Princess in Peril

by Rachelle Mccalla

  Maybe she had a crush on him anyway.

  But it was far too late to make a good first impression. “I’m sorry.” She reached for his arm, but he stepped back beyond her reach. She let her hand fall to her side. “You’ve been an excellent bodyguard. I was just surprised. And I’m tired.”

  He turned his back to her and pitched the shaving items into the trash. “I’m tired, too. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

  Isabelle studied his face in the mirror. He’d been plenty good-looking with the beard, she realized, but looking at him without it made her weak in the knees. She reached out a tentative hand and wiped away a bit of foam by his ear.

  “You had a little shaving cream,” she explained.

  He met her eyes, and she felt her heart melt a little bit more. She cleared her throat. “I trust you.” She looked at the door and wondered what they’d face once they stepped beyond it. “You’re the only person I trust right now.”

  Levi didn’t smile. “I can only pray that I will not fail your trust.” He stepped between her and the door. “Because I’m only a lawyer.”

  SIX

  Levi stepped cautiously from the restroom with Isabelle at his side. He studied the face of each person who passed by them, wondering how long it would be before their pursuers caught up to them and how he could possibly recognize them when they did. He didn’t doubt that they would eventually track them to the airport. His only hope was to be ready when the next attack came.

  To his relief, no one accosted them while they waited for their flight, and they were able to board the plane safely. Levi mentally cataloged each person near them on the plane, alert for the possibility that any of them might be trailing the princess. But no one seemed to pay them any extra attention. And no one seemed to recognize the princess among them.

  Granted, Isabelle didn’t look particularly royal in her cast-off jeans and bulky hooded sweatshirt. Her hair still obscured much of the sides of her face, and the only traces of makeup that remained from the evening before were the dark smudges under her eyes. She looked weary.

  “Try to get some rest,” he suggested as she settled in to the window seat and he took the place between her and the aisle. “Even if the insurgents know we’re on this plane, I doubt they’ll make any move until we land.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispered, leaning close to his ear. “The men who were after us no doubt realize by now that we made it into Albania, and if they guess that we’re going to fly out, this is the only international airport. Do you think they’ll realize we might be headed to New York?”

  “It is the logical place for you to go. Even if they don’t realize the connection with Sanctuary, the United Nations is headquartered in New York City, and we may need their help getting the insurgents removed. They may have already guessed that’s where we’re headed.”

  “So they may be waiting for us there.”

  Levi had reached the same conclusion already but appreciated that Isabelle had grasped the situation. At least he didn’t have to break the news to her. They weren’t out of the woods yet.

  Far from it.

  He could only imagine the insurgents would become more desperate the farther Isabelle flew from their clutches. He was amazed the men at the river hadn’t shot them on sight, but he wasn’t about to mention that to the princess. She’d been through so much already.

  Instead, he focused on easing her fears for their safety. “I’m the one they’re least likely to recognize, especially now that I’ve shaved off my beard. We’ll stay on the plane when it lands in Rome. I’ll keep an eye out for trouble, but they may be waiting for us when we reach New York. When we exit the plane, I’d like you to stay close behind me. If possible, keep your face blocked from view.”

  “How am I going to do that?” As they whispered, Isabelle had pulled her face closer to his. Now he could feel her breath near his ear as she spoke and caught the sweet scent of the cinnamon roll she’d eaten at the airport.

  Refusing to be distracted, he focused on the challenge ahead of them. “Keep your hair down and your hood up. That should help. Wear my sunglasses and walk close to me. Bury your face against my shoulder as much as you can.”

  “I thought we were going to try to act like students,” Isabelle challenged him. “This sounds more like your other plan.”

  “For this purpose, acting like we’re a couple may be more practical. Just hold my hand and try to keep your face out of sight.” He dipped his head so he could see her eyes clearly and was surprised by how close their faces were in the tight quarters of the coach-class seats. His breath caught. “Can you handle that?”

  Her warm brown eyes looked hesitant, but then a smile bent her lips. “It’s too late to buy a burqa, so I guess your plan will have to work.”

  The smile warmed him far more than it should have, and he found himself smiling back. It occurred to him that he wouldn’t have to fake anything to play a man in love with her. The real trick would be convincing himself that he felt nothing. “Good. Don’t worry about our landing. Get some rest.”

  Their flight to Rome would last just over an hour—they wouldn’t even change time zones—and Levi was determined to let Isabelle get as much sleep as possible. Although he was exhausted, he couldn’t risk sleeping through their stop in Rome. Once they were back in the air again he’d rest on the flight to New York—assuming they made it that far.

  To his relief, Isabelle slept through their stop, which was uneventful. Once the plane was in the air again, he settled in to rest. It was a ten-hour flight to New York, but with the six-hour difference in time zones, it would only be four hours later when they landed—just before noon if everything went smoothly. And Levi prayed everything would go smoothly.

  Isabelle awoke somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean with a kink in her neck. Levi slept soundly with his head lolled back in his seat. She marveled that he could still look so handsome in such an awkward position.

