Her Royal Bodyguard (3 page)

Her cheeks had grown pink but her big dark eyes were still locked on him. He cleared his throat. “Of course, Your Highness. You are a beautiful princess.”

“I don’t care what kind of princess I am. I want to know what you think of me as a woman.”

He dragged his gaze away from her, glanced up and down the hallway. Where the hell was Tony? “You are a beautiful woman, Your Highness. Any man can see that.”

Her tongue darted out and made her pretty lips all wet and shiny. “I suppose you’d say that no matter what you really thought.”

He frowned. Didn’t she look in the mirror every morning? “I would never lie to you, Your Highness.”

She frowned back at him. “It was a stupid question. I’m sure you never noticed anything about me one way or the other.”

“Your Highness…”

“I know. I am a foolish child. I’m going back into my room now and leave you alone.”

She backed away and he let his gaze run over her, the slender body, silky hair, smooth skin, wide mouth, expressive eyes before she was gone forever. Rico realized this might be the last time he saw the princess for a long time.

Except in his dreams.

“Angelina…” Her name slipped from his lips on a whisper.

She froze in her retreat. Her eyes widened. Her lips parted.

“Angelina!”

Vittorio’s voice echoed down the hall and Rico started, backed away from the princess’s open door. She peeked around the door frame at her brother racing down the hall. Mia followed on his heels. Rico’s body went on high alert. The prince glanced at his sister, then turned his attention to Rico.

“The king wants Angelina taken away to someplace safe. Tonight.”

Rico’s mind started whirling with options—locations, transportation, manpower—while Angelina reacted as he knew she would.

“What?” she cried, stepping out into the hallway. The narrow space was getting crowded. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m surrounded by security. This castle was built as a fort. No one’s getting in here. I’m not leaving.”

Vittorio calmly turned to Angelina. “Are you going to put more stress on our father or are you going to do as he asks?”

“Not fair,” she mumbled. “Why does he think I’ll be safer somewhere else?”

“It is common knowledge that you are here at the palace,” Vittorio explained. “We’ll slip you out and everyone will think you are still here. Our security team will be on high alert, waiting for whoever it is to make their next move. But you’ll be safe. Because you won’t be here.”

It made sense, but Rico wasn’t sure if that was the best tactic to take. Still, he answered to the king. At least for a few more days.

Mia put her arm around the princess. “Come on. I’ll help you pack.”

“Wait,” Angelina protested. Her wide-eyed gaze met Rico’s for a brief moment, but she let herself get ushered into her suite and the door closed behind the two women.

Rico turned to Vittorio and waited. He had a bad feeling he knew what his friend was going to say.

“I know you wanted to leave at the end of the week. I also know we don’t have any idea how long Angie will have to stay secluded.” Vittorio clasped Rico’s shoulder. “Still, I want you to take my sister and keep her safe.”

No. No.
“Your Highness. Tony is highly trustworthy. He will protect the princess with his life.”

“I know he will, but there is no one I trust more than you. I could command you as your prince.” Vittorio’s dark gaze betrayed his desperation. “I’m asking you as a friend. This is my little sister, Rico.”

“I know.” Just as Rico knew there was no way he could refuse.

“This will be your last job for the royal family. I promise. It will also give the rest of the team practice working together without you as they find who is responsible for the attack and apprehend them.”

“The team will work perfectly together.” Of that Rico had no doubt. He had trained them.

“Just keep Angie safe.”

“I will. Do you have a location in mind?”

“It can’t be the family’s beach retreat. It is well known. Away from the coast would be best.”

“Somewhere no one would expect her to be,” Rico agreed. Someplace with no connection to the royal family.

“My father remembers you have family in Tuscora.”

“An aunt and uncle have apartments to rent in a villa there.” Tuscora was a small village at the other end of the country, as far away from the sea as one could get and still be in Mezzano. He grabbed his cell phone. “I’ll see if they have rooms there for us.”

“Don’t leave her alone. Don’t let anyone follow you.”

Rico paused in the act of calling his
Tio
. “You do not need to tell me my job, Vittorio.”

The prince ran a shaky hand over his face. “I do not think I can ever have children. I will die of worry before they are grown.”

Rico didn’t bother to respond to the ridiculous statement. He reached his uncle, apologized for waking him, and discovered there was one small loft apartment empty at the moment. He wove a quick spur-of-the-moment story and promised to see him in a few hours.

“I am concerned that she will be unable to remain incognito anywhere in Mezzano,” Rico told Vittorio as his mind whirled with everything he’d have to do to get ready to leave as soon as possible.

“Yes. Mia and I discussed that briefly. Our people only see Angelina when she is dressed up and made-up to be the glamorous princess. Mia thinks as long as Angie looks plain, people won’t recognize her because they would not expect to see her.”

Rico thought that even without make-up and fancy clothing she looked like a princess. “Does the princess own any plain, inexpensive clothing? Ones that will not announce that she is this country’s princess?”

“Mia knows what it is like to dress simply. She will make certain Angie packs the appropriate things.”

Rico nodded. “I can trade cars with my parents. They’ll like driving a newer model.”

Vittorio extended his hand and Rico took it. “Thank you, my friend.”

“I will keep her safe from whoever it is that wishes her harm.” But Rico couldn’t admit that he wasn’t altogether certain the princess would be safe from him.

It was still dark when Angelina, lying across the back seat of an ancient automobile, left her home on the way to what she told herself would be an adventure.

But it wasn’t an adventure. It was exile. It was leaving her home, her friends, her family, her stuff. It was wearing borrowed clothes and no makeup. It was no chance to meet guys for the foreseeable future.

