скачать книгу бесплатно
“No, thank you. That will be all. I can take care of this matter.”
Once the butler left, Adele smiled warmly at Matt O’Brien. “Won’t you take a seat, Mr. O’Brien?”
“No, ma’am, thank you.”
“For whom are you working, my father or—”
“King Leopold retained the Dundee Agency, and since I was the only agent already in Europe, I drew this assignment.”
“I’m surprised that my father used an American firm. You are American, aren’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And what will you do if I choose not to return to Orlantha with you?” Show this hired henchman that you’re not afraid of him, she told herself. Let him know that taking you back to your father will not be something easily accomplished.
“I’m hoping you won’t put up a fuss.” The corners of his mouth lifted in a hint of a smile. “But my orders are to take you home, even if I have to hog-tie you, put you in a sack and toss you over my shoulder.”
Adele gasped. Apparently, this American had not been taught the proper respect for someone in her position—a princess, the heir to the throne of Orlantha. “If you lay one hand on me, you…you brute, I shall see that you’re—”
He laughed. A loud, boisterous laugh. Adele cringed. Damn insolent cretin! How dare he treat her in such a manner.
“Look, Little Miss Royal Runaway, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s up to you. But you can be sure of one thing—I’m taking your highfalutin fanny home to Daddy.”
Chapter 2
M att had figured this wouldn’t be an easy job and he’d been right. He should have known she would put up a fuss. Princess Adele stared at him, her big brown eyes glaring, and her full, pink lips clenched. With a defiant stance, her hands on her hips, and an I’m-not-going-anywhere-with-you expression on her face, she seemed to be daring him. Matt rubbed his jaw and chin. He wore two days’ worth of beard stubble because he hadn’t taken time to shave since he’d been rushed to Orlantha and put on this case. She probably thought he looked rather scruffy. He thought she looked incredible. Her shiny chestnut-brown hair curled about her ears in a soft, wavy bob. A pair of shimmery diamond studs—probably three carats each—glittered in her earlobes and a thin diamond-studded watch graced her wrist. Her petite body—he guessed she stood about five-two—was nicely rounded in all the right places. An hourglass shape, with a tiny waist. The outfit she wore—red cashmere sweater and gray wool slacks—had probably been purchased on her recent shopping spree in Paris and no doubt had cost a month’s salary for the average person. Oh, yeah, she was one gorgeous woman, but she had “Spoiled Rotten” written all over her.
“The way you’re looking at me is quite insulting,” she told him with an air of snobbery.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he replied. “I was just appreciating the scenery.”
A slight flush stained her cheeks. “Mr. O’Brien, I don’t know how much my father is paying you, but I will match his offer and raise it by…let’s say, five thousand American dollars.”
“Let me get this straight—you’re willing to pay me five thousand more than your father if I don’t take you back to Orlantha?”
“That’s correct.” The tension in her body drained away, and she relaxed a bit.
“It’s my understanding that your father holds the purse strings, that you aren’t independently wealthy.”
She huffed, then pursed her lips and glowered at Matt. “I have some capital at my disposal, certainly enough to buy you off.”
Barely able to control his amusement, Matt grinned. “Look, Ms. Reynard or Princess or whatever you prefer to be called, I work for the Dundee Agency. We’ve got rules and regulations we have to follow, and a solid reputation to uphold, not to mention the fact that I’ve got a boss who can put the fear of God into any of her agents if we even think of doing anything disreputable.”
“I take that to mean you’re refusing my offer.”
“Yes, ma’am, you can take it that way.”
“Then we seem to be at an impasse, don’t we?”
“How’s that?”
“Well, you expect me to go back to Orlantha with you, and I refuse to return to the palace tonight or anytime in the near future. Not until my father calls off the wedding.”
“Look, I can’t say that I blame you for not wanting to marry old mule face. If I were a lady, I’d sure run in the opposite direction to get away from him. But my job isn’t couples counseling. I was hired to take you back to the palace in Erembourg and that’s what I intend to do.”
Adele tensed again, her small body stiffening and her chin tilting upward slightly. She was half his size, yet even her body language challenged him. “You do not intimidate me.”
No doubt about it. She wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
“My orders are to use whatever means necessary to secure your return.”
“Use whatever means… Are you saying that my father really did give you permission to force me to come with you?”
