By Order of the Prince Read online

  “Do you have family waiting for you to get home?” he asked.

  She shook her head, her blond curls looking achingly soft and touchable in the waning golden light that danced in through the window. “No, there’s nobody waiting for me, but I like to get home before night falls.” She gave an uncomfortable laugh. “Although that rarely happens.”

  “Especially now,” he replied smoothly. He hadn’t missed the slight wistfulness in her voice when she’d told him there was nobody waiting for her at home. “I’m sure our presence here has only increased the workload for the housekeeping staff, for you.”

  “Not really,” she countered. “Our high standard of service goes out to each and every guest, whether they are a prince or an accountant.”

  There was a ring of pride in her voice. He liked that. His grandfather had always told him that it didn’t matter what you did, as long as you did it well.

  Assessing what he knew so far, he recognized that she was a beautiful woman who was probably lonely and had embraced her work to fill the voids in her life. It was information he would use to determine the best way to get her to confide in him.

  “It’s been a difficult couple of weeks,” he said and saw the flash of sympathy that crossed her pretty features. “Amir was a good friend of mine. With what happened, I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

  “We’re all sick about how things have gone,” she replied. She shifted positions, turning her knees in his direction. “I hope you’re being very careful.”

  “It’s difficult to be careful when you don’t know in what form danger might come. I find myself feeling very isolated.” He flashed her the smile that had charmed more than one woman in his lifetime. “I’m sorry to take up your time, I was just feeling a bit lonely and then I saw you and needed a moment of company.”

  Her cheeks blossomed with color and one of her hands shifted from her lap to touch the pocket in her skirt. His heart stepped up its beating. Whatever she’d found in Amir’s room was now in her pocket. He was sure of it. Now all he had to do was get her to share it with him.

  “I’m sure you know my brother returned to our country,” he continued.

  “Yes, it must have been difficult for you to remain behind.”

  He nodded. “But I don’t intend to return until I know what happened to Amir. He was like a brother to me. Do you have brothers or sisters, Ms. Taylor?”

  “No, I’m an only child.” Now it was not only her knees that faced him, but her entire upper body, letting him know she was open to him, perhaps just a little bit vulnerable.

  With cool calculation, he leaned toward her, nearly closing the distance between them. He lightly touched her shoulder. “I can’t rest. I can’t sleep until we find out something about Amir. The local officials have been little help with their issues of corruption. I’m desperate to find something, anything that might give me a clue as to what happened and who is to blame.”

  Once again her hand touched her pocket and he saw an uncertainty in the depths of her beautiful eyes. His heart seemed to stop beating as he waited for her reply.

  “I did find something in Amir’s room,” she finally said. For a moment she remained perfectly still and Antoine was struck by a quicksilver desire to stroke a hand across the smooth skin of her sculpted cheek, taste the full lower lip she was now nibbling in obvious indecision. She reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope, but didn’t immediately offer it to Antoine.

  “I found it taped on the bottom of a drawer in the bedroom. I was going to turn it over to Sheriff Wolf,” she said. “But I guess it won’t hurt if you look at it first.” Her slender hand trembled slightly as she held out the envelope.

  He took it, his heart once again rapping an unsteady beat as he opened it and withdrew the pieces of paper. He read the notes, electrified by the contents. “You read these?” he asked.

  She nodded, her eyes wider than they had been minutes before. “They’re terrible.”

  There was now no question in his mind that the limo explosion had been meant to kill all of them, that it had been mere circumstance, a matter of sheer fate, that had placed Amir in that limo alone at the time of the bomb blast.

  He placed the notes back in the envelope, but didn’t return it to Beth. “Ms. Taylor, I have a favor to ask you. Please let me keep these and see what I can learn from them before you take them to Sheriff Wolf. I meant it when I told you I don’t know who to trust.”

  She frowned thoughtfully. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “A little investigating on my own, see if I can find out who is dirty and who isn’t before I give these notes to anyone else.”

  Her frown deepened, the gesture doing nothing to detract from her beauty. “How are you going to be able to do that? You don’t know any of the locals.” She didn’t wait for his response but instead continued, “You’re going to need my help. I was born and raised here. I know the people who live here, and I also know the people who don’t belong. The only way I’ll give you the time you’ve asked for before going to Jake Wolf is if you let me help you.”

  She’d surprised him. The last thing he’d expected was her offer to partner up with him. His initial response was a resounding no, but there was no question that she could be useful.

  “Okay, I accept your offer to help, but only on one condition—that if things get dangerous for you, then you step back.”

  “Agreed,” she replied.

  Antoine stuck out his hand and as they solemnly shook, he was aware of the softness of her skin against his, the delicate bones of her hands. A new flicker of something evocative and exciting swept through him. It had nothing to do with the fact that she might possibly be helpful to him in finding out who was behind the threats. Rather it was a flame of physical attraction.

  “I’ve got to get back to work,” she said as she quickly pulled her hand from his and stood.

  “How much longer will you be?” he asked as they walked to the door.

