As they were climbing into the metal side of the helicopter, one with much nicer seats than the military-surplus chopper that they’d flown down on, Quentin Sault gripped Max’s arm to get his attention.
He said, “Your Highness, sir, I want you to know that I’ll have airtight security around you every minute you’re there. The two of you will be safe. Jules and his mercenaries won’t get within a hundred meters of you.”
Shock coursed through Max. “Mercenaries? Jules has mercenaries now? That’s treason. It’s in the Constitution that the other nobles cannot raise armies.”
Quentin’s lips pursed tightly. “Prince Rainier has been indisposed, and Prince Pierre has been distracted by chasing Her Royal Highness Princess Flicka all over the world. No one has been in charge.”
Maxence looked at the commandos standing beside the helicopter.
In a palace coup, which of the military would obey the chain of command and Quentin’s orders, and which of them already had been threatened or bribed by Jules Grimaldi?
Maxence only wondered whether it would be a bloodless coup or the other kind.
If Jules had already paid for mercenaries, he’d make sure he got his money’s worth.
“Thank you, Sault.” Maxence boarded the helicopter.
As he buckled himself in, Dree asked, “What was that?”
He couldn’t hide it from her. “Sault thinks this might turn violent. I don’t want you in Monaco. I want you somewhere else, somewhere safe. I’ll buy you a plane ticket to Paris, and I’ll put you up at whatever hotel you want, for as long as you want. Forever, if that’s what it takes.”
She raised one blond eyebrow at him, and the morning sunlight made her hair glow like a halo. “If there’s going to be violence, you’re going to need an ER nurse to patch you up. I told you I’m going to Monaco with you.”
“I don’t want you in Monaco. It’s not safe right now.”
“Nowhere is safe for me, Max. If I go back to Phoenix, there are literal drug dealers who want impossible amounts of money or my hide. Probably, they want the money and my hide. In Monaco, at least I’ll have trained men with guns between me and the murderers.”
“But—”
“No.”
There was no use arguing with that woman when she’d made up her mind. Dree Clark might look like a tiny golden hamster, but her heart was more like a tough little desert rodent that wouldn’t let go once it had sunk its sharp teeth into something.
He liked that about her. A challenge was always more fun than a dead lay.
Quentin Sault hauled the door shut, and the helicopter whined as the blades accelerated.
Sault handed out hearing protection earmuffs. Maxence began to settle his over his head when he caught Dree’s eye.
She put her mouth right up against his ear, where he could feel the brush of her lips. “Are you sure this isn’t a trap?”
Maxence turned and said to her, “No. No, I’m not sure of that at all. This might very well be a trap. Sault could be lying about Pierre being dead to get me to go somewhere so they can shoot me in the head in a ditch, or he might already be working for Prince Jules and do exactly the same thing. I don’t know if we’re even going to make it to Kathmandu. Let me put you on a plane for Paris where you’ll be safe.”
“No.” Dree’s mouth was a hard line. “I said I’d go to Monaco with you, and I will. You’re going to need back-up.”
Maxence clapped the earmuffs on his head.
The helicopter noise diminished in his ears.
The sun was just rising over the immense peaks of the Himalayan mountain range, shining rays through the sky to the ground around them.
The helicopter tilted up and lifted off the ground, flying through the cold winter sunlight.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
PRINCE
By: Blair Babylon
Why would a guy who had it all—tall, hot, ripped, royal Maxence—say that he wants to walk away from the throne to be a priest?
He must be hiding something.
CLICK HERE TO GET PRINCE (Max 3) NOW.
Order (A Romantic Suspense Royal Billionaire Novel) Page 27