Heart's Demand

by Cheryl Holt

  “I’ll tell you,” she ultimately decided, “but if you breathe a word to anyone, I’ll have you killed.”

  He laughed. “Seriously? You think you could?”

  “There are soldiers here from my country. They’d find you.”

  “My lips are sealed then.” He was definitely sarcastic. “I wouldn’t want a soldier to sneak up and murder me in a Cairo alley. I’m extremely determined to make it to London in one piece.”

  “I’m from Parthenia,” she announced, proud to proclaim it.

  “Do you mean that tiny country, where is it? In the Alps or some such spot?”

  “Yes, more toward the Spanish border though.”

  “Fine, you’re from Parthenia. Why all the covert plotting?”

  “Kat is really Her Royal Highness, Katarina Morovsky.”

  He didn’t appear to believe her, and he wasn’t impressed. “Never heard of her.”

  “She’s Princess Morovsky.”

  “I get it, Pippa. She’s a princess, but why the hell is she in Cairo and calling herself Kat Webster?”

  “Her father was the king, but he died so her brother, Nicholas, should have been king. But there was a coup.”

  “I vaguely remember reading about it.”

  “Kat’s cousin, Kristof, and his advisors thought Nicholas was too young, so Kristof seized the crown instead.”

  “And Miss Webster came to Cairo because…?”

  “It’s Princess Morovsky, Chase. Try to keep up.”

  “All right. Why is the Princess here?”

  “When Nicholas was passed over, she left in a fit of pique, but he’s in the line of succession directly after Kristof. People are furious that she absconded with him.”

  It was mostly the truth, with a little fibbing, and Pippa didn’t feel guilty for voicing it. Very soon, she would leave for home where great riches awaited her. She could practically smell the money that would be deposited in her bank account.

  Chase studied her, his skepticism obvious and annoying. “So…they won’t cut off Nicholas’s head or anything like that.”

  “Of course not. For pity’s sake, Chase, it’s not the Middle Ages. He’s heir to the throne, and Kat ran off with him.”

  “Swear it to me. Swear he won’t be hurt.”

  “Gad, no. Kat is insane. She has been ever since her father perished. She assumed she would be put on the throne, and when she wasn’t, she fled and took the heir with her.”

  Her falsehoods were growing bigger and bolder, and Chase was very astute. In a quick instant, he’d recognize a tall tale, so she couldn’t have him note her sly expression. She leaned down and picked her hair combs off the floor, and when she stood again, she was calm and serene. She walked over and kissed him.

  “I have to get back to my room,” she said.

  “Yes, you should.”

  “Will you help me or not?”

  “What’s in it for me? That’s what I keep asking myself.”

  “I’ll tell King Kristof of your assistance, and you’ll be rewarded.”

  He scoffed. “Yes, I just bet I will.”

  “You can travel with me to Parthenia and speak to him yourself. I guarantee he’ll give you financial compensation. Why, if you play your cards right—and you’re very shrewd that way—he might grant you some land or let you wed a royal cousin with a fat dowry.”

  He chuckled snidely. “A royal cousin?”

  “The King is very generous so there’s no predicting how you might benefit.”

  “You’re leaving tomorrow, is that what I should take from all of this?”

  “Yes, I’ll be leaving.”

  He feigned a pout. “You weren’t even planning to say goodbye.”

  “It doesn’t have to be goodbye. You can come along. We could be lovers the entire trip.”

  He didn’t answer with the positive reply she’d expected. With her being so close to the royal family, men always wanted her more than she wanted them. She’d finally stumbled on a fellow who wasn’t agog over her regal connections.

  “You’d better hurry.” He pointed to a sliver of light on the eastern horizon.

  “What about Nicholas and Isabelle? Even if you’re not interested in accompanying us to Parthenia, there’s a captain here from the palace guard. He can pay you.”

  “Talk to me in the morning.”

  “I will, and don’t forget, Chase. You can’t tell anyone.”

  “I won’t, Pippa. Now go before a servant sees you. I like Valois, and I won’t insult him by having him know I trifled with a guest.”

