Romancing the Crown Series

by Romancing the Crown Series (13-in-1 bundle) (v1. 0) (lit)

  "You left San Sebastian just this morning, Anna," Christina said gently. "No, nothing else has surfaced in the past fourteen hours."

  "Do you think he's in Montana?"

  "I don't know."

  "Do you think he's all right?"

  "I believe so, yes."

  "Do you believe we'll ever see him again?" Though Anna attempted to exercise her best princessly control over her emotions, she failed miserably. Her voice quavered and broke at the end, and tears turned her vision blurry.

  An instant later she was enveloped in Christina's embrace, with soothing pats and soft words of comfort. After a time, her sister held her at arm's length. "Lucas is a strong, capable man, Anna. He knows how to look out for himself I believe in my heart he's alive and well and that soon he'll be back with his family where he belongs. I believe," she said fiercely, "and you must, too. Your faith hasn't wavered in the past year. You can't let it start now."

  "I haven't. But … it's been so long, and I miss him so much."

  "We all do, Anna. And we'll have him back soon." Christina smiled, and her blue eyes silently urged Anna to do the same. "Just think—if Tyler locates Lucas during your visit, you and I will be the first ones in the family to welcome him back. You'll be able to take him home to Mama and Papa."

  Oh, she had every hope of doing just that, Anna thought, though preferably without any help from Tyler Ramsey. Perhaps then he would learn to treat her with more respect.

  Abruptly she became aware that Christina was watching her with a thoughtful, inquisitive big-sister look, and she realized that the mere thought of her bodyguard had brought a severe frown to her face. She forced her muscles to relax and her teeth to unclench, easing the tension that had seeped through her, and attempted to turn away, but Christina's hold on her tightened.

  "Come sit down and tell me about Tyler."

  Anna dragged her feet, but she was no match for Christina. Reluctantly she took a seat at one end of the sofa, but she didn't face Christina at the other. Instead, she stared mutinously at the snow outside.

  "Come on now. What's the story?"

  "No story. Papa felt I needed an escort for the trip here, and he chose Tyler."

  "There's more to it than that."

  She managed to smile. "What makes you think so?"

  "I've never seen you treat an employee so rudely."

  Anna shrugged carelessly. "That's because you've been gone from Montebello so long."

  "Our mother hasn't been gone, and she would never tolerate your treating anyone in such a manner."

  "He's just a bodyguard."

  "Just a nobody charged with sacrificing his life if that's what it takes to protect yours, right?" Christina shook her head knowingly. "Come on, Anna. Kick off your shoes, curl up and tell big sister everything. Starting with how long you've had this … thing for Tyler."

  Anna opened her mouth to hotly deny having any "thing" for Tyler, except a healthy dislike, when suddenly she realized fate had just handed her the answer to her latest problem. Tyler might have thwarted her plans to escape while they were still in the city, but Christina was going to make everything right. Her sister was unrelentingly sensible, responsible and dependable … and, since falling in love with Jack Dalton, incredibly soft-headed when it came to matters of the heart. Because she was deeply, happily in love, she believed everyone else ought to be also.

  And though she detested the idea of lying to Christina, Anna believed in taking advantage of good fortune when it was offered.

  She closed her mouth, cleared her throat, then burst into her best spoiled-child pout. "N-not long. It was so easy for you, Christina. You weren't in Montebello, you weren't living in the palace, and you didn't have Papa watching your every move. Tyler and I are fortunate to steal a few moments to ourselves every day or two between his training and my family obligations. And I swear, Papa is deliberately attempting to keep me at home and alone forever! He's much stricter with me than he ever was with you or Julia."

  "You're the baby, Anna. What do you expect?"

  "I didn't ask to be born last! He alternates between reminding me that there's no reason to marry yet and suggesting that this prince would make an appropriate husband or that duke could prove advantageous, and Mama just smiles and says when it's right, it will happen." She deliberately let her bottom lip stick out "Not if Papa has his way."