  A small plastic cup of liquid was perched on the tray front of her. Recognizing her in-flight Coke, she downed the drink, grateful for something to wet her throat after the dry air of the plane and hoping the caffeine would help her wake up.

  The sunrise had caught up with them and now bright light streamed in through the cabin windows. Isabelle would have been surprised that Levi could sleep in the circumstances, except that she knew he had to be exhausted. She had been, too.

  So much had happened since the last time she’d slept. The day of the state dinner had been a busy one, and she’d had just enough time to get ready and dash to her limousine before her entire world had been rocked by the blasts from the ambush. Her life now felt like the images she’d seen on Dom’s television of the burned-out remnants of the royal motorcade: a smoking, hollow shell of what it once had been.

  She thought back to that newscast and the absence of any bodies among the wreckage of the royal motorcade. Her father had been wise to keep her siblings separated. Was it possible her brother or sister had survived the attack? Isabelle recalled the way the hood of a vehicle had slammed into the windshield of her car. Could anyone have survived such a blast? Or might her brother have escaped before the explosion?

  She could only be certain of one thing—she was alive. And as long as she was alive, for however long it took, she’d do what she could to bring the insurgent forces to justice. If any members of her family had lived long enough to escape, she prayed God would be with them and keep them safe.

  As Isabelle’s prayers for her family poured from her heart silently to God, the plane ride passed quickly. Soon she could see the Statue of Liberty welcoming them as she had many a weary traveler over the years. New York spread out beyond them as the plane neared JFK airport.

  Because Levi looked so peaceful in his sleep, Isabelle was reluctant to wake him. When she finally nudged him awake as the plane prepared to land, she realized with regret that they didn’t have much time to discuss where they were headed once they left the airport.
She knew he planned to take her to Sanctuary International headquarters, but she had no idea where that was, other than being somewhere in the vast city.

  As soon as his eyes popped open, Levi appeared to be in bodyguard mode again. “I’m going to call someone to pick us up,” he explained quietly as he straightened from his slumped sleeping position. “But we’ll have to be careful. We don’t want to lead anyone back to the Sanctuary headquarters. The headquarters are disguised and unlisted. We can’t risk giving away their location—for your safety and that of so many others. If I have any concerns that we’re being followed, we’ll take a circuitous route and switch cars if we have to.”

  “What if we become separated?” Isabelle had never had to navigate the city or its complicated transportation systems alone—and now was the worst possible time to have to learn.

  Levi looked almost startled by her question. “You’re going to stick so close beside me that no one can see your face,” he reminded her.

  “But if we have to switch cars—”

  “Then go to the UN.” He stood as the passengers rose to exit the plane.

  Isabelle rose next to him and fluffed out her hair to hide as much of the sides of her face as possible before slipping on the sunglasses.

  Then Levi wrapped his arm around her back and pulled her close against his shoulder. “Let’s stay in the middle of the crush of exiting passengers. That will help obscure us. And you need to keep your head down. I’ll keep an eye out for trouble.”

  Isabelle obediently ducked her head against his shoulder, pressing her cheek against the smooth cotton of his shirt. She could feel his pulse beating away with a steady, reassuring rhythm as they paused in line, waiting to leave the plane.

  Her own pulse had kicked into an anxious staccato as she tried to anticipate what might be waiting for them. Much as she wanted to believe that they were almost to safety, she’d thought the same thing when they’d entered the Embassy in Sardis. And she’d been so very wrong then.

  As they stepped into the airport the crowd shifted, and their fellow passengers dispersed. Although she’d flown into JFK more than once over the years, Isabelle hardly knew her way around the vast complex of gates. She kept her eyes on the floor and focused on matching Levi’s stride as he made his way through the terminal, trusting him to find the way and avoid trouble.

  The muscles in his shoulder tensed.

  “What?” she whispered.

  “I’m not sure—” he kept moving and didn’t look down “—so many people are moving in the same direction, it’s difficult to tell if any of them are following us.”

  Isabelle didn’t know what to make of his comment, but she took it as a bad sign. She doubted Levi would have admitted his concern if he hadn’t sincerely suspected someone was showing them undue interest. But there was little she could do other than keep her head down and keep moving.

  She let herself breathe a small sigh of relief once Levi had completed his phone call to the Sanctuary office for a ride. “How are we doing?” she asked, keeping her face in his shadow as she looked up in an attempt to read his expression.

  The slight smile on his lips was warm, but his eyes looked wary. “We’re going to have to play the couple,” he said, leaning down to nuzzle her forehead with his nose.

  The contact surprised her, but she also found it comforting and had to remind herself that he was only acting. She leaned into him slightly. “You think we’re being followed?”

  His nose traced her hairline until his lips hovered just beyond her ear. “There are two men who’ve been behind us ever since we left the plane. One of them took your picture a moment ago, though I can’t imagine he got much more than your hair.”

  Isabelle’s breath caught and she rested her forehead against Levi, needing the comfort his presence offered, even if they weren’t really the couple they wanted everyone else to see. As a member of the royal family, she’d had her picture snapped by strangers many times—but none of those strangers had been out to kill her.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked quietly, aware that the man she spoke to wasn’t a bodyguard or even a Sanctuary International agent. He was a lawyer, and for all she knew he didn’t have any clue more than she did about evading the men who were after her.