  “Valois has no authority over me,” she boasted. “I am my own woman.”

  She whipped away and headed off without a word of farewell. She tiptoed down the hall, racing against the brightening sky. Her suite was next to Kat’s and as she turned toward it, she was stunned to find Kat sneaking in from the other direction.

  There was no question as to how they’d both misbehaved during the hot, sultry Egyptian night. They were attired in their bedclothes, their hair down, their feet bare.

  For a brief instant, Pippa thought about hiding from Kat. But Pippa wasn’t just anybody. The King of Parthenia had charged her with watching over Kat, making sure she did nothing reckless or ridiculous.

  Kat had a royal husband waiting for her in Parthenia, and if she had ruined herself, if she wound up with a bastard in her belly, the blame would fall on Pippa. She was so near to the end of her journey, and she would never forgive Kat if she’d wrecked Pippa’s future.

  Just as Kat would have passed on by, Pippa stepped out of the shadows. Kat blanched, but bit down a yelp of alarm when she recognized Pippa.

  “Where have you been?” Pippa hissed.

  “I’ve been…nowhere.”

  Kat straightened and moved as if she’d march on by, but Pippa grabbed her arm to stop her.

  “I ask you again, Kat. Where have you been?”

  “Unhand me.” Kat tried to yank away, but Pippa dug in her nails.

  “Have you been out shaming yourself?”

  “You have no right to interrogate me.”

  Kat’s tone was haughty and imperious, and her snotty attitude aggravated Pippa as naught had in ages.

  “Yes, Your Highness, heaven forbid that I demand an explanation. You’re creeping in as dawn is breaking. Tell me where you’ve been!”

  Kat noticed that Pippa was dressed in the same dissolute condition, and she sneered with irritation. “I could ask you the same. Why are you roaming about in your nightclothes?”

  Pippa lied with aplomb. “I heard a noise, and I came to check on you. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you weren’t in your bed where you were supposed to be.”

  “I’m twenty-five years old, Pippa, and I have no parents or brothers to command me. I am making my own choices.”

  “What choice have you made, Kat? Are you a slut who’s hoping to scratch an itch?”

  “I won’t stand here and be castigated by you.”

  “Let me guess the name of the lucky fellow. Was Bryce Blair worth it?”

  Pippa assumed Kat would deny her tryst, but she grinned and said, “Yes, he was absolutely worth it.”

  Pippa gasped with affront. “What have you done?”

  “Nothing that’s any of your business at all.” She jerked very hard and pulled away. “Don’t ever touch me again. Not unless you’d like to lose an appendage.”

  She walked on, entered her room, and locked the door with a determined click.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “We should probably sneak away.”

  “Is that wise, Mr. Hubbard?”

  Chase gazed at Nicholas and grinned his friendliest grin. “We don’t have to sneak, but I’m betting if we ask your sister for permission, she won’t give it.”

  “I’m sure that’s true,” Nicholas agreed.

  “I’ll have the servants tell her where we are after we’ve left.”

  Nicholas glanced at his sister. “What say you, Isabelle
?”

  “I would like to see the camel races, but I don’t believe we ought to disobey Katarina.”

  Chase had promised to take them to a famous, but completely fabricated camel race, and they were eager to attend, but they were both so well-behaved. He would need a shovel to dig them out of the villa without Miss Webster’s consent.

  Valois’s property was a fortress, and they were safe inside it. Outside on the streets of Cairo, there was no predicting what might happen.

  Chase hadn’t meant to assist Pippa, but she’d shown up in his room and handed him an enormous amount of money that he’d been desperate to receive. From there, matters had gone downhill quite fast. Apparently he would betray anyone, even a pair of innocent children, if the price was right.

  His conscience was trying to pipe up, but he wouldn’t let it. He had no connection to the Webster family, and if they had royal lineage, he certainly had no dog in that fight. His only worry was about Bryce and whether Bryce would be irate, but Chase had discussed Katarina Webster with Bryce, and he’d most emphatically claimed he wasn’t sweet on her.

