Royal Wedding Threat

by Rachelle Mccalla

  And she realized her explanation had revealed even more of her feelings, instead of disguising them. Embarrassed though she was, Ava wouldn’t deny that she’d come to trust and care for Jason so much it frightened her.

  She had to retreat. “I need to get going.”

  “I have feelings for you,” Jason said quietly as Ava stepped past him.

  She turned and looked him full in the face. “Hmm?”

  “All those times we argued, it wasn’t because I was mad at you. It was because I found you maddening.”

  “Those aren’t the same thing?” Ava’s heart swelled. What kind of feelings did Jason have for her? Was he simply being kind to her because he felt sorry she’d had to endure so much? Or did he care for her as more than a friend?

  “This is probably horrible timing,” Jason confessed, taking her hand, “but you said what you said and I wanted you to know your feelings are precious to me. I wake up thinking of you. My day doesn’t really start until I see your face. And when you laughed earlier? I was king of the world. I’d love to make you laugh again.”

  Ava drew closer to Jason as he spoke. She couldn’t believe she was hearing such kind words from a man who’d spoken to her so sharply just the week before. As he mentioned her laugh, he brushed her cheek gently with one hand. Ava rose on tiptoes, pulling closer to him, yearning for his touch after sitting alone through the awful interview.

  Jason leaned down toward her. She realized a moment before his lips touched hers that he might very well be going to kiss her. Then he hesitated and she feared he might change his mind, so she closed the distance between them just as he did the same, and their lips met with urgency.

  She’d enjoyed arguing with Jason. She’d enjoyed laughing with him even more. But neither of those things nor both together could compare with kissing him. If there had been any doubt in her mind that Jason was a better fit for her than Dan ever could have been, the kiss confirmed it.

  She didn’t want to ever stop kissing him. So what if she was late for the dress fitting? The dressmakers could assess the bridesmaids without her. It wasn’t as though she had to be there.

  Eyes closed tight, her whole self focused on the feel and the smell and the taste of this wonderful man, Ava vaguely realized Jason had cleared his throat.

  It wasn’t until she heard the sound again that she realized Jason couldn’t possibly have made the noise, as he was still ardently kissing her.

  “Um, Captain?”

  That was most definitely not Jason’s voice.

  Ava opened her eyes and discovered two men standing in the doorway.

  And they’d pulled the curtain back and turned the light on. The one-way glass had become two-way glass, and a room full of royal guards had witnessed their kiss.

  Mortified, Ava took a second to recover. “I need to be going.” She slipped from Jason’s arms, retreating quickly down the hall and toward the palace.

  What had she done? She’d kissed the captain of the guard. That had been lovely. But all his men had witnessed it. Grateful as she was that she’d gotten away quickly, she couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty for leaving Jason alone to face his men. No matter what he chose to talk about, it was certain to be an awkward conversation.

  * * *

  Jason watched Ava walk away. Then he looked at his men and cleared his throat. “Inform Mr. Johnson we’ll be looking into his story, but in the meantime, we’re going to keep him here under guard. Or I can tell him myself.” Jason started to step past the men, who seemed frozen in place, unsure how to react to what they’d seen.

  Titus cleared his throat. “Captain, you’ve got a bit of pink—” he gestured around his own mouth “—lipstick?”

  A couple of guards stifled giggles.

  But Linus and Galen, two guards who’d witnessed the kiss from the other side of the glass, didn’t look at all amused. Jason had warned each of them not to become involved with the women they were guarding. And though Linus was now engaged to Duchess Julia, and Galen was likewise engaged to Ruby Tate, Princess Anastasia’s assistant, Jason had discouraged those romances. He’d even gone so far as to threaten Galen that he’d lose his job if he became involved with Ruby.

  Jason owed his men an explanation. It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have, but he figured he wouldn’t gain anything by putting it off.

  “Titus, pass the message along to the suspect and detain him in cell B. Then join me in the conference room. I need to address everyone together.”

  Stepping into the nearby men’s room, Jason checked his reflection in the mirror and wiped the lipstick away. What had he done? What would he tell the men? He needed to talk to Ava about what was going on between them, but there wasn’t time for that. His men deserved answers. Now—before any of them had an opportunity to grumble.

  The men were still waiting for him in the conference room. He gathered his thoughts as he faced them.

  “We talk a lot about honor in the royal guard,” he began. “It’s been my goal to restore the reputation of the guard, to restore our honor.” Jason swallowed, trying to think how his behavior fit his words. “The Royal Guard Code of Honor specifically prohibits improper behavior between guards and those they protect.”

  Months before, Jason had looked up the exact clause to guide him as he responded to the relationships blossoming between his guards and those they guarded. He still hadn’t made up his mind precisely what those centuries-old words meant.

  Clearly his guards struggled with the same confusion. Galen asked quietly, “What is improper behavior?”

  Jason looked at him and tried to think of an answer.

  Linus spoke first. “Was that kiss proper behavior?”

  “I don’t know,” Jason admitted. “What do you men think?”