  She paused and looked at her watch. “Maybe another hour or so, why?”

  “I’d like to make copies of these notes and then take them to somebody discreet and see if prints besides ours can be pulled from them, but I’m not sure where to go to get this done.”

  “Jane Cameron,” she replied without hesitation.

  He knew Jane Cameron was the forensic scientist who had been involved in processing the scene of the limo bombing. He also knew that she and Stefan Lutece, Prince of Kyros, had become involved in a romantic relationship. “And you trust Jane?”

  “Absolutely,” she replied. “Why don’t I take the notes and make the copies in my office, then come back here when I’m finished for the day and we can go see Jane.”

  “Perfect,” he replied. He gave her the envelope and then reached out to take her other hand in his. “I can’t thank you enough for giving me some time to investigate this.”

  She squeezed his hand slightly and then pulled it away from him. “I just hope this isn’t a mistake. I’ll see you in about an hour.” She flew through the door as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.

  Antoine closed the door behind her and tried to ignore the scent of her that lingered in the air. He was attracted to her like he hadn’t been to a woman in a very long time.

  There was something soft, something inviting about her that called to him. But, it was an attraction he had no desire to explore.

  Antoine never allowed himself to get close to a woman. He could enjoy their company and have sex with them, but his heart never got involved.

  He would do anything to find out who was behind the threats made on himself and the others. He would do anything to find out who had been behind the attack on Amir. If that meant using the pretty housekeeper, it wouldn’t be the worst thing he’d ever done in his life.

  Chapter Two

  She had to be crazy.

  Somehow between the time she’d left Amir’s suite and the time she’d left Antoine’s, she’d lo
st her ever-loving mind. The minute Beth reached her private office she sank down at her desk and shook her head, wondering what on earth she’d been thinking when she’d given Antoine that envelope, when she’d offered to help him.

  She should have kept her mouth shut and taken the notes to Jake like she’d intended. The problem was she hadn’t been thinking. Instead, she’d been falling into the blue depths of Antoine’s eyes, touched by the loneliness and the feeling of isolation he hadn’t tried to hide.

  She’d offered her help because she’d thought he needed it, which was a ridiculous thing for her to think. He was a prince, for God’s sake. He had people to take care of his every wish, his every need. The last thing he needed was a simple woman who didn’t know a thing about foreign politics and had only a high school education helping him investigate threats against members of royal families.

  She checked her email and the voice mail on her phone to make sure there weren’t any fires to put out with the housekeeping staff, then moved to the multitask printer to copy the threatening notes in the envelope. With both the originals and the copies back in her pocket she left her office to do a walk-through of the hotel before heading back to Antoine’s suite.

  The bulk of her work occurred in the mornings when she coordinated the staff to make sure all the rooms were cleaned and the guests’ needs were met. She was not only responsible for the cleaning staff, but also for inventory of housekeeping items needed for the cleaning and maintaining of the guests rooms.

  It was her routine in the evenings to walk through the hotel and be accommodating to any guest who might have a problem or simply to be a friendly face to both returning regular guests and new people who had come to enjoy the luxury resort.

  She knew how important it was to offer a personal touch to the people who vacationed or came here for work purposes. She liked to think that her work here was at least part of the reason people chose to come back again and again.

  When it was finally time to return to Antoine’s suite a new tension began to well up in her stomach. The man definitely made her just a little breathless and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.

  The last man who had left her breathless had not just broken her heart, but had shattered it into a million pieces. She’d never allow herself to be that vulnerable again. And she’d be a complete fool to entertain any feelings for a visiting prince who would soon return to his own life in his own country.

  He’d obviously been waiting for her as he answered the door almost before her knock sounded. She stepped into the room and he closed the door behind her. “I made two copies of the notes,” she said. “One for you and one for me.” She handed him both the original and his copy.

  “Why would you want a copy?” he asked curiously.

  “In case something happens to yours,” she replied and tried to ignore how her heart stuttered at his nearness. At five feet nine inches, Beth was unaccustomed to men towering over her, but Antoine was a good four or five inches taller. He made her feel small and feminine.

  “If you’ll get your driver, I’ll give him directions to the forensic lab where we can find Jane,” she said.

  “You’re going to be my driver,” he replied smoothly. “I don’t want anyone to know what we’re doing, what we’ve found and that includes my entire security team. We must figure out a way to get me out of the hotel and to your car with nobody seeing me.”

  Beth stared at him, not only nervous at the idea of being alone with him but also by the fact that she would be responsible for him while he was with her. “But what if something happens? What if you get hurt?”

  His sensual lips curved up in a smile that warmed the ice-blue of his eyes. “Unless you’re planning on beating or maiming me, I should be just fine.”

  “But surely you should take somebody from your security team with you,” she protested. She’d feel so much better if there was somebody big and burly and fully loaded with an arsenal of weapons.

  The blue of his eyes paled to an icy silver and his lips thinned. “No. We go alone.” His voice was laced with command and for the first time he looked and sounded like a prince accustomed to getting his way.