  Besides, if Chase could get the children out without being seen, no one would know he’d played any part in their disappearance.

  At least no one would know if Pippa could keep her mouth shut when the stakes were high. The risk was huge, but then if it crashed down, he had the money she’d paid him to smooth over any hard feelings.

  “We’ll be back in two hours, Miss Isabelle,” Chase lied. He doubted they’d ever be back to the villa.

  “Let’s do it, Isabelle,” Nicholas begged. “Please?”

  She was as charmed as everyone by her brother, and she couldn’t refuse him. “Fine, but if Kat is angry when she finds out, you have to take the blame. I hate to upset her.”

  “I’ll take all of the blame,” Nicholas gallantly said.

  Chase added, “And I’ll take the rest.”

  He led them down an empty hallway, and he motioned with his finger that they should be silent and furtive. They crept away, swallowing down giggles as they acted precisely as they shouldn’t.

  Chase had hired a chair and had it waiting by a rear door. He hurried them into it and had them squat down on the floor, then he covered them with a rug. They thought it was a grand lark, and he sighed and shook his head at his folly.

  All of it felt sordid and seedy, but evidently he would press on. He summoned the porters, then seated himself and stretched out. They lifted the chair and carried it off, the guard at the gate waving them through once he saw Chase.

  They proceeded to the location Chase had been given, and the porters deposited him on the cobbles. He pulled off the rug and helped Nicholas and Isabelle to the ground. If the porters had an opinion about his conduct, they didn’t mention it.

  They rushed off to their next fare.

  “We didn’t go far.” Nicholas studied the busy city street. “I assumed we’d be out in the desert.”

  “Where are the camels?” Isabelle inquired.

  Chase was saved from having to answer as several stern-looking foreign soldiers marched around the corner to meet them. The man in the front greeted Nicholas with a gushing, “Your Majesty.”

  The soldiers bowed low, exhibiting incredible deference. So…perhaps they were royals after all. About that one aspect, Pippa seemed to have been telling the truth.

  “Hello, Captain Romilard,” Nicholas said, “but you’re not supposed to address me that way.”

  “I couldn’t stop myself, Sire. We have missed you at home.”

  “We’ve missed home too.”

  Nicholas was cordial, while Isabelle was dubious. She glared up at Chase. “Why are they here, Mr. Hubbard? We shouldn’t be speaking to them.”

  “They wanted to talk to you,” he said. “I told them I’d bring you to them.”

  “There’s no camel race?” she asked.

  “No.”

  The men spun to her, and they bowed again, with the Captain saying, “Your Grace, how lovely to see you. If you’ll come with me?”

  An ornate carriage rolled up, and Romilard gestured to it. He was a stocky, muscled fellow, with an ugly face, as if he was a pugilist who’d had his nose broken too many times.

  “No, I won’t come with you,” Isabelle scoffed.

  Nicholas asked, “What is the meaning of this, Captain? What’s happening?”

  “Your cousin, Kristof, begs you to return to Parthenia.”

  “I would be most pleased to return,” Nicholas replied, “but I must confer with my sister, Katarina, first.”

  “She will be joining us shortly.”

  “You liar,” Isabelle said. “Katarina would never go anywhere with you.”

  Captain Romilard’s smile slipped, and for a moment, he looked as if he might strike the girl, but he quickly smoothed his expression.

  “Your sister has been making plans for days, Your Grace, but she has simply not shared them with you.”

  Isabelle was visibly frightened, and she clasped her brother’s hand.

  “Let’s go, Nicholas. We shouldn’t be here with them.”

  “But they’re from home, Isabelle.”

  “They’re not our friends! Remember yourself.” She gazed up at Chase. “Would you take us to the villa, Mr. Hubbard? My sister will be very upset when she hears about this.”

  “It’s all right, Isabelle,” he said. “Your family wants you back. That’s all.”

  “Our family will chop off Nicholas’s head once we arrive.”

  The soldiers stiffened, and trepidation surged through Chase. Did monarchs still murder rivals? Maybe in ancient times, but this was a modern era. No one beheaded anyone anymore.

