But she couldn’t do that. She couldn’t even think about it. She’d spent too many nights dreaming of him, dreaming of his tender touch. She had to forget all that. Too many lives depended on her. She couldn’t let him see the slightest crack in her armor.
And most of all, she couldn’t let him know about the baby.
“How did you get in here?” she demanded coldly. “Oh, wait. Don’t even try to tell me. You’ll just lie.”
The provocative expression in his eyes changed to ice in an instant.
“Pellea, I’m not a liar,” he said in a low, urgent tone. “I’ll tell you or I won’t, but what I say will be the truth as I know it every time. Count on it.”
Their gazes locked in mutual indignation. Pellea was truly angry with him for showing up like this, for complicating her life and endangering them both, and yet she knew she was using that anger as a shield. If he touched her, she would surely melt. Just looking at him did enough damage to her determined stance.
Why did he have to be so beautiful? With his dark hair and shocking blue eyes, he had film-star looks, but that wasn’t all. He was tall, muscular, strong in a way that would make any woman swoon. He looked tough, capable of holding his own in a fight, and yet there was nothing cocky about him. He had a quiet confidence that made any form of showing off unnecessary. You just knew by looking at him that he was ready for any challenge—physical or intellectual.
But how about emotional? Despite all his strength, there was a certain sensitivity deep in his blue eyes. The sort of hint of vulnerability only a woman might notice. Or was that just hopeful dreaming on her part?
“Never mind all that,” she said firmly. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”
His anger drifted away like morning fog and his eyes were smiling again. “After I’ve gone to so much trouble to get in?”
Oh, please don’t smile at me! she begged silently. This was difficult enough without this charm offensive clouding her mind. She glared back.
“You are going. This very moment would be a good time to do it.”
His gaze caressed her cheek. “How can I leave now that I’ve found you again?”
She gritted her teeth. “You’re not going to mesmerize me like you did last time. You’re not staying here at all.” She pointed toward the gate. “I want you to go.”
He raised one dark eyebrow and made no move toward the door. “You going to call the guard?”
Her eyes blazed at him. “If I have to.”
He looked pained. “Actually, I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Then you’d better go, hadn’t you?”
He sighed and managed to look as though he regretted all this. “I can’t leave yet. Not without what I came for.”
She threw up her hands. “That has nothing to do with me.”
His smile was back. “That’s where you’re wrong. You see, it’s you that I came for. How do you feel about a good old-fashioned kidnapping?”
CHAPTER TWO
PELLEA BLINKED QUICKLY, but that was the only sign she allowed to show his words had shocked her—rocked her, actually, to the point where she almost needed to reach out and hold on to something to keep from falling over.
Monte had come to kidnap her? Was he joking? Or was he crazy?
“Really?” With effort, she managed to fill her look with mock disdain. “How do you propose to get me past all the guards and barriers? How do you think you’ll manage that without someone noticing? Especially when I’ll be fighting you every step of the way and creating a scene and doing everything else I can think of to ruin your silly kidnapping scheme?”
“I’ve got a plan.” He favored her with a knowing grin.
“Oh, I see.” Eyes wide, she turned with a shrug, as though asking the world to judge him. “He’s got a plan. Say no more.”
He followed her. “You scoff, Pellea. But you’ll soon see things my way.”
She whirled to face him and her gaze sharpened as she remembered his last visit. “How do you get in here, anyway? You’ve never explained that.” She shook her head, considering him from another angle. “There are guards everywhere. How do you get past them?”
His grin widened. “Secrets of the trade, my dear.”
“And just what is your trade these days?” she asked archly. “Second-story man?”
“No, Pellea.” His grin faded. Now they were talking about serious things. “Actually, I still consider myself the royal heir to the Ambrian throne.”
She rolled her eyes. “Good luck with that one.”
He turned and met her gaze with an intensity that burned. “I’m the Crown Prince of Ambria. Hadn’t you heard? I thought you understood that.”
She stared back at him. “That’s over,” she said softly, searching his eyes. “Long over.”
He shook his head slowly, his blue eyes burning with a surreal light. “No. It’s real and it’s now. And very soon, the world will know it.”
Fear gripped her heart. What he was suggesting was war. People she loved would be hurt. And yet…
Reaching out, she touched him, forgetting her vow not to. She flattened her palm against his chest and felt his heartbeat, felt the heat and the flesh of him.
“Oh, please, Monte,” she whispered, her eyes filled with the sadness of a long future of suffering. “Please, don’t…”
He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the center of her palm without losing his hold on her gaze for a moment. “I won’t let anything hurt you,” he promised, though he knew he might as well whistle into the wind. Once his operation went into action, all bets would be off. “You know that.”
She shook her head, rejecting what he’d said. “No, Monte, I don’t know that. You plan to come in here and rip our lives apart. Once you start a revolution, you start a fire in the people and you can’t control where that fire will burn. There will be pain and agony on all sides. There always is.”
His shrug was elaborate on purpose. “There was pain and agony that night twenty-five years ago when my mother and my father were killed by the Granvillis. When I and my brothers and sisters were spirited off into the night and told to forget we were royal. In one fire-ravaged night, we lost our home, our kingdom, our destiny and our parents.” His head went back and he winced as though the pain was still fresh. “What do you want me to do? Forgive those who did that to me and mine?”
A look of pure determination froze his face into the mask of a warrior. “I’ll never do that. They need to pay.”
She winced. Fear gripped her heart. She knew what this meant. Her own beloved father was counted among Monte’s enemies. But she also knew that he was strong and determined, and he meant what he threatened. Wasn’t there any way she could stop this from happening?
The entry gong sounded, making them both jump.
“Yes?” she called out, hiding her alarm.
“Excuse me, Miss Marallis,” a voice called in. “It’s Sergeant Fromer. I just wanted to check what time you wanted us to bring the tiara by.”
“The guard,” she whispered, looking at Monte sharply. “I should ask him in right now.”
He