The Surprise Princess (13 page)

He hitched one shoulder. “Let’s all sit down.” When they had he said, “The short answer is we found the guy who was going to pay Tim for the mug. He really is a mechanic. In Milwaukee. Seems like an upstanding citizen other than this. Heard from a customer that someone was offering a thousand dollars for a sample of a woman’s DNA. We’re tracking down the customer and we’ll keep working this end. We’re working from the other end, too.”

“What other end?” Katie asked.

“Who’s willing to pay to get a sample of your DNA. Presumably it’s someone interested in knowing if you’re the lost princess of Bariavak.”

“King Jozef—”

“No,” April and Hunter said in unison.

“He’s too good a politician to do anything so clumsy,” Hunter added.

April frowned at him then said to her, “He would never do that to you – not only scare you that way, but take the decision away from you. He wouldn’t. He wants to spend time with you, to get to know you. He wouldn’t want that if he were going to force the DNA issue.”

“Then why hasn’t he spent time with Katie?” Brad asked.

“He’s got other issue’s he’s juggling.” Hunter held up a hand. “Yes, April, I’ll tell them the rest. And in fairness, I keep telling him it will bring down the media on her, so he’s held off.”

“Eliminate King Jozef, and there’s still someone who wasn’t worried about scaring Katie,” Brad said. “Someone plenty clumsy enough to hire cheap and inept help.”

“That’s exactly the clue we’re following up.” A glint of a smile showed in Hunter’s eyes. “I’ll keep this short, but you need to know that Bariavak’s situation is a little complicated. With the death of King Jozef’s daughter and the disappearance of his granddaughter, he was left without an heir. He instituted a provision that said he could name his heir from among a trio of family connections. His nephew by marriage, Prince Vatche, thinks he has the best chance, but he’s the one Bariavakians dislike the most.”

“With good reason,” April said. “That’s a personal opinion, not the stance of the Department of State.”

“State has no stance on the matter.”

“Of course not.” April added to Katie and Brad, “He’s smarmy and—”

“April.”

She raised a hand in surrender, but slid in one last word: “Slimy.”

“One of the other two connections made Prince Vatche look good. But Prince Stefan Carlos got himself killed not long ago in a jet-ski accident—”

“His fault,” April said.

“—and that ended that line. So King Jozef has had to dig deep to track the descendant of the third branch.”

“International intrigue,” Brad muttered, with a glance at her.

“Have you found this third candidate?” Katie asked.

“Yes. But there are, uh, issues.”

“Issues?”

“Let’s just say the third candidate would be happy if you prove to be Princess Josephine-Augusta. So for now we relax here and let good people work the situation. I suggest we play a game of cards. Poker?”

“Do not play poker with this man,” April warned the others. “He can bluff you out of your last possession or your last toothpick.”

“Well, I have toothpicks, but no cards,” Katie said.

Brad and Hunter gaped at her. “No cards? What games do you have?”

“I don’t. I didn’t play games as a kid and – Oh, wait. Carolyn’s and C.J.’s kids brought over a game and left it here.” She went to the sideboard and pulled out a rectangular tin triumphantly. “Dominoes.”

Hunter received one interim report that added more weight to the suspicion that King Jozef’s nephew by marriage was behind the mug-snatching effort.

By that time, the dominoes competition had become fierce. Each game’s loser had to serve the others drinks and snacks.

Katie and Brad had tied for last on the just-finished game, so they were in the kitchen getting popcorn and drinks.”I should have said this before, Brad. Thank you for everything you did yesterday.”

“You’re welcome. And I’m impressed you didn’t add anything on about none of it being necessary.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

He grinned and she grinned back.

“You
were
awfully hard on Tim, though,” she said.

“As hard as I had to be to make him stop being an ass.”

“Yet, I’d think you’d understand.”

“Are you saying I’m an ass?”

“No! I didn’t mean—” Then she saw the humor in his eyes. “Although at times… But I meant because you had a tough time as a kid, dealing with your mother remarrying, having a step-parent and then half-siblings. You rebelled.”

