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He’d already rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and knew his sunglasses protected his eyes from the intense rays of the sun as he stood outside the palace.
In the eight weeks since he’d been on Grand Serenity, he had made a point to know every corner of the royal palace, without becoming too overwhelmed. It wasn’t as easy as it appeared, but Gary had been trained for assignments such as this one. He’d also left all that behind him years ago when he’d walked away from the United States Army.
When in the midst of the conversation, Phillipe suddenly stood a little straighter, his shoulders squared, almost like a soldier coming to attention, Gary knew who was approaching from behind them. He’d heard the distinct footsteps, so the person wasn’t a surprise, neither was what was said next.
“Are you out of your mind?” Kris asked the moment Gary turned to face him. “I didn’t invite you down here for you to start messing with my sister.”
Gary listened, watching the man he’d remembered from their days at Princeton. Kris had been the astute crown prince trying to fit in. But he knew that regardless of how smart or how rich the other students and their parents were, none of them was next in line to rule a Caribbean island.
Kris had filled out over the years, still a tall and toned guy, but his eyes were more serious than they had been ten years ago. He wore a black suit, regardless of the stifling heat, and glared at Gary with enough anger that Gary decided a quick, to-the-point answer would be the best way to respond.
“I’m not messing with your sister. I’m protecting her and that is what you asked me here to do,” he told him.
“I wanted your expertise on strengthening our security and keeping my family safe, yes, but this...” Kris’s words trailed off as he realized Phillipe was still standing within earshot.
Gary took the first steps, leading them away from where the white Mercedes-Benz C450 AMG 4Matic was parked. The soles of his black leather boots made a muted sound on the red-brick walkway. There was a bit of shade where he’d stopped closer to a doorway. The pristine white of the palace walls and the crisp green of the shrubs that surrounded this part of the building made this a picturesque scene. Despite the low level of tension emanating between him and Kris at the moment.
Kris stood with his back to where Phillipe was tending to the car. An act that wasn’t totally necessary since they were about fifteen feet from where the man was at the moment, but Gary didn’t bring that up. Instead he folded his arms over his chest, his legs spread slightly apart as he looked Kris straight in the eye.
“I’m doing my job. That’s all,” he told the crown prince.
Kris shook his head. “That’s not how it looked last night. Landry pinched my arm so hard when she saw you that I had no choice but to look in your direction. Imagine my surprise when I see you, my top security chief, locked in a heated embrace with my little sister.”
With all due respect, there was nothing “little” about Kris’s sister. She wasn’t a plus-size woman, but was tall and slimly built, with luscious curves in all the right places. Gary had observed them on various occasions during his time there. Generous breasts and a perfectly rounded backside had always been an eye-catcher for him. Samantha’s attributes in those areas left absolutely nothing to be desired, especially once he’d had his hands on her and the soft cushion of her breasts had pressed so delectably against his chest. His hand had just barely whispered over the curve of her ass, which had taken tremendous restraint on his part.
“She kissed me,” Gary said in defense.
Kris sighed. “I guess I cannot dispute that since she’s already admitted it.” He ran his hand down his tie and looked as if he was trying to figure out what to make of everything going on around him.
Being a newlywed and a member of the royal family that had recently been targeted—albeit by amateur threats—could not be easy. For as beautiful as the island and Kris’s collection of antique cars was, Gary didn’t envy him at the moment. In fact, when he’d climbed out of bed this morning, Gary had thought that returning to his cabin on the Choptank River in Cambridge, Maryland, seemed like a far better place to be.
“I’ll be looking closely into this Morty person,” Gary told Kris. It was his attempt to reassure his one and only long-term friend that he was there to help. Regardless of how things may have appeared last night.
“I’ve already advised my assistant to pull everything we have on him. As a staff member, he would have gone through a vigorous vetting process,” Kris stated.
“More thorough than the one on Ms. Sampson’s staff, I hope,” Gary stated then immediately wished he’d kept that thought to himself.
It was because he viewed Kris as a friend and felt comfortable with him that he was able to say what was on his mind. With anyone else, Gary was instantly in soldier mode, keeping a tight lip on any and everything. Lack of communication was one of the things his ex-wife had complained about until his ears burned.
“I’ll take the fall for that,” Kris agreed. “I spent so much time studying Landry’s file that I didn’t look closely enough at Amari Taylor’s. Still, when I went back over everything that was provided for my perusal, there still wasn’t anything to indicate that he would try to harm my family.”
“That’s part of their job. They infiltrate and execute.” Gary knew that course of action all too well.
