By Order of the Prince Read online

  “Beth…Beth Taylor?” Faint shadows darkened the skin beneath her brown eyes, as if she hadn’t been sleeping well.

  Beth steeled herself, wondering if there was a complaint coming over the quality of the pillows or the bedding or any number of other things that could keep a guest from sleeping well. “Yes, I’m Beth,” she replied. “May I help you?”

  The woman took a step closer, invading Beth’s personal space. “Yes, you can help me, but more importantly you can help Prince Antoine and the other royals staying at the hotel.”

  Beth froze, her heart suddenly pounding a thousand beats a minute. “What are you talking about?” she asked in a half-whisper.

  “Keep smiling, Beth,” the woman said, her eyes like hard brown pebbles. “I’ve planted a bomb in the prince’s suite and all I have to do to detonate it is flip this little switch.” She opened her hand to show Beth what looked like a remote control of some kind.

  Everything in the lobby faded away as Beth struggled to make sense of what she’d just said. A bomb? In Antoine’s suite? “What do you want?”

  “You have your car keys?”

  Beth gripped her purse tightly and nodded. She wished there was a gun inside her purse instead of her keys, some lipstick and her cell phone.

  “You’re going to walk nice and slowly toward the door and we’re going to get into your car.” The smile never left the woman’s lips. “If you move too fast, I’ll push the button. If you try to get anyone else’s attention or do anything at all, I’ll blow the roof off this place. Do you understand?”

  Beth wasn’t sure if she nodded or not, but she must have for the woman nodded with satisfaction. “Good,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  Beth didn’t know about bombs. She had no idea if this woman was lying, but she couldn’t take that chance. She couldn’t put Antoine’s life at risk. Or anyone else’s.

  “Move it,” the woman said, her voice rough despite the fact her smile never faltered.

  Beth felt as if she were in a horrible dream as her feet moved her across the lobby toward the front door. They had considered the Russian mob, they’d worried about Antoine’s security team and the local law officials. But, nobody had told her to be worried about an overweight brunette with tired brown eyes.

  “YOU SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT THESE TO ME immediately when Beth found them.” Jake Wolf was not a happy man.

  Antoine had left Beth and come directly to his suite, more upset than he could ever remember being. But, instead of dwelling on what had just happened with Beth, he’d immediately called the sheriff to meet him.

  “At the time that the notes were found I wasn’t sure who I could trust,” Antoine replied. “And that included any local law enforcement.”

  “Even if you didn’t trust me or my men, you could have taken them to the federal agents who have been working this case,” Jake replied as he sat on the sofa.

  “I know less about them than I do about you and your men,” Antoine replied. “There was no way I was going to give them what I thought might be vital information.”

  Jake released a weary sigh and laid the copy of the notes he’d just read on the ornate coffee table before him. “When I became sheriff I inherited a corruption that had been in the ranks for years. Payoffs for a variety of things were common and I swore that I’d clean things up. Unfortunately, it’s not done yet. I’m still working on it.”

  Antoine didn’t know if he was a fool or not, but he trusted the man in front of him. Or maybe it was just the fact that he now found himself in a position where he was forced to trust him.

  “In any case, Beth and I took the notes to Jane and she was able to lift a print that belonged to Aleksei Verovick.” As he told the sheriff everything he had learned about the man, he tried to keep thoughts of Beth at bay.

  He didn’t want to think about the yawning pain he’d seen in her eyes, the utter sense of betrayal that had laced her tone. She’d been shattered by what she believed had been his lies and manipulations. Like one of the military criminals he’d once interrogated, he’d broken Beth.

  “When I get back to my office I’ll begin a search for this Verovick. If he’s here in town I’ll know about it,” Jake said, his features hard with resolve. “Is there anything else you’ve been holding back from me?”

  “No, that’s it. And I apologize for not bringing the notes to you sooner.” In trying to investigate on his own he had only managed to put Beth’s life at risk and break her heart.

  Jake pulled himself up from the couch. “I’ll see what I can do with this and be in touch.”

  “Thank you, I appreciate it.” He followed Jake to the door. “I was desperate to see if I could find out anything about Amir’s disappearance. I had hoped he was still alive, but with each day that passes my hope gets more difficult to maintain.”

  Jake’s eyes grew darker. “I hope we get some closure where Sheik Amir is concerned,” he replied, but Antoine knew by his tone of voice that he, too, was having difficulty maintaining any real hope that Amir was still alive.

  Once Jake had left, Antoine paced the living area of the suite, his thoughts once again on Beth. He figured he’d give her a little while to cool off and then he’d try to speak to her again.

  He couldn’t allow her to believe that she’d been nothing but a pawn for him to manipulate and use and then discard when he was finished with her.

  She’d been so much more than that and he needed to make her understand. The weight of what he’d done to her coupled with his own heartbreak nearly crippled him.

  He needed her to understand that she deserved more than he could ever give her, that he loved her but sometimes love wasn’t enough to overcome life’s obstacles.

  He finally threw himself in the leather chair and buried his face in his hands. There was nothing worse than to love a woman and be unable to allow her fully into your life.

