by Romancing the Crown Series (13-in-1 bundle) (v1. 0) (lit)
No, this excursion probably hadn't been a good idea at all. She took a tentative sip. To her surprise, the coffee was smooth and perfectly brewed. He had even remembered to add a teaspoon of sugar, just the way she liked it. She lifted her eyebrows. "This is good."
A corner of his mouth curled in a lopsided smile. "Didn't think I knew how, did you?"
"Well, I remember you prefer it stronger. I wasn't expecting you to, uh..."
"Compromise?"
"I didn't say that."
"But you seem surprised each time I do something reasonable." He tilted his head and regarded her closely. "Why is that, Kate?"
What could she say? That she believed he was too stubborn to change, too strong-willed to bend to someone else's point of view?
Well, she wasn't wrong. He was still the same man he'd been five years ago. The differences she was noticing lately were minor details. They couldn't mean anything.
"Did you hear any news when you checked in?" she asked.
"Mmm?"
"On the radio. I couldn't quite make out what was being said. Any developments?"
His smile faded. He shook his head. "Not really. Someone in sector three is keeping track of a slow-moving trawler, but other than that there's nothing."
"Chambers can't stay hidden forever. It's only a matter of time before she tries to escape the island again."
"Yeah." He looked at his mug for a moment, then drained it in two gulps. "I don't like waiting."
All right, that much hadn't changed. When Sam had wanted something, he'd always gone after it in a straight-ahead take-charge fashion. Sometimes he'd have her half naked before she could blink. Once they had been about to leave the motel room for dinner when he'd reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. His hand had lingered on her neck, then dropped to her shoulder and eased the strap of her sundress down her arm. The next thing she knew the dress had pooled at her feet and his shirt front was rubbing across her bare breasts.
They had ordered Chinese take-out later. Much later.
She sipped her coffee, hoping he didn't ask why her hand was shaking. "What was your last assignment like?" she asked quickly.
"A lot dryer than this."
"What do you mean?"
"My team was doing advance reconnaissance. We spent three days in a desert hide."
"A hide?"
"A camouflaged hole in the dirt. Had to wait then, too."
"Were you successful?"
"Yes and no."
"How's that?"
"Well, we confirmed the supply route for the terrorist group we were sent to locate."
"That's good."
"Sure, but we also stumbled onto a village of goat herders."
"Goat herders?"
"Or, to put it more accurately, they stumbled onto us. An old woman chasing after a goat walked right over the hide. She spotted the hole where we'd extended the radio antenna and ended up eye to eye with me." He set down his empty mug and rubbed the back of his neck. "I knew she would raise the alarm if she got back to the village, but if she didn't go back, someone else would come looking for her."
"What did you do?"
"What else? We had to cut our losses and get out."
"Was it difficult?"
He looked at her. "Wouldn't have been, if the terrorists hadn't chosen that minute to come to escort their shipment of weapons."
"What happened?"
"We radioed for the chopper. Made it to the rendezvous with everyone still upright and a whopping twenty-five rounds of ammunition left among us, so it could have been worse."
"At least you weren't hurt."
He remained silent.
She frowned. "You weren't hurt, were you?"
"The bullet passed through."
Her mug dropped to the deck, coffee splashing over her shoes. "What!"
He paused, watching her carefully. "Now I know better than to think you might be worried about me, right, Kate?"
"How bad was it?" she demanded. "Was that why you were supposed to be on leave?"
"I never pay attention to doctors."
He hadn't really answered her question, she realized. "Sam!"
"It was just a flesh wound." He twisted to one side to pull up the edge of his T-shirt. "See for yourself."
She didn't even think about the impropriety of Sam pulling up his shirt, so intent was she on examining his injury. She focused on the skin on his side. There was a small puckered scab below one rib and a long, shallow red mark angling toward his armpit. The first was an entrance wound, the second was the gash where the bullet had torn its way out. "Oh, my God."
"It's almost healed, Kate."
"You never should have jumped into the water last week to help the Genero boy. You could have torn this open."
"I wasn't going to let the kid drown just because of this."
She touched her fingertips to his side. "Another few inches to the left and it would have hit your heart."
"Hey, another few to the right and it would have missed."
"How can you make light of it?"
"It's really no big deal." He paused. "But if you like, you can kiss it and make it better."
Her fingers trembled at his teasing words. She was standing so close. She had already breached the distance between them by touching him. It would be so easy to go further. All she had to do was lean down and she could press her lips to his taut, tanned skin. Rub her cheek across the washboard ridges of his abdomen. Savor the fresh tang of his scent the way she used to when they were lovers...
Slowly she raised her gaze to his. She recognized the expression in his eyes. It had nothing to do with duty. He looked at her mouth, a brief glance that she felt as clearly as a physical touch.
He'd been doing that more and more lately. A lingering look. A flip comment. Small, unmistakable signals to remind her that he was still interested.
She should tell him to stop, but they had worked together well for a week. Technically he was keeping his distance. He wasn't harassing her. How could she voice an objection without coming across as uptight and paranoid?
At least, that was the excuse she gave herself.
Let me know if you change your wind....