“Guess I should have joined the military like you and Roland,” Kris stated evenly.
Gary shook his head. “You took the path that was right for you. I’m the one who kept making all the wrong turns.” That’s what he liked to call the way he’d lived his life. A series of turns and roadblocks meant to ultimately get him to his destination. At thirty years old and, finally, after too many years to count, he’d been able to breathe and live contentedly. Gary was glad the turns and roadblocks were behind him.
“Where is Roland, anyway?” Gary asked. “The calendar you gave me access to doesn’t have his location.”
Kris frowned then. He looked as if he wanted to curse, or better yet, punch something, but he didn’t. Gary knew he wouldn’t. Kris wasn’t built that way.
“He goes off for days or weeks at a time and nobody really knows where he is. I asked him to be more mindful of our situation now, but you know Roland has always had a mind of his own.”
Gary nodded. “Yeah, I know how that feels.” If there was one member of the royal family Gary could totally relate to, it was Roland DeSaunters. The need to be free to roam and to make whatever decision suited him, without council, was imperative to Gary. Roland, from all that Kris had told him over the years, was the same way.
“We’re going to need to brief him eventually, when we finalize all the changes you’ve suggested,” Kris told him.
Gary nodded again. “True. In a couple of days,” he said. “I want to get a few more details locked down. Then we can talk about the probability of another strike on your family.”
Kris stared at him then, a seriously worried and annoyed look on his face. “That’s a definite probability, isn’t it?”
Gary didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“What’s a definite probability?” Samantha asked as she stepped through the door only a few feet behind Gary.
“That it’s going to rain later,” Kris answered while Gary stepped to the side, making room for her to stand with them.
When she looked to Gary, he nodded. “We should be back from your appointments by the time the rain begins.”
She looked at Kris, her eyes narrowing as she finally shook her head. “Rain usually lasts about an hour here on the island, but as high as the temperatures are likely to be today, a shower might be welcomed. I’ll be back by dinner,” she told Kris and moved away from them, heading to her car.
For the next few seconds Gary and Kris simply stared at her walking away, until finally Kris clapped a hand on Gary’s shoulder.
“You might rethink your plan after spending the day with her when she’s in this type of mood,” Kris told him. “So I guess this is payback for letting her kiss you in the first place.”
Gary felt the corner of his mouth lift in a smile. He was certain no living and breathing man would have been able to resist kissing a woman like Samantha DeSaunters.
When Kris had walked away, feeling a little more triumphant than Gary appreciated, Gary walked over to the car. He nodded to Phillipe. The driver had remained standing by the back door, closing it only after Gary slipped onto the leather seat.
“What are you doing?” Samantha asked immediately.
“You have appointments today, correct?”
“I have appointments. Not you,” she stated easily.
He shook his head. “I’m going where you go today.”
“This is ridiculous. It doesn’t make any sense at all. As far as your rationalization for why your idea is such a great one, I—”
He hadn’t been able to resist. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder, the tiny earrings twinkling at her ear. The blouse she wore was cut low and her jacket was open so that he could see hints of her cleavage. But it was enough to drive him freakin’ crazy in the few moments they’d been alone.
Gary had tried to focus on what she was saying by looking at her mouth, but that was a mistake. Her lips were covered in a peach-colored gloss, the bottom one a little plumper than the top. Glimpses of her straight white teeth and just a peek of her tongue had his body aching for another taste. Just once more.
So he’d quickly closed the space across the seat of the car, using one hand to grasp the back of her neck and pull her in for the assault.
The moment his lips touched hers Gary knew it was a mistake. And yet he continued. He moved in farther, thrusting his tongue deeper, letting the sound of her long and sensuous sigh drape him like a cloak. Her hand instantly came around to cup his neck in the same way he was holding her. When he tilted his head one way and deepened the kiss, she tilted hers the opposite way, taking everything he had to offer. It was like a perfectly matched battle. Only, Gary knew way back in the recesses of his mind, that they were uneven. This wasn’t what they were supposed to be doing. It wasn’t expected or acceptable for either of them.
And yet he continued.
The car was moving down the incline toward the front gate and came to a halting stop, as did their kiss. Gary pulled back just enough to turn his face so that he could look out the window at what was going on.
There was another vehicle at the front gate, trying to gain access.
On a curse, he pulled completely away from her and reached to open the door. Stepping out, he circled the car and headed to the gatekeeper’s booth. Inside was a guard dressed in full palace regalia, the navy, gold and white colors of the DeSaunters’s flag displayed prominently in the uniform. A badge hung from the guard’s right lapel.
