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She’d spent her life as a member of the Baronovian royal family, with a position to be upheld. Unfortunately, upholding that position had too often kept her from going where her heart and her interests had led her.
And now, to her surprise, her heart had led her straight to a man she could never make her own.
She had hoped things would be different in the United States, a country where her tutors had told her everyone had been created equal and everyone was free. Somewhere she could be herself—May Baron—instead of the Dowager Duchess Mary Louise.
If only she could tell him she wasn’t the woman she appeared to be.
She pulled her thoughts together, told herself to ignore Wade, to ignore her attraction to him. She wanted to see how ordinary people lived in the United States, a country that had intrigued her for years. No way was she going home without seeing the city she’d read about in a magazine during her flight here.
Even though she came only to his chin, she drew herself up to her full height. Instead of being May, the woman she actually yearned to be, she assumed the persona of Dowager Duchess Mary Louise of Lorrania, widow of the late duke of Lorrania. “I am going to speak to my father,” she repeated. “And, since I am surely safe here, you may consider yourself at liberty to leave. I will see you at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Wade stared at her for tense moment before he shook his head and kept a studied smile on his face for the benefit of possible watchers. She’d agreed to go along with him a moment ago. What had changed her mind?
“Take it easy, Your Grace,” he said. “We’ll visit your father together. Then, I’ll leave.”
Prince Alexis paused in conversation with a foreign diplomat and greeted his daughter with a broad smile. “Ah, my dear, I was beginning to wonder where you were.” He glanced at Wade as if he didn’t know who he was. “Why don’t you introduce your escort, my dear?”
Wade bit back a comment. According to Logan, the prince had been consulted about his daughter’s choice of escort. Now, the prince was pretending not to know him. And not to know the duty included being his daughter’s bodyguard as well as her escort. If the assignment was a secret, there had to be more here than met the eye. Hopefully, he thought with crossed fingers, an escort was all he would be called upon to be.
“Commander Wade Stevens of the United States Navy,” Mary Louise replied distantly. “My father, Prince Alexis.”
Wade shook the prince’s hand. After seeing the fond gaze the man sent his daughter, Wade didn’t have the heart to suggest his daughter needed to be told to listen to reason. Or to even suggest it was time to tell her all the reasons for their visit and any danger that might be attached to it.
“I just wanted to say good-night, Your Highness,” Wade said after noting the wary look in the duchess’s eyes. He knew, without her saying so, she wasn’t anxious for her father to hear about her behavior. “With your permission, sir, I expect to pick up Her Grace tomorrow morning at nine.”
“Of course, Commander. I’m sure my daughter will be very grateful to get away from boring affairs of state. Where are your plans for sight-seeing?”
Wade sensed the duchess tense beside him and couldn’t bring himself betray her. Somehow, somewhere, under that royal facade had to be the woman in white with the sensuous smile he’d been attracted to. A real woman he could reason with. It was up to him to find that woman without making a public deal of it. “Her Grace and I are going to make our plans in the morning.”
He heard her sigh of relief. Behind that cool royal exterior and imperious manner there beat the heart of a young woman. A woman who valued her father’s approval, even if she didn’t value his.
Wade turned to the duchess. “I’ll be here to pick you up at nine, Your Grace. But I would appreciate your walking me to the door. With your permission, sir?”
“Of course,” the prince remarked. “Go ahead, my dear. I’ll be here waiting to say good-night when you return.”
May took the arm Wade held out to her as they threaded their way through the thinning crowd. “Thank you for not telling my father we are not in agreement,” she said in an undertone. “I am sure I will have a wonderful time in your city. And by the way, you may call me May when we are out in public. It’s the name my family calls me. That way no one will know who I really am.”
Wade took his cap from an attendant. It was becoming difficult to keep up with the lady’s many mood changes, but duty was duty. After a quick glance at the door, he led her back to a quiet corner. “I have two things to say to you before I leave, May.” He waited until he had her undivided attention.
“One—never, ever stand by a door or a window while you’re here in Washington. And maybe not even when you go home. You make too good a target.”
Uneasy at the warning, May glanced around the crowded room. The marine band continued to play, flutes of champagne were still being passed around, and the remaining guests appeared in no hurry to leave. If there were danger here, there was no evidence of it that she could see. “I’m sure you’re exaggerating, Commander. And the second?”