  By that time, Titus had returned along with several more guards. The large conference room was getting crowded.

  “Do you know what I think?” Royal guard Levi Grenaldo, recently married to Princess Isabelle, spoke up. Jason hadn’t even realized Levi was there—he mostly came and went at Isabelle’s side, visiting the guardhouse only when necessary. But the topic this evening applied to him, as well. He’d been assigned to guard Princess Isabelle, then they’d fallen in love. “It depends on the relationship between the two of you. Are your intentions toward the wedding planner honorable?”

  “Yes.” Jason could confirm that much. He couldn’t say what the future held, but he knew for certain he didn’t want to hurt Ava, only to comfort her and maybe even make her smile.

  “Then I don’t see any problem,” Levi concluded.

  Grateful as he was for Levi’s absolution, Jason couldn’t let the issue go that easily. “I want to be certain I’m interpreting the policy fairly for everyone, while upholding the honor of the royal guard.”

  “If you’ll recall,” Galen spoke up again, “you told me not to get involved with Ruby.”

  “Yeah,” Linus noted quietly beside his friend, “but you still kissed her when you weren’t supposed to.”

  The tips of Galen’s ears turned red, and he elbowed Linus.

  “That’s precisely what I’m talking about. The policy isn’t clear,” Jason affirmed.

  “So clarify the policy,” Titus said, as though the answer could possibly be that simple.

  “We’ll have to work on that. In the meantime, all of you have work to do. We have a royal wedding in three days.” Jason nodded and headed for the door. The situation was close enough to settled for now, and he had more pressing matters to attend to. But the question would undoubtedly come up again, especially if he wanted to be involved with Ava. He didn’t know what she might have to say, but he’d become increasingly certain he did want to be with Ava.

  She might argue with him about it, but her kiss had told him how she really felt. It was enough to
convince him. He was ready to fight for her.

  * * *

  Ava’s heartbeat kicked up a notch when she spotted the shadowy figure lingering near the doorway of the palace-wall apartments. Though they were inside the safety of the palace campus, and Ava had so far been safe inside those walls, her life had been threatened too many times recently for her not to feel frightened.

  She reached for her phone, realizing as she did so that she’d turned it off before her last meeting to avoid any rude interruptions in front of the royal family. At the same moment, she drew near enough to recognize the uniform the man wore.

  Royal guard.

  Ava walked toward him, faster now, studying the man’s face. Her heart grew hopeful and then happy as she recognized Jason in his captain’s uniform. In spite of her embarrassment at the thought of facing him again after their kiss, she couldn’t help smiling as she approached him.

  Jason grinned back at her.

  “What are you doing here?” she called out as she approached.

  “You said you were booked until ten. I tried to call your phone to arrange to meet—”

  “I had it turned off.”

  “So I gathered.” He shrugged. “So I thought I’d meet you here, but you’re half an hour late.”

  “The meeting went long.” Ava reached his side, hesitated for a moment over whether she should hug him or shake hands or give in to the urge to kiss him on the spot. Instead she pressed her thumb to the print reader until it glowed green, deactivating the lock and allowing her into the building.

  “I’m sure you had a lot to discuss.” Jason held the door for her as she stepped through. He followed, giving the door an extra tug to be certain it had latched shut securely.

  Ava headed toward her apartment door. “They wanted to know the latest about the situation. Of course, since Alexander has so many friends in the guard, and since he’s the head of the Lydian Army, he’s already learned about every development.”

  “Alex has top-level security clearance,” Jason confirmed. “The only person allowed to keep secrets from him is the king.”

  “The remaining question is whether they’ll be allowed to ride in the open carriage from the cathedral back to the palace.” Ava paused in front of her door and looked up at Jason, still stinging from her apology to the royal couple. “I told them that for safety’s sake, they ought to reconsider it.”

  “How did they take it?”

  “With grace.” Ava unlocked her door. “I could see Lillian felt disappointed, but she insisted we must do everything we can for safety’s sake. I just felt awful making the request because it’s my fault. I promised her the wedding of her dreams, but it’s because of me she can’t have it.”

  Jason stepped after her into the apartment and touched her shoulder with his hand, imparting comfort she hadn’t realized she was craving. “It’s not because of you. It’s because of the killer who’s after you. That’s not your fault.”

  Ava blinked up at him. In her heart, she wanted to believe his words were true, but she still felt guilty. She felt the same way about abandoning him to face his men alone after they’d witnessed the kiss. “How did things go after I left?”

  “With...?”

  “With your men who saw our...” She looked at his lips and recalled distinctly what they’d felt like pressed to hers. She wanted to feel that again, but they had so much to discuss, and it was already late.

  Jason took a step backward and ran his hands through his hair. “Yes, that. I’m afraid it’s all very complicated. The royal guard has a policy against improper behavior between guards and their charges.”

  “You broke your own rules?” Ava felt even worse. “And all your men witnessed it?”

  “It’s never been clearly defined what constitutes ‘improper behavior.’”

  “I should think kissing would make the list if anything did.”

