Royal Protocol Read online

“You’re not going anywhere,” the prince reassured her immediately.

  Which was exactly what she’d been thinking, but she would have liked to be the one to decide that. “What on earth would they want with me?” She had no connection to this country, none whatsoever.

  The prince explained with some reluctance.

  A hostage. So they could get away after they killed him. And he was so insanely calm. Youth. It had to be that. He just didn’t comprehend how much danger he was in. Then again, he didn’t seem like a man who missed much. He had keen, sharp eyes that shone with intelligence. And desire if he looked at her for more than a second. She so did not want to have to deal with that.

  And she wouldn’t have to if the rebels took her as a hostage so they could kill him.

  She had to sit down. The folds of her gown draped over the chair, nearly making it disappear under the billowing material. Her brain chugged along at a snail’s pace.

  He was to be killed.

  “Hell of a country,” she said to herself.

  “The best in the world.” Benedek’s eyes flashed. “Which doesn’t mean that we don’t have a few malcontents.”

  “Odd, but I don’t recall civil unrest and murderous tendencies being mentioned in my pre-trip briefing. Must have missed a page,” she snapped, angry at the whole situation and that he would defend the very people who tried to kill him.

  “You’ll be safe,” he promised, his tone instantly milder.

  Men were coming into the room—the royal guard. A cell phone rang in Benedek’s pocket. Small and red, she saw when he took it out, handling it as if it were a poisonous snake. Tension immediately doubled as everyone held their breath.

  The prince answered the call and listened. “She needs a little more time. She’s almost ready.” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “We got ten more minutes.”

  “Freezer?” she asked.

  “Not enough room for everyone,” he said.

  The director touched his headset and spoke into it. “Tamas? Are you there?” He waited a few seconds as more royal guards came in.

  Thirteen people were in the room now. Tamas was the only one missing.

  “Tamas? Do you need help?” the director asked, then said after a short pause. “There’s no response.”

  “The security cameras are out in that corner of the building since the explosion,” a guy sitting by the row of monitors said. They all spoke English, albeit with various accents, probably as a courtesy to her.

  “I’ll go over there and see if he needs anything.” Another man got up to leave.

  “We’ll all go.” Prince Benedek looked around at the people in the room. His bodyguard was scowling, but nobody questioned Benedek’s authority. She couldn’t imagine they would, and not because he was a prince. The man had a powerful presence and the aura of a leader. “It might be the safest place yet,” he went on. “The bomb in that section already exploded. Who knows where the others are?”

  It made terrifying sense.

  One of the older guards, Vilmos she thought his name was, protested some more that the prince should stay in the security office with some guards, but Benedek overrode him.

  They trooped down the stairs then, through deserted hallways. The prince kept close to her. She found that she didn’t mind.

  In a minute or two, they could see the first signs of damage, cracked walls and floor tile, then, as they turned the corner, the gift shop came into view. The ceiling had collapsed, wires hung from the wall, everything was covered in dust and rubble. It was the first visual they got of what that bomb had done, and it painted a scary future.

  A body lay propped against one wall.

  “Peter.” The director hurried over.

  “Tamas.” The prince was ducking behind a chunk of busted wall.

  She followed him and saw a man down just as the prince bent to check for a pulse. His face held so much cold anger that she drew back.

  “What happened to him?”

  He moved away, and she could see the bloodstain on the man’s shirt. Small cut, big stain.

  “Knife wound,” someone spoke from behind her, and her head reeled.

  The prince looked over the small group, even as his bodyguard moved closer to him. “Nobody goes anywhere on their own. They have a man in the building somewhere.”

  He meant the rebels had a killer in the building. She glanced around, surprised at how well everyone else was taking the news. Meanwhile, her heart was racing so fast she could barely catch her breath.

  Dark thoughts chased each other inside her head. The rebels didn’t trust their bombs one hundred percent. They had a backup plan, insurance, someone on the inside who could take out their small group, one by one if necessary, until he got to the prince.

  “We’ll stay together,” Benedek was saying, taking control again. “We’ll be fine.”

  But something told her they wouldn’t be.

  They were trapped in a building rigged with some serious explosives.

  And they were being hunted.

  Chapter Three

  “Have you looked out the window lately?” Miklos asked over the phone.

  “Looking right now,” Benedek said. The rebel forces seemed to have dwindled. “What’s going on out there?”

  They were back in the security office. At least from here they could keep track of the building with the help of the security cameras. No movement anywhere. Where in hell was the bastard who’d killed Peter and Tamas?

  “The protest was staged by the Freedom Council. It’s confirmed.”

  Benedek swore. He’d suspected as much.

  “Some paid agitator stirred up the crowd,” Miklos continued. “Half of them didn’t know the real reason why they were marching on the opera house. They thought they were protesting new tax burdens. Now that the true reason is out, many are deserting the protest.”

  “Even if every one of them leaves, the bombs remain. And we’ll still be locked in here.”

  “We’re working on that.” Miklos’s voice sounded tight. “I have the bomb squad on standby. The second you find anything, you call.”