“I’ll look over your list, but I have no intention of changing my mind about being the one to decide where we go tomorrow.” Wade’s gaze locked with hers. “And remember, the Secret Service stays. In the meantime,” he added softly, “why don’t you put yourself in my hands, Your Grace? I promise you’ll enjoy yourself.”
She stared at him, and for a moment her expression softened. For a moment he thought she was going to agree with him. Instead she caught her breath, turned on her heel and headed back to the ballroom.
After being invited to call her May, he could have sworn his charge was about to turn into a human being instead of an imperious royal. Maybe it was just as well she’d walked away when she had. If she hadn’t, he would have been tempted to forget the lady had a motive of her own. Or to forget how much he’d been attracted to her.
Futile dreams, he told himself with a sigh of regret as he left for his apartment. He and the duchess were two strangers passing in the night. She’d been born to the cushioned life of a member of a royal family where her every wish was a command. He was a former All-America basketball hero turned lawyer who’d worked for everything he had. By her standards that couldn’t be much.
He’d have to play out the next few days carefully. He had to stop thinking about his never-to-be-realized attraction to the beautiful and sensuous lady in white and the invitation in her eyes.
He had to concentrate on not only protecting the duchess from herself; he had to protect her from him.
TO EASE WADE’S WORRY about security, his access to the Blair House the next morning was screened by the same two Secret Service men he’d noticed the evening before.
“No uniform today, Commander?” The older of the two identified himself as Samuel Hoskins and his partner as Mike Wheeler.
“No,” Wade replied with a tight smile, replacing his identification in the inside pocket of his loose-fitting jacket. “I was hoping to fade into the landscape.”
“With a charge like the duchess, good luck,” Hoskins murmured as he eyed the gun and holster Wade wore under his jacket. “I see you’re prepared.”
“Yeah,” Wade answered as he shifted shoulders unaccustomed to the weight of the gun and holster. “Is the duchess up and ready?”
“She’s finishing breakfast. Said to tell you she’d overslept but would be out in a minute.”
Wade nodded. He hadn’t slept much last night. Instead he’d spent the hours lying awake thinking about the intriguing duchess and the amusing way she’d tried to assert her independence. In some ways, in her imperious way of speaking and in her assertive manner, she was an echo of the past. But the chances she was late because she’d lain awake thinking of him was wishful thinking. Royalty and the common man were like oil and water—they didn’t mix. And neither did he and the duchess.
As for the Secret Service, the duchess had been right. In their navy-blue suits, white shirts and black ties, they were a little on the conservative side; however, they did fade into the landscape. Only the small official button in their coat lapels gave them away.
The duchess didn’t know it yet, but at thirty-six, he was just as conservative as they were. At least when he was on duty. It wasn’t only the duchess’s life that could be at stake. It was his future, too. And, like everything he took on, he intended to take this tour of duty seriously.
He eyed his two navy-clad partners. “How about you guys? Ready to roll?”
“We’ll be right on your tail,” Agent Wheeler assured him. “But it would help to know where you’re going.”
Wade shrugged his shoulders. “First stop is Wal-Mart. After that, who knows? You’ll have to wait until I get a chance to talk to the duchess.”
Their eyes swung to the lady in question when she finally sailed into the room. To Wade’s dismay, she was dressed in her version of dressing down—white linen slacks and matching fitted jacket and a green silk shirt that almost matched the color of her eyes. Green pumps were on her feet and a large straw bag hung from one shoulder. He was relieved to see she wasn’t wearing any valuable jewelry he had to worry about.
“No uniform today?” She looked disappointed.
“Not today,” he replied. If she’d asked for him as an escort solely because of his uniform, she was out of luck. “Today we’re going to play at being ordinary folk.”
Ordinary folk. Wade smothered a remark when she raised her eyebrows. No way was the lady going to be able to play at being ordinary. Not when she looked as if she’d just stepped off the cover of Elle magazine.
“Wal-Mart, here we come,” he muttered under his breath. “Is there someplace private where we can talk before we leave?”
She handed him a slip of paper. “If this is what you wish to talk about, I’ve already made a list of the places I want to see.”
Wade glanced at the list. Planet Hollywood. Hard Rock Café. The antique shops at the Capitol Hill District. The infamous grunge Morgan-Hill shopping area. The list went on and included places Wade knew from experience were definitely not for royal visitors. Especially one who could be the target of troublemakers.
The only item on the list he felt comfortable with was the National Portrait Gallery. He sighed and pocketed the slip of paper.
