Tycoon Warrior. Sheri WhiteFeather

can tell there’s something else going on,” she said. “What is it?”

      “You won’t like it.”

      “Dakota. Quit stalling. That isn’t like you.”

      “You’re right.” He wondered why he was trying to protect her from someone else’s life. “There are rumors circulating about the king and queen.”

      She placed her coffee on a nearby table. “What kind of rumors?”

      “That their marriage is in trouble.”

      She pushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, her posture suddenly tense. “I don’t believe it. People like to make things up. Create scandals. That happens to every royal family.”

      “Don’t hide your head in the sand, Kathy. Plenty of couples have problems. And royalty are like everyone else in that regard.” Our marriage failed, he wanted to say. And we were supposed to be happy. Why not a king and queen?

      She thrust her chin in a stubborn gesture. “This does not mean Queen Nicole is having an affair with Payune.”

      “I didn’t say it did.”

      “But that’s what you’re thinking.”

      “No, it’s not.” He was thinking about his own life, about why Kathy had walked out on him. He wished to hell he knew what he had done wrong. But now wasn’t the time to ask. Dakota had to concentrate on retrieving the stolen necklace, on trapping the revolutionists and sending them to jail.

      This mission wasn’t about the hole in his heart. It wasn’t about the woman seated across from him, messy locks spilling out of her proper hairdo, her long slim body draped in a summer cotton dress. This romantic little cottage wasn’t home, and he would do well to remind himself of that. Every chance he got.