  She frowned thoughtfully. “Okay, if you go down this hall to the end, there’s another corridor, turn right and follow it and you’ll see an exit door. If you give me five minutes I can pull up outside the door.”

  “Perfect, then I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  As Beth left the suite and headed back to the lobby nervous anxiety pressed tight against her chest. God forbid she had a wreck while driving the Prince of Barajas. Once again she found herself wondering when exactly she’d lost her mind and when she could hope for its return.

  When she got into her car she quickly scanned the interior, noting the tear in the passenger seat, the faint layer of dust that covered the dashboard. Not exactly fit for royalty, but the ten-year-old car was paid off and still ran perfectly well. He’d just have to deal with the less-than-royal transportation.

  She told herself that one of the reasons she wanted to help him was because this whole ordeal had hammered the hotel with negative publicity. But she suspected the truth of the matter was that she was desperate for something, anything that might fill the vast loneliness in her life, even if it was just for a single night.

  She pulled up against the curb by the door she’d told Antoine to exit and watched as he strode toward her. Once again she was struck by his handsomeness and as he flashed a quick smile to her a crazy burst of heat momentarily usurped her nervous anxiety.

  “Mission accomplished,” he said as he slid into the passenger seat. “Nobody saw my escape.”

  “Won’t somebody worry if you aren’t in your room?” she asked as she pulled away from the curb.

  “I have my cell phone with me and told my staff that I was retiring for the night and didn’t want to be disturbed for any reason. Nobody will even know that I’m missing from my suite,” he assured her.

  Beth gripped the steering wheel tightly and headed toward the small town of Dumont. The scenery was spectacular with the last gasp of the sun sparking off the distant mountains and painting the landscape in lush shades of deep gold.

  Antoine looked out the window and even though he was silent she felt a pulsing energy radiating from him. He turned to look at her, as if he’d felt her surreptitious gaze. “Do you think Jane will help us?”

  “If anyone can pull a print from those papers, she can,” Beth replied. “But, she’s a by-the-book kind of woman. She might insist that the notes be handed over immediately to Sheriff Wolf.”

  “Then I’ll just have to convince her that that’s not in our best interest,” he replied with an easy confidence.

  “She’s pretty tough,” Beth warned.

  “Yes, but I’m pretty charming,” he countered.

  Beth gave a rueful laugh. “You charmed that envelope right out of my pocket.”

  He sobered and she felt his gaze, intense and piercing on her. “I had a feeling you’d found something important and it was equally important that I convince you to tell me.”

  “Do you always get what you want?” she asked lightly.

  “It’s certainly rare that anyone tells me no.”

  “I would imagine that being surrounded by yes-men could get a little boring at times.”

  “Perhaps,” he replied and then cast his gaze out the side window once again.

  The town of Dumont, Wyoming, was a small, charming place with historic buildings that dated back to the early 1800s. It had been a town filled with good, hard-working people before the royals had arrived. Now the streets were clogged with news vans and strangers.

  Beth drove down the main drag and parked in front of the brick courthouse. “Jane’s lab and offices are on the second floor,” she said as she turned off the engine.

  Antoine glanced at his wristwatch. “Won’t the offices be closed by now?”

  “Security will let her know we’re here and it�
�s rare that Jane isn’t at work this late in the evening,” Beth explained.

  Together they got out of the car and she noticed that Antoine did a quick sweep of the area with his narrowed gaze. Apparently he saw nothing to cause him alarm and they walked to the front door of the courthouse where Beth gestured to the security guard inside.

  Within minutes they were in the elevator taking them to the second floor and Jane. She met them at the doorway of her office, her hazel eyes widening as she saw Antoine. “Prince Antoine, Beth…what’s going on?”

  Antoine glanced up and down the hallway and then gestured to her office. “Ms. Cameron, perhaps we could speak to you in private.”

  “Of course.” Jane ushered them into the small office and closed the door behind them.

  “I was instructed today to pack up Sheik Amir Khalid’s items in his suite to be stored until we know what happened to him or somebody from his family came to claim them. While checking the nightstand drawers I found an envelope taped to the bottom of one,” Beth said.

  Jane’s eyes filled with interest as Antoine held up the envelope but didn’t offer to hand it to her. “We’d like to see if you can pull some fingerprints from either the envelope or the notes inside, but before I give this to you I would like you to promise to keep this strictly confidential between the three of us.”

  Jane frowned and raked a hand through her curly light brown hair. “I can’t make that promise without seeing what you have.” There was a hint of steel in her voice.

  Antoine held her gaze for a long moment and then offered her the envelope. “What I’m hoping is that you can lift some prints and then give us a little time to do some investigating on our own before letting anyone else know about it.”

  Jane didn’t take the envelope from him, but instead opened her office door and gestured them outside. “Bring it into the lab. I don’t want to touch it without gloves. As it is I’ll need to print both you and Beth so we can discount your prints on everything.”

  They entered a small lab where Jane grabbed a kit from one of the metal shelves against the wall and then stepped up to a work table and pulled on latex gloves. Only then did she take the envelope from Antoine.