“We can decide later,” he said with a sidelong glance at the fashionable royal outfit. “First, we have to buy you some less obtrusive clothing.”
Over the duchess’s protests, he stopped to tell the Secret Service men to follow him before he hailed a cab. No way was he going to travel around D.C. in a black unmarked car that broadcast Secret Service presence.
“No car?” Her eyebrows rose suspiciously.
“Not today. It’s in for repairs.” He handed her into the cab and directed the driver to Wal-Mart. The duchess looked annoyed when she walked in the door, but thank goodness she kept her thoughts to herself. If she didn’t know what Wal-Mart was, she was in for a surprise. “Anyway, Your Grace, after we get through shopping, we’ll probably get by more easily by taking the tourmobile around the mall.”
“Tourmobile? Mall?” The Duchess frowned. “They are not on my list.”
“Maybe not,” Wade replied. “But they are on mine.”
He had to give the duchess credit when she bit her bottom lip and silently browsed her way through racks of inexpensive brightly colored summer clothing.
May refused to let her temper show. She’d agreed to dress down but she wasn’t thrilled about the variety of choices. Designer clothing was more what she was accustomed to wearing. Still, an agreement was an agreement if it would get her to where she wanted to go.
She had put the National Portrait Gallery and a few well-known museums on her list to throw her escort off the track. The Capitol Hill District and its antique shops were surely someplace where she was sure she could lose herself, or maybe even the Morgan-Hill grunge shops. No matter how her escort might protest, she told herself, she intended to draw the line at stone monuments.
She had had it with men controlling her life. If the commander persisted in trying to control her, she would make his job very difficult. For these few days at least, it would be just a matter of time before she would be on her own and have a chance to be true to herself.
She hid her satisfaction as she browsed through the hanging racks. One by one she handed Wade a pair of size-six blue-denim slacks and an oversize sweatshirt with a U.S. flag and Washington, D.C., written across the front in large red, white and blue letters. When he silently pointed to her shoes, she bit her lower lip and headed for the shoe department to try on a pair of sturdy white athletic shoes.
“Anything else?”
Wade bit back a comment and motioned for her to wait while he checked out the dressing room. When he indicated the coast was clear, she sniffed and headed inside to change. But not before she threw him a look that conveyed her opinion of him. It wasn’t good.
With the duchess safely behind a closed door, Wade checked to make sure the Secret Service men were still in the vicinity. When he finally located the two in the sports department, he snorted his disgust. It was beginning to look as if the care and feeding of the duchess was largely going to be up to him.
Twenty minutes later the duchess finally emerged from the dressing room in her new clothing. To his relief, she wasn’t the duchess Mary Louise any longer. She was the woman he’d asked her to be. And a damn cute one at that.
“Is this dressed down enough for you?”
Lost in admiration, Wade silently nodded. With her chestnut hair curling loosely around her shoulders, she looked like a typical tourist, courtesy Wal-Mart. He knew, as sure as he knew his own name, as he checked her over, that even as May she would never be able to fade into the landscape.
Gowned in white chiffon or dressed in jeans and a garish sweatshirt no duchess would willingly wear, she was the most beautiful and desirable woman he’d ever met. For a moment he was taken aback. Then he reminded himself he was here as the duchess’s temporary escort and that his reactions were out of order.
He shrugged and, for a brief few moments, felt guilty. He watched her looking into a full-length mirror. Most women would have chewed him out by now for being so controlling. To add to his misgivings, behind the jeans and colorful sweatshirt there was something about the look in her eyes that told him she wasn’t as docile as she appeared to be. She would bear watching.
The Secret Service agents, back from checking out fishing rods, silently looked at each other.
Wade put the clothing the duchess had worn into the store into a shopping cart and headed for the checkout counters. The duchess, with the Secret Service trailing behind her, followed.
He might have been a success in creating the all-American girl next door, Wade thought in despair. But, heaven help him, the lady looked just as royal and just as unattainable as she’d been before.
Chapter Three
“This is the mall?” May clutched the only item from her original clothing choice Wade had allowed her to keep, her large straw bag. The rest of her possessions were locked in the trunk of the unmarked black sedan driven by the Secret Service and, to her disgust, was safely out of her reach. “I thought you meant a shopping mall!”
As if she’d said something amusing, Wade burst out laughing. “No, Your Grace, what you see is a lot more than that.” He motioned to the series of buildings in front of them. “Those are only a few of the Smithsonian museums. There are nine of them.”