  Beth was everything he wanted, everything he needed. She was the woman he wanted beside him every day of his life, the woman who made him want to be a better man. But he’d made a vow to himself long ago and he couldn’t, he wouldn’t make the mistake his father made.

  Perhaps it was best that she was angry and felt completely betrayed by him. Maybe this was the kindest way to end their relationship.

  He held on to that thought until he could stand it no longer and then he grabbed his cell phone and called her. He couldn’t allow it to end this way, with her thinking she had been stupid to believe in him and had meant nothing to him.

  Her phone rang three times and then went to voice mail. She was probably screening her calls and didn’t want to talk to him. He tried a second time with the same result and then returned his cell phone to his pocket and decided to go in search of her.

  He could not let it end this way. Somehow he had to make her understand that she hadn’t been the fool, but perhaps he was.

  He left the suite and headed for her office, hoping she would still be there despite the fact that it was just after five.

  She wasn’t in. He drifted back to the lobby, sickened with the overwhelming need to make things right with her, to somehow make her understand that he hadn’t been using her.

  He peeked into the coffee shop area, wondering if maybe she was getting a bite to eat, but she was nowhere in sight and he had no idea what room she was staying in here at the hotel. He also wasn’t at all sure that anyone who worked at the hotel would give him that information.

  He smiled as he approached one of the young, attractive women working the front desk. Her name tag read Julia. “Ms. Julia,” he said in greeting.

  “Prince Antoine,” she replied with a touch of breathlessness. She was little more than a teenager and Antoine had a feeling she was not only intimidated by his presence, but also more than a little bit tickled. “How can I help, Your Majesty?”

  If he hadn’t been so worried about Beth, he might have found her grandiose title humorous. “I was looking for Ms. Taylor. Have you seen her recently?”
/>   “Beth Taylor? She left for the day,” the girl replied.

  “Yes, I checked her office and I know she’s gone from there, but I also know she’s staying in a room here in the hotel and I really need to speak with her.”

  “Is this a housekeeping issue?” she asked. “I’m sure I can find somebody else for you to speak with if there’s a problem.”

  “No problem,” he replied smoothly. “And it’s a personal issue.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t help you. Ms. Taylor left the hotel a few minutes ago.”

  Antoine stared at her, certain that he must have heard her incorrectly. “What?”

  “I saw her leave just a little while ago.” She pointed toward the front doors.

  Antoine’s heart began a rapid beat. Why would Beth leave the hotel? She knew there was danger outside. She’d told him she was going to stay in a room here at the hotel. “Was she alone when she left?”

  Julia frowned. “I think she was with another woman.”

  Another woman? His mind raced with suppositions as he left the desk and hurried to the front door. Once there he checked the parking lot and saw that her Jeep was gone.

  Why would she leave the hotel and who had she left with? Although there was no real reason to panic, that’s exactly what he felt—a screaming alarm that something wasn’t right.

  He hurried back to his suite, his heart pounding as fast as his footsteps clicking against the marble floor. Once he got inside his suite he powered up his laptop, grateful that he’d thought about having the tracking device placed on her car.

  Her Jeep was on the move, but it was not going toward her home, rather it appeared to be headed into an area where he thought from his trips back and forth to her place that there was nothing but woods.

  He stared at the monitor screen as the alarm in his head screamed louder. She was in trouble. He had absolutely no facts to support his belief, but every instinct he possessed told him she was in danger.

  He yanked his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Michael. “Get David to bring the car and meet me at the front door immediately,” he said to his head security man.

  “Yes, sir,” Michael replied without question.

  Antoine grabbed his laptop and raced out of the suite, a frantic anxiety clawing at his insides. It made no sense. It made no sense at all that she would have left the hotel, that she would be heading into an area where there was nothing but wilderness.

  He’d headed into battle many times over the years, but never feeling as if so much was at stake. When he ran out the front doors, David, his driver, had the car pulled against the curb with Michael riding shotgun.

  Antoine slid into the backseat and slammed the door. “Beth Taylor is in trouble. We must get to her before it’s too late.” He handed Michael his laptop over the seat. “Find her. We have to get to her.”

  David looked at the screen, put the car into gear and headed for the hotel exit.

  “What kind of danger are we facing?” Michael asked, his tone clipped and all business as he pulled his gun from his shoulder holster.

  “I don’t know. I only know she shouldn’t have left the hotel. She knew she might be in danger if she ventured out and she’s not a foolish woman. The woman behind the desk said she left with another woman.”

  “Could she not just be going with a friend for dinner or something?” Michael asked.

  Antoine gestured toward the computer screen impatiently. “And where will they find food in the middle of nowhere?” He shook his head. “I feel it in my gut, Michael. She’s in trouble.”

  “We’ll find them,” David said as he stepped on the gas. They couldn’t go fast enough to ease the burn in Antoine’s stomach.

  It was Antoine’s worst nightmare come true. He was certain that somebody from his past had taken Beth and they were going to make her pay for all his sins.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Who’s paying you to do this?” Beth asked, trying not to lose it because the woman now no longer just held the remote control, but also a gun.