The front gates were twelve feet tall, black iron and operated on an automatic lock system. Since he’d been there, they’d been updated to also include an electronic sensor hidden in the small speed bump leading onto the property. If by chance someone decided to let an uninvited guest through the gates, monitors in the private security room in the palace would be alerted. Specially selected guards that Gary had referred, and Kris and Rafe had approved, manned these monitors.
“What’s the problem?” Gary asked the guard when he entered the booth.
Turning, the pinch-faced man looked up to see him. The second week of Gary’s arrival consisted of a meeting with every guard who’d previously worked at the palace and he personally met with each of the new hires, as well. They all needed to know that he was now supervising the security at the palace. His military background coupled with his relationship with Kris put him in a position higher than Salvin Gathersburg, the chief of the palace guards. Those initial meetings had come in handy for moments such as this.
“His name’s not on today’s log. He says he has an appointment with Prince Kristian,” the guard—Rutger, as Gary recalled—informed him.
“Have you called his assistant?”
“I did. She did not see his name in her appointment book, either. She was looking for the prince, to ask him if he knew anything about this person before I send him away.”
“What’s his name?”
“Kendon Arnold,” Rutger told him.
Gary walked out of the booth and headed to the side of the gate where there was a doorway. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved the key card he and every guard on staff now had for this entrance and swiped it over the pad beside the knob. The locks released with a loud clicking sound and he walked through the door and right up to the driver’s side of the white SUV waiting to get inside the gates.
“You said you have an appointment with the prince,” Gary began immediately. “Who are you and what’s it in reference to?”
The guy, who looked to be in his early twenties, kept his hands firmly clenched on the steering wheel where Gary could see them. A glance inside the SUV confirmed the passenger seat was empty. He wore a lightweight blue jacket with a striped shirt beneath it and sunglasses covered his eyes.
“I’m interested in opening an account at Serenity Trust,” he told him.
“Then you should be at the bank, not here,” Gary replied.
His hands did not move, and while his head remained turned in Gary’s direction, Gary wasn’t sure the man was looking at him. Something wasn’t right here.
“He will want to meet with me personally,” the man stated.
“What’s your name?”
Rutger had already given Gary this information but he wanted to hear the man say it. He wanted to see if he could tell if he was being told a lie.
“Kendon Arnold” was the easy reply. Too easy.
Gary nodded. “I’ll give the prince your message. If you’re right and he wants to meet with you, he’ll be in touch. But there will be no meeting today, so back this truck up and leave the property. Further sightings of you or this vehicle near the palace without the prince’s approval will result in your arrest. Do I make myself clear?”
There was a moment when Gary thought he was going to have to pull the man from the truck and detain him until the island police could come and arrest him but the guy shrugged.
“That is clear,” he said. Then he put the SUV in Reverse and backed away from the gate.
Gary watched as the vehicle turned and drove down the driveway. At the end of the cement drive, the road split in two directions. The SUV turned to the right and Gary frowned. That direction led back to more winding dirt roads and into the forested part of the island. The same forested part that ran along the back perimeter of the palace.
Gary pulled his cell phone from his pocket and began composing a text message to Kris. The crown prince wasn’t going to like this any more than Gary did, but he needed to know.
Chapter 4 (#ue23ac8dc-eec9-5e83-b787-20534a158eb5)
Sam watched intently from the front passenger seat of the car. She’d gotten out of the vehicle and moved onto the seat beside Phillipe while Gary had been in the security booth. Yes, it was running away from the problem. But there was no other way, she insisted as she’d avoided Phillipe’s questioning gaze and pulled her seat belt into place.
If she and Gary were going to be close, they would not be able to resist touching each other. She had to put some space between them.
It was a solution. Sam was good at coming up with solutions and acting on them, regardless of whether or not it seemed she was taking the easy way out. That didn’t matter. Only the “out” part did.
When Gary had finished talking to the man in the truck and then stood there for a few moments as the SUV pulled off, she’d had plenty of time to decide what she would say when he asked why she’d changed seats. Of course she wouldn’t say that she couldn’t trust herself not to jump him in the backseat of a moving car. That wouldn’t be at all appropriate—no matter how true it might be.
She also wouldn’t tell him again that she didn’t like his idea of them faking a relationship. That had already been said and overruled. No, Sam decided that she would do whatever was necessary to keep her family safe and out of the scandal spotlight. So she planned to go through with this false relationship until Morty was dealt with and they could all move on. She prayed that would happen sooner rather than later.