The words he'd uttered more than a week ago echoed teasingly. For a breathless instant she swayed toward him. Her fingers splayed over his side, soaking up his warmth, tingling at the strength that pulsed under her hand.
The radio in the cabin crackled, snapping her to her senses. She snatched her hand away and bent to retrieve her mug. "We'd better get back to work."
* * *
The black car glided smoothly through the palace gates. At the end of a curving cobblestone drive, the sun-bleached stone of the main structure rose from the surrounding greenery. The car eased to a stop in front of a gracefully arching marble portico. Instantly a young man in the black, white and gold royal livery appeared to open the door.
Kate and Sam were ushered past a pair of guards who flanked the palace entrance. She tried not to gawk as she walked inside, but it was impossible to remain unmoved by the splendor around her. Sam had been here before when he'd initially been assigned to this mission, but this was her first time inside the palace. The entrance foyer took her breath away, its marble floor reflecting stately pillars that stretched two stories to the roof. Sunlight streamed in from a hexagonal dome of glass in the center, illuminating the huge room with warm shafts of gold.
"Gets to you, doesn't it?" Sam asked. "All this wealth and power?"
She nodded. "It's beautiful, but it's a little intimidating."
"It's meant to be. The Sebastianis know what they're doing," he said wryly. "Ruling Montebello has been the family business for centuries."
"Some family business."
Sam lowered his voice. "You're not looking forward to this, are you?"
"Not really." Kate smoothed her skirt and checked that her cuffs were straight. "It would be different if we had some progress to report."
&nb
sp; "Yeah. King Marcus seems like a reasonable man, though. He probably didn't order us here to chew us out."
"He has no reason to. We've done our best with what we have."
"That's right. But if they try to take us to the basement, I'm outta here."
"The basement?"
He winked. "The dungeons, remember?"
She gave him a nervous smile. She knew he was trying to ease her tension and she was grateful for his effort. "Very funny."
"Lieutenant Mulvaney, Lieutenant Coburn, if you would follow me, please? The king will see you in the solarium."
The speaker was a short man in his early sixties. His gray hair and salt and pepper mustache were neatly trimmed, his expression the blank politeness of someone who had spent his life as a servant. He led them past the grand staircase that rose majestically from the foyer. They progressed through a corridor, their footsteps echoing between rows of gilt-framed oil paintings of Sebastiani ancestors.
Eventually, the marble floor gave way to carpet and the splendor became less formal. It appeared to Kate as if they were leaving the public area of the palace and moving toward what must be the royal family's private quarters.
She couldn't understand why they were being shown here. If the king wanted a progress report, shouldn't they have been meeting in a more official setting?
Their escort halted in front of a set of ornately carved arched wooden doors. Voices drifted faintly from the other side, along with the fretful cries of.. .a baby.
Kate looked around quickly. No. There must be some mistake. This butler had brought them to the wrong room and—
The doors parted to reveal a blaze of sunshine. The far walls of the room were all windows. Long, lush cream-colored couches and chairs were arranged to take advantage of the view of the garden and the ocean beyond. It was a beautiful, airy room, as splendid as any of the others she'd glimpsed on their route through the palace, but this one was obviously designed for living.
Several people were gathered, including King Marcus and Queen Gwendolyn. No one had noticed Kate and Sam's arrival. Everyone's attention was focused on Prince Lucas as he awkwardly tried to comfort the baby who fussed in his arms.
Unconsciously, Kate lifted her hand to the place where her butterfly charm rested under her uniform. She would have preferred being reprimanded for her lack of progress. She didn't want to be here to witness this. It had nothing to do with her duty.
"Poor bastard," Sam muttered, dipping his head close to Kate's. "He still looks like he's been hit by a truck."
She and Sam were standing just inside the doors, but even from this distance Kate could see what Sam meant. Lucas's chiseled, aristocratic features were as tense as they had been a week ago when she'd seen him in the hospital. His dark hair lay in crooked furrows, as if he'd been raking it with his fingers. Although his shoes were polished and his pants were neatly pressed, his tailored shirt was misbuttoned.
"Fatherhood is going to take some adjustment for him," she said, keeping her voice low so they wouldn't be overheard. Still, considering the noise the baby was making, nothing short of a shout would be noticed. "Until this last year, when his plane crash and the business with Jessica happened, he was reputed to be a real playboy."
"He must have enjoyed his freedom."
"A lot of men do." She shifted her scrutiny to Sam, unable to stop the past from tangling with the present. "That's probably why he left, so he could live the life he'd planned." Like you, she added silently.
"Why would you assume that?" Sam asked. "I heard he had to leave. There were duties he had to attend to. He tried to contact Jessica but she wasn't at the ranch where they'd met. By the time he sent someone to look for her, it was too late."
"If he really cared, why didn't he try to find her sooner?" she challenged. "If he had, it might not have been too late."
"I wonder why Jessica didn't contact him when she discovered she was pregnant in the first place," Sam said. "She should have. He had a right to know."
"I disagree. He left her to deal with the situation on her own. Why should she tell him?"
"He still had a right to know he was going to become a father. If he'd known—"
"What? He would have gone back for her sooner? He would have ignored his duties just because of the baby?"
