“No!” Suddenly, Rachel surged to her feet and stood between them, chin lifted in an all-too-familiar way.
“Rachel—”
“Oh, do not get that condescending tone with me, Peter Jones.” She emphasized her statement with a hard finger to Peter’s chest.
Alex had to stifle his laughter as his daughter practically shoved his unprepared-for-it chief of security on his ass.
“You would have me hide, non? Well, I won’t have it. This is my home. This is
my life
. And no one is going to take those things away from me. So, Mr. Hot Shot Security Chief, you do whatever the hell it is that you need to do to make me as safe as possible. But I am not going to hide my head in the dirt like an ostrich.”
“Sand.”
“Eh?”
“The saying is to ‘hide one’s head in the
sand
like an ostrich.’”
They stood toe to toe, both so angry and so loud they ignored the presence of everyone else in the room. Alex raised his eyebrow and exchanged a knowing look with Hannah. Then he cleared his throat. When both his daughter and Peter looked at him, he shook his head and turned his attention to the doctor.
“How is she?”
“She seems well, considering her ordeal, Your Majesty. If she has any blurred vision or nausea, she should be taken to the hospital immediately. Otherwise, I prescribe quiet and rest for twelve hours, and aspirin if necessary for discomfort.”
“Thank you, doctor. You can be assured she will be closely monitored.”
Alex waited until the doctor had left, then turned to Peter. “I sympathize with your desire to tuck her away and keep her safe. That is my first instinct, as well. But you know my policy on such matters. When we do what our hearts sometimes beg us to do, then those who would terrorize, win. I have faith in your ability to keep my daughter safe. We will all discuss, tomorrow, this latest letter, and what extra measures can be taken. But I find I must agree with Rachel.”
“Damn it. Sir.”
Alex chuckled, then clapped Peter on the shoulder. Hugging Rachel, he kissed her forehead like he used to when she had been small.
“The two of you go someplace where you can rest quietly. Hannah and I will return to the ball and let the others know that all is well.”
“I’m really feeling fine, Papa, I don’t need—”
“No more arguments!” Peter’s tone was deadly firm. “Damn it to hell, Rachel, I’ll carry you to your room if I have to.”
Alex saw that his daughter appeared to be weighing her chances against Peter’s will. And he wondered if this latest protest wasn’t just so she could capitulate.
“All right. My feet are sore, anyway.”
He didn’t move for a long moment after Rachel and Peter left the room. He didn’t even notice when Hannah approached him.
“Why don’t you take a moment and a few deep breaths?” she asked as she slipped her arms around him.
He did and, closing his eyes, blessed her presence. “Oh, God,” he whispered. He felt the strength of Hannah’s embrace soothe and bolster him, allowing him one moment to be, simply, a father.
“Two years ago, when Philip called me to tell me he’d found Rachel and was rushing her to hospital, that she’d been given a drug overdose, I thought that would be the most frightened I would ever be. But I was wrong. This is far more frightening. I do want to lock her away. And I know that I cannot.”
“No, you can’t.”
“One of the very few negative things about being king.”
“She played Peter very well, I thought.” Hannah said quietly.
Laughing, Alex hugged her tight, then placed a noisy kiss on her lips. “Yes, she did, didn’t she?” Stepping back, he took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But for what?”
“For being here with me. For putting your arms around me when you knew I needed to be held for a moment.”
“I think in that particular moment, we held each other.”
“I think you’re right. Now smile, my dear. It’s time to be seen once more.”
* * * *
“You piqued Gina’s curiosity.”
Peter grinned. “No, I just became her hero for giving her the rest of the evening off. You don’t need her. I’ll be your lady’s maid for tonight.”
“Somehow, I don’t think her uniform would fit you.”
“Ha, ha. Now turn around.”
When she did, Peter tried to stop the trembling of his hands as he unfastened the buttons on her dress. Nothing had ever shaken him so badly as running into that salon and seeing Rachel in a crumpled heap on the floor. Once he’d unfastened her gown, he wrapped his arms around her from behind and held on.