He was heading back now, stopping only briefly at the security booth before heading toward the car. Her fingers clenched on her purse as she held it firmly in her lap. She stared straight ahead even though the windows were completely tinted so he could not see where she sat from the outside. The back door opened—she heard barely a sound as she suspected he slipped onto the seat—and then the door closed. A few muted seconds passed.
“Let’s go. We don’t want the princess to be late for the opening ceremonies,” he instructed Phillipe.
He said nothing to her and, for that, Sam was grateful. After about fifteen minutes the gratitude shifted to mild confusion. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Was kissing the only way they could communicate? No, that was silly. Especially since after each kiss Sam was left feeling more confused than ever. Aroused yet still jumbled.
She hadn’t chanced a look at him but knew without a doubt that he was staring at her because the back of her neck felt as if it were on fire. He was surely staring, but what was he thinking? She wondered if it was about her or about the job he’d been hired to do. She shouldn’t care. The job...rather, the safety of her family and their people, was all that mattered. So he should be thinking about the job and not her. Right?
Now she drummed her fingers on her purse, wanting to say something but not knowing exactly what to say. This was new for Sam. Her entire life had revolved around her ability to talk to anyone about almost anything. The fact that she did so with a brilliant smile and a sense of compassion made her the perfect goodwill ambassador for the island.
It had been her mother’s job when she was alive. Vivienne Patterson DeSaunters had been the perfect champion for everything wonderful about Grand Serenity Island. She’d helped Rafe build the island’s tourism to the bustling hub of social and economic prosperity that it was today.
Forming the Tourism Board had been Vivienne’s idea, as well as bringing several social organizations she’d been part of in her hometown of Sugar Land in Houston, Texas, to Grand Serenity. Sam was a member of the Flower Circle, the Arts and Entertainment Society, and the Serenade Museum Board of Directors. But not because of her own interest in flowers or plays or the paintings that hung along the museum walls. No. As with so many other aspects of her life, these things Sam did in memory of her mother.
Twenty minutes later, when the car came to a stop and she looked across the cobblestone street to a little shop painted a bright and cheery blue with white-framed windows, she smiled. Even though lately every thought she had of her mother made her sad.
Detali Signorenson had been making dresses for Sam since Sam’s first middle school dance. She was a true talent when it came to design and manufacturing dresses, and Sam was ecstatic about the turn her career had taken.
It had started two months ago when Sam had brought Landry into Detali’s old shop, which had also served as Detali and her daughter’s apartment. During that meeting Landry, who at the time had been Malayka’s stylist, had commissioned Detali to design and make an original gown for Malayka.
Sam remembered well how Malayka had embarrassed the royal family. At a press conference she’d offended every dressmaker on Grand Serenity with her dismissive remarks about the quality of fashion on the island. But after Landry had tricked Malayka into wearing the Detali original to the Ambassador’s Ball, the gown had been photographed and featured on fashion blogs with Detali as a new and upcoming designer.
Today would be the grand opening of Detali Designs, the new shop that would display Detali’s original dresses. In another month or so, one of the old warehouses on the east side of the island would be transformed into a state-of-the art space for the clothes to be manufactured.
Landry had invested in Detali’s dream and was present today for the press conference and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Sam wondered if Kris knew what a special woman he’d found in Landry Norris. She possessed one of the first traits to being a princess: a good heart. The business and fashion sense Landry brought to the small Caribbean island was a plus that Sam was glad to expose.
The opening of the car door jolted her from her thoughts and Sam stepped out without further hesitation. Her hair blew in the breeze as she took a step onto the cobblestone path. Gary touched her elbow immediately, a firm grasp that she doubted looked imposing at all from a distance.
“From this point on, there will be two cars traveling with every member of the royal family,” he said in what, to a passerby, may have sounded like a cordial tone.
Sam wasn’t certain what she should gather from his voice, she was too busy trying to squash the butterflies dancing happily in the pit of her stomach at his touch.
“Guards from the second car will enter the premises first and complete a perimeter check. Once Phillipe, or the other driver, receives the okay from the guards, he’ll let you out of the vehicle. You are never to exit the vehicle alone, nor are you to enter a facility that has not been pre-checked.”
He walked them across the street as he talked. Sam noticed the group of women that had been heading toward the shop. They stopped and whispered. Then one of them lifted her phone, aiming it toward Sam. Another one giggled and did the same thing. Falling easily into her role, Sam lifted a hand and waved. “Hello. How are you?” she said to them.