  “You’re wrong, Miss Isabelle,” he said.

  “I’m not,” she insisted.

  Nicholas seemed more wary too, and he told Romilard, “Katarina is my guardian, and I simply must ask her if I may leave with you. If she gives me permission, I will be happy to accompany you, but until then I’m afraid I can’t.”

  As if they had practiced a secret signal, they whirled and ran, but the soldiers dashed after them as Chase hollered, “Hey! Hey! There’s no need for any physical violence.”

  His protest was ignored, and in an instant they were surrounded. Two soldiers grabbed Nicholas and two grabbed Isabelle. The rest of the group mustered around, then they started off in lock-step, the children enclosed in a tight circle of large, burly men. Isabelle was screaming for Chase to save them, while Nicholas was scolding Chase for his perfidy.

  There were many local people on the street, but they weren’t inclined to intervene. Obviously a substantial event was occurring, but passersby weren’t sure what it was, and they weren’t willing to be harmed for an inane reason. Chase couldn’t blame them.

  He was aghast and felt he should attempt a rescue, but there were twenty soldiers in the contingent, all of them armed as he was himself. Clearly Pippa had been less than candid about her motives as well as the repercussions for Nicholas and Isabelle.

  They marched by Chase where he dawdled like a statue, too impotent to fight or even object.

  Isabelle scowled at him and spat, “You dog! You cur! You swine! I curse you and your kin for all time.”

  Chase blanched at her vehemence, at her fury. He wasn’t superstitious and didn’t believe in curses, but she was so passionately intense that he worried she might have the power to bewitch him.

  Nicholas was more circumspect, but no less fervent in his comments. “Mr. Hubbard, get my sister. Tell her Romilard has kidnapped us. She’ll know what to do.”

  “Hush!” a soldier growled, and he clapped a palm over Nicholas’s mouth to silence him.

  Nicholas bit him and raged, “I am your rightful king. You don’t have leave to touch me. When we are home again in my kingdom, you will learn your manners.”

  Isabelle added a remark in Italian that Chase couldn’t translate, but it must have been another curse, because the men holding Nicholas blanched with disma
y.

  The group was almost to the carriage, and Chase decided he had to make a stand. He raced in front of them and blocked their path.

  “Stop it, Captain Romilard,” he commanded. “I was told that I was assisting with a reunion, but it appears I’ve been misled.”

  “Move, Mr. Hubbard,” the Captain ordered.

  “No. We’ll convey the children to their sister. If she says you may have them, then I will gladly step aside.”

  “Move,” Romilard repeated.

  “No.”

  “I won’t tell you again, Mr. Hubbard,” Romilard fumed. “You dawdle at your own peril.”

  Chase wasn’t much of a brawler simply because there was never much that mattered to him that was worth brawling over. But he’d been endangered too often in Egypt, and he’d trained hard with Valois.

  For once, he felt very tough, very brave. He shouldn’t have listened to that lying bitch, Pippa Clementi. He braced his feet. “You’ll take them over my dead body.”

  “That can certainly be arranged,” Romilard said.

  Chase didn’t see the blow coming. Someone hit him—very hard—from the side. Isabelle shrieked with horror, then his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

  He had no idea how long he laid there, but when he awoke, he was prostrate on the dirty cobbles, people swarming by him as if he was dung in the gutter. His head pounding with agony, he peered around, not surprised in the least to find that the carriage was gone, the soldiers were gone, the children were gone.

  How would he ever confess his treachery to their sister? And how many more hours would he be allowed to live before Bryce murdered him?

  * * * *

  Pippa entered Kat’s room without knocking. Kat was in the bedchamber, merrily humming to herself as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Why shouldn’t she be happy? Apparently she was in love for the very first time.

  Pippa suffered a moment of regret for her friend that her affair would have to be abandoned. No doubt Kat had an entire fantasy life built up in her mind about Mr. Blair, but Kat knew better. She had a destiny that could never include him, and she had to remember who he was and who she was.