as it was—to him afterward was not required. Still, I’d like to extend my appreciation for your quick thinking in a matter that you should not have been a part of in the first place.”
She paused to take a breath and then wondered the same thing she had last night when she’d first come up to her room. “Why are you here? In the palace, I mean. I’ve seen you around and with Kris and Roland, but I’m not certain we were ever officially introduced.”
Now Sam did feel like an idiot. She’d just admitted out loud that she’d willingly thrown herself at a man she did not know. In her defense, it was the recognition from seeing him around the palace that had made her feel it was okay...well, at the very least plausible, that she’d kiss him. Still, she really did not know who he was. That fact only compounded the rough morning she’d already been having.
“No. Not officially. But I know who you are,” he replied.
“That’s why you kissed me back so readily?” she asked.
He paused and stared at her. Gary was a good-looking guy. He was taller than six feet. She knew this because Kris was six feet, two-and-a-half inches; Roland was six feet, one inch; and her father was six feet even. Gary was taller than all of them. He had a golden brown complexion with very low-cut black hair and penetrating brown eyes. All of those features were enough to cause a second and third look. That’s without mention of the bulk of his muscles showing definitively through the suit he’d worn last night, and the dark denim jeans and long-sleeved, gray, button-front shirt he was wearing now.
“I’m certain no man would have resisted kissing you, whether or not they knew you were a princess,” he finally replied.
“So you kissed me knowing very well what other people would think?” she continued. The question popped quickly into her mind as she looked at him.
“I’m not a member of a royal family. So I stopped giving a damn what people thought about me a long time ago. Now, I know that you’re fanatic about being on time, so I’m going to hurry us along so as not to break your record.”
This time he extended his arm. Sam looked down at it to see that he was waiting for her to lace her arm through his and walk with him like...a couple. Or something along those lines. She began walking but avoided touching him. If he wanted to say something, or to insist that she take his arm, or whatever, he didn’t. Instead he fell into step quietly beside her and did not speak another word until they were both closed inside her father’s office, sitting in the chairs across from Rafe’s desk.
That’s when he said, “It makes sense that the princess and I continue with the façade of a relationship.”
* * *
“Harry Copeland and Amari Taylor are sitting in jail. Neither has requested any counsel, nor have they given any indication as to why they conspired to attack the palace. The tribunal is set to convene in two weeks, at which time they will be officially sentenced.”
Kris gave the update while Sam listened intently. After the explosion she’d been whisked off to her room and left there with four guards to ensure her safety. For most of the night she’d paced the floors, wondering what was going on. First, there had been the car accident that could have taken her father’s life and then the explosion. She was afraid and she was angry. And there was nothing she could do about it, either.
“In the meantime, all palace security has been revamped. We’ve upgraded our electronic monitoring systems, added more guards and increased our pre-certification efforts for local and off-island events,” Kris continued.
Sam shook her head. “You had advised me to keep every appointment and appearance on schedule and to make sure the people of the island knew we were all safe because the culprits had been apprehended. So you lied?”
The words were bitter and she hated having to speak them to her brother, but he had left her with no other choice. While he stood beside their father’s grand, dark wood desk, wearing a black suit and a gray silk tie, looking every bit the royal that he was, Kris managed to make Sam feel like an idiot. That wasn’t something she planned to take lightly. She’d always thought that she had a close relationship with both her brothers. After all, besides her father, they were the only other people in the world she could truly trust. They were her life. So betrayal cut quick and painfully.
“I told you what you needed to hear in order to do your job,” Kris stated. “We were handling the rest.”
“‘We’? As in you, Dad and Roland. The men of the family. Let me guess, you were all protecting me, keeping the bad stuff from the youngest child, so that she could continue to smile prettily for the cameras. Keeping the tourists coming onto the island no matter what danger they might encounter?”
Because her hands threatened to shake, Sam clasped them tightly together, concentrating on holding them calmly in her lap. She knew he was staring from where he sat in the chair beside her. She could feel the heat on the side of her face from his glare.
Gary had started this conversation off by declaring that they would continue to act as if they were involved. Sam had been ready to disagree with the plan, despite her own part in instigating it, but Kris had taken the opportunity to drop his little bombshell.
“We are here to keep our people safe,” her father countered. “It is our priority. As Kris stated, we have instituted a complete overhaul of our security program. In addition, we’ve had several meetings with Captain Briggins. As a result of the rise in tourism, we had money in the budget to hire additional officers for his battalion, as well. We are keeping everyone’s safety in mind.”
“You’re also keeping secrets from the island’s goodwill ambassador,” Sam countered. She’d wanted to scream this point to her brother and her father because it seemed as if they weren’t getting the severity of their error. Of course, she didn’t raise her voice. It wouldn’t have been respectful and Sam knew how imperative it was for her to always show respect. She’d watched her mother do it so gracefully that she’d taught herself how to handle difficult situations with the same finesse.
“It was no secret, Sam,” Kris added. “We handle business every day that you know nothing about.”
“Yet you insist on keeping that royal calendar so that you always know where I am and who I’m with. So it’s fine for me to be under your thumb, but I shouldn’t worry about the things you feel I don’t need to know?”
“We each have a job to do here,” Rafe stated, his voice a little louder than it had been before.
“And what’s his job?” she asked without looking over at Gary.
She couldn’t. Not without feeling that eerie stirring in the pit of her stomach that had begun the moment her lips had touched his last night.
“My job was to examine Grand Serenity’s infrastructure and to assist in implementing new security protocols,” he replied.
Resisting the urge to look at him wasn’t going to work this time. Sam turned to him then. That dark gaze of his already engulfing her.
“You work for us and now you’re suggesting that you and I act as if we’re having an affair. That’s the recommendation we paid for?”
It sounded cold and harsh, and so unlike the person Sam really was, that she flinched inwardly at her words. Her emotions were getting the best of her and that was never a good thing. She was taking a deep breath