“Yep, that’s exactly what he did. And Lord Burhardt, Colonel Rickard and your ever-loving fiancé all went right along with the order. Looks like it’s you against the world, or at least your little world in Orlantha. I’d say unless you can talk your daddy out of it, you, Princess Beauty, are going home to marry the beast.”
“You’re the beast, Mr. O’Brien!” Adele’s eyes flashed. Her nostrils flared. “I’m not leaving with you, and that’s final.” She stomped her foot.
“I should have just walked in, chloroformed you and been done with it. But no, I had to give you a chance to be reasonable. Stupid of me, I know, but that’s just the kind of guy I am.”
Matt reached out to take her arm, but she sidestepped him and began backing slowly toward the double doors behind her. “If you touch me, I’ll scream.”
“Then start screaming now because I’m going to touch you.”
Adele opened her mouth, but before she got out more than a mild screech, Matt dashed forward, grabbed her and slammed his hand over her mouth. She wriggled and squirmed, trying to free herself. He held fast.
“We’re going to march out of the chateau and straight to my car that’s parked outside,” Matt told her. “If you’re a good little girl, I won’t have to handcuff and gag you.”
Her movements became frantic as she struggled against him. When he tried to walk her out of the room, she kicked him several times. Damn, why him? Why had he been the lucky guy to draw this assignment?
“Stop that right now,” he said. “Otherwise, I’ll have to carry you out of here in a fireman’s lift.”
Somehow she managed to maneuver her mouth so that she could bite him. Ouch! He let out a yelp as her teeth chomped down into his hand. And within two seconds, her ear-splitting scream echoed through the chateau. Suddenly the butler ran into the drawing room, followed by a tall, blond man wearing evening attire.
“What is going on here?” Yves Jurgen demanded.
The butler jabbered ninety-to-nothing in German, while Adele continued struggling and calling out for help. Obviously confused, Yves glanced back and forth from the butler to Adele.
“Silence!” Yves called.
The butler hushed immediately.
With Matt’s arm around her waist, holding her body in front of his, Adele looked pleadingly at her friend. “Yves, this man is a private detective my father hired to find me and return me to Orlantha. Will you please tell him that he cannot force me to leave the chateau with him.”
“My God! Unhand the princess!” Yves stepped forward, bringing himself directly in front of Adele and Matt. “Do you hear me? I will not allow you to—”
Matt shoved Adele aside, then confronted the pretty boy. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mr. Jurgen, but if I have to, I will.”
“Hurt me?” Yves laughed. “I assure you that if you persist in this matter, you will be the one hurt.”
“Look, buddy boy, I’m walking out of here in about a minute, and the princess is going with me. I advise you not to try to stop us.”
“Do something, Yves,” Adele said.
When Adele tried to rush toward Yves, Matt grabbed her arm. “Stay put.”
When he tried to walk her toward the door, she balked. And if that wasn’t enough trouble, Yves came barreling toward him and grasped his shoulder. Without releasing Adele, he turned to face Yves just in time to see the man’s fist coming toward him. Matt adeptly avoided the blow, but when Yves came at him a second time, Matt drew back his fist and coldcocked Yves with one blow to his jaw. The minute Yves hit the floor, the butler yelled something about the polizei. Matt just ignored the man. Adele began fighting him again and calling him names, first in French and then in German and finally in English.
“My, my, Princess, where did you learn such filthy language?”
And as he’d threatened, Matt hoisted her up and over his shoulder. She let out a loud screech and wiggled.
“Put me down!”
Mumbling several obscenities under his breath, Matt marched out of the drawing room, through the marble-floored entrance hall and outside to his rental car. And all the while Adele threatened him with everything from a public flogging to a beheading.
Matt opened the front passenger door of the car, deposited Adele inside and closed the door. She opened the door and tried to get out. He shoved her back inside, held her in place until he fastened her seatbelt, then pulled out a pair of handcuffs—which he’d brought with him, just in case. After manacling her wrist with one cuff, he pulled her hands behind her back and snapped the second cuff on her other wrist.
“Now, you sit there and behave yourself.”
Adele screamed again, then said, “Please, don’t do this. I’ll do anything, pay you anything, if you’ll let me go. I can’t go back to Orlantha. You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Save your breath,” he told her. “I’m just doing my job. When you get home, you can work this out with your father.”
“My father is as unreasonable as you are. I hate him. I hate you. I hate all men.”