“Museums,” May echoed faintly. She was tempted to tell him she’d visited dozens of museums and churches as part of her duties back home and wasn’t looking forward to spending time seeing any more. She shuddered. “You can’t possibly mean we’re going to visit all nine, do you?”
“No,” he looked at his watch. “We don’t have time. But maybe tomorrow. Today you can take your pick of the National Museum of American History, the Museum of Natural History, the National Gallery of Art or the Arts and Industry Museum—”
“Stop right there,” she commanded, peering at her escort. “You are joking, are you not?”
“Not at all,” he replied cheerfully, amused at her quaint manner of speech. “If these don’t appeal to you, there are a few more museums farther on that might interest you.”
“No, thank you.” May had to fight the urge to lose herself in the passing stream of tourists. If only she hadn’t outsmarted herself by wearing a garish sweatshirt bound to stand out in any crowd. “What else is on your list?”
Wade made a show of consulting a slip of paper he’d taken out of his jacket pocket. “We can take the trolley to the other end of the Mall and check out the Capitol Building, if you’re interested. Or grab a cab and visit the Jefferson Memorial. It’s beautiful, especially at dusk. I’m sure you’ll like it. In fact, the memorial is my personal favorite.”
“Maybe so,” May answered, her mind busy trying to find a way to lose her escort. “But dusk is a long way off. On second thought,” she added, “how about the National Portrait Gallery? It is somewhere around here, is it not?” With an excuse to use the ladies’ room she was sure she would be able to rid herself of the garish sweatshirt that marked her. Once out of her escort’s sight, and dressed like the average tourist, surely it would be easy to get lost in a crowd when he wasn’t looking.
He looked surprised. “You really want to visit the National Portrait Gallery?”
“Sure,” she said, pretending innocence. “It was on my list, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was,” Wade agreed, but he didn’t look convinced. “Frankly, I thought you only put it on the list to throw me off.”
“You don’t trust me?” She widened her eyes and tried to look innocent.
“Ask me no questions…” His voice trailed off.
May winced as she remembered the universally well-known finish of the saying:…and I’ll tell you no lies.
She managed to look wounded, her mind made up. What had put Wade on to her, anyway? She had told the truth. Even if there was an ulterior motive behind it.
“Let us go,” she said with a tight smile. “According to you, my life could be in danger, so do not forget to call me May in public.”
Wade smothered a reply. Her facetious response told him she wasn’t aware of any possible danger to her or she wouldn’t be taking things so casually. How could he protect her when she didn’t think she needed to be protected? And especially when she was obviously bent on having her way, one way or another?
He silently cursed the undersecretary of the navy for involving him in the current scenario. And with a secret that should never have been kept from the person at risk. Without her cooperation, his assignment was much riskier.
All the more reason to protect the lady from herself.
“Let’s go.” He took her arm but not before glancing behind him for the two Secret Service agents who should have been there but were not.
It looked as if, for now at least, he and the duchess were on their own.
He picked up a couple of brochures on the way into the gallery and handed one to the duchess. “Everything around you is a portrait or possession of an American who contributed in some way to our country.” He pointed out well-known portraits and memorabilia in glass cases that dated back to the eighteenth century. “Take your pick.”
She studied the brochure he handed her and moved down the room. He had to give her credit for being a good sport, but after about forty portraits he noticed her attention was flagging. “Want a break?” he asked sympathetically.
“I could use a chance to freshen up,” she said as they passed the door to a ladies’ room. Before he could reply, she disappeared behind the mahogany door.
After making sure there was only one way in and out of the rest room, Wade lounged alongside the door. While something told him she had something up her sleeve, surely a stop at the ladies’ room was no big deal.
But what was a big deal was that he had an uneasy feeling they’d been followed. He gazed at his surroundings. Crowds of people, families with children and, from the sound of conversation, a number of foreign visitors. So far, so good.
He finally spotted the two Secret Service agents covertly studying a burly, dark-haired man down the hall. Maybe it was the sight of the man that made the hackles rise on the back of his neck, but there was something definitely going on. He was debating moving away from the rest room door to confront the man when he disappeared. The Secret Service agents with him.
Uneasy, Wade vowed to be extra watchful from here on out. And not to let the intriguing and conniving duchess, or anyone else, distract him from his duty to protect her.