  "Have you told him you're interested in Tyler?"

  "No."

  "Why not? He respects the Ramsey family. He respects Tyler, or he never would have entrusted him with this mission."

  "I don't know whether I love him or if he loves me or if it's just…"

  "Hormones?" Christina asked with a dry smile.

  Finally, something truthful about the conversation! Anna's hormones were certainly stirred up when Tyler was around.

  "We—we think we have something special, but we'd like to be certain before we tell anyone, to give it a chance to prove itself. I know Papa does respect Tyler and his family, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't make an effort to sway me if he had the opportunity before I knew for certain how I feel."

  "He knows the importance of love as well as anyone," Christina pointed out.

  "Yes, but he also knows the value of strong alliances."

  "He would never marry you off merely to strengthen an alliance!"

  "No, but neither would he have any qualms about giving me a gentle nudge in the direction of a marriageable son and an alliance that needed strengthening." Marveling at how easily the lies came—and more than a little shamed by it—Anna gave a sigh that shivered through her entire body. "If we don't get some time together alone before long, Christina, I fear Tyler will lose all interest in me and find someone who's free to see him at will, and then I don't know what I'll do!"

  "If he loses interest that easily, then he doesn't love you."

  "Perhaps. Perhaps we're not meant to be … and if that's the case, I can handle it. But if I lose him without ever knowing for sure…"

  Christina studied her a moment, then smiled sweetly. "All right. I should have known there was more to your spur-of-the-moment visit than merely a visit. What was your plan?"

  Excitement tempered by guilt surged through Anna. She would have to make up to her sister for her deception, she promised herself. She would return for a genuine visit as soon as she was able, and if fortune shined on her, she might just bring Lucas with her. That would surely earn Christina's forgiveness. "Tyler is going to check out the three mining sites to see if Lucas is, or has been, at any of them. It's not a dangerous task. It merely involves a lot of driving, asking questions, showing Lucas's picture, all while being discreet. He thought—we thought … well, if I could go with him… We'd have all those days to talk and learn everything there is to know about each other and—"

  "And all those nights to not talk and learn everything else there is to know?"

  Anna felt her cheeks warm. "Well … we haven't yet … he hasn't … I live in the palace, for heaven's sake!"

  "And our father couldn't interfere because he would believe you were spending those days and nights here with your ever-responsible older sister."

  "Oh, Christina, I know it's wrong to ask you to lie to Papa, but … I've never felt this way about a man before. When I look at Tyler, I feel…" Anger. Resentment. Bitterness. How dare he call her sister by her name after refusing Anna the same request? They were the wrong emotions, but they were passionate, and passion was exactly what she needed to convince Christina.

  "I feel as if my life is about to change," she went on, "to become something brighter and clearer and more wonderful than anything I've ever known before. I feel as if I'm on the verge of the newest, riskiest venture I've ever undertaken, and if I lose, I lose everything, but if I win … if I win, I'll be like a real fairy-tale princess who lives happily ever after. Please, Christina … you found your happily-ever-after with Jack. Please give me the chance to find mine with Tyler."

  Christina pulled her
into her embrace, squeezing her tightly, then said, "All right I may live to regret this, but … what's the plan?"

  What was the plan? Since she was making this up as she went along, Anna wasn't entirely certain. What she really wanted was to return to the airport, but Christina would think that was odd, since Tyler had intended to check into a hotel for the night "I promised him that, if I could get away, I would meet him at the hotel this evening, and then we'd leave in the morning."

  "Pleasure before business," Christina murmured. "Are you on the pill?"

  "N-no." Anna's face heated again. Though she'd had plenty of boyfriends over the years, she'd never had any need for birth control. Naturally, she could have managed to take a lover at some point if she'd truly wanted—she did have some privacy from her parents—but she'd never met the man who'd made her truly want. But she certainly wasn't going to admit that to her sister. It made her seem so young, and starting a new adventure wasn't the time to be thinking how inexperienced she really was.