  “We have other problems. Two men are dead in here.” Benedek told him who they were. “I think there’s an enemy inside.”

  A moment of silence on the other end, then, “Could be that was their backup plan.”

  “Or could be that was plan A. Surround the building, announce the bomb scare, and in the resulting chaos, an assassin could have killed the royal princes. Maybe using the bombs was the backup, in case the assassin didn’t succeed.”

  “Except that we were late. You’re the only prince there.”

  “And I want to keep it that way. I’m trusting you to keep our brothers at the palace.”

  “Believe me, I’ve had my hands full with that. I had to wrestle Lazlo to the ground, not that I mind showing him who’s boss now and then.”

  Benedek relaxed for a second, thinking about his twin. Then realized that if Miklos was keeping the others at the palace, that meant he was planning on coming over all alone, because there was no way Miklos could stay out of this. “Before you do anything crazy, think of your wife and your son.” It was the only leverage Benedek had.

  “Don’t you worry about me, little brother.”

  It wasn’t exactly the reassurance he needed to hear.

  They didn’t talk long before hanging up. Benedek was putting the phone away just as the red cell rang.

  “Time is up. I’m about to deactivate the lock on the front door. I better see Rayne Williams coming through there.”

  The line went dead before Benedek could have demanded that the bastard call off his inside man. Not that he thought the guy would suddenly turn reasonable. But he would have liked to at least try and talk some sense into him given the chance.

  “What is it?” the director asked.

  “Same demand as before.”

  “You should let them have me.” Rayne stood from her chair with a rustling of fabric,
determination on her face. She looked like a heroine from some century-old legend. “It’d be a distraction. Maybe the security forces could grab the rebel leaders.”

  Some of the guards kept staring at her when they thought she wasn’t looking. Benedek couldn’t blame them. She did look spectacular, as regal as any queen and sexy as hell in that low-cut bodice. Craig stood close to her, patting her hand now and then.

  The gesture irritated Benedek—and so did the warm looks she shot back. “I can’t guarantee your safety, so no.” That she would even think that he would let her walk into danger…

  She didn’t look happy with him, but after a moment said, “Even if we don’t all fit into that meat locker, you at least should go in there. You’re the prince.”

  “She’s right, Your Highness,” his bodyguard immediately voiced his support.

  He glanced at his watch. “Safe’s closer.”

  “What safe?” Rayne was blinking at him.

  “I haven’t received the new code this morning, Your Highness.” The director’s lips flattened.

  “I have it.” Benedek was already heading toward the back. He opened a door that revealed a steel panel, and keyed in a code, then waited impatiently for the steel panel to open.

  “WHY DOES AN OPERA HOUSE have a bank safe?” Rayne went in first as all the men motioned her forward, and she didn’t feel like arguing. The inside looked like flea market storage, which, under other circumstances, she would have appreciated. She had a weakness for flea markets and everything old.

  “It’s a three-hundred-year-old opera house,” the director explained. “We have a lot of valuable antiques, furniture, paintings, Persian rugs that are hundreds of years old and worth hundreds of thousands. We use the safe when there’s work being done in the building. Also, the artwork in the hallways and rotunda are rotated continuously as pieces are restored. Some are stored here.”

  The place was fairly full. With thirteen people on top of all those valuables, it was pretty crowded. Somehow Prince Benedek came to be standing behind her. As more people came in, she had no choice but to back up until her back was pressed against him. He was nearly a head taller than she, so her bare shoulders rested against his hard chest.

  Normally, someone standing that close would have bothered her but under the circumstances, she felt comforted by his nearness. Comforted and something else, not that she was prepared to admit that.

  Especially when she realized that she could feel his breath on her neck, that all he would have to do was dip his head to press his lips to her skin. What a stupid, stupid thing to think.

  He would never do that. Why would he? So he’d sent her some flowers over the years, but he was hardly desperate. He probably had a dozen mistresses—the privilege of wealthy men. She pushed her ex-husband from her mind. Her marriage was over. She’d wasted enough years on Philip. She didn’t want to think of him ever again.

  Minutes ticked by in tense silence.

  The small space grew warm from their body heat. The day had been unseasonably warm for spring. She held still, not wanting to move against Benedek, but she was aware of their bodies touching, aware of every breath he took. A drop of sweat rolled down her neck. She hoped he wouldn’t notice that.

  Heat grew inside her as well. Insane. They were fully clothed and in the middle of a crowd. She wasn’t the type to have her knees go weak at the sight of a man or from a touch. She wasn’t what they called sensuous. She’d accepted that over the years. It wasn’t important.

  But if she did have some hidden side, couldn’t it have come out for any other man but him? She was done with rich and powerful men, and he was richer and more powerful than any that she’d met.

  The building shook. The prince’s strong arms came to hold her around her waist like before. Without conscious thought, she put her hands over his, like before, feeling rattled for more than one reason.

  Her body didn’t miss a thing, no matter how loudly her mind protested.

  “Basement,” the director said, guessing the location of the bomb.

  “I didn’t get around to checking every room down there,” Benedek said.