"Well, yes."
Kate stretched to look Sam in the eye, her words a harsh whisper. "No relationship should be based only on a child. Jessica must have realized she would be better off without a man who didn't love her. She could raise the child alone and give him enough love for two parents instead of making everyone miserable by forcing an instant family on a man who hadn't planned to settle down. She made the right choice, I'm sure of it."
Sam glanced across the room, then looked at Kate carefully. "Jessica is dead, Kate. We'll never know the real story of what went on between her and Lucas. Why are we even having this discussion?"
She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath. She couldn't tell him the truth. She couldn't let him know they had been discussing their own past.
There were too many unresolved issues between her and Sam that would have to stay unresolved. That was the only way they would be able to continue their mission...and it was the only way she knew how to cope. "Sorry," she said. "You're right. The prince's personal life isn't our concern. I have no right whatsoever to judge him."
Sam brushed his knuckle over her cheek. "I can see you're upset about this, Kate."
She wanted to close her eyes and lean into his caress. But that was crazy. It was because of him she was upset in the first place. "It's a tragic situation, that's all." She moved her head back. "I...got carried away."
"You were always a passionate woman." He dropped his hand to his side. "Your emotions run deep. That's one of the things I—"
"Lieutenant Coburn, Lieutenant Mulvaney," King Marcus called above the baby's cries as he walked across the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I hadn't realized you'd arrived."
Kate took another calming breath, trying to bring her emotions under control. What had Sam been about to say? Part of her wanted to know, and part of her was grateful for the interruption.
"We've been having a little celebration here," the king said. "Considering the role you two played in my grandson's discovery, I thought you might like to be included. Baby Luke was released from the hospital yesterday. He's been given a clean bill of health."
"That's great," Sam said.
King Marcus chuckled and glanced over his shoulder. "We don't need a specialist to tell us there's nothing wrong with his lungs."
Queen Gwendolyn reached out to take the baby from her son's arms. "He probably has a sore tummy from eating too fast," she said. "You were the same way." She transferred the baby to her shoulder and placed her fingertips over his back. "You need to rub right here. That helps all the little air bubbles find their way upward."
Lucas put a new set of furrows in his hair with his fingers. "I'm interviewing several nurses later today. I'll make sure Luke has the best."
"I'm sure you will, dear. Just remember, babies don't break."
"Oh, he's just the cutest thing, isn't he?" A petite young woman squeezed past Lucas to stand at the queen's side. Her dark eyes danced as she reached out to tickle the baby's chin. "Despite the fact that he looks just like my big brother."
"The resemblance still amazes me, Anna," Queen Gwendolyn said. "Except for his sweet little smile, he's the image of Lucas."
The baby lifted up his head, looked around and let out a loud, gurgling burp. His cries ceased immediately.
There was a chorus of laughter and calls of, "Well done." Anna took her nephew from her mother and cuddled him with delight. She gave a warm smile to a tall, auburn-haired man who leaned against the back of a couch. "Are you ready for one of these, Tyler?"
He grinned. "Ready as you are, darling."
There was another round of chuckles. It was apparent from the gentle swell of Anna's stomach that soon there would be
another royal baby. Lucas backed away from the group, his smile tinged with sadness. He caught sight of Sam and Kate with his father and moved to join them.
Queen Gwendolyn reached out to take the baby from her son's arms. "He probably has a sore tummy from eating too fast," she said. "You were the same way." She transferred the baby to her shoulder and placed her fingertips over his back. "You need to rub right here. That helps all the little air bubbles find their way upward."
Lucas put a new set of furrows in his hair with his fingers. "I'm interviewing several nurses later today. I'll make sure Luke has the best."
"I'm sure you will, dear. Just remember, babies don't break."
"Oh, he's just the cutest thing, isn't he?" A petite young woman squeezed past Lucas to stand at the queen's side. Her dark eyes danced as she reached out to tickle the baby's chin. "Despite the fact that he looks just like my big brother."
"The resemblance still amazes me, Anna," Queen Gwendolyn said. "Except for his sweet little smile, he's the image of Lucas."
The baby lifted up his head, looked around and let out a loud, gurgling burp. His cries ceased immediately.
There was a chorus of laughter and calls of, "Well done." Anna took her nephew from her mother and cuddled him with delight. She gave a warm smile to a tall, auburn-haired man who leaned against the back of a couch. "Are you ready for one of these, Tyler?"
He grinned. "Ready as you are, darling."
There was another round of chuckles. It was apparent from the gentle swell of Anna's stomach that soon there would be another royal baby. Lucas backed away from the group, his smile tinged with sadness. He caught sight of Sam and Kate with his father and moved to join them.
"Lieutenant Mulvaney," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to thank you a week ago. I'm in your debt for your care of my son."
Kate was surprised by the strength of his grip as she took his hand. For a royal playboy, he was in excellent shape. "I was only doing my duty, Your Highness. I was merely in the right place at the right time. I'm glad that your son is healthy."
"Yes, his weight is almost up to normal, and he has a good appetite." Lucas glanced over his shoulder at the baby. "He's doing well, all things considered."