  But she didn’t have anyone else to turn to.

  “We’ll have to kill time before the car arrives. I’m going to try to shake them. Whatever you do, stay close to me and keep your face out of sight. As long as they’re not sure you’re the person they’re supposed to be following, we stand a chance of losing them.”

  Isabelle did exactly as she was told, keeping her face out of sight and hoping she and Levi looked like a romantic couple. They paused several times with Levi’s arms around her, his face close to hers as they consulted about their next move, hoping to give anyone watching them the impression that they were two people in love, so absorbed with one another that they didn’t care about anything beyond themselves. Their cover was so far from the truth—and yet Isabelle found herself wanting to believe it, to feel the affection Levi offered as he pressed his lips near her ear, to believe that the arms around her were not a shield, but a loving embrace.

  “Now what?” Isabelle asked as they came to a stop near the doors to the outside.

  “Here comes our car,” Levi sounded hesitant, “right on time.”

  “Are we going to get in it?”

  “Those two men are still watching us.”

  Isabelle’s heart sunk. After all their maneuvering she couldn’t imagine the men were following them by accident. She wrapped both arms around Levi’s shoulders, wishing there was some way she could hide. But obviously they’d already found her. She hiccupped back a fearful sob.

  Levi’s arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer into his warm embrace.

  “Do something,” she begged him, daring to look up into his eyes.

  He bent his face closer to hers and his lips grazed the arch of one eyebrow.

  Isabelle recalled all the negative articles that had followed her breakup with Tyrone Spiteri. They’d called her frigid, dispassionate, unloving. But she was none of those things.

  Tentatively, she raised her face closer to his.

  The men were searching for the Ice Princess. They didn’t think she was capable of affection. Could she throw them off her trail?

  Levi cupped her face in both hands, as though he could block all sight of her from the men who were watching. “Shall I?” he asked hesitantly, drawing closer by millimeters.

  Instantly she realized what he was about to do. At the same second, she knew she sincerely wanted him to.

  Unable to find her voice, Isabelle gave a tiny nod, and then Levi’s lips met hers.

  It was nothing like the kisses she’d shared with Tyrone—nothing like them. Relief washed over her along with a rush of attraction toward the man who’d proved she really was capable of affection.

  No matter what the media said.

  Her hands tightened their grip on his shoulders and she rose up on her tiptoes as though doing so would help her kiss him better. To her delight, he didn’t pull away but seemed to lose himself in the contact between them.

  Lightheaded, Isabelle pulled back just long enough to catch a breath.

  “They’ve turned away.” Levi’s words jolted her back to reality. “Now.” He slipped one hand into hers and tugged her toward the car.

  They were moving away from the station by the time Isabelle collected her thoughts. “Did they follow us?” she asked, still trying to straighten her head out after that mind-blowing encounter.

  “No. I saw them looking back inside the airport as we pulled away—they’re well out of sight now.” He pulled back from her for the first time since they’d left the plane. “You can stop hiding for now.”

  “Thank you.” She turned away from him and watched New York slipping by out the window. It would be wise, she knew, to keep her distance from Levi as much as possible. His kiss had only
been meant to throw off her pursuers. In her head she knew that. Now if only she could convince her heart, which was leaping about inside her and couldn’t seem to understand why she was no longer in his arms.

  Meanwhile, Levi was on his phone talking in low tones and consulting with their driver. She quickly determined there was no point trying to sort out what was going on by listening to his half of the conversation. She’d leave that to him while she sorted through the crashing waves of emotion that assaulted her heart.

  Levi’s tug on her hand a little later pulled her out of her thoughts.

  “Are we there?”

  “No.” Levi cleared his throat. “We’re at Central Park. We’re going to hop out and walk a few blocks while the car circles back again. If we decide the coast is clear, we’ll get back in the car.”

  Isabelle didn’t have to ask if he thought they were being followed again. She doubted he’d risk taking her out in the open if he didn’t feel it was necessary. “And what if the coast isn’t clear?”

  “It’s a big park.”

  “Levi?”

  “We’ll try to hide. I’ve got my phone. If I need to, I can ask Sanctuary to send out decoy princesses, but I don’t want it to come to that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Right now there’s still a chance they aren’t sure they’re following the right person. If we send out decoys, they’ll know you’re in the city.” He reached for the door handle. “Ready?”

  “I guess.”

  They stepped out of the car and Levi pulled her into his arms again as they stepped onto the sidewalk. “As a precautionary measure, you should probably still keep your face out of sight. We don’t need anyone recognizing you—no matter who they are. By now I’m sure the international news has reported the attack on your family. People everywhere will have seen your picture on their televisions. If they see you walking around their city, there’s bound to be a fuss.”

  “We don’t need a fuss,” Isabelle agreed, keeping her face turned toward his shoulder, although his closeness was too fresh a reminder of the fantastic kiss they’d shared. But she was determined to follow his instructions until they’d reached safety. Then she could worry about keeping her distance from him.