Just what he needed—to listen to her bellowing and bellyaching all the way back to Orlantha. He jerked out a handkerchief from his other pocket and effectively gagged her. Adele’s eyes widened in shock.
“Sorry, Princess, but I have no intention of listening to you carrying on like that while I’m driving.”
Matt got in on the driver’s side, started the engine and headed down the brick driveway toward the main road. With a little luck, they’d cross the border in a few hours and by morning he’d be on a plane headed back to Paris. Occasionally he glanced at the princess. She didn’t look at him, didn’t acknowledge his presence in any way. She sat there, with her hands cuffed behind her and his handkerchief tied over her mouth, staring straight ahead into the dark night, her entire demeanor regal and unflinching. He knew she had to be uncomfortable, but no one would ever guess by the way she acted.
An hour and forty minutes later they were halfway to the Austrian border, traveling along a back road, just in case Yves Jurgen had been foolish enough to try to follow them. The weather quickly turned nasty. An autumn storm created heavy streaks of lighting and rolling booms of thunder. Then came the downpour. The rain became so heavy that Matt couldn’t see two feet in front of the car, leaving him no choice but to pull off to the side of the road.
He killed the motor and turned to Adele. “Will you promise to behave yourself if I remove the gag?”
She didn’t respond immediately, just glowered at him. Then finally she nodded.
Matt reached out to untie the handkerchief. “If you start up again, the gag goes back in place. Understand?”
She nodded. He undid the knot and removed the gag. She took a deep breath, then licked the sides of her mouth where the handkerchief had chafed her skin.
“Mr. O’Brien, I didn’t run away simply because I find Dedrick personally offensive.”
“Look, honey, it doesn’t matter to me why you ran off. Can’t you get it through that pretty little head of yours that I’m just doing my job?”
“And I’m trying to do mine!”
Realizing she was probably going to give him some sad sob story, Matt didn’t respond. The wind beat against the car, whistling around them as the rain continued pouring. He wondered how long they’d be stuck here. The sooner he got this woman off his hands, the better.
“Mr. O’Brien?”
“Mmm-hmm?”
“Do you know anything about the politics in Orlantha and Balanchine?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“Are you aware that there are factions in both countries that wish to see the two reunited as one country?”
“I think I heard something to that effect.”
“Have you also heard about a group called the Royalists?”
“Can’t say that I have, but something tells me that I’m about to.” Matt turned in his seat so that he faced Adele. “If you promise not to do anything stupid, I’ll undo the handcuffs.”
“Do you want me to promise that I will not try to run from you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Then I promise.”
Matt stared at her for a moment, trying to discern her credibility. What the hell, he’d take a chance. After all, how far could she go if she did try to run?
After taking the key from his pocket, he gave her back a gentle shove forward, then reached down and unlocked the handcuffs.
She brought her hands slowly around to the front and rubbed first one wrist and then the other. Repeating the process several times, she said, “Thank you.”
Matt wasn’t sure which princess he preferred. The quiet-spoken, accommodating lady or the other—the defiant, hostile spitfire. He definitely trusted the spitfire more. This sweet act she was putting on now worried him. Was she up to something? Or had she simply changed tactics thinking honey attracted more than vinegar?
“About the Royalists,” she said. “They are a secret society that is active in both Orlantha and Balanchine. Their goals are to reunite the two countries under one king and for the combined nations to be ruled solely by the monarch. They want to turn back the clock two hundred years.”
“What does this have to do with your marriage to the duke?”
“I believe that Dedrick is a Royalist.”
“Got any proof?”
“Not yet, but soon, we hope.”
“We?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. O’Brien, but I cannot explain further. I simply do not know how trustworthy you are. Considering the fact that you’re working for my father, I—”
“How does Dedrick being a Royalist have any effect on your marriage? You’re a princess. Your old man is the king. I’d say your whole family are Royalists.”
“No, we are not!” Adele huffed. “You do not understand. My father rules Orlantha in conjunction with an elected council, headed by a chancellor and a vice chancellor and we do not want Orlantha reunited with Balanchine under any circumstances, and most definitely not as a monarch-ruled country. We suspect…I suspect that if Dedrick becomes the prince consort, he will try to usurp more and more power, especially in the event of my father’s death someday. As my husband, he would have almost as much authority over the government as I do.”
“Interesting story,” Matt said. “Why don’t you tell it to your father when you return to Orlantha?”
