“Alex, look!” Mia grabbed Alex’s hand and half dragged her up to the stone balustrade overlooking the lake. The two of them stood together, watching the swans, the pink castle in the background and Garrett stopped dead. And stared.
In one blinding instant, he knew why she looked so familiar.
Several years ago, he’d done some work for her father.
Her father, the King of Cadria.
Which meant that Alex the delicious, Alex the sexiest woman he’d ever known, was actually the Crown Princess Alexis.
And he’d kissed her.
Damn.
He scrubbed one hand across the back of his neck, took a deep breath and held it. This changed things. Radically.
“Do you want to live in a castle, Alex?” Mia asked.
Garrett listened for her answer.
Alex ran one hand over Mia’s long black hair and said, “I think a castle might get lonely. They’re awfully big, you know. And drafty, as well.”
Garrett watched her face as she described what he knew was her home. Funny, he’d never imagined that a princess might not like her life. After all, in the grand scheme, being royalty had to be better than a lot of other alternatives.
“But I could have lots of puppies,” Mia said thoughtfully.
“Yes, but you’d never see them because princesses can’t play with puppies. They have more important things to do. They have to say all the right things, do all the right things. There’s not a lot of time for playing.”
Mia frowned at that.
So did Garrett. Was that how she really felt about her life? Was that why she was here, trying to be incognito? To escape her world? And what would she do if she knew he had figured out her real identity? Would she bolt?
Alex smiled and said, “I think you might not like a real castle as much as you do this one.”
Nodding, the little girl murmured, “Maybe I’ll just be a pretend princess.”
“Excellent idea,” Alex told her with another smile. Then she turned her head to look at Garrett and their gazes collided.
He felt the slam of attraction hit him like a fist to the chest. He was in deep trouble here. A princess, for God’s sake? He’d kissed a princess? He took a good long look at her, from her platform heels to the blue jeans and the pair of sunglasses perched on top of her head.
She had worked very hard to disguise herself, he thought, and wondered why. As a princess, she could have had a guided tour through the park, swept through all of the lines and been treated like—well, royalty. Instead, she had spent her day wandering through Disneyland just like any other tourist.
Alone.
That word shouted through his mind and instantly, his professional side sat up and took notice. Letting go, for the moment, of the fact that she’d lied about who she was—where was her security detail? Where were her bodyguards? The entourage? Didn’t she know how dangerous it was for someone like her to be unprotected? The world was a dangerous place and helping out the wackos by giving them a clear shot at you didn’t seem like a good plan to him.
So just what was she up to?
As if reading his troubled thoughts from the emotions in his eyes, Alex’s smile faded slightly. Garrett noticed and immediately put his game face on. She was keeping her identity a secret for a reason. Until he found out what that was, he’d play along.
And until he knew everything that was happening, he’d make damn sure she was safe.
In the huge parking lot, they all said goodbye and Jackson and Casey herded their girls off toward their car. The parking lot lights above them flickered weirdly as tourists streamed past like zombies in search of the best way home.
Garrett turned to look at Alex again. “Where’s your car?”
“Oh, I don’t have one,” she said quickly. “I never learned to drive, so I took a cab here from the hotel.”
A cab, he thought grimly. On her own. She was asking for disaster. It was a freaking miracle she’d made it here without somebody recognizing her and tipping off the press. “Where are you staying?”
“In Huntington Beach.”
Not too far, he thought, but far enough that he didn’t want her repeating the “grab a cab” thing. His gaze scanning the crowded lot and the people passing by them, he said, “I’ll give you a ride back to your hotel.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she argued automatically.
He wondered if it was sheer politeness or a reaction to his change in attitude. The closeness, the heat that had been between them earlier and definitely cooled. But how could it not? She was a runaway princess, and he was the guy who knew better than to give in to his urges, now that he knew the truth.
She was a princess for God’s sake. Didn’t matter that his bank account was probably close to hers. There was wealth and then there was royalty. The two didn’t necessarily mix.
“Yeah,” he told her, “I really do.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said.
“I’m sure you can. But why wait for a cab when I’m here and ready?”
No way was he going to let her out of his sight until he knew she was safe. She was too high-profile. Princess Alexis’s pretty face had adorned more magazine covers than he could count. Reporters and photographers usually followed after her like rats after the Pied Piper. Her luck was bound to run out soon and once it did, she’d have people crowding all around her. And not all of them would be trustworthy.
Nope. He’d be with her until he got her back to her hotel, at least. Then he’d figure out what to do next.
“Well, all right then,” she said with a smile. “Thank you.”
The traffic gods were smiling on them and it didn’t take more than twenty minutes before he was steering his BMW up to the waterfront hotel. He left his keys with the valet, took Alex’s arm and escorted her into the hotel. His gaze never quit moving, checking out the area, the people, the situation. The hotel lobby was elegant and mostly empty. Live trees stood in huge, terra cotta pots on the inside of the double doors. A marble floor gleamed under pearly lights and tasteful paintings hung on cream-colored walls.
A couple of desk clerks were busily inputting things into computers. A guest stood at the concierge, asking questions, and an elevator hushed open to allow an elderly couple to exit. It all looked fine to his studied eyes, but as he knew all too well, things could change in an instant. An ordinary moment could become the stuff of nightmares in a heartbeat.
Alex was blissfully unaware of his tension, though, and kept up a steady stream of comments as they walked toward the bank of elevators. “It’s this one,” she said and used her key card to activate it.
While they waited, he took another quick look around and noted that no one had paid the slightest attention to them. Good. Seemed that her identity was still a secret. Somehow that made him feel a bit better about his own failure to recognize her.
But in his own defense, you didn’t normally see a princess in blue jeans taking a cab to Disneyland.
She was staying in the penthouse suite, of course, and he was glad to see that there was a special elevator for that floor that required a key card. At least she had semiprotection. Not from the hotel staff of course, and he knew how easily bribed a staff member could be. For the right price, some people would sell off their souls.
When