  He’d been down there with the bomb? Her hand squeezed his without her meaning to do it.

  “The good news is, the building is still standing.” He didn’t move away. “One more bomb and they have nothing to threaten us with.”

  The director, in front, was pushing the safe door open. Since there was barely air to breathe in there, they came out, but stayed close by.

  The red cell rang. Benedek put it on speaker.

  “I’m tired of firing warning shots. The next one is going to be a big one. Make no mistake, it will bring down the building. You have forty-five minutes to think about it.” Once again, the line went dead as soon as the last word was spoken.

  She was the one the rebels wanted. At least for now. She drew a deep breath and steeled her spine, turned to face Benedek.

  “If I go out, maybe it’ll cause enough of a distraction so that you and the others can escape through a window in the back. I know you don’t like this plan, but we don’t have much choice.”

  “The lower level windows have wrought-iron bars,” he said, not looking the least amused by her repeated suggestion.

  Of course. She remembered now that she’d admired the exquisite workmanship. “Maybe you could rappel down from a second story window on something.”

  “No.” Benedek’s response was as inflexible as those iron bars.

  “Your Highness, you must consider.” His bodyguard took her side.

  In fact, judging from the men’s faces, it looked like everyone except Craig supported her. He came over to put a hand on her arm. “No, Rayne. You can’t give yourself to the rebels. You don’t know that they wouldn’t harm you.”

  Craig was always on her side. He was the only man in the world whom she unconditionally trusted, even if he did push her maybe a little too much at times to make nice with the opera’s most generous patrons. He’d set up this trip, in fact. She had trusted him as a partner in business, but not until now did she realize the depth of his loyalty and how much he cared for her. She put her hand on his and squeezed, knowing that all he wanted was to keep her safe.

  Something flickered in Benedek’s hard gaze, but it was gone before she could identify it.

  “And when the rebels figure out that they’ve been tricked and kill you without a second thought?” His voice was clipped.

  “I—” All she could think of was that she was known around the world, a celebrity in her field. Would these men really do that?

  “I’m not going to consider that option.” He held her gaze until her skin heated.

  SHE LOOKED FIERCE AND lost at the same time. Benedek had no idea how she managed it, but the look was breathtaking and disarming. Oh, yeah, and it made him want her. He really was becoming rather pitiful about that.

  She drew a deep breath that nearly sent her breasts spilling over the rim of that ridiculous gown. He was mesmerized. Had a feeling there wasn’t a man in the room who hadn’t noticed.

  “Let’s find that bomb then,” she said. “We have no time to waste.”

  He nodded and looked around. “Rayne and Craig stay here.” He motioned toward the safe. “The rest will pair up in twos.” He looked toward others, eight guards and the director, plus his bodyguard.

  “Your Highness will stay as well?” the director asked.

  “I know this building better than anyone here.”

  “Your Highness should take two men. Allow me—”

  He cut off the protest with a motion of his hand. “Then we’d only have six teams instead of seven. My way we’ll cover ground faster.”

  “We’ll go with you and there’ll still be seven. If the next explosion is a large one, the safe’s not going to be much help. For you to go alone would definitely not be the smartest thing.” Rayne came to stand in front of him again.

  She had never hesitated to face him or to say whatever she
thought made sense instead of whatever she thought he wanted to hear. He liked her candor.

  Which didn’t mean that he was going to allow her to tag along.

  But beyond the straight set of her shoulders, beyond the brave face she’d put on from the beginning, he could at last see in her silver eyes that she was scared. And knew at once that the argument was over. He could never leave her behind if she felt safer going with him.

  “Very well.”

  The director was already dividing his people into teams and assigning areas to search. Craig was assigned to Vilmos, an older guard who’d had his eyes on Rayne way too much for Benedek’s taste.

  “We’ll take the hall by the back door,” Benedek said and took off that way with Rayne and his bodyguard. He dialed his brother Miklos as they moved forward, keeping their eyes open for the slightest suspicious thing as they went. “Forty-five minutes. The latest threat is a bomb big enough to bring down the building.”

  “Bomb squad is on standby with me right here. We’re in the armored car at the edge of the park if you get a chance to look out the back. They’ll walk you through how to disarm it. Just find it and call.”

  “I’m working on that. You get back to the palace. How is Mother?”

  The momentary silence on the other end of the line told him that her condition was once again worsening.

  “Dr. Arynak is with her.”

  They’d almost lost her last year. She hung on by sheer will to see her first grandchild being born. The joy of that little boy kept her alive these days.

  The Queen didn’t need the stress of knowing what was going on at the opera house. His brothers would do their best to shield her, but she would sense their upset and the tension in the air. She would sense it and worry.

  They exchanged a few more words before disconnecting. He stepped over a large light fixture that had crashed to the floor in the middle of the hallway, probably from the force of one of the explosions. He immediately looked up to check the others in case walking under them was unsafe, but only this one seemed to have been loosened.

  “Careful.” He offered his hand to Rayne to help her step over the fixture and the broken glass. Shards crunched under their feet.