  “That was the interpretation I’d favored in the past.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I’ve specifically instructed my men not to become romantically involved with the women they guard. And then I did that very thing.”

  Ava could see how conflicted Jason felt about what he’d done. “You could tell them it was my fault, that I kissed you—”

  “I kissed you, Ava.” Jason stepped closer again, so close Ava could smell the faded scent of his aftershave. “I’m not going to deny it. I’d like to do it again.”

  In spite of the guilt she felt, Ava couldn’t help smiling.

  Jason grinned back at her, and for a moment she was certain he would try to kiss her, but then he sobered. “It’s late. Kissing you at headquarters might not be entirely improper, but kissing you in your apartment would be. I haven’t even told you the reason I needed to see you.”

  Ava felt her smile fade. He hadn’t waited half an hour outside her apartment hoping for a kiss? Of course not. There was still a killer at large. “What did you need?”

  “Do you have any pictures of Tiffany? If Dan’s story is correct and she’s here looking for you, then we need to find her.”

  “I should be able to find some pictures for you.” Ava crossed the room to her computer and turned it on. “But we’ve only ever seen a man in a Mariners cap. How do we know Tiffany is in Lydia?”

  “We don’t know it.” Jason leaned over the back of her desk chair as Ava sat down to search for pictures. “That’s the other things I wanted to ask you.” He paused.

  “Hmm?” Ava prompted once she’d finished typing and waited for her search results to appear.

  “Do you have any pictures of your father?”

  “My dad? Why?” She turned in her chair and looked up at him.

  Jason cringed, obviously not wanting to answer, but speaking the words anyway. “We considered him a possible suspect in the beginning. He hasn’t been in his office all week—I’ve called and asked for him every day since you were attacked. I’ve yet to hear anything that might clear him, not unless we can prove Dan’s story is correct, which might never happen. You said your father is of similar build to the man we saw in the security footage asking for you at the gate.”

  “Yes, but that was Dan. He admitted that much himself.”

  “But the man at the security gate was of similar build to the gunman on Dorsi.”

  Ava realized what Jason was getting at. Though she hated to think it possible, her father might be trying to kill her.

  Jason continued, “Does your father ever wear a Mariners cap?”

  “Yes. Plenty of men in Seattle do. And yes, he and Dan are both of average height and build. Dan spilled soda on his slacks at our house once, and my father lent him a pair of his pants to change into. They’re the same size—but it’s a common, average size. It doesn’t prove anything.”

  “I know it doesn’t. And I pray to God your father is innocent, but for all we know he could be working with Tiffany. Or Tiffany could be completely innocent and Dan’s story an elaborate ruse. Or it could be something else entirely, a jilted vendor, an old client whose marriage went bad, blaming you for letting them get married in the first place. Until we know who’s after you and have that person in custody, I’m not taking any chances or exonerating any suspects.”

  Ava found the pictures and printed them off, handing them over to Jason silently, her heart too heavy to speak.

  “Thank you.” He took the pictures, but barely glanced at them, all his attention on her face. His gray eyes welled with unspoken things, but Ava knew they were both far too tired to discuss anything more that night. And they had several busy days ahead of them.

  Jason left with a quiet goodbye, and Ava locked the door after him.

  FOURTEEN

  Jason found Ava in the palace ballroom, ending her meeting with the orchestra who’d be playing
for the wedding reception on Saturday.

  “How’d it go?” he asked when she spotted him in the doorway and approached with a worried look on her face.

  “Well, actually.” In spite of her positive words, she still eyed him warily. “The Sardis Metropolitan Orchestra played for Isabelle’s wedding as well as several other engagements I’ve coordinated. They’re ready for Saturday night. Between them and the household staff, they don’t even need me here.”

  Jason felt relieved to hear it. Given the situation, he’d already considered the possibility of asking her not to be there—for the start of the reception, at least. But that hadn’t been the reason for his visit.

  “So what’s up?” Ava asked. “You didn’t just pop by to hear the orchestra.”

  “I forwarded the pictures and names to the Lydian travel authorities.”

  “And?”

  Jason pulled out the paper he’d kept rolled, almost out of sight, in his hand. “They sent me this.”

  Ava gasped at the security images, the time and date stamp in the corners indicating the man had come through the Sardis Airport the previous afternoon. “That’s my father.”

  “He flew in under his own name. No attempts to hide behind an alias.”

  “But if he just arrived yesterday...”

  Jason guessed what she was thinking—the same thing he’d thought when he’d received the message. “The airport has no record of a Douglas Wright arriving or departing at any other time in the past year. This is the one time he’s flown in under his own name.”

  “But he could have come earlier using an alias?” Ava studied his face as she guessed what he was getting at.

  “He could have. Or he could have arrived by boat, or flown into a neighboring country and crossed the border by car. We can’t rule out that he wasn’t here earlier, but we do know for certain that he’s arrived.”

  “There’s no doubt that’s him.” Ava’s voice swelled with an emotion—possibly fear—as she looked at the pictures again. “But what is he doing here?”