  "Make sure he uses condoms," Christina advised. "Every time. Come on, now. Grab your bags, and I'll drop you off at Tyler's hotel. Which one is it?"

  As Christina pulled her from the couch, Anna closed her eyes, concentrating on the travel brochures in her bag, and blurted out the first hotel name she could think of. "The Radisson."

  "Then let's go. Your Prince Charming awaits."

  Prince Charmless was more like it, Anna thought to herself. And he certainly wasn't awaiting her. When he settled in for the night, it would most likely be with the flirtatious Mareta. The next time she flew on her father's jet with a handsome man, she would insist on a male attendant instead.

  The drive back into town to the Radisson was much too long—for Anna found time to have second, third and fourth thoughts about her actions—and much too short, for she and Christina had hardly begun to cover the months since they'd last seen each other. Still, it was with a quiver of excitement that she climbed out of Christina's vehicle at the hotel's main entrance.

  Anna turned, ready to say goodbye, but Christina had other plans in mind. She spoke to the valet, as well as the doorman, then hooked her arm through Anna's. "I'll see you to Tyler's room," she said as they strolled into the hotel lobby.

  Panic welled inside Anna and caused her to stop abruptly. When her sister stopped, too, and looked at her, she blurted out, "Please don't." Before Christina could respond, she rushed on. "You've been on your own for years, Christina. You came to a new country, attended college, lived by yourself until you met Jack. You're as free as people are supposed to be. But I've never been allowed any independence. I'm twenty-five years old, and I've never gone shopping by myself. I've never eaten in a restaurant without bodyguards nearby. I've never checked into a hotel. I've certainly never met a special man at a hotel. Please don't insist on escorting me to Tyler's room as if I'm incapable of finding my way there myself. Please don't treat me like a child."

  "But—"

  "Walk me to the elevator. Ride up to his floor with me. But please' please don't make me show up at his door with you at my side. I would feel so incompetent. So foolish."

  "But, Anna—"

  She gave her sister a beseeching look, and with a sigh, Christina relented. "You're lucky I remember what it was like to have your every move watched like a hawk. Go to the desk and ask the clerk to notify Tyler that you're here. Perhaps he could come down to meet you—" apparently she noticed the distress on Anna's face, for she amended that immediately "—or he could give you his room number and I can escort you to his floor. I won't get off the elevator. All right?"

  Anna threw her arms around her in an embrace. "Yes, that is very all right!" Disentangling herself from Christina, she hurried over and joined the line fronting the registration desk. She watched as her sister wandered toward the elevators, then disappeared inside the small gift shop nearby.

  In a few moments, it was Anna's turn at the desk. To be safe, she asked if Tyler was registered—it wouldn't do to have him come upon them—then happily thanked the clerk when she replied in the negative and went to meet Christina.

  As soon as they stepped into the elevator, Anna pressed a button at random, then smiled broadly. She was so close to success!

  As the elevator rose, Christina pressed a small paper bag into Anna's hands. "A gift from your big sister. Just in case."

  Anna tore open the bag, and her face turned deep crimson when she saw the box of condoms inside. Quickly she stuffed them, bag and all, inside her shoulder bag. "I—I—"

  Christina embraced her. "I don't want you to find he's fresh out and succumb to temptation anyway."

  "I— We won't." In fact, with luck, she wouldn't even see the man again.

  "And don't let him break your heart."

  Anna smiled reassuringly. "My heart's safe."

  "Oh, darling, you might think it's thoroughly protected only to discover that it already belongs to him."

  Tyler Ramsey wouldn't take her heart even if she begged. Naturally she kept that information to herself.

  "Call me."

  "I will."

  "And be careful."

  "I assure you, I will." Anna embraced her once more—one last time—and then the elevator stopped and the doors slid open. She stepped off, then turned to wave at her sister. "Thank you so much."

  "You owe me big time."

  "I shall repay you big time." Bringing Lucas home was the best repayment of which she could conceive. "Give my love to Jack. I love you. Be careful!"