He snorted. “I was a brat.” He considered that a moment. “
And
an ass. Who’s been telling you I had a tough time? I can’t believe Andy—”

“She didn’t say much. And C.J. was—”

“C.J.?
Coach
told you I had a tough time as a kid?”

“Not in so many words, but—”

He laughed. “I’ll bet not in so many words. Ah, there you go again with the left eyebrow climbing.”

“Did you know that raising one eyebrow can be learned? It’s a matter of training your muscles,” she told him triumphantly.

“You should have read all the Google search results, Katie. That’s what some people say, but there’s strong evidence that the innate ability is inherited. Like wiggling your ears or being able to roll your tongue. Want to explore that?”

She froze.

Only for an instant. Then Hunter’s voice came from the other room, “Hey, are you two growing the popcorn out there?”

They heard April shushing him, but by then they were gathering up the baskets and glasses and heading to the living room.

By Sunday, even Brad looked relaxed. Even though she knew that couch couldn’t be comfortable for him to sleep on. She’d thought about him again last night. He’d have been so much better off in her spacious bed.

Instead of her. Sleeping. Alone.

Then, as she drifted asleep those thoughts intertwined with images of him in her spacious bed
with
her. Not alone. Not sleeping.

“Why are you blushing?” April asked, folding a dishcloth after lunch.

“I… I wasn’t aware I was.”

April made a sound between a snort and grunt. It was disbelieving, knowing, and accepting. “C’mon, let’s go sit on the couch and talk. Brad will be back with the dinner groceries soon and Hunter’s going to be off that phone sometime.”

“Okay, but … the chairs are far more comfortable than the couch. Poor Brad…”

“Ahh. There’s that blush again,” April said as they settled into the chairs. “Okay, okay, I won’t give you grief about that. But there is something else I want to talk to you about. Remember how I said when we were talking in Bette’s office that I’d thought I had my life all figured out. Then my fiancé dumped me for his ex, I had nowhere to live, and I’d adopted Rufus, so I had a dog I was responsible for. Oh, and Leslie and Grady were gone and I was fed up with myself for relying on other people. So I took a leap.”

“A leap?”

She nodded. “Not as much about being a pretend princess as trusting myself. And now I’m going to trust myself by asking if you’ll come to our wedding next month in D.C. Please say yes.”

“I, uh, I’m honored, but—”

“I know we haven’t known each other long, but…”

Their eyes met and Katie nodded. Yes, they had a connection.

April gate a tiny nod back, then smiled radiantly. “I know it’s usual to wait for the RSVP until you get the invitation, but there’s another reason I want to know right now if you’ll come. We have this tradition in my family— Actually, Paul started it when he and Bette got married, but I consider them family. Anyway, some of the people closest to the couple get together before the wedding and spend time together doing fun things, and I want you to come.”

“But… but…”

“Please, Katie. You see, before I met Hunter I’d let all my friendships wither. I probably would have let my relationships with my family – all of them, like the Monroes and the Dickinsons, but even Leslie and Grady and the kids – wither, too, but they wouldn’t let me. They’ll all be there and I’ll have a great time with them but I want—” She looked a little shy, then determination pushed it aside. “I want a girlfriend, you know? If you can’t a full week, I understand, but maybe you could come in, say, the Monday before the wedding?”

“Monday?”

“Yes, that’s great! We’ll have a lot of fun. I already know a bunch of places I want to take you. And—”

Panic welled in Katie. She’d said Monday as a question, not a confirmation. “April.”

“—things we can do. It’ll be so much fun to—”

“April.”

“—do them together.”

Yes, they had a connection, but she barely knew this woman, much less what April seemed to expect of her. She’d never had a girlfriend—

You don’t think you’re any good at having friends do you?

Katie swallowed, “I’m… I don’t know what to say, except thank you.”

April hugged her and Katie hugged back.

The guys returned just then – Brad with the makings for dinner and Hunter with an update.

Hunter said King Jozef had come down hard on his wife’s nephew. “There won’t be any more efforts to collect your DNA until you say the word, Katie.”

“So let’s make this dinner a celebration,” April declared.

“K
atie?”

“Hmm.”