“I’m all right, Peter.”
“Well, I’m not, so let me hang on for a moment, okay?” When she moved to turn around, he allowed it and sighed when she wrapped her arms around him. She shuddered once. The delayed reaction told him she understood how close she’d come to being seriously hurt. In this case, fear could be a good thing. Fear meant she’d be more careful, take his warnings more seriously. Or so he hoped.
“Are you going to come to bed with me?”
“In here?” He made a show of looking around at the decidedly feminine décor. Rachel chuckled, going up on her toes to plant a chaste kiss on his lips.
“Or your room. I don’t care which.”
“We can bunk here tonight. Why don’t you get into your pajamas, and I’ll have the kitchen send us up some tea?” He linked his fingers with hers, reassuring himself that she really was all right.
“I’d rather have something stronger than tea.”
“Not with the knock on the noggin you took. Do you have aspirin up here?”
“No.”
“I’ll have them send some of that up, too.” Leaning forward, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips. It took everything in him to keep things light.
“Lady’s maid and nursemaid?”
He tapped her nose lightly with his fingertip. “Yeah. Deal with it. If you give me any trouble, I’ll have your brother come up and give you a shot.”
“Philip is a pediatrician.” Looking very beautiful and very annoyed, she folded her arms across her chest.
“And your point would be?” She was so easy to tease it was pathetic. When she simply made a face at him, then turned to pull a sleep shirt out of her drawer to take into the bathroom with her, he knew she wasn’t feeling as “fine” as she would have him believe. He kept his eye on the bathroom door while he called down to the kitchen with his request. He considered it a great personal sacrifice that he would drink tea with her instead of the shot of scotch he would have preferred.
When she emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, he already had the bed turned down for her. Grumbling about such an early night, she nonetheless sighed the moment she lay down.
Peter waited until the tea and aspirin had been delivered, and partially consumed, before stripping down to his boxers and climbing into bed with her.
“That’s better,” she said as she snuggled against him.
“It is. I’m not a fan of the formal state function.”
“Neither am I. But there aren’t that many in a year.”
He placed another kiss on her forehead. “I thought you liked the trappings of royalty.”
“Not really. Sometimes it’s fun to get all dressed up. And I did have a good time today with your
maman
and your sister. But the huge dinners—such a waste of food, as I only nibble a tiny bit of each course—and the balls where we’re obliged to dance with the guests, usually, no. They are work, and not the kind of work I like. The day after tomorrow, when I interview for my staff at the Couturier, there will be the work I choose.”
Which gave him, he mused, only twenty-four hours to make sure the building, and Rachel, was secure.
* * * *
So close
. If only she’d been prepared to come face to face with the runt. Too bad, because if she’d been thinking, it could have all been over then and there.
So tempting
. Giggling, she reveled in her own cleverness. They would never find her, never figure out who had given that bitch a shove. Oh, yes, she’d been brilliant! She’d been outside on the beach before they even knew what had happened. She had a good memory and had paid attention all those years ago. They’d never figure it out, stupid asses. They were like those old American movies of the comedy cops. They fumbled sloppily, relying on their high-tech toys instead of remembering low-tech tools.
Rubbing her hands together, she visualized the next steps she would take, oh, so very soon now. She giggled again, thinking of the exquisite scare they would all have received this night. Lying down in the sand, she turned her head to look across to the palace that gleamed so very brightly on the point. The lapdog had turned out to be more of a bull terrier than she’d anticipated. He’d charged to the runt’s rescue, the look on his face fierce indeed. He hadn’t even noticed her, although she had spied him from the secret place.
No one noticed her. That used to make her angry, but now she believed it was to her advantage.
Her thoughts returned to the lapdog. If he’d been a half a minute faster, he would have ruined everything.
And we can’t have that
.
No, we can’t have that. Frowning, she wondered. Maybe the lapdog was important to the runt. She couldn’t understand why anyone would be interested in that cheap whore in princess’s clothing, but he seemed to be. So, perhaps she should take him away, so the runt could suffer before the end.
