Yeah.” Now Seb grinned. “I even got the license number.”
Thrown into the back of the dark car, Angelina stopped struggling when the two men leveled their guns at her. Were these the men who’d shot Enzo and Donato? She wished she’d taken the self-defense training Rico had offered before they left for Tuscora. Maybe she could have learned some way to not get taken off the street when a gun was shoved in her side.
It happened so fast. She couldn’t believe she didn’t cry out, didn’t fight at all. But her throat had closed up when she felt the gun in her side and her legs carried her into the car with no hesitation. Had anyone on the sidewalk seen what happened? Did Rico know? She should never have left the palace without Carmine.
“What do you want? Where are we going?” Angelina asked. One of the men had crawled over her so that she was crowded on the back seat between the two men. Her voice shook so badly she could hardly make out the words.
“Just be quiet,” one of the men said. He had a big nose and an even bigger gun. “Be still and you will not get hurt.”
That hard, clipped accent. She’d heard it before. Her blood was pounding so loudly in her head she couldn’t think. Her whole body shivered. How could Rico be so calm in dangerous situations? Angelina took deep breaths and tried to think of what Rico would do in a circumstance like this.
The slow breathing helped. The voice, that harsh Slavic accent, came back to her suddenly, and with it a face. And a name. Long blond hair, a sharp nose and thin lips. Prince Viktor from some tiny nation in Eastern Europe she could never remember how to pronounce. He might have been attractive if it hadn’t been for his cold smile. He’d kept his hands to himself for the most part, but he’d immediately assumed since they’d been paired for a charity ball, that she’d want to be paired with him forever.
She’d blocked his calls too. His name had been on the list she’d given Tony.
But the voices shouting out that night on the darkened street didn’t have the same accent. Did they? Surely she would have remembered that. So did that mean someone other than Viktor was responsible the first time, or just that he’d hired local thugs for the first attempt and when they didn’t get the desired results, he sent his own men this time?
That was more likely.
The car stopped. It didn’t seem as if they’d driven all that far so they must still be in the city. The windows were tinted so dark it was hard to see out of them. It looked as though they’d pulled up in front of a large villa, close to the street. Maybe she could make a break for it when they got out of the car.
But then the car pulled through an archway and an ironwork gate automatically opened to a courtyard and circular drive behind the house. The car stopped in front of a large wooden door. The thug with the big nose wrapped his huge hand around Angelina’s arm and dragged her out of the car.
“How dare you treat me like this!” she cried. “Let go of me.” Big Nose just chuckled darkly and tugged her through the doorway and down a long hallway that finally opened up into a large bright room. Angelina tried to pull away from his grasp, but he just tightened his fingers. “Hey, that hurts!”
“Do not hurt the princess.” Viktor stepped away from the fireplace that was roaring even though it was warm outside. The room was like a furnace. “Release her now.” He ran his slimy gaze over her and frowned. “My darling, what are those rags you are wearing?”
She tugged her arm again and this time Big Nose let her go. “I’m not your darling and I’m wearing what I want to wear. What do you think you’re doing having me snatched right off the street?”
“I wanted to see you. Talk to you.” He slowly approached her. He was as elegantly dressed as if he was going to a dinner party. He gently took her arm and brushed his thumb over the bruise already forming below the edge of her shirt sleeve. “You should not have resisted. You would not have been hurt.”
She shuddered from his touch and held on to her anger. “Two of my bodyguards were nearly killed.”
“I regret that,” he told her, continuing to run his thumb over her skin. “I had explicitly said no one was to get hurt, but sometimes my men are a little too eager. They did not want to disappoint me. They knew how badly I wanted you here.”
“You kidnapped me,” she said, the incredulity clear in her voice. It didn’t seem real, more like one of those movies she watched late at night when she couldn’t sleep.
“I wanted you here,” he said matter-of-factly. “Do you know how angry I was when I was unable to talk to you after we had that wonderful evening at the embassy? You refused to give me any way to contact you. What was I supposed to do?”
“You were supposed to take my word for it when I told you I didn’t want to see you again. You were supposed to honor my request to leave me alone.”
“But I cannot do that, my darling.” He stroked her hair and she shuddered.
She stepped away from him and she was relieved he let her go. “You’re scaring me, Viktor.”
“Nonsense.”
“You had me grabbed off the street. There are men pointing guns at me. Anyone would be frightened.”
He took her hand and drew her farther into the room. “We shall start over again. I have no desire to frighten you. We will talk and you will see I want you to be happy. With me.”
“Viktor. You have to let me go. I want to go home.” She hoped if she spoke calmly and rationally with him, he’d be reasonable.
“First, you will dress in clothes befitting a princess. Then we will talk. Then I will take you home.” He spoke softly but she didn’t think it was only the hard accent that made him sound evil. Everything about him made fear slither up her spine.
“Just like that?” she asked. She wondered if
Signora
Bea had told anyone yet that Angelina had borrowed the car and left the palace grounds. Was anyone looking for her yet? Or did no one else even know she was gone?
“Of course,” he replied. “The plane will be ready by the time we finish our conversation.”
She stiffened. “Plane?”
“I am taking you home with me, Angelina. Where you belong.”
So much for being calm. “Are you crazy?” she cried. “I’m not going anywhere with you!”
Viktor grabbed the back of her neck, bent her backward and leaned in so close that his breath heated her face. “I did not go through all this trouble so that I could let you go back to your sick father and doting brothers. You are mine, Angelina.”
She couldn’t even shake her head. “No.”
“You will never be queen of Mezzano. I can make you a queen.”
“I don’t want to be queen.” Any queen. Especially his queen.
“Your Highness?” A timid female voice reached them.
Viktor released Angelina and she stumbled back. Big Nose was behind her, ready to remind her he was there, that she couldn’t get away. Viktor turned to a small woman holding a silken gown in a beautiful shade of lavender. He took the gown from the servant who skittered away.
“This is much better than those rags you are wearing.” He shoved the dress into Angelina’s hands. “Change.”
She took the dress. If she went along with him for a while, perhaps it would give her a chance to find a way to escape. “Where’s the bathroom?” She hoped it had a window.
Viktor’s chuckle was as evil as she remembered. “You can change right here.”