  The doors closed once again and the elevator began its descent. Rather than wait, Anna began her own leisurely descent of the stairs. On the ground level, she peeked through the glass in the door to make certain that the coast was clear, as Roberto would say. It was, and she walked into the lobby proper in time to see her sister drive past outside.

  Anna walked out the entrance, where her luggage waited on a cart, then turned in a slow circle. She was free! For the first time in twenty-five years, she was out of the palace, alone and on her own, with no family, no bodyguards, no royal companions! If she wanted to do something, she could do it without seeking permission from anyone. She could walk down a busy street and window shop. Go to a crowded mall and mingle with normal American shoppers. Sit in a cinema and watch the latest blockbuster theatrical releases. Go clubbing.

  Ah, freedom! But all she wanted, the only thing she wanted, was to locate her brother.

  "Ma'am?"

  It took Anna a moment to realize the doorman was speaking to her. At home the men she knew called her Princess or Your Highness, and men she didn't know didn't speak to her at all. But this young man with a friendly face didn't think twice about addressing her.

  "Can I help you?"

  "Yes, please. Could you secure a taxi for me?"

  "Of course." He stepped forward to the curb and raised one hand, and immediately a taxicab pulled away from a line of cabs and stopped before her. "Where would you like to go?"

  She was about to tell him when she realized the information was best kept to herself. Slipping him a five-dollar bill, she smiled again. "I'll tell the driver myself." What a wonderful feeling to not have to answer to anyone else. To make decisions for herself and carry them through. To be responsible.

  She could already guess that she was going to enjoy this adventure to the fullest.

  The cab driver took her to the commercial terminal at the airport, where she rented a compact SUV. She disliked that she was required to use her own name, as well as Papa's credit card, as that would assist Papa if he began a search for her, but it couldn't be helped. Rules were rules. Besides, she'd already noticed Americans' partiality for SUVs. Finding hers would be akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

  Driving was one of her few freedoms at home, though a bodyguard always occupied the seat beside her. She delighted in causing Roberto to go pale or in wringing a prayer from Nikos's lips as they raced around sharp curves and accelerated down straightaways. In no way was she reckless, thoug
h, and she was well aware that snow and ice presented dangers all their own. Why, her speed as she exited the car rental parking lot was cautious, even sedate.

  But even that couldn't diminish the exhilaration bubbling inside her. She had made it to America, to Montana, and she was free of all restrictions. While Tyler Ramsey dabbled away the evening with Ms. Come-Fly-Me, she was getting the jump on the search for Lucas. She would locate him—she must!—and when she did, she would happily return to Montebello and life in the pretty cage. As long as her elder brother was safe and home where he belonged.

  That was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Ursula Chambers hated cattle, mud and dirt and all things rustic, but more than any of that, she hated weepy women. Not that she couldn't cry on command with the best of them—what actress couldn't?—but she admired strength. Backbone. Steel magnolias. She'd played one onstage back when she'd lived in New York, a fitting role since she'd been one all her life. How else had she pulled herself up and out of Shady Rock, Colorado—the most boring small town in America—and made something of a life for herself in the cutthroat world of New York City?

  Granted, she hadn't been able to stay there, not once that rat of a manager/boyfriend had dumped her for a younger actress with bigger boobs, an emptier head and a wide-eyed eagerness to please. Did the woman have even half of Ursula's talent? Of course not. Did she have a brain in that pretty, fluffy little head? Nope. But she was ten years younger than Ursula's own thirty-five, and she was just so gosh-dam naive that she couldn't see even one of Gardner's faults.

  Well, let him have the little twit. Ursula had set her sights on something far more important than the silver screen. She no longer cared about being a movie star, or even a TV star.

  She was going to become a bona fide member of the royal family of Montebello.

  In the meantime, though, a little acting came into play as she called up the phoniest sincere smile anyone had ever seen for her sister, Jessica "Is there anything I can get you before I go, honey?"