The way Bjorn had been taken away from
her
.
Yes, that had possibilities. It didn’t matter how or where she did
him
. He wasn’t important. She’d had no plans for him, so she’d watch and wait for the perfect opportunity. Bjorn had taught her a few ways to cause pain, or damage. She’d be ready.
They would never know until it happened. And they would never guess it could be her.
She didn’t allow the specter of failure to enter into her thoughts.
It had taken more work than Hannah anticipated, bringing together all the elements she’d needed for tonight’s dinner. Being a stranger to the country, she really had to search things out. She’d spoken to Robert, the palace’s head chef, who gave her some advice, and a lot of encouragement. She’d danced her way around Justin, determined not to let that man’s patronizing attitude discourage her. She could have gone to Peter, or even Alex for help, but a part of her had felt that would be cheating. She needed to do this on her own.
This evening would be either a roaring success or the exact opposite. But after everything that had happened the night before, tonight might provide everyone with something they desperately needed—time to be a family.
It must be very difficult to have to put on appearances twenty-four-seven
, Hannah mused as she gave her chosen venue one last inspection. To have to stay in a room full of strangers and act like nothing was wrong when someone you loved had been hurt. If ever she’d thought that the life of a member of a royal family was all easy glamour, that idea was gone forever, now.
Hopefully tonight, the members of the de la Croix clan would see how being completely free of any kind of outside observance felt like.
She’d asked everyone to meet her here at six o’clock. At twenty minutes to, she wasn’t surprised when Alex arrived first. She smiled as he emerged from the palace, dressed as she’d requested in bathing suit and shirt.
“So these are the new acquisitions Justin seemed so apoplectic about.”
“They are. What do you think?”
He came over and put his mouth on hers. Hannah lost herself in his kiss, as she always did. Wrapping herself around him, she relished the strength of his arms, the spicy-fresh aroma that said pure Alex, and the belly-jiggling, toe-curling heat that only this man had ever kindled in her. Her sex moistened, so trained her body had become to accommodating him. His hands on her bottom, lifting her against his aroused penis told her he felt the same.
“Hi, honey, I’m home.”
His whispered words made her laugh and she hugged him tighter.
“Rough day at the office, dear?”
His answering laughter eased her nerves. “Only the part that dealt with the latest letter received against Rachel. Now, tell me, what is it you have planned?”
She followed his gaze to the large, round table she’d had set up on the lawn about twenty feet from the outdoor pool. She’d needed a big one to seat everybody. She’d already set it with the most casual dishes she’d been able to find. A rectangular table held three large coolers. The other new addition to the pool area, a shiny silver outdoor grill, gleamed in the early evening sun. The monster looked a bit more complicated than her simple propane barbecue back home. But a grill was a grill, and she expected this new fancy one would cook her hamburgers and hot dogs as well as any.
“You told me, my first evening here, that you gather the family a couple of times a week for an informal family dinner. I thought I’d show you how we do that in Canada.”
“Does this mean that you are cooking for us?”
“It does. But it’s more than that. It’s just you and me and our kids tonight. No staff—well, at least not until we’re all through. So you catch a break there. I won’t make you cart stuff back inside and help with the dishes.”
“I think I might enjoy helping you with the dishes, whatever that is.”
Before Hannah could respond, Peter cleared his throat, announcing the arrival of the rest of the family, en masse.
“You wouldn’t be helping her, sir. Mom has a golden rule. She who cooks, cleans not,” Peter announced, winking at her.
“Division of responsibilities. I approve. Now, where’s the food?” Alex rubbed his hands together in obvious anticipation, setting the tone for the rest of the family.
“Oh, we don’t eat until after we play. Right, Grandma?”
“That’s right, Jamie.” She turned her attention back to Alex, who had taken off his sandals but not his shirt. She didn’t think he noticed how close to the edge of the deep end of the pool they stood, that by tiny increments she’d been moving them in that direction since he joined her outside. Now she said, sweetly, “Alex, did you mean it when you said that
anything
I wanted to do for tonight was all right with you?”