She was only a few minutes away from having three full days of a normal work-week under her belt. That was good. Great, in fact. She welcomed normalcy.

April and Hunter had left Monday morning with admonitions about keeping her eyes open, just in case. Brad had left before she’d even gotten up, traveling to see prospects in Tennessee. So she’d only had C.J. and Carolyn being over-protective.

True, there had been a phone call Tuesday. It was King Jozef. He added his assurances to Hunter’s that she would not be bothered again.

He next said he regretted that for security reasons he would not be able to visit her in Ashton as he’d planned to. Before she recovered, he suggested she come to Bariavak.

She quickly declined, citing her work responsibilities.

“Ah, yes. Then I must hope an opportunity presents itself.”

That left her a little uneasy, but he didn’t push, so perhaps it was paranoia.

Brad had returned by noon today. He and C.J. had been shut up in C.J.’s office. Probably going over the prospects Brad had seen. That was another part of normal, although the door had been closed again. There’d been some raised voices, but that was normal too in discussions of players. And it left her in peace to get her work done.

Until now, when they exited the inner office for the main area where she was the last one left, and C.J. spoke her name.

“There’s something you should be up to speed on,” he said.

She looked up from the computer screen, finding both him and Brad standing beside her desk and watching her. C.J. looked very laid back. That got her attention, because he didn’t usually work that hard at looking at ease. Brad didn’t look laid back at all.

“Okay,” she said cautiously.

“There’s been a slight change of plans with the trip,” C.J. said. “The one to Europe this summer.”

As if she could forget about that trip.

“It won’t mean more work for you,” C.J. continued. “The travel company’s handled it all. Administration’s real happy about it, too. So it’s all set.”

“That’s good.” She looked from one to the other. “Isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s good – better than good. It’s great. Great opportunity for all of us. An experience.”

“Tell her.”

She had never heard Brad issue an order like that to C.J. Draper.

C.J. shifted his weight. “We’ve added a couple games and a series of workshops. The thing is …”

“They’re in Bariavak,” Brad finished.

It took an instant to make sense. “What?
What
? No—”

“It’s all set. You don’t have to do a thing but come with,” C.J. said. “All the arrangements are made. The administration thinks it’s great, even the NCAA’s happy about it after Hunt—uh, the State Department nudged them. Good for international relations. No team’s ever been there.”

Brad bit off a curse. She heard him come behind her chair, but didn’t see him, because a dark haze was narrowing her vision to a tunnel. She felt the pressure of his hand gently but firmly pushing her head forward. “She’s going to faint.”

“Oh, God.” C.J. crouched at her side. “Katie, Katie. Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. I can’t
believe
you.” She snapped her head up. The fuzzy black walls of the tunnel shuddered, then retreated. Brad’s hand ended up at the nape of her neck, but she couldn’t dwell on that now. “What were you
thinking
, C.J.? How could you do this?”

He tilted his head to glare up at Brad. “Thought you said she was going to faint.”

“Not now. She’s too pissed to faint now.”

“Tell her you think it’s a good idea, too,” C.J. said, still looking at Brad.

“Stop acting like I’m not here, C.J.,” Katie demanded, “and get up before your knee causes you trouble for a month and Carolyn has my head for – Does Carolyn know about this hare-brained scheme of yours?”

C.J. rose with enough reliance on the desk that she knew she was right about his knee. “She knows. And she doesn’t think it’s hare-brained. It’s a few days in Bariavak. Some games, some clinics. From what I can tell about their basketball program, they need all the help they can get. In the meantime, it’ll give you a chance to look around. Get a little familiar with it, spend time with King Jozef— What are you doing, Katie?”

She had turned off her computer and stood. Now she gathered her purse, took out her keys.

“It’s the end of my workday, C.J., I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“But the trip—?”

“I’m not going.”

“Katie—”

C.J.’s plea was sliced in half by Brad. “Yes, you are. You won’t let C.J. or the team or Ashton down by not going.” His voice changed as he added. “You won’t let yourself down by not going.”

“I’m not going,” she repeated. “Good-night.”

Brad pounded on her front door. Where all the neighbors could see and hear him because of that wonderful, welcoming curb appeal, damn him.