What was she going to do in Tuscora? She’d never even heard of it. There was only one thing about this whole situation to make her smile.

Rico.

In fact, the more she thought about being alone with Rico, the more restless she became. The more alive she felt. Perhaps this
was
an adventure after all.

“Can I get up yet?” She winced at the whine in her voice. The last thing she wanted was to sound like a petulant child when she wanted Rico to see her as the woman she’d become.

“Soon, Your Highness.” Rico’s deep voice rumbled through the darkness.

“I’ve been crouched down here for hours.”

“It’s been twenty minutes, Your Highness.”

“Well, if you had to keep your face down on this old seat that smells like dirty shoes, you’d think it had been hours too. Whose car is this anyway?”

“I had planned to borrow my parents’ car, but it was still too nice. This one belongs to my sister’s boyfriend.”

The clothing packed in an old suitcase in the back belonged to the daughter of one of the housekeepers. She tried to stretch her legs out, but there wasn’t enough room in this tiny vehicle. “I don’t like this car.”

“It is necessary.”

“I know. I know. I can’t arrive in a fancy car. I can’t look like me. I’m not supposed to be me.” She knew she sounded grumpy but she couldn’t help it. She was scared and uncomfortable. What did the next few days have in store for her? And another thing. “Rico? Who am I supposed to be if not who I am?”

A pause. Sudden tension crackled through the air. She wished she could see Rico.

“My bride,” he replied.

Angelina gasped, drawing in more fetid air. She coughed and pushed up. She couldn’t stay down on the seat cushions any longer. She couldn’t remain alone back there in the dark. She couldn’t talk about pretending to be married while she stared at the back of her supposed groom’s head. “Your bride?”

“Yes.”

She glanced around and saw there were no headlights either approaching or behind them. “I’m coming up there.” She threw her leg over the seat and rolled over, landing awkwardly in the passenger seat. Her hand found Rico’s broad shoulder as she reached out to catch herself.

His body was so firm, so hot even through the fabric of the soft white button-down shirt he wore. The sleeves rolled up past his elbows but still covered his upper arm. When had he taken off the ever-present jacket? This was the first time she’d ever touched him and she suddenly wished she could feel his bare skin beneath her fingers.

“Easy,” he said. He was always so calm, so steady. The type of man she’d want for a bodyguard. Yet, her heart raced and she found herself irritated that he wasn’t as shaken as she was by their first touch. She snatched her hand away and straightened in the passenger seat. Their shoulders were almost touching in the small space.

She tugged on the seat belt but it didn’t give. “I think this seat belt is stuck.”

Rico immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road. He leaned close, then reached across her body and suddenly she was surrounded by his heat, his scent. His face was so close to hers she could feel the warmth of his breath along her cheek. It was still too dark to see his expression in the faint glow of the dashboard. His hand brushed against her hip as he groped for the seat belt.

Her heart raced in her chest. This was so different from when Phillip had leaned over her. Before he’d even touched her, she’d panicked as a slimy distaste slid over her skin. But when Rico pressed his body into her, a rich delightful heat burst through her body.

Rico tugged, all businesslike, ignoring the fact that he was brushing over her breasts and heating the air around her with his body. He grumbled under his breath before the belt finally gave way and he pulled it free.

He was off of her in a flash, yanking the belt across her body and quickly clicking it into place. “There,” he said. His voice seemed more breathless than it should have for the amount of effort he expended, but Angelina knew it was more wishful thinking on her part. She was just a job to him.

Still, she was looking at Rico differently than she had before tonight. A crush was childish. She felt nothing like a child tonight. What did she feel for him now?

Desire? Lust? Arousal?

All those words that sent shivers through her body. Good shivers. Exciting shivers. Unexpected, unfamiliar shivers.

“We will be a newlywed couple,” he said as he put the car into gear. He still sounded so calm, as if this whole thing was no big deal. “We are renting a small apartment in a villa my uncle and aunt own. Even they don’t know who you are. I told them we needed a place for a quiet honeymoon.”

“You mean they think you actually got married? To me?”

“Yes. But they don’t know you’re their princess. They will think you are a beautiful, charming young woman I fell in love with.”

He made it sound so plausible. Made it sound as if he actually thought she was beautiful. Charming. “Won’t they be angry they weren’t invited to the wedding?” She couldn’t imagine any of her extended family being happy if they discovered she’d gotten married without them being invited to the wedding.

“They will understand. They are busy with their villa and not able to travel often. My parents are the same with their work at the palace. Holidays and family visits…and weddings…don’t take priority.”

She couldn’t imagine family not being a priority. She’d been surrounded by family, close and extended, for as long as she could remember. Family was important. That had been drummed into her head from an early age. As she was imagining not seeing her aunts and uncles and cousins for years, the rest of Rico’s comments penetrated her tired brain.

“Wait. We will be sharing an apartment?”

“Of course. A married couple would obviously share an apartment. Besides, I am not letting you out of my sight.”

The straightforward tone of his voice, as if nothing else would have ever crossed his mind, made her feel safer than anything else had tonight. Still, the reminder that he needed to keep an eye on her at all, sent a different kind of shiver over her skin.

“Do you really think all of this is necessary?” she asked. “Tell me the truth. I think my father is being over-protective.” As always. Especially since her mother died.

“Better to be safe, Your Highness.”

“He over-reacted.”

“Do you remember Enzo and Donato?” Rico asked softly.

Tears prickled her eyes. “Yes, of course.” She didn’t regret leaning out of the car to pull Enzo inside, but it hit her hard that one of those bullets could have slammed into her. She shuddered.