  “Shut up,” she snapped. “Slow down and turn in between those two trees on the right where there’s a little trail.”

  Beth held the steering wheel so tight her fingers cramped. There had been a dozen times in the last five minutes of driving she’d thought about bailing out of the car, but she was afraid of that remote control, afraid that any wrong move on her part would mean Antoine’s death.

  And as if that wasn’t worry enough, there was the problem of the gun in the woman’s hand and the deadly intent in her eyes. She looked like somebody who wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

  Beth made the turn the woman had indicated and had to bring the car to a halt because of the grove of trees in front of them. The area was isolated with overgrown brush and thick trees crowding together.

  The woman next to her seemed nervous. Beth noticed that her hands shook slightly and she chewed her bottom lip. That was the only thing that gave Beth a little bit of hope…that somehow she might be able to talk her way out of this mess.

  “He won’t care, you know,” she said. “If you kill me he’ll still eventually follow through and make trade agreements with the United States.”

  “I told you to shut up,” the woman screamed, as if she were hanging on to her control by a very thin thread. “Get out of the car and don’t be stupid. If you’re stupid then I’ll shoot you and blow him to smithereens.”

  Tears blurred her vision as Beth got out of the car. She had no idea what this woman intended, but it couldn’t be good. They were in a wilderness area, where nobody would hear Beth scream, where nobody would blink at the sound of a gunshot.

  Nobody knew where she had gone. She wasn’t even sure anyone would know that she’d left the hotel. She was in deep trouble and she knew she could only depend upon herself to get out of it.

  As the woman punched the barrel of the gun in the small of her back and ordered her to walk, Beth knew she had to be patient and wait for the perfect opportunity, pray that the perfect opportunity would come and she’d be able to take the woman down without getting killed in the process.

  As they continued to walk deeper into the woods, Beth began to realize that she’d probably been a fool…again. She knew nothing about bombs, but she was beginning to think that there was no way a remote control could blow up the suite considering the distance they had traveled from the resort.

  Still, she now had to worry about the gun and her own life. Was this woman somehow tied to Antoine’s past? Was she seeking revenge against him? Was she a part of Antoine’s nightmares?

  She cried out as she stumbled over a fallen tree and fell to her knees. The woman grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up, muttering curses beneath her breath.

  “Keep moving,” she said as she once again pressed the gun painfully into Beth’s back.

  Beth felt as if they walked for hours, but in reality knew that it had probably been less than an hour since she’d made what might turn out to be a fatal mistake by walking out of the resort.

  How she wished she could replay that moment when the woman had walked up to her in the lobby. How she wished she would have taken a risk and signaled for security instead of foolishly allowing herself to be put in the position she was in now.

  The deeper they walked into the woods, the more the woman muttered unintelligibly beneath her breath. Maybe she was some crazy extremist, Beth thought. She definitely appeared unstable, but Beth didn’t know if that was to her advantage or would ultimately work against her.

  There was an unnatural silence in their surroundings, as if all of the woodland creatures sensed the danger that had entered their midst and held their breath in fear.

  They finally reached a small clearing. “Stop,” the woman said. “Turn around.”

  Beth slowly turned to find the gun now directed at the center of her body. “Are you working for the Russian mob?” Beth asked. She had to somehow make the woman talk. She needed to know who had hired t
he woman for her own sake, but more important she needed to buy herself some time to find a weakness and somehow exploit it.

  The woman’s eyes darted around the area and then settled back on Beth. “This is perfect. Nobody will ever find you here.”

  “Is this where you brought Amir? Is he buried somewhere in this clearing?” Beth didn’t think her heart could beat any faster than it already was, but as she thought of the missing Sheik’s body being buried in a grave in the clearing, it beat even faster.

  The woman frowned and took a step back from Beth. “I don’t know Amir and the only body who will be buried in this clearing is yours.”

  “Please, don’t do this,” Beth said, her heart once again fluttering frantically in her chest. “Whatever you want, whatever you need, killing me isn’t the answer.” Tears misted her vision as she thought about never seeing Antoine again, about not living long enough to find true love, to have children and to achieve the dreams she’d always wanted.

  “I have to kill you,” the woman screamed once again. The gun trembled in her hand, but didn’t sway enough from Beth’s center for her to make a move.

  “You have to be gone,” she continued. “It’s the only way, the only way things will be better.”

  Beth tensed, waiting for the perfect opportunity to leap forward and wrestle for control of the gun. “How does killing me make things better?”

  “Because he’ll stop thinking about you, because he’ll finally stop loving you.” The woman spat the words as her features twisted with a rage that nearly took Beth’s breath away.

  “Antoine doesn’t love me,” Beth exclaimed.

  “Not him, you stupid bitch. Mark!”

  The frantic beat of Beth’s heart paused as she stared at the woman. Mark? Mark Ferrer? “Who are you?” The question fell from her lips on a whisper even though in her heart she knew the answer.

  “I’m Karen, you stupid cow. Karen Ferrer. I’m his wife, the woman who had his children. I’m the one who takes care of him, who